The Futuristic Toy Moms HATED (Captain Power)

[@northprime_unlimited]

I’m proud to say I was one of the first kids to play with these because my friend’s mom worked for Mattel. We had to test them to work before production started. I’d like to start by saying the toys were absolutely awesome! The animation tapes were thrilling to watch. The show was off the charts, very much ahead of its time. Now for the real reason it didn’t do well. It came out at a time when Nintendo was on a roll and kids were getting more into intelligent video games. As good as these toys were they just couldn’t compete with what was to come.

[@mikhaelis]

You forgot the kids that were having seizures from the flashing lights, especially in Japan. This show was where the disclaimer of flashing lights can cause seizures come from.

[@jamesadamgleason9471]

Bot

[@northprime_unlimited]

@@jamesadamgleason9471 bot?

[@UtubeH8tr]

Did you develope cancer?

[@northprime_unlimited]

@@UtubeH8tr did you “develop”?

[@jdewitt]

I was never interested in the toys, but the show would come on in the morning before I left for high school. I was really impressed with it. It was dark, took itself pretty seriously and had some fun twists. The early CGI was rough, but I have fond memories of it overall. Thanks for the deep dive explaining what happened to it.

[@khaimk4r4su]

I saw Terminator a couple of weeks before the show. When i saw Captain Power it kind of gave me a taste of what the war against machines would further look like. Also, i loved that even when they lost their base the heroes were defeated but not done for.

[@Bacteriophagebs]

I wanted the toys really badly as a kid, to the point that the video's claims that he'd never heard of it seemed unreal to me. There were ads _everywhere._ But I never got them because as far as I knew, the show never aired where I lived, and the ones I wanted, the zappy fighters, were too expensive to be worth it if there was no show when I could get a bunch of G.I. Joes instead.

[@blurglide]

The children's television act changed the commercials from toys to junk food, which was ultimately more harmful.

[@amazinggrapes3045]

😞

[@blurglide]

@pleasestopalready Because kids are hugely obese and full of chronic health problems that didn't exist in the 80's

[@Doan84]

@pleasestopalready Toys hurt your purse, junk food hurts the children's health

[@brandonjackson5865]

@pleasestopalreadythe cartoons themselves were commercials created to sell toys. They essentially 20 minute commercials that had “traditional” commercials for toys and action figures in between the animated commercials. These cartoons were awesome though and when they went off we would go outside and play ride bikes or doing something active outside. Yes there was junk food marketed towards kids but nothing like it would be in the 90s. McDonald’s commercials, soft drink commercials, hot pockets, pizza rolls, potato chips and all of that junk food wasn’t getting worked out of the kids by playing outside anymore instead they were encouraged to stay inside and play video games watch the new cartoons that were terrible compared to the ones from the 80s and eat processed foods and candy and drink some caffeinated sugary soft drink that would make you a better video gamer ? I was born in 81 so I lived through the cartoon commercials for toys era and was witness to my younger bothers watching the cartoons of the 90s with Batman the animated series being the only one that reminded me of GI Joe , Thunder Cats and He Man ( we never called it Masters of the Universe) . There was a noticeable change in direction after and around the PMRC and Tipper Gore. My point being Yes they definitely started pushing more junk food towards kids in the 90s instead of the action figures and play sets. Sure they sold toys for 90s cartoons but they also started promoting all kinds of microwaveable and processed foods towards children who likely spent more time at home alone because both parents were working.

[@IssanCaliRefugee]

The toys were much better. Once the cartoons were over, we ran outside to play with our toys, acting out what we'd seen on TV. We used our imaginations, worked together, and developed much needed problem solving and social skills. Oh dear, good thing we got rid of those horrible 30 min toy commercials. Yet the parents of today have absolutely no problem with shooing the kids away to get to their Netflix binge watching, handing the kids phones, and hours of brain rotting social media.

[@Cedrickr]

I still have my powerJet on my desk, I cleaned the internals to ressucitate it and it still works too! I LOVED Captain Power as a kid!

[@MenelikiGaming]

I loved Captain Power! I had some video tape of some "special mission" that i used to play with the power-station toy thing. (never had the plane-thing)

[@HoodNinjaichi]

Me and my little brother had both ships. Wish I still had it.😢. It was fun times.

[@patricksullivan1904]

Me toothis video brought back memories

[@Francois_L_7933]

I must admit that the angry frustrated moms of the 80's really took out all the fun from television. They are the ones responsible for the death of Saturday morning cartoons. And just look at what we were left with at those same time slots!

[@LikEaPhoX81]

The Ren and Stimpy Show was my Saturday morning, great times.

[@therexbellator]

To be fair, there is some legit criticism in what they were saying. I was a kid in the 80s and as much as I loved Transformers and GI Joe and other shows they really were 30-minute toy commercials aimed at kids. Not to sound dramatic but it must have been exhausting as a parent to have your kids conditioned to want the latest toy because they watched their favorite cartoon (I know I tortured my mom lmao). Nowadays, Millennials and GenZ complain about predatory games that are aimed at kids with microtransactions / cosmetics. It's the same idea just a different medium. But also I don't think angry 80s moms ruined Saturday morning cartoons, that's part of a larger development with the rise of cable television and the way television changed in the 90s, cable gave us channels like Nickelodeon that could have kids programming all day, plus the popularity of live-action shows like Saved by the Bell etc...there was still plenty of kids shows but it was diluted.

[@johnnydarling8021]

Cancel-Culture really isn't anything new.

[@QuartzChrysalis]

"I'm going to demand the government change how kids are parented by the TV!" or you could parent your own kids?

