6.2 /10 1 Votes
6.4/10 TV Music by Steve Zuckerman First episode date 1993 Network Broadcast syndication | 5.9/10 IMDb Directed by Dorie Rich No. of episodes 13 Final episode date 1993 Number of episodes 13 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Written by Marty Isenberg
Robert Skir
Peter Lawrence
Matthew Malach
J. Larry Carroll
David Bennett-Carren
Richard T. Murphy
Chris HubbellM
Sam Graham
Grant Morgan Starring Don Brown
Jim Byrnes
Ted Cole
Ian James Corlett
Scott McNeil
John Tench
Cathy Weseluck
Terry Klassen
Rob Morton
Stevie Vallance
Campbell Lane
Phil Hayes Country of origin United States
United Kingdom
France Genres Animation, Animated series, Animated cartoon, Children's television series Cast Jim Byrnes, Ian James Corlett, Stevie Vallance, Don Brown Similar Blazing Dragons, Toxic Crusaders, ToonHeads, Little Rosey, Double Dragon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stone Protectors is a British/American/French multi-media entertainment property consisting primarily of an action figure line and animated series. The series also had a tie-in video game released for the Super NES. It served as a late attempt to market the troll doll craze of the early 1990s to young boys. While not particularly successful, nor inspired by a prior medium, Stone Protectors generally followed in the same vein as contemporaries including Toxic Crusaders, Swamp Thing, and the highly popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Contents
Back-story
A kingdom built of crystals came under attack by the Saurians whose leader, Zok, desired the powerful crystals protected by the Empress. Zok broke into the castle and reached for the crystals only to see them explode into pieces and fly to Earth.
After being thrown out the back door of a New York City club, an awful rock band known as the Rock Detectors found the five magical stones which gave them troll-like appearances and special skills (not the least of which is playing good music). This put them at odds with the music-hating Zok and his henchman Zink, collectively known as The Predators.
Animated series
A short-lived cartoon series based on the characters debuted in 1993. In it, Empress Opal of Mythrandir splits the legendary Great Crystal into six pieces to keep it out of Zok's hands. Zok manages to capture one piece, but the other five bond with the future Stone Protectors, spiriting them away to Mythrandir to help Opal upset Zok's schemes and spread a sentiment of peace and freedom with their music. The series lasted one season; 8 out of 13 episodes were released on VHS in 1994 by Family Home Entertainment, the whole series was released on VHS in England.
It's notable that while the advertisements for the action figures attempted to tie the Stone Protectors into the troll doll fad, the cartoon seemed eager to avoid the comparison. For instance, it replaced the line "trolls on a roll" from the theme song in the commercials with "Don't you know?"
The series has also been broadcast on the BBC in England.
Action figures
The Stone Protectors action figures were produced by the Ace Novelty Toy Company. All of the figures were roughly 5" tall and featured cut joints at the neck, shoulders, and elbows as well as ball joints at the hips. Their heads were a soft, rubbery material with tall, synthetic hair sticking straight out the top. In rotating the right arm of a Stone Protectors figure, a flint module would ignite inside its chest, creating a quick yet bright flash seen through the translucent chest emblem. A second series of sports-themed figures was also released. Princess Opal was never made as a figure, nor were there any generic Saurian Guards.
Unfortunately, the toyline as well as the cartoon that followed it were seen as poor imitations of the popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line of toys and cartoon series and overlooked by many.
Video game
A Super NES game based on the property was released in November 1994 by Kemco. A Genesis version was developed and completed, but not released. This version, intended to be published by Vic Tokai, was finally leaked to the public in 2010.
Stone Protectors features 10 levels in which the heroes – Clifford, Cornelius, Chester, Maxwell, and Angus – battle The Predators throughout their mission to retrieve Zok's crystal and bring them all back to the kingdom. Weapons can also be acquired but only used by certain characters. Depending on the difficulty setting, the game's ending scene also features different music in which the Stone Protectors are seen performing as a band.
GamePro gave the game a generally negative review, commenting that the graphics are good but the animation is poor, and the controls make it difficult to pull off special attacks or counteract enemy attacks. They concluded the game, while not without merits, is overall "a frustrating journey."
Other merchandise
Pressman Toy Corp. released a Stone Protectors board game. In late 1993, Harvey Comics debuted Stone Protectors "Premiere Issue" (effectively an issue #0), followed by issues #1–3.