If, like me, you are a child of the 80’s, then you will almost certainly know of the awesome cartoon that is VISIONARIES. If you’re not aware then let me give you a brief description. The story followed the ongoing battle between The Spectral Knights (good guys) and The Darkling Lords (bad guys). The setting is a world where technology has failed and magic is now the currency.
Now I loved this show and it unfortunately only lasted one season due to the toy line that was produced not selling well. This is a massive shame as it had some amazing characters and ideas that hadn’t been used before. I still remember watching the intro and being amazed. For those that haven’t seen it before, here it is.
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBoxGdz2Km4[/embedyt]
I loved the powers that the characters had in the show. Each person was dressed like knights with armour on which had a chest plate, once they acquired the magic from Merklynn the Wizard each one was given an animal totem. For the Spectral Knights you had Leoric (Lion), Feryl (Wolf), Cryotek (Bear) and Witterquick (Cheetah). On the Darkling Lords there was Darkstrom (Mollusk), Cinder (Gorilla), Cravex (Phylot, think terradactyl) and Virulina (Shark).
When the situation called for it the knight could turn into this animal for a short period of time. Pretty cool right. But that’s not the best part, almost all the characters had staffs that could be charged with a magical symbol. When a certain incantation was spoken out loud, it would bring the symbol to life. To this day I still remember nearly all the rhymes they had to say. My favourite one was Witterquicks which was “Sheathe these feet in the driving gale, Make swift these legs o’er land I sail”. A man would emerge from the staff and surround Witterquick and carry him away at light speed. This is why I would love it to become live action because it’s so fantastical that it’s brilliant.
The reason I think that this would work as live action is that with today’s technology it would be so easy to bring the magic elements of the characters to the big screen. If you look at what they could do with motion capture now, it gives you so many possibilities for what you could do. Plus who wouldn’t want to see a giant Archer shooting down a crazy monster hell bent on destroying everything in its path.
The reality is that this may actual happen. In December last year it was announced that Hasbro and Paramount were working on a cinematic universe that would include characters from Visionaries, G.I Joe, Micronauts, M.A.S.K and Rom. Here is an article courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter about it http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/paramount-hasbro-gi-joe-universe-848920
I’m not sure how they would fit in with the likes of G.I Joe and M.A.S.K as the Visionaries was set in a time where technology had failed so they would be going backwards in the story arc. Unless they are sent back in time by Merklynn to try to put right whatever it was that put an end to technology. That’s just an idea of mine that could be way off the mark.
Well that’s all from me for now. I hope you’ve enjoyed my first post and hopefully there will be lots more to come. If you have any questions or theories of your own regarding the Visionaries or the upcoming crossover universe, then drop me a message as I do love a good discussion about this stuff.
That’s all for now.
See you soon.