[@therexbellator]

@@QuartzChrysalis or maybe you can understand the criticism instead of making it into something it's not? This wasn't about parenting kids; it's about corporations intentionally targeting kids. Unless you ran your kids' life like Marines boot camp most kids got some TV time before and after school and they would be bombarded with ads and shows that were basically more ads for toys. Parents must have felt under siege. Average folks don't necessarily want to be ultra-strict with their kids but they also dont want corporations turning their kids into domestic shills for their stuff.

[@ruperttheking666]

Oh man, this was awesome and brought me back! 1981 italian "kid" here and I loved that show when it was aired in Italy in the late 80's!! I even convinced my mom to get me the toy to interact with the show!

[@eliaveloso1869]

Your an Italian 80s kid, did you get to watch a lot of Anime growing up?. Because Italy aired a lot of Anime back in the 80s (much more than the US at the time). If you watched Anime, what titles do you remember?

[@gryyphyn8639]

It's silly and sad that parents of the '80s apparently forgot shows like The Lone Ranger. 100% kids had their cap guns, plastic holsters, and cowboy hats when it came on and they were absolutely slapping hammers at the TV.

[@matchc0635]

Theres a KZbin video talking about how the McDonalds playground were essentially betrayed by those who played in it since the 1980s. Guess it could be also applied here where the adult turns on those what they loved as a kids because the next generation can't have something good aswell.

[@OmegaEnvych]

@@matchc0635 I guess kids can't have their own things to love - they HAVE to love same things that their parents loved and nothing else (I know - sounds dumb but seems to be the logic of many parents)

[@josephmarkese8563]

It didn't start with the parents.. it started with the likes of thr PTL Culb.. and other hate mongers nazi Chrsitan proto Cults. Parents would watch and get very worng ideas.

[@churchking2527]

Yes, but the TV didn't encourage it. Right?

[@gryyphyn8639]

@@churchking2527 the most specific example where shooting the TV with one of the toys was Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future. The show was actually designed around the toys, just like numerous other 80's 30min toy commercials, but the encouraged history of American kids dressing up with a cap gun for SatAM serials is kinda enshrined in history.

[@bertranddosne10]

Thank you for making a video about this superbly written TV series. Captain Power is a really great show that deserves more reconnaissance and to be better known !

[@BrowncoatNerd]

This wasn’t a fever dream! Thank you! I had memories of playing with/watching these at my childhood neighbor’s house. As I got older I would bring up those cool toys that you shot at the TV show. None of my friends remembered these. And I hang out with some big time nerds. I started to think that I had made it all up in my head. I’m not crazy! Well, at least for this reason. Thank you again!

[@L3GHO5T]

Funny I actually have this same problem currently and for like the past 7-10 years. I can remember what the box of the game looked like but I can’t remember for the life of me what it was yet it seems like the name is right at the tip of my tongue. My cousin had this game early-mid 90’s you could set zip lines up at different points hanging up off the ceiling and these little gondola type racers that hung from the strings with a wireless remote control. I’ve tried multiple times to explain it to my cousins, aunt and uncle and no one remembers it I’m like have I created this from a dream or something 😂

[@JasonJrake]

@@L3GHO5Tfor me it’s a hidden level in the Atari/Commodore game “Jump man”. I found it as a ten year old, and showed it to my extended family on an emulator one Christmas in my late 20s. I’ve since tried to get to it again and don’t recognize the trigger location to get there. My family remembers me showing them, but I can’t find any evidence of it on the internet or watching playthroughs. Also, your zip-line thing sounds familiar. My next door neighbor who had the captain-power stuff had all kinds of room-filling toy set ups over the years. It would be great to find an internet archive documenting these kind of track-based toys. I hope you find evidence of your memories.

[@crookedtool]

@@L3GHO5T That sounds like StringRacer by Kidpower.

[@L3GHO5T]

@@crookedtool unfortunately that’s not it they racer things were blue and red little kart thing with a driver inside them in the 90’s style vibrant colour boxed game

[@RedSiegfried]

Yeah, the show was too expensive to make and Mattel didn't want to or couldn't afford to foot the bill anymore to sell those toys. But the technology was great and a lot of people don't know you didn't need the TV show or video tapes to play with the toys - they could also shoot flashing beams of light at each other to score hits so no video needed! There are still a lot of us Gen-Xers playing with Captain Power toys today, sometimes after a few repairs. Oh yeah, and that audio jack in the bottom of the ships? That wasn't for headphones or for a power adapter. That was for a planned expansion pod you could add to the toys that never got released. The idea was that after you scored enough hits to "win" you would power up and the expansion pod would start working and make your ship more powerful in combat. (At least that's what I've read about them.)

[@fen4554]

I remember watching this on TV as a kid, and knowing that there were toys that somehow interacted with the flashing symbols, but nothing more. My imagination filled in the gaps and those toys that were nowhere to be seen, were incredible in my mind. They used to play a trench-run sequence during the credits that I was mesmerized by. Amazing miniatures.

[@dihexa7256]

Pokémon ✅ Harry Potter ✅ Dungeons and Dragons ✅ Rock&Roll music ✅ This toy ✅ At this point being hated by American mothers is the biggest badge of honour that a product can get, they hate all the coolest stuff

[@Inglonias]

I forgot that i had subscribed to this channel. My first thought was "moms hated this toy that encouraged kids to damage their TV". I'm really glad I took the time to watch this.

[@Smaxx]

Yep, ditto! First video I've seen on this channel. I originally thought it's about kids throwing their toy spaceships at the TV screen. But glad I watched it, learning how all that led to so many later things.

[@ryelo916]

6pm in Sacramento hit close to home. I remember having the tapes but never caught the show on tv. I ask my parents about this show and they have zero recollection. I felt, like others here, that this was always a fever dream. Thanks for the great video!

[@pothos9913]

The crazy thing about the moral panics of the 1980's is that every kid today has a smartphone with instant access to super violent movies not to mention the most explicit, violent, and/or bizarre porn 24/7 365 days a year.

