MIGHTY MOUSE PLAYHOUSE

MIGHTY MOUSE PLAYHOUSE/

MIGHTY MOUSE AND THE MIGHTY HEROES

(CBS, December 10, 1955-September 2, 1967)

Terrytoons, CBS Films

MAIN CAST:

Roy Halee, Sr. & Allen Swift – Mighty Mouse (shorts)

Tom Morrison – Mighty Mouse (shorts & new content), Oil Can Harry (shorts)

Herschel Bernardi – Strong Man, Diaper Man, Tornado Man

Lionel G. Wilson – Cuckoo Man, Rope Man

            In 1942, Terrytoons writer Izzy Klein became fascinated by the Fleischer Studios Superman theatrical shorts and decided to create a parody starring an insignificant animal with similar powers. He proposed “Super Fly” at a Terrytoons story conference, but boss Paul Terry nixed the idea. Instead, he wanted to the idea to feature his go-to animal: a mouse.

Super Mouse and his original damsel, Mitzi.

            “Super Mouse” made his debut in theaters on October 16, 1942 in The Mouse of Tomorrow (a play on a nickname often attributed to Superman, “the man of tomorrow”) released by 20^th Century Fox. In it, the city of Mouseville was under constant siege by cats until one mouse went to a supermarket, bathed in super soap and ate super celery and cheese that gave him the powers to fight back and save the populace. Among the standard powers of flight, super strength and invulnerability, he was also shown to have x-ray vision, psychokinesis, time-manipulation abilities and could even use the red contrail he left when he flew as a band of solid, flexible matter.

Poster showing the new name over the original colors.

Super Mouse (Roy Halee, Sr., Tom Morrison & Allen Swift at various points in the series) appeared in six subsequent shorts between 1942 and 1943 when Terry learned of the existence of another Supermouse appearing in the pages of Nedor Publishing Co.’s comic, Coo Coo Comics, who made his debut just before the first short was released. Not wanting to promote another company’s creation, Terry renamed his character “Mighty Mouse” and later altered the color of his uniform from blue and red to yellow and red. The newly christened Mighty Mouse made his debut in 1944’s The Wreck of the Hesperus. The original shorts were later altered to reflect the new name.

Mighty Mouse's new supporting characters.

Although Mighty Mouse never reached the heights of popularity as other theatrical cartoon stars, he became Terrytoons’ most popular character; often appearing on promotional material for other Terrytoon projects and in Terrytoon Comics, published by Timely Comics (precursor to Marvel). In 1945, Terrytoons decided to change the format of the series. Until that point, Mighty Mouse would only appear in the last third of his shorts for a last-minute rescue. It was decided to give him a new rival in old Terrytoon villain Oil Can Harry (Morrison), remade a cat that always had evil intentions towards Mighty Mouse’s new main squeeze, Pearl Pureheart. Their adventures were done completely in mock opera beginning with Mighty Mouse and the Pirates, similar to how they were presented in Harry’s original theatrical outings in the Fanny Zilch series. 1947’s A Fight to the Finish began the plot device of starting each short off with Mighty Mouse and Pearl in peril as if a continuation from a previous chapter’s cliffhanger ending. It was during this period that Mighty Mouse’s catchphrase “Here I come to save the day!” debuted.

By the 1950s, theatrical shorts began to fall out of fashion due to the loss of audiences in favor of the growing medium of television and the popular and financially beneficial low-budget, stylized, limited animation techniques presented there. In 1955, Terry retired and sold his studio to CBS; however, Fox retained the theatrical distribution rights. CBS decided to take the existing Mighty Mouse library and broadcast them on television. On December 10, 1955, they launched Mighty Mouse Playhouse, which was comprised entirely of the 80 theatrical shorts produced during Terrytoons’ run. The only new content were commercial bumpers and Colgate commercials with Morrrison reprising his role, as well as a half-hour 1961 cartoon made in cooperation with UNICEF. The show’s theme was the theatrical theme written by Marshall Barer and composed by Philip Scheib, was originally credited to The Terrytooners with Mitch Miller and orchestra, but in later years it was revealed it was actually done by a group called The Sandpipers (not to be confused with the more well-known band of the same name).

