Shark Bytes
I really liked the show a lot, but it had a lot of problems and it ended in such a horrible way that it makes it rather difficult to want to view it again. Not due to the fault of any of the actors and actresses, but the ending seemed pointless considering that it was to be cancelled anyway. I admit that I am one of the fans bothered by the "death" of the Pilot character. I understand a lot of the reasoning behind why the show was made to have her die. However, because of the circumstances of the show ending right there with that episode and no second season being produced it seemed too senseless of an ending for me. Maybe they didn't know that the show was to be cancelled at that point of production, but if they were aware at that point why would they not want to end it on a positive note instead since the results would be the same? Jessica would have fulfilled the contract for the show and been able to move on with her career as she has, and people would have been settled about it. Instead the fans are left with differing feelings about the ending and most that I've read the opinions of seem to feel as I do. That it made the series feel as though it was all for nothing.
I understand that one of the writers or producers of the show wanted the ending to be as it was for personal reasons. Such as their experience with people precious to him dying before their time and how it affected him. They speak of someone commiting suicide and not being able to help or stop them. In that respect I can understand how he would want to share some of this with others. I haven't lost anyone to suicide, but I've lost a fiance when we were both really young and I was helpless in stopping it. During this time you have other well meaning people that want to help you with your loss in some way and they want you to feel that they understand. Unfortunately there are moments that, although you love them for what they're trying to do mostly, you feel that nobody can possibly understand how you feel even though you might want them to. Communicating it doesn't seem to be enough, and sometimes you just can't explain it. So I can totally get where he is coming from in wanting to portray it for people in his work because it's like letting you live it for a moment and experience it for yourself. And all of the actors did a great job of portraying their parts. I can't fault any of them for that because they did a great job. Maybe for me it was too great, I don't know. But it's hard to watch for me knowing how it ends and I can't bring myself to watch the last two episodes at all anymore. It's been many years since my experiences, but Jessica, Tim and the rest did such a fine job being their characters that I can't watch it all and it's hard to feel positive about the show even though I loved it before the ending. So I can't say that I'm not a fan, but I can't look at it completely objectively either.
When I try to look at it, there were other issues too. I've read that Jessica wasn't too hip on the idea of an apocalyptic future. Which is cool, I don't have a problem with that at all. But it all goes back to the timing for the cancellation of the show again for me when I think about the things I've read about her feelings on that back then, yet having her character die too? I guess we were trying to do the whole apocalyptic thing up right and all. I know she was wanting to only do the one season of the show for her personal reasons and understand, but if the apocalyptic part of the show was not to her liking I would think having a character die (especially the only female mainstay with all of the development between her and Power) would just make that all feel worse.
Anyway, there were other issues as well. Pinning it down to a time slot for when it would be aired was another issue. As soon as I started viewing it and liking the show it started jumping around and was hard to keep up with. Syndication, you've gotta love it.
Although I keep reading of the anti-violence people that complained about their issues and that the show was meant to just sell toys, I didn't get it myself. I was entertained by the shows, not what merchandise might be associated with it. If it weren't for being entertaining episodes who would keep watching them just so they could whine about them later? There's that thing called the remote control, where one can make their own TV bliss and stop watching something if they don't like it. There's no need to take anyone elses choices away from them just because they want to complain about something.
I'm not a fan of Mattel myself as I think their products have lots of issues with why they don't sell. Recalls is just the newest one, but they tend to overproduce or overcommit to things that they don't know how to produce in a way to get folks to want to buy them when it comes to action figures and such. For example, they'll make a line of toys based on superheroes. When a customer goes looking for these toys they'll typically find numerous versions of the one hero and no villains (or hardly any) or other characters to speak of. Then they wonder why it isn't selling. Yet when they have a property that has numerous heroes and villains (Masters of the Universe from 2002 or so) and a group of pre-existing fans buying them up as they make the different characters, they'll pull the plug too soon on the TV show and/or their production of toys for the license. If they don't kill something themselves they'll produce it in such a lame way (Superman toys ring any bells?) that a child would have to have their heroes fighting each other or not have a desire to have any at all. It seems as though their way of supporting and producing toys hasn't changed to this day. Captain Power, Masters of the Universe, all with many characters made and the plug gets pulled. But you let a hint of a DC superhero hit their ears and guess what you'll see? 10 Supermen and one Lex Luthor that nobody can ever find to buy. If they can't sell toys they need to look in the mirror. It doesn't always mean that shows aren't entertaining to watch. It can just as easily mean that product isn't available to find to buy.