[@microcomputermaster]

I don't know if we'll ever get the same kind of moral panic today as we got in the 80s. None of the controversies around race, sexuality, or technology seem to come close to the kneejerk irrational fear of the Satanic panic and other 80s bogeymen. I'm not sure if that's because society has progressed or if we're just too desensitized to panic about such things anymore.

[@aelolul]

But arguably we are seeing fallout from that

[@jordanwhite352]

I am very much in that camp that I think what changed was 9/11 and everything else that came after it. Once in 9/11 happened, our bubble burst in the United States and thanks to propaganda for new Wars. Not only was violence encouraged, it was celebrated especially to young children because people wanted these kids to become soldiers who are now going to be my friend's that are disabled veterans. Then with the rise of the social media and algorithms on the internet, you have had so many disasters and so many conflicts in wars and violence that are streamed to us all the time that fantasy of violence just seems trivial. It's like why would I want to see some dude gets dabbed in the face when I can literally go look out my window and see it in real life and I'm in the rich section of town. Yeah.

[@sboinkthelegday3892]

Until the US takes control of TikTok and stops all this pro-palestine propaganda for wholesome messages, like "war of the future". Why are you suggesting you do raise kids to USE that access 24/7, 365 days? I thought parents CAN be trusted to parent, that power has literally been granted TO THEM. Like the moment moral panic subsided, NOW it's some hypocricy? And your evidence is that parents doing that job, or not doing it, is CAUSED when the moral panic is gone?

[@lhp2a]

My dudes, you're all on the right track. We've done multiple things to our society in less than 100 years, changes that would differentiate species if they occurred naturally. Plus, in the West, a lot of midwits have convinced themselves we're a post-scarcity civilization when we absolutely aren't. Look up mouse utopia.

[@m.e.3862]

I actually first saw it in reruns when I was 19. I had a job in a hospital kitchen that started at 7am on Saturdays so I was up at 6am and I wanted to watch something while eating breakfast. Captain Power was the only thing on besides infomercials so I watched it. The episode was about Pilot on trial for war crimes. I couldn't believe this was a show meant to sell toys to kids. I actually enjoyed watching the entire series and was really engaged in the season long arc of project New order. The finale was mind boggling when you consider this as a kid's show. Themes of death, loss, self sacrifice, defeat... It was like The Empire Strikes Back on Saturday morning! Lol. I would love to see it rebooted, but unfortunately I think it's time has passed. Thanks for the memories ☺️

[@CDRaff]

I had a Phantom Striker(the bad guy ship). It was stupid fun at the time. One of our local rental places had several of the episodes on VHS and that was the only way I was able to actually play it.

[@marcblanchet678]

Had the same but i had a paper route and had bought my first tv, managed to watch a few episodes. coudlnt miss since the screen was about 14 inches.

[@roachymart2318]

I had the Power Jet. I think my aunt got me it when I was little for xmas. I played the hell out of that thing, but I was too dumb of a little kid to really know what I was doing and it popped open so much that I eventually lost the cockpit and the seat. I never knew it was an actual show, I was probably too busy watching A Team, Knight Rider, and Star Trek to notice. That and the typical 80's/early 90's cartoons.

[@supme7558]

I had the white one it aas lame you coukdnt tell if you was hit or hitting other then noise and the ejectuon seat

[@roachymart2318]

@@supme7558 Yea, that was the Power Jet. I never knew what the fuck was going on, it would beep at me when I pushed the button and I was just like "ok", but I was single digit dipshit age so I thought it was cool anyhow.

[@davidgrindle1435]

i always wanted the black one i had the good guy ship =( although it was still super fun and i loved the show

[@H880]

One of my friends had the jet and i saw the show one time at his house. But i still remember it to this day. What a unique, innovative concept, especially back then.

[@Tazer_Silverscar]

I understand the creator not wanting to condescend to kids. Kids are a lot smarter than you'd think. And you know, it still sounds like a really cool concept! I keep forgetting this kind of technology was even around in the 80s :O

[@heroicnonsense]

^ This. Any cartoon that condescended only got a small percentage of fans - you know the types of shows, with 1 dimensional characters setting good examples. Kids poke right through this, and they did so in the 80s as well. Those 30-minute toy commercials got a few things right: don't talk down to kids, make sure the quality of writing and the characters is up to standards and make it frikkin' cool. The toys will sell themselves - you only have to show them to kids. Why was Transformers successful? Because the lore was solid, Optimus Prime, Megatron and Starscream were fully fledged out characters and the writing was pretty good. Yes - each episode came down to the same thing (foil the Decepticons plan to take over Earth) but still us 80s kids remember each episode vividly. Same goes for He-Man Masters of the Universe, M.A.S.K and The Real Ghostbusters - solid lore, fleshed out characters and memorable episodes. Oh, and great music too. Remember Popples? The Littles? Jody and the Deer? Swiss Family Robinson? No? They existed at the same time as the above examples but didn't have the same high quality ingredients. So they were largely forgotten. Yet those were the shows that *did* get approval from the ACT - virtually no violence, and the shows talked down to kids while trying to teach them life lessons. But kids don't want to learn life lessons from cartoons, just like dad doesn't want to learn life lessons from the monday night football match and mom doesn't need to learn life lessons from her favourite soap. That's what was lacking in ACT's understanding of the world that kids lived in during the 80s: stress needs an escape valve and not more life lessons. Captain Power was a key turning point if you consider all this. It had all the ingredients, yet it failed. And that was because of the actions that ACT took. The firewall that got put up eventually took down the entire industry, with shows like Ring Raiders failing even to launch because of it. In 1990, in the midst of Turtles craze, the industry folded. From then on, cartoons and toy commercials became two separate entities again as Reagan's original loosened policy got rolled back. That lasted 3 years, when in 1993 "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" kicked off a new wave of the thing we loved in the 80s. And Pokemon (and all its copycats) followed soon after. But by that time, I was too old. I still live in 1987.

