THE KIDS FROM C.A.P.E.R.

Full Name:	The Kids From C.A.P.E.R.
Nationality:	American
Organization:	C.A.P.E.R.
Occupation	Agency

Creator:	Romero Muller
Time Span:	1976 - 1977

ABOUT THE SERIES

The Kids From C.A.P.E.R. is a quartet of crime-fighting teenage boys.

They are definitely not spies in any traditional sense but because of the name of their activities, i.e., "from C.A.P.E.R.", it is easy to compare them to the better known U.N.C.L.E.

The acronym stands for the "Civiliam Authority for the Protection of Everybody Regardless" (not bad, really, up until the last word). Since it is stated that the group, with its name, was created by the leader of the quartet along with his mentor and advisor, Sergeant Vinton of the 927th precinct, it has to be assumed that the organization was not national in nature, let alone international.

Each of the members of the group has special skills they bring to the group. These members are:

P.T. - the founder and leader of the team yet also the youngest of the four. He is known to be very intelligent, quite clever, and definitely cool. He also has a hyper sense of smell and calls his powerful nose 'Seymour'.

Bugs - the muscle of the group, this fellow has incredible strength with which he can lift very heavy objects or bend thick metal though only if he can see his hands doing it.

Doomsday - this young man with the usually cheery disposition nevertheless feels he, and everything else, is doomed, hence the name. He is usually hungry and can apparently eat anything without trouble.

Doc - the oldest and wisest of the group, he is the deep thinker.

One other thing of note (literally) about this quartet (appropriately) is that in each adventures, one or more will find the opportunity to break into song.

TELEVISION


Number of Episodes:	13
First Appearance:	1976
Last Appearance:	1977
Network:	NBC

REGULAR CAST
Steve Bonino	P.T. [ 1 ]
Cosie Costa	Bugs [ 1 ]
Biff Warren	Doomsday [ 1 ]
John Lansing	Doc [ 1 ]
Robert Emhardt	Sergeant Vinton [ ]

The following is taken from the good write-up on the series on Wikipedia:

"At the start of the 1976-77 television season, The Kids from C.A.P.E.R. was part of a three-hour block of six live action shows that aired Saturday Morning on NBC, alongside Land of the Lost, which was entering its third season, and four other new shows: Monster Squad; McDuff, the Talking Dog; Big John, Little John; and Muggsy. NBC shook up this lineup in late November, cancelling McDuff and putting The Kids from C.A.P.E.R. on hiatus. The Kids from C.A.P.E.R. returned on April 9, 1977, and replaced the cancelled Muggsy in the lineup. Neither C.A.P.E.R. nor any of the other three remaining shows returned to the NBC lineup for the beginning of the 1977-78 television season.

"The pilot episode was refactored into a flashback episode in the full series 'Mummy's the Word', presumably to account for the changes in costume and set decoration. These changes are alluded to by lines of dialogue in the newer wrapper material episode, such as 'Don't you remember the good old days, when the Big Bologna was blue?' and 'Boy, you guys sure dressed funny in those days.' The latter is said by Doomsday, the only character to retain his costume from the pilot.

"The title sequence was reworked for the 1977 run to incorporate visuals from actual episodes; these were not present for the first run in 1976. The result is that the later titles are paced more in keeping with the theme music and contain more visual interest."

Note: the synopsis for each episode is also from Wikipedia.


1	Too Much Time on Their Hands Episode S1-1, first aired 09/11/1976 Director: - Writer: Romeo Muller A girl scientist asks the CAPERs to stop a malfunctioning time machine before the bad guys catch up with them in the past.

2	Kids from H.Y.D.E. Episode S1-2, first aired 09/18/1976 Director: - Writer: Romeo Muller A mad professor enlists his daughter into giving the CAPERs a box of fudge which, unknown to them, is injected with a formula that turns them into tap dancing monsters who do very naughty things.

3	Ghost from C.A.P.E.R. Episode S1-3, first aired 09/25/1976 Director: - Writer: Romeo Muller A ghost haunting the police station turns out to be a magician called The Great Linguini, who enlists the CAPERs to help him find his lost love. But trouble arises when they return with three different women.

