Sci Fi TV Reboots that Should Happen: Reboots are all the rage mostly because the entertainment industry prefers name recognition over original ideas. But there are some properties that truly deserve a do-over because they didn’t quite achieve their goal the first time around or they were cut short.
What Is It?
In the 22nd century, the Metal Wars bring desolation to the planet and lead to intelligent machines subjugating humanity. But Captain Jonathan Power and his group of rebel fighters, known as the Soldiers of the Future, fight back against the machines to retake the Earth using the power suits created by his father.
Aired: 1987-88, Syndicated, 1 Season Totaling 22 Episodes
Starring: Tim Dunigan, Peter MacNeill, Sven Thorsen, Maurice Dean Wint, Jessica Steen
Created By: Gary Goddard, Tony Christopher
Where Did the Original Fall Short?
This series was greenlit for afternoon television primarily because it was designed to sell toys—just like other kids’ shows at the time such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Transformers, G.I. Joe, and more. But its interactive toys, which were supposed to react to certain images on the screen, never functioned properly, and merchandise sales were disappointing.
However, despite this gimmicky premise, the creative team (with J. Michael Straczynski onboard as story editor) developed an interesting world populated with well-fleshed-out characters and an ongoing story arc, with episodes that took some rather dark turns for an afternoon series. Essentially, the writers took the show beyond its purpose of selling toys, and it didn’t quite fit the audience it was marketed to, while also drawing complaints from parents for its dark themes and violent action sequences. In addition, the CGI special effects—which were quite groundbreaking for their day—are now rather crude and have not aged well, nor have the production values.
Why Reboot It?
This series could have been quite good if not for the production limitations and the fact that it was hamstrung by its merchandising tie-ins. JMS and the other writers saw the potential in the premise and produced an interesting story arc along with characters the audience cared about. But those were hammered into a show targeted at a younger audience, and re-watching it today delivers more of an appreciation for what could have been rather than what was actually accomplished. There’s the germ of a good sci-fi entry here; it just didn’t quite make it through the first time around. They actually had an entire second season mapped out, so a reboot could take the best parts of the first season and then continue the storyline that was originally planned as a follow-up.
And the fact is, a reboot of this property went into development a while back, but there have been no recent updates. Titled Phoenix Rising—based on the original symbol from the power suits—co-creator Gary Goddard indicated back in 2012 that an hour-long weekly drama was in the works as a sequel to the original series. A teaser was produced and shown at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con (see above), but there has been no word on the production since then.
Personally, I think a ground-up reboot would be the better way to go, but perhaps a sequel series could work as well. And if they could get Straczynski involved again, Captain Power could potentially rise up and become the notable genre entry it should have been.
Where Can You Watch It?
The complete series was released on DVD but it has since gone out of print and is fetching pretty high prices from third-party sellers. It is not currently streaming on any of the major services, but episodes do show up on YouTube.
Would you watch a reboot of Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, especially if J. Michael Straczynski was involved? Chime in with your thoughts below.
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