The Big O

Among my guilty pleasures is an animated cartoon called The Big O. The Big O is a Japanese animated cartoon or anime. It is also very hard to describe. I like to think of it as a cross between Batman, the many Japanese giant robot cartoons (such as Gigantor or Giant Robo), and Dark City. It centres around Roger Smith, a negotiator in a futuristic place called Paradigm City (which may or may not be the last surviving city in the world). In Paradigm City, everyone lost their memories 40 years ago, which makes life there somewhat complex. It also requires Roger Smith to often come to the city's rescue, utilising the giant robot called the Big O. The Big O is a megadeus, a robot which responds to the commands of a specific indidvidual (in Big O's case, Roger Smith). Smith does not know why the Big O responds to him or why other megadei respond to yet other specific people. Roger Smith is assisted in his work by R. Dorothy, an android who seems to become more human every day, and his butler Norman. Throughout the series Roger Smith tries to figure out the mystery behind Paradigm City's lost memories, all the while fighting various giant robots and villains who could have come from a Dick Tracy or Batman comic strip.

With my love of The Big O, I was very happy when I found a quiz to determine what character I was most like. Not surprisingly, I turned out to be Roger Smith (I always thought I looked good in black. LOL). Anyway, here are my results:

Which Big O character are you?

Anyone else who wants to take the quiz, here's a link to it Paradigm City Personality Quiz

Good night, all!

Western TV

I don't know how many of you remember that back in the Eighties the Family Channel used to show old Western TV shows all Saturday. Now the Hallmark Channel does it. I have to admit that I have a fondness for those old TV shows. I wasn't even alive yet when the first wave of Westerns hit television in the Fifties, although the second wave was well under way not long after I was born. In fact, I rather suspect that the first TV show I ever watched was probably Bonanza. I remember my parents used to watch it every Sunday night. I also remember Gunsmoke, although my parents weren't nearly as loyal in viewing Gunsmoke as they were Bonanza.

In reruns I would discover other Westerns. Rawhide followed the adventures of a cattle drive. The Rifleman followed the adventures of a homesteader and his son.

My favourite two Western TV shows were also the most offbeat. Have Gun--Will Travel centred on Paladin, a man whose occupation was probably best described as "troubleshooter." In one episode Paladin might be hired to capture a convicted murderer. Another episode Paladin might be hired to help a suitor win the woman he loves. In yet another episode, Paladin might be hired to umpire a baseball game (yes, that was an actual episode!). Have Gun-Will Travel differed from other Westerns in another way as well. This was a thinking man's Western. Despite his slogan ("Have gun--will travel), Paladin more often used his wits than his gun. Indeed, this was a character fond of quoting Shakespeare! And many of the episodes dealt with issues not often seen on any TV series at the time.

My other favourite Western is The Wild Wild West. It was at the same time a Western, a spy show, and a sci-fi series in the tradition of Jules Verne (I guess one could say it was an ancestor of Steampunk). It featured the adventures of two agents for the United States Secret Service, James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin), assigned to the American West. There they faced villains who often had technology that was very advanced for the 19th century. Their archenemy was Dr. Miguelito Loveless, a villain intent on world conquest. Among his plots were a powder which causes madness, a powder which can shrink people, and a chemical that can kill all life (plants, animals, people).

While I admit that I have a fondness for the old Western TV series, they did have their flaws. Despite the fact that many cowboys were African American, very few African Americans appear in any of the series. Hispanics also rarely appear, except for the stereotypical Mexican bandits. While Native Americans often appeared on the TV Westerns, they were usually portrayed as little more than ethnic stereotypes. Asians rarely appeared on TV Westerns except in the stereotypical servant role. Even as sophisticated as Have Gun--Will Travel was for its time, Paladin's servant "Hey Boy" was little more than a stereotyped Chinese man.

Beyond the largely European American world that the TV Westerns portrayed, there were many cases where one Western TV series was indistinguishable from others. In fact, there was very little variation in the professions of the heroes of TV Westerns. In the Westerns aired on the networks and in syndication from 1955 to 1976, the vast majority of protagonists were either gunfighters, lawmen, or ranchers. As hard as it is to believe, that whole time there was only one TV Western with a doctor as the main character (Frontier Doctor with the great Rex Allen). Lawyers fared a little better--there were three Western TV shows that featured lawyers as their protagonists. To some degree, then, the heroes of the TV Westerns were interchangeable. Despite the huge number of Westerns aired in that time, there was very little variety.

