What better way to kick off the new year than with a piece of found media? The long-lost 2D pilot episode of Mega Man: Fully Charged, produced by Man of Action (Ben 10, Generator Rex) and animated by Film Roman, has surfaced at last. Until now, only brief snippets had been seen nearly a decade ago, before the project was retooled by DHX Media / WildBrain Studios into a CG-animated series.
The 21-minute pilot showcases a number of differences from the final series, spanning animation style, character designs, voice acting, music, and even a slightly heavier tone. Where Fully Charged ultimately skewed toward very young viewers, this pilot feels more squarely aimed at an elementary to middle school audience.
We know a fair amount about Fully Charged’s production history, including early plans for a second season, but the reason it moved from traditional animation to CG has never really been explained. For now, all we can do is speculate.
I didn't like either. Too bad they didn't actually produce a Mega Man show. For it be Mega Man, he has to be more than a "blue guy". They threw away the entire supporting cast besides Dr. Light. This doesn't represent any of the previous Mega Man series in any way, shape or form. It's way too different to be Mega Man.
ReplyDeleteEh, having new characters doesn't automatically make a show bad. I actually thought Bert Wily was the best part of Fully Charged; he was the only character who seemed to have any brains on top of having consistently organic struggles and victories. Plus, Mega Man has had a bunch of spinoffs already. Why is it OK for Mega Man Legends to throw out the entire supporting cast, but not Fully Charged?
DeleteThere are much more practical reasons for why Fully Charged turned out to be such a terrible spinoff.
I absolutely hated Fully Charged in its entirety... but this... this is a genuinely good pilot episode.
ReplyDeleteWe were robbed of a charming Mega Man spinoff. How did it all go so wrong? What happun, Matt McMuscles?
Eh, still not feeling it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not usually interested in leaving comments on this site, but I think this is a pretty good opportunity to give my two cents on adaptations like this. I never really watched the show, but I see this particular pilot as generally pretty harmless. I've never really resonated with the hate people often give to anything that's different to the original media a franchise is associated with. Like, I enjoy the Sonic games lore, but I also think alternative Sonic lores like the Archie series and SatAM can be considered good by their own merits too. Different adaptations of a series existing isn't a threat, it's just another take. DMC is another example, I vastly prefer the games lore but I actually enjoyed the Netflix adaptation too. It's not canon to the games, and I don't think it's doing anything wrong by going in its own unique direction. When you treat it as its own thing instead of constantly comparing it to the games, it's honestly pretty good.
ReplyDeleteMega Man seems to get this kind of hate directed at it a lot too, and I've never really been able to figure it out. Different doesn't have to mean bad, and I can definitely see myself as really enjoying this series if it continued being like this and released while I was a kid. It's got that same sort of appeal as like, Ben 10 and Code Lyoko. In reality I would have been grown up by the time this released anyway, but my point is that it could fill that same sort of role for the younger generations. I'm actually somewhat curious what this show could have ended up fleshing out into if they had stuck with this art style and storyline and gave it a few seasons to develop the plot up through.
I'm not sure if I agree with the assessment of this having a heavier tone aimed at an older audience. The art style might be different, but the writing feels exactly the same as the final show.
ReplyDeleteWow, over 20 years later and I'm still out here figuring out Mega Man Voice Actors. Below is by no means a definitive list, but here's what I've figured out so far based on recognizability.
ReplyDeleteMegaMan/Aki Light - Max Mittelman
MegaMini -
Suna Light - Laura Bailey
Dr. Light - Fred Tatasciore
ElecMan - Steve Blum
Bert Wily -
TurbineMan - Travis Willingham
Sergeant Night -
GargantuMan - Roger Craig Smith
Seems to be a lot of folks that were working on the 2016 reboot of Ben 10, which would have been around the same time that this pilot was being produced. If anyone has any ideas for who the other characters might be, feel free to chime in!