The Aquabats! Super Show!

The Aquabats! Super Show!
Genre
Created by
StarringThe Aquabats
Narrated byMr. Lawrence
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes21 (+ pilot)
9 (The Aquabats! Saturday Morning!)
11 (The Aquabats! RadVentures!) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Bob Higgins
  • Jon Berrett
  • Christian Jacobs
  • Scott Schultz
Producers
  • Nate Rogers
  • Justin Lyon
Running timeapprox. 22 minutes (per episode)
Production companies
Original release
NetworkHub Network
ReleaseMarch 3, 2012 (2012-03-03)[1] –
January 18, 2014 (2014-01-18)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

The Aquabats! Super Show! is an American action-comedy musical television series which aired from March 3, 2012 to January 8, 2014 on The Hub Network, later resuming as an independent YouTube series from September 2019 to July 2021. The series was created by Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz, both the creators of the Nick Jr. Channel series Yo Gabba Gabba!, and Jason deVilliers.[1][2]

Based on the superhero mythology of The Aquabats, a real-life comedy rock band which series co-creator and lead singer Jacobs formed in 1994, The Aquabats! Super Show! follows the comic adventures of a fictionalized version of the band, a musical group of amateur superheroes, as they haphazardly defend the world from a variety of villains and monsters. Styled similarly to the campy aesthetics of 1960s and 1970s children's television and Japanese tokusatsu, Super Show! utilizes various mediums of visual styles and special effects, mixing live-action storylines with cartoon shorts, parody advertisements and musical interludes.[3]

The series' first season concluded on June 16, 2012 following a run of 13 episodes, having met with a largely positive critical reception, consistently high ratings for the channel and a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Children's Series.[4][5][6] The series' second season consisted of an initial five episodes which aired through June 2013, with three additional episodes airing in late December and January 2014, receiving similar acclaim and a further seven Daytime Emmy nominations, ultimately winning one for Best Stunt Coordination. In June 2014, co-creator Jacobs officially announced the series' cancellation, following news of The Hub's financial losses which led to the network's rebranding as Discovery Family later that October.

In July 2018, The Aquabats launched a successful Kickstarter to help independently finance new episodes of The Aquabats! Super Show!, promoting the campaign with a series of YouTube-exclusive mini-episodes continuing the original series' storyline.[7] From September 2019 to July 2021, the band premiered 11 of these new episodes on YouTube, retitled as The Aquabats! RadVentures! though still retaining Super Show!'s theme song and title card.

  1. ^ a b "Prepare for awesomeness with the world premiere of 'The Aquabats Super Show!'". TV by the Numbers. February 6, 2012. Archived from the original on February 9, 2012.
  2. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: The Aquabats! Super Show! season one promo". MovieWeb.com. December 29, 2011. Archived from the original on January 16, 2012. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
  3. ^ "The Hub Television Network Unveils Robust 2011–12 Program Schedule". Discovery Communications. March 24, 2011. Archived from the original on September 25, 2011. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  4. ^ "Audience Growth Momentum Continues for the Hub TV Powered By New Series 'The Aquabats! Super Show!'". The Hub. March 13, 2012. Archived from the original on January 26, 2013.
  5. ^ "Hub TV Network Scores Record High Audience: Strong Performance of Series Drives Network To Second Best-Ever Saturday in Network's History". April 24, 2012. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012.
  6. ^ "The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Announces the 40th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Award Nominations". The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. May 1, 2013. Archived from the original on May 3, 2013.
  7. ^ Graff, Gary (July 31, 2018). "The Aquabats Return With Kickstarter Campaign, Guest Star-Filled 'I Am the Aquabats' Video". Billboard.