Anyhow, despite their flaws, I am still fond of those old shows. They are something of "comfort shows" for me. They are shows that remind me of a simpler time when I was a child and did not have the responsibilities or stress that comes with being a "grown up."

Gene Kelly's Birthday

It was on this date that Gene Kelly was born in 1912. It seems to me that the general consensus is that he was the greatest male dancer besides Fred Astaire. My own thought is that Astaire and Kelly share the title; given the differences in their styles, it is hard for me to determine who was actually better. At any rate, I have been a Gene Kelly fan for a long time.

I have no idea where I first saw Gene Kelly, but I suspect it was on the hour long TV special Jack and the Beanstalk which first aired on February 26, 1967. Kelly directed the special and also played the role of the peddler (the guy who sold Jack the beans). I saw it when it first aired and again when it was rerun on a local station. At the time I had no idea who Kelly was and I really don't remember that much about his role in the special. At that age I was more impressed with the animated characters it featured. Indeed, it was the first special to mix live action and animation (courtesy of Hanna-Barbera).

I have no idea what was the first Gene Kelly movie I saw, but I suspect it was Singin' in the Rain. In the days before weekend television was overwhelmed by sports, the local TV stations would show old movies. I got to see everything from the old Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone to El Cid to several movie musicals. Of course, among those musicals were those of Gene Kelly. Kelly was also a director as well as an actor and dancer. He not only directed musicals, but films in other genres as well. Among my favourite movies from childhood is the Western The Cheyenne Social Club, which Kelly directed.

I suppose the question remains as to why a heterosexual male would be a fan of both Hollywood musicals and Gene Kelly. Well, before anything else, I should point out that stereotypes should not be confused with the truth. Not all Irishmen drink. Not all Italians are mafiosi. And not all straight guys hate musicals. Besides which, speaking as a heterosexual male, I can see many things about Hollywood musicals in general and Kelly's musicals in specific that would appeal to most straight men.

First, most Hollywood musicals feature at least one beautiful woman (usually more) and often they are very scantily clad. Indeed, I suspect if the average guy got one look at Cyd Charisse in Singin' in the Rain, he would forget all about his dislike for musicals...

Second, many Hollywood musicals have a strong sense of conflict. This is particularly true of Kelly's movies. Often the conflict is over a woman. In Cover Girl Danny McGuire (Kelly's character) finds he has a rival for Rusty (Rita Hayworth's character) in the form of Noel Wheaton (Lee Bowman), a big time Broadway producer. Other times the conflict may be over something else entirely. In Singin' in the Rain the conflict is between Hollywood star Donald Lockwood and his co-star Lina (Jean Hagen). Essentially, Donald wants to save his own career, save Mammoth Studios, and help his lady love and Hollywood newcomer Kathy (Debbie Reynolds) in her career. This conflicts with Lina's goals, which are essentially to help herself. To me, then, Hollywood musicals offer the same thrills that a good football game or a good action movie do--a conflict and the resulting competition between two or more individuals.

Third, with regards to Gene Kelly, the characters he played were ones with whom the average guy can identify. His characters all come off as average Joes, the sort of fellow you might meet in the local pub or at the racetrack. Even Don Lockwood of Singin' in the Rain, a famous actor and big time matinee idol, is pretty much an ordinary guy. Gene's characters are then fellows an ordinary guy can identify with and root for.

Fourth, most Hollywood musicals and certanly most of Kelly's musicals work as comedies. In fact, Singin' in the Rain is absolutely hilarious. Even if a guy doesn't care much for dancing and singing, he can still appreciate the humour.

Fifth, the Hollywood musicals generally have fairly good music. In fact, many of today's standards came from these musicals. Such composers as Irving Berlin and Cole Porter did a good deal of work in Hollywood. If a guy enjoys good music, then he will enjoy Hollywood musicals.

At any rate, I have always thought that Gene Kelly's musicals were among the best Hollywood ever produced. In addition to the sheer talent of Kelly and his co-stars (Cyd Charisse was the equal of both Kelly and Astaire), the movies usually had strong plots and good characterisation. This lifted them above the standard Hollywood musical fare. Indeed, as great a dancer as Astaire was, only a few of his musicals matched Kelly's movies for sheer quality. I seriously doubt that they will ever be matched again.

