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''Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future'' is a science fiction-action
television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
, merging
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 ...
with animation based on computer-generated images, that ran for 22 episodes in Canadian and American syndication. A toy line was also produced by
Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...
, and during each episode there was a segment that included
visual The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (the ...
and
audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum *Digital audio, representation of sound ...
material which interacted with the toys. A production of
Landmark Entertainment Group Landmark Entertainment Group is a global entertainment design firm based in Los Angeles, California, United States, that creates theme parks, theme park attractions, live entertainment productions, and virtual reality attractions. Co-founded by G ...
, ''Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future'' was created by
Gary Goddard Gary Goddard (born July 18, 1954) is an American producer and director who co-founded the Landmark Entertainment Group. In 2002, he left it to form Gary Goddard Entertainment (GGE), later known as the Goddard Group, an entertainment design firm ...
and
Tony Christopher Anthony Martin Grosvenor Christopher, Baron Christopher Order of the British Empire, CBE Royal Society of Arts, FRSA (born 25 April 1925) is a British businessman, trade unionist, tax official, and life peer. Early life The son of George and ...
, and developed by
Marc Scott Zicree Marc Scott Zicree (born 1955) is an American science fiction author, television writer and screenwriter. Zicree has written for major studios and networks including Paramount, Universal, Disney, Sony/Columbia Tri-Star, MGM, New Line, CBS, NBC, ...
, with
J. Michael Straczynski Joseph Michael Straczynski (; born July 17, 1954) is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series ''Babylon 5'' ( ...
becoming de facto head writer. Plans to bring the series back, set 28 years after the first series, were announced in July 2016. Goddard Film Group, headed by one of the original series co-creators, Gary Goddard, was one of the development team of the new series.


General plot

The storyline was set on
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
in the 22nd century following the Metal Wars, a cybernetic revolt that resulted in the subjugation of the human race by intelligent machines. Captain Jonathan Power and a small group of guerrilla fighters, called the "Soldiers of the Future", oppose the machine forces that dominate Earth.


Central storyline

Each episode began with the following introduction, plus a recap of the storyline: ''"Power on"''. Actor Timothy Dunigan, outfitted in his character's full regalia (one of the "Power Suits" of exoskeletal armor that Robert Short Productions created for the show), turned to the camera and delivered this line. Voiceover artist
Brad Crandall Bradley Crandall (born Robert Lee Bradley; August 6, 1927 – March 14, 1991) was an American radio personality, voice-over announcer, and film narrator, best known for his radio show on WNBC (AM), WNBC in New York City, which aired from March 1964 ...
: By the year 2132, advanced robotic soldiers known as "Bio-Mechs" had replaced humans in the armed forces of the world's nations. The existence of Bio-Mechs meant that wars could be fought without significant loss of life, allowing turning war into a nearly harmless battle between machines. A group of scientists, led by Dr. Stuart Gordon Power (
Bruce Gray Bruce Gray (September 7, 1936 – December 13, 2017) was a Canadian actor, known for multiple roles in films and television shows for over 5 decades. Early Years Gray was born in Puerto Rico and lived in Toronto after 1949. He graduated from ...
), had begun working on an advanced
supercomputer A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...
, called OverMind, capable of overriding the control systems which the world's armed forces used to operate the Bio-Mechs, and thus stop them, bringing an end to war. It required an equivalent to human brain patterns to become operational. But Dr. Power's closest associate, Dr. Lyman Taggart (
David Hemblen David Hemblen (16 September 1941 – 16 November 2020) was an English actor who frequently worked in Canadian film, television and theatre who grew up in Toronto, Ontario. He is known for his role as George in '' La Femme Nikita'', Customs insp ...
), became impatient with the slow pace of the project and hooked himself up to the system, bringing the supercomputer to operational status. With the new opportunities offered by the human-machine combination, Taggart becomes obsessed with the precision and "perfection" of machines and convinces himself that merging human consciousness with mechanical bodies is the next step in human evolution. OverMind achieves self-awareness and shares Taggart's beliefs as they take over Bio-Mech armies throughout the world and attack humanity in a conflict known as the Metal Wars. World governments turn to Dr. Power for find a way to stop Taggart. He develops the "Power Suits", a combination of exoskeletal body armor and advanced weapons and prepares a number of prototypes for testing. However, Power apparently dies trying to rescue his son Jonathan from Taggart, though Jonathan is convinced that his father is still alive somewhere. Taggart himself is severely wounded, and OverMind saves him by implanting cybernetic mechanisms into his body, eventually calling himself Lord Dread. By 2147, fifteen years after the Metal Wars broke out, humanity had been largely annihilated by Lord Dread's forces, and those who survive live miserable existences in hiding lest they be discovered by Bio-Mechs and "digitized" as virtual beings within OverMind. Advanced Bio-Mechs called Bio-Dreads and humans loyal to Dread carry out the extermination, as Dread rules from his headquarters in Volcania, somewhere in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
. In episode 8 "And Study War No More", the location of Volcania is announced as being in "sector 9 by 6". The computer map shows its location near the Great Lakes region of North America. Despite the dire situation, a number of human forces band together and fight the Bio-Dread Empire. One of the leading human resistance groups, Jonathan Power's "Power Team", uses his father's Power Suits to mount attacks on Bio-Dread forces. They stage out of the "Power Base", an abandoned
NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...
installation in the Rocky Mountains, and are guided by a
supercomputer A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...
programmed with Mentor, an artificial intelligence designed by Dr. Power in his own image and voice to guide his son and the group. It is later revealed that there are human resistance groups in other locations.


