My Favorite 'Toons: Kidd Video

What do you get when you cross a made-for-TV rock band, Saturday morning cartoons, and MTV? You get KIDD VIDEO, the craziest concoction that ever featured a former BRADY BUNCH cast member. (More on that later.)

The premise of the show, according to the show's intro, goes this way: Kidd Video, a teenage rock band, is practicing in a warehouse, with Kidd, the lead singer/guitarist, admiring himself in a full-length mirror. Suddenly, the mirror shows the figure of the evil Master Blaster saying, "I'm taking you to the Flip Side!" and pulls the band, their instruments, and a red-and-yellow pickup truck, into his cartoon universe. He declares, "You'll be my musical slaves...forever!", then Glitter, a tiny winged fairy pops in and frees them all with a magical sneeze. The Kidds and their instruments tumble down and the truck turns into the supersized touring vehicle the Kiddmobile. And for two seasons, our heroes spend episodes, sprinkled with snippets from hit songs and music videos, either defending various Flip Side citizens or trying (and failing) to get back home. At the end of each episode, the live-action Kidd Video band performs in a music video.

Bryan Scott played Kidd; Gabrielle Bennet played Carla, the drummer and the band's only female member; Steve Alterman played Ash, the other guitarist; and Robbie Rist played Whiz, the keyboardist. Yes, Robbie is the guy who played Cousin Oliver on THE BRADY BUNCH and voiced Michaelangelo on the eighties' TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES. They also voiced their animated counterparts, each given a distinct personality: Kidd was the narcissist with a heart of gold, Carla was domestic-minded and cooked horrible "health food", Ash was the confirmed coward who made up horrible lyrics that always "needed work", and Whiz was the technical genius who suffered the worst case of homesickness ever.

As for the villains, the Master Blaster was your typical goofy cartoon bad guy leader: greedy, self-loving, and tyrannically mistreating his lazy, dimwitted minions the Copy Cats. Fat Cat, She-Lion and Cool Kitty got their group name because they lip-synched to famous bands' tunes. Master Blaster also had the obligatory "good relative", his twin brother Laster Blaster, who was featured in the second season episode, "Double Trouble".

The Kidds' staunch ally on the Flip Side was Glitter, a tiny winged fairy from the realm of Lotus Land. She gains temporary super strength whenever she sneezes, and when they're in a jam, the band members do their darndest to find something to make Glitter sneeze. Another ally was Toolbot, a little robot who became Whiz's sidekick in the second season and apparently cured him of his homesickness.

The first season of KIDD VIDEO was typical Saturday morning fare, with the Kidds looking like "generic cartoon teenagers" and their having to learn a valuable lesson at the end of the episodes. In Season 2, the show got a huge makeover where the animated Kidds looked more like their live-action counterparts and the stories were wilder and less "pro-social". My favorite episode, "Old-Time Rocks That Roll", came from that season. It had Master Blaster dressed up as Las Vegas Elvis and singing Joan Jett and the Blackhearts' hit "I Love Rock and Roll"; the Copy Cats freeing a troll from a cage; Whiz accidentally filling the Kiddmobile with soapsuds; the Troll eating musical instruments to the tune of Ashford & Simpson's song "Solid"; Kidd and Carla forced to team up with Master Blaster and the Copy Cats to escape the Troll and his minions; Kidd and Carla, when cornered by the Troll's mob, hug each other bracing for the end; the Troll forcing Master Blaster to hold a jam session in his flying fortress with Kidd Video, the Troll, and his minions singing "I Love Rock & Roll". Ah, the Eighties...what a magical time!