''Action Man'' is a children's animated/live-action television series, created by
DIC Productions, L.P.
DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production comp ...
and
Bohbot Entertainment
Bohbot Entertainment was an American advertising and marketing company specializing in the children's market founded in 1985, and had traded under various different names over the years. The company produced and distributed programming under thei ...
, which originally aired on the latter's Amazin' Adventures syndicated block. The
cartoon
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
is based on the
Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...
live action
Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...
segments before and after the main show, which were filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood and Florida.
Plot
Action Man is a member of an elite multinational task force named
Action Force
Action Force is a brand of European action figures released in the 1980s that was based on the ''Action Man'' toyline. It was also used to introduce '' G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' toys to European markets. Several publishing companies have ...
who fight against the terrorist Dr. X and his "Council of Doom". Action Man is also portrayed as being an amnesiac who is trying to unlock the mystery of his past.
Cast
* Mark Griffin as Action Man / Matthew Exler
*Rolf Leenders as Doctor X / Dorian Exler
*
Joely Collins
Joely Collins (born Joely Meri Bertorelli; August 8, 1972) is a British-Canadian actress and producer. She is the daughter of Andrea Bertorelli and of English musician Phil Collins.
Early life
Born and raised largely in Vancouver, British Columbi ...
as Natalie Poole
* Dale Wilson as Knuck Williams
*Iris Quinn as Vira
* Richard Cox as Jacques
*
David Hay
David Hay (born 29 January 1948) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He broke into the Celtic team in the late 1960s, as one of a generation of players who continued a highly successful era for the club. A contract dispute betwe ...
as Professor Gangrene
*
Garry Chalk
Garry Chalk is a British-born Canadian actor. He has provided the voices for Optimus Primal of '' Beast Wars: Transformers'' and ''Beast Machines'', as well as Optimus Prime in the anime English dubs of '' Transformers: Armada'', ''Transformer ...
as Secretary Norris
Additional cast
*
Nigel Bennett
Nigel Bennett (born 19 November 1949) is a British-Canadian actor, director, and writer who has been based in Canada since 1986. He is best known for playing the vampire patriarch Lucien LaCroix in the TV series ''Forever Knight'', for which h ...
*Lisa Bunting
*
Christopher Gaze
Christopher Bower Gaze, (born 12 May 1952) is an English actor, host, artist, theatre and opera director residing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
History
Born in Guildford, Surrey, England, he trained at the Bristol Old Vic The ...
*
Chris Humphreys
Chris Humphreys is a Canadian actor, playwright and novelist. Born in Toronto, Ontario. His father, Peter Humphreys, was an actor, writer and Battle of Britain] fighter pilot. His mother, Ingegerd Holter, was a spy in the Norwegian resistance ...
Devon Sawa
Devon Edward Sawa (born September 7, 1978) is a Canadian actor. Sawa began acting when he was a teenager and appeared in several films in the 1990s including '' Little Giants'', ''Casper'', '' Now and Then'', '' Wild America'', ''Idle Hands'', a ...
The show introduced several new teammates for Action Man which were then made into toys. The action figures of Natalie Poole and Knuck have become very rare collectors items. At Joecon 2010, a convention exclusive Q-Force action figure of Natalie Poole was released.
Media releases
United States
In November 2001, Lions Gate Home Entertainment and Trimark Home Video released two VHS tapes titled "Secret of Action Man" and "Action Man in Space", containing two episodes each. A DVD also titled ''Action Man in Space'' was also released, containing the same four episodes as the VHS's. None of these DVDs contain the live-action segments.
In 2003,
Sterling Entertainment
United American Video (or in short: UAV) Corporation, and more commonly known as UAV Home Video or UAV Entertainment was an American entertainment company founded in 1984 as a small local company originally located in Charlotte, North Carolina. ...
released a DVD called "Space Wars". It was re-released by NCircle Entertainment in 2007. As with the Lions Gate releases, this DVD doesn't feature the live-action segments either.
In February 2015, Mill Creek Entertainment released ''Action Man- The Complete Series'' on DVD in Region 1 as part of their "Retro TV Toons" series.Both Seasons of the 1995 Series Come to DVD in 'The Complete Series' This marked the first time all episodes of the show had received a DVD release.
PolyGram
PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...
and later Just Entertainment and Abbey Home Media.
The episodes were also released on DVD by
Abbey Home Media
Abbey Home Media was a British home media distributor that released content aimed at children. It was founded in March 2002, as the successor company to Abbey Home Entertainment (AHE), which was acquired by the Just Group in 2000.
The company r ...
, with two releases from
Prism Leisure
Prism Leisure Corporation Plc was a distribution and publishing company that primarily focused on reissues and compilations, often at low prices. The company was located in Enfield, Middlesex, United Kingdom,
History
The company was founded in ...
, but the episodes on the DVDs are in a random order, and many episodes have been released numerous times while several have not been released at all. This has caused confusion amongst many fans.
VHS
DVD
Other Countries
In
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...