The Aquabats! Super Show!

Did You Know?

• The series' theme song, 'Super Show Theme Song!', was co-written by The Aquabats and Warren Fitzgerald, who also served as music supervisor.
• In Australia, the series broadcast on ABC3, and in the United Kingdom on CITV.
• The first season was added to Netflix on December 1, 2012, and later to Hulu on December 21.

Series overview

The series follows The Aquabats, a group of superhero rock musicians who travel the countryside on a mission to fight evil and destroy boredom, while also aiming to become a famous rock band. The team consists of singer The MC Bat Commander, bassist Crash McLarson (who can grow up to 100 feet tall), drummer Ricky Fitness (with super speed), guitarist EagleBones Falconhawk (armed with a laser-shooting guitar), and keyboardist Jimmy the Robot (an android with built-in gadgets). Despite their superhuman abilities, the Aquabats are bumbling, disorganized, and sometimes cowardly, earning them the label of the world's most inept superheroes. They live and travel in their Battletram, a modified GMC motorhome with an implausibly massive interior containing a science lab, command center, and living room. The band's origin story was intentionally left vague; co-creator Jacobs explained this was done to allow children's imaginations to accept the absurdity. In the first five episodes of season two, each member shares a memory of joining the band via animated flashbacks, but all these memories directly contradict each other, leaving no official canonical origin.

Production history

The Aquabats were formed in 1994 in Brea, California by Christian Jacobs, Chad Larson, and former member Boyd Terry. The band gained notoriety for their superhero persona and elaborate stage shows featuring scripted fights with costumed villains. After their 1997 album The Fury of The Aquabats! charted on the Billboard 200, Jacobs developed a television adaptation. In 1998, Buena Vista Television produced a live-action mini-pilot directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, but it failed to generate network interest and was later disowned by the band. The following year, Jacobs and Scott Schultz independently directed a second pilot, The Aquabats in Color!, a five-minute promo video modeled after Japanese tokusatsu shows. The Fox Family Channel reportedly expressed interest and ordered a proper pilot, but the project was cancelled after Disney acquired the channel in 2001. The series eventually premiered on The Hub Network in 2012. After cancellation in 2014, a successful Kickstarter in July 2018 funded new episodes, which premiered on YouTube from September 2019 to February 2025 under the title The Aquabats! RadVentures!.

Cast and characters

The series stars fictionalized versions of the then-current line-up of the comedy rock band The Aquabats. The MC Bat Commander, played by Christian Jacobs, is the singer and de facto leader; though he has no superpowers and is often stubborn and naive, he is an effective strategist whose bravery drives the team. Crash McLarson, played by Chad Larson, is the bassist who can grow over 100 feet tall under emotional stress; despite his size and strength, he has a gentle, childlike demeanor and is often cowardly. Jimmy the Robot, played by James R. Briggs, Jr., is the android keyboardist with built-in gadgets and a knowledge database, serving as the group's scientist; he is perplexed by human emotions. Ricky Fitness, played by Richard Falomir, is the drummer with super speed; he is the most physically fit member and is known for his fondness for fresh vegetables and his status as a ladies' man. EagleBones Falconhawk, played by Ian Fowles, is the guitarist who wields a laser-shooting electric guitar; he has the gift of second sight and is accompanied by an invisible spirit eagle called The Dude, whom he summons in battle.

Critical reception

Critical response to The Aquabats! Super Show! was predominantly positive. The A.V. Club gave the premiere an A− rating, calling it a loving homage to the Krofft brothers and praising its mix of humor, melodrama, and action with cheap special effects and goofy songs. Variety's Brian Lowry admired the effort and silliness, describing it as a goofy, nostalgic throwback to children's TV of the baby boomer era, with deliberately poor production values that work to its advantage. Wired magazine called the series wonderfully strange and delightfully deranged, noting its self-deprecating music videos and ludicrous villains. Common Sense Media rated it 4 out of 5 stars, calling it demented and manic, and praised its lighter tone compared to more violent superhero fare, though it noted the violence and creatures might be too intense for very young children and pointed out a lack of central female characters. The New York Times' Neil Genzlinger offered a more indifferent opinion, calling the series indescribably odd, frenetic, semicoherent, and generally harmless, suggesting its most receptive audience might be the college drinking-game crowd.