Action Man is a 2000 animated television series based on the toy line of the same name.[1] Though unrelated to the 1995 version, it was the first Action Man series to be made in CGI. In this series, Alexander "Alex" Mann is an extreme sports athlete known as "Action Man" and is a member of Team Xtreme.
Synopsis
Alex Mann, Action Man's civilian identity, is an extreme sports athlete of Team Xtreme, taking part in the Mastervision Network's Acceleration Games, a series of unconventional televised sporting activities all over the world. Danger and adrenaline trigger hidden mental powers called the "AMP (Advanced Macro Probability) Factor", a result of secret experiments by his former high school coach Simon Grey. With it, Alex is able to calculate all future possibilities, choosing the best course of action. Alex "Action" Mann, Desmond "Grinder" Sinclair, Agnes "Fidget" Wilson, and Ricky Singh-Baines must stop arch-enemy Doctor X, a brilliant geneticist and bio-engineer, who will stop at nothing to duplicate Alex's AMP Factor to rebuild Earth with the genetically enhanced neo-humanity.
Dr. X captured and physically tested Alex Mann repeatedly, as well as his longtime rival and best friend Brandon Caine. Dr. X also added nanotech enhancements to Brandon, making him superior to Alex in athletics, only for them to have side effects. The culmination of the experiments was to mind transfer Dr. X into Brandon's body, becoming his younger self and nanotech cyborg, able to change his appearance and infect others. Following the ninth episode the series becomes more simplified. Dr. X founded the Council of Doom with his evil cohorts: assassin Asazi and weather manipulating scientist Tempest. Dr. X's nanotech trilobites appeared to gain collective intelligence and rebel against him, but this was actually Brandon Caine's uploaded mind punishing Dr. X.
First appearance of: Alex Mann (Action Man), Grinder, Fidget, Ricky, Brandon Kaine, Doctor X (original body) and Nick Masters. Coach Grey also makes an appearance only as a voice.
2
"Building The Perfect Beast"
Steve Ball
Marty Isenberg & Robert N. Skir
August 12, 2000 (2000-08-12)
Cameo appearance by: Coach Grey (voice only).
3
"Grey Areas"
Steve Sacks
Marty Isenberg & Robert N. Skir
August 19, 2000 (2000-08-19)
First appearance of: Coach Grey and Asazi. Cameo appearance by: Nick Masters.
4
"Storm Front"
Greg Donis
Steve Melching
August 26, 2000 (2000-08-26)
A kid known as Templeton Storm has created a weather forecasting device which can control the weather in a bid to help Nick Masters with the sailboard cyclone event. Following an incident where he accidentally took Nick Masters off the air after Grinder crashed his helicopter into the satellite dish after being struck by lightning, Nick blames Templeton for the incident and purposely turning off the failsafe has Templeton electrocuted. After humiliating him further over the news by claiming he purposely tried to kill a number of athletes including Alex Mann, Templeton wants revenge on Nick. It's up to Alex and his team to stop Templeton before he injures or kills numerous innocent people including Nick Masters.
First appearance of: Tempest. Cameo appearance by: Nick Masters.
5
"Gremlin In The Gears"
Craig McEwen
Greg Klein & Thomas Pugsley
September 2, 2000 (2000-09-02)
After being sabotaged by an unknown rider during the Snow Eagle Challenge, Alex's snow eagle is infected by a number of Doctor X's NTB's. It's not long until they infect big air and take out the electrics while being on auto pilot. It's up to Alex to try and get rid of the NTB's from big air as well as prevent them from being shot down for entering restricted military air space.
Cameo appearance by: Coach Grey, Nick Masters and Doctor X (original body)
6
"Double Vision"
George Samilski
Marsha F. Griffin
September 9, 2000 (2000-09-09)
A number of crimes take place with what appears to be Alex Mann and following and second crime Agent Diana Zurvis is determined to have Alex locked behind bars. It is up to Alex and his team to try and prove his innocence.
First appearance of: Agent Diana Zurvis. Cameo appearance by: Doctor X (original body), Brandon Caine, Coach Grey, Nick Masters.
7
"Into The Abyss"
William Lau
Kaaren Lee Brown
September 16, 2000 (2000-09-16)
Brandon Caine begins trying to prevent Doctor X from controlling him and seeks help from Alex and his team to try and stop X and his plans. This involves returning to the now sunken oil rig in a bid to access information, but all is not as quiet as first thought.
First appearance of: Doctor X (new body). Cameo appearance by: Coach Grey and Brandon Kaine. Final appearance of: Doctor X (original body).
Now working on Alex's team as his partner, Brandon and Alex work together when taking part in the Human Pinball Biathlon. Believing that Doctor X is gone for good after witnessing his death at the oil rig, Alex refuses to speak with and believe information that Coach Grey kept secret from him. Doctor X had managed to succeed in downloading his AI programm into Brandon who is now a new younger version of Doctor X.
Cameo appearance by: Brandon Caine, Nick Masters and Agent Diana Zurvis.
9
"Lost In The Funhouse"
Steve Sacks
Andrew Robinson
September 30, 2000 (2000-09-30)
During an event at the master dome an earthquake starts damaging the dome and almost kills Fidget and Ricky when the hoops almost land on them. It is found out that the earthquake was started by a mini ultrasonic wave device which can cause earthquakes and when a second one starts from a much bigger device it's down to Alex and his team to save innocent people's lives from death and destroy the device.