In the end it was a great show. I loved all of the characters. My only hang up is the ending. I know I'm not unbiased about that part and it might just be me. It really does seem wierd to say that the people working on the show so well is one of the things that makes me feel somewhat as I do because they didn't do anything wrong. They were all excellent, as they should be. But putting that aside, even logic seems to tell me that the ending could have been made a happy one knowing that the show was ending. Maybe if a second season had been made it would have been different. But the hole left with the loss of the Pilot/Power relationship I think would have driven others away from the show in the end. It was the one thing that was the most hope filled thing about the show. Without that it makes the whole show seem like everything was hopeless all along.
I understand that one of the writers or producers of the show wanted the ending to be as it was for personal reasons. Such as their experience with people precious to him dying before their time and how it affected him. They speak of someone commiting suicide and not being able to help or stop them. In that respect I can understand how he would want to share some of this with others. I haven't lost anyone to suicide, but I've lost a fiance when we were both really young and I was helpless in stopping it. During this time you have other well meaning people that want to help you with your loss in some way and they want you to feel that they understand. Unfortunately there are moments that, although you love them for what they're trying to do mostly, you feel that nobody can possibly understand how you feel even though you might want them to. Communicating it doesn't seem to be enough, and sometimes you just can't explain it. So I can totally get where he is coming from in wanting to portray it for people in his work because it's like letting you live it for a moment and experience it for yourself. And all of the actors did a great job of portraying their parts. I can't fault any of them for that because they did a great job. Maybe for me it was too great, I don't know. But it's hard to watch for me knowing how it ends and I can't bring myself to watch the last two episodes at all anymore. It's been many years since my experiences, but Jessica, Tim and the rest did such a fine job being their characters that I can't watch it all and it's hard to feel positive about the show even though I loved it before the ending. So I can't say that I'm not a fan, but I can't look at it completely objectively either.
When I try to look at it, there were other issues too. I've read that Jessica wasn't too hip on the idea of an apocalyptic future. Which is cool, I don't have a problem with that at all. But it all goes back to the timing for the cancellation of the show again for me when I think about the things I've read about her feelings on that back then, yet having her character die too? I guess we were trying to do the whole apocalyptic thing up right and all. I know she was wanting to only do the one season of the show for her personal reasons and understand, but if the apocalyptic part of the show was not to her liking I would think having a character die (especially the only female mainstay with all of the development between her and Power) would just make that all feel worse.
Anyway, there were other issues as well. Pinning it down to a time slot for when it would be aired was another issue. As soon as I started viewing it and liking the show it started jumping around and was hard to keep up with. Syndication, you've gotta love it.
Although I keep reading of the anti-violence people that complained about their issues and that the show was meant to just sell toys, I didn't get it myself. I was entertained by the shows, not what merchandise might be associated with it. If it weren't for being entertaining episodes who would keep watching them just so they could whine about them later? There's that thing called the remote control, where one can make their own TV bliss and stop watching something if they don't like it. There's no need to take anyone elses choices away from them just because they want to complain about something.
I'm not a fan of Mattel myself as I think their products have lots of issues with why they don't sell. Recalls is just the newest one, but they tend to overproduce or overcommit to things that they don't know how to produce in a way to get folks to want to buy them when it comes to action figures and such. For example, they'll make a line of toys based on superheroes. When a customer goes looking for these toys they'll typically find numerous versions of the one hero and no villains (or hardly any) or other characters to speak of. Then they wonder why it isn't selling. Yet when they have a property that has numerous heroes and villains (Masters of the Universe from 2002 or so) and a group of pre-existing fans buying them up as they make the different characters, they'll pull the plug too soon on the TV show and/or their production of toys for the license. If they don't kill something themselves they'll produce it in such a lame way (Superman toys ring any bells?) that a child would have to have their heroes fighting each other or not have a desire to have any at all. It seems as though their way of supporting and producing toys hasn't changed to this day. Captain Power, Masters of the Universe, all with many characters made and the plug gets pulled. But you let a hint of a DC superhero hit their ears and guess what you'll see? 10 Supermen and one Lex Luthor that nobody can ever find to buy. If they can't sell toys they need to look in the mirror. It doesn't always mean that shows aren't entertaining to watch. It can just as easily mean that product isn't available to find to buy.
In the end it was a great show. I loved all of the characters. My only hang up is the ending. I know I'm not unbiased about that part and it might just be me. It really does seem wierd to say that the people working on the show so well is one of the things that makes me feel somewhat as I do because they didn't do anything wrong. They were all excellent, as they should be. But putting that aside, even logic seems to tell me that the ending could have been made a happy one knowing that the show was ending. Maybe if a second season had been made it would have been different. But the hole left with the loss of the Pilot/Power relationship I think would have driven others away from the show in the end. It was the one thing that was the most hope filled thing about the show. Without that it makes the whole show seem like everything was hopeless all along.