"Project New Order"

During the show's only season, there was a story arc involving Project New Order, Lord Dread's plan to eradicate human life and develop his ideal world. The plan consisted of four stages: *
Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; grc, Στύξ ) is a river that forms the boundary between Earth (Gaia) and the Underworld. The rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, whic ...
, the release of a powerful toxin into the human population; *
Charon In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon (; grc, Χάρων) is a psychopomp, the ferryman of Hades, the Greek underworld. He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separate the wo ...
, the creation of an advanced Bio-Dread warrior force; *
Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; grc, Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, King Minos suspe ...
, the construction of a massive orbital platform capable of large-scale digitizing; and *
Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, know ...
, the release of a
plasma Plasma or plasm may refer to: Science * Plasma (physics), one of the four fundamental states of matter * Plasma (mineral), a green translucent silica mineral * Quark–gluon plasma, a state of matter in quantum chromodynamics Biology * Blood pla ...
storm capable of scorching the Earth's surface. Captain Power's group uses a system of teleportation portals, called "transit gates", both to move quickly around North America and to keep their base's location secret. However, at the conclusion of the first season, Lord Dread breaks the gates' access codes and sends forces to assault the base. Power and most of his team escape the facility, but Corporal Jennifer "Pilot" Chase, a former member of the "Bio-Dread Youth", is trapped and activates the base's self-destruct mechanism, killing herself and the Bio-Dread troops.
J. Michael Straczynski Joseph Michael Straczynski (; born July 17, 1954) is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series ''Babylon 5'' ( ...
was the writer of the last episode of the series. He commented about Pilot's death, revealing that the scene was inspired by an especially tragic event in his own past:
"I've never talked about this before—said I was in a thoughtful mood—but I've known several people, friends, who've taken their own lives. In one case, I spoke to her just beforehand. Tried, through the phone lines, to reach her one more time, pull her back from the edge. I couldn't. Years pass. Time comes for me to write the last filmed episode of ''Power"''.
He also added:
"Jennifer Chase is going to die, partly of her injuries, partly of her own volition. Part of my life went into that scene, in the way it was constructed, and what was said. And what was not said, what never had the chance to be said, and thus still burns. I knew that, at the crucial moment of that scene, he couldn't be near her, as I wasn't near my friend...it had to be long-distance, hearing but not seeing her, and the terrible pain of arriving too late. I cannot watch that episode without crying. Ever".


