Max Steel (2013 TV series)

Max Steel
Genre Superhero
Action
Science fiction
Based on Max Steel by Mattel
Developed by Lloyd Goldfine
Gabriel De La Torre
Written by Matthew Drdek
Lloyd Goldfine
Voices of Andrew Francis
Sam Vincent
Michael Dobson
Nicole Oliver
Sarah Edmondson
Richard Ian Cox
Omari Newton
Kathleen Barr
Mark Oliver
Brian Dobson
Brian Drummond
Giles Panton
Theme music composer Shawn Patterson (season two & three)
Composer(s) Michael Tavera (season one)
Steven Argila (season two & three)
Country of origin United States
Canada
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 2 + 5 films
No. of episodes 52 + 5 films (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Lloyd Goldfine
Audu Paden
Dave Voss
Bob Higgins
Sander Schwartz
Ken Faier
Asaph Fipke
Chuck Johnson
Running time 22 minutes
Production company(s) Nerd Corps Entertainment
Mattel Playground Productions
FremantleMedia Enterprises
Release
Original network Disney XD (2013)
Netflix (2014–present)
Original release March 25, 2013 (2013-03-25)[1] – present
Chronology
Related shows Max Steel (2000)
External links
Official website

Max Steel is an American/Canadian science fictioncomedy, CGIanimated series co-produced by Mattel Playground Productions, Nerd Corps Entertainment and FremantleMedia Kids & Entertainment. It is a re-imagining of its predecessor of the same name, as well as being based on the Mattel action-figure also of the same name. Max Steel premiered on March 25, 2013 on Disney XD.[1]

Plot

Season One

16-year-old Maxwell "Max" McGrath is thrown into a new life after moving with his mother to the small city of Copper Canyon. There he meets new friends, bullies, and super-villains hunting him down for a power inside him called TURBO energy. Max must now join N-TEK, a secret organization his late father Jim McGrath started, but after the accident that caused Max to lose his father now has to defeat Trans-Human Industries and its sinister leader Miles Dredd and his evil Elementors from taking over the world. Max's powers are hidden from the public and regulated with the aid of his friend Steel, who is a project of his father known as an Ultra-Link (later revealed to be an alien species), to prevent his powers from going critical. During battle, Steel transforms into Max's multiple armors for whatever terrain battle is present. Along the way, with the aid of N-TEK led by Max's uncle Ferrus, both will uncover the mystery behind Steel's past, find out what really happened to Max's father Jim McGrath, and uncover the dark secrets of N-TEK.

Season Two

As Max & Steel discover the truth about their past, they must face a new adversary: Makino and his Ultralinks, and also the old ones; like Miles Dredd, Jason Naught, Elementors, Toxzon, and Extroyer. As they gain new TURBO modes, and new ally: Ven-Ghan, the Ultralink Hunter, the origin of Max & Steel will be revealed. Will Sydney & Kirby learn Max Steel's true identity? And what secret is Forge Ferrus trying to hide?

Team Turbo

2 years after the Morphos incident, Max and Steel face their greatest challenge ever! When Max’s greatest enemies unite to take down N-Tek and conquer Copper Canyon, Max and Steel realize that they can’t save the day on their own. It’s time to form a new team of heroes with Tempestra, La Fiera, and C.Y.T.R.O. – TEAM TURBO

Characters

Main characters

Allies

  • CY.T.R.O. (voiced by Colin Murdock): An N-Tek robot operative who was invented by Berto Martinez and is continuously being upgraded by him. His name stands for Cybernetic Tactical Robot Operative. In Max Steel: Team Turbo, C.Y.T.R.O. was upgraded by Berto, since he gives him an artificial intelligence of his own, making him think, feel, and operate a mind of his own. .[5]

