Hey ‘80s kids, do you remember Captain Power? If you do, awesome. And if no, it’s not totally surprising. Action figures and toys tied to kids’ entertainment thrived in the 1980s–Thundercats, GI Joe, He-Man all dominated our toy boxes and our televisions. So how did a Gene Siskel-approved sci-fi show with a complementary ground-breaking toy technology fail so miserably? In the latest video for Popular Science, Kevin Lieber dissects the most monumental disconnect in TV history. https://www.
Sounds kind of cool, right? Well, not to thousands of parents who rallied against the show for blurring the lines between kids show, warfare, and toy commercials. The whole 'shooting your TV' thing wasn’t the only problem Captain Power faced. The show’s writers insisted they weren’t writing for a child audience and instead wove complex stories with dramatic themes that appealed more to adults. They wanted to make a show for grownups to sell toys to kids, and that doesn’t quite work.