Proposed second season

The second season focuses on an anguished Captain Power neglecting his duties as the leader of the team and obsessed with killing Dread and Locke, the slicer who had betrayed them in the previous season finale, to avenge Pilot's death. Major Hawk would have assumed more leadership roles as Power goes off on his vendetta. Two characters were to have been introduced: Chris "Ranger" O'Connor, a woman who would be Tank's love interest; and Private Chip "TNT" Morrow, a soldier who had appeared in the first season under the name of Andy Jackson. The plot also covered the team's quest to find "Eden II", a supposed secret human refuge mentioned in the first season, while setting up a base of operations on a facility that was the prototype of the Power Base. Lord Dread would have gained a new mechanical form, as actor David Hemblen was not required back except, perhaps, for voice work. His new army would have consisted of "Hunter-Seeker" troops and a new Warlord-class Bio-Dread called Xenon. Dread would also have gained a new assistant called Morgana II, a machine with the mind of his former lover – who would have proven to be Jonathan Power's mother. OverMind would have taken a larger role in the war and revealed a hidden agenda: after digitizing all the remaining human beings, it would erase them from existence. Wanting to keep this secret from Dread, the plot would have seen the AI give Soaron secret programming to assassinate Lord Dread in case he suspected anything. In the recent DVD release, series head writer J. Michael Straczynski reveals that the planned end for the series was Lord Dread learning of OverMind's hidden agenda, and as a result, teaming up with Captain Power to free all of humanity from OverMind.


Adult storyline

A great majority of the show's story line was filled with romance and intrigue, which was made for the adults who watched the show with their children. Thus, the story was filled with romantic kisses, sexual innuendo, and occasionally scenes which implied sexual encounters between characters. Mild profanity was also present; "damn" was said on at least one occasion, and Pilot told Blastarr to "go to hell" in response to his order to surrender. In addition, the violent death of one of the major ongoing characters in the series (detailed above) was also an unusual development for a children's series. The inclusion of a "Bio-Dread Youth", which recruited young survivors to Lord Dread's ideals to further advance his agenda, also paralleled fascist regimes.


Criticism and cancellation

''Captain Power'' attempted to appeal to both children and adult audiences, with its dark, post-apocalyptic storyline showing the aftermath of nuclear war and featured allegories on topics such as
Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
. Ultimately, this became the show's undoing. It was seen as too violent for children because of its toys for shooting at the television and
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 ...
violence. Its less mature aspects, such as the title, drove away adult audiences. Other factors contributing to the show's failure included the higher cost of a live-action show (each episode cost an estimated $1 million to produce) compared to the cheaper production costs of a
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 ...
, as well as the fact that the
gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pla ...
between the show and the toys was extremely poor. Poor transmission time-slot choices also contributed to the show's cancellation: it was sold to syndication as opposed to a regular network time-slot, which resulted in some television stations airing it in the 5:00-6:00 AM time-slot on Sunday mornings. The subsequent poor ratings hastened the show's demise. In an article from ''
Starlog ''Starlog'' was a monthly science fiction magazine that was created in 1976 and focused primarily on '' Star Trek'' at its inception. Kerry O'Quinn and Norman Jacobs were its creators and it was published by Starlog Group, Inc. in August 1976. ...
'' #128 written by Marc Shapiro with quotes from one of the writers of the show,
Larry DiTillio Lawrence G. DiTillio (February 15, 1948 – March 16, 2019) was an American film, TV series, and tabletop role-playing game writer. His creations include ''He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword'' and the award-winning ''Masks of Nyarlathotep ...
, there are the following statements:
But for all those noble sentiments, ''Captain Power'', to the public at large, is perceived as just another excuse to sell toys. It is a notion that rubs story editor Larry DiTillio the wrong way.
"We're not writing stories with the idea of turning each episode of ''Captain Power'' into a video game", declares DiTillio. But DiTillio, a first season staff writer who became story editor when J. Michael Straczynski (''Starlog'' #111) left the position for a similar post with the revived ''Twilight Zone'', claimed that ramrodding the script side of ''Captain Power'' hasn't been easy.
"This show has definitely not made my life easier", chuckles DiTillio. "This is not just another kid's cartoon show. The writing is always to an adult level. There is the interactivity which has been centered mainly in the battle sequences but we aren't in a position of having to write X amount of animation and interactivity into each episode. I want to make it very clear that around here, we're working for the story".
There is a tone of desperation in DiTillio's voice as he defends the writing integrity of ''Captain Power''. It's a desperation resulting from dealing with cliché story submissions that have come streaming in amid the confusion about how childlike or adult ''Captain Power'' is. "People are coming in with the same old stories", DiTillio laments. "I'm getting ''Star Trek'', ''Star Wars'' and ''Terminator''. If I wanted another ''Terminator'', I would call James Cameron".
In a subsequent ''Starlog'' article a year after the cancellation, DiTillio cited many reasons for Mattel cutting off the show's funds, resulting in the show's cancellation: "Mattel's tie-in toys didn't sell up to expectations, parents group charges that the show was too violent, and having to shell out
Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...
and Writers Guild residual payments because ''Captain Power'' was live-action". J. Michael Straczynski commented about the show's cancellation and the planned second season.
Re: ''Captain Power'' "...Yeah, that's a show that is an example of what to strive for, and how sometimes good intentions can get derailed. We genuinely wanted to come up with a long-term story, and by and large, we succeeded. The problem was the marketing in front of the show, and the merchandising behind the show...we got killed from both sides".
"There's an entire second season of unproduced ''CP'' scripts, story edited by Larry DiTillio, in which he follows up on the arc that I and others established during the first season. You would have found out what Dread became, what happened to Power's mother, where Eden was (and there would be direct contact), what the secret was in Soaron's programming, and so on".
In 1987, ''Captain Power'' was one of the targets of anti-toy related children's television advocates who claimed that the series focused on selling children expensive toys for full participation. For British viewing, the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and the commercial
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
network as well as its stations gave them thumbs down on the series, so they enabled the British cable channel Super Channel to pick up the series, despite the fact they have lobbying from the distributors, which was set to air beginning in 1988, given by the fact the present climate on Britain over sex, violence and commercialism in programming.


