Bionics On!

          The time is the near future. The place is the city of Cypress Cove, where a family of six lives quietly. The parents, Jack and Helen Bennett, are brilliant scientists. Helen plays homemaker while Jack works long hours for Professor Amadeus Sharpe. The kids, JD, Meg, Bunji, and Eric, are adopted from diverse backgrounds, but still consider themselves siblings. They spend their days doing what most teenagers do: going to school (Albert Einstin High School), hanging out with friends, and arguing with each other. You're not likely to find a happier and more politically correct family.
          Until a family ski trip turns bad, and the kids find out that their father is no mere lab assistant. He's the superhero Bionic One, who defends the world from the terrorist attacks of the mad Scientist called Scarab. The kids are suitably impressed and full of questions, but an attack from Scarab leads to an even worse disaster. A fight between Bionic One and Scarab's cytrons weakens the ice and snow, and the family is hurtled into the crater where an alien spaceship (cause of both avalanche and Scarab's attack) is buried.
          In spite of Bionic One's best efforts, he can't save his family from everything. Exposure to the alien radiation puts his wife and kids into an unexplainable coma. And Professor Sharpe has only one idea left. Jack's bionics shielded him from the effects of the radiation; subjecting his family to the same proceedure might cure them.
          With nothing else to try, Jack gives his permission, and the Bennett family is "bioniczied"...
          And thus the Bionic Six were born.

          Lavishly animated by Tokyo Movie Shinza, Bionic Six was an unusual cartoon in a number of respects. Watched from a kid's perspective, it was simply a superhero show; watched from an adult's perspective, it was a gentle parody of the genre. Most of the episodes followed the same basic formula: Bennett Family/Bionic Six are minding their own business when Scarab and his goons launch yet another scheme to either take over the world, or gain immortality. (Scarab apparently wants to live forever. He should probably watch his weight better, in that case.) Bionic Six whup some bionic butt, and send the bad guys packing until the next episode. Bennett Family resumes their normal day.
          It could have been awful. Instead, it was smart and funny at the same time. You could watch the show and not get shocked out of the suspension of disbelief, whether you got the joke or not. You can take it seriously or laugh your head off: there are serious episodes and moments to perfectly counterbalance the comic. It had the almost mandatory moralism of '80s cartoons, but it wasn't sickenly so. If the Bennett family almost makes you want to throw up sometimes, you can take comfort in the fact that Scarab has the exact same reaction to the overwhelming wholesomeness of his nemeses.

          For a Galaxy Rangers fan, the show is attractive from a crossover point of view: it is very easy to see the Bionic Six as the near-past of the Galaxy Rangers' era. The look of technology on both shows is very similar, and both shows feature "superheroes created by bionic technology". The differences lie in era and scope: space based stories with multiple villians in GR versus earth-based stories with the same villians each time in B6.

          The human characters also look similar, to the point of occasionally finding "doubles" between the shows. No doubt the similar look is a result of the same animation company (TMS) doing both shows in the same era. Both shows shared equally short-lived sucess: one-season wonders, killed in the ratings in large part by being targeted to a younger audience, when most of the people who liked it were actually older. And both are equally obscure. Mention either show to people, and you'll likely get a blank look. They were put on in strange timeslots, and many stations elected to not air them at all.

          This page is a small memorial to a memorable cartoon. For actual information about the show, please visit: