The Adventures of Hyperman (partially found animated series; 1995-1996)

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Hyperman logo.jpg

The show's logo.

Status: Partially Found

The Adventures of Hyperman was an American animated TV miniseries which aired on CBS between 1995 and 1996, created by Kevin O'Donnell and Ken Corr.[1] It premiered on September 16, 1995,[2] and ran for one season consisting of thirteen episodes airing on Saturdays at 8 AM Eastern. Each of these thirteen episodes in turn consisted of two segments, save for "Oceans a leavin'," which ran for the entire episode's runtime.

The series was based on a 1995 IBM computer CD-ROM game of the same name. It centred around an alien superhero named Hyperman (voiced by Steve MacKall) and his dog Studd Puppy (voiced by Max Casella), who were sent to planet Earth to protect it. Teaming up with genius earthling Dr. Emma C. Squared (voiced by Tamera Mowry), who helps them learn about the planet, they battle villains that want to take over the planet, most notably the evil Entrobe (voiced by Frank Welker) and his minion Kidd Chaos (voiced by Maurice LaMarche). Each segment of the show also featured a brief "educational moment," where the story would momentarily stop, and Dr. Squared would present the audience with some scientific facts relevant to the plot. There are minor style differences between the CD-ROM and animated series (Emma has a nerdier look in the CD-ROM, for example).

Availability

Most of the 25 segments of the thirteen episodes are considered lost to the internet at this time. While the CD-ROM on which the show is based is fairly easy to find online, none of the episodes have ever seen a home media release of any kind, and so far, very little footage has been found posted anywhere online. The episodes "Robotot", "Foul weather friend" and "Oceans a leavin" have been posted in their entirety. A 12-minute recording of the first episode, "The incredible lightness of beano," was found by Christian Bajusz and Garrett Gilchrist, as well as a promo. Limited footages of the episodes "E. Brain Strangelove" and "Hypermeddling made easy" were also posted. The only other surviving remnants of the show are a set of three still images of unknown episodes of the show hosted at blastfromthepasttv.com[3], five more unknown episode stills from planete-jeunesse.com[4] three CBS promos featuring brief segments of the English dub, and two episode clips posted to YouTube by user animegxyz, of portions of the Basque (a language spoken in the north of Spain in the Basque country) dubs of two of the episodes ("The evil brain" and "The good the bad & the Emmas").

The series and game are also believed to have had an accompanying website called Hyperman Online ("The theme park of the mind").[5] This site was referred to in advertisements as "...the greatest place in space for children to have fun, meet friends and challenge their thinking."[6] Its URL was hyperman.com, but the earliest capture of this website was from December 21, 1996, nearly eleven months after the show left the airwaves.

There were also plans to further expand the world of Hyperman, all of which ultimately fell through. There was talk of a Hyperman home video release (possibly a direct-to-video movie) that was to be put out by Columbia Tristar Home Video in 1996, as well as at least two more Hyperman-themed games set for release in Spring and Christmas of 1996. They even sold a license to the Hyperman brand to American Cinema Industries, a subsidiary of American CinemaStores Inc.[6]

Episode List

1a The Incredible Lightness of Beano 12 Minutes English Found
1b Stuck on You Lost
2a Guess Who's Coming to Earth Lost
2b The Evil Brian Partially Lost (Basque)
3a Cosmo Not Lost
3b The Brain Game Lost
4a Robotot Found
4b Foul Weather Friend Found
5a Emma is History Lost
5b Appalling 13 Lost
6a Have a Hyper Christmas! Lost
6b The Good, the Bad, & the Emmas Partially Lost (Basque)
7a Darwinator Lost
7b Studd Puppy Come Home Lost
8a E. Brain Strangelove Partially Lost (English)
8b Hypermeddling Made Easy Partially Lost (English)
9a Some Like it Hottter Lost
9b You Dirty Rats Lost
10a Immaculate Man Lost
10b Book 'em Studdo Lost
11a Wanted Dead or Alive? Lost
11b Hyperness is Only Skin Deep Lost
12 Oceans a Leavin' Found
13a Two's a Crowd Lost
13b The Promotion Lost

[7]


Gallery

CBS promo from 1995-1996 featuring portions of the English version of the show (0:18-0:26).

Another CBS promo from autumn 1995 featuring English portions of the show (0:12).

Another CBS promo from autumn 1995 featuring English portions of the show (4:17, 6:23, 7:57, 9:42).

References