Kidd Video


Kidd Video is an American Saturday morning cartoon created by DIC Enterprises in association with Saban Productions. The series originally ran on NBC from 1984 to 1985. Reruns continued on the network until 1987 when CBS picked the show up.
In the show, four kids are taken into a strange dimension called "the Flipside" and become cartoon characters, forced to fight Master Blaster and his gang of Copy Cats. The show included current music videos.

Premise

The title sequence explained the plot; Kidd Video and his band of the same name were practicing in a storage unit when an animated villain named Master Blaster appeared, and transported them to Master Blaster's home dimension, a cartoon world called The Flipside. Master Blaster plans to use them as his musical slaves. They were rescued by a fairy named Glitter, and subsequently spent each episode of the series either helping to free the denizens of the Flipside from Master Blaster's rule, or trying to find a way back to the "real world".
The show was dominated by an MTV-esque, music video theme. Each episode featured at least one action sequence set to a popular song, and the heroes would often distract their enemies by showing current music videos, and sneak off while the enemies were entranced. Each episode also ended with a live-action music video by Kidd Video. Other pop cultural current events featured heavily in the show as well: the characters often break danced to relax, rode on skateboards, and one episode was devoted entirely to video games. The visual style of the cartoon itself was heavily influenced by the more surreal videos showing on MTV, and by album artwork of the era, by artists like Roger Dean.
The band was created specifically for the show; they performed their own songs and they provided the voices for their cartoon counterparts. At the end of some episodes, the live action band would be shown once again performing a music video, such as "A Little TLC". The music videos produced by Kidd Video then became very popular in Israel, which then produced fan merchandise such as coloring books and chocolate bars with images of the band.

Characters

Pilot

  1. Pilot - September 8, 1984

    Season 1

  2. To Beat the Band - September 15, 1984
  3. The Master Zapper - September 22, 1984
  4. Woofers and Tweeters - October 6, 1984
  5. Barnacolis - October 13, 1984
  6. The Pink Sphinx - October 27, 1984
  7. Cienega - February 16, 1985
  8. The Lost Note - February 23, 1985
  9. Music Sports - March 2, 1985
  10. Chameleons - March 23, 1985
  11. Euphonius and the Melodius Dragon - May 5, 1985
  12. Professor Maestro - May 12, 1985
  13. Grooveyard City - May 19, 1985
  14. The Stone - May 26, 1985

    Season 2

  15. The Dream Machine - November 2, 1985
  16. Double Trouble - November 2, 1985
  17. No Place Like Home - November 9, 1985
  18. Having a Ball - November 16, 1985
  19. Old Time Rocks that Roll - November 23, 1985
  20. Starmaker - November 23, 1985
  21. Narra Takes a Powder - November 23, 1985
  22. Race to Popland - November 23, 1985
  23. Master Blaster Brat - November 23, 1985
  24. Twilight Double Header - November 23, 1985
  25. A Friend in Need - November 30, 1985
  26. Pirates and Puzzles - November 30, 1985
  27. Who's in the Kitchen with Dinah? - December 7, 1985

    Cast

The theme song, "Video to Radio", was written by frequent musical collaborators Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, who also contributed other songs to the show. The song "Time" was written by band member Bryan Scott. The song "A Little TLC" composed by Lynsey de Paul and Terry Britten and accompanying video was featured at the end of the first episode "To Beat the Band" and the end of the last episode "Who's in the Kitchen with Dinah?".
Kidd Video released a vinyl album in Israel and the band reportedly toured there in 1987.

Home video

Six VHS tapes with a single episode each were released in the United States from DiC Video & Golden Books and numerous Spanish-language tapes were available from Vídeo Peques under the Travelling Video line.

Crew

Season 1

Cartoon

Cartoon