Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future was a short lived sci-fi show in the late 80s, blending live action with early computer generated animation. Launched alongside a companion Mattel toy line, imagine the goofiest elements of Transformers and He-Man and you’ll be pretty close. Now though, the show looks to be receiving the Battlestar Galactica treatment with moves for a fresh revival.
Ahead of its big reveal at San Diego Comic Con this weekend, Captain Powers has dropped a cryptic teaser trailer. If it wasn’t on your radar before, it might be time to put it there:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOrr27ktx1k
If you’re at a loss to what’s going on there, here’s a cliff notes version of the original Captain Powers premise: Set a century or two in the future, we join the heroes at the end of something called the Metal Wars. Basically, that’s a big messy war between good old human kind and the evil robots controlled by the devious Lord Dread. There’s something about Dread’s robots hunting down humans and ‘downloading’ them too. We’re not sure what that’s about.
Apparently it’s the robots who win the war, leaving a small but scrappy human resistance to fight a guerilla campaign against Lord Dread. Here’s where Captain Powers and his soldiers of the future come in. They’ve got suits that give them super powers, and they’re fighting back. It’s all incredibly 80s, but with a new lick of paint it’s a workable premise for a TV show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHjRsRb1hfA
The new show, which seems to be titled Phoenix Rising, has a pilot script from science fiction authors Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. The pair are widely known for their work in the Star Trek universe. Visual effects will come from MASTERSFX, who have previously worked on Fox’s Fringe and the film Elysium.
At the time of writing the show doesn’t seem to have been picked up by a network, but if it puts on a good show at Comic Con expect Hollywood to start sniffing around.
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