Men's Action Novel Series of the Seventies Part 3

If the plots of The Butcher were more grandiose than those of The Executioner, the plots of The Death Merchant were even more so. The Death Merchant series followed the adventures of Richard Camellion, literally a gun for hire for those government agencies (think CIA, FBI, NSA, and so on) willing to pay his hundred grand price tag. Camellion was perhaps well worth the money, as he seemed nearly indestructible and literally capable of killing anyone or anything. Not only were the plots of The Death Merchant novels often Bondian in scope, at times it seemed as if they owed a good deal to the old pulp magazines, movie serials, and spy series such as The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. In Invasion of the Clones, Camellion must battle clones of himself in an effort to stop a mad scientist. In Apocalypse U.S.A.! Camellion and a team of CIA agents and freelancers must stop terrorists from spraying nerve gas over the East Coast of the United States. In The Zemlya Expedition Camellion must retrieve information on a city under the sea planned by the Russians.

While the plots of The Death Merchant series were more imaginative and original than those of some other series, it was hardly great literature by any means. The Death Merchant series was extremely politically incorrect. Racism, sexism, and nearly every other kind of "ism" could be found between the pages of any single The Death Merchant novel. The violence was graphic in the extreme and the action scenes often detailed. The Death Merchant was a series that could only have been published in the Seventies, as at any earlier time it would have been considered obscene and at a later time too politcally incorrect.

To many in the Seventies, the action adventure novel series must have seemed like utter trash, only a few steps removed from pornography. Nothing could be further than the truth in the case of some series, most notably The Destroyer. The Destroyer is the greatest action-adventure series of the Seventies because it departed from the usual sex and violence formula. For one thing, The Destroyer owes more to pulp heroes like Doc Savage and superspies like James Bond and Napoleon Solo. The plots were often fantastic and the villains were often bizarre. For another, the appeal of The Destroyer series was not simply the action and adventure, but the satire and humour that often filled the novels.

The Destroyer was the creation of Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy. The first novel, Created, The Destroyer, was actually written in 1963 at the height of the Bond craze. It would be 1971 before Created, The Destroyer was published. The series centred on Remo Williams, a New Jersey police officer who is framed for murder. Fortunately, for Remo, the people who framed him had arranged for him to survive his trip to the electric chair. It seems he was framed by a super secret government agency called CURE, an agency known only to a few people (the President of the United States and its director Harold W. Smith among them), who want Remo to work for them. Remo doesn't particularly like the idea at first, but he truly has no choice. He is sent to a martial arts instructor called Chiun for training. In later novels it was told how Chiun was a master of Sinanju, "the sun source of all martial arts." Named for the village from which Chiun comes, Sinanju practitioners are veritable supermen--they can walk up walls, punch through metal, and do nearly anything.

The first two novels in The Destroyer series were fairly straight forward adventure novels. In fact, Chiun did not even appear in the second novel. With the third novel, Chinese Puzzle, the series took its familiar shape. Sapir and Murphy brought Chiun back so that he could train Remo in the art of Sinanju. From then on, the books would largely focus on the relationship between Chiun and Remo. Although a physical powerhouse, Remo can be rather dense. Chiun is the actual brains of the team. Unfortunately, Chiun is openly racist (he dislikes everyone except Koreans) and can be overbearing. In fact, much of the humour in the series emerged from the relationship between the two. It was also with Chinese Puzzle that Sapir and Murphy introduced the humour and satire that set it apart from any other action-adventure series.

As stated above, The Destroyer relied on fantastic plots and even more fantastic villains. In Union Bust (the 7th novel of the series), not only must Remo and Chiun bust up a "super union" which controls all traffic by air, train, and truck, but Remo faces Nuihc, a renegade Sinanju master who also happens to be Chiun's nephew! In Funny Money (the 18th book in the series) Remo and Chiun must stop a beautiful scientist, who has perfected a foolproof method of counterfeiting, and the shapeshifting android Mr. Gordons. In Next of Kin (the 46th novel in the series), Remo and Chiun battle Jeremiah Purcell, the Dutchman, who can create illusions and cause things to burst into flames with a single thought! In Profit Motive (the 48th novel of the series) Remo and Chiun face Friend, a sentient computer chip who can send his consciousness from computer terminal to computer terminal.