Action figures and interactive game

A line of toys and interactive television games were released by
Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...
, whose distributor MTS Entertainment is a subsidiary of it. Some ships and playsets, when firing at the screen, could interact with various segments of the Saturday morning TV program. The first interactive
toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...
and
game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...
for the series was a toy XT-7 jet with a video cassette. There were three tapes: "Future Force Training", "Bio-Dread Strike Mission", and "Raid On Volcania". The tapes featured live introduction and end segments with the cast of the television show. The actual mission itself was animated and took place in the jet cockpit from the first-person point of view of the pilot/player. Players would hold the toy jet and face the screen. The toy was actually a sort of
light gun A light gun is a pointing device for computers and a control device for arcade and video games, typically shaped to resemble a pistol. Early history The first light guns were produced in the 1930s, following the development of light-sensing ...
that responded to signals from the television playing the tape. The toy jet would get points by firing at appropriate targets on the screen and lose points when the sensor on the jet got "hit". Upon reaching zero points, the cockpit would eject automatically. Since the "game" was only a VHS tape, the missions always played out the same way. The toy could also interact with the live action television broadcast in the same manner. Other interactive objects in this series were the "Phantom Stryker" Bio-Dread ship, the "Interlocker Throne" for Lord Dread, which consisted of a stationary tank on a tripod and an optional target viewer that could be taken on and off, and the "Power On" platform, which the user could plug the Captain Power figure into. Whenever the transformation was triggered on screen or the base was fired at by one of the other vehicles, the toy would immediately trigger the "Power On" sequence causing the chest of the figure to glow. The toys also had the ability to interact with each other, similar to the
Laser Tag Laser tag is a recreational shooting sport where participants use infrared-emitting light guns to tag designated targets. Infrared-sensitive signaling devices are commonly worn by each player to register hits and are sometimes integrated wit ...
toys popular at the time. When played in this way, each toy had a limited number of hit points, but any points earned by playing against the television show increased this total. In 1988, a second and slightly more scarce series was released. It is unknown whether the Dread Trooper and Dread Commander action figures were ever released: pictures of these figures were shown in the Mattel dealer catalog, but no other photograph of them exists.