The Mighty Heroes: Diaper Man, Cuckoo Man, Strong Man, Rope Man and Tornado Man.

The show ran for an impressive 11 seasons pulling in respectable ratings. However, as the 1960s rolled on, networks began producing more and more new content for Saturday mornings that began to overshadow and edge out the increasingly dated animation presented in the low-budget Terrytoons shorts. CBS decided to compliment the show with a new feature and eventually settled on Ralph Bakshi’s The Mighty Heroes.

The Mighty Heroes was a play on the growing superhero genre, particularly the successful premiere of the live-action Batman earlier in the year, with the most goofy and impractical heroes imaginable protecting the city of Goodhaven. The team was comprised of Strong Man, a farm boy-turned-big city mechanic with super strength; Tornado Man, a weather forecaster who could create tornadoes by spinning very fast; Diaper Man, a fully articulate baby that led the team and could use his bottle as a bludgeon weapon or to fire high-pressure streams of liquid (all Herschel Bernardi); Rope Man, a British sailor that could turn into an unlimited length of rope (and often got tangled into knots); and Cuckoo Man, a bird-shop owner with avian powers that changed into costume by jumping up into a cuckoo clock and popping out its little door (both Lionel G. Wilson). All of the heroes could fly, but a running gag had the rest of the team emitting jet sounds while Cuckoo Man would always lag behind with jalopy sounds.

Only 20 episodes of The Mighty Heroes were produced before Bakshi left Terrytoons. The show alternated between showing two Heroes episodes around a Mighty Mouse short, and breaking up a singular episode to bookend two shorts. The series was also renamed Mighty Mouse and the Mighty Heroes. Unfortunately, the show went up against DePatie-Freleng’s similar, and more popular, series, The Super 6, and little was done to ease the declining ratings. CBS removed the show from the schedule the following season and allowed it to enter syndicated reruns; both together and with the two different shows separated (Mighty Mouse ran considerably longer than the Heroes). The Heroes did get a brief second life as the first ten episodes were released as theatrical shorts by Fox between 1969 and 1970. They made one additional appearance with Mighty Mouse in an episode of the Bakshi-produced Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures.

An issue of the Dell series.

In 1967, Dell Comics produced a four-issue Heroes comic series. They returned to comics in a one-shot produced by Spotlight Comics in 1987. In 1998, Marvel published another one-shot that explored the untold origin of the Heroes as part of their Paramount Comics imprint. In 1989, Anchor Bay Entertainment released two VHS collections containing 6 Heroes episodes.

EPISODE GUIDE (The Mighty Heroes):

“The Plastic Blaster” – The Raven uses the Plastic Blaster to terrorize Goodhaven.

“The Frog” – The Frog plans to flood Goodhaven with water from the swamp.

“The Junker” – The Junker’s robot dogs eat anything metal, and he sets them loose on Goodhaven.

“The Shrinker” – The Shrinker shrinks the Goodhaven bank in order to steal it.

“The Ghost Monster” – The Heroes face the Ghost Monster that terrorizes the city every century.

“The Stretcher” – The Stretcher’s robots steal everything made of rubber in town.

“The Monsterizer” – The Monsterizer uses his machine to change the Mayor and Police Chief into monsters.

“The Drifter” – The Drifter uses his anti-gravity gun to lift Goodhaven up and hold it for ranom.

“The Shocker” – The Shocker attempts to steal Goodhaven’s power supply.

“The Enlarger” – The Enlarger calls out the Heroes by unleashing giant bugs on the city.

“The Toy Man” – The Toy Man’s toys come to life at night and rob their owners blind.