No, this show never "jumped the shark", nor was it a "half-hour commercial". It was the single most innovative TV show since WinkyDink, and the only fully interactive TV show in history. Where else could thousands of viewers shoot at bad guys and get shot at by bad guys? Could another show turn on your toys for you without your doing anything? On top of it all, it was an ADULT THEME TV show stuck in a kid's time slot. But it was great. The real reason it "failed" was that Mattel didn't get the damn toys out on sale until after the show was already on TV, and that was too late.What a shame - could you imagine where gaming would be now if this concept had been handled properly?
While the concept itself may have seemed like a Jump the Shark moment from the beginning, creative minds like J. Michael Straczinski and others made the show workable and one of my childhood favorites.
(FYI, there was no second season produced.)
(FYI, there was no second season produced.)
Cool toys, cool concept. Totally 80's totally rad! Why were the 80's so great? I mean I know why, but I mean to say why cant everything else be like then. I feel sorry for kids who didnt get a chance to experience the 20th century before the 90's. God I wish I could go back in time.
This show was the baby of J. Michael Straczynski, later of Babylon 5 fame, and it showed. The plots were well thought out and coherent, especially for a kids show. It failed to make it to season 2 due to poor marketing on the part of Mattel's toys, and since the toys failed, they pulled the show.
I remember loving this show. I remember playing with the toys. I still have the Captain Power figure and I bought tank but don¥t know where that one is. Yet I don¥t remember anything about the show except for the death of pilot. She was the only female of the show and thus was an important character and they killed her. But what I always remembered was that after she died, the rest of the guys went back and they all remembered when she was dancing with each of the guys (and she was a tom boy in the show and that was the first truly feminine role she did) and saying sweet stuff. It was one of the saddest thing I¥ve seen in a kids show or any show. I was a little kid and although I never cried, I did remembered. It was like a maya the bee episode. I even remembered it immediately in Final Fantasy 7, when they kill off Barrett¥s friends. The show was great but that is the only thing I remember. Yet it was a great special unforgettable moment even more when you see that it ended the show.
First off, it wasn't a cartoon. The toys weren't required to watch or enjoy (though the show probably was just a vehicle for the merchandising). I still have some Captain Power vids from back in the day and lemme tell you, for a seven or eight year old kid it was a pretty dark show. Sure, it's Terminator-lite, but f**k me if the idea of machines murdering you and turning you into robot slaves wasn't scary. A second season exists, but it was never aired. Incidentally, Captain Power episodes are highly collectable and valuable on the old electronic black market.
An average-at-best series which was, like most other 'toons of its day (Masters of the Universe, anyone?), a cheap ploy to get parents to buy kids the toys that were hyped on the show. Shameless.
At the very beginning, the show was built around the idea that you had to buy interactive toys to play with the show. The 1980s were horrific enough with all those Hasbro-Marvel Studios cartoons where you watched the show, then bought the advertised products in the story, but THIS was outrageous! Crass commercialism had never been worse, and it was this show by itself that made the FCC pay a lot more attention to children's programming lest another such horror be unleashed on the airwaves. It made MAX HEADROOM's "Twenty Minutes Into the Future" that much closer to reality than anything else did that century.
Man, I loved this show. The show had a peculiar special effect; good guys and bad guys had this cartoony area on their chests, that was superimposed on them, kind of looked like a red light. Anyway, if you went out and bought certain toys (for my brother and myself, it was the main good guy's and main bad guy's fighter jets...there might have been other toys), you could actually shoot the actors on the show...and get shot back!!! If you left an infrared sensor thingy on the toy plane exposed to the red areas on the show for too long, the jet's eject button popped up and the action figure inside went flying. Aside from that goodness, this was a damn well made show, to boot. It was live action, and geared towards kids, but damn, if they didn't have the most gripping, mature storylines I had ever seen at the time. The kicker was the final episode, where the token female cast member on the good guy's side sacrifices herself to kill the badass badguy robot. I was sitting their with my jaw down. A kiddie show killed off a cool cast member! And they even did a good job of it. I don't think the show lasted past one season. I have absolutely no idea why, though, unless it was America's retard, immature, nazist censorship laws. Or everyone else was playing with cabbage patch dolls, or something. This show was a classic, and still is.
It was a terminatoresque show that had toys that could shoot at the show and the show would shoot back. The catch phrase was "power on" which was said by the few humans before going to fight the evil robots. after they said the phrase they'd be in metal suits and have weapons and everything. but they had to be in an energy chamber when they said it otherwise nothing happened.
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