Max Steel (2000 TV series)

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Max Steel
GenreAction
Science fiction
Based onMax Steel
by Mattel
Developed byGreg Weisman
Jeff Kline
StarringChristian Campbell
Chi McBride
Keith Szarabajka
Jacob Vargas
Debi Mae West
Ed Asner
Mae Whitman
Country of originUnited States
Canada
(2001–2002)
(season 3)
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes35 (+ 9 films) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersRichard Raynis
Jeff Kline
ProducersBob Richardson
Greg Weisman
Marsha F. Griffin
Running time21 minutes
Production companiesMainframe Entertainment
(2001–2002)
(season 3)
Adelaide Productions
Columbia TriStar Domestic Television[a]
Original release
NetworkKids' WB
ReleaseFebruary 26, 2000 (2000-2-26) –
June 23, 2001 (2001-6-23)
NetworkCartoon Network
ReleaseNovember 12, 2001 (2001-11-12) –
December 13, 2002 (2002-12-13)
Related
Max Steel (2013)
Max Steel (2016)

Max Steel is an American

animated television series which originally aired from February 26, 2000, to December 13, 2002, based on the Mattel action-figure of the same name.[1] Max Steel ran for three seasons, totaling thirty-five episodes.[2]

From 2004 to 2012,

direct-to-DVD movies kept the presence of the main character alive. However, the first movie, Max Steel: Endangered Species
, was the only one to keep the continuity of the series. After Endangered Species, the continuity was altered. Endangered Species was the only movie to be made available in the United States of America, while later releases were in Latin America.

The voice-acting cast for the series included Chi McBride and Christian Campbell, as well as well-known sports stars such as Tony Hawk.

After the bankruptcy of Netter Digital and Foundation Imaging, Mainframe Entertainment took over the productions of the third season and the movies. The last episode, "Truth Be Told", aired January 15, 2002. Max Steel was the first computer-generated series to air on Kids' WB.[3]

A reboot series premiered on Disney XD in 2013.

Backstory

Protagonist Josh McGrath (Campbell) is a 19-year-old fictional extreme sports teen star, whose parents died some time ago. He was later adopted by his father's best friend and partner, Jefferson Smith (McBride), who works in an extreme sports equipment manufacturing company which is in reality a façade for a secret counter-intelligence agency known as N-Tek.[4]

One night, while Josh was visiting his stepfather at work, a villain known as Psycho (Szarabajka) broke into the facility. The young McGrath faced him and a brief battle ensued, interrupted when Psycho shot a nearby containment unit of semi-liquid, microscopic Nano-Tech machines called "Max Probes". The nanomachines covered Josh, entering his body, integrating with his organic system, and (as they ran out of energy) started dying, siphoning Josh's life-critical energy as well. In an attempt to save his foster son, Jefferson Smith agrees to submit Josh to a high proportion of the transphasic energy (T-Juice), which the machines need to survive. This saved his life and also gave him superhuman abilities. As a result, Josh took on the identity of Max Steel and fights super-powered villains, mainly Mr. Dread (Jarvis), Psycho's evil boss, and the members of DREAD, his spy organization. Later, in the movies, they fight off mutants, robots, mad scientists, and monsters.

Episodes

Max Steel debuted on Kids' WB with the episode "Strangers" on February 26, 2000, and ended with episode "Truth Be Told" on December 13, 2002. The show ran for three seasons, totaling 35 episodes.

The series can be found on DVD: Volume one contains episodes 1–6, Volume 2 contains episodes 7–13, and the final one is a box-set with all of season one. Seasons 2 and 3 were never released. VHS ones were made available with various "Max Steel" action figures: "Strangers," "Snow Blind," "Sphinxes," and "Old Friend, New Enemy" were sold.

As of 2009, episodes of Max Steel can be found on

Crackle's YouTube account;[5]
however, these are no longer accessible.