“The Dusters” – The Shrinker’s new sidekicks sprinkle dust that makes the citizens fall asleep or laugh hysterically.

“The Big Freeze” – A mad scientist uses his genius to freeze all the citizens of Goodhaven.

“The Timekeeper” – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.

“The Scarecrow” – A lightning bolt brings a scarecrow to life and he’s determined to spread fear throughout Goodhaven.

“The Time Eraser” – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.

“The Return of the Monsterizer”

“The Paper Monster” – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.

“The Raven” – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.

“The Bigger Digger” – The Frog return and uses his Bigger Digger to cut away pieces of land in order to replace it with swamp water.


Original post 2017. Updated in 2020.

HERO HIGH

HERO HIGH

(NBC, September 12, 1981-March 6, 1982)

Filmation Associates

MAIN CAST:

Lou Scheimer – A.W.O.L.

Erika Scheimer – Brat-Man

Christopher Hensel – Captain California

Maylo McCaslin – Dirty Trixie

Rebecca Perle – Glorious Gal

Jere Fields – Misty Magic

Johnny Venocur – Punk Rock

John Berwick – Rex Ruthless

Jim Greenleaf – Weatherman

Linda Gary – Miss Grimm

Alan Oppenheimer – Principal Sampson, Narrator, various

            Welcome to Hero High, where the heroes of tomorrow learn today.

A modern depiction of Archie's Super-Teens.

            Hero High was the idea of producer Lou Scheimer, who originally wanted to develop a series exploring the retirement years of superheroes. However, as the idea was shot down by the network, Scheimer reworked it to be about heroes learning how to be heroes in high school. With the suggestion of adding a band element, it was decided to make the show the eighth installment Filmation’s ongoing Archie franchise. The Archie kids had already been depicted as the superheroes Pureheart the Powerful and the Super-Teens in the 1960s comics, and sporadically thereafter. Unfortunately, during production, Filmation’s rights to the Archie Comics characters expired and weren’t renewed. The characters were quickly modified by Kevin Frank, Tim Gula, Mel Keefer and Janice Stocks to become completely original creations; although, their Archie influences were still evident.

The cast of Hero High.

            Hero High followed the misadventures of the student body as they learned to use their powers while foiling the occasional supervillain or two. Among the main cast was A.W.O.L. (Scheimer), who could go completely or partially invisible; Brat-Man (Erika Scheimer), who caused earthquakes or sonic blasts by throwing super tantrums; Captain California (Christopher Hensel), who had a super-shine smile an flew with his semi-intelligent surfboard, Wipeout; Glorious Gal (Rebecca Perle), who had a variety of mental powers, super strength and could fly; Misty Magic (Jere Fields), who possessed magical powers; Punk Rock (Johnny Venocour), who had sonic powers and super speed while playing his guitar; and Weatherman (Jim Greenleaf), who could control the weather and fly on clouds. Although they also attended Hero High, Rex Ruthless (John Berwick) and Dirty Trixie (Maylo McCaslin) were often the sources of trouble on the show, trying to foul-up their classmates with the dirty tricks located on their belts. 

The kids with Police Chief Hardy.

They were joined by their pet sidekicks Peter Penguin, who was an avian version of Harpo Marx, and Giggler the hyena, who shared Rex and Trixie’s dirty ways, as well as their long-suffering teacher Miss Grimm (Linda Gary) and Principal Sampson (Alan Oppenheimer). Sometimes, the kids had to aid Misty’s uncle, Police Chief Hardy, on various cases. Background characters included the aptly named Li’l Sumo, Captain Walla Walla, Kangaroo Ken, and Coach Cosmo.

            Hero High premiered on NBC on September 12, 1981 as part of The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam. It was paired up with Filmation’s animated second attempt at a show with DC Comics’ Captain Marvel, aka Shazam. As a result, characters from Shazam! would make appearances on Hero High; including Shazam (Burr Middleton) himself and his sister, Mary Marvel (Dawn Jeffory). The Filmation original character Isis (Diane Pershing), who was originally paired with the live-action Shazam! in The Secrets of Isis, also made an appearance. Hero High’s writers included Bill Danch, Robby London, Bruce Taylor, Coslough Johnson, Ron and Sam Schultz, Jack Enyart, Tom Ruegger and Misty Stewart.