Not only is The Destroyer perhaps the best of the action-adventure novel series, it is also arguably the most successful. The copy on the covers of Destroyer novels in the Seventies touted it as "America's Best Selling Action Series." Remo and Chiun even accomplished something Mack Bolan never did--they made it to the big screen. Remo Williams: the Adventure Begins debuted in 1985, featuring Fred Ward as Remo and Joel Grey as Chiun. Despite Remo and Chiun's paperback success, the movie was not a hit. There was also an unsold TV pilot called Remo Williams with Jeffrey Meek as Remo and Roddy McDowall as Chiun. It aired only once, on August 15, 1988. ABC needed something to fill time before the Republican Convention! While Remo and Chiun have failed to find success on either the big or small screen, they continue to be successful on the paperback racks. Destroyer novels continue to be published to this day. Many of the early novels are even now available as books for Palm Pilots or ebooks for computers.

Acton-adventure novel series continue to be published even 35 years after the first appearance of The Executioner. I don't know the sales figures, but it does seem to me that their hey day was definitely the Seventies. Today it seems to me that paperback racks are filled with far fewer of them. Considering the quality of some of the series, that may well be for the best. But, then again, not every paperback need be Shakespeare either.

Men's Action Novel Series of the Seventies Part 2

Even though it was the first of the series of men's action-adventure novels of the Seventies, I can't say I was ever a big fan of The Executioner. "The Executioner" of the title was Mack Bolan. Bolan was serving in Vietnam when his family was wiped out by the Mafia. Bolan was given an emergency leave to return to United States, whereupon he began his one man war against the Mob. Bolan would travel from city to city, always leaving piles of Mafioso corpses in his wake. An ex-Green Beret, combat specialist, and expert sniper, Bolan was well equipped to fight the Mafia.

A former aerospace engineer, Don Pendleton, created Mack Bolan, largely in reaction to the treatment soldiers returning from Vietnam received once home. Published in 1969, the first book, War Against the Mafia, met with huge success. The following novels chronicling The Executioner's war on the Mob were equally successful. Imitators sprung up immediately in an attempt to capitalise on The Executioner series' success. It is arguable that The Executioner series presaged many of the movies with revenge themes of the Seventies, such as Death Wish, Gordon's War, and Walking Tall. Even a comic book character was inspired by The Executioner. Marvel Comics' Punisher was also a Vietnam vet whose family was killed by the Mob and who declared a one man war against them in return.

From 1969 to 1980, Pendleton wrote 38 Executioner novels. By this time Pendleton was not in good health and wanted to give up the grind of writing the series. This coincided with Pendleton's long time, Andrew Ettinger, leaving Pinnacle Books for Harlequin Enterprises. The romance publisher wanted to start its own action-adventure line (eventually named "Gold Eagle"). As a result, Ettinger approached Pendleton and his agency, the Scott Meredith Agency, on Harlequin's behalf. In the end Harlequin obtained the rights to use Pendleton's characters and continue The Executioner series. Published under the Gold Eagle imprint, Harlequin gave Bolan a whole new set of opponents: terrorists, drug traffickers, anarchists, and other international threats. They also featured the name "Mack Bolan" prominently on the new series of novels and downplayed the title, The Executioner. Harlequin would also spin off new series from The Executioner. The Able Team series featured three of Bolan's friends who fought domestic terrorism. The Phoenix Force series focused on a group who fought international terrorism. In some respects, just as the first series of Executioner novels presaged the revenge films of the Seventies, this new series of Exceuctioner novels presaged such paramilitary films as the "Rambo" movies, Missing in Action, and its sequels. I have to admit, I was even less of a fan of the Harlequin Executioner series and its spin offs than I was the original. Regardless, Executioner books are still published to this day.

As I said above, The Executioner series inspired a number of imitators. Among the most successful of these was The Butcher. The Butcher was Bucher (no first name was ever given), the former head of the East Coast Syndicate. When he quit, the Syndicate put a price on his head of $250,000. He was then hired by a secret government operation known as White Hat to help fight the Syndicate's activities. Like The Executioner series, The Butcher series included copious amounts of violence. Unlike The Executioner, however, the plots in The Butcher were of a more Bondian scale. Bucher thwarted a plot by the Syndicate to explode bombs across the United States, rescued a scientist who had developed a gas which causes madness, and stopped a Mob take over of the movie industry.

Well, I suppose that is enough for now of the action-adventure novel series of the Seventies. With any luck, I'll conclude my discussion tomorrow with a look at The Death Merchant and The Destroyer.

Good night all!

Men's Action Novel Series of the Seventies Part 1

In helping my sister move last spring I found a large number of those paperbacks from those old series of men's action-adventure novels in the Seventies. In case you don't know what I am talking about, I mean series such as The Executioner, The Destroyer, The Death Merchant, and so on. These series filled paperback racks in the Seventies. They were obviously a big business. In fact, to this day I can't think of the decade of the Seventies without thinking of these novels.

