Thursday, January 14, 2010

Know What's Cooler Than 80's Cartoons? Nothing.

So I was reading Interworld, which is a MG book by Neil Gaiman (I lurve you Neil) and Michael Reaves.

And while we're on it, I read the author bios and after a bit of blah blah blah for Michael Reeves I got to this little part:

"His screenwriting credits include two animated Batman features, an HBO original movie, and a dark version of Captain Planet for the Turner Network."

I'm going to let you read that again. Don't worry, I'll wait.

I know, right? A dark version of Captain Planet? Why the heck haven't I ever heard about this?!

If anyone knows anything about this, I want you to speak up.

I checked him out on IMDB, and while Batman is cool, you know what's even cooler? All the Gargoyle episodes he wrote! (and it's like, all of them...). That's way cooler than "an HBO movie". Also an episode of Peter Pan and the Pirates? Top-notch. And let's not forget the He-Man, Jem (of which I hear they are making into a movie...), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Real Ghost Busters episodes he wrote. This man is like an ode to the 80s.

OK so on IMDB the only thing that really looks like it might be a dark version of Captain Planet is this Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future. Here's what it says about it:

Earth, the 22nd century. The aftermath of the Metal Wars, which led to the subjugation of humanity by intelligent machines. A small unit of human soldiers, survivors of the Metal Wars, lead an underground resistance against the activities of the evil Lord Dread and his monstrous creations, Bio-Dreads, designed to hunt down human survivors and digitise them.


sounds a bit like judgement day, but it does not look like it...



Hmm. OK. Where's the Wind, Fire, Earth and Water Powers? Oh and Heart I guess. We mustn't forget Heart... (in case you can't tell I'm rolling my eyes).

What does all of this have to do with writing? Well nothing, really. I have another post about Interworld coming up. I was just distracted by this possibility of a dark version of Captain Planet. I'll have to see if I can Netflix it. Because there's only two possibilities here:

It's terrible.
It's more awesome than we can imagine...

9 comments:

Anne said...

Does anyone else think that chick on the left looks like a douche?

And how is that ANYthing like Captain Planet, except for the fact that there's 5 of them and 2 of them are chicks, and they fight against some sort of badguy? Is the group racially diverse? It's hard to tell since 2 of them are wearing full facemasks (or are robots- which sounds unlikely given the plot).

God i lurve 80s cartoons. Now to find the voltron-like cartoon that has the spanking episode
-Twin

Austin Gorton said...

Frankly, I can think of no way in which Captain Power is related to Captain Planet, aside from the obvious: the initials "CP", they were a show, on TV, etc.

Captain Power was a short lived experiment with interactive TV. Kids would buy the toys and they'd come with a video. The video was an episode of the show, but if you pointed the vehicle you just bought at the screen and fired the vehicle's little toy missiles, you'd see explosions on the screen as a result. And then a bad guy on the screen would shoot back, and the pilot of the vehicle would get ejected.

Or something like that. I only ever had a few of the GI Joe-sized action figures (which were pretty cool; they were almost as poseable as the Joes, and had neat vacuum-formed metallic armor, which made them seem heftier and fancier), and never any of the interactive vehicles.

IIRC, the gimmick was pretty short lived (and pointless) so the property died a relatively quick death.

Two other notes:
1. A darker Captain Planet could be very awesome (though one could argue that's what Avatar is).

2. You're right; there is nothing cooler than 80s cartoons. Damn, we were lucky kids...

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

Hm, a dark version of Captain Planet??? Methinks they put that in there just to distract you. OR maybe, it was so bad that they actually dropped it from his IMDB record?

Or, if you're lucky, it hasn't come out yet...hmmm, possible?

Love the steampunk hat, by the way.

Hannah said...

Michael Reaves
Writer Michael Reaves reimagined the Captain Planet concept in a script he wrote for a theatrical movie in 1997, entitled "Planet" or "Dark Planet". The script was darker than the series, and set in a post-apocalyptic time period. The script was met with acceptance, but "got lost in the shuffle when Turner and Warner Bros. merged".[5][6]

Found this on Wikipedia, looks like it was never made? That's sad. I would love to read the script though!

I'm excited and titilated.

Yes! The 80s were the BEST time to be a kid!

Sarah Ahiers said...

What the hell? If it was never made, then i don't think he should be putting in the Bio!!

Why didn't he just use his other awesome credits?

Sigh.

Thanks everyone.

Eva said...

I posted a comment but then it deleted it. I think I am technically challenged today. Anyway, what I said was, with any luck the dark Captain Planet could be so terrible its awesome. The best of both worlds.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Eva - Exactly! That would just be the icing on the cake!

Hannah said...

2 questions: first, how was Interworld?? second, Do you follow Neil Gaiman's Journal??

You should.

Seacrest Out!

Sarah Ahiers said...

Interworld was OK - it's MG so, you know. i kept thinking about how great it would have been as a full length adult novel.
I do not, though i should if i actually consider myself a fan...

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