Lets Remember...Captain Power!

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/6213/faq.html

http://www.captainpower.com/

http://www.yesterdayland.com/popoped...day/sa1244.php

http://home.cogeco.ca/~kroland/systems/CaptainPower/


Not quite a videogame, and not quite NOT a videogame. You buy a light gun molded into a plastic toy resembling a fighter jet, and use it to shoot at your television. Your targets manifest themselves either on the short-lived live-action television series, or on one of 3 videotapes (sold separately) sporting anime dogfights.

The TV show was forgettable- save for an interesting premise poorly executed. The animated videotapes ROCKED. They are purely anime, with live action bits at the beginning and the end (skip those). The animation is well-done even by today’s standards. The dogfights and whatnot depicted over a post-apocalyptic Earth are cool- and worth watching even today.

You use your light gun to shoot at the blinking red targets on screen. You get one “point” for each hit you make- as indicated by a crude electronic sound from the toy. The game “shoots back” in the form of blinking yellow. A “hit” subtracts one “point “. If your point count drops to zero, a little mechanism in your toy jet will cause the pilot- your official Captain Power action figure- to eject from the cockpit.

The light gun toys can also be used against each other in a dark room. However, there were few kids back then who bought Captain Power stuff. This unique toy franchise never really flew.

The 3 anime tapes are still frequent visitors to my VCR.


Who remembers this unique videogame-like thing from the 1980’s?

Yeah I remember ads for the toys back in the day but I think they were too costly for me. I do remember the Action Max system, I still have tapes for that and it had a similar premise.

I was sooo cool back when I was a kid that I actually had the Jet and used to play along with the show... oh yeah. :D

yeah the videotapes definately rocked.)

i borrowed the tapes and fighter from a friend because my parents wouldn't buy it for me.

Heh, I remember these things.

I had one of the Captain Power jets and played the "video" games constantly. They were so much fun.

I wish I still had mine.

Anyone remember that VCR-based video game system released by Worlds of Wonder (makers of Teddy Ruxpin, Lazer Tag, and PXL 2000)?

I remember a year after the show went off they air my local Toys r Us sold the toys for an extremely cheap price. I think they were only eight bucks. I had the Power On and the two black vehicles. Forgot their names though, one was a jet and the other was a hovercraft turret. I unfortunately broke all of them and my parents sold them in a yard sale years later. I still have a training tape though.

The turret is called the "Interlocker" and the black jets I believe were called "Phantoms". The white jet is called the XT-7.

I remember the first commercial for CP. It was a dog food commercial that has its transmission hacked by the Cap'n with an SOS from the future. He asks for help in his fight with Lord Dredd by becoming an XT-7 pilot.

COOOOOOOOOL!

Cool show. Killed by network execs who thought J Michael Strazinski's plots for the 2nd season were too grim for Saturday mornings. JMS got around in the 80s...he did this AND She-Ra in about the same time frame. I'm surprised with all the 80s revivals going on that no one has looked at this series at all. Definitely not the gold mine that Transformers is, but I'd bet a new show wouldn't be much worse than TF: Armada.

Hahaha!

I had no idea anything like this existed. Sounds like it would be a great idea, at the time.

I loved Captain Power. used to battle with my cousin in his room. Had no idea where he was until I saw the light flash. so much fun.used to split time with that and my cousin's tabletop space-invaders unit( o_o!! )

Um, am I the only one that got here from the thread about From's XBox online game?

I have almost every episode on tape. I used to have all of the figures, The Power On Energizer, PowerJet X-T7, and the Interlocker Throne.

The show was very good. Not dumbed down for kids at all, granted the characters were glorified cartoons, but there was death and violence often.

In the last episode, (which I still have yet to see) The female character, Jennifer "Pilot" Chase was killed by Blastarr, the ground based Bio-Dreadd.

I have the level one training tape still.


I wish I still had my ship...

Captain Power was badass. I still have a bun ch of the toy commercials and a couple eps on tape. "The power of the future...is in OUR hands!"