Characters

N-Tek and civilians

DREAD

  • John Dread (voiced by Martin Jarvis) – The leader of the DREAD organization, and the main antagonist of the first and second seasons (even after his supposed death). He's rarely seen outside of offices and rooms in dark secluded buildings, and only made two known appearances where he was the main or part of a main threat. He was killed in the season 1 finale (S1E13 – "Shattered") when his airship crashes, but he survived in the season 2 premiere (S2E1 – "The Return"). He takes Pete Costas hostage and forces Max to steal valuable N-Tek research. He's later arrested and held in a maximum security prison. During the season 2 finale (S2E13 – "Breakout"), Psycho and Bio-Con break him out while he is being transferred to another prison. It is believed he was killed off later in the same episode, but no body was found. There is fandom speculation that John Dread and Marco Nathanson (the N-Tek founder) are the same person, although this has been debunked by the first season story editor Greg Weisman.
  • Psycho (voiced by
    psychopath. He's often called "Smiley", mainly by Max but occasionally by other members of N-Tek. He ignores it when Max refers to him as smiley, but usually has very violent reactions when other members of DREAD address him with that nickname. He has a metallic face which looks like the human skull, with an unusually large smiling jaw (hence the reason of his nickname). In the first season, Psycho covers up his metallic face with a mask, which gives him the appearance of a normal tough white guy. His main weapon is his right bionic arm, which can change into a claw or a laser gun, presumably by nerve signals
    . In Endangered Species, Psycho also has a Psycho-droid, which looks almost exactly like him, except the droid is a silver or copper color. He features the same bionic arm as Psycho and has a self-destruct system, which Psycho ultimately uses to kill Bio-Con.
  • L'Etranger (voiced by John de Lancie) – "The Stranger," as his name translates from French into English. He wears a mask over his face, which appears to resemble a metal skull (similar to that-of Psycho), with little facial details, and was the first villain to appear in the TV show. At the end of said episode, Dread mentions that he is not a full-time member of his organization. By the time of his second appearance, he is said to no longer work for Dread. He is a mercenary terrorist with strength that rivals Max's in turbo-mode and armed with electrical charged gloves which can produce an explosive spark. Being an electrical weapon, one hit is more than enough to stun his enemies for a large period of time. It appears that he drowned in the episode "Fun in the Sun" (S2E2).
  • Dragonelle (voiced by Mia Korf) – She is the first major female villain shown. The origin of her code-name is unclear, although there is speculation that she comes from China (as that is where the episode which she appeared in for the first time took place). As dragons are a key part of Chinese mythology, it is believed that she took this name for good luck. She's dressed in golden battle armor, and has the ability to perfectly mimic the actions and appearance of any person she has seen. She's not much of a fighter, as she always runs away from any physical confrontation, since she's more an undercover agent than an active fighter. Nevertheless, she fights off both Max and 'Berto in the episode "Shooting Stars" (S2E8). Dragonelle is genuinely loyal to Dread, believing him to be “a genius” and is penitent when she fails him.
  • Vitriol – According to Max, Vitriol is "not the sharpest tool in the shed," which explains why he often teams along with Psycho. While they are supposed to be equal members of DREAD, Vitriol usually follows Psycho's orders. His arms are vibrant, translucent green with metallic 'bones' visible, and can shoot green energy beams, which can be very destructive. At the end of season one, he realizes he's an expendable pawn, and decides to cooperate with N-Tek in an effort to obtain a reduced sentence. However, in Season 2, he would return to old habits, and go against N-Tek several times. In Season 3, he is seen several times.

