Sunday, March 23, 2014

Toon Rock: Kidd Video (1984)

Kidd Video marks its 30th anniversary this year, and to this day, there are fans still clamoring for the series to be released on DVD. Problem is, as with DIC stablemate Wolf Rock TV, there are rights issues precluding the release of the series on DVD due to the music videos used on the show. The series had two seasons worth of episodes, airing first on NBC. After an all-rerun 3rd season, Kidd Video was cancelled, but picked up by CBS, which needed to fill a hole on their schedule.

Robbie Rist (ex-The Brady Bunch), whose last Saturday entry, Big John, Little John, was a colossal flop a decade earlier (and also on NBC), was one of the stars, and played guitar & keyboards. I think he parlayed that into another band gig or two after the series ended, I'm not sure.

Anyway, the band is thrust into a dimension ruled by a despot named Master Blaster. If the concept sounds familiar, well, DIC would copy it just 4 years later with Captain N: The Game Master, also for NBC.

Here's one of the opens. This one's for the first season.



Kidd Video was the first collaboration between DIC & Saban, and their other notable one was the game show, I'm Telling!, which would replace Kidd on NBC's schedule.

Rating: C.

4 comments:

magicdog said...

Boy do I remember this!

I always wondered what happened to "Cousin Oliver".

I understand he's been in the music biz for quite some time, so it's nice he was able to use his musical talents for this show.

The series itself was an 80s version of an acid trip! Using all those snippets of real rock tunes and putting them to odd scenerios was jarring. Duran Duran's "Reflex" took the lyrics literally - showing a statue of a boy in the park! Like other shows of its ilk, it never had a definitive ending showing the defeat of Master Blaster and the kids going home. I wish animators could have created such an episode just in case of threatened cancellations.

hobbyfan said...

It just wasn't done back then, leaving such open endings for fan-fics. Since I didn't follow the show that much, I don't see myself rebooting this series at all. Others might, though.....

magicdog said...

Today's songs are too risqué I think!

Although I can imagine having rebooted fun with songs like Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream",
Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" and Pharrell's "Happy".

hobbyfan said...

Miley's Hannah Montana material could be fitted into a rebooted Kidd Video. Katy Perry? Have to pick & choose with her, too, but getting her to guest star would be a hoot, now that she's got some toon cred (the Smurfs movies).

Pharrell? Fuhgeddaboutit.