Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Defenders of Dynatron City (1992)

Based on a LucasArts video game, Defenders of Dynatron City had the potential to be another hit for Fox, but it was not to be.

All that aired was a 1-shot pilot, produced by DIC, with the voices of Tim Curry, Whoopi Goldberg, & David Coburn, among others. Narrated by Gary Owens.



Writer Steve Purcell would land his own creation, Sam & Max: Freelance Police, at Fox a few years later, but it fell victim to network indifference as well, as it was yanked in and out of the lineup.

No rating.

3 comments:

Silverstar said...

Sam & Max: Freelance Police simply didn't belong on Saturday morning, period. While not an out-and-out raunch-fest, it was based on underground comic and as such some of the extremes from the comic (such as the occasional swears and gun toting) had to be toned down for SatAM, plus I think a lot of show's sly verbal jabs and references went over the kids' heads. If [adult swim] had been a thing back then, Sam & Max might've fared better there, especially since this would've been early [as] when they were still looking for quality shows (Home Movies, Futurama, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Sealab 2021) and not just stonerriffic bouts of randomness and stock shock humor.

As for Defenders of Dynatron City, I saw the pilot, and it just wasn't very good. ironically, Fox Kids would try the concept of a goofy superhero parody again years later and succeed with Ben Edlund's The Tick.

Goldstar said...

You've gotta love the irony of how when the Fox Kids block was initially launched, FOX said that they would never air a super hero show and then ended becoming number one because of one. Mind you, it was Batman: The Animated Series and later X-Men that first put Fox Kids on the map and, then after Mighty Morphin Power Rangers debuted and blew up soon afterwards, Fox Kids' lineup became predominantly action focused.

hobbyfan said...

Proof that an all comedy lineup doesn't always work. A lesson Chumptoon Network has yet to understand.