[@Tazer_Silverscar]

@@heroicnonsense Ah, I was born in 88, so I guess I was lucky to miss that era. I did see repeats of those shows though, so it's not like we got away from the influence of the ACT crowd completely.

[@kurisu7885]

Yup, just wish that the moral crusaders that got children's TV sanitized understood this.

[@kurisu7885]

@@heroicnonsense Plus if you think about it the shows that groups like the ACT crusaded against still taught some life lessons, they just weren't shoved in your face.

[@heroicnonsense]

@@kurisu7885 oh yes, but that was completely lost to the ACT. Filmation (in He-man, She-Ra and a few other shows), DIC (in Inspector Gadget, M.A.S.K and a few others) and Sunbow (in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero) tried to appease the ACT by including "public service announcements" in their shows - small sections, usually at the end of the episode, that aimed to educated kids on important matters like safety around the house, bullying, drugs and pet care ("Now you know.. .and knowing is half the battle!"). But they felt tacked on (like they in fact were) and it still wasn't enough for the ACT. In the very early 90s (up to '92), things were taken down a notch or two, but the 80s shows still prevailed in syndication (although the toy lines may have been gone). Newer shows seriously toned down the violence (The Super Mario Brothers Super Show, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, The New Adventures of He-Man, Back to the Future), but others were already gearing up to test the limits of what they could do. And from '92 onwards you had Batman The Animated Series, X-Men, Spider-Man, Conan the the Adventurer, SWAT Cats and the aforementioned Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers that launched in within two years of each other. all these shows reintroduced violence.

[@toastnjam7384]

Mom's and war toys reminds me of a scene from the 80's TV series Thirtysomething. A mom didn't want her son to have war toys, so she bought him a toy farm. When she saw him playing with it, he was fighting a war between the pigs and cows.

[@afrobuddha]

I remember getting Captain Power and the Powerjet for my birthday along with having to buy the VHS tape separately which was 'Raid on Volcania'. The animation and graphics on that were so well done. The TV series was awesome also and so ahead of its time! Later, I collected all the action figures but haven't seen the TV series finale yet.

[@Datan0de]

Brace yourself. The last episode hits hard. No way was it written with kids in mind. It's fantastic, though.

[@khaimk4r4su]

@@Datan0de That episode made me feel sad but also hopeful. Need to see it again just to refresh the memories!

[@ITJon]

Thank you for rebooting a memory that was nearly wiped off this organic drive!

[@Wookiee925]

I've spent the last 30 years plagued by vague memories of this show from childhood, I was starting to wonder If I'd made it up😅, thanks for letting me know what it actually was finally

[@joeszymanski3540]

It was the same way for me LOL. I remembered the show but not the name of it.

[@OmarTricoche]

Lol I remember trying it at home by myself but I don't remember owning the gun. And I also don't remember borrowing although that could be the best explanation.Weird

[@matthewcaughey8898]

You didn’t cause I remember it too

[@truthsocialmedia]

I had these toys. I was disappointed that they didn’t really work that well and were no competition for video games. Compared to duck hunt captain power is garbage.

[@Scary-2U]

I still have some of the action figures.😆

[@Graytail]

I still have a powerjet. Not my original one sadly, but even though the plastic has gone brittle the tech still works. I'm so glad I kept a few CRT TVs

[@Chief_Tyrol_]

The thought of Duck Hunt crossed with syndicated science fiction television gets the dopamine going

[@charliepotatoes001]

Imagine Star Trek were your toy Comm Badge or Tricorder actually beeped during an episode as a plot point.

[@roachymart2318]

@@charliepotatoes001 That shit would've been dope... I would've been psyched. Hell even Star Trek had kids going outside and doing shit, unlike stuff today. Shows could be almost completely interactive now and all they'll get is a collective 'meh' from children today.

[@supme7558]

​@@roachymart2318it was lame i had it

[@roachymart2318]

@@supme7558 Yea, I had the power Jet and I swear I never knew what was going on, but I was single digit dipshit age where everything was awesome anyway. It would be great if they had a digital counter or something on there. But if it caught on, it would've probably expanded the whole interactive TV thing into other stuff that would've probably been pretty cool.

[@charliepotatoes001]

@@roachymart2318 Image a lifesize Holo-Deck Arch that you could setup anywhere as a backdrop. YES!

[@DevilMaster]

My dad wasn't concerned about the violence in the show, his concerns were far more practical, and I'm surprised you didn't mention them in the video. Back then I had requested a Powerjet XT-7 for my birthday, but my dad shot me down with this simple consideration: "The toys are tied to the show. When the last episode of the show is over, the toys are done for."

[@JayRutley]

Two people could duel each other with them as well

[@joeszymanski3540]

Clearly violence would have never been part of human nature if they just hadn't put out these dang violent shows.😂

[@danielramsey6141]

Kinda sad how most of our Childhood shows got shafted due to Mom’s Just not Understanding that Stuff like this isn’t As Bad on Kids as they Think. I can understand a Parent wanting to protect their child. But There is some seriously Stupid Reasons/Excuses people have used to Justify their Actions!

[@MultiDEE1000]

I agree. If those Romans never had watch TV shows they wouldn’t never created an empire 😂

[@ahoyforsenchou7288]

If only we'd banned guns and violent cartoons, Genghis Khan wouldn't have killed so many people!

[@HattaTHEZulZILLA86]

Suppression creates violence, not violence in itself.

