Action Man (TV series)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Action Man may either refer to:
- a 1995 traditional cel-animated children's television program produced by DiC Entertainment, or
- a 2000 computer-animated children's program produced by Mainframe Entertainment
- a 2004 direct to video movie titled Action Man: Robot ATAK
- a 2005 direct to video movie titled Action Man X Missions: The Movie
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[edit] 1995 Series
Action Man is a member of an elite multinational task force. While fighting for this task force, Action Man tries also to unlock the mystery of his past.
Produced by DiC Entertainment, Action Man producers dubbed the show as being in the vein of James Bond and Indiana Jones, and claimed the show would "thrill both children and parents."
The series was created using live-action footage to enhance the computer animation. DiC's sales promotions touted its "morphing techniques". The circular AM logo is first used in this series.
Twenty-six episodes, half an hour each.
[edit] 2000 Series
Produced by Mainframe Entertainment and aired on YTV in Canada and on Fox Kids Saturday in the United States, Action Man now has a civilian identity as Alex Mann, an extreme sports athlete of Team Xtreme who discovers that danger and adrenaline trigger hidden mental powers called AMP (Advanced Mathematical Probability) Factor, a result of secret experiment by his former coach Simon Grey that allows Alex to calculate all the future possibilities and choose the best course of action. With the help of Desmond 'Grinder' Sinclair, Fidget Wilson, and Rikki Syngh-Baines as support crew, Action Mann must stop Dr. X, a brilliant genecticist and bio-engineer, who will stop at nothing to hunt down Action Man and duplicate his AMP Factor for the quest of rebuilding Earth with the genetically enhanced neo-humanity. At the same time, Alex must also get back to the stadium in time to win extreme sports tournaments.
In the first season, Dr. X captured and tested Alex Mann repeatedly, and captured and brainwashed Alex's main rival and best friend Brandon Caine. Dr. X always worked alone, save for his trilobite robots. Dr. X added nanotech enhancements to Brandon, first to make him superior to Alex in battle but then to make the athlete "perfect". The culmination of the experiments was to mind transfer or upload Dr. X into Brandon's body. Dr. X in Brandon's body then became a nanotech cyborg, able to change his appearance and infect others with his nanotech devices. Dr. X hired Asazi (an assassin), and Templeton Storm/Tempest (a temperamental young genius), and tried to recruit AM to form a Council of DOOM.
In second season (titled 'DOOM Strikes Back'), COD was formed when Dr. X hired Gangrene, Sidney/Quake as additional members. Team Xtreme gained a dolphin named Triton. Dr. X's nanotech trilobites appeared to gain collective intelligence and rebel against Dr. X in the season finale, but this was actually Brandon Caine's uploaded mind trying to punish Dr. X for taking his body.
The 2000 series is also the first series that launches the slogan 'Action Man, The Greatest Hero of Them All'.
[edit] Action Man: Robot ATAK
In this CGI movie, Action Force consists of Action Man, Flynt, Red Wolf as members. The world's leading scientist is kidnapped by a mysterious villain called No Face and Action Man is framed for it. Meanwhile, an army of robots are taking over the world and the evil Dr. X has been brought back to life and has a deadly plan to control all humans with a mind controlling gas. Only Action Man and his Action Force Team of RedWolf and Flynt have a hope of stopping them. But it means taking the fight to the dreaded Island X and time is running out.
Unlike previous releases, this movie is only available in Europe. When Atari released the game in Australia and New Zealand, the movie is bundled with the GBA Action Man Robot Atak video game.
In the GBA video game, the Action Force has to discover who is this mysterious NO FACE who kidnapped Professor Moran because of his new discovery, a medicine which makes people doing what you want them to do. NO FACE wants to enslave the world by using this medicine.
Movie script is written by Alan Grant[1].
[edit] Action Man X Missions: The Movie
Produced by Reel FX Creative Studios and released by Paramount Home Entertainment in Europe on 2005-09-28, this time AM battles against the Dr. X and his Toxic troopers, created by mixing the DNA of humans with angry animals. Dr. X used animal DNA to create a deadly Terror Toxin to spray innocent people, turning them into an army of Toxic Troopers. The upgraded Toxic Robot now equipped with razor sharp swords on the arms.
Action Force consists of Action Man, Flynt (snowboarder), Redwolf (kayak rider), with Tiger Strike (tiger) as ally. Dr. X has a Komodo dragon pet named Dragon X.
Action Force gadgets included Turbo Bike (motorcycle), Spy Patrol (stealth suit), Aqua Camo (underwater stealth suit), Orca Sea-Jet (jetski), Mountain Racer (skateboard), Arctic Storm (snowmobile), Air Assault (attack helicopter). Dr. X's army included Deep-Sea ATAK/X-Shark (shark), X Robot (robot).
The movie's plot is very similar to the G.I. Joe movie Valor vs. Venom (also based on a Hasbro franchise): The bad guys create mutant troops (Cobra V-Troops/Dr. X's Toxic Troopers) and kidnap the good guys' leader (General Hawk in VvsV, in this movie an "office leader", Sir Arthur Strong, was created only to be kidnapped), who is transformed into the most powerful mutant. Also, some Toxic Troopers were very similar to Cobra's Snow Wolfs.
