Captain Simian & the Space Monkeys (1996) – A Film Buff Review

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Quiet on the set speed down production stage one action. >> It’s weekend power. So let’s follow our routine. You’re up early. The sun is bright. You a little bit of that morning midair smell. That’s how it smelled in Jersey, by the way. That the mornings had a scent. You hit the cabinet, you get your cereal. In this case, for me, it’s Fruity Pebbles. After that, grab a bowl, dump it in there, grab some milk, dump it in there. And we’re watching cartoons. That is what we emulate here

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on the weekends on the greatest I mean people call me the pop culture pope for a reason. But the greatest movie culture discussion podcast there is aka pad the film buff coming to you from Philadelphia PA just just in sight of city hall one of the greatest monuments we have in the world aka pad we’re talking about something special today and and I want to get over a quick observation because this observation that we’re about to discuss and and today is Captain Simeon and the Space Monkeys 199 1996. One season, 26

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episodes, one toy line, and that is it. This is a series that completely faded into darkness, even though it comes from darkness, right? I mean, it comes from the emptiness of of space. Maybe that’s fitting. So, a lot of us, I would say like my generation, we we grew up in the 80s and we had G.I. Joe, major toy line, Masters of the Universe, major toy line. We had Transformers major toy line and then there’s like that second tier Thundercats, Silver Hawks, even Shirro, right? But Shira is an

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extension of Masters of the Universe. And then the Turtles come along and that becomes the dominant cartoon. And then Power Rangers come along, that becomes the dominant program. Dragon Ball Z comes along, doesn’t sweep merchandise, but becomes this the center of kids hanging out, young teenagers hanging out, watching cartoons, talking about it afterwards, at the mall, at the water cooler, at the school locker. And as we all got out of the 80s, there there there was something something forgotten

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that everything that seemed larger than life was timing. G.I. Joe timing, Transformers timing, Masters of the Universe timing. And once that time ran out, it never really came back. G.I. Joe shifted studios. Masters of the Universe tried with Shira just never get never quite got even even now Transformers still trying some type of series uh the success of the movies really uh became adrenaline for that franchise but Transformers two seasons one season and none of this quite got back to the original. So what do we have after like

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what what happens to these toy commercials targeting children? But then we have artists, we have illustrators, we have writers, we have uh Shakespearean lore. We like real epic [ __ ] happening within the stories of G.I. Joe Transformers and Masters. And it all transformed. Marvel comics always will look at the G.I. Joe Transformer. Marvel comics. And then when we phase out of that, a part of the the pot, the cauldron is highlevel storytelling. And and by high level, I I’ll define it here. Everything

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is explained within the context of the story. So a viewer you as a child or adult you can watch it and you can absorb it and you’re not asking yourself questions. Uh Pixar I feel uh did this far like if if we measure uh Monsters Inc. compared to Aladdin right Monsters Inc. Everything explained, moves at a certain speed, Aladdin, a lot of weird questions. And what we get here, mid9s, late 90s, we get a lot of toy lines. We get the space monkeys like we’re talking about today. We get Exo Squad.

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We get uh like King Arthur and the Knights. I mean, there there’s so many. There’s uh series that come and go. Sam and Max, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. No toy line. We get Mighty Max, giant toy line. And a lot of these amount like these uh combinations, they work so well. Like Exo Squad works so well with the toy line. It just it’s awesome. It’s well explained. You can fall into it. train uh Teenage Mut Ninja Turtles. Not so like maybe not but not so much. I know a lot of people that just bought

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the toys never uh never watched many of the episodes. And then we get this. We get Captain Simeon that number one has a floating orb very similar to the [laughter] to uh the guilty spark from from Halo. But we get this lore. The first monkey shot into space ends up in the center of the galaxy and is transformed by a superior alien intelligence that you cannot imagine. So very Lovecrafty in transformed to fight evil on the side of good. And along the way he gets a orangutang, a gorilla, a Champagne Z,

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right? like he gets all of his monkey friends and we get some uh references, banana references, Escape from Plane of the Apes references, we get some really cool like episode titles, we get cool episodes and we get incredible design work. Uh some of I think right now like someone asked me some of my what are some of my favorite spaceship designs. Uh, I would say this series, we get incredible character designs that that echo into the action figures. The action figures, too, by the way, had a uh they could go like zero g the the

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figure spun inside the package. So, we get all of these things, AK Patterns, and ever since I first watched this because it was syndicated, I always enjoyed watching this series. It’s available right now on on Tuby. And this is, you know, part of this this unpacking we’re doing. This is a part of mid9s animation, children’s animation to sell a toy line, these one and done seasons or two seasons. It they’re better than their than the previous generation. They’re better designed. They’re better explained.

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And because of that, they’re way more entertaining to watch. I would watch Captain Simeon over episodes of Thundercats. These are better episodes. We can also pair this with the Disney Mighty Duck series that I absolutely love. The Warner Brothers Road Rovers that I absolutely love. There’s so much to be said about these these series that came and went had major toy outside road rovers major toy lines to support them maximum entertainment superior artistry and understanding the assignment for

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lack of a better term jenzers aka patterns. I love this show. I think this show is incredible. Uh I’m going to be watching it. I hope you are too. So, happy Saturday, happy weekend. Captain Simeon and the Space Monkeys, 1996. Well worth your time, worth your effort. Available right now on Tuby. Rock and roll. >> Roll sound. >> Sound production take two. >> Cut in. Sorry. AKA Patterns. I know it’s such a hot passionate episode, but I’m breaking I’m breaking the flow real

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quick just to remind you guys. If you want to support me, one of the best, easiest, and free ways to do it, leave a comment. Give me a like. I know there’s someone out there that you know that loves film as much as I do, that love the film industry as much as I show this to them. Comments, likes, and reviews, positive or negative, it doesn’t matter. We need to increase our reach. And to do that requires you your involvement in everything that I do. We’re we’re linked. We’re forever bound. You’re the

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membrane. I’m the muscle. So guys, let’s just do it. One review. Do you have it in you? Okay. Back to the show. Okay. I do up.


Additional Notes for Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys

Bradley C. Rader, the Illustrator behind the Captain Simian model sheets, can be found on his portfolio website right here. He’s also an Emmy award winner, WHO KNEW!

Bradley’s Facebook account is here

PETER A DELUCA AKAPD

AKAPAD is a versatile thinker known across Philadelphia, Europe, and even in the vast Multiverse as The Electic One. By day, he excels as an IT Mastermind, assisting individuals, both big and small, with a wide range of simple and complex solutions. In contrast, he is also a talented illustrator, a passionate comic book enthusiast, a creative content creator, and an active live streamer. Additionally, his podcast, “AKAPAD The Film Buff Podcast,” boasts an impressive catalog of over 500 episodes available on nearly every major platform.