[@JV-un7qw]

I bet those moms were much more violent than any show xD

[@Bacon420]

I was 13 in 88... I told my mom I needed it after seeing all the damn commercials and she bought it. Nobody I know had one. I only had the one gunship and the one VHS tape haha.. our walmart never had others.

[@DangerAmbrose]

I never got to watch this show, I had to go to church.

[@popularscience]

They're all on KZbin, the best time to live 1987 is RIGHT NOW

[@michaelturner2806]

Same. I had two of the toys, which could be used to fire at each other apart from the show, but no one to play with. I had the training mission VHS tape that came with the jet. But for whatever reason, the local TV station thought that 10am on Sunday morning was a great place to put a kid's TV show. I think I managed to watch two episodes total when my dad managed to work the VCR. But two unrelated chunks of a serialized story wasn't the best viewing experience, and I was disappointed that there weren't more interactive scenes.

[@cartoonraccoon2078]

So sorry. For both of those.

[@sboinkthelegday3892]

If I didn't know any better, I'd assume this "Captain Power" is an AI-generated hype campaign for an astroturf thing they invented ten days ago. And I don't.

[@Georg3e]

Poor guy, I feel your pain😅

[@its23skidu]

A great time to be a kid! Fortunately I was able to get a VHS copy of the Captain Power show before it was cancelled. It gave me a few more months of fun.

[@blurglide]

I WAS an 9 year old boy in 1987, and begged my parents for this. Good thing I didn't get it because the show was very short lived. Plus our reception was terrible so I'm sure it would've never worked properly. I loved the idea though. Anyway...later that year i got my first subscription to Popular Science.

[@bandit7519]

i had this and i don t want to rub it in but it was pretty cool and i was 8 in 1987

[@bandit7519]

@@Quest3Games Thundercat's was a good cartoon but wasn t that only a season or 2 its self i find anytime you got a really good cartoon or show its only on for like a season or two then they end it and bring on a 8 season shitty show

[@MothMizzle]

I was 4 and I loved this show. I had all the toys shown in this video. I wish I'd taken better care of them, but I was a kid.

[@25xxfrostxx]

I had bad reception too and it definitely had an effect of the performance.

[@theramplocal]

Same dude, it was so cool at the time, but it also is very forgettable

[@andystandys]

While I never knew anyone who had the toys, nor did I ever get to actually try them out - I definitely remember the advertisements for them AND the show being on TV. And I lived in Canada, without cable television... I didn't think Captain Power was that obscure. (I was born in 1975.)

[@shadowstate552]

I remember Capt. Power, and I had both of the fighter toys and some of the figures. I got them all for Christmas. I knew the show was on TV and then suddenly it wasn't but as a kid I just moved on to some other toy line. I never knew there was such a huge controversy behind it.

[@ezmode5439]

Thank you for investigating so deeply into what happened to Captain Power, I have often mentioned it in general nerdy conversation and nobody knew what that hell I was talking about. I still have a lot of nostalgia for this show even though i only have memories of the toys and training tapes.

[@paradox_himself]

I really enjoy videos like these, it's important to not only hail the victors, but especially the pioneers that may have failed. They may have gotten lost in the woods, but doing so they create the path that those that come after them take to their goal.

[@NeeChee100]

Yes I love how it dovetails in with the Butler in a Box. The people who do things first are to be applauded.

[@TheRealZombieWizard]

The fact that the moms didn’t even watch the show or understand what’s going on speaks volumes about that time period, all they saw was ‘pew pew bang bang’ and was like that’s too violent for children. If you think people were too sensitive today, remember it was considered corn to see an ankle back in the day, which cost 5 cents for 2 minutes for a black and white Pictogram.

[@mrmysterius]

The influence this show had is very interesting indeed...

[@felino86]

Another hidden and forgotten gem. Kevin, thanks for digging out these treasures and providing all the facts and details to put them in context and understand their legacy. I think you did another amazing job, and I was once more completely absorbed by the storytelling. Truly interesting and inspiring, thank you!

[@andiralosh2173]

I'm glad that we got over that marketing drive to make every media franchise appeal to the whole family in a way that really appeals to no one

[@theguybehindyou4762]

Not much has changed, the new stuff goes out of its way to appeal to no one. :/

[@ghostface5559]

yeah now we have baby shark and coco melon. ya happy?

[@blacksheepmiracle1433]

I wanted this as a 9 yr old, for Christmas in 87. Instead, my parents wisely bought me a NES. Glad they didn't listen to me.

[@vonwux]

I guess this never made it across to the UK at any point in its short life? I was the perfect age for this and I suspect 8 year old me would have loved it! Can't imagine the time and effort that went into layering the vfx on tape for each episode, must've been quite the passion project for a lot of the people involved

[@TrevorAWilliams]

I didn't see the toys, but the TV series was shown on one of the Sky channels in the early 1990s or in France. As a child,.my dad worked for British Petroleum so we moved around often. I saw Captain Power in Louisiana in the late 1980s before coming to Europe.

[@lorcannagle]

It was on Super Channel around 88 or 89, the same time they were showing Robotech. A couple of feature length VHS tapes editing together multiple episodes were released as well. The first had the three two-part stories - A Summoning of Thunder. New Order and Retrobution, while the second was Flame Street, War Dogs, The Intruder and I think The Mirror in Darkness was in there as well. Because the first tape included the cliffhanger ending where Pilot sacrificed herself and blew up the Power Base to keep it out of Dread's hands, the back of the box for the second one claimed she escaped at the last minute - so when I saw this in a shop as a kid I thought there were more episodes! It was many years before I managed to get a copy and discovered it was just an edit of earlier episodes.

[@EveryoneLovesIce]

I HAD THE TOY (THE INTERLOCKER) AND USED TO WATCH THIS SHOW EVERY SATURDAY MORNING @ around 11am in Los Angeles. I THOUGHT IT WAS GREAT. I LOVED IT AS A KID!!! I WAS MAD WHEN THE SHOW GOT TAKEN OFF OF AIR.

