The long running era of the Saturday morning cartoon has officially ended, but no one can stop you from fulfilling your true weekend calling. Cartoons and Saturday mornings were made for each other and no one can tell us otherwise. It is to that end that we maintain vigil, bringing you animated selections each Saturday morning until the internet dies, or until we run out, good thing there’s always reruns.
“Battletoads” Pilot Created by Tim Stamper and Chris Stampe; Directed by Kent Butterworth; Written by David Wise; Starring Kathleen Barr, Ian James Corlett, Michael Donovan, Andrew Kavada, Lalainia Lindbjerg, Scott McNeil, Jason Michas, and Alvin Sanders.
“Battletoads” began as a Canadian half-hour cartoon show proced by DIC Entertainment along with several other cartoon of the era including “Street Sharks” and “The Adventures of T-Rex” it was an effort to capitalize on the popularity of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
While the idea was never picked up for a full series, culminating in this one pilot episode, it did serve as a prequel to the popular and enduring video game series of the same name.
In this episode three high school students with a propensity for trouble are selected by inter-dimensional travelers to be heroes and protect Princess Angelica from the Dark Queen and her hench-men-people-animals.
They are transformed into the Battletoads and given the heroic names of Pimple, Rash, and Zitz, though they maintain the ability to revert to their earlier human forms.
Using their new superhuman strength and they ability to turn their hands and feet into weapons in what they call “smash hits,” they defend the princess from the evil queen.
Unlike most cartoons featured in this weekly column, you can watch the entirety of “Battletoads” canon in 22 minutes right here.
Any further mythology must be gleaned from the games which you can play online via streaming emulators or you can hit your local used video games store asking the classic question- “Do you have Battletoads?”