The Futuristic Toy Moms HATED (Captain Power)

The 80s may have been the golden age for both toys and kids' TV. He Man, Thundercats, GI Joe... it was the best time in history for action and action figures. Mattel had a grand idea to combine the two into one experience: Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future would not only present a futuristic drama, but also allow the kids watching the show to participate in real-time with interactive toys.
At least... that was the idea.
The reality of Captain Power was a disastrous mismatch of concepts for the Captain Power toys and the show itself. Was the show made for kids or adults? Yes! Was it CGI or live action? Yes! Were the toys awesome, interfacing seamlessly with a television show that would be the next big thing for giant toy-maker Mattel?
No -- a resounding no.
Our Captain Power documentary enters the worlds of retro gaming, 80's toys, and television lore to find out what went so wrong... and what ended up going very, very right.
Special thanks to Captain Disillusion, German Banda, Tom Lieber and Peter Paltridge.
#RetroGaming #80s #Science #technology

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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”?

[@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.

[@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.

[@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!

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@user-vf4ib6yf2r]

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.

[@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!

[@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.

[@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.

[@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!

[@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!

[@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😅

[@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.

[@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

[@Quest3Games]

There weren't enough Captain Power toys and the tv show was way too short lived compared to something like G.I. Joe, Transformers or Thundercats which seemed to go on and on.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@seradhe1389]

This show sits firmly in a list of fond childhood memories. My Dad bought my brothers and I a ship each and the VHS tapes, and we spent hours playing with them.

[@PauloSilva-ep9ox]

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

[@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! :)

[@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.

[@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?

[@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 !

[@ITJon]

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

[@mrmysterius]

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

[@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.

[@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!

[@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! 🤩💯👍

[@tec5x5]

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

[@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.

[@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?

[@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

[@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.)

[@Joeyzoom]

Captain Power is my new Helldivers 2 in game name

[@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.

[@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.

[@Fujib4g4]

It's like the 3D elements in movies. Wear the 3D glasses the whole movie, only have a five minute flying sequence that relied on the 3D glasses.

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@groomerkiller3947]

Soccer moms, they hate everything we like.

[@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.

[@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!

[@michaelstrickland9662]

I remember this, I think it used to air on MTV on a Sunday afternoon in the UK, I was obsessed, although I never knew about the toys :( Great video, brought back loads of memories!

[@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.

[@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.

[@jamesstraus7767]

Wow this is some bonkers level insanity. As someone whose first memories are playing NES games as a 2 year old, I think I somehow completely missed this growing up and this such a fascinating subject to suddenly discover! Thank you for making amazing videos like this!!!!

[@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!

[@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.

[@BangladeshTheBest]

This is good

[@d5kenn]

This was a great story. I saw the thumbnail and IMMEDIATELY had to check it out. I remember the show! I always wanted the jet toy with one engine that was some kind of NES Zapper-like photoreceptor. Remember that? We were already shooting toy guns at the TV! I never got the toy, and just have vague memories of the show (I remember the chrome CG enemies with the glowing chest plates), it really was gone in a heartbeat. But damn. Like Laser Tag and a few other things, it was really a part of my childhood even though it was fleeting.

[@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.

[@AdamFrantz]

Not taking away from the great information provided. There are also a ton of common threads and themes between this and the animated series "Centurions" that Wikipedia says premiered at least a year prior to Captain Power. Cyborg bad guy, crack team of people in suits that get boosted by weapon systems to help fight bad guys. the team made of specialists that focus on land sea and air with a support specialist as well. I remember seeing captain power reruns back in the day and thinking it was a live action remake.

[@c.jishnu378]

Commenting so you get recommended by KZbin.

[@kennethpaulcalangi4122]

it's a good thing I stumbled into this channel. This video made me recall the times when I did watched this TV Show. which I've almost forgotten... It would be nice to really do a remake of Captain Powers

[@CodyRushDriving]

I got a Captain Power lunchbox back in the 80s and I still have it on my shelf. I never got the interactive toys (mom wouldn't let me lol...) but I'm glad I have a piece of the show from back then.

[@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.

[@IndigoSpaceman]

I had one of these when I was young. I loved it. I never actually watched the show and just played the video it came with. I always wished there were more videos and wondered why no one else seemed to know what it was.

[@rolfathan]

I was given a figure of the CG bird guy when I was a kid in the 90s. I had no idea what it was from until seeing this video now. Haha Thanks for explaining it.

[@saber4793]

I remember this show, I had a few toys and VHS, thank you for awakening this memories

[@reedsegovia4283]

I needed to see this... Been a fan of since it aired and within the past few years of learning about the technology behind the toys & TV. I've regained my overall appreciation for this show. 🎉 Thanks.🤓🤘

[@MrWhitman]

My brother, cousin, and I each got one of the jets and the VHS tape. We had great fun with it ONCE. That was during the Christmas we actually got them. After that, the batteries died and my parents, at least, didn't spring for new ones. Not that the VHS tape was often used, but we used them against each other (the planes were designed to "fight" one another). The most violence that came from it was my younger brother angrily attacking me when I started firing on his plane before he had it on his wrist. To be fair, he kept telling me to stop and I wouldn't listen. What we didn't like about it was that putting the pilot into the plane was difficult. Still great nostalgia.

[@lamaze2295]

I was so excited whenI got one of those toys for my Bday and a VHS. Had so much fun on Sundays watching the show partaking in the action.

