Lazer Tag Academy | |
---|---|
Genre | Animation |
Developed by | Dan DiStefano |
Directed by | John Kimball Rudy Larriva |
Voices of | |
Narrated by | Don LaFontaine (Opening narration) |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 13 |
Production | |
Executive producers | |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production companies | |
Original release | |
Network | NBC |
Release | September 13 – December 6, 1986 |
Lazer Tag Academy is an animated television series inspired by Worlds of Wonder's Lazer Tag (their branded version of the pursuit game referred to generically as "laser tag") that was created by Ruby-Spears Productions. [1] Original episodes aired on NBC from September 13 to December 6, 1986 with reruns lasting until August 22, 1987. [2]
It was later shown in reruns under the new title Lazer Patrol on the Sci Fi Channel as part of Sci Fi Cartoon Quest. [3]
Another laser tag related series, DIC Entertainment's live-action Photon series aired the same year in syndication.
The show contains numerous popular culture references, from the Man in the Iron Mask to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Jamie Jaren, the Lazer Tag Champion of 3010, travels back in time to the year 1987 to help her ancestors, teenagers Tom and Beth and toddler Nicky. [4] Jamie protects the kids from Draxon Drear, a master criminal from the year 2061 who was unwittingly revived from suspended animation by Jamie's teacher Professor Olanga after he ended up in that state following a spaceship hijacking accident. Draxon's spaceship crashed into the Atlantic Ocean and was kept in suspended animation until he was revived. Professor Olanga's analysis reveals that Draxon is a relative of Jamie.
Draxon has traveled back in time to destroy Beth because she would eventually create the Starlyte gun and Starsensor (two real-life Lazer Tag products) worn by Jamie. These machines enabled Jamie to compete in the Lazer Tag tournaments of her time period. In the hands of certain individuals, a Starlyte is capable of producing effects that enable the wielder to manipulate matter and energy on a molecular scale and with the aid of the Starsensor, travel through time.
Draxon leads a group of genetically-enhanced humanoids called Skuggs who were originally created to serve humanity before they ended up in Draxon's thrall. One of the Skuggs accidentally sets off the suspended animation gas on Draxon's spaceship, which reawakens Draxon and the Skuggs several centuries in the future.
Beth and Tom's parents Andrew and Genna Jaren were mostly ignorant to the battles with Draxon Drear and the Skuggs and believed Jamie was a foreign exchange student. In addition, Tom and Beth's schoolmate Charles Ferguson is suspicious of Jamie, and repeatedly tries to learn her secret.
Nº | Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | "The Beginning" | September 13, 1986 | |
Jamie Jaren pursues Draxon Drear from 3010 to 1987, and meets her ancestors, Tom, Beth, and Nicky Jaren. | |||
2 | "Skugg Duggery" | September 20, 1986 | |
Everyone in town is turned into Skuggs and the Jarens have to change them back. | |||
3 | "Yamoto's Curse" | September 27, 1986 | |
The Jarens head to Tokyo where Drear has stolen Dr. Yamato's special plant food. | |||
4 | "Pay Dirt" | October 4, 1986 | |
The Jarens capture Drear only to find out he planted a bomb that will trigger a devastating earthquake. | |||
5 | "Charles' Science Project" | October 11, 1986 | |
Charles Ferguson steals the Jarens' Starlyte Blocker and claims it as his own. | |||
6 | "The Witch Switch" | October 18, 1986 | |
Drear travels back to Salem, Massachusetts in 1690 to make sure Abigail Jaren is condemned for being a witch. | |||
7 | "The Olanga Story" | October 25, 1986 | |
Drear and the Skuggs head to 13th Century Africa to prevent a royal marriage so that Professor Olanga is never born. | |||
8 | "Battle Hymn of Jaren's" | November 1, 1986 | |
The Jarens go to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863 to ensure that Bo Jaren marries Sara Beth. But will Drear have his way and prevent the modern Jarens from being born? | |||
9 | "Sir Tom of Jaren" | November 8, 1986 | |
10 | "Redbeard's Treasure" | November 15, 1986 | |
Jamie, Tom, and Beth go back to 1748 to get Redbeard's treasure for a sea captain to prevent foreclosure on his boat, not knowing Drear and the Skuggs are there, too. Note: Nicky, Ralphie, Mr. and Mrs. Jaren, and Charles Ferguson do not appear in this episode. | |||
11 | "Drear's Doll" | November 22, 1986 | |
The Jarens decide to help a lost child unaware that she's an android programmed by Drear to steal their Starlytes. | |||
12 | "StarLyte on the Orient Express" | November 29, 1986 | |
Jamie, Tom, Beth, and Drear all end up on the Orient Express when their Starlytes are stolen by a mysterious thief. Note: The character Agatha Marble is a combo of Agatha Christie and her fictional detective Miss Marple. | |||
13 | "Jamie and the Spitfires" | December 6, 1986 | |
The Jarens are called to the year 3010 to deal with Drear and The Spitfires, a futuristic biker gang, led by Jamie's old rival Corbin Tucker. Series finale. |
VHS Title | Release Date | Episodes |
---|---|---|
Lazer Tag Academy (VC1088) | 1987 | "The Beginning", "Skugg Duggery" |
Three VHS tapes were released by Celebrity Home Entertainment:
Lazer Tag Academy was later rerun in syndication under the name Laser Patrol. This version was also shown briefly on the Sci-Fi Channel.