[@aaronlosey7201]

A very well-done video. I'm a little surprised; it's definitely more of an art history thing than a science thing, but still very interesting. It makes me really want to watch the show now.

[@chris-jonsimmons3098]

This really takes me back. I still have much of my Captain Power toys, even to this day! so few people I talk to knew about it. SO great to see you bringing it all up here! :)

[@westsidetrucker7943]

My brother and i always had opposing forces as kids. I had gi joe, he had cobra. I had autobots, he had decepticons. I had the white jet, he had the black jet. Sauron, the flying bot, was my all time favorite toy. We spent a lot of saturday mornings shooting at the tv, then later at each other because these jets worked like your standard laser tag toy of the day. To us this was just a interactive show. We honestly didnt pay attention to the story line, we just waited for the glowy parts to shoot at.

[@goldean5974]

I adored Captain Power even though I was 14-15 at the time (I even had a few of the toys and did play with them on the TV). I loved the show for its cornball Terminator-ripoff premise and the CGI effects, which were amazing at the time. I was completely unaware of parental backlash, and I was in more danger of getting in trouble watching HBO late at night lol

[@Joeyzoom]

Captain Power is my new Helldivers 2 in game name

[@Datan0de]

I was a teenager when Captain Power came out, and LOVED the show! I had no interest in the toys, but would get up early on Sunday morning just to watch it. I'm a hardcore Terminator fan, so it was right up my alley, but the characters themselves were as compelling as the world. (Not giving any spoilers, but the last episode may be the first time a TV show made me tear up.) The fact that the main hero and main villain had a complex history, with Dread still deeply respecting Jonathan's dad and still clearly retaining some of his humanity was an amazing thing that you wouldn't expect to see in a "kid's show". As an adult, after eBay became a thing and I started having some disposable income, I picked up an XT-7, a Phantom Striker, a few action figures, and the standalone VHS tapes. Nifty, but nothing special nowadays. But I still love the show. I have bootleg rips of the entire series and have rewatched the series a few times. Clunky costumes aside, it holds up very well. I also have a promo photo from the series, with the team in the Power Base, among the art and posters on the wall of the room I'm in right now. It was a massively underrated, owing to trying to exist in two incompatible worlds at once: kid's TV/extended toy commercial and deep sci-fi drama with some sophisticated themes. But I can't imagine that having been done better. If you've seen the treatments for the proposed second and third seasons, it was going to get a lot darker and more complex. By the way, the entire series is here on KZbin and easy to find. If you've never seen it, it's worth checking out. It starts out pretty superficial, but gets more involved as it progresses. And the last episode hits hard.

[@sauceless6666]

it will never cease to amaze me how bad parents will blame ANYTHING but themselves for how their kids act.

[@patfer1189]

One thing not mentioned is that you could play with the toys without the show or 'training videos'. Essentially, and this was indicated in the toys as well, you had a couple of ways of doing this: - If you and your friends each had a PowerJets or Phantom Strikers you could battle each other around the house 'shooting' at each other. Whenever anyone got hit the character in the cockpit would be ejected signifying you lost. This was, in a conceptual way, a home version of Laser Tag. You could use the Power Energizer and Interlocker too but the Power Jet and Phantom Striker were designed to be used as toy guns, which made them more comfortable for this type of play. - On the other hand if you were playing alone and creating your own stories then you could also use the interactive elements by using all the same functions, with the Captain Power character allowing you to use a small flashlight on a hole in the character's back to light up Cap's chest and trigger the toys.

[@PauloSilva-ep9ox]

19:55 - 21:54 - Captain Power was the Dune of your era!!

[@RedSiegfried]

Another thing about the Phantom Striker and Powerjet XT-7 toys ... they could have used some re-engineering to make them a little more durable. Drop either one of them and you were virtually guaranteed to snap off a wing or an outrigger. The PowerJet XT-7 was particularly bad. It's very common for them to have snapped-off outrigger posts or pylons. They should have tried to redesign it so the outriggers were molded as part of the wing and not attached in a way that's easily breakable. And they didn't exactly make it easy to replace the lightbulbs in the ships either, but I suppose they figured the toys wouldn't last long enough for the bulbs to die.

[@tec5x5]

I have the jet and two of the VHS tapes from my childhood still

[@AshC0at-DV8]

That clip when you receive the Wolverine shirt is so wholesome. I can just feel the joy oozing through the screen. Getting gifts as a kid is probably one of the best feelings ever.

[@martinfobert9407]

I was a huge fan of that show. Had both guns and a bunch of action figure. It was way ahead of it's time. Star Trek ripped the whole Borg concept off of Captain Power.

[@Shmey]

My parents had gotten me the big black toy and i think one of my brothers got the XT-7 Power Jet. Mine is potentially in storage, though i haven't seen it in nearly three decades. I do remember getting the point they leaving batteries in toys was bad because they would leak. I know that i would not have left it with batteries in it. We had one of the VHS tapes, as well. Also, you could occasionally get it to trigger hits and damage if you watched regular TV with the toys. The toys also had flashlights incorporated, so you could play the toys against each other sound the house, or maybe even outside at night. I don't remember it being very reliable. My parents never forbade us from watching the show, though they didn't want us watching MTV.

[@groomerkiller3947]

Soccer moms, they hate everything we like.

[@user-fj4en2of7s]

My brothers and I did actually have those. My dad got it for us , eventually he got us a Nintendo and we were hooked.

[@michaelturner2806]

Woah, 21 minutes before the J Michael Straczynski name drop. A lot of other videos I've seen lead with that You fit it into your telling of the narrative week though.

