Captain Power Controversy
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Captain Power is as advanced as anything you'll see on television. It's ground breaking use of computer animation and live action. But in one way, the show may have been damaged by it's own technology. When the Mattel toy company joined forces with Landmark Entertainment to fund Captain Power,it added interactive toys to the mix. It's an idea Mattel had been developing for many years.
"We saw the opportunity that the Captain Power concept really would fit very nicely with our interactive technologies..."
It worked as toy sales and syndicated ratings soared. But there was a drawback for Mattel and Landmark Entertainment. Children activists were immediately critical of the idea.
"To really watch the show the way it's designed to be watched, you have to go out and buy something to use with the program and that is the height of arrogance."
Mattel disagrees and favours letting the market decide.
John Weems, VP of Entertainment, Mattel:
"Only a small fraction of the audience would ever own the toyline...so if the show was not working for it's entertainment value, the stations would not be seeing the kind of ratings success that they are seeing."
The man in the midle of the controversy is Gary Goddard, one of the creators and designers of Captain Power, who would like to see his show judged exclusively on it's merits and not only it's ancillary merchandising.
Gary Goddard:
"Siskel and Ebert reviewed the show and they loved the show. And they were reviewing this as a show, as a tv show. And they said 'Hey - forget the toys - this is a good show.The scripts are good, the dialogue is good, the production buyers are good.' And I'm a little, I guess, upset that the show is not being reviewed and being judged on it's own merits as a show...because that's what we're concerned with."
Despite the hue and cry over interactive toys and the whole dividing line between content and commercials, Captain Power is becoming a Power house in syndication. But Landmark isn't oblivious to the criticism leveled at Captain Power. It recently added a child psychologist to the staff and are experimenting with educational uses of video interactive technology.
Dennis Michael,CNN, Hollywood.