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Back in the late Jurassic period, during my burgeoning adolescence, I was quite a fan of Saturday morning cartoons. Kids today don't have a clue what I'm talking about, but you older readers will remember them. Some are fondly remembered, though they don't necessarily hold up well, upon watching with a more mature eye. By definition, these cartoons used what's known as limited animation, but some were more limited than others.
But, even with the limited animation, I recall a few series that made impressions on me. I think the Space Sentinels (renamed the Young Sentinels partway through the series) clicked with me, because their origin in many ways resembled the first original super-hero I created. In the title sequence of each episode, their origin was retold.
"Many centuries ago, three carefully selected young Earthlings were transported from their native lands to my faraway world.
"Here they were granted astounding powers and eternal youth.
"Then returned to Earth, their mission, to watch over the human race helping the good in it to survive and flourish.
"In the course of history their names have become legend.
"Hercules, empowered with the strength of a hundred men.
"Astrea, able to assume any living form.
"Mercury, the amazing athlete who can match the speed of light.
"Working together with me, Sentinel One and my maintenance robot Mo,
these teenage guardians form the greatest team the world has ever known:
The Space Sentinels."
I like the "carefully selected" bit, it comes into play, later.
I didn't have time to do before pics for these guys, but their costumes were pretty basic and definitely influenced by the horrible disco fashions of the day. The boys got their names from mythology, Hercules, with the strength of a hundred men and Mercury, whose speed could match that of light itself. The girl, called Astrea, had the power to transform into any animal.
Here's my take on the heroes.
The funniest part of the show are some of the villains. Here's where the "carefully selected" thing comes into play. See, like Billy Batson, these three kids weren't the aliens' first choice. No, before they carefully selected three good-looking kids, they seem to have carelessly selected a sinister-looking sod-buster. I'm guessing the aliens have no "hair sense" or they would have noticed the farmer's menacing facial hair. Seriously, he's Sinestro with a goatee.
So, apparently the aliens only have a limited suite of powers to give out and so this guy got the powers they later split between the three handsome young people. Speed, strength and the ability to transform into a giant dragon, etc. and after he got his powers, he even developed little hair horns, to make it clear he was not one of the good guys. For some reason they called him Morpheus.
But, that's not the worst. I could only find a head shot of another villain called the Time Traveller, but it's enough.
I drew this, but it's based on a shot of this hapless fellow. As far as I can tell, he's from the future and I can only hope he represents an evolutionary dead end, or else the human race is doomed.
First, there's the hair helmet. I can't tell if this is a hairstyle or some bizarre mutation, but given that his eyelashes seem to have become huge wing-like flaps, I'm leaning toward the mutation theory. And then there's that mouth, it's almost rabbit-like and he seems to have no lower teeth. I can only think he came back in time to frighten the primitives with his strange looks.
But, not all the villains were totally lame. The lady calling herself the Sorceress almost looks like one of my own character designs. I do love a long skirt slit to the hip on a long-legged brunette.
I'll probably track down a copy of the series on DVD, since it's available now, just to see how it holds up. I recall it being cheesy but fun. I wonder who owns the rights to these characters, these day . . .
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heroblog.deviantart.com
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Copyright © 2012 Joe Singleton
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