Photon (TV series)
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Photon was a live action television show in the mid 1980s, which was tied in to the Photon lasertag arenas and home game.
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[edit] Hook
Photon followed the adventures of a young high school student, Christopher Jarvis with the alias of "Bhodi Li". Chris discovers that the lasertag game Photon is actually a way to detect the strongest warriors in the galaxy, who will then be recruited to fight the forces of darkness. After shooting his laser gun and saying "The light shines!", he would be transported to a space ship to join his fellow Photon Warriors. His alien compatriots include an orphan earthling boy genius named Parcival, a shape-changing blob named Pike, a dinosaur named Leon, a cyborg named Lord Baethan, and Tivia, a black ninja princess from another world populated by women after the males became extinct. Their mentor is a sort of computer named MOM. The villains' motto is "Let the darkness grow!"
[edit] Quirks
- Most of the action was about recharging "Photon Crystals". Either the good side or bad side could shoot the crystal and thus make the associated planet good or evil for the next hundred years.
- At some point during the show, a music-video-like sequence, featuring a recent hit song, would be played.
- The monsters notably had the letters "-arr" at the end of their names. For example, Pirarr (a pirate themed monster), Bugaar (a giant British bug), Dogarr (a doglike monster), Destructarr (an indescribable alien) and Warriarr (a four-armed monster). Bhodi Li's nemesis is Mandarr/Evan, a fallen Photon warrior under mind control. Their master is an evil overlord known as the Warlord of Arr (although the planet itself is never seen).
- The villains would project holograms of themselves onto the battlefield and leave their bodies behind so that when they were shot they would survive to appear later.
- This was one of the first kids shows to show the main character, Bhodi Li, get defeated (appeared to have been killed by getting Laser tagged) and having the episode end. He came back soon after.
- Before and after every commercial break, one of the heroes would say "The Light Shines" to the viewer.
[edit] Production and airtime
The show was filmed in both the U.S. and Japan. Many of the costumes were designed and manned by people who worked on Super Sentai and other tokusatsu programs in Japan. Production values were rather low, and a majority of the sets were chroma-keyed in.
The show only lasted one season. However, it did have a series finale.
Directors: Yasuhiro Horiuchi and Koichi Nakajima.
Writers: Ray Dryden, Tsunehisa Itô, Satoshi Namiki, Sukehiro Tomita.
[edit] Cast and characters
- Bhodi Li (played by Christopher Lockwood)
- Tivia, Princess of Nivia (played by Loretta Haywood)
- Lord Beatham (played by Graham Ravey)
- Parcival (played by Eros Rivers)
- Leon/Sarge (played by Akiyoshi Ono)
- Uncle Pike (played by Kazuhisa Kanamaru)
- Kathy Jarvis (played by Clarissa Reid)
- Barbara Johnson (played by Tamara Johnson)
- Richard Jarvis (played by Paul Laroque)
- Pirarr (played by Sam Taylor)
- Mandarr/Evan (played by David Anthony, aka David Stay)
- Warriarr (played by Satoshi Ishihara)
- Dogarr (played by Deiichi Igarashi)
- Bugarr (played by Yoshito Shiraishi)
- Destructarr (played by Yoshito Nagatsuka)
[edit] Related books
There were a number of book tie-ins, some of them written by popular comic book and TV author Peter David under the pseudonym of David Peters.
Two series of books were planned and started. The series aimed at a younger audience was by Peter David, under the pseudonym of David Peters, and 6 books were written. The only published novel of the series aimed at the Young Adult market was written by Michael P. Kube-McDowell under the house name Michael Hudson.
[edit] Production credits
[edit] DIC
- Executive Producers: Andy Heyward, Michael Mallani, Robby London
- Post Production Executive: Rainmaker Animation
- Live-Action Cameras: John Sandford
- Cast: Greg Hanks, John Sandford, David Kirschner, Tom Hanks, Jayne Barnera, Michael Jackson, Ashley Johnson
- Executive in Charge of Production: Brain A. Miller
- Producers: Marsha Goodman
- Staring: Jabeel White as Photon, Eric Goodman as Tom, Jayne Goodman as Peter
- Produced by: Robert Goodman
- Live-Action Book Photon book by: John Peel
- Produced by: Carmen Johnson
- Directed by: Phil Harnage
- Underwater Producers: Paul Sabellia
- Producers: Sam Goodman
- Post Production Executive: John Sandford
- Executive Producers: Partick Loubert, Michael Hirsh, Clive A. Smith
- Underwater Producers: Danny Smith
- Production Executive: Les Studios Marl
- In Charge of Production: Sonny Johnson
- Produced by: Paul Sebilla
- Producers Executive: Dwanye Johnson
- Live-Action Production: Big Star International Co., Spectra Animation Studio
- Producers: Bob Marples
- Production Television Programs by: John Sandford
- Published by Acclaim Entertainment video games
- Producers: Martin Handford
- A Nelvana-Elispe Production
- Photon is a DIC Enterprises in association with FremantleMedia North America distributed by SFM Entertainment, a SFM Corporation company
- (c)1994 DIC Enterprises L. P. and FremantleMedia, Inc. All rights reserved. This Motion Picture Association of America of the Trademarks Property of DIC Entertainment. This Characters for trademarks of as property Subject of the ownership laws for property of DIC Entertainment all rights therin property of Nintendo of America, Inc.
Produced in association with Global Television Network
[edit] Reruns
The Club Mario segments of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! included segments of Photon under the title Space Scout Theater.
