Action Man (2000 TV series)
| Action Man | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | Action Man – The Greatest Hero of them All |
| Genre | Animation Action Biopunk Cyberpunk |
| Created by | Hasbro (original toys) |
| Developed by | Marty Isenberg and Robert N. Skir |
| Starring | Mark Hildreth Michael Dobson Tabitha St. Germain Peter Kelamis |
| Theme music composer | Paul Gordon |
| Composers | Shuki Levy Kussa Mahchi Michael Whitaker Paul Gordon |
| Country of origin | Canada United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Ian Pearson Paul Sabella Jonathan Dern Carol Monroe |
| Producer | Mark Ralston |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | Mainframe Entertainment Saban Entertainment |
| Distributor | Saban International[1] |
| Release | |
| Original network | Fox Kids YTV |
| Original release | August 5, 2000 – August 20, 2001 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Action Man (1995 TV series) A.T.O.M. |
Action Man is a 2000 CGI animated TV series based on the toy line of the same name.[2] The show is not directly related to the 1995 show, however in some details and plot twists demonstrates itself as a prequel. In this series, Alex Mann is an extreme sports athlete known as "Action Man" and is a member of Team Xtreme. A video game named Action Man: Search for Base X was released based on the 2000 series. The show's theme song "Amp it up Action Man" was written and performed by Saban Entertainment's Paul Gordon.
Synopsis[]
Alex Mann, Action Man's civilian identity, is an extreme sports athlete of Team Xtreme, taking part in the Mastervision Network's Acceleration Games, a series of unconventional televised sporting activities all over the world. Danger and adrenaline trigger hidden mental powers called AMP (Advanced Macro Probability) Factor, a result of secret experiments by his former high school coach Simon Grey. With it, Alex is able to calculate all future possibilities, choosing the best course of action. Alex "Action" Mann, Desmond "Grinder" Sinclair, Agnes "Fidget" Wilson, and Ricky Singh-Baines must stop arch-enemy Doctor X, a brilliant geneticist and bio-engineer, who will stop at nothing to duplicate Alex's AMP Factor to rebuild Earth with the genetically enhanced neo-humanity.
Cast[]
Main[]
- Mark Hildreth - Action Man / Alex Mann
- Michael Dobson - Desmond "Grinder" Sinclair
- Tabitha St. Germain - Agnes "Fidget" Wilson
- Peter Kelamis - Ricky Singh-Baines
- Christopher Judge - Coach Simon Gray
- Tyler Labine - Brandon Caine
- Michael Kopsa - Doctor X (new body)
- Campbell Lane - Doctor X (original body)
- Andrew Francis - Tempest / Templeton Storm
- Janyse Jaud - Asazi
- Garry Chalk - Dr. Wolfgang "Gangrene" Greenholtz
- Ian James Corlett - Quake / Sydney
Supporting[]
- Mackenzie Gray - Nick Masters
- Venus Terzo - Agent Diana Zurvis
- Michael Donovan
- Kirby Morrow - Jimmy Woo
- Ian James Corlett
- Brian Drummond - Craig
Episodes[]
Season 1 (2000)[]
Dr. X captured and physically tested Alex Mann repeatedly, as well as his best friend Brandon Caine. Dr. X also added nanotech enhancements to Brandon, making him superior to Alex in battle and in athletics. The culmination of the experiments was to mind transfer Dr. X into Brandon's body to become a nanotech cyborg, able to change his appearance and infect others. Following the ninth episode the series becomes more simplified. Dr. X founded the Council of Doom with his evil cohorts: Asazi and Tempest. Dr. X's nanotech trilobites appeared to gain collective intelligence and rebel against him; but this was actually Brandon Caine's uploaded mind punishing Dr. X.
