The "M" Stands For Mighty Part Thirteen

We're at a pivotal point with Mighty Max this week!  We get a conclusion to one of the major dangling plot threads, proving that even a "monster of the week" show can have some semblance of continuity.  We're also at the last episode I'm going to do for a while, as is does feel like the end of the first "season."  I'm not sure what will be next, it might be the second season of My Little Pony, or perhaps try to dig up some more The Neverending Story episodes.

It's a pretty safe bet I won't go for anything with Mario in it.

Maybe I'll just gather up a stack of random DVDs and pick one at random.

If anybody has a request, let me know!  I'll see what I can do to accommodate it.  And remember, the more painful it is, the more I'll resent you for it when I'm done.

But anyway, let's get right into the episode, because I can't wait to watch this one again.  It's one of the few I can honestly remember almost every scene from, and my inner cartoon fan (the younger version of it, anyway) is almost giddy.

"The Maxnificent Seven."  I see what you did there.

The "M" Stands For Mighty Part Twelve

I think we all know my little speech by now, and I don't think anybody would deny that the late 80's and early 90s were a new golden age for animated television.  Every show did its best to claw out a niche in tightly packed schedules, knowing that if their ratings managed to slip for even a barest moment, they'd be thrown out for a few reruns of Bugs Bunny followed by the next big thing.

I mean, I think the Country Bears cartoon show only lasted one episode, at least that's how I remember it, anyway.

One that constantly falls under the radar of people looking back nostalgically is Mighty Max, a show that has so far managed to pay an homage to the Aliens franchise, Norse mythology, and now John Carpenter's The Thing.

You know, for kids!

The "M" Stands For Mighty Part Eleven

Looking back at my youth, I wasn't nearly as spoiled for entertainment options as kids these days.  I couldn't load up games on a phone, I had a Game Boy and I had to carry around any games I wanted to play in a pouch.  Plus, they didn't cost just a few dollars to own.  I didn't have hundreds of channels to pick and choose entertainment from on giant screens that made movie theater technology of the time seem quaint.

What I did have was what might be the second golden age of cartoons after the days when Disney and Looney Tunes first erupted onto the scene, with such greats as Animaniacs, Duck Tales, Gargoyles, Freakazoid, and any number of other great programs who knew that in order to survive on television you had to be great because there wasn't a minor cable channel you could hide on to maintain a cult following.

One show that I think gets swept under the rug and forgotten about way too much is Mighty Max, which is why I'm doing an ongoing project of reviewing the series and seeing how it holds up.  I'm leery about this one, because cartoon episodes featuring mixing humans and animals almost never turns out well.

The "M" Stands For Mighty Part Ten

There are a lot of cartoons that have been forgotten from the past twenty or so years.  Few people remember Attack of the Killer Tomatoes had a cartoon series.  As did Toxic Crusaders, Kid n' Play, Mother Goose & Grimm, and Fievel's American Tails.

Most of them deserve it.  Some not so much.  I mean, how did Yo, Yogi! ever miss out on a complete DVD run?

Has there ever been anything more 90s than THAT?

But, sadly, one that has been pretty much lost to the dustbin of time is Mighty Max, which is a shame because it's one of my favorite shows from that decade, which is why I'm up to the tenth episode in my weekly review period.

Oh, and in the spirit of December, we have zombies!

You know, back before they were cool.

The "M" Stands For Mighty Part Nine

In the 90s, I was spoiled for television options once cable became the big thing.  I can still remember when having just a few channels suddenly exploded into almost a hundred (yeah, I know, I'm old), but the number kept growing and growing as time moved on, and every possible thing you wanted to watch was on.  Old movies? Check.  Cartoons? Check.  Educational? Check.

However, one of the primary shows I reme-

...

...okay, just making sure we're actually doing this.

Mighty Max was awesome in the day, and I'm reminiscing, so join me for the ride.

The "M" Stands For Mighty Part 8

Back in the early 90s, people were absolutely spoiled for entertainment on television.  You had the boom of stand-up comedy (which I think Comedy Central is still trying to beat the proverbial "dead horse" in the hopes the twitching of the body will be mistaken for life), sitcoms, dramas, teen dramas, evening soaps, game shows...it was a cornucopia of viewing goodness.

But the best part for the younger version of me was the cartoons, and no cartoon made me more excited to watch than Mighty Max.

Let's look at episode eight and get some actual character development from this show.

The "M" Stands For Mighty Part Seven

The early 90s was an interesting time to be growing up.  You had the growing surge of live comedies taking over the afternoon airwaves balanced with some of the best cartoons that ever existed.  You could manage to indulge both in humor that was edgy, dark, and sometimes quite adult...or you could watch Full House and Family Matters.

For me, a great thrill I got was watching episodes of Mighty Max, which screamed "boyhood adventure" with an interesting science fiction twist.  That is, it was science fiction when it wasn't straight up fantasy, or even horror.

For instance, in today's episode we visit one of the now most overused ideas in media: the zombie.

