The Power Team (TV series)

infobox television
show_name = The Power Team


format = Animated series
runtime = 15 Minutes
creator = Bohbot Productions
starring =
country = USA
network =
first_aired = 1990
last_aired = 1992
num_episodes = 55
imdb_id = 0165600
tv_com_id = |

"The Power Team" was an animated series that aired along with the video game reviewing show "Video Power". Steven Martiniere was the director and Jack Olesker was the developer and story editor. The cartoon series was produced by Bohbot Productions.

Overview

The cartoon show featured characters from Acclaim video games. They included Max Force from "NARC", Kuros from The "Wizards and Warriors" series, Kwirk from the game of the same name, Tyrone from "Arch Rivals" and BigFoot from the game of the same name. The cartoon show also featured a cartoon version of the host of "Video Power", Johnny Arcade, as they fought against villains from the Acclaim lineup, mainly Mr. Big from "NARC", although Malkil from "Wizards and Warriors" or Kwirk's enemies from his own game would occasionally appeared as well. The show seemed intended to capitalize on the audience of "" by having a real-world teenager lead a team of video game heroes, but took the opposite tact by having the game characters come to the real world. A common device on the show was the characters trying to recover the “game paks” from Mr. Big which would send them home. Mr. Big would actually use the Game Paks to try to blast the characters back home during their battles. While this is what the heroes wanted, had Mr. Big sent them home, they'd leave Mr. Big in the real world to cause havok without any competition. He has Joe Rockhead and Spike working for him, 2 other NARC boss characters, as well as a counter to Big Foot, a living monster truck named Burnt Rubber. During battles, Johnny would use a special communication device that looked like an NES Advantage controller to direct the Power Team members from his room.

A few of the characters underwent radical redesigns from their game incarnations: Max Force, for example, looked like a SWAT officer and had a utility belt instead of machine guns, and Kuros bore more of a resemblance to a barbarian than a knight in armor. The barbarian design was likely based on the fact that the cover artwork for each "Wizards and Warriors" games also featured Kuros as a barbarian-like character instead of the game's knight in armor. Tyrone was given a small fro, probably so he wouldn't resemble Micheal Jordan as much as his Arch Rivals counterpart would. His catchphrase would be 'awwww man!!!' usually used on Kuros who would always go on and on about his adventures from Wizards and Warriors. Kwirk's catch phrase would be 'Alright! Alright! Alright!' and probably acted the most like his videogame counterpart. Big Foot would talk with a Southern trucker accent and use terms like '10-4 good buddy!' Joe Rockhead would be the overly powerful character, but dumb as a rock. Spike would be the more capable thug, and of course in the show he wasn't dealing drugs like in the game. Mr. Big was also more human and used all kinds cigar related items, like cigar missiles, but didn't turn into a giant skeleton monster like in NARC.

Before the beginning of each episode Johnny Arcade is briefly shown playing each character's game on his NES before they come flying out of the screen. Even Kwirk, which was a Game Boy game. While Johnny was always leading the team, he was never actually seen hanging out with the characters. He'd always be in his room calling the shots. Even though Max Force does take a bit of a leader role, one episode had Mr. Big tamper with Johnny's controls making him unable to give orders, which showed just how lost the team is without him calling the shots.

External links

* [http://www.nesplayer.com/television/vidpower_files/power.htm NES Player]