Hurricanes (TV series)

Did You Know?

• Silvio Berlusconi Communications was once involved in the project but is not credited altogether in the series.
• The series focused on a fictional football team headed by heiress Amanda Carey and coach Jock Stone, battling the Gorgons managed by Stavros Garkos.
• In the episode "Traitor", Garkos had a transmitter unknowingly put in Napper's filling to steal secrets from the Hurricanes.

Television airing

In the United States, only the first season aired in weekly first-run syndication as part of Bohbot Entertainment's Amazin' Adventures strand. It later reran on Pax TV in 1999 within the Cloud Nine block. The series was rerun again in 2012 on the This TV digital subchannel network as part of the Cookie Jar-controlled This Is for Kids lineup. In 2015, STV Glasgow and STV Edinburgh began re-airing the show daily and added it to the STV Player.

Episodes

The series includes episodes such as "Deep Cover", "Family Feud", "Stowaway", "Toro", "Midfield Dribble", "Go Ape!", "Bloodmatch", "Around the World in 90 Minutes", "Home Game", "The Team that Time Forgot", "Hot Dog", "Reunion in Rio", "Papillon and the Princess", "Phantom Fan", "A Game of Two Halves", "Boot of All Evil", "Topper's Typo", "Techno-Team", "Missing in Moscow", "There's Only One Jock Stone", "Soccer Safari", "Love at First Byte", "The Serpent's Tail", "Traitor", "Escape to Freedom", "Marley in Chains", "Team Spirit", "Terror in Transylvania", "Water, Water, Everywhere", "When Hurricanes Collide", "One Million Years F.C.", "Big Sister, Big Trouble", "Balancing Act", "Ecosphere to Death", "Serpents of the Nile", "The Flying Eye", "Football Fugitives", "Hurricane Hooligans", "Lord Napper of Stepney", "The Relegator", "The Curse of the Gorgon", "Target: Winston", "Double Trouble", "Who Do That Voodoo", "Death Valley Girl", "Dino´s Snapshot", "The Great Defensive Wall of China", "It´s a Jungle Out There", "The Bull and the Wolf", "The Masked Matador", "A Fright at the Opera", "Napper Thompson, Scourge of the Underworld", "New Strikers of the Purple Sage", "Diamonds on the Soles of Their Boots", "Tide of Terror", "Koh-I-Noor", "Southern Exposures", "A Lot of Hot Air", "Going Berserkers", "Home Team", "Shootout", "Ball of Doom", "Space Ace", "Daring Due", and "Surfer Girl". In "Phantom Fan", Garkos tries to buy the historic home of Jock's first soccer club, with a literal ghost's chance of success. In "A Game of Two Halves", the Hurricanes accept an invitation to play against an Arabian team captained by powerful-but-spoiled Prince Rupert, who abuses his diplomatic immunity on the field. In "Boot of All Evil", Plato gets lost in the Australian outback after refusing to promote a new brand of athletic footwear. In "Topper's Typo", Topper fiddles with Jock's computer and books the Hurricanes against an all-girls team. In "Techno-Team", Garkos pits the Hurricanes against a team of robots. In "The Serpent's Tail", the Hurricanes oppose Garkos' designs on a rainforest.

Characters

Amanda Carey is the 16-year-old owner of the Hurricanes, inheriting the position after her father disappeared. She respects the integrity of the game and believes in fair play, and owns a Scottish Terrier named Dribble. Jock Stone is the wise, no-nonsense Scottish head coach, based on Celtic F.C. manager Jock Stein, who prioritizes football and is strict about training. Cal Casey is the team captain from the United States who helps set things right when issues arise. Plato Quiñones is a naive Brazilian who believes in superstitions and has a heart for animals; he often plays barefoot and smuggled a monkey named Topper into the stadium in "Go Ape!". Napper Thompson is an English geezer who enjoys poetry and sci-fi stories and often gets into strange situations. Helmut and Jorg Beethoven are German twin brothers who are confident strikers but often feud; Helmut is slimmer and taller, while Jorg is shorter and wears a headband.

Video games

In 1994, three video games based on the Hurricanes cartoon were released, one each for the Mega Drive, Game Gear, and Super Nintendo. The Sega games only came out in Europe, while the SNES version got a North American cartridge release. The Mega Drive game later reached North America exclusively through the Sega Channel. U.S. Gold published all three. Arc Developments handled the Sega versions, and Probe Entertainment made the SNES one. Even though the show is about soccer, these are action games where players hit enemies with soccer balls, much like in Soccer Kid. The two Sega games play differently: the Game Gear version requires collecting items before reaching the exit, while the Mega Drive version just tasks the player with getting from start to finish.