Live Rex Ruthless, Glorious Gal, Punk Rock, Capt. California, Dirty Trixie, Weatherman and Misty Magic.

The programming block featured live-action wraparound segments starring the Hero High actors in full costume as their characters with the exception of A.W.O.L. and Brat-Man. The group would perform in front of an audience of kids, telling kid-friendly jokes and playing songs for them. A total of 13 original songs were made including the show’s theme, all composed by Ray Ellis (as Yvette Blais) and producer Norm Prescott (as Jeff Michael) with Dean Andre. The live segments were filmed at Filmation West, with the voice recording for the animated segments happening at Filmation East. Johnson wrote all the live segments, which were directed and produced by Arthur H. Nadel.

Isis drops by Hero High.

            It was intended for the show’s music to be published on an album with the actors going on a concert tour, but the show’s cancellation after its single season ended those plans. Three of the songs for Hero High were released the year before the show even aired as part of the album Rock ‘n’ Roll Disco by Fat Albert & The Junkyard Band, recorded by different performers. The show was nominated for “Best Children’s Television Series” by the annual Youth in Film Awards (now the Young Artist Awards), and Perle walked away with “Best Young Actress in a Daytime Series”. Berwick walked away with something a little more as he married Nadel’s daughter after meeting her at the show’s wrap party. 

Shazam helps out Capt. California and Brat-Man.

            One of the lasting influences of the show came years later when Ruegger became the steward of Warner Bros. Animation’s television renaissance. The episode “The Big Bang Theory” featured a villain named Brain, whose voice was patterned after Edward G. Robinson. The episode was written by Ruegger with consultation from Tom Minton, and it was storyboarded by Eddie Fitzgerald. Ruegger’s Brain character, along with Fitzgerald and Minton, inspired the creation of would-be world conquerors Brain (Maurice LaMarche) and Pinky (Rob Paulsen) on Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain.

The Hero High DVD.

            Hero High was released onto DVD in 2007 by BCI Eclipse LLC under license from Entertainment Rights. The set was full of extra features, including audio commentaries, spotlight interviews with some of the people who worked on the show, a documentary about Filmation, photo and art galleries, DVD-ROM scripts and storyboards, and a booklet with an episode guide and trivia. Although the full animated show was present, only 20 minutes of the live-action footage was included as a bonus feature on the set. 

EPISODE GUIDE:

“The Art of the Ballot” (9/12/81) – Glorious Gal runs against Captain California in the school election to prove the girls are just as good as the boys.

“What’s News” (9/19/81) – Rex hogs the spotlight when a reporter comes to the school to do a story.

“Rat Fink Rex” (9/26/81) – Rex goes power-crazy after he’s made the new Hero High Honor Guard.

“Do the Computer Stomp (10/3/81) – A new computer is allowed to decide who takes who to the upcoming dance.

“Malt Shop Mayhem” (10/10/81) – The kids are made to get jobs for their training, and things don’t exactly turn out right.

“Boo Who” (10/17/81) – The kids head to a haunted house.

“Cover Twirl” (10/24/81) – Glorious Gal tries to get Captain California’s mind off of the visiting Isis.

“My Job is Yours” (10/31/81) – The kids are allowed to take control of the school for the day.

“Girl of His Dreams” (11/7/81) – Rex falls for the visiting Mary Marvel just as his powers disappear.

“The Not So Great Outdoors” (11/14/81) – The kids are forced to camp out when their bus breaks down in the woods.

“Off Her Rocker” (11/21/81) – Misty disappears after the others make fun of her botched trick.

