I know all of you were wondering about the Aquabats! Crickets? No? Well it doesn’t really matter because I post for me. And I like the Aquabats! Super Show! right now. Yes the exclamation points seem to be important, but I’ll mostly skip them from here on out for readability and the sake of my autocorrect.
My exposure to the Aquabats is limited to the TV show and what I’ve been able to find on the internet. Somewhere in the 90’s the Aquabats started as a costumed ska band in California who touted themselves as musical superheroes. A friend of mine actually saw them in the early days at a show she described as “maybe eight people in the audience.” Well not anymore! Now that they are on TV you don’t have to be in California to see them. They have gone through multiple iterations in terms of band membership and their musical style has broadened. This is the current group as explained by the Super Show theme song:
The Aquabats!
(Super Show!)
The Aquabats!
(Super Show!)
The Aquabats!
(Super Show!)
The Aquabats!
We’re a band of five heroes.
We love to save the world you know.
We’ll travel the land in our battletram.
We’re the Aquabats! The Aquabats!
With:
The MC Bat Commander (Commander!)
Crash McLarson (Crash!)
Ricky Fitness (Ricky!)
Eaglebones Falconhawk (Eaglebones!)
And Jimmy the Robot (Jimmy!)
Together they fight evil, so unbelievable!
Aquabats….Let’s go.
This is the Aquabats Super Show, here we go-o-o!
The Aquabats!
(Super Show!)
The Aquabats!
(Super Show!)
This is the Aquabats Super Show, it’s a TV show-o-o-o-o!
The Aquabats!
(Super Show!)
The Aquabats!
(Super Show!)
The Aquabats!
(Super Show!)
The Aquabats!
(Super Show!)
The Aquabats Super Show.
The best thing about the Show theme song is the fact that it tells you everything you need to know, EVEN that you are watching TV show, just in case you had forgotten.
Now a little bit about each ‘bat:
MC Bat Commander (MCBC)
An original member (of two remaining!) The Commander leads the group and calls the shots most of the time. His only superpower seems to be having the most lines, or maybe it’s that he is the only guy with a moustache? Anyway, someone has to keep the group together and that’s the Bat Commander.
Crash McLarson
The other original member, Crash is the oldest actor and possibly the oldest Aquabat (although this is unclear) but in some ways he is more child-like than all the others. He gets frustrated easily and little things affect him in a big way. And I do mean literally big, as his power is emotion-based super growth. Crash might be on the naive side, but he clearly cares about his friends most.
Ricky Fitness
He’s fit, he’s young (maybe? again their character ages are really vague) and he can run at super speeds. He’s a bit of a health nut and clean freak. I’m with you there, Ricky- germs skeeve me out.
Eaglebones Falconhawk
He seems the most ‘rocker’ of the group, has long hair and wields a laser equipped electric guitar. The weaponability of said guitar seems linked to the hotness of his solos. Keep practicing, Eaglebones.
Jimmy the Robot
So he’s a robot I guess. That’s a power? It’s unclear what his specs are like in terms of human tendencies, laws of robotics, positronic brain, self awareness…or it’s a kids show so- shrug? As a scifi fan I am used to waaay more (pardon the expression) fleshing out of robots motivations/backstories. But again kids show, I can deal. As a robot, Jimmy does have a lot of sweet moves (again pardon the expression) up his sleeve such as removing his arm, producing lasers or fire from his fingertips, and making his hand into a grenade.
The guys all wear tight blue shirts called rash guards (cuz surfing or something? I’m in New York!) and silver helmets with black eye masks. They wear black shoes and black Bermuda shorts with belts bearing an emblem of a bat.
The show format starts with a recap of last episode that may or may not be pertinent at all. Then the Show theme song (not to be confused with the Theme Song by the Aquabats which gives an older version of their backstory) and a one sentence narration that sets up the story. The action is interrupted by not only real commercials, but fake commercials for nonsense products and at least one cartoon of them OR the bat emblem on their belt. His name is Lil Bat, or so says the wiki.
That’s the rundown. I plan on blogging up several transcripts of the show to follow this post. Why? Well I couldn’t find a transcript online. Also someone sweet got me the DVD of their first season and I’m watching it repeatedly. Now I only have to wait for my DVR to catch season two.