Captain Power was cancelled after only one season, largely due to Mattel, who pulled the financial plug and did the one thing Lord Dread spent twenty two episodes trying to do: bump off the Soldiers of the Future.
Television in the late 80s and early 90s was under tremendous pressure from the parents-against-violence lobby. Due to the nature of the program, which contained a minimum number of battle scenes in order to allow for interactivity with the action figures and toys it became targeted by the anti-violence groups. And when Chrismas rolled round and the toys didn't sell sufficiently well, Mattel felt the writing was on the wall. And so, Captain Power died not gloriously defending the world from the onslaught of Lord Dread, but reportedly because their action figure counterparts didn't meet their sales target. A subsequent TV movie, entitled 'The Beginning' (also appeared as 'Against the New Order'), was released, but it contained no new footage; largely it consisted of a few key episodes strung together to form a 2 hour action movie.
Despite it's obvious 'Kid Market' history and background, and perhaps one of the worst names that could be stuck on a sci-fi program,Captain Power managed to rise above the 'Kid Barrier' and retains a modest adult following - largely thanks to superior quality writing and a solid cast of actors.It had on its writing team, Lawrence DiTillio and J Michael Straczynski (Exec Producer/Creator of Babylon 5) - both very talented writers who were able to give to a show so obviously conceived for kids, an adult dimension. Straczynski, who went on to create Babylon 5, was instrumental in the development of the series characters and oversaw the development of the 1st season storyline.The series also showcased the talent of outstanding animation writers like Christy Marx [Jem, Hypernauts, Conan The Barbarian] and Michael Reaves [Gargoyles] to name a few.
This half hour 'informercial' has received it's share of industry respect. Captain Power was received a Golden Reel Award for Sound Editing from the Motion Picture Sound Editors and Best Technical Achievement Gemini Award while Jessica Steen received a Gemini (the Canadian equivalent of an Emmy) nomination for her role as 'Pilot'.
Thanks to a mention on the Siskel and Ebert review show,and the prominance of J Michael Straczynski and Babylon 5, interest in Captain Power may have been revived. Despite it's initial run well over 10 years ago, it continues to be shown and hopefully continues to attract a new generation of fans.