Super Force
| Super Force | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | James J. McNamara |
| Starring |
Ken Olandt Larry B. Scott Patrick Macnee Lisa Niemi Musetta Vander Antoni Corone R. Emmett Fitzsimmons Marc Macaulay |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 48 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
James J. McNamara (Season 1) Roderick Taylor (Season 2) |
| Running time | approx. 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
Premiere Limited Productions Viacom Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | First-run syndication |
| Original release | October 5, 1990 – May 26, 1992 |
Super Force is an American action-adventure TV series which aired from October 1990 to May 1992.
The series is about a former astronaut who uses an advanced combat suit and motorcycle to fight crime in the city of Metroplex during the year 2020. Among the features of the suit were enhanced strength and armament, whereas the motorcycle had an array of James Bond-type gadgets and weapons.
Syndicated by Viacom, Super Force was designed to be a companion series to Superboy,[1][2] and the second series in a proposed two-hour block of action programming that also included Lightning Force. Unusual for a series that only ran 30 minutes per episode, Super Force debuted with a two-hour TV pilot film, which was later split into four episodes for syndication purposes.
Plot summary
Astronaut Zachary Stone (Ken Olandt) returns from his acclaimed deep-space mission to Mars to find that his brother, a police officer, has been murdered and the criminals responsible are still at large. Frustrated at the seeming lack of concern or progress by the police, Zach takes it upon himself to find the killer(s) and bring them to justice, joining the Metroplex Police Department as a detective.
After his first failed attempt almost leads to his death in the Metroplex "Crime Zone," Zach is approached by F.X. Spinner (Larry B. Scott), a research scientist at Hungerford Industries who has developed a prototype suit of space armor that will never be used due to lack of funding. After the murder of Hungerford Industries founder E. B. Hungerford (Patrick Macnee), also a close friend of the Stone family, Zach convinces F.X. to modify the suit for combat purposes. Combined with a prototype motorcycle, the two form the backbone of the vigilante crime-fighting team called "Super Force," ably assisted by the Hungerford Computer (voiced by Macnee), an artificial intelligence computer created from a blend of Hungerford's personal records, psychological profile and company files.
During Season Two, Zach added limited psychic powers to his crime-fighting repertoire, the result of his near-death experience in the final episode of Season One. Also joining the Super Force team that season was Esper Division police officer Zander Tyler (Musetta Vander).
The Super Force suit was created and built by Robert Short, who also created the red suit worn by John Wesley Shipp in the live-action TV series The Flash. A recurring villain in Season One, Satori, was played by G. Gordon Liddy, the man made famous for planning the Watergate break-in.
Characters
Heroes
- Zach Stone - The main protagonist. A former astronaut, Zach has taken his (supposedly) deceased brother's place on the police force. But due to the increasingly violent crimes and the slow progress of police work, Zach becomes Super Force. As Super Force, Zach's armor increases his physical strength, surrounds him with a force field, allows him to see at telescopic ranges, and can fire an energy beam from the visual enhancement device on the helmet. In the second season, he gains minor psychic talents.
- FX Spinner - A former gang member given a second chance, FX is the brains of the teams. On occasion, FX even gets into the field himself, such as once dressing up in the Super Force armor to free Zach from brainwashing, or going undercover in an amusement park with a dark secret. In the episode "Yo! Super Force!", it's revealed that he has three cousins who also work as undercover agents.
- E.B. Hungerford - The head of Hungerford Industries and Zach's one-time mentor, E.B. is killed in the first quarter of the pilot movie. However, he lives on as a computer simulation which has access to his company's files, and can enter other computer systems.
Villains
- Tao Satori - The main villain of the series. Satori poses as a great humanitarian, but is secretly a ruthless criminal mastermind. It's because of him that Super Force exists, and many of the show's episodes involve a plot of his. Styling himself in a Japanese lifestyle, Satori's men usually refer to him as "oyabun", the Japanese word for godfather.
