Captain Power Phoenix Rising in need help.

Right now there are two types of people reading this article.  Those of you going “What the hell is Captain Power?” And others who are feeling a rush of excitement and declaring “It’s about fucking time!”

For the first group, allow me to explain.

Captain Power and the Solider of the Future was a live action kids sci-fi show that ran from 1987-88 before going into syndication on different networks throughout the 90’s.  Anyone growing up in Canada during that time may remember it appearing in prime time on YTV back in day.  Like many kids shows of the time Captain Power was meant to help promote a line of toys, the gimmick for these ones being that certain toys allowed kids to interact with the action on screen, shooting at bright neon targets on the enemy soldiers and being able to be shot at by them.  How well it worked is up for debate but it was a pretty cool thing at the time.

What really set Captain Power apart from other kids shows at the time was it’s story, set in a post apocalyptic world in which humanity has been hunted to the point of near extinction by machines and a small band of soldiers must fight back against them using highly advanced suits of armor and weapons.  In some ways it was Terminator meets Power Rangers, but this was years before Power Rangers reached US shores.  The show was written as much for the parents watching the show with the kids as it was the kids, intrigue, romance, innuendo and at least one implied instance of sex were all present in the show along with, what even today, is considered some harsh language for kids shows and had world building elements that drew inspiration from Nazi Germany.  And it all ends with a tragic and heroic death for one of the core characters.   These surprisingly complex stories can be credited to series head writer J. Micheal Straczynski, the same man who would go on to create Babylon 5.

The series was also ground breaking in that it was the first of it’s kind to integrate computer animated characters with live actors.

You may laugh now. But to a four year old in 1988 this was nightmare fuel.

The show never really found its foothold.  Considered too dark by many parents for their children to watch, and too childish for adults.  And with a budget exceeding $1 millon per episode, something unheard of at them, the show was canceled after one season.

Ok, now that I am done with being a fanboy and telling everyone how awesome this show was, let me get to the point.  In 2011 the series was released on DVDs, and fans, as you can imagine, went nuts for it, the response was so great that talks began to circulate amounts the series creators and copyright holders of bringing it back, a full reboot as a one hour long sci-fi TV drama.

That was four years ago.  Since then the series has been stuck in development hell.  A recent blog post on the series’ official website outlined the numerous problems the reboot, now titled Phoenix Rising, has been going through.  Chief among those troubles being one Hollywood talent agency they had been dealing with were more interesting in scrapping the entire existing crew for the series and replacing them with their own clients to make money than they were in actually getting the show on the air.

Which brings us to the point of all this.  Phoenix Rising is in peril and the time has come for the fans to step in and lend a hand.  Spread the word, buy the DVDs if you haven’t already.  If fandom has taught us anything in the last decade it’s that we, as geeks, can help the things we love do the impossible.  If a show like Firefly, which failed during its TV run is able to generate enough revenue in DVD sales to get a movie made, then why can’t Captain Power get another chance on the airwaves?  If Adi Shankar’s dark and gritty Power Rangers fanfilm, something he recently admitted was a parody, can garner so much love from fans, why can’t we try and support something from our childhood that was mature before its time?

If you weren’t a fan before and reading this peeked your interest in the show, find the DVDs, they’re going for pretty cheap right now.

Power On!