The Adventures of Hyperman (partially found animated series; 1995-1996)
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.
Seven episodes have also been posted, dubbed in Basque (a language spoken in the north of Spain in the Basque country), as posted by Gilchrist.
The only other public 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.
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 the 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 | Partially Lost |
| 1b | Stuck on You | Partially Lost (Basque dub) |
| 2a | Guess Who's Coming to Earth | Partially Lost (Basque dub) |
| 2b | The Evil Brian | Partially Lost (Basque dub) |
| 3a | Cosmo Not | Partially Lost (Basque dub) |
| 3b | The Brain Game | Partially Lost (Basque dub) |
| 4a | Robotot | Found |
| 4b | Foul Weather Friend | Found |
| 5a | Emma is History | Partially Lost (Basque dub) |
| 5b | Appalling 13 | Partially Lost (Basque dub) |
| 6a | Have a Hyper Christmas! | Partially Lost (Basque dub) |
| 6b | The Good, the Bad, & the Emmas | Partially Lost (Basque dub) |
| 7a | Darwinator | Partially Lost (Basque dub) |
| 7b | Studd Puppy Come Home | Partially Lost (Basque dub) |
| 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 |
Gallery
Tampa Bay Times 11/13/95
References
- ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-odonnell-670863b
- ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1995-09-03/news/tv-41643_1_jim-carrey
- ↑ http://blastfromthepasttv.com/hypermanindex.htm
- ↑ http://planete-jeunesse.com/fiche-1085-les-aventures-d-hyperman.html
- ↑ http://tv.com/shows/the-adventures-of-hyperman/
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://thefreelibrary.com/HYPERMAN+license+to+American+Cinema+Industries.-a017400299
- ↑ https://imdb.com/title/tt0111871/