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Perhaps one of the most forgotten, most long-lost cartoons of the
decade - garage band Kidd Video made a live action appearance in
the opening sequence, telling the premise of the series - a strange
character named Master Blaster [Peter Renaday] appears in a full-length
mirror and teleports them into a cartoon world where everything
is somehow music related - ranging from the citizens who look like
musical instruments, to the names of places and things. Their only
friend and companion, a fairy named Glitter [Cathy Cavadini], leads
them onward. The four band members - singer & guitarist Kidd [Bryan
Scott], bass guitarist Ash [Steve Alterman], drummer Carla [Gabriele
Bennett] and keyboardist Whiz [Robbie Rist] travel through this
bizzare dimension, solving riddles and escaping the clutches of
Master Blaster and his obnoxious trio of cronies - the 'Copy Cats'
Cool Kitty [Robert Towers], She-Lion [Susan Silo], and Fat Cat [Marshall
Efron], who intend to imprison them for use as Blaster's own personal
'musical slaves,' and basically act as nothing more than the comic
relief geared toward young viewers. Similar to Dungeons and Dragons,
this animated series follows the group's effort to find a portal
back home.
Music
was undoubtedly a focal point for this show, as each episode concluded
with a live-action music video performed by the band. Copies of
the recordings were sold in Israel and produced by CBS Records,
in both cassette and LP form, in 1986. The band also had various
touring venues. In addition to music videos, episodes of Kidd Video
contained two actual 80s radio hits each, which played in the background.
These songs were from artists like Michael Jackson, Phil Collins
and Glenn Frey. The rights to these songs had expired shortly after,
and were forbidden to be re-played during reairings of the show.
In
1984, Toys 'R Us sponsored the primetime "Kidd Video Holiday Special,"
which ran a rotation of several cartoon episodes. In addition, a
handful of live-action appearances and musical performances were
featured by artists such as Hall & Oates.
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