Episodes


Season 1


Season 2 (unproduced)

Scripts for a second season were commissioned and written, but the season was never produced. Twenty-two scripts were assigned, but that number was later reduced to 18.


Characters

* Tim Dunigan – Captain Jonathan Power. The son of a prominent scientist who tried to create a special computer to handle all BioMechs around the world, Captain Power leads a band of "Soldiers of the Future", also called "The Power Team", to combat Lord Dread's forces. *
Peter MacNeill Peter MacNeill is a Canadian film and television actor and voice-over artist who has starred in numerous television series and films. His film credits have included '' The Hanging Garden'' (for which MacNeill won a Genie Award for Best Suppo ...
 – Major Matthew "Hawk" Masterson. A specialist in air operations, Masterson is seen as the team's father figure and was an old friend of Stuart Power. *
Sven-Ole Thorsen Sven-Ole Thorsen (born 24 September 1944) is a Danish actor, stuntman, bodybuilder and strongman competitor. Thorsen won Denmark's Strongest Man in 1983. Using his stature he often plays imposing giants and villains in his films who are ...
 – Lieutenant Michael "Tank" Ellis. The genetically engineered "Tank" Ellis is the team's burliest member. He is an expert in heavy weapons and wears a heavily armored power suit. *
Maurice Dean Wint Maurice Dean Wint is a British-born Canadian actor who has starred in several films and television shows. Life and career Wint was born in Leicestershire, England, and moved to Canada in 1967 with his family. He began to act in Toronto on stag ...
 – Sergeant Robert "Scout" Baker. The team's communications expert, who wears a special power suit that can help disguise him as a BioDread Empire trooper or give him other appearances. *
Jessica Steen Jessica Steen is a Canadian actress in both film and television, noted for her roles in ''Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future'', '' Homefront'', '' Earth 2'', ''Armageddon'', '' Left Behind: World at War'', '' NCIS'', '' Flashpoint'' a ...
 – Corporal Jennifer "Pilot" Chase. A former BioDread Youth member and the only female Soldier of the Future, Chase helms the ''Jump-Ship'', an armored personnel carrier that serves as the group's primary aircraft, and atop which Power's personal aircraft, the ''XT-7'' PowerJet, is docked when not in use. She and Power have a mutual attraction that is not resolved with her death in the season finale. *
David Hemblen David Hemblen (16 September 1941 – 16 November 2020) was an English actor who frequently worked in Canadian film, television and theatre who grew up in Toronto, Ontario. He is known for his role as George in '' La Femme Nikita'', Customs insp ...
 – Lord Dread/Dr. Lyman Taggart. A world-renowned expert in artificial intelligence, Taggart became Lord Dread after his experiment linked his mind with that of the computer OverMind. *
Bruce Gray Bruce Gray (September 7, 1936 – December 13, 2017) was a Canadian actor, known for multiple roles in films and television shows for over 5 decades. Early Years Gray was born in Puerto Rico and lived in Toronto after 1949. He graduated from ...
 – The Mentor/Dr. Stuart Gordon Power. The father of the show's main protagonist and the creator of the Soldiers of the Future's Power Suits, Dr. Power was close friends with Dr. Lyman Taggart until their differences surfaced over how the BioMechs should be used. He dies trying to save his son from being assimilated by Taggart. He also created ''Mentor'', an artificial intelligence version of himself, to help Power live life even after his death. A promotional video produced months before the series aired featured a sixth "Soldiers of the Future" member: Colonel Nathan "Stingray" Johnson, a specialist in seaborne operations. In the recent DVD release, series creator Gary Goddard reveals that the character of "Stingray" Johnson was cut shortly before the series went to production, simply because Landmark Entertainment was unable to afford to build a water tank to film aquatic battles.


