Friday, August 16, 2013

Toons After Dark: Megas XLR (2004)

Of all of Cartoon Network's original series in the last decade, Megas XLR may in fact be one of the most beloved, if only because it was around for just a short time, and today, fans are craving for its return.

The title robot is a futuristic weapon sent into the past to stay out of the hands of the Glorft. However, the Megas and its then-pilot, Kiva, wind up too far back into the past, then find themselves in the then present in New Jersey, where Kiva meets Coop (David DeLuise), a video game loving slacker, who tricks out Megas, such that now only he can pilot it, with Kiva providing advice from the backseat.

In the course of the series' lone year of existence, it parodied Sailor Moon and, in a pair of separate tales, an amalgamation of Gatchaman & Power Rangers, going so far as to bring in 2 of the American actors from Battle of the Planets, Ronnie Schell & Alan Young, to guest star. I wish that episode, "Bad Guy", was available on YouTube, but it isn't intact right now. Maybe someday.........

Anyway, here's the open:



CN didn't know what a fan favorite they had, and they let it slip away. Typical.

Rating: B+.

2 comments:

magicdog said...

I know where you can see the ep (and other animated shows)legally online.

I kind of liked Megas - the spoofs were in your face and "Bad Guy" was particularly on point for spoofing "Battle of The Planets" with a riff on Voltron for good measure. Even the cheesy action music was there! I could barely make out Ronnie Schell's voice (but since he was the original voice of "Jason" he had to be the character in the Rhino costume). The VA for the expy of "Mark" did a great job using Casey Kasem's inflections!

My only complaint about the series was the character of Jaime really didn't have much to offer. That may have been the whole point, but he was superfluous IMO.

hobbyfan said...

The other S Force actors were Jennifer Hale (for Janet Waldo), Frank Welker, & Scott Innes. Innes, you will recall, voiced Shaggy for a couple of Scooby-Doo DTV's, so it makes sense he'd try mimicing Casey again.