Villains

  • Jason Naught (voiced by Brian Dobson): Dredd's right hand man, and was also former CEO of Trans Human Industries. Dredd equipped him with an ability to transform into a giant robot to defeat his enemies like Max Steel. He has been shown to have his own ambitions other than Dredd's, and is often abused because of it. In X Marks the Spot, he was almost killed by Dredd for betraying him a second time. He later sides with Makino alongside Dredd, but quickly turned against him when Makino deemed him and Dredd unworthy.[8]
  • Axel (voiced by Michael Daingerfield): A thug hired by Jason Naught to do his dirty work.
  • Dreddnaughts: An army of robots that work for Miles Dredd. They don't talk, but they are very dangerous and they have a gun as a hand. In Dredd Ascendant, when Naught showed Dredd their new underwater base it is revealed that they have upgraded Dreddnaughts.
  • Evil Ultralinks: A special forces unit Makino has place under the command of Miles Dredd.
  • Blast Link (voiced by Brian Drummond): The sniper of the unit, ultra-linked with a THI plasma cannon giving it a powerful distance weapon.
  • Prism Link (voiced by Lee Tockar): The close quarters combatant of the unit, ultra-linked to a series of crystals he is a durable, agile and razor-sharp fighter.
  • Chomp Link (voiced by Samuel Vincent): The brawn of the unit, ultra-linked with a venus flytrap he is equipped with long vines and crushing jaws. It is unknown what happened to Chomp after Mega Metal Elementor launched him off a Makino Destroyer into space in My Best Friend is an Ultralink for failing him.
  • Reaper Links: A pair of Ultra-linked reaper hologram Halloween decorations armed with Scythe's and equipped with the ability to switch between solid and intangible at will, resulting in a pair of ghost like stealth operatives.
  • Plaztek (voiced by Andrew Francis): An Ultralink that bonded with Fishy and some of Toxzon's orange waste to become a large fish-like creature composed of super dense and strong plastic. Able to fire plastic fish with large teeth for trapping opponents, toxic goo, plastic explosives, and is a versatile shape-shiftier. As a result of the glitchy connection between Fishy and the Ultralink Plaztek has a highly unstable personality and speech pattern that sounds like a corrupted sound-file. Appears to be destroyed at the end of Toxic Relationship.
  • Avatak (voiced by Richard Ian Cox): A Ultralink that bonded with a video game console because of Toxzon in the episode Digital Meltdown. He has the ability to shoot fireballs, he can also shoot a powerful laser from his chest, he can also hack into games on the type of video game console he bonded with. Avatak was destroyed by the end of the episode because of the glitch in the Max Steel TURBO Warrior video game, which overloaded his systems.
  • Fishy (voiced by Andrew Francis): Toxzon's beloved pet plastic goldfish. Xander hallucinates that Fishy talks to him, apparently giving him advice and suggestions. In Season 2 Toxic Relationship, he was bonded with an Ultralink and turned into Plaztek, but subsequently meets his end in the hands of Max Steel thanks to his TURBO Drill.
  • Dwayne (voiced by Brian Dobson): One of Extroyer's henchmen. Dwayne is smarter and acts like a boss for Vin. He hated Winter a lot since in Thrill of the Hunt, he tried to feed them to his pet black tiger. In Makino Strikes: Part 1, it's revealed that Dwayne has kids that don't know he's a thief.
  • Vin (voiced by Michael Dobson): Another of Extroyer's henchmen who is thin, and sometimes clumsy and dumb. He hates anchovies, as mentioned in Driven. He is a little bit scared at times and he would sometimes be brave.

Other characters

N-Tek/Turbo Arsenal

N-Tek carries a vast amount of weaponry and vehicles that runs on TURBO Energy, being at the disposal of the N-Tek agents and Max Steel.

Episodes

Season Episodes Originally aired Network
First aired Last aired
1 26[14] March 25, 2013 (2013-03-25) December 7, 2013 (2013-12-07) Disney XD
2 26[15] August 15, 2014 (2014-08-15) December 6, 2014 (2014-12-06) Netflix
2015 Trilogy 3[16] June 27, 2015 (2015-06-27) August 2, 2015 (2015-08-02) Cartoon Network
Animated Films 2[17] March 18, 2016 (2016-03-18) June 27, 2016 (2016-06-27) Cartoon Network

Broadcast

Max Steel first broadcast in March 1, 2013 on Cartoon Network (Latin America) and on March 2, 2013 on Disney XD (Poland).[18] It aired on Teletoon in Canada on March 24, 2013 and on Disney XD in the United States on March 25, 2013.[14] It later premiered on Nicktoons (UK & Ireland), Canal J, Cartoon Network (Italy) and Boing, Cartoon Network (Spain), Boing, Panda Biggs, and 2BE. In Hungary, the series premiered on April 17, 2013 on Megamax and on September 9, 2013 on RTL Klub. It premiered on Cartoon Network (India) on July 20, 2013.[1] In Greece, Max Steel was broadcast firstly from Disney XD Greece and it also started airing on July 7, 2013 from Star Channel. The second season premiered on August 12, 2013 on Teletoon and on April 12, 2014 in Latin America. All of the episodes of season 2 are available on Netflix Streaming along with placeholders for the remaining 13 episodes.[19]

