“Bionics On!”

The mid to late 1980s was easily one of the best times for cartoons here in the United States.  I challenge anyone who dares to disagree with me to a Filipino knife fight.  There were a lot of incredible action-adventure cartoons during that time period - Dungeons & Dragons, He-Man, Bravestar, Thundercats, Silverhawks, Tigersharks, Dinosaucers, GI Joe, Transformers, Blackstar, Jemm (don’t mock me), the Mighty Orbots, Visionaries, M.A.S.K., the Inhumanoids and probably another 20 I’m forgetting.  However, one of the greatest cartoons of all time, and one which has faded into a little bit of obscurity, was the Bionic Six.

Running from 1986 through 1988, the Bionic Six ran for only 65 episodes.  Since most cartoons of the time had to be tied in to a toy line, I’m guessing the show wasn’t picked up when the Bionic Six toys never really took off.  However, the cartoon more than made up for their crappy toys.

As a comic book fan growing up in the 1980s, I was completely blown away by the Bionic Six cartoon and used to run home from high school in Hawaii to make sure I didn’t miss a single moment of the show.  The character designs were cool, the opening and transformation animations were awesome, and there was always a load of action in each episode.  I’ve always been a little surprised that there has never been a superhero cartoon as well animated or produced as the Bionic Six.

The Bionic Six team was made up of, surprisingly enough, six members.  They were:

Bionic-1: Jack Bennett, the father and leader of the team.
Mother-1: Helen Bennett, Jack’s wife and the hottest animated MILF around.  Yes, I’m a sad, pathetic little man.
Sport-1: Eric Bennett, son of Jack and Helen.  I don’t know about you, but if I had been stuck with the superhero name Sport-1, I’d have kicked my own ass.
Rock-1: Meg Bennett, daughter of Jack and Helen.  I really don’t have anything witty to say about her.
Karate-1: Bunji, foster son of Jack and Helen.  Voiced by Brian Tochi who was best known as Takashi from the “Revenge of the Nerds” films. 
IQ: JD Bennett, adopted son of Jack and Helen.  I’m not sure why JD was adopted while Bunji was a foster son.  I’m also not sure why JD’s secret ID didn’t follow the naming pattern of the other members of the group.  As the only African-American on the team I really think his name should have been Brother-1.

The last member of the team was F.L.U.F.F.I., who was a robot gorilla.  Enough said there because if a gorilla is cool and a robot is cool, then a robot gorilla must be ultra cool.  I’m guessing robot gorillas don’t really count as team members or they would have been called the Bionic Seven.

That’s it for me today because I’m going to go and have myself a Bionic Six marathon.  Until next time, I’m trapped in the 80s.

-Mat N., the Nifty Nerd
http://www.theniftynerd.com/