Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad (1994– )

Sam Collins is a typical teen (with a talent for programming video games) who's the leader of a rock band. One day, at practice, he is the victim of a sudden energy surge. He become a ... See full summary »

Stars:

Matthew Lawrence, Tim Curry, Glen Beaudin

Cast

Series cast summary:
Matthew Lawrence	...	Sam Collins (53 episodes, 1994-1995)
Tim Curry	...	Kilokahn (53 episodes, 1994-1995)
Glen Beaudin	...	Malcolm Frink (52 episodes, 1994-1995)
Kevin Castro	...	Tanker (52 episodes, 1994-1995)
Robin Mary Florence	...	Sydney Forrester (52 episodes, 1994-1995)
Jayme Betcher	...	Jennifer Doyle (52 episodes, 1994-1995)
Diana Bellamy	...	Mrs. Starkey (52 episodes, 1994-1995)
John Wesley	...	Principal Pratchett (52 episodes, 1994-1995)
Kelli Kirkland	...	Yolanda Pratchett (52 episodes, 1994-1995)
Troy W. Slaten	...	Amp Ere (39 episodes, 1994-1995)
Kath Soucie	...	Elizabeth Collins (18 episodes, 1994-1995)
Rembrandt Sabelis	...	Lucky London (16 episodes, 1994)

Storyline

Sam Collins is a typical teen (with a talent for programming video games) who's the leader of a rock band. One day, at practice, he is the victim of a sudden energy surge. He become a character in one of his games, named "Servo". Meanwhile, Malcolm Fricke, discovers a strange program in HIS computer, named "Kilokahn", which is a military Artificial Intelligence program, now presumed destroyed in the energy surge. Now Sam, Sydney, Tanker and Amp (later Lucky) must fight Kilokahn in cyberspace while keeping everything hush-hush.

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Plot Keywords:

edited from tv series | miniaturization | giant | transformation | cyber

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Taglines:

Let's Samuraize Guys!

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Genres:

Animation | Family | Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Fantasy | Comedy | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-Y7

Details

Official Sites:

DiC Entertainment The Cookie Jar Company

Country:

USA Japan

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 September 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Powerboy

Filming Locations:

Stage 29, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

DiC Enterprises, Tsuburaya Productions, Ultracom

Technical Specs

Runtime:

20 min 20 min (52 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The series is rife with Beatles references ranging from movie quotes to song lyrics - a pet joke of the series story editors, Magon and Zaslove.

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Quotes

Sam 'Servo' Collins: Welcome to Team Samurai.
Amp Ere: [looking around suddenly] Samurai? Where?
Sam 'Servo' Collins: No, that's the name of our band.
Amp Ere: [bows and speaks fake Japanese]

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Connections

Referenced in The Indian in the Cupboard (1995)

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Soundtracks

"Superhuman Samurai Syber"

User Reviews

A few small saving graces

I am not going to claim this show was good. It was never good. The plot was formulaic, the battle sequences bored me to death, and save Sydney, who was moderately interesting (aka had half a brain and a character flaw or two), the good guys were one-note cliches. So was Kilokhan. And I felt most of this back when I was 7 and watching it, probably somewhere in the show's target audience.

There was ONE good element to this show, and that was Malcolm and his storyline. The idea was a big stroke of genius on *someone's* part, I'm not sure if it was in the original Japanese show or not.

Malcolm was someone you actually loved to hate, yet couldn't help but feel a little sorry for, a supercilious jerk who was Draco Malfoy before the world knew Draco Malfoy. He was far smarter than the good guys, although his lack of people skills more than made up for this, and was the only one with genuinely amusing lines. His using Kilokhan and the viruses to fulfill his personal vendettas was perfectly in-character for what was created, and it actually made the story fun.

I loved to see the interactions between Malcolm and Sam, hating each other yet never knowing that they're the cause of each other's problems in the digital world. It's actually a very interesting concept that I've never seen anywhere else. The Christmas episode where they temporarily discovered each other's identities was the first time all the characters held my attention, and it also played up on the three dimensions they managed to give Malcolm: the fact that he uses Kilokhan because of the lack of control and happiness in his own life, and his disillusioned belief that the virus lord actually cares about his wellbeing.

If you take it outside the context of the show, it's a very interesting story in itself.