“Follow the Litter” (11/28/81) – Rex and Trixie attempt to foil the others’ plans to clean up the school.

“Jog-a-Long” (12/5/81) – The boys and girls decide to compete in the local marathon against each other, and Rex and Trixie have plans to foul things up for them.

“He Sinks Seaships” (12/12/81) – The kids help Chief Hardy recover an ocean liner from Captain Seaweed.

“Starfire, Where Are You?” (12/19/81) – The kids search for a stolen top-secret shuttled named “Starfire”.

“The Captives” (12/26/81) – The kids have to rescue Misty Magic and AWOL from two thieves hiding in the mountains.

“High Rise Hijinx” (1/2/82) – The kids have to rescue a stolen statue from thieves held up in a penthouse apartment.

“Track Race” (1/9/82) – The kids have to rescue the governor from a sabotaged high-speed train.

“A Clone of His Own” (1/16/82) – Criminals replace Police Chief Hardy with a clone under their control.

“Game of Chance” (1/23/82) – A rigged carnival leads the way to a diamond smuggling operation.

“The Umpire Strikes Back” (1/30/82) – The kids help Chief Hardy track down a spy disguised as an empire at the baseball stadium.

“The Human Fly” (2/6/82) – The tiny Human Fly plots to steal an emerald from the museum.

“Big Bang Theory” (2/13/82) – Big Brain and Tiny plan to use explosives on bank vaults.

“Law of the Pack” (2/20/82) – The kids try to stop an evil animal trainer who steals pets and trains them to commit crimes.

“A Fistful of Knuckles” (2/27/82) – Captain Marvel helps the kids recapture the criminal they accidentally helped free from jail.

“The Blow-Way Blimp” (3/6/82) – The Chameleon steals the box office from Punk Rock’s concert.

THE ZETA PROJECT

THE ZETA PROJECT

(WB, January 27, 2001-August 10, 2002)

Warner Bros. Animation

MAIN CAST:

Diedrich Bader – Infiltration Unit Zeta, Infiltration Unit 7

Julie Nathanson – Rosalie “Ro” Rowan

Kurtwood Smith – Agent James Bennet

Michael Rosenbaum – Agent West

Lauren Tom – Agent Lee

Erika Alexander (season 1) & Dominique Jennings (season 2) – Agent Rush

            The Zeta Project was a spin-off from the Batman Beyond second season episode “Zeta.” It centered on Infiltration Unit Zeta (Diedrich Bader), a synthoid designed to carry out covert assassination missions for the National Security Agency through the use of his holographic disguises. However, it was learned that his creator, Dr. Selig (George Segal & Hal Linden), installed a module in Zeta that gave him a conscience. On his last mission for the NSA, Zeta’s target proved to be innocent and he decided he could no longer kill.

Zeta and Ro running from Agents Bennet and West.

            The agency, believing Zeta a dangerous rogue element that joined the terrorist organization he was investigating, Brother’s Day, dispatched a team with the sole purpose of either retrieving or destroying him. It was led by Agent James Bennet (Kurtwood Smith), who strongly believed Zeta was simply reprogrammed by enemies and not an actually sentient being. Under him was the young and egotistical Agent West (Michael Rosenbaum) and Agent Lee (Lauren Tom), who grew to see there was more to Zeta than they believed and began to subtly help him evade capture. When Lee left the team and was subsequently promoted, she was replaced by by-the-book Agent Rush (Erika Alexander & Dominique Jennings). Other foes during the series included the cybernetically-enhanced bounty hunter Krick (Keith Szarabajka & Richard Moll), cyber-hackers Plug (Paul Amendt), Meg (Amy Danles) and Buss (Googy Gress), high-ranking Brother’s Day terrorist Titus Sweete (Robert Costanzo), and his more-advanced counterpart, Infiltration Unit 7 (Bader).

Infiltration Unit 7.

