The Aquabats! Super Show! facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Aquabats! Super Show! |
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| Genre | Action/adventure Sitcom Musical |
| Created by | Christian Jacobs Jason deVilliers Scott Schultz |
| Starring | The Aquabats |
| Narrated by | Mr. Lawrence |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 21 (+ pilot) 9 (The Aquabats! RadVentures!) (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 22 minutes (per episode) |
| Production company(s) | The Magic Store Productions FremantleMedia Enterprises |
| Distributor | FremantleMedia Enterprises Awesome Forces |
| Release | |
| Original network | Hub Network |
| Original release | March 3, 2012 – January 18, 2014 |
The Aquabats! Super Show! is an American TV series that mixes action, comedy, and music. It first aired from March 3, 2012, to January 8, 2014, on The Hub Network. Later, in September 2019, it became a web series on YouTube.
The show was created by Christian Jacobs, Scott Schultz, and Jason deVilliers. Jacobs and Schultz also created the popular kids' show Yo Gabba Gabba!.
The Aquabats! Super Show! is based on the superhero stories of The Aquabats. This is a real-life comedy rock band that Christian Jacobs started in 1994. The show follows a made-up version of the band. They are a group of amateur superheroes who try to save the world from different villains and monsters.
The show looks like old TV shows from the 1960s and 1970s. It also takes inspiration from Japanese tokusatsu shows, which feature superheroes and special effects. Super Show! uses many visual styles. It combines live-action stories with cartoon shorts, funny fake commercials, and musical parts.
The first season had 13 episodes and ended on June 16, 2012. It was very popular with critics and viewers. It even got a Daytime Emmy nomination for Best Children's Series. The second season had eight episodes. It also received praise and won a Daytime Emmy for Best Stunt Coordination. In June 2014, the show was canceled. This happened because The Hub network was changing its name to Discovery Family.
However, in July 2018, The Aquabats raised money through Kickstarter to make new episodes. They released mini-episodes on YouTube to promote this. On September 28, 2019, the new episodes started. They are now a YouTube series called The Aquabats! RadVentures!. It still uses the original Super Show! theme song and title.
Contents
Adventures of The Aquabats
Meet the Heroes
The Aquabats! Super Show! tells the adventures of The Aquabats. They are a group of superhero rock musicians. They travel around, fighting evil and trying to "destroy boredom." They protect the world from bad guys and monsters. At the same time, they hope to become a famous rock and roll band.
If the person is over 30, I'd say it's like Batman meets The Monkees, with a little bit of Sid and Marty Krofft in it. If they're under 30, I'd say Power Rangers meets Flight of the Conchords, very sarcastic. If they're kids...superheroes fighting monsters. And at some point, something will explode.
The Aquabats team includes:
- The MC Bat Commander (Christian Jacobs): The singer and leader.
- Crash McLarson (Chad Larson): The bassist who can grow very tall.
- Ricky Fitness (Richard Falomir): The drummer with super speed.
- EagleBones Falconhawk (Ian Fowles): The guitarist with a laser-shooting guitar.
- Jimmy the Robot (James R. Briggs, Jr.): The keyboardist, who is an android.
Even with their powers, The Aquabats are often clumsy and a bit scared. This is why they are sometimes called "the world's most inept superheroes." The band lives and travels in their "Battletram." It's a special recreational vehicle that looks small outside but is huge inside. It has a science lab, a command center, and a living room.
The show doesn't fully explain how The Aquabats became superheroes. Creator Christian Jacobs wanted viewers to imagine it themselves. He felt kids would accept the idea easily. In the second season, each band member shares their own story of joining. But these stories are different and don't match up. This makes it a fun mystery for viewers.
Show Style and Inspirations
The Aquabats! Super Show! mixes live-action and animated parts. It also has short skits and cartoon breaks. The main parts of each episode are live-action stories. They usually feature a new villain each week.
In the first season, there were short Anime-style cartoons. A character would find a tiny TV set and introduce "A Cartoon." These cartoons told a continuing story, with each one ending on a cliffhanger. In season two, these were replaced by animated flashbacks. These flashbacks showed how The Aquabats started, and each was done by a different animation studio in a unique style.
Between these main parts, you'd see short cartoons of "Lil' Bat." He's The Aquabats' bat mascot. There were also live-action fake commercials for silly products. These fake commercials have always been a fun part of The Aquabats' live shows.
Christian Jacobs always wanted to make a "campy, live-action, funky kid's show." He and the other creators grew up watching TV from the 1960s and 1970s. Jacobs says the 1960s Batman TV series was a big influence. You can see this in the show's silly tone and visual style, like the sets and the use of dutch angles for villains. Other shows that inspired them include Ultraman, Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot, and Pee-Wee's Playhouse. Jacobs noted that "there's a good 30 years worth of television culture packed into these 22-minute episodes."
