Kidd Video is an American Saturday morning cartoon and also a live-action/animated hybrid television series created by DIC Enterprises in association with Saban Productions. The series originally ran on NBC from 1984 to 1985. Reruns continued on the network until 1987 when CBS picked the show up. Reruns have also aired in syndication. The series chronicles a musician named Kidd Video.
Premise[]
The title sequence explained the plot; Kidd Video and his band of the same name (played by live-action performers in the first half of the title sequence) were practicing in a storage unit when an animated villain named Master Blaster appeared, and transported them to Master Blaster's home dimension, a cartoon world called The Flipside. Master Blaster plans to use them as his musical slaves....forever. They were rescued by a fairy named Glitter, and subsequently spent each episode of the series either helping to free the denizens of the Flipside from Master Blaster's rule, or trying to find a way back to the "real world".
The show was dominated by an MTV-esque, music video theme. Each episode featured at least one action sequence set to a popular song, and the heroes would often distract their enemies by showing current music videos, and sneak off while the enemies were entranced. Each episode also ended with a live-action music video by Kidd Video. Other pop cultural current events featured heavily in the show as well: the characters often break danced to relax, rode on skateboards, and one episode was devoted entirely to video games. The visual style of the cartoon itself was heavily influenced by the more surreal videos showing on MTV, and by album artwork of the era, by artists like Roger Dean.
The band was created specifically for the show; they performed their own songs and they provided the voices for their cartoon counterparts. At the end of some episodes, the live action band would be shown once again performing a music video, such as "A Little TLC". The music videos produced by Kidd Video then became very popular in Israel, which then produced fan merchandise such as coloring books and chocolate bars with images of the band.
Cast, Crew and Characters[]
- Kidd Video (portrayed and voiced by Bryan Scott)
- Carla (portrayed and voiced by Gabrielle Bennett)
- Whiz (portrayed and voiced by Robbie Rist)
- Ash (portrayed and voiced by Steve Alterman)
- Glitter (voiced by Cathy Cavadini)
- Toolbot (voiced by Hal Rayle)
- Master Blaster (voiced by Peter Renaday)
- The Copy Cats
- Cool Kitty (voiced by Robert Towers)
- Fat Cat (voiced by Marshall Efron)
- She-Lion (voiced by Susan Silo)
Additional Voices[]
- Michael Bell (Season 2)
- Marshall Efron (Season 2)
- Peter Renaday (Season 2)
- Robert Towers (Season 1)
Casting and Voice Directors[]
- Michael Bell
- Marsha Goodman
- Ginny McSwain
- Howard Morris
See also[]
- Main article: Kidd Video episode list
- Main article: Music
- Main article: List of videography