Top 13 Shows That Want Out (Part Two)

Last week's Vault #13 began a special list that I hold dear, the thirteen TV series I would love to see released to DVD above all else. The list began with a mix of brilliant but canceled, wildly popular, and shamelessly culty. I encourage you to reread that column if you want to refresh.

With the recap out of the way, we move onto the middle of the list. This time, the shows all have a common thread: they're all about superheroes. Onward!

8) Bionic Six

"Bionic Six" was sort of a Six Million Dollar Man offshoot, especially since Universal (as MCA Television at the time) distributed the show. The show centered on Jack Bennett, who possessed bionic implants, and his family. During a Himalayan vacation, the family was attacked by aliens and buried under radioactive snow, which, as I write this, sounds incredibly stupid in my head. To save their lives, Jack took his family to the man who made him bionic, Professor Amadeus Sharp. Sharp deduced that implanting bionic technology could revive them from their comas, and he was correct. Not only did the Bennetts survive, but they gained superhuman powers in the process. Vowing to use their powers to protect the world from the evil Dr. Scarab, the Bennetts became the Bionic Six.

(As an added bonus, check out the origin episode of the Bionic Six!)

This one's a little personal, for an admittedly stupid reason. I never met another Bennett outside of my family (it is my legal name) until I hit third grade, so seeing Bionic Six for the first time as a small child made an impact on me. I didn't know how common the name was, so seeing another family of Bennetts, especially in a cartoon, really made an impact on me. It didn't hurt that this family of Bennetts was multi-ethnic, having adopted Black and Asian teenagers. Shows like Diff'rent Strokes had already approached the topic of mixed-race families, but this was the first time I ever saw it on an adventure cartoon.

Also, the animation was exceptional for American television, though to be fair, it was produced by the Japanese TMS Entertainment. This was before anime saturated the American market like gangbusters. At the time, I found the hybrid of styles fascinating to watch.

Bionic Six ran for two seasons through 1987, and to this day, there hasn't been an official DVD release. If C.O.P.S. and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors can make it to DVD shelves, so can the Bennetts.

7) Batman (1966)

For a number of superhero fans, this is the DVD on TV mother lode. A description of the show is unnecessary to most surface-dwellers, but if you haven't seen the show, here goes.

Adam West and Burt Ward star as Batman and Robin. The Dynamic Duo keep the streets of Gotham City safe from a catastrophic criminal coterie including the Joker (Cesar Romero), the Penguin (Burgess Meredith), the Riddler (Frank Gorshin/John Astin) and Catwoman (Julie Newmar/Lee Meriwether/Eartha Kitt). They regularly find themselves in dastardly deathtraps set by the despicable degenerates, but they always manage to escape and turn the tables on their foes.

The live-action Batman television ran on ABC from 1966 to 1968, with a film released to theaters between the first two seasons, and very quickly became the hottest ticket in town. Stars lined up to appear in cameo roles or as guest villains, and in its first season, the show, which was aired twice weekly on consecutive nights, was a smash hit. Of course, the campy portrayal of Batman and his world helped shape not only the perception of the character, but of comics in general for the next couple of generations to follow. Many comics fans, for that reason, consider the show both a blessing and curse.

As much as I would love to see the series released to DVD (and I'm certain I'm not alone), the odds of it happening any time soon are impossibly long, owing to complicated rights issues involving at least DC Comics/Warner Bros. (the owners of Batman) and 20^th Century Fox (the owners of the TV series), and possibly other parties including Greenway Productions (the production company) and ABC (who had partnered with Fox and Greenway to produce). Rumor had it the Watchmen lawsuit filed by Fox had to do in part with untangling some of this mess, but for now, we'll have to wait for another Bat-time and Bat-channel.

6) Iron Man (1996)

The animation boom of the '90s was very kind to Marvel, as their partnership with Saban Entertainment produced some of the most memorable animated superhero shows on television. Thanks to the runaway success of X-Men on Fox, Marvel was able to bring Spider-Man and the Hulk to network TV as well. In addition, they produced a syndicated block of animation, featuring two of their most enduring properties, Iron Man and the Fantastic Four.

Iron Man, like the Fantastic Four cartoon, suffered from a sub-par first season, with formulaic stories and less than impressive character design. The premise here was pretty basic: Iron Man and his Force Works team (War Machine, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Woman II and Century) would do battle each episode with the Mandarin and his cronies. The show was pretty light-hearted, with the only significant character development stemming from the budding romance between Iron Man and Spider-Woman. Iron Man was basically a Marvel version of Challenge of the Super-Friends.

The second season, however, was a turnaround for both shows. The characters were not only redesigned with greater visual detail, they also showed more emotional complexity, greater resembling their printed counterparts. Tony's controlling personality came to the fore, alienating his teammates, especially Hawkeye. Later. Jim Rhodes was nearly drowned on a mission, causing him to fear his War Machine suit. Most importantly, the Mandarin was defeated and robbed of his rings early on, which led to a running subplot centering on his reclamation of the rings.

With the other heroes mostly off the canvas and the regular villains gone as well, the show finally focused squarely on Tony, adapting some classic storylines. The best story of the lot was easily the Armor Wars two-parter based on the comic story of the same name and featuring an obsessed Tony Stark hell-bent on reclaiming what he believed to be stolen Stark technology from...everyone. But despite the amazing jump in quality, the show was canceled after the second season.

The series is currently owned by Disney, following their purchase of Saban. Disney released a complete series DVD set of the Fantastic Four cartoon upon the release of the first film, however, they didn't follow suit with Iron Man, despite the success of the live-action film. There is a Region 2 set available, but for now, no one has announced plans to release a Region 1 set. Bummer.

5) My Secret Identity

During the late '80s, Jerry O'Connell starred in a Canadian family series called My Secret Identity, in which he played a teenager whose inventor friend accidentally gives him superhuman abilities. Like almost every other show on TV, I watched this one. O'Connell's Andrew Clements was a hero everyday kids could relate to, a superhero fan who suddenly becomes one, learning that great power really does bring great responsibility.

A noticeable aspect of the show is Andrew's initially limited set of powers. He can fly, but not very well without the help of aerosol cans used to propel him further upward, and he has super-speed. Later episodes would invent ways to bestow more powers upon him, such as super-strength and unaided flight (though the invincibility he had in the first season was subsequently removed with nary a word).

So why does this merit a spot when shows like Misfits of Science and Sable fail? Simply put, for all its flaws, My Secret Identity was a show I liked in my youth that I always remembered fondly. I'd love to see it on DVD. Failing that, I'm all for a Misfits of Science set.

The list concludes Friday! Don't miss the surprises!