Episodes
Season One
| Ep # | Title | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 1, 2, 3, & 4 | A Hero's Welcome/ Too Late the Hero | After returning from a two-year mission to Mars, Zach Stone learns of his brother's death, and takes his place on the police force. But this is only the first in a series of events that leads to his becoming the armored vigilante, Super Force. |
| 5 | Battle Cry | A former soldier (Richard Hatch) targets the witnesses to his wife's murder. |
| 6 | As God as My Witness | It's fire and brimstone time when a religious madman escapes from his confinement, and starts recruiting teenagers. |
| 7&8 | U-Gene | A genetically engineered man (Lou Ferrigno) prowls the streets, and Zach is forced to work with a German officer to catch him. But there's more to the situation than it seems... |
| 9 | Prisoners of Love | Zach goes undercover to find abducted women. |
| 10 | The Crime Doctor | While on a case, Zach is brainwashed into trying to kill his alter ego, Super Force. |
| 11 | The Gauntlet | After the brother of one of his friends is murdered, Zach tries to keep her safe from the same killer. |
| 12 | Come Home to Die | F.X.'s old gang is behind several crimes, and F.X. tries to handle it on his own. |
| 13&14 | Gravity's Rainbow | Zach learns his brother is still alive...and is a pawn of Satori. |
| 15 | Water Mania | The owner of Zach's favorite childhood park, Watermania, is blackmailed into letting his park be the front for an extortion racket. |
| 16&17 | Sins of the Father | Zach upholds a promise he made to protect a fugitive from a bounty hunter. |
| 18 | Of Human Bondage | Super Force fights aliens to rescue students from becoming specimens at a zoo. |
| 19 | A Hundred Share | It's journalism gone wrong when a reporter uses subliminal messaging to get viewers. |
| 20&21 | Come Under the Way | A love from the past shows her face when Zach investigates a cult. |
| 22 | Tales of Future Past | Forget being haunted by the past, it's the future Super Force needs to worry about when a genetically engineered assassin from the world of tomorrow targets him. |
| 23 | Yo! Super Force! | A carnival worker (Rex Benson) harbors a dark secret when young women begin vanishing at his park. Luckily, F.X.'s cousins (Dr. Dré, Brian D. Perry, and Tyrone J. Kelsie) have a secret of their own that may help Super Force... |
| 24 | Breakfast of Champions | American Gladiators has nothing on the show Zach's infiltrating, which cares more about ratings than its contestants. |
| 25 | Carcinoma Angels | The former girlfriend of Zach's brother seeks his help from her ex-husband. |
| 26 | There's a Light | It's a race against time when Zach is injured, and F.X. and Hungerford try to save him. |
Season Two
| Ep # | Title | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 1&2 | At the End of the Tunnel | A psychic is called into help when Zach is injured thanks to a malfunction in his helmet |
| 3 | Love Slaves from Outer Space | The aliens from "Of Human Bondage" return to capture Super Force. |
| 4 | Light Around the Body | Zander begins having visions of a woman in trouble. |
| 5 | Instant Karma | Crystal returns as part of another cult. |
| 6&7 | Hank's Back | Super Force protects a country singer recently released from cryogenic stasis from the mob. |
| 8 | Ghost in the Machine | Zach and Zander investigate the suicide of a radio psychic. |
| 9&10 | Made for Each Other | Zach goes back to school to investigate the disappearance of a college student. |
| 11 | Illegal Aliens | Super Force must help the now reformed alien hunters (from "Of Human Bondage" and "Love Slaves from Outer Space"), when an extraterrestrial law enforcer comes after them. |
| 12&13 | The Viral Staircase | A Hungerford researcher creates a biological weapon. |
| 14 | The Big Spin | Zach dreams of Super Force as a sitcom after a blow to the head. |
| 15 | The Luddite Crusade | A D.A tries to have Super Force put behind bars. |
| 16 | King of the Trees | A creature from another dimension is taken away from its’ home during an archaeological dig |
| 17 | A Rainbow at Midnight | The ghost of a deceased cop haunted his partner, and Zach, FX, and Zander must solve a twenty year old murder. |
| 18 | The Monkey’s Breath | Zach’s new commanding officer has a dark secret... |
| 19&20 | The End of Everything | Artifical humanoids called Plasmoids steal nanites to destroy the world. |
| 21 | The Long Journey Home | Sequel to “King of the Trees. Iau returns, with Merkel in pursuit. And it only gets worse when Merkel threatens a friend of Iau. |
| 22 | A Hundred Yards a Second | Zach’s friends come to his aid when his memory is harmed. |
DVD release
On September 19, 2017, it was announced that Visual Entertainment had acquired the rights to the series. They subsequently released Super Force - The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 on October 12, 2017.[3]
References
- ↑ "Viacom's Success A Plus For Florida". Sun Sentinel. Retrieved 2010-12-24.
- ↑ "Viacom's Adventure In Florida". Chicago Tribune. 1991-01-07. Retrieved 2010-12-24.
- ↑ Super Force - 'The Complete Collection' DVD Set for the 1990 Series Coming out in mid-October from VEI Archived 2017-09-23 at the Wayback Machine.