Then, Oliphant struck a deal with Marvel's television arm, leading to a 1-shot pilot that aired on Fox in October 1992. Marvel Productions had sold a number of series to Fox during this period, including Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Solarman, however, would not go beyond the one episode.
More than 2 decades later, Oliphant is still trying, but the character has now been rebooted into a bi-racial teen who's been bullied, which speaks to the social issues facing today's youth.
In 1992, Solarman's alter-ego is that of an aspiring artist who wants to pursue his career over the objections of his father, who runs a gym in California. The first mission? Solarman has to stop a despotic alien dictator from destroying the sun.
The poster assumed it was 1991, but it was actually a year later.
Rating: B-.
2 comments:
I only remember 3 things about Solarman:
1) The morning Fox Kids aired the pilot was the day that X-Men was supposed to premiere, before Fox pushed the series' debut back.
2) This being a 90's teenage superhero, the title character had a dead mom, since as we all know, stable, happy households are boring in Superhero Land and all teenage heroes are required to be all or half an orphan.
3) Upon learning the title character's secret, his girl neighbor said something along the lines of "You're a superhero, and I can't even keep my room clean!" or some other cute kid line that could've only been dreamed up by a 35-year-old writer.
Beyond that, it was pretty darn unmemorable.
There is the voice-over at the end of the show hyping the X-Men preview that would air on Halloween, the following week, which I'd guess was also the start of the November sweeps, and that was why Fox pushed it back.
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