[@oryanstar1010]

I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE THE TAPES GROWING UP AND THE SHIP WITH ONE ACTION FIGURE THE SCALE OF THE SHIP IS PERFECT FOR USING GI JOE'S LATER ON I WAS ABLE TO GET BACK ANOTHER VERSION OF THE SHIP STILL WISH I HAD THE TAPES BUT IT WAS NOT MY CHOICE TO GET RID OF ANYTHING

[@KRONIK3636]

The Soldiers look like Mandolorians!

[@charliepotatoes001]

They recycled the costumes for the bad guys for the show Space: Above and Beyond. You can catch them there too.

[@diegogutierrez87]

Man i saw this "documentary" and this is te kind of stuff i was asking my ex-coworkers on a comic-book website i had for 6 years and that i "powered down" one year ago. This kind of info should be available for more people to find and i am very proud you do an effort to bring it up so well. Congratulations! I also watched the Butler in a box video and it was a great idea but a real mess for electricians and setup looked like hell!

[@0takudad]

I'm from the Philippines and I watched this during my childhood and actually enjoyed the show. I looked forward to each episode airing every Saturday. I never got the guns / jets though as we could not afford it. But even without it, I enjoyed it greatly.

[@danielsooba7847]

I was 6 when this came out... I feel old now.

[@jonasga]

Studio execs made a bunch of pie in the sky plans without getting an accurate picture of the capabilities of light gun tech of the time. Snowballed into a disaster, it happens.

[@supme7558]

Thank you

[@samuelmeasa9283]

Captain Power aired where I lived in Kentucky on an independent channel out of Louisville at 5:00PM. Same time my parents had us sitting down for dinner.

[@kaijupredator4063]

I'm originally from Louisville, Kentucky as well and I remember it airing on WDRB 41 or perhaps WBNA 21 but then it kept changing time slots and eventually went off the air. I had to actually catch some of the episodes in Spanish on Univision the cable channel 😂. It was very hard to track down back in the day.

[@samuelmeasa9283]

@@kaijupredator4063 It was WBNA 21.

[@c.jishnu378]

Commenting so you get recommended by KZbin.

[@doctordistracto8390]

Oh wow, my brother, sister, and I had these. Something I don't think you mentioned in the vid, the toys not only interacted with the TV but could score hits on each other too. So even when the show went off mom was not safe from us beeping and booping around all night and launching Captain Powers out of their cockpits all over the house. I do remember being bummed out by some episodes because sometimes it felt like all of the interactivity was in the beginning and the rest of the time you're kind of just holding the gun for no reason. We'd get bored and start shooting each other's ships instead.

[@Timetoeat_313]

I had the spaceship. I would shoot at the screen during the whole episode. It never worked. 😆 now I know why. Great episode!

[@Malidictus]

I watched Captain Planet as a kid somewhere in the 90s, though I don't remember much. I thought it was AWESOME at the time, but then didn't hear much about it afterward. Learning that it faced the same backlash that SWAT Kats did (being "too violent") makes me sad, because that's another really radical show - they were the "Radical Squadron", after all. I didn't really know the show was this influential. Glad to hear that at least some high-concept works leave a legacy.

[@mattwolf7698]

Also conservatives hated the show because it showed environmentalism and showed corporations polluting the planet.

[@phillbosque2183]

Awesome video! Thank you! I have fond memories of watching my cousins play this in the late 80s and thinking this is the coolest thing imaginable.

[@travisbeem9906]

I remember being a Captain Power fanatic. Then it all just went away. I have always been an action figure guy. Vehicles were something I could care less about and made for great storage for action figures. Captain Power broke that. Even MASK couldn't break that. Captain Power needs to be dusted off and brought back to life. I'm looking at you Ryan Reynolds.

[@armoredjoey]

Those same angry moms just about killed dungeons and dragons back then and I remember even in the early 2000's people were still calling it satanic worship. Today the franchise is one of the most successful of the modern day.

[@avengersprime5431]

Not for much longer. Wokeness is slowly killing it.

[@darklelouchg8505]

@avengersprime5431 Ah yes,the magical combat wheelchair and wheelchair accessible dungeons BS. Give me 3.X supplemented with Pathfinder any day.

[@nilus2k]

I had Captain Power toys and watched the show. It was cool as hell

[@bingo5694]

I think the "bridge too far" for 80's toys was stuff like Rambo. The movies (especially the 1st) were VERY much for adults but still that somehow steamrolled into gobs of toys and video games. Robocop too, though to a much lesser extent. Ultra-violent movies that somehow translated into action figures. The only one my mom was ever concerned with was Dungeons and Dragons; because THAT was satanic lol

[@Babbleplay]

The commercials should have gotten a mention, if they did, I missed it. They were a great idea; commercial started off mundane, a housewife talking about cake mix, or whatever, then the ad distorted, and the broadcast was 'taken over' by one of the soldiers who was jamming the signal to get out a plea for help.

[@zuzkazuzka8284]

Yep great stuff. 7 years old me would definitely believe that message from Cp. Power. Unfortunately not being in US and catching it up at a later age did not bring up any toys or commercials with it.

[@Babbleplay]

@@zuzkazuzka8284 Just as well; they were kind of unreliable. My brother and I each had one, and it was very hit or miss if they worked. As evidence, I offer up the fact that in the years to follow, there were no imitator toys, and even the originals faded into obscurity.

[@zuzkazuzka8284]

@@Babbleplay I’m just pointing out that the commercial itself (not the toys) is cool in itself even to my now adult eyes. To bad it wasn’t included in this piece about Cp. Power. Back then if they used that with reruns in my county l’d gone bonkers.

