Photon (TV show)
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Photon was a live action television show in the mid 1980s, which was tied in to the Photon: The Ultimate Game on Planet Earth lasertag arenas and home game.
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[edit] Hook
Photon followed the adventures of a young high school student, Christopher Jarvis with the alias of "Bhodi Li" (which he apparently came up with himself). In a plot very reminiscent of the movie "The Last Starfighter", Chris discovers that the lasertag game Photon is actually a way to detect the strongest warriors in the galaxy, who will then be recruited to fight the forces of darkness. After shooting his laser gun and saying "The light shines!", he would be transported to a space ship to join his fellow Photon Warriors. His alien compatriots include a shape-changing blob, a dinosaur, a cyborg, and a ninja princess from another world. The villains' motto is "Let the darkness grow!"
[edit] Quirks
- Generally, episodes commenced with Chris facing a bully (drug dealer etc), before being transported away to fight evil. The evil would somehow be related to the opening scenes, and each show would end with a typical 80's moral lesson.
- Most of the action was about recharging "Photon Crystals". Either the good side or bad side could shoot the crystal and thus make the associated planet good or evil for the next hundred years.
- At some point during the show, a music-video-like sequence, featuring a recent hit song, would be played.
- The monsters were notoriously cheezy, and had the letters "-arr" at the end of their names. For example, Pirarr (a pirate themed monster), Bugaar (a giant British bug), and Warriarr (a four-armed monster). Bhodi Li's nemesis is Mandaar/Kevin, a fallen Photon warrior under mind control.
- The villains would project holograms of themselves onto the battlefield and leave their bodies behind so that when they were shot they would survive to appear later.
- This was one of the first kids shows to show the main character Bhodi Li get defeated (appeared to have been killed by getting Laser tagged) and having the episode end. He came back after another episode or two.
[edit] Production and Airtime
The show was filmed in both the U.S. and Japan. Many of the costumes were designed and manned by people who worked on Sentai and Tokusatsu programs in Japan. Production values were rather low, and a majority of the sets were chroma-keyed in.
The show only lasted one season, and did have a series finale. Since it was broadcast at rather odd hours, it never received a large viewership.
Directors: Yasuhiro Horiuchi and Koichi Nakajima.
Writers: Ray Dryden, Tsunehisa Itô, Satoshi Namiki, Sukehiro Tomita.
[edit] Cast and Characters
- Bhodi Li (played by Christopher Lockwood)
- Tivia, Princess of Nivia (played by Loretta Haywood)
- Lord Beatham (played by Graham Ravey)
- Parcival (played by Eros Rivers)
- Leon/Sarge (played by Akiyoshi Ono)
- Uncle Pike (played by Kazuhisa Kanamaru)
- Kathy Jarvis (played by Clarissa Reid)
- Barbara Johnson (played by Tamara Johnson)
- Richard Jarvis (played by Paul Laroque)
- Pirarr (played by Sam Taylor)
- Mandarr/Kevin (played by David Anthony, aka David Stay)
- Warriarr (played by Satoshi Ishihara)
- Dogarr (played by Teiichi Igarashi)
- Bugarr (played by Yoshito Shiraishi)
- Destructarr (played by Yoshito Nagatsuka)
[edit] Related Books
There were a number of book tie-ins, some of them written by popular comic book and TV author Peter David under the pseudonym of David Peters.
