Mighty Max

Mighty Max is an animated cartoon based off the popular toyline of the same name that came out a year prior. It aired from September of 1993 to December of 1994.

Plot
Max, a 10 year old boy receives a magic cap that open portals through space and time. He learns from Virgil a Lemurian (a race of talking anthropomorphic chickens... okay fowls) that he is the Cap Bearer and destined to defeat the ultimate evil, Skullmaster, an evil sorceror that wiped out the Lemurians and enslaved the souls of Atlantis. With his guardian, Norman, a 10,000 year old warrior, Max must brave not only Skullmaster, but horrific monsters, world conquering aliens, evil scientists, ancient evils, and the pressures of being a kid.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Voice acting legends such as the late Tony Jay, Rob Paulsen, and Tim Curry.
 * 2) 40 episodes.
 * 3) While Virgil is very wise and Norman has superhuman strength, Max's greatest strength is his wit. Able to think on his feet, he has defeated great threats to the world and even defeated a giant squid the size of a large ship.
 * 4) Skullmaster is probably the most evil villain in 90s kids' cartoons, responsible for wiping out two civilizations and seeking to kill a ten year old.
 * 5) Not afraid to be dark. Many monsters of the week are shown to kill characters offscreen, & even onscreen!
 * 6) While dark, a lot of humor especially from Max helps balance it out.
 * 7) Numerous well done takes on myths and legends. Norman himself gave birth to many such as Hercules and Sir Lancelot.
 * 8) Brief educational segments at the end of each episode that actually teach you useful stuff.
 * 9) It can be considered the first true magical boy cartoon, 22 years before Cute High Earth Defense Club Love came out(though that's up for debate on whether, or not the cosmic cap can be considered a magical item as it can summon portals).
 * 10) * One thing that helps the idea of it being the first magical boy cartoon is that the toyline that the cartoon is based on is the spear counterpart of Polly Pocket.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Sometimes the show was way too dark. One episode featured a kid being killed by the monster of the week.
 * 2) Some inconsistencies happen in some episodes, such as one where Max can sense the portals whereas in others only Virgil knows where the portals are located.
 * 3) The final episode ends with Skullmaster very close to ultimate victory. The only way to stop him was Max time traveling back to the first episode and creating a time loop, hoping his experiences would help him defeat his archenemy for good.
 * 4) The Sega Genesis & SNES game, while decent, is not all that fitting for a game based on this series, being a puzzle platforming collect-a-thon than an action brawler-platformer that would be more fitting.

Reception
Mighty Max was well received and has a 7.9 rating on IMDB. Sadly though a DVD set was never released although the entire series was released on Youtube, though they are of VHS quality.

Trivia

 * The playlist for Mighty Max on YouTube (by Youtuber, irontusk341) is advertised as the first channel to host full length episodes with the first episode uploaded January 1st, 2011.
 * Though Skullmaster is described as ultimate evil, the first season finale hints that he might be a servant to someone or something even worse when he threatens to bring Max's corpse to his Master's table.
 * Though the cartoon was made in America, the toyline come from Great Britain.
 * Mighty Max was not only popular in the United States of America, it was also popular in Asia and in Europe too, though it was never shown in Japan for unknown reasons.