[@gipadonimus]

I always hoped in my lifetime that some cool interactive television/movie gimmick would take off, at least long enough for me to experience it before falling into obscurity as most similar gimmicks have. I'd always stare at the "angle" button on the dvd remote and try it on different movies but never see it do much other than switch to directors cuts of movies. Just seeing the word angle made me imagine if a movie really was shot in multiple angles, to which the viewer could switch between by preference. This would be a very gimmicky gimmick that honestly isn't necessary at all but kid me wanted to see it happen so bad. Especially the idea of switching between first person and third person views, making the same movie but through different angles. I swear, if even one movie had tried doing that while only managed to make a good traditionally shot movie, I'd still have appreciate someone trying the concept while we had that angle button on remotes.

[@PalmettoNDN]

I had one. I loved it. I also used to cheat against my brother's sometimes because the Panasonic VCR we had showed "PLAYING" in the same orange color as the hot boxes. They never figured it out. Also at the time my dad was a captain in the US Army so I imagined him as some kind of superhero like Captain Power. RIP, dad. You were and are that superhero ❤

[@jimwoodswrites]

How was this toy hated but Nintendo had the zapper with Hogan's Alley and Duck Hunt years before it?

[@cosmicwartoad2587]

There was no more violence in a Captain Power episode than there was in of family action shows at the time.

[@dbackscott]

I had three of the captain power toys back in the day. I tried watching the TV show, but got bored with it. My mom didn’t care about the violence on TV angle. Also, we had a ceiling fan with a recessed can light right above it. Apparently the fan on medium speed was created a flashing light pattern close enough that it triggered the “hit by enemy fire” routine.

[@MEMETV1]

This guy is a FANTASTIC story teller. This is the second video I've seen from him and they are fantastic!

[@ChristopheJOUAN-qd3xu]

I live in France and we were able to discover "Captain Power" through the "La 5 (The 5th)" TV channel which was the first private TV company in France. I wasn't really interested by the Captain Power's line of toys but by the dark story of the series itself with its war against the machines. I was quite surprised by the very unusual mix between live-action, special effects, futuristic design, CGIs, and interactivity. The series was short lived in France, but still let its trace in the popular culture of this era because of its very unusual structure and design. Thank you very much for your video who tells AT LAST the story behind this very mysterious SF series! 🤩💯👍

[@jean-francoisjoanisse1445]

Probably the greatest throwback video on the series. I LOVE Captain Power. One of the best shows I ever warched. Thanks for that. It was a great homage to it.

[@matchc0635]

>one million per 30 min action show Modern television show could never

[@theonetruemorty4078]

I was 10 in 1987 and I don't remember any of this. Great video.

[@sethcarson5212]

WAIT A SECOND 14:57 Klingons for Kristmas? What the hell is this? I simply must know. Please dig into that some day.

[@nomakewan]

I actually had an XT-7 as a kid (missing the canopy, the battery compartment cover, and the wing guns) and never had a clue what it was. I knew that the presence of buttons and a switch meant I must've been missing out on something electronic, and that the design of the engine nacelles probably meant it had some sort of interactivity (though as kid I didn't know if it was for laser tag or shooting at a screen). Heck, I don't even remember how I ended up with it. Very cool video, thanks for shedding light on a part of my childhood!

[@Quakerman14]

My parents got this for my brother and I. It never worked but we loooooved it. We still look back on this fondly.

[@TJTruth]

that was one of my big chrismas gifts when I was a kid, I was so excited! I begged every day for it. It was one of those gifts that got used once by a extremely disappointed kid! still looked cool I loved the gold suit the good guy wore. I still remember the excitement when I saw this video.

[@zhalberd]

The writing for this channel is strong

[@KaneAndTheHumanRace]

I remember asking my dad why the commercials always looked like so much more fun than they actually were and he pointed out that on the commercials they always had these great back yards set up like a play set, with rivers, sand, ravines and so forth all scaled the toy.

[@3dpprofessor]

There was a lot of toy lines and shows that had amazing talent and enormous backing behind it and still flopped. Because no one knows what will and won't be a success. So it makes sense to throw your best behind everything, just in case it beats the odds and rises above. Captain Power proved that there is no guarantee.

[@marine429]

For years I've been trying to remember what this toy was that my mom and dad bought for me from Service Merchandise. Thank you finally revealing to me what it was, I had the black one

[@biscuitsalive]

I vividly remember the ads. But HAD forgotten about it till now! Thanks.

[@LordDemonos]

All these years I thought I had made up the memories of holding a toy jet and shooting my tv. This video was so incredibly interesting to me, thank you!

[@ItsEyeNTait]

I remember watching this with my cousins once at my grandparent's house. There was a scene where one of the good guys, Captain Power himself I believe, had been captured by the bad guys and was being interrogated and slapped. When my grandfather saw this he went ballistic and started shouting and cursing about how could we watch and enjoy such a show. My grandmother had to come in the room and calm him down. He'd fought in WWII and I think he was a POW at one point, so this scene obviously triggered something for him, but it was something we had trouble fully understanding at that young age.

[@argentlupin]

Thank You for this video.I had the jet growing up loved it. I may have seen an episode or two i even may have had the first vhs but this product was a flash in the pan as a child still loved though. the point about each station and no set day and time but also stations could out right ban it from showing. the fact it should have been two programs the live action adult show and an animated like the vhs for the kids. the crazy moms and censorship laws and all that nuts did not help and is a constant problem. thank you again keep making these mind blowing vids.

[@davidclifton4394]

captain power was similar to laser tag. Then Nintendo NES came down and took over the world.

[@treestuffer]

Oh man, now I know where the design inspiration for the Pyro-GX from Descent came from. Not sure how I feel about this

[@theHerathrig]

No way the ship from descent came from captain power? I don’t believe it.

[@treestuffer]

@@theHerathrigsearch your feelings, (and look at the parts of the video where they show the ship) you know it to be true