Max Steel: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|'''Jefferson Smith''': ''[[Ordinary High School Student|Josh McGrath]] can’t [[Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World|go running around the globe battling terrorists]] and still expect to lead a normal life.''
'''Josh McGrath''': ''Josh McGrath is out of the picture. The name is Max Steel!'' }}
 
Josh McGrath is a 19 year-old extreme sports star whose adopted father works at the sports equipment manufacturing company N-Tek. It turns out this is a front for a counterintelligence agency, so when Josh makes an unscheduled visit during an attack on the facility by terrorists, he finds himself caught in the crossfire and present at an honest-to-god [[Freak Lab Accident]] - his body is infested with "Max Nanoprobes", experimental [[Nanomachines]], leaving him on the verge of death. [[Teen Genius]] Roberto "'Berto" Martinez realizes that the probes have integrated with his body and become [[The Symbiote|symbiotic]] - he is dying because they are [[Phlebotinum Breakdown|running out of power]]. He is thus able to save Josh's life by infusing his body with the probes' specialized power source, [[Applied Phlebotinum|Trans-Phasic Energy]] (colloquially T-Juice). Afterward, it is discovered that the accident has given him [[Magic and Powers|numerous superpowers]]; superhuman strength, speed, stamina, senses, and the ability to become invisible. Realizing that these powers plus his extreme sports experience make him an ideal [[They Fight Crime|secret agent]], Josh creates a [[Secret Identity]] - an older, brown-haired version of himself he calls "Max Steel." The series begins with a [[In Medias Res|much less detailed explanation.]]
 
'''''Max Steel''''' was a very [[Merchandise-Driven]], CG-animated [[Saturday Morning Cartoon]] series which ran from 2000 to 2002. At its heart a spy show, with outrageous villains and plots at times straining believability, the ever-[[Genre Savvy]] main character's commentary often put the series in [[Affectionate Parody]] territory. In spite of its silliness, however, the show had well-defined characters, unusually complex plots, and was surprisingly dialogue-heavy for a show of its demographic. Aside from this it has a dark, realistic animation style and a few genuine instances of [[Nightmare Fuel]], and all together it turned out to be a surprisingly good show.
 
Trying to avoid the [[Nostalgia Filter]] here; the show was pretty much forgotten after it aired, and so the only reviews you'll find are by people who were around 12 when the show came out. It doesn't seem to have a particularly big fanbase.
 
After six episodes of season 1, the company making it went bankrupt and the series went over to another company, with a marked improvement in the animation quality. After season 2, they were shut down too and so season 3 was made by [[Mainframe Entertainment]], AKA the people who did ''[[Re BootReBoot]]'' and ''[[Beast Wars]]''. Season 3 also saw a move from broadcast TV to [[Cartoon Network]]; the plot went in a different direction, although the basic formula of every episode remained untouched and [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]] seems largely avoided in the aforementioned small fanbase. Mainframe seemed to have an extremely low budget for the project as evidenced by many bit characters being 'portrayed' by the CGI models of larger characters from earlier seasons, sometimes to the point of mooks looking suspiciously identical to the first season's one-off villains. As well, the series finale is a [[Clip Show]]. After Season 3, a series of made-for-TV movies were released. Currently the show is in the midst of a Revival/ [[Retcon]] in Latin America.
 
The show can be seen on [http://www.youtube.com/show?p=tUnOgFoqDAY&pl=CCD4287CBC8882BA YouTube].
 
A [[Max Steel (film)|live-action film adaptation]] was made in 2014 and released in 2016. It was both a critical and box office failure, getting a 0% "Rotten" rating on [[Rotten Tomatoes]].
Not to be confused with "Maxx Steele", head of the Robo Force (a short-lived line of suction-cup equipped robotic action figures created by Ideal in the mid-80's). A commercial can be seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7fxNmxif74 here], and a Ruby-Spears animated [[One-Episode Wonder]] is viewable [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT3KJ228Y6o&NR=1 starting here].
 
Not to be confused with "Maxx Steele", head of the Robo Force (a short-lived line of suction-cup equipped robotic action figures created by Ideal in the mid-80's). A commercial can be seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7fxNmxif74 here], and a Ruby-Spears animated [[One-Episode Wonder]] is viewable [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT3KJ228Y6o&NR=1 starting here].
=== ''[[Max Steel]]'' provides examples of: ===
 
{{tropelist}}
* [[Aborted Arc]]: During "Truth be Told," real-life athlete Jeremy McGrath is let in on Josh's secret double-life as a superpowered vigilante, and it's implied he'll discreetly spread the word out to a few others in his circle of friends/competitors who might be interested in helping the heroes save the day on occasion. "Truth be Told" being the series finale, nothing comes of it.
** Likewise, the [[Acting for Two|uncanny resemblance]] between Jefferson's predecessor at N-Tek, Marco Nathanson, and {{spoiler|John Dread}}. Greg Weisman [[Word of God|said]] that this was supposed to be a [[Red Herring]]. In a case of behind-the-scenes [[Retcon]], other producers after he left said they considered it to be exactly what it looked like. Neither interpretation is ever followed up on.
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* [[Russians With Rusting Rockets]]: L'Etranger's submarine, the Akina, is Russian surplus.
* [[Scooby-Doo Hoax]]: "Sphinxes". The heroes investigate a pyramid and after discovering the hoax, [[Genre Savvy]] [