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Competitive Edge" | James Taylor | Marty Isenberg & Robert N. Skir | August 5, 2000 | |
| First Appearance of: Alex Mann (Action Man), Grinder, Fidget, Ricky, Brandon Kaine, Doctor X (original body) and Nick Masters. Coach Grey also makes an appearance only as a voice. | |||||
| 2 | "Building The Perfect Beast" | Steve Ball | Marty Isenberg & Robert N. Skir | August 12, 2000 | |
| Cameo Appearance by: Coach Grey (Voice Only). | |||||
| 3 | "Grey Areas" | Steve Sacks | Marty Isenberg & Robert N. Skir | August 19, 2000 | |
| First Appearance of: Coach Grey and Asazi. Cameo Appearance by: Nick Masters. | |||||
| 4 | "Storm Front" | Greg Donis | Steve Melching | August 26, 2000 | |
|
A kid known as Templeton Storm has created a weather forecasting device which can control the weather in a bid to help Nick Masters with the sailboard cyclone event. Unfortunately following an incident where he accidentally took Nick Masters off the air after Grinder crashed his helicopter into the satellite dish after being struck by lightning, Nick blames Templeton for the incident and purposely turning off the failsafe has Templeton electrocuted. After humiliating him further over the news by claiming he purposely tried to kill a number of athletes including Alex Mann, Templeton wants revenge on Nick. It's up to Alex and his team to stop Templeton before he injures or kills numerous innocent people including Nick Masters. First Appearance of: Tempest. Cameo Appearance by: Nick Masters. | |||||
| 5 | "Gremlin In The Gears" | Craig McEwen | Greg Klein & Thomas Pugsley | September 2, 2000 | |
|
After being sabotaged by an unknown rider during the Snow Eagle Challenge, Alex's snow eagle is infected by a number of Doctor X's NTB's. And it's not long until they infect big air and take out the electrics while being on auto pilot. It's upto Alex to try and get rid of the NTB's from big air aswell as prevent them from being shot down for entering restricted military air space. Cameo Appearance by: Coach Grey, Nick Masters and Doctor X (original body) | |||||
| 6 | "Double Vision" | George Samilski | Marsha F. Griffin | September 9, 2000 | |
|
A number of crimes take place with what appears to be Alex Mann and following and second crime Agent Diana Zurvis is determined to have Alex locked behind bars. It is up to Alex and his team to try and prove that Alex is innocent. First Appearance of: Agent Diana Zurvis. Cameo Appearance by: Doctor X (original body), Branden Kaine, Coach Grey, Nick Masters. | |||||
| 7 | "Into The Abyss" | William Lau | Kaaren Lee Brown | September 16, 2000 | |
|
Branden Kaine begins trying to prevent Doctor X from controlling him and seeks help from Alex and his team to try and stop X and his plans. This involves returning to the now sunk oil rig in a bid to access information, but all is not as quiet as first thought. First Appearance of: Doctor X (new body). Cameo Appearance by: Coach Grey and Branden Kaine. Final Appearance of: Doctor X (original body). | |||||
| 8 | "Out Of The Shadows" | Sebastian Brodin | Brynne Chandler Reaves | September 23, 2000 | |
|
Now working on Alex's team as his partner, Branden and Alex work together when taking part in the Human Pinball Biathalon. Believing that Doctor X is gone for good after witnessing his death at the oil rig Alex refuses to speak with and believe information that Coach Grey is trying to explain to him. Unfortunately for Alex unknown to him Doctor X had managed to succeed in downloading his AI programme into Branden who is now a new younger version of Doctor X. Cameo Appearance by: Branden Kaine, Nick Masters and Agent Diana Zurvis. | |||||
| 9 | "Lost In The Funhouse" | Steve Sacks | Andrew Robinson | September 30, 2000 | |
|
During an event at the master dome an earthquake starts damaging the dome and almost kills Fidget and Ricky when the hoops almost land on them. It's found out the earthquake was started by a mini ultrasonic wave device which can cause earthquakes & when a second one starts from a much bigger device it's down to Alex and his team to save innocent people's lives from death and destroy the device. To make things worse two world leaders from country's which despise each other are attending the event and Doctor X wishes to broadcast fake news stories to each country saying that the other killed their leader in a bid to start war between the two country's. Cameo Appearance by: Nick Masters, Coach Grey and Asazi (regular from here). | |||||
| 10 | "The Hereafter Factor" | Gio Corsi | Eric Karten | October 28, 2000 | |
| Cameo Appearance by: Nick Masters, Tempest (regular from here), Coach Grey. | |||||
| 11 | "Cold War" | Ezekiel Norton | Marsha F. Griffin | November 4, 2000 | |
| Cameo Appearance by: Coach Grey and Agent Diana Zurvis. | |||||
| 12 | "Swarm: Part 1" | Gino Nichele | Kaaren Lee Brown | November 11, 2000 | |
| Cameo Appearance by: Agent Diana Zurvis, Nick Masters and Coach Grey. | |||||
| 13 | "Swarm: Part 2" | George Samilski | Marty Isenberg & Robert N. Skir | November 18, 2000 | |
| Final Appearance of: Coach Grey, Branden Kaine and Agent Diana Zurvis. | |||||
Season 2 (2001)[]
The Council of Doom continues to grow after Brandon was saved from Dr. X. Featuring new villains: Gangrene & Quake.