Reception

In his review for Media Life Magazine, Tom Conroy said Max Steel was "Cobbled together from ready-made sources with no apparent interest in coming up with a fresh twist or a new slant, it fails to make much of an impression, either positive or negative." He criticized the use of bullies, new school, dead father, and shadowy mentor, saying they "are so overused that the writers of this series might have assumed they were obligatory and thus didn’t feel they were being lazy." He also criticized the graphics, citing them as "creaky" and "bizarrely artificial." [20] In her review for Common Sense Media, Emily Ashby praised Max Steel, giving it a 4/5. She called the use of bullies and struggles in school "relatable," and said that "Max Steel's likable attitude, sense of humor, and clear vision of right and wrong make him a viable modern superhero for teens." [21]

Future film

Main article: Max Steel (film)

Paramount Pictures planned to remake Max Steel as motion picture. Originally, Taylor Lautner had been confirmed to star in the lead role as Josh McGrath.[22][23] As of March 2010, Lautner had dropped out of the film in favor of Hasbro and Universal's Stretch Armstrong.[24] Due to the relaunch of Max Steel in 2013, all plans for a live action movie were suspended. On August 2, 2013, it was revealed that Dolphin Entertainment are working on a Max Steel film. Christopher Yost will be writing while Stewart Hendler has been attached to direct. The film will follow along the plotline of the reboot and not the original series'. The film will be distribute by Open Road Films with a 2014 release.[25][26][27] On February 6, 2014, the studio has cast Ben Winchell as Max Steel and Ana Villafane as his love interest Sydney Gardner.[28] On April 29, 2014, actor Andy Garcia is cast in the role of Dr. Miles Edwards, a brilliant and mysterious scientist.[29] On May 20, 2014, actor Mike Doyle is cast in a role.[30]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rusak, Gary (October 5, 2012). "Mattel and FremantleMedia score Disney XD deal for Max Steel". Kidscreen. Retrieved March 7, 2013.
  2. "MOLLY MCGRATH Character Bios". Mattel. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 "Characters". Disney XD. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  4. "BERTO Character Bios". Mattel. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  5. "CYTRO Character Bios". Mattel. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  6. "JEFFERSON SMITH Character Bios". Mattel. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  7. "KAT RYAN Character Bios". Mattel. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  8. "JASON NAUGHT Character Bios". Mattel. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  9. http://www.maxsteel.com/el-gr/ntekfiles/turbomodes/turbo-heat-mode/
  10. http://www.maxsteel.com/el-gr/ntekfiles/turbomodes/turbo-rocket-mode/
  11. http://www.maxsteel.com/el-gr/ntekfiles/turbomodes/turbo-spike-mode/
  12. http://www.maxsteel.com/el-gr/ntekfiles/weapons/turbo-drills/
  13. http://www.maxsteel.com/el-gr/ntekfiles/weapons/turbo-star/
  14. 1 2 "ACTION-PACKED ANIMATED SERIES MAX STEEL™ PREMIERES MONDAY, MARCH 25, AT 4PM (ET/PT).". Mattel. March 21, 2013. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
  15. FME and Mattel Launch Series Two of Action/Comedy Max Steel to Global Buyers
  16. Cartoon Network and Bommerang bring Mattel Lineup to Latin America
  17. Mattel reveals their content for 2016
  18. Por Luis Beltran Romero. "Max Steel: Cartoon Network estrena el reboot en Marzo - Anime, Manga y TV". Anmtvla.com. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  19. http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/70296221
  20. http://www.medialifemagazine.com/max-steel-stolen-for-the-most-part/
  21. http://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/max-steel
  22. "Paramount To Make Max Steel Movie | /Film". Slashfilm.com. 2009-07-12. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  23. Siegel, Tatiana (December 4, 2009). "Taylor Lautner to star in 'Max Steel'". Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  24. Brodesser, Claude. "Vulture Exclusive: Taylor Lautner Drops Mattel’s Max Steel to Make Hasbro’s Stretch Armstrong - Vulture". Nymag.com. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  25. "Max Steel Movie Moves Forward". Movieweb.com. 2 August 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
  26. "Max Steel Movie Moving Forward". Comingsoon.net. 2 August 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
  27. "MAX STEEL Movie to Be Developed by Mattel and Dolphin Entertainment". Collider. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  28. "Berlin: Ben Winchell, Ana Villafane Join 'Max Steel'". The Hollywood Reporter. 2014-02-06. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
  29. "Andy Garcia Joins ‘Max Steel’; Dejon LaQuake Cast In ‘Max’". Deadline. April 29, 2014. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
  30. Kroll, Justin (May 20, 2014). "‘Jersey Boys’ Actor Joins Open Road’s ‘Max Steel’". Variety. Retrieved May 20, 2014.

External links

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