…and Jaleel White played the hero, standing up to that other kid representing Shadow Force!
I swear, I’ve seen more of pre-Urkel Jaleel White in the last year than I actually believed was possible, but he was in a few commercials back in the day.
Previously, on Throwback Thursday, we looked at a car with insanely low financing (in 1985), as promoted by Telly Savalas. Today, we move forward to 1987, and vehicles of the future, as only our fabled future U.S. Space Force (think Air Force of the Stars….The Space Kind), could drive.
Starcom was a short-lived motorized toy franchise (by Coleco) that tied into a short-lived TV show (by DiC – stop giggling – and Coca-Cola Telecommunications), beginning in 1987. It never really caught on here in the states, but the toyline was popular in Europe and Asia, where it enjoyed life as a toyline for a few years. The cartoon itself only lasted thirteen episodes from September – December 1987.
It still lasted eight episodes longer than Chuck Norris and the Karate Commandos. Just sayin’.
It was only a five-episode miniseries because syndication would have exploded from one more episode.
Or just insert your own Chuck Norris joke here. I’ll wait.
Anyway…Starcom was both a short-lived American animated cartoon and toyline, but it had a pretty kick-ass commercial that featured a kid representing Shadow Force antagonism and whose face we only see once, but also featuring Jaleel White in a cape…
…representing the forces of Starcom good!
We also see his face more!
This commercial (taped from WNYW 5 New York in June 1987) features our young hero, our young villain, and a few of the cool toys in the Starcom vehicle line. And you can see them (and Jaleel White!) in action when you click play!
These toys looked really amazing – they were motorized and didn’t require batteries. What wasn’t to love about something you didn’t constantly have to raid the household Duracel supply to help it along?
Not alot, apparently. The toyline was poorly promoted domestically, and never really caught on. They left the toyline tie-in scene two years later, but found a good life in Europe and Southeast Asia, where the American and NASA details were removed. It also helped that the toys came under the production wings of Mattel. They continued on in the early 1990s thanks to that wingspan.
So, for a short time in the mid 1980s, these looked kinda cool.
But we still liked Transformers and GI Joe better.
But not Go-Bots. Those were still the “baby” version of Transformers.
They were first, but they knew their doom was near.
You know, this was supposed to be about a totally different toyline/cartoon connection, and wound up becoming a discussion about Chuck Norris, his cartoon, and a “Quienes Mas Macho: Go-Bots versus Transformers Edition” debate.
Proof that when you come here for one thing, you best be prepared to hear about ten other references that usually have nothing to do with the main feature of the article.
Truly the random thought processes of a truly random mind, on a blog meant for randomness.
Seriously, these toys never caught on? Pre-Urkel played with them! They had to be awesome!
What, they weren’t? Well darn.
Yeah, I’m done. Enjoy your Friday!