Animation in the United States in the television era was a period in the history of American animation that gradually started in the late 1950s with the decline of theatrical animated shorts and popularization of television animation, reached its peak during the 1970s, and ended around the late 1980s. This era is characterized by low budgets, limited animation, an emphasis on television over the theater, and the general perception of cartoons being primarily for children.
Modern animation in the United States from the late 1980s to 2004 is frequently referred to as the renaissance age of American animation. During this period, many large American entertainment companies reformed and reinvigorated their animation departments, following the dark age, and the United States had an influence on global and worldwide animation.
Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is an animated series based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series, produced by Sega of America, DIC Animation City, Bohbot Entertainment and the Italian studio Reteitalia S.p.A. in association with Spanish network Telecinco. Airing during the fall of 1993, 65 episodes were produced, which was syndicated by Bohbot Entertainment in the United States.
The Disney Afternoon, sometimes abbreviated as TDA, was a created-for-syndication two-hour programming block of animated television series. It was produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and distributed through its syndication affiliate Buena Vista Television. Each show from the block has aired reruns on Disney Channel and Toon Disney. Disney Channel reaired four shows on "Block Party," a two-hour block that aired on weekdays in the late afternoon/early evening.
Williams Street Productions, LLC, formerly known as Ghost Planet Industries, is an American animation and live action television production studio owned by the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. The studio is the in-house production arm of Adult Swim. Mike Lazzo and Keith Crofford oversaw operations for the building for most of its existence.
Jabberwocky is an American daily children's television program designed for 5–10 year-olds that went into national syndication. The original series ran Monday through Friday for over two seasons, from 1972 to 1974, on WCVB-TV in Boston. Starting in 1974, the nationally syndicated version ran weekly and was rerun in the early hours of Saturday mornings by many television stations up until the 1990s.
King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles, and games to nearly 5,000 newspapers worldwide. King Features Syndicate also produces intellectual properties, develops new content and franchises, and licenses its classic characters and properties.
King Kong, commonly referred to as The King Kong Show, is an animated television series produced by Videocraft International and Toei Animation. ABC ran the series in the United States on Saturday mornings between September 10, 1966, and August 31, 1969. It is the first anime-based series produced in Japan for an American company.
Cartoon Quest was the name of a block of mostly animated television shows that aired on the Sci Fi Channel starting in 1992. Similar to USA's Cartoon Express, it featured reruns of various older cartoons interspersed with interstitial segments; in this case, focusing on a live-action family exploring a strange region. During its run, the block aired every Saturday from 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM EST.
The Transformers is an animated television series that originally aired from September 17, 1984, to November 11, 1987, in syndication based upon Hasbro and Takara's Transformers toy line. The first television series in the Transformers franchise, it depicts a war among giant robots that can transform into vehicles and other objects. The series was produced by Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions in association with Japanese studio Toei Animation for first-run syndication. Toei co-produced the show as the main animation studio for its first two seasons, having been tasked with creating and finalizing animation models, designing transformation schemes, storyboarding some episodes, and general direction. In the third season, Toei's involvement with the production team was reduced and the animation services were shared with the South Korean studio AKOM. The show's supervising producer was also AKOM's founder. The fourth season was entirely animated by AKOM. The series was supplemented by a feature film, The Transformers: The Movie (1986), taking place between the second and third seasons. This series is also popularly known as "Generation One", a term originally coined by fans in response to the re-branding of the franchise as Transformers: Generation 2 in 1992, which eventually made its way into official use. The series was later shown in reruns on Sci-Fi Channel and The Hub / Discovery Family.