Voice actors

*Deryck Hazel – Soaron: a flying "Warlord-Class" Bio-Dread designed to digitize humans at will. *Tedd Dillon  – OverMind: a supercomputer created by Drs. Power and Taggart to manage all BioMechs around the world, OverMind casts his lot with Taggart after he assumes the personality of Lord Dread. *John Davies – Blastarr: the only product of ''Project New Order's'' Charon program, Blastarr is a BioDread equipped with fingertip lasers and feet that also have tank treads. *
Don Francks Don Harvey Francks (February 28, 1932 – April 3, 2016), also known by his stage name Iron Buffalo, was a Canadian actor, musician and singer. Career Don Harvey Francks was born on February 28, 1932, and was adopted shortly after his birth. H ...
 – Lackki: a BioDread servant who is actually working for OverMind, but Lord Dread sees his real purpose and engineers an accident to dispose of him for good.


Comic book

The show also spurred a short-lived
comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
of the same name, published by
Continuity Comics Continuity Publishing, also known as Continuity Comics, was an American independent comic book company formed by Neal Adams in 1984, publishing comics until 1994. History After years as a freelancer and comics art packager (with his company Con ...
in 1988–1989, illustrated by
Neal Adams Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Supe ...
with stories by
J. Michael Straczynski Joseph Michael Straczynski (; born July 17, 1954) is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series ''Babylon 5'' ( ...
, who was also the series story editor, writing half the episodes and providing stories or outlines for many more.


DVD release

The official ''Captain Power'' page on
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
announced in September 2011 that the complete series would be released on DVD. The complete series was released on a 4-disc DVD set in region 1 in December. The set contains all 22 episodes plus much bonus material including interviews and commentaries with cast members.


Reboot: ''Phoenix Rising''

In September 2012, ''
Ain't It Cool News Ain't It Cool News (AICN) is an entertainment news website founded by Harry Knowles and run by his sister Dannie Knowles since September 2017, dedicated to news, rumors, and reviews of upcoming and current films, television, and comic book proje ...
'' announced that series creator Gary Goddard was in the process of reviving the series. The new series project, titled ''Phoenix Rising'', uses the original rising phoenix symbol of the ''Captain Power'' franchise, though the motif has been slightly altered. The series would be a one-hour weekly drama, looking at both sides of the post-apocalyptic conflict, starting with the origins of characters (which were only touched upon halfway through the first season). No networks or cable channels have been announced as being a part of the project, nor have any casting choices been revealed. On board with the project are writer/producers
Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens are a ''The New York Times, New York Times''-bestselling husband-and-wife writing/producing team. In June, 2013, at the Constellation Awards ceremony in Toronto, the writing couple were honored with the Constell ...
, who have been tapped to develop the revival/reboot of the franchise.
Stephan Martinière Stephan Martinière (born May 3, 1962) is a French science fiction and fantasy artist as well as cartoonist, concept illustrator and art director. Biography Stephan Martinière was born May 3, 1962 in Paris, France. He attended high school ...
was heading up the conceptual art for the show. A 2014 interview revealed that, despite delays, the revival was still in the works. An announcement teaser for the new series was uploaded to
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
in July 2016, with the show making an appearance at the
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...
.


Video game

There is a video game for ''Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future'', published by Box Office Software in 1987 for the PC, and 1988 for
Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
.


References


External links


Official website
*
Official Facebook page
at RetroJunk.com
Images
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Captain Power Lives! Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Captain Power And The Soldiers Of The Future 1980s American children's television series 1980s Canadian children's television series 1980s American science fiction television series 1980s Canadian science fiction television series 1980s toys 1987 American television series debuts 1987 Canadian television series debuts 1988 Canadian television series endings 1988 American television series endings Action figures American children's action television series American children's adventure television series American children's fantasy television series American children's science fiction television series American superhero television series American television series with live action and animation Canadian children's action television series Canadian children's adventure television series Canadian children's fantasy television series Canadian children's science fiction television series Canadian superhero television series Canadian television series with live action and animation Cyberpunk television series Fictional septets First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Interactive television Post-apocalyptic television series Space adventure television series Superheroes Television series about robots Television series set in the 22nd century Television shows filmed in Toronto Television shows based on Mattel toys