Other villains

Movie villains

  • Elementor – (voiced by Scott McNeil) Elementor is a clone of Bio-Con, who first appeared in Max Steel: Forces of Nature, creating by using one of the five Elementium Isotopes, which gave him the ability to control water. He later found and absorbed 3 that had been scattered around the world, giving him control over earth, fire and air, and the ability to absorb other materials, like metal, sand, ice etc. and needed the last on, and attacked N-Tek. Elementor's plan was to use the isotopes to kill all life on the planet and restart it from scratch. He's defeated by Max, which it was revealed that the fifth isotope was used in order his body to not reject the nanoprobes. And used its energy to separate and kill Elementor. However, in Max Steel: Countdown, Elementor was still alive, but lacking a body. He tried to use the same energy that Max uses to restore his body, but was split into his five forms, Earth, Wind, Water, Fire and Metal. Who then went to merge with the earth on a global scale. Max was able to fuse all of the Elementors back into one, and severely drain him of his powers. Despite being a clone of Bio-Con, Elementor is not the brightest bulb in the bunch.
  • Exstroyer – (Voiced by Brian Drummond) Originally known as Troy Winters and debuted in Max Steel: Dark Rival, Troy was Max's rival on the Extreme Sports Circuit, and the only guy Max could not beat. Troy left to work for Eclipse Industries, as the Circuit could not proved the challenge Troy wanted. He stole three Proton Magnets from N-Tek, and used them to shoot down crystal pieces from a comet called Morphosos. Troy fell into a pool of lava, and merged the Morphosos Crystal he had on him, and merged with it, becoming Exstroyer. Max defeated him, and sent him into deep space on the comet, in Max Steel: Bio Crisis, an Exstroyer clone was created with the powers and memories of the original. Exstroyer has the ability to drain the energy of anyone or anything, and turn himself in a super charged copy of it. Any person or creature, can sometimes become infected, and gain Crystal's similar to Exstroyer's. Also, like Exstroyer, the infected can into a super charged version of anything they touch.
  • Toxion – Originally an N-Tek agent known as Tox who debuted in Max Steel vs The Mutant Menace. He had a problem with authority and tried to bring an N-Tek waste containment plant, that he created in order to hold the world's most dangerous substances, online before it was ready. The result was an explosion that mutated Tox's body, and gave him control over toxins, and other dangerous chemicals. It also mutated Toxion's mind, causing him to go crazy, and blamed N-Tek for what happened to him. Before Toxion grew too powerful however, he was placed in a containment Sphere of ultra purified water, and sent to the North Pole until a cure could be found. Toxion tricked Max into freeing him, and proceeded to strengthen himself. He then tried to absorb the substances from the containment plant, and was stopped by Max. In Max Steel: Monstrous Alliance, he tried to take over a new N-Tek ship called the Warden. At the end of the film he was cured by Forge Ferris's daughter, Jet.
  • Makino – Originally known as Mike Nickelson he debuted in Makino's Revenge. Nickelson stole Berto's equipment in order to try and record a fight between Max and Lightning Elementor, he was hit by a substance that fused him and Berto's equipment. He used his new powers to make Max and N-Tek look like criminals, and promote himself as a hero. But Makino's deception was revealed, and lost his fame, and credibility. Makino has the power to control all technology, he can also change his body be absorbing different vehicles such as a tank or jet fighter.

Principal voice actors

Additional voices

Crew

Series ending and continuity

After the official ending of the original series, due to the success of the action figure in Latin America, but the lack of response from United States market, Mattel removed Max Steel from the American market and focused on foreign markets only. As a result, after two years of absence, in partnership with

Mainframe Entertainment
(now Rainmaker Animation) continued with the animated adventures of Max Steel as a series of Direct to DVD movies and a collection of 1 minute video clips. Each movie or clip usually presents Max challenging one of his enemies, and was used initially as a way to keep the presence of Max on TV, but eventually became a way to promote a series of new toys.

After their initial release on TV, the movies were included as bonus gifts in many Max Steel toys or rewards for other activities related to the toy series. Most of the TV ads were grouped under the name of

Turbo Missions
.

Reboot

In January 2012, it was reported

Freemantle Media
were working on a new television series and reboot of the Max Steel television series, which will still retain the name, but feature different characters, villains, and an entirely new storyline. This time, the show follows a 16-year-old Tachyon-human hybrid named Maxwell "Max" McGrath and his alien "Ultralink" partner, Steel. Maxwell McGrath learns he has the power to generate "TURBO energy", which he struggles to contain until meeting Steel. Steel gives Maxwell the ability to harness his power while merging his own to create one unified super force. The action adventure series was launched on March 1, 2013, to audiences on Cartoon Network channels throughout Latin America, including Mexico, Brazil, Peru and Argentina.[6] On October 5, 2012, it was confirmed that the series will air on Disney XD in the United States.[7][8] Max Steel premiered Monday, March 25, 2013.[9]

Notes

  1. ^ Credited as Columbia TriStar Television (seasons 1–2).

References

  1. .
  2. .
  3. ^ "Mattel Press Releases". Manbehindthedoll.com. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  4. ^ "Paramount and Mattel to Reanimate MAX STEEL as a Feature Film". Collider. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
  5. ^ "Er is iets misgegaan". YouTube. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  6. ^ Luis Beltran Romero. "Max Steel: Cartoon Network estrena el reboot en Marzo – Anime, Manga y TV". Anmtvla.com. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  7. ^ Arrant, Chris (October 5, 2012). "Teen Action-Hero "Max Steel" Makes Global Series Debut". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  8. ^ "Disney XD Acquires new CG "Max Steel" Series for 2013". BSCkids. October 16, 2012. Archived from the original on January 6, 2013. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  9. ^ "Max Steel | Disney XD". Disneyxd.disney.com. Archived from the original on August 20, 2013. Retrieved September 5, 2013.