The "M" Stands For Mighty Part Six

I was spoiled for television watching in the 90s.  I had cartoons based on comic book action heroes such as Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, and the X-Men.  I had cutting edge graphics in The New Adventures of Johnny Quest and Reboot.  I had wickedly sharp humor in programs like Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain.  I even had some educational fun with Captain Planet and Histeria!

You remember Histeria, right?  It was the children's show that had a song about every war fought by every nation that ever existed.

Cartoons were kinda weird in the 90s, is my point here.

But one of my particular favorites was Mighty Max, a show unafraid to take on some rather heavy material and have the hero face some real dangerous threats.  If it came between "giant dragon who destroys the world" and "killer baboons" then odds are he faced against it.

Let's look at the sixth episode in the series, Rumble In The Jungle.

The "M" Stands For Mighty Part Five

I was spoiled for entertainment options in the early 90's.  I had globe trotting adventure in Captain Planet, dark noir drama in Batman, the initial exploration into CG graphics with Reboot, and fancy pop music shared in Hammerman and New Kids On The Block.  Somehow the last two never caught on despite how popular shows like that are now on Disney.  Maybe the idea that a boy band and their dog sidekick get into wacky adventures around the world and chased by fans like something from Scooby-Doo just doesn't appeal, somehow.

My personal cartoon drug for years was Mighty Max, a sweeping heroic epic that starred a boy who felt the need to advertise the initial to his first name not only on a hat but also his shirt (to be fair, the hat came with the "M" already on it), a giant man who still uses a sword (effectively), and a talking chicken.

So let's jump right into the action with a visit with Norse Mythology and a sleeping dragon!

The "M" Stands For Mighty Part Four

Back in the 90s, no other cartoon show grabbed my attention like Mighty Max.  It was short-lived and doesn't have the same staying power of programs like Animaniacs or Gargoyles, but it will always have a special place for me because of how it managed to explore the world, face fantastic creatures, and have a (to a kid in the 90s) sharp sense of humor.  In much the same way Spider-Man would joke his way through combat to hide his fear, I imagined myself in the place of Max (perhaps with a single t-shirt in my wardrobe that read "E"), facing danger and laughing the whole way through.

Let's look at the fourth episode of the series that so far seems to have continuity like the Swiss have cheese and see if we can't figure out a bit more about this world.

The "M" Stands For Mighty Part Three

There was a time period in the 80s and 90s where toys were the major inspiration for cartoons.  If the cartoon wasn't directly inspired by toys (He-Man and the Transformers come to mind), then the cartoon simply acts as a means to make more toys (G.I. Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).  

One of the most blatant examples of this was, of course, one of my favorite cartoons from the time period, Mighty Max.  Of course, the creators of the show had a bonus in that they could extend out further than just the basic premise of "kid fights evil around the world" and develop actual plots and backstories for characters.  Where they came from, who they knew, who they cared for, these were all touched on by the program more than it ever needed to be to move merchandise.

I'll admit I'm saying this as someone who never, once, ever bought a single Mighty Max toy product.

So let's look at the third episode, which is surprisingly light on two of the three main characters!

The "M" Stands For Mighty Part Two

When I think back to my cartoon-watching habits, I remember soaking up shows like a sponge.  Even if they weren't any good, I loved watching the outrageous ideas they'd come up with.  You'd have things like The Hair Bear Bunch, where three hippie bears rode an invisible motorcycle around town because of course they do.  You had a show based on Mr. T, one based on the Harlem Globetrotters, and a cartoon based on Chuck Norris.

And yet, when I think of all the ones I wish I could get on DVD to just watch at my leisure, the one I always think back to is Mighty Max, the show based on a toy which was a boy's version of Polly Pocket.

However, Polly Pocket never had a skull mountain or dragon island play set, so points for Max.

...I wonder how much those go for on eBay.

While I look that up, let's dig into the second episode of the amazingly brutal show, The Brain Suckers Cometh.

The M Stands for "Mighty" Part One

There were a few cartoons I was absolutely a die-hard fan of in the 90s.  You had your Batman: The Animated Series, you had Gargoyles and Duck Tales and Darkwing Duck.  You had Captain Planet and the Planeteers.  Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain.  The 90s were essentially a golden age for cartoons, one that faltered in later years and is just now really coming back.

But by far, the series that I absolutely loved to the point that I used to schedule records on a VCR to watch it when I realized it was on television at four in the morning... was Mighty Max.

So starting with episode one, let's look back and see what made it so great (and pray it still holds up).

Ask Erik: Episode Eleven

Here at Ask Erik, we've spent a lot of time reading books and comics, watching movies, and browsing through the Internet in the hopes of finding the answers to life's biggest mysteries.  Is there anything beyond the edge of the universe?  Could technology advance to the point where it surpasses us as the "masters" of this world?  Why does Adam Sandler keep getting to star in movies? 

Having instead amassed a vault of useless knowledge stored in his head, Erik instead tackles your questions and tries to find the answers you care about (or a reasonable facsimile).  Or, if you don't care, he'll at least try to make you laugh and forget you just wasted time you could spend doing anything else.