Of course, in most ways they were nothing new. The mystery genre has always boasted a large number of recurring characters: Sherlock Holmes, Nero Wolfe, Miss Marple, Father Brown, and so on. And then there were the pulp magazines that flourished in the first half of the Twentieth Century. Often these magazines would be devoted to the adventures of a single hero, the biggest perhaps being The Shadow, Doc Savage, and The Spider. In fact, Bantam may well have led to the boom in action-adventure, paperback series in the Seventies when they started reprinting the old Doc Savage novels in the early Sixties.

Of course, immediately before the action-adventure series of the Seventies, there were the superspies of the Fifties and Sixties. James Bond was the first, appearing in Casino Royale in the UK in 1954. He was followed by Sam Durrell, the CIA agent created by Edward S. Aarons in 1955. Given that Bond had only appeared the year before and was not an immediate hit here in the States, it is doubtful that Aarons was inspired by Ian Fleming. More than likely, Cold War politics spurred the creation of two superspies on both sides of the Atlantic. A third was Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm. Like Durrell, it is unlikely that Helm was inspired by Bond. For one thing, he first appeared in 1960, a time when Bond was still largely unknown in the United States. For another, Helm was a wholly different character from Bond. Strictly speaking, Matt Helm is not a spy, but a government assassin. And the novels are written in the dark, cynical style of hard boiled detective fiction rather than that of Ian Fleming. In the wake of Bond, Durrell, and Helm, more spies followed: John LeCarre's George Smiley in 1961, Len Deighton's nameless operative in The Iprcress File in 1962 (he was given a name--Harry Palmer--in the movies based on Deighton's books), Nick Carter's Killmaster series in 1964, and still others.

The rush publishers made for action-adventure series in the Seventies began in 1969 when Pinnacle Books published the first novel in the The Executioner series. War Against the Mafia, by Don Pendelton, introduced the world to Mack Bolan, The Executioner, a man who declared a one man war on the Mafia. What set The Executioner series apart from the detectives and superspies that preceded it were two things. The first was graphic violence on a massive a scale. When Bolan executed a member of the Mafia, it was usually described in detail. The second was that The Executioner series was published on a somewhat regular schedule, not unlike the pulp magazines of old. Generally, four novels would come out a year. The Executioner series proved to be a huge success, so much so that its impact can still be felt today. It is perhaps arguable whether Don Pendleton created a new genre with The Executioner or simply took the adventure genre to new extremes. Regardless, Pinnacle Books termed The Executioner books "action-adventure," a phrase now used in television, movies, and other media as well. Indeed, Pendleton is credited with coining the phrase "Live large," which has since become part of the English language, perhaps another mark of the series' success.

Perhaps the ultimate proof of The Executioner series' success is the sheer number of other action-adventure series which followed in its wake, many of them outright imitations of The Executioner. By the mid-Seventies, series with titles like The Destroyer, The Death Merchant, and The Butcher filled paperback racks. Indeed, there were perhaps so many of these series that they apparently started running out of names. In October 1973 a new series with the ridiculous name of The Penetrator made its debut with the novel The Target is H! Even with its absolutely silly name, over fifty novels were published in The Penetrator series. Apparently the action-adventure series were so popular in the Seventies that the young, male audience who read them were willing to buy anything.

Well, I have probably written enough on the topic tonight. I'll pick it up again tomorrow, when I will discuss some of the specific action-adventure series of the Seventies (and, no, The Penetrator will not be one of them).

Action Figures and Merchandising

I am still thinking about action figures. One thing I have been pondering is whether G. I. Joe can be considered the first action figure. It is true that the marketing people at Hasbro invented the term "action figure" for G. I. Joe, but it seems to me that action figures may have existed even before there was a word for them. Off the top of my head, I can think of two toys that could be considered "action figures" prior to G. I. Joe. The first was a Popeye "doll" made in 1932. The "doll" was jointed and made of wood. There was also a Superman "doll" made in 1939 by Ideal. It was made of wood, with cloth cape. And the joints at the elbows and knees were articulated. In both cases, I would assume that boys, rather than girls, were expected to play with these "dolls." They also displayed a degree of articulation seen in the "action figures" of the Sixties and Seventies. I would then say that these were indeed action figures that were simply created before there was a term for them. It is quite possible G. I Joe was not the first action figure, but simply the first one to be termed such.