            Joining Zeta on his adventures was 15-year-old orphan Rosalie “Ro” Rowan (Julie Nathanson). Initially seeing Zeta as an opportunity, Ro came to care about Zeta and decided to help him on his quest. Zeta also worked to help her locate her biological family. Occasionally, they were aided in their efforts by child genius Bucky Buenaventura (Ulises Cuadra & Blayn Barbosa), a technology whiz. Batman (Will Friedle) also made a singular appearance on the show, aiding Zeta against Infiltration Unit 7.

            The Zeta Project debuted on The WB on January 27, 2001 as part of their Kids’ WB! programming block. The series was developed by Robert Goodman, who created Zeta and wrote his debut episode. “Zeta” wasn’t originally intended as a backdoor pilot, but Goodman decided that the concept could make a decent series and, within the year, the network agreed. Zeta’s appearance was reworked to make him appear more human, and he and Bennett’s voices were recast having been originally played by Gary Cole and Joe Spano, respectively.

Zeta's original appearance on Batman Beyond. 

            Although it was part of the DC Animated Universe and produced by Warner Bros. Animation, the series’ first season had a decidedly different appearance than all of the other programs. The scenery was generally very light and the characters lacked any sort of shading, as well had an overall differing appearance from the models seen since the debut of Superman: The Animated Series. The stories themselves also took on a comparatively lighter tonality than the rest of the DCAU. For the second season, the animation was modified to bring it more in line with the other DCAU shows with darker settings, shadows, and a sleeker design for Zeta. The stories were also more action-oriented and intense, increasing the level of danger and excitement in each episode. 

Zeta and Ro between the seasons.

The series was animated mostly by Koko Enterprises Co., LTD. and DR Digital Co., LTD, with some episodes done by Sun Min Image Pictures and Dong Woo Animation. The series was written by Goodman, along with Hilary J. Bader, Kevin Hopps, Ralph Soll, Rich Fogel, Stacey Liss Goodman, Wendell Morris, Tom Sheppard, Paul Diamond, Katy Cooper, Ned Teitlebaum, Joseph Kuhr, Liz Holzman, Randy Rogel, Lyle Weldon, David Benullo and Christopher Simmons. Hopps and Fogel were also the show’s story editors along with Goodman. Lolita Ritmanis, Kristopher Carter and Michael McCuistion served as the series’ composers, with Ritmanis also composing the theme song.

Zeta's hologram mode.

            The Zeta Project managed to generate decent ratings and a loyal fanbase despite episodes being constantly delayed to allow the network time to run new--and often failed--programs in its timeslot. The network handed down a mandate that if the production wanted to see a third season, the second had to end on a cliffhanger. They also had plans for the third season that took the show places that Goodman wasn’t completely happy about. All of that proved moot, however, when the network ultimately decided to cancel it at the end of the second season. During its run, it managed to earn four Annie Awards and two Daytime Emmy Awards nominations, and won two Women’s Image Network Awards. Zeta’s debut also earned an Annie nomination.

Promotional material for the original DVD release.

            Zeta and Ro would make one final appearance in the Batman Beyond episode “Countdown” and Zeta as a cameo in Batman Beyond Unlimited #16 before ultimately disappearing into creative limbo. Zeta’s original design, however, would be recycled for the training robots used by the Justice League in Justice League. In 2009, Warner Home Video released the complete first season on DVD. In 2017, Warner Archive re-released the first season and released the second for the first time.

EPISODE GUIDE:

Season 1:

“The Accomplice” (1/27/01) – Zeta is joined by 15-year-old runaway Ro after saving her, and she convinces him to find his creators to help prove his innocence.

“His Maker’s Name” (2/3/01) – Finding one of Zeta’s creators takes him and Ro on a detour with some space hippies, and when they find the scientist he lures them into a trap.

“Change of Heart” (2/17/01) – Zeta and Ro track his creator, Dr. Selig, to a museum but a malfunctioning fusion reactor and the NSA prevent them from making contact.