4	The Uncanny Nanny Episode S1-4, first aired 10/02/1976 Director: - Writer: Romeo Muller A girl asks the CAPERs to help her with an obnoxious boy who disappears after being handed over to the beloved Nanny Noony, who may herself be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

5	Invasion of the Frankfurter Snatchers Episode S1-5, first aired 10/09/1976 Director: - Writer: Romeo Muller Dr. Franklin Stein and his daughter try to convince everyone that the town is being invaded by giant frankfurter aliens who hide in hot dogs and take over people’s minds. Their warnings are ignored until everyone (except P.T.) has been turned into hot dog zombies.

6	The Pieman's Pool Episode S1-6, first aired 10/16/1976 Director: - Writer: Romeo Muller The daughter of a famous pastry chef asks the CAPERs to investigate her father's latest delicacies; they explode, causing earthquakes!

7	King Cone Episode S1-7, first aired 10/23/1976 Director: Stanley Z. Cherry Writer: Romeo Muller While the CAPERs investigate a rash of ice cream thefts, they are asked to find a circus acrobat who was supposed to arrive at the same time as the circus' new gorilla King Cone (who just happens to love ice cream). Could the two cases possibly be related?

8	The Post Monster General Episode S1-8, first aired 10/30/1976 Director: - Writer: Romeo Muller When Bugs accidentally uses a collection of rare stamps to mail out invitations to the policeman’s ball, the CAPERs must recover them before the Post Monster General gets a hold of them.

9	The Terrible Tollman Episode S1-9, first aired 11/06/1976 Director: - Writer: Romeo Muller The Terrible Tollman hypnotizes nearly everyone into thinking the Roger P. Folkelman, Jr. Memorial Bridge is gone, and Doomsday (one of the few not hypnotized) is the only one who can stop the Tollman.

10	Dunga Gin Episode S1-10, first aired 11/13/1976 Director: - Writer: Romeo Muller The city's water supply is stolen just as two con men start selling GLOB Cola. The CAPERs suspect a connection between the two incidents, but get in peril while trying to find water.

11	Phantom of the Drive-In Episode S1-11, first aired 11/20/1976 Director: - Writers: Ken Kramer, Romeo Muller When a phantom begins scaring patrons away from Durkin Farbe’s Starlight Emporium Drive-In, the CAPERs are called to go undercover as drive-in employees, but they themselves end up getting captured by the Phantom.

12	Mummy's the Word Episode S1-12, first aired 05/21/1977 Director: - Writer: Romeo Muller The CAPERs reminisce about a past case, when they helped Selma Lee save her Egyptian mummy from two ruthless thieves out to steal the sarcophagus and its priceless jewels.

13	The Goodfather Episode S1-13, first aired 11/13/1977 Director: - Writer: Romeo Muller Everyone is confused when the city is hit by an "un-crime" wave; someone is feeding parking meters and committing a rash of "hold-downs" (rather than holdups) forcing money and jewels on unsuspecting victims.

ODDS & ENDS

Number of Items:	2
First Appearance:	1976
Last Appearance:	1976


1			The Kids From C.A.P.E.R. Album Item Type: Record Album Made by: Kirshner Copyright: 1976 A long-playing vinyl album containing 11 songs from the show. The songs were: -- Side A 1. When It Hit Me 2. Tit for Tat 3. I wanna love You 4. Fun In The Jungle 5. Say It -- Side B 1. Like A Hero In The Movies 2. Rockets And Stars 3. Lullabye Girl 4. Everybody Loves Her 5. Ridin' A Rainbow 6.Wrap All My Dreams

2			The Kids From C.A.P.E.R. Single Item Type: Record Single Made by: Kirshner Copyright: 1976 One 45-single was released. Released by Columbia Records, the songs were: -- Side A When It Hit Me (The Hurricane Song) -- Side B Ridin' A Rainbow

MY COMMENTS

I was not in-country during the brief time this series was on television and would have been way too old to notice it anyways. Had I an opportunity to watch, I would not have done so for long because it was meant for kids. Watching the limited amount available on the web today, I do not feel I missed much. Except that, and you can chuckle here, I actually enjoyed the couple of songs I head from the show.

Is this a spy show? Not really, although they do get involved in some strange things so it probably belongs in this compendium for more than just the reason of the title's similarity to other series.

GRADE

My Grade: C

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