BBC Sound Effects No. 26: Sci-Fi Sound Effects is a 1981 compilation of sound effects and atmospheres created by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. It was the second in the BBC Sound Effects series to be credited to the Workshop. It featured sounds from popular television series Doctor Who and Blake's 7, as well as effects for the first series of the radio versions of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and James Follett's Earthsearch. In 1991 it was re-released on CD as Essential Science Fiction Sound Effects Vol. 1. Reissued on CD with its original title and cover as part of AudioGo's "Vintage Beeb" line 4 April 2013.
Exposure is a short-film oriented science-fiction anthology television series that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel between the years of 2000 and 2002. The series showcased the short sci-fi films of both unknown and known filmmakers, giving rise to the channel's own Exposure Studios. Hosted by actress Lisa Marie, the films presented a wide range of science fiction subject matter. The series received poor ratings and was canceled in the fall of 2002. The series was originally shown on Sundays at 10:00pm EST and was repeated the following Saturday at 2:00am EST, later on the time was changed to 11:00pm EST and still repeated the following Saturday well after Midnight, which probably is a major reason for the poor ratings this show received. The series also had two guest hosts. Terry Farrell would host the "Best of Season One" episode and director Kevin Smith hosted the "Star Wars Short Films Showcase".
The Houndcats is an American Saturday morning cartoon series produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises. The series was broadcast by NBC from September 9 to December 2, 1972, with reruns continuing until September 1, 1973. Thirteen episodes were produced.
Captain Satellite was an afternoon TV program on KTVU-2 in Oakland, California. Like many kids' shows of this period, it took advantage of the interest engendered by science fiction and the early space program. The Captain was played by Bob March, a local TV personality. His signature outfit was a helmet and a dark uniform under a light-colored, triangular vest that had a thunderbolt passing through a globe. The set was a cutaway rocket ship called the Starfinder II that blasted off each day. Guest children would co-pilot under Captain Satellite's supervision. As the ship orbited on auto-pilot, the children would participate in games to win prizes, and in live promotions. Old Thirties cartoons like Scrappy and serials would be introduced between breaks, and occasionally there were special appearances, as when The Three Stooges came to visit the Starfinder II.
The Littles is an American animated television series originally produced between 1983 and 1985. It is based on the characters from The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John Peterson, the first of which was published in 1967. The series was produced for the American broadcast network ABC by the French/American studio DIC Audiovisuel. It was post-produced by a Canadian animation studio, Animation City Editorial Services.
Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe Ltd., formerly Cartoon Network Development Studio Europe and Cartoon Network Studios Europe, is a British animation studio headquartered in London, England, and owned by the UK division of Warner Bros. International Television Production, a subsidiary of the Warner Bros. Television Group, the television business segment of Warner Bros. Discovery. It is the EMEA arm of Cartoon Network Studios.
6 Point Harness is an American animation studio and production label of Mondo Media based in Los Angeles. It develops and produces animated television programming, feature films, commercial, music videos and web-based content. Founded by Brendan Burch in 2003, some of the studio's most notable productions include Tom Hanks' Electric City, Fox's Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, MTV's Good Vibes, Nick Jr.'s Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, Nickelodeon's El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, Adult Swim's Apollo Gauntlet and Lazor Wulf, the animated feature The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!, and the web series Dick Figures for the YouTube channel Mondo Media. 6PH also released Dick Figures: The Movie, an in-house production developed from the company's web series.
Major Lazer is an American adult animated television series based on the electronic music group of the same name, created by DJ and record producer Diplo with Ferry Gouw and Kevin Kusatsu. It premiered on FXX on April 16, 2015, as part of their Animation Domination High-Def (ADHD) block. After Stone Quackers, Major Lazer is the second ADHD original series to be aired on the channel after FOX had stopped its broadcast of the block itself.