Underplayed Gems

The Aquabats! Super Show! (2012)

The Aquabats! Super Show! poster
Genre
comedy television series
Country
United States
Length
2 seasons, 21 episodes
Rated
PG
Rating
7.5 of 10 from 6 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

This is a comedy series about a real band who pretend to be superheroes. They fight goofy villains and monsters in a show that mixes live action with cartoon segments and musical numbers.

campyenergeticsillyupbeatwhimsicallow-budgetnostalgiczany

What happens

The Aquabats! Super Show! is an American action-comedy musical television series which aired from March 3, 2012 to January 8, 2014 on The Hub Network, later resuming as an independent YouTube series from September 2019 to February 2025. The series was created by Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz, both the creators of the Nick Jr. Channel series Yo Gabba Gabba!, and Jason deVilliers. Based on the superhero mythology of The Aquabats, a real-life comedy rock band which series co-creator and lead singer Jacobs formed in 1994, The Aquabats! Super Show! follows the comic adventures of a fictionalized version of the band, a musical group of amateur superheroes, as they haphazardly defend the world from a variety of villains and monsters. Styled similarly to the campy aesthetics of 1960s and 1970s children's television and Japanese tokusatsu, Super Show! utilizes various mediums of visual styles and special effects, mixing live-action storylines with cartoon shorts, parody advertisements and musical interludes. The series' first season concluded on June 16, 2012 following a run of 13 episodes, having met with a largely positive critical reception, consistently high ratings for the channel and a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Children's Series. The series' second season consisted of an initial five episodes which aired through June 2013, with three additional episodes airing in late December and January 2014, receiving similar acclaim and a further seven Daytime Emmy nominations, ultimately winning one for Best Stunt Coordination. In June 2014, co-creator Jacobs officially announced the series' cancellation, following news of The Hub's financial losses which led to the network's rebranding as Discovery Family later that October. In July 2018, The Aquabats launched a successful Kickstarter to help independently finance new episodes of The Aquabats! Super Show!, promoting the campaign with a series of YouTube-exclusive mini-episodes continuing the original series' storyline. From September 2019 to February 2025, the band premiered 12 of these new episodes on YouTube, retitled as The Aquabats! RadVentures! though still retaining Super Show!'s theme song and title card. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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