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | "Green Thoughts" | Andrew Duncan | Eric Karten | February 26, 2001 | |
| First Appearance of: Gangrene. Cameo Appearance by: Nick Masters. | |||||
| 15 | "Thirst" | Sebastian Brodin | Marsha F. Griffin | May 2, 2001 | |
| Cameo Appearance by: Nick Masters. | |||||
| 16 | "Ground Zero" | Angela Ste | Nick DuBois | May 3, 2001 | |
| Cameo Appearance by: Nick Masters. | |||||
| 17 | "Tower Of Power" | George Samilski | Len Wein | May 4, 2001 | |
| Cameo Appearance by: Nick Masters. | |||||
| 18 | "Rumble: Part 1" | Gino Nichele & Colin Adams | Andrew Robinson | May 11, 2001 | |
| First Appearance of: Quake. Cameo Appearance by: Nick Masters. | |||||
| 19 | "Rumble: Part 2" | Ezekiel Norton | Kurt Weldon | May 18, 2001 | |
| 20 | "Search and Destroy" | Chuck Johnson | Sean Roche | May 25, 2001 | |
| Cameo Appearance by: Nick Masters. | |||||
| 21 | "The Triton Factor" | Steve Sacks | Brooks Wachtel | June 22, 2001 | |
| Cameo Appearance by: Nick Masters. | |||||
| 22 | "Mann's Best Friend" | Mark Schiemann | Marsha F. Griffin | June 26, 2001 | |
| Cameo Appearance by: Nick Masters. | |||||
| 23 | "Mann Hunt" | Sebastian Brodin | Nick DuBois | July 27, 2001 | |
| Note: Grinder, Fidget and Ricky do not make an appearance in this episode. | |||||
| 24 | "Tangled Up in Green" | Patrick Carroll | Eric Karten | August 10, 2001 | |
| Cameo Appearance by: Nick Masters. | |||||
| 25 | "The Ultimate Doom - Part 1" | Gio Corsi | Robert N. Skir & Marty Isenberg | August 17, 2001 | |
| Final Appearance of: Nick Masters. | |||||
| 26 | "The Ultimate Doom - Part 2" | Sebastian Brodin | Robert N. Skir & Marty Isenberg | August 21, 2001 | |
| Final Appearance of: Alex Mann (Action Man), Grinder, Fidget, Ricky, Doctor X, Gangrene, Asazi, Tempest and Quake. | |||||
Home media releases[]
In many regions, the series was released on VHS by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and later Buena Vista Home Entertainment, containing three episodes per tape.
The series has only seen DVD releases outside of the United States by many distributors. In the United Kingdom, the complete series was released by Maximum Entertainment throughout 2004-2008.
United Kingdom[]
| DVD name | Episodes | Release date | Running time | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storm Front | Competitive Edge, Building the Perfect Beast, Grey Areas, Storm Front & Gremlin in the Gears | 2005 | 107 Minutes | Released by Jetix |
| Competitive Edge Special Edition 2 Disc Set | Competitive Edge, Building the Perfect Beast, Grey Areas, Storm Front & Gremlin in the Gears, Gremlin In The Gears, Double Vision, Into The Abyss, Out Of The Shadows, Lost In The Funhouse & The Hereafter Factor | 2005 | 180 Minutes | Released by Jetix |
| Action Man Mega Disc | Competitive Edge, Building the Perfect Beast, Grey Areas, Storm Front, Gremlin in the Gears, Double Vision, Into the Abyss, Out of the Shadows, Lost in the Funhouse & The Hereafter Factor | 27 November 2006 | 2 Hours and 56 Minutes | Released by Jetix |
| Volume 1 | Competitive Edge', Building the Perfect Beast', Grey Areas, Storm Front & Gremlin in the Gears | 27 November 2006 | 107 minutes | Released by Jetix |
| Cold War | Cold War, Swarm Part 1 & Swarm Part 2 | 27 November 2006 | 110 minutes | Released by Jetix |
| Team Extreme | Double Vision, Into the Abyss, Out of the Shadows, Lost in the Funhouse & The Hereafter Factor | 4 June 2007 | 107 minutes | Released by Jetix |
| Action Man Triple DVD Value Pack | Competitive Edge, Building the Perfect Beast, Grey Areas, Storm Front, Gremlin in the Gears, Double Vision, Into the Abyss, Out of the Shadows, Lost in the Funhouse, The Hereafter Factor, Cold War, Swarm Part One, Swarm Part Two. | 2008 | 4 hours 46 minutes | Released by Jetix |
| Ground Zero - Season 2 | Green Thoughts, Thirst, Ground Zero, Tower Of Power, Rumble Part I, Rumble Part II, Search And Destroy, The Triton Factor, Mann's Best Friend, Mann Hunt, Tangled Up In Green, The Ultimate Doom Part I & The Ultimate Doom Part II | 21 April 2008 | 4 hours 46 minutes | Released by Jetix |
Awards[]
In 2001, the show won a Golden Camera Award at the U.S. and International Film and Video Festival for 'Best Animation' in the episode "The Swarm: Part 2".
References[]
- ^ "Mainframe Toys with Action Man Series".
- ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 4. ISBN 978-1538103739.
External links[]
- 2000s American animated television series
- 2000 American television series debuts
- 2001 American television series endings
- 2000s Canadian animated television series
- 2000 Canadian television series debuts
- 2001 Canadian television series endings
- American children's animated action television series
- American children's animated adventure television series
- American children's animated science fantasy television series
- American computer-animated television series
- Canadian children's animated action television series
- Canadian children's animated adventure television series
- Canadian children's animated science fantasy television series
- Canadian computer-animated television series
- Cyberpunk television series
- English-language television shows
- Fox Kids original programming
- Fox Broadcasting Company original programming
- Works by Len Wein
- Television shows based on Hasbro toys
- Espionage television series
- Fictional super soldiers
- Television shows adapted into video games
- Television series by Saban Entertainment
- Television series by Rainmaker Studios