| Kidd Video | |
|---|---|
 Title card used during the first season | |
| Genre | Animated series Sitcom |
| Created by | Jean Chalopin Andy Heyward Haim Saban Shuki Levy |
| Developed by | Jim Carlson (season 1) Terrence McDonnell (season 1) Tracy Mays (season 2) |
| Directed by | Bernard Deyriès (cartoon, season 1) Richard Raynis (cartoon, season 2) Bud Schaetzle (live-action) |
| Starring | Bryan Scott Steve Alterman Gabriela Nelson Robbie Rist |
| Voices of | Cathy Cavadini Marshall Efron Hal Rayle Peter Renaday Susan Silo Robert Towers |
| Theme music composer | Haim Saban, Shuki Levy[1] |
| Opening theme | "Video to Radio" |
| Ending theme | "Video to Radio" |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Jean Chalopin Andy Heyward Haim Saban Shuki Levy |
| Producers | Tetsuo Katayama Shuki Levy Bud Schaetzle |
| Production location | Los Angeles, California (Live action segments) |
| Running time | 21 minutes |
| Production companies | Saban Productions DIC Enterprises |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | September 8, 1984 (1984-9-8) – December 7, 1985 (1985-12-7) |
Kidd Video (originally in development asHot Rocks)[2] is an AmericanSaturday morninglive action/cartoon created byDIC Enterprises in association withSaban Productions. The series originally ran onNBC from 1984 to 1985.[3] Reruns continued on the network until 1987 whenCBS picked the show up.
In the show, four teenagers are taken into a strange dimension called "the Flipside" and become cartoon characters, forced to fight the Master Blaster and his gang, the Copy Cats.[4] The show included then-current music videos.[5]
Ownership of the series passed toDisney in 2001 when Disney acquiredFox Kids Worldwide, which also includesSaban Entertainment.[6][7]
The title sequence explained the plot; Kidd Video and his band (Named Kidd, Carla, Ash, & Whiz) of the same name (played bylive action performers in the first half of the title sequence) were practicing in a storage unit when an animated villain named the Master Blaster appeared, and transported them to the Master Blaster's home dimension, a cartoon world called the Flipside. The Master Blaster plans to use them as his musical slaves. They were rescued by afairy named Glitter and subsequently spent each episode of the series either helping to free the denizens of the Flipside from the Master Blaster's rule, or trying to find a way back home to the real world.
The show was dominated by anMTV-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 oftenbreakdanced 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 likeRoger 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 became popular inIsrael, which later produced merchandise such as coloring books and chocolate bars featuring images of the band.
The theme song, "Video to Radio", was written by frequent musical collaboratorsHaim Saban andShuki Levy, who also contributed other songs to the show. The song "Time" was written by band member Bryan Scott.[1] The song "A Little TLC" composed byLynsey de Paul andTerry Britten[8] and accompanying video was featured at the end of the first episode "To Beat the Band"[9] and the end of the last episode "Who's in the Kitchen with Dinah?".[10]
Kidd Video released a vinyl album in Israel[1] and the band reportedly toured there in 1987.[11]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Video to Radio" | Haim Saban, Shuki Levy | 3:40 |
| 2. | "Where Did Our Love Go" | Brian Holland,Lamont Dozier | 2:38 |
| 3. | "It's Over When the Phone Stops Ringing" | Bernie Taupin,Holly Knight | 3:02 |
| 4. | "A Little TLC" | Lynsey De Paul,Terry Britten | 3:30 |
| 5. | "We Should Be Together" | Jay Gruska, Tom Keane | 3:05 |
| 6. | "Come Back to Me" | Haim Saban, Shuki Levy | 3:40 |
| 7. | "You Better Run" | Haim Saban, Shuki Levy | 3:37 |
| 8. | "Video Romeo" | Gary Goetzman, Muike Piccirillo | 4:12 |
| 9. | "Time" | Bryan Scott | 4:02 |
| 10. | "Turn Me Up" | Lisa Popel, Willie Wilkerson | 3:59 |
| 11. | "Easy Love" | Haim Saban, Shuki Levy | 4:00 |
Six VHS tapes were released in the United States from DiC Video & Golden Books (with some only containing a single episode and others containing multiple episodes) and numerous Spanish-language tapes were available from Vídeo Peques under the Travelling Video line.[12]