To make things worse two world leaders from country's which despise each other are attending the event and Doctor X wishes to broadcast fake news stories to each country saying that the other killed their leader in a bid to start war between the two countries.
Cameo appearance by: Nick Masters, Coach Grey and Asazi (regular from here).
10
"The Hereafter Factor"
Gio Corsi
Eric Karten
October 28, 2000 (2000-10-28)
Cameo appearance by: Nick Masters, Tempest (regular from here), Coach Grey.
11
"Cold War"
Ezekiel Norton
Marsha F. Griffin
November 4, 2000 (2000-11-04)
Cameo appearance by: Coach Grey and Agent Diana Zurvis.
12
"Swarm: Part 1"
Gino Nichele
Kaaren Lee Brown
November 11, 2000 (2000-11-11)
Cameo appearance by: Agent Diana Zurvis, Nick Masters and Coach Grey.
13
"Swarm: Part 2"
George Samilski
Marty Isenberg & Robert N. Skir
November 18, 2000 (2000-11-18)
Final appearance of: Coach Grey, Branden Kaine and Agent Diana Zurvis.
Season 2 (2001)
The Council of Doom continues to grow after Brandon was saved from Dr. X. The season features new villains: Gangrene & Quake.
No.
Title
Directed by
Written by
Original air date
14
"Green Thoughts"
Andrew Duncan
Eric Karten
February 26, 2001 (2001-02-26)
First appearance of: Gangrene. Cameo appearance by: Nick Masters.
First appearance of: Quake. Cameo appearance by: Nick Masters.
19
"Rumble: Part 2"
Ezekiel Norton
Kurt Weldon
May 18, 2001 (2001-05-18)
20
"Search and Destroy"
Chuck Johnson
Sean Roche
May 25, 2001 (2001-05-25)
Cameo appearance by: Nick Masters.
21
"The Triton Factor"
Steve Sacks
Brooks Wachtel
June 22, 2001 (2001-06-22)
Cameo appearance by: Nick Masters.
22
"Mann's Best Friend"
Mark Schiemann
Marsha F. Griffin
June 26, 2001 (2001-06-26)
Cameo appearance by: Nick Masters.
23
"Mann Hunt"
Sebastian Brodin
Nick DuBois
July 27, 2001 (2001-07-27)
Note: Grinder, Fidget and Ricky do not make an appearance in this episode.
24
"Tangled Up in Green"
Patrick Carroll
Eric Karten
August 10, 2001 (2001-08-10)
Cameo appearance by: Nick Masters.
25
"The Ultimate Doom - Part 1"
Gio Corsi
Robert N. Skir & Marty Isenberg
August 17, 2001 (2001-08-17)
Final appearance of: Nick Masters.
26
"The Ultimate Doom - Part 2"
Sebastian Brodin
Robert N. Skir & Marty Isenberg
August 21, 2001 (2001-08-21)
Final appearance of: Alex Mann (Action Man), Grinder, Fidget, Ricky, Doctor X, Gangrene, Asazi, Tempest and Quake.
Note: This episode was dedicated to the memory of Todd Halford, who was a co-worker and friend of the crew of the show that died before the episode aired.
There have also been VHS releases in other territories such as France.
VHS releases
Release name
Episodes
Release date
Running time
Additional information
Action Man Vol. 1: The Call to Action
"The Call to Action" (feature-length) "Grey Areas"
July 9, 2001 April 29, 2002 (re-release)
64 minutes
Action Man Vol. 2: Storm Front
"Storm Front" "Gremlin in the Gears" "Double Vision"
July 9, 2001 April 29, 2002 (re-release)
64 minutes
Action Man Vol. 3: Out of the Shadows
"Into the Abyss" "Out of the Shadows" "Lost in the Funhouse"
July 9, 2001 April 29, 2002 (re-release)
64 minutes
Action Man Vol. 4: The Swarm
"The Hereafter Factor" "Cold War" "The Swarm" (Double-Length)
July 9, 2001 April 29, 2002 (re-release)
85 minutes
Action Man Vol. 5: Green Thought
"Green Thought" "First" "Storm Front"
14 April 2003
63 minutes
Action Man: Volume 1
"The Call to Action - Part 1" "The Call to Action - Part 2 "Grey Areas"
October 4, 2004
66 minutes
DVD releases
In the United Kingdom, The series also saw a few DVD releases as well, released in the UK by Maximum Entertainment.
Release name
Episodes
Release date
Running time
Additional information
Action Man: Volume 1 Action Man: Storm Front
"The Call to Action - Part 1" "The Call to Action - Part 2 "Grey Areas" "Storm Front" "Gremlin in the Gears"
August 30, 2004 2005 (re-release)
110 minutes
Action Man: Volume 2 Action Man: Team Xtreme
"Double Vision" Into the Abyss" "Out of the Shadows" "Lost in the Funhouse" "The Hereafter Factor"
October 2004 June 4, 2007 (re-release)
110 minutes
Action Man: Competitive Edge - 2 Disc Set
"The Call to Action - Part 1" "The Call to Action - Part 2 "Grey Areas" "Storm Front" "Gremlin in the Gears" "Double Vision" Into the Abyss" "Out of the Shadows" "Lost in the Funhouse" "The Hereafter Factor"
Hasbro Interactive published the Windows game Action Man: Raid on Island X in the United States as a tie-in to the TV series, despite having nothing to do with it.
Awards
In 2001, the show won a Golden Camera Award at the U.S. and International Film and Video Festival for 'Best Animation' in the episode "The Swarm: Part 2".
References
^Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 4. ISBN978-1538103739.