[@CarletonTorpin]

This was a great discovery! Both the video and the channel. :)

[@davidgrindle1435]

THIS was my childhood! I loved this with the VHS and shooting my tv so cool. I consider myself lucky by the sounds of it haha

[@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

[@Tait-z5n]

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.

[@skree_fpv436]

I was ten years old when I started seeing the commercials on TV for the Captain Power toys. I wanted them so badly. I remember thinking it was amazing that the toys could interact with a TV show. I never did get toys and none of my friends had them. I don't remember ever even seeing the show at the time either. About a year later I went to a birthday party for a kid in my class. In his playroom I spotted the Powerjet. He had one of the tapes, popped it in the VCR and let me try it. I remember feeling a bit let down. It wasn't as awesome as I thought it would be.

[@zaphodthenth]

I had the toy ship and used them with my Captain Power video tapes. And I over the years I tracked down and bought the still- working toys. THEN I set out to recreate the flashing light targets using modern electronic components, and succeeded.

[@Slaughter-Bunny]

I absolutely had these when I was a kid, I had completely forgotten about them till I came across the video!

[@disciplebill]

Loved it. A couple neighborhood friends and I had toys. I had the phantom striker. Reminded me of the SR-71 Blackbird, so I loved it even more.

[@kenmarsiglia1254]

This brings back some memories! My brother and I both got this for Christmas when they came out

[@nicholasyoung2867]

I remember Captain Power. I had the 2 jets. I still remember the opening bit of the live action VHS that came with them. I don't remember this show particularly being the target of the parent groups, but that definitely was a big thing back in the 80s.

[@Yourmission9]

I was born in the early 80’s we were the last generation of free range go out all day just be home for dinner children. Such a cool toy described here, we were at peak engineering with the technology we had available around us and this extended to toys too. Though my main toys centered around hot wheels, micro machines, and legos, this would’ve been a cool addition

[@MEMETV1]

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

[@acamilop]

I worked at Kay we toys and bought one of these sets. Never knew it was a show. My guy wouldn’t really eject. Never knew the backstory- great video

[@1sillymoogle]

I still have two of the interactive toys and remember recording the shows on VHS. Looking at this, I can see what might have drawn me to the 3D vfx world I’m presently trying to get into.

[@gi_nattak]

I had a captain power lunchbox and thermos in preschool, I loved them and the artwork, but had no idea of the shows existence.

[@jettesides420]

This was very poetic. I loved the show and the toys/tapes. Took me 20 years to remember the name. Its not lost media if someone still remembers it. Also, Dead Space clearly nods to the shows costumes as well.

[@KR4Qep]

i had one of these and it was completely wiped from my memory bank until coming across this video. i don't remember how old i was, but i was born in 81 so maybe 6? it was a gift from my grandma. i remember a handful of things. the box was really cool. like opening the presents and seeing the box made me excited. then i remember a line on the tape "they're lighting up like a christmas tree". that's it, that's all i remember. the box being cool and one line from the tape. i think my episode was a mix between command and conqure style cutscenes and death star scene squirmishes

[@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.

[@richard8808]

Holy crap, I had forgotten about this toy. I loved this as a kid. I was always surprised that home video games didn't continue the shoot-the-screen genre.

[@zloki83]

You answered a question I've forgotten about for decades! A friend in elementary school had the "Power On Energizer". I've always wondered what that thing was from.

[@oninteam2477]

I loved this show and the toys as a kid!! Thanks for this trip back to my childhood!

[@pryordvm]

I vividly remember seeing commercials for Captain Power when I was a kid, but I think they aired it in some graveyard timeslot because I never actually caught an episode. I never knew it had such an impressive pedigree!

[@allenharper2928]

Man i had 'em all. Power Jet XT-7, the Phantom Striker BioDread fighter, the Interlocker Throne... Wore those tapes out i played it so much, especially the third one lol

[@osuuma6935]

I was fascinated by the potential of this technology, and bought an Interlocker just to play with it. Instead of tones, it had a digital counter to track your score. As I recall, there were three opportunities for interactivity in each episode. During the first 5 minutes there was a battle to set the plot of the episode. Later around the midpoint there was another battle, to build suspense. And finally the closing credits had a Star Wars trench run-esque sequence that was surprisingly fun. Watching an episode, that was very much adult-oriented with dark themes, you could clearly see J Michael Strazinski's style that would be very evident in Babylon 5.

[@logikx1325]

I got the interlocker and the first VHS for Christmas when I was a kid. I still remember being underwhelmed with it compared to Duck Hunt which I got at the same time.... Despite that, I do remember it fondly since my Dad did help me put the stickers on it....

[@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.

[@Lolindir_Fox]

omg I think it was either my friend or I that had one of those power jets and I think I remembered the phantom striker too! I have faint memories of this and I believe there was a switch to where you could play VS against each other? and it was a standalone mode, I remember the ejecting cockpit.

[@ninedragons1]

I had a Powerjet and my cousins also got Powerjets and Phantom Strikers. We played in a dark room together lighting it up with laser fire. It was so much.

[@MarkxTube]

Ha, thanks for the flashback! I had this as a kid and it was so much fun. Never knew there was a show, just had one of the vhs tapes.

[@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.

[@StephenPhillips-te8yv]

Loved these toys. The Captain Power shoe was so ahead of its time. It was too good for Saturday mornings.

[@msk0036]

Thank you for this video, it is very informative and fun to watch! I was doing a toy design school project and I whish I have seen this video earlier, it inspired me a lot!

[@cosmicwartoad2587]

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