“Defenders of Dynatron City” Created by Gary Winnick; Directed by Chuck Patton; Written by Bob Forward and Gary Winnick; Starring Pay Fraley, Whoopi Goldberg, Tim Curry, David Coburn, Candi Milo, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Gary Owens, and Charles Adler; Originally aired February 22, 1992; Run time 22 minutes.
“Defenders of Dynatron City” got its start as a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Lucasfilm Games. It features a team of mutated superheroes who defend a futuristic city from the nefarious Dr. Mayhem.
The game was adapted into an animated pilot but was never picked up. The only produced episode was later released on VHS and aired on Fox Kids in February of 1992. The game received bad reviews for having a strict hit detection system making it difficult to attack enemies without exact precision.
The animated episode however is actually a lot of fun, if a little on the nose, it’s surprising that it wasn’t picked up for more episodes. The story takes place in Dynatron City, a futuristic metropolis full of varied technological wonders including Proto Cola, a soda that not only energized and revitalizes consumers but causes spontaneous mutation due to its radioactivity.
While inhabitants of Dynatron City fall in love with the drink, one can’t help but wonder if city doctors aren’t battling just so much cancer. Dr. Mayhem is bewildered by the positive response to his drink, noting that he created it in an attempt to terrify the populace but they have embraced it and him.
Our heroes begin as ordinary citizens of the city, delivering a shipment of Proto Cola to Dr. Mayhem’s warehouse/headquarters. When Mayhem stiffs them on payment they decide to use brute force to right the wrong but are quickly captured along with a mutated monkey boy already in Mayhem’s possession.
Due to a lack of planning uncharacteristic of Mayhem’s apparent genius, monkey boy is able to slip the chains but abandons his companions in the search for bananas. He slips on a rogue peel and accidentally fills the chamber they’re being held in with Proto Cola and electrifies it, causing sever spontaneous mutation to occur, thus the Defenders of Dynatron City are born.
Those trapped within the chamber become superheroes with an array of abilities. The players are,
Jet Headstrong: with the ability to launch his head like a rocket.
Buzzsaw Girl: with the ability to whiz around and slice things up with the buzzsaw that has replaced her legs and feet like some sort of female version of Gizmo Duck.
Ms. Megawatt: with the ability to generate electricity.
Radium Dog: with super strong jaws and the power of flight.
In addition to the three mutated human heroes and Radium Dog, Monkey Kid also falls into the charged cola and becomes… Monkey Kid: with the ability to be a monkey kid, also exploding bananas. The crew is rounded out by a toolbox who, during the atomic event, is anthropomorphized, has a big hammer for a head and can shapeshift into essentially any type of tool they might ultimately need.
The six heroes go after Dr. Mayhem and his giant floating brain computer with the ability to turn inanimate objects into animate techno-monsters and… Mayhem ensues.
While the episode was referential and over the top at times, it had a fairly unique premise and entertaining characters. I would have liked to have seen more.