Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future – a failed attempt at interactive television

I don’t know what it is about science fiction shows that causes their fans to go absolutely nuts when the show’s low ratings doom it to cancellation. The networks put the program in a bad timeslot, they cry. The story was just getting good, they moan. We at least deserve a full-length movie to wrap up the loose ends, they beg.

Now there are shows that have gone from cancellation to rebirth, either as sequel television shows and movies (the Star Trek franchise), as a theatrical movie (Firefly / Serenity), or as a series of TV movies (the Alien Nation series). For some fans, that’s good. For others, it isn’t enough.

But for me, there was one science fiction show that never got the respect it deserved. And its attempt at a serious, thought-provoking drama, an effort that could be appreciated by genre enthusiasts, was thwarted by an associated partnership that ruined any credibility the show could ever generate.

Follow along with me.

In 1987, a syndicated science fiction television show premiered, called “Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future.” Here’s a clip of the opening credits.

The plotline went something like this. Captain Jonathan Power and his band of future freedom fighters are attempting to stop the insurgence of Lord Dread and his digitized bio-electric soldiers. Whether or not Skynet was involved in this show is a moot point.

The show featured several deep concepts and themes for a children’s show, including ethnic cleansing, dystopia, religious intolerance and – at the end of the show’s first season – the death of one of the major characters. The show featured input form several top-notch science fiction writers of the time, including J. Michael Straczynski, whose credits include Babylon 5 and the 1980s Twilight Zone series.

I really enjoyed the show; it used to air on WPIX-11, the New York City independent station that was part of Capitol Cablevision’s block of imported TV stations (they also had WWOR-9 from New York City, as well as WSBK-38 from Boston).

But the show itself was married to the Mattel Toy Company, who wanted to use Captain Power as a launchpad for a new line of interactive toys. During certain moments in the TV show, kids could get their Captain Power Powerjet XT-7, place the Captain Power figurine in the cockpit, and start shooting invisible beams of light at the television show – while the TV show, in turn, could fire beams back at the viewer!

Here’s a commercial for the toys.

Essentially if you were more accurate than the TV set, you would win the game; if you, however, were less accurate, your Powerjet XT-7 would emit a sour beep and your Captain Power figurine would be automatically ejected from the cockpit. Basically, all you had to do was shoot at the digital “snow” on a character’s chest or in the exhaust fire of a spaceship’s engine to score points – it was the same digital “snow” that appears on a non-broadcasting television station (this was back in ancient times, you know, B.C. – Before Cable). Heck, you could even register points on your Powerjet XT-7 by shooting at a household lamp.

Captain Power lasted for 22 episodes, but the show could not survive past its first season. Parents griped that the shows were too violent for children; science-fiction buffs complained that any time the series got to an important part of the storyline, the show had to stop for three minutes of interactive home viewer-versus-TV screen action. And children’s television watchdog groups cried foul that the show itself could only be watched if someone bought expensive toys to use with the program – essentially arguing that the entire Captain Power series was simply a 30-minute Mattel toy commercial. Television shows based on toy properties are nothing new – heck, there was a Hot Wheels cartoon series in the 1960’s – but when you’ve got a show that encourages kids to purchase electronic guns and shoot them at the TV screen, while at the same time avoiding electronic light-bullets flying back at you – that was another story entirely.

There were plans for a second 18-episode season of Captain Power, but the cost of producing the show – combined with its low ratings, as some stations scheduled the program for 6:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning – meant that the second season never got past the script stage.

Some of Captain Power’s early episodes survive on VHS tapes, as well as three animated VHS “training” episodes designed specifically for use with the Captain Power toy figurines. The figurines can run from $5 to $10 if still mounted on their display cards; the various interactive toys, such as the Powerjet XT-7, can be found mint in box for $20-$30. There’s even a tribute website devoted to the history of the show and the hopes of actually bringing the series back to television at some point.

Even though the show is over 25 years old, there are still fans who want either a wrap-up movie or another season or something.

Anything.