Mummies Alive!

Mummies Alive! is an American/Canadian animated television series produced by DIC Entertainment and Northern Lights Entertainment, which aired on syndication in the United States in September 1997.

Plot
In ancient Egypt, an evil sorcerer named Scarab kills the pharaoh's son, Prince Rapses, to become immortal. Entombed alive for his crime (Rapses' body was also never found), Scarab revives in the modern world and begins his search for Rapses' reincarnation, a San Francisco-dwelling boy named Presley Carnovan, to retrieve the spirit of Rapses so he can become immortal. Rapses' (Presley's) bodyguards, Ja-Kal, Rath, Armon, and Nefer-Tina, along with Rapses' cat, Kahti, awake from the dead to protect him from Scarab. They use the power of Ra to transform into powerful guardians. Each of the mummies is aligned with the power of an Egyptian god. Ja-Kal uses the spirit of the Falcon, Rath uses the spirit of the Snake, Armon uses the spirit of the Ram, and Nefer-Tina uses the spirit of the Cat. They are able to call upon it for magical armor and powers to fight superhuman evildoers. Although, once their strength is exhausted, they must rest in their sarcophagi to regain their ability. In order to access these powers, the mummies call out the phrase "With the Strength of Ra!", which triggers their transformation.

Why it Rocks

 * 1) Cool concept of Mummies returning to life and adapting to modern standards.
 * 2) The main cast of characters is interesting:
 * 3) * Presley is the boy who's trying to adapt to being the fact that he was once Prince Rapses while still being a regular 12-year-old boy in Middle School.
 * 4) * Ja-Kal is the leader who is good at hunting, but can be quite stubborn at times. He is also Presley's father figure, sometimes being quite overprotective against him (likely because Ja-Kal's own family died before he knew what happened to them).
 * 5) * Rath is skilled at using different kinds of magic and is quite intelligent, at the cost of being quite arrogant. Even Scarab respects him a bit for his powers, too.
 * 6) * Armon is proud of being big and strong despite only having one proper arm, and loves to eat and watch the "Magic Box" (TV). The episode "Ghouls' Gold" explains why he lost his other arm.
 * 7) * Nefer-Tina is the only female who likes to try out modern things (eg, a car). Her reveal as a female after being reincarnated proves to be quite funny when the other Mummies fail to notice, while Presley does.
 * 8) * Scarab is the main villain who wants to use Rapses' spirit for immortality and can pose as multi-billionaire Harris Stone to hide his true self from anyone other than the Mummies and Presley.
 * 9) Some of the other characters (eg, Joe and Bob the Policeman, Walter, Elaine, Amanda Carnovan, etc.) are also quite interesting as well, and although they mostly have nothing to do with the story, they still serve as good B-plot characters.
 * 10) The animation is some of the best to come out of a DIC Entertainment cartoon, especially the Mook-animated episodes. The backgrounds and drawings are drawn really well in an almost-Disney quality-like appearance.
 * 11) Many great episodes, with such examples including:
 * 12) * Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra (which set the series off on a high note)
 * 13) * Sleep Walk Like an Egyptian
 * 14) * Desert Chic
 * 15) * Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Huxley
 * 16) * My Dad the Hero
 * 17) * The "Family Feud" trilogy (Brother's Keeper, New Mummy in Town, and The Heart's Arrow)
 * 18) Catchy soundtrack and opening theme which explains the show's premise and major storyline to people who haven't heard much about it.
 * 19) * The Italian opening theme also sounds cool.
 * 20) Well-done voice acting from the likes of Dale Wilson, Cree Summer, Bill Switzer, among others.
 * 21) The fight sequences are very entertaining and show much the Mummies kick tut! Seeing them breaking Shabti is quite satisfying to watch.
 * 22) The tie-in toyline for the series has some really well-designed recreations of Ja-Jal, Armon, Rath, and Scarab in action figure form.
 * 23) * Outside of the United States, figures of Nefer-Tina and Presley were also made.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Although the show's concept and idea is interesting, the concept of "Ancient beings coming back and adapting to modern life" could easily pass off as a clone to Gargoyles.
 * 2) Although higher quality than the average DIC Entertainment show, the series still displays occasional signs of cheapness:
 * 3) * The Hang Yang-animated episodes, while still nice, don't look as fresh as the Mook animated episodes.
 * 4) * Music sequences, grunts, and yells (especially Presley's "Wahhhh!", and Nefer-Tina's "Hi-YA!") are reused frequently.
 * 5) * The transformation sequences, while entertaining and having really good animation from Mook, are recycled in every episode with the same music and everything.
 * 6) The show's tone can get a bit inconsistent.
 * 7) * The series was meant to be a more darker-toned show, but was changed to be less serious, but the show still may show signs of seriousness if needed.
 * 8) Scarab, while seeming threatening at times, is quite wimpy, as he mostly just lets his Shabti battle against the Mummies and tunnels out when they are defeated or someone he uses is defeated. In fact, even Bastet (Nefer-Tina's Patron Goddess from "Paws") and the Eye of Darkness (An evil creature from "The Face in the Mirror"), two villains who have no affiliation with him, are more threatening than Scarab!
 * 9) * Some episodes flanderize him even more where he can't be taken seriously, like in the episode "Kid Scarab", where he ages himself down to a child.
 * 10) * He also sometimes doesn't decide what he is after, is he here to try and kill Presley and become immortal, or to try and kill the Mummies? He never plots to try and kidnap Presley in the "Family Feud" trilogy, his main goal here is to kill Ja-Kal with the help of fellow Mummy Arakh (Ja-Kal's evil brother).
 * 11) The show isn't very accurate when it comes to accurate depictions of Ancient Egyptian mythology and culture, which can be distracting if you are familiar. Some examples include:
 * 12) *Anubis is portrayed as a goofball villain when in reality he was neutral and clever.
 * 13) *Set has the head of a dog, but in reality, he never did.
 * 14) *Net is a cloud-based god, while his husband Geb is a large ogre-like creature.
 * 15) *Apep turning his original snake-form into a human.
 * 16) *Ammut acting like a pet to Scarab and being male, when it was actually female.
 * 17) Being from the '90s, the series can be quite repetitive, featuring cliches like the "Villain of the Week" and "Transformation Sequences", even if they are still entertaining.
 * 18) There are some bad episodes, including:
 * 19) * Miscast (Presley is unlikeable, as he is quite lazy to do simple chores, and disobeys Rath by touching the miniature Talos to help him with said chores, which causes the events of the episode to begin with. Talos himself is made far weaker than he was in "Body Slam")
 * 20) * Show Me the Mummy (A generic clip show episode that ended the show on a low note, but gives a spot in the limelight to recurring character Joe Pendleton, who believes the Mummies are secretly Aliens.)
 * 21) The show's planned second season was canceled due to poor toy sales.

Trivia
TBA