Another thing I was thinking is that long before Star Wars, licensing went hand in hand with action figures. One story has it that G. I. Joe was created as a possible tie in with Gene Roddenberry's show The Lieutenant. Television also apparently played a role in the creation of Marx's Johnny West line. Marx had intended to create a series of action figures based on various characters from TV Westerns. They had planned to create action figures with the likenesses of Fess Parker (Daniel Boone), James Arness (Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke) and so on. Unfortunately, the licensing proved too expensive for Marx to afford. They then went ahead with a Daniel Boone action figure (as a historical figure he was in public domain). And while their deals to procure the rights to produce action figures based on various TV Westerns fell through, Marx went ahead with the successful Johnny West line.

Given the fact that G. I. Joe may have originated as a tie in to a TV show and Johnny West originated out of the failure to procure such a tie in, it was an eventuality that someone would produce action figures based on a TV show or movie. In the wake of G. I. Joe's success. I have no idea what the first such company to produce an action figure as a tie in to a movie or TV show was. I do know one of the earliest was Gilbert, which produced a James Bond action figure in 1964. A year later they produced one of Oddjob, the heavy from the movie Goldfinger. In all they produced ten figures, including Miss Moneypenny, M, Dr. No, Emilio Largo (from Thunderball), Auric Goldfinger, Oddjob, Domino (the girl from Thunderball), and three different versions of 007. They also released several playsets.

Of course, James Bond was not the only spy on the block in the mid-Sixties. A veritable spy craze had overtaken both the United States and the United Kingdom, so that the airwaves of both countires were filled with them. In America, the most successful such series was perhaps The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. The makers of the James Bond line of action figures, Gilbert, also produced action figures based on the heroes from The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin in 1965. Another licensing tie-in for the Gilbert company was the Honey West action figure. Although Honey West was not a spy, she was a detective who used many of the same gadgets.

In 1966 The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. was spun off from The Man From U.N.C.L.E. This added one more spy to the airwaves and one more action figure to store shelves. Marx manufactured an April Dancer figure in 1966.

Marx also issued action figures based on the popular show Rat Patrol. Rat Patrol followed the adventures of a jeep patrol as they fought their way across North Africa during World War II. Marx made two figures based on the series, Sgt. Sam Troy and Sgt. Jack Moffitt.

Even though spies had overwhelmed the airwaves, Westerns continued to be popular on televison. In fact, the number one show for many seasons was Bonanza. In 1966, then, American Character released action figures based on the characters of the successful show: Ben (Lorne Greene), Hoss (Dan Blocker), and Little Joe (Michael Landon). Reportedly, there was to have been an action figure based on Adam (Pernell Roberts), the eldest son of Ben Cartwright. Roberts left the show just as the figures were going into production. American Character simply added a moustache to his action figure to create a generic "Outlaw."

Of course, Ideal's entry into the action figure field, Captain Action, totally relied on licensed characters. He could be dressed as Aquaman, Batman, Buck Rogers, Captain America, Flash Gordon, The Green Hornet, The Lone Ranger, The Phantom, Sgt. Fury, Spider-Man, Steve Canyon, or Tonto. When it came to licensing, Captain Action must have been a logistical nightmare...

In the days before Star Wars, it was Mego that was the king of character tie-ins. In the wake of the failure of Action Jackson, they created the World's Greatest Superheroes line in 1972. The initial action figures included Batman, Superman, Captain America and Spiderman. The line soon grew to include many more heroes. Mego followed the success of the World's Greatest Superheroes with more tie ins.

In 1974 Mego started a successful line based on Star Trek. There were action figures based on the bridge crew (Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, and so on) and various aliens from the show (a Klingon, a Romulan, and so on). That same year Mego started a line of Planet of the Apes action figures. They issued figures based on astronauts Burke and Verdon (from the short lived TV series), as well Cornelius, Dr. Zaius, Galen, General Urko, Zira, and others.

Mego relied heavily on licensing for most of their products, with action figures based on Starsky and Hutch, The Wizard of Oz, the rock group KISS, Happy Days, and others. Unfortunately, licensing would play a role in Mego's downfall. They procured the rights to movies and series that proved to be flops, such as the movie The Black Hole and the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Mego filed for bankruptcy in 1982.

Mego's failure hardly stopped other companies from pursuing the licensing of characters. In the time that Mego spiralled downward, Kenner had introduced the Star Wars with resounding success. With the success of Kenner's Star Wars line, companies sought even more licences for movies and TV series. And with those licences came even more action figures...