Who is the Show For?
The Hub channel was mostly for kids aged 6 to 12. So, Super Show! was aimed at that age group. But Jacobs wanted the show to be for everyone. He wanted kids and parents to enjoy it together or separately. He explained that The Aquabats band has always been family-friendly. He said, "There's just obviously something about the costumes and being superheroes that really appeals to younger kids." He also wanted to add things for older viewers, knowing the band had an older fan base.
Music in the Show
The music for The Aquabats! Super Show! was mostly made and performed by The Aquabats themselves. Other musicians like Matthew Gorney and Warren Fitzgerald also helped. Fitzgerald, who was in the band The Vandals, was the show's music supervisor. The show's theme song, "Super Show Theme Song!", was written by The Aquabats and Fitzgerald.
Unlike many music shows that stop the story for a music video, Super Show! usually has one or two new songs per episode that fit right into the story. These songs are often short, lasting less than a minute. Jacobs said that many songs were recorded as full-length versions but were shortened for the show. This was because they wanted to "pack so much into 22 minutes."
The band planned to release the full-length songs as a soundtrack album. This finally happened in 2019. The first songs from the show, "Burger Rain" and "Beat Fishin'", came out as a single in 2017. All the songs from the first season were put together for The Aquabats! Super Show! Television Soundtrack: Volume One. It was released digitally in March 2019 and physically in June. This album became The Aquabats' highest-charting album ever. It reached the top of Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart.
Cast and Characters
- See: List of The Aquabats! Super Show! characters
The Aquabats! Super Show! stars the real members of The Aquabats band. They play made-up versions of themselves. The show uses the band's long-standing backstory. It shows The Aquabats as clumsy superheroes who fight evil. They appear in both live-action and animated parts. The five members are:
- The MC Bat Commander (played and voiced by Christian Jacobs) – He is the singer and leader of The Aquabats. He doesn't have superpowers. He can be stubborn and a bit naive. But he is a good strategist and brave. His leadership often helps the band win.
- Crash McLarson (played and voiced by Chad Larson) – He plays bass guitar. He can grow up to 100 feet tall when he's stressed. Even though he's the biggest and strongest, Crash is gentle and a bit childlike. He is usually the most scared member of the team.
- Jimmy the Robot (played and voiced by James R. Briggs, Jr.) – He plays keyboards. Jimmy is an android (a robot that looks like a human). His body has many built-in gadgets and weapons. He also knows a lot of information. This makes him the group's scientist. As a robot, he often doesn't understand human feelings.
- Ricky Fitness (played and voiced by Richard Falomir) – He is the drummer. Ricky has super speed. He is the most fit and health-conscious Aquabat. A funny part of the show is how handsome he is and how much he loves "fresh, healthy veggies." The rest of the team loves junk food.
- EagleBones Falconhawk (played and voiced by Ian Fowles) – He is the guitarist. EagleBones is confident and a bit wild. He is very good with his special electric guitar. It shoots lasers from its headstock. In season one, he had a spiritual experience. Now, he has second sight (can see things others can't). He is also helped by "The Dude," an invisible spirit eagle.
Mr. Lawrence, a voice actor and writer, narrated the live-action parts of both seasons. Staff writer Kyle McCulloch narrated the animated parts in the first season.
Guest Stars and Recurring Characters
Each episode of Super Show! usually had a new villain, friend, or famous guest star. The show didn't have many main characters who appeared in every episode. However, there was a funny "Fox Man" in every episode. He was a man in a cheap fox costume, played by Joel Fox. He would hide in the background as an Easter egg for viewers to find. His character was never explained.
Comedy musician "Weird Al" Yankovic and comedian Paul Rust were the only two guest actors to appear in two episodes. Yankovic played two different roles: the President of the United States and a superhero named SuperMagic PowerMan! Paul Rust played a rude slacker named Ronmark. He first appeared in a live-action episode. Later, he voiced a monster version of his character in a season two episode.
Episodes List
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired (U.S. dates) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season premiere | Season finale | |||
| 1 | 13 | March 3, 2012 | June 16, 2012 | |
| 2 | 8 | June 1, 2013 | January 18, 2014 | |
Where to Watch the Show
International Broadcasts
Outside of North America, The Aquabats! Super Show! was shown in other countries. In Australia, it aired on the children's channel ABC3. In the United Kingdom, it was shown on the children's network CITV.
Images for kids
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Many of the show's villains came from The Aquabats' live concerts. Here's "CobraMan" at a concert (left) and on Super Show! (right).
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The Aquabats play their superhero characters in Super Show!.
