Saturday 31 May 2014

Albert the 5th Musketeer

Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan... and Albert? Yep, it's Albert the 5th Musketeer!


It centres around the antics of Albert (pronounce 'Al-Bear') de Parmagnan, a new member of the Musketeers (the series takes place after the Siege of La Rochelle, and therefore after D'Artagnan has become a musketeer, but before Milady's death). While the other four musketeers are portrayed as bumbling and incompetent, Albert is quick-witted and clever, creating many inventions to get the others out of trouble. He and the other Musketeers have adventures as they fight with the guards of Cardinal Richelieu and attempt to thwart his plans to take over France.

Friday 30 May 2014

Dexter's Laboratory

Genius has to start somewhere, in this instance, it's in a little boy's secret lab, it's Dexter's Laboratory!!


The series revolves around Dexter, a boy-genius with a secret laboratory filled with highly advanced equipment hidden behind a bookcase in his bedroom. Access to the laboratory is achieved by speaking various passwords or by activating hidden switches on his bookshelf (e.g. pulling out a specific book). Though highly intelligent, Dexter often fails at what he has set out to do when he becomes overexcited and makes careless choices. He manages to keep the lab a secret from his clueless, cheerful parents, who never notice any evidence of the laboratory.
Dexter is frequently in conflict with his hyperactive older sister, Dee Dee, as well as a rival boy-genius from his school named Susan "Mandark" Astronomonov. In spite of Dexter's advanced technology, Dee Dee eludes all manner of security and, once inside, delights in playing in his laboratory, often wreaking havoc with his inventions. Though usually destructive, Dee Dee occasionally outsmarts her brother and even gives him helpful advice. For his part, Dexter, though annoyed by his intrusive sibling, feels a reluctant affection for her and will come to her defense if she is imperiled. Mandark, Dexter's nemesis, also has his own laboratory, but his schemes are generally evil and designed to gain power while downplaying or destroying Dexter's accomplishments.

Thursday 29 May 2014

Captain Power

A futuristic action adventure show for you now with Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future!


By the year 2132, advanced robotic soldiers known as "Bio-Mechs" had replaced humans in the armed forces of the world's nations. The existence of Bio-Mechs meant that wars could be fought without significant loss of life, allowing turning war into a nearly harmless battle between machines. A group of scientists, led by Dr. Stuart Gordon Power, had begun working on an advanced supercomputer, called OverMind, capable of overriding the control systems which the world's armed forces used to operate the Bio-Mechs, and thus stop them, bringing an end to war. It required an equivalent to human brain patterns to become operational. But Dr. Power's closest associate, Dr. Lyman Taggart, became impatient with the slow pace of the project and hooked himself up to the system, bringing the supercomputer to operational status.
With the new opportunities offered by the human-machine combination, Taggart becomes obsessed with the precision and "perfection" of machines and convinces himself that merging human consciousness with mechanical bodies is the next step in human evolution. OverMind achieves self-awareness and shares Taggart's beliefs as they take over Bio-Mech armies throughout the world and attack humanity in a conflict known as the Metal Wars.
World governments turn to Dr. Power for find a way to stop Taggart. He develops the "Power Suits," a combination of exoskeletal body armor and advanced weapons and prepares a number of prototypes for testing. However, Power dies trying to rescue his son Jonathan from Taggart. Taggart himself is severely wounded, and OverMind saves him by implanting cybernetic mechanisms into his body, eventually calling himself Lord Dread.
By 2147, 15 years after the Metal Wars broke out, humanity had been largely annihilated by Lord Dread's forces, and those who survive live miserable existences in hiding lest they be discovered by Bio-Mechs and "digitized" as virtual beings within OverMind. Advanced Bio-Mechs called Bio-Dreads and humans loyal to Dread carry out the extermination, as Dread rules from his headquarters in Volcania, somewhere in North America.
Despite the dire situation, a number of human forces band together and fight the Bio-Dread Empire. One of the leading human resistance groups, Jonathan Power's "Power Team," uses his father's Power Suits to mount attacks on Bio-Dread forces. They stage out of the "Power Base," an abandoned NORAD installation in the Rocky Mountains, and are guided by a supercomputer programmed with Mentor, an artificial intelligence whom Dr. Power designed in his own image and voice to guide his son and the group.

Wednesday 28 May 2014

Once Upon a Time... Man

It's a tricky medium, educational children's programming, but here's one show they got right. Once Upon a Time... Man!





Originally called "Il Etait Une Fois L'homme", this animated series was produced byFrench director Albert Barille in 1978. The series set out to inform children & adults of how the Earth first came into existence and then how life evolved to the present day and then a brief glimpse of what the future may hold for us.

Tuesday 27 May 2014

Creepy Crawlies

Today we have another mostly forgotten Cosgrove Hall production, Creepy Crawlies!


And so another bright new day dawns upon the home of the Creepy Crawlies. Mr Harrison the snooty snail, Suppose the lowly red-nosed worm, Ariadne the spider, the irksome woodlouse-come-pill-bug called Anorak, meek Ladybird, Lambeth the brawny-but-brainless beetle and Ancient the aged caterpillar dwell right down at the bottom of the garden, near the shed, on and around an old broken sundial that "nobody wanted".
These bugs have a miniature but exciting time, rescuing friends from jam jars, communicating with conkers, finding new homes and generally having The Best Day Ever almost every day. To be truthful, not a lot happens, but with the Crawlies time is never of the essence anyway.

Monday 26 May 2014

Redwall

Based upon the novels of Brian Jacques, comes the tale of heroic rodents, Redwall!


A young mouse named Matthias is living at Redwall Abbey. Reminiscing on his past life, he remembers how his family was very poor. During a particularly harsh winter, an army of Rats, led by Cluny the Scourge, attacked his village. Separated from his family, Matthias saw Cluny just before he was rescued by his sister and, with advice from voles, traveled to Redwall Abbey, with the memory of Cluny still fresh in their minds. After difficult travels, Matthias' sister collapsed, and Matthias followed soon after. When he came to, he found that he had been brought to Redwall Abbey, where the fathers of the abbey later informed him that his sister had died of exhaustion from the journey. Matthias was then raised in the abbey as a novice, yet he dreamed of becoming a great warrior like Martin, the warrior-mouse that helped found Redwall.

Mighty Mouse - The New Adventures

Here I come to save the day! It's Mighty Mouse!


Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures is a 1987 revival of the classic Mighty Mouse cartoon character. It differed from the earlier incarnations of Mighty Mouse in many ways. It gave Mighty Mouse the secret identity of Mike Mouse, a sidekick in the form of the orphan Scrappy Mouse (who knows the hero's secret identity), heroic colleagues such as the Bat-Bat and his sidekick the Bug Wonder, and the League of Super-Rodents, as well as introduced antagonists like Petey Pate, Big Murray, Madam Marsupial and The Cow (actually a bull, because he is Madam Marsupial's boyfriend and he possesses male traits). The original Mighty Mouse villain Oil Can Harry made a couple of appearances. Pearl Pureheart was not always the damsel in distress, and many episodes did not feature her at all.

Sunday 25 May 2014

Johnny Bravo

It's all well and good having the body, but you also need the charm to attract women, unforunately, that was something Johnny Bravo never learned!



The series stars a muscular beefcake man named Johnny Bravo who dons a pompadour hairstyle and an Elvis Presley-like voice and has a forward, woman-chasing personality. Plots typically revolve around him trying to get a woman that he has targeted throughout the episode to fall in love with him. He is often beaten up or stunned by his target or companions, or is ditched by them in the end.