“Remote Control” (2/10/01) – At a science convention, the brilliant young Bucky takes control of Zeta in order to use him to get revenge over a stolen invention.

“The Next Gen” (2/24/01) – Zeta stumbles upon the mission of another infiltration unit and decides to stop it.

“West Bound” (3/10/01) – The NSA pursues Zeta and Ro on a train just as Zeta’s hologram projector malfunctions, causing him to take the appearance of anyone he sees.

“Hicksburg” (3/31/01) – Ro and Zeta visit her foster family to try and find information on her biological one.

“Shadows” (4/7/01) – IU 7 returns and causes the destruction of a mall Ro and Zeta visits, bringing them to the attention of Batman.

“Crime Waves” (4/14/07) – Zeta and Ro are framed for the kidnapping of the son of a wealthy robotics manufacturer.

“Taffy Time” (5/5/01) – A bounty hunter stakes his claim on Zeta and threatens to kill Agent Lee unless he turns himself over to him.

“Ro’s Reunion” (5/12/01) – Zeta convinces Ro to go on a show that helps people find their families, but soon discovers the show uses fakes and turns runaways back over to the state.

“Kid Genius” (8/11/01) – Bucky asks Zeta and Ro to help him find his kidnapped parents.

“Absolute Zero” (3/23/02) – Zeta attempts to meet Dr. Selig at a cryogenics lab, but his presence there causes a disruption that results in Selig getting trapped in a freeze unit.

Season 2:

“Wired: Part 1” (3/30/02) – Ro and Zeta encounter a seemingly friendly trio of hackers, but Bucky soon gets word to them that two of them want to strip Zeta for parts.

“Wired: Part 2” (4/6/02) – The NSA captures Zeta and wipes his memory for reprogramming, discovering an unknown module in his head not part of his schematics.

“Hunt in the Hub” (4/20/02) – An associate of Selig’s takes away Zeta’s cred card ability unless he and Ro steal parts for him.

“Ro’s Gift” (4/27/02) – The Brain Trust witnesses Zeta, disguised as Ro, take down a robot and end up kidnapping the real Ro in order to get her to join their group.

“Quality Time” (7/13/02) – Bennet has to join forces with Zeta in order to rescue his son and Ro from a damaged submarine.

“Resume Mission” (4/13/02) – Jason Foley unknowingly helps reactivate IU 7, allowing him to reassemble himself and resume his mission to destroy Zeta.

“Lost and Found” (5/11/02) – Zeta malfunctions while escaping from Krick and recalls his final mission before going rogue.

“On the Wire” (7/20/02) – Bucky reunites Ro with her brother, a reporter, whose boss recognizes her and decides to get an exclusive on Zeta’s capture.

“Cabin Pressure” (7/27/02) – Zeta and Ro have to rescue Bucky from the NSA, his having been captured under suspicion of working for a terrorist group.

“The Wrong Morph” (4/20/02) – Ro and Zeta get involved in a theft and end up causing a disabled boy to be framed for it.

“Eye of the Storm” (5/18/02) – Genius brothers devise a way to stop tornados, but the younger of the two attempts to stop one on his own to escape his brother’s shadow.

“The River Rising” (8/3/02) – Zeta and Ro take refuge in a “No-Tech” village.

“The Hologram Man” (8/10/02) – Zeta and Ro finally find Selig and learn the module is Zeta’s conscience, but Tidus Sweete destroys Selig’s lab and seemingly kills him in the process.

THE UNLIKELIEST OF HEROES...

            When it comes to superheroes, there’s generally an image that pops into our heads. Typically, we view our potential saviors as fit and often attractive super-powered beings that plod around wearing their underwear outside their clothing.

            Of course, we all know that heroes come in all shapes and sizes—and often in those you wouldn’t expect! This month, we’ll look at a few shows that featured the most unlikely heroic characters who have dedicated themselves to saving the world and protecting the innocent. Sure, they may not look like much, but their deeds speak volumes.