Mighty Max is an animated action/horror television series created by Mark Zaslove and Rob Hudnut based on the British Mighty Max toys, an outgrowth of the Polly Pocket line created by Bluebird Toys in 1992.

Broadcast

The series originally aired in syndication as part of a children's block titled Amazin' Adventures, premiering on September 1, 1993 and ending on December 2, 1994 with a total of 40 episodes over the course of 2 seasons.

Plot

The series follows Max, an adventurous teenage boy who receives in the mail a small statue of a fowl, inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphs whereof the translation states: "You have been chosen to be the cap-bearer. Go to the mini-mart and wait for a sign, Mighty Max". Shocked by the message, Max drops the statue, shattering it and revealing a red baseball cap emblazoned with a yellow "M", which he dons. The cap is capable of projecting wormhole-like "portals" through which Max can teleport across space and time.

Upon arriving at the mini-mart, Max is chased by a lava-monster sent by antagonist 'Skullmaster'. As Max flees, the cap teleports them to the Mongolian desert, where he befriends Virgil, a nearly omniscient Lemurian whose appearance is that of an anthropomorphic "fowl" (a running gag in the series is that Max refers to Virgil as a "chicken" to which the Lemurian replies "Fowl, actually"), who explains that Max's reception of the cap was prophesied c. 3000 B.C. Thereafter Max, Virgil, and Norman, his Viking bodyguard, travel together around the world, defending Earth against the minions of Skullmaster, who is responsible for the downfall of the Lemurians. Norman is supposedly immortal and identified as or with Sir Lancelot, Thor, Samson, and Hercules. Most plot-driving episodes involve Skullmaster or one of his monstrous followers, but in many episodes, Max is required to stop an independent villain. While all episodes involve travel across Earth, one involves time travel, and the portal can even extend into the astral plane (as seen in the episode "Souls of Talon").

While generally lighthearted and comical, the show's violence and descriptions of violent acts were considered excessive by some viewers. Many episodes began with a depiction of the story's principal monster killing a victim, whereas the series finale featured Max, Norman, and Virgil pitted against Skullmaster and their previously defeated foes. Both Norman and Virgil are killed, leaving Max to defeat Skullmaster. Unable to do so, Max uses the cap in order to time travel to the events of the first episode, creating a time paradox. At first, he experiences déjà vu, but after he reads Virgil's modified letter, he recalls everything, and decides to use the knowledge he gained from the initial timeline to set it right in order to defeat Skullmaster once and for all.

Educational epilogues

In all episodes, a short ending scene preludes the credits, wherein Max is shown at his desk in his room, where he discusses with the audience some aspect of the episode in an educational way (similar to other children's cartoon series, including The Magic School Bus), usually the location where the events took place, the type of monster that was fought, etc. Occasionally, Max is shown in another setting such as a library or museum, or is simply heard recorded on an answering machine (such as "Armageddon Outta Here", the series finale), but these sequences were not broadcast on some channels, such as the British terrestrial airings on BBC1 (though included on the Nickelodeon airings). Generally, the educational messages at the end of each episode were of scientific, historical, or cultural significance (for example, the mythology of another culture; new astronomical theories of the time; the biology of a giant squid; or the fact that Native Americans were first believed to be Indians by European explorers).

In addition to the epilogue, facts are unobtrusively given in show, often by Virgil's comment.

Characters

Heroes

  • Max / Mighty Max (voiced by Rob Paulsen) is the protagonist of the series: a rambunctious, clever, and blond teen empowered, through a series of adventures, to protect the signature cap that enables travel through various places. Max sometimes claims reluctance to retain this role, but Virgil and the cap leave him with little choice.
  • Virgil (voiced by Tony Jay) is a fowl-like humanoid, the last living Lemurian and Max's mentor. He is over ten thousand years old, and knowledgeable of both past and future, but often frustrated by Max's carefree ways (which include teasingly calling Virgil a "chicken") and frequently reminded of having mentored Skullmaster, who consequently destroyed his people later on. Virgil would often send unusual messages to Max on where to go in order to get taken through a portal to meet up with him.
  • Warmonger (voiced by Frank Welker) is a demon and Skullmaster's errand runner. Cruel and sadistic, he briefly showed ambition when he tried to kill Skullmaster in the episode "I, Warmonger", but found himself ignorant of what to do with his newfound power and position. The death of Skullmaster proved to be a ruse and Skullmaster himself was proud of Warmonger for showing such deviousness and plans to reward him later.) figurines inside. Each play-set contained a Mighty Max figure as well as one or more villains and sometimes Virgil, Norman, or both. There were a small series of larger, more expensive play-sets with various mechanical and electronic features such as opening jaws (on an island play-set shaped as a dragon's head) and lights. Almost all episodes of the TV series were based at least loosely on one of the Mighty Max play-sets.

In 1994, due to the popularity of the play-sets at the time, the McDonald's Happy Meal offered a toy play-set featuring Mighty Max.

In 1994, a video game, The Adventures of Mighty Max, was released for the SNES and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive (which were packaged with a VHS copy of Day of the Cyclops and Let Sleeping Dragons Lie, respectively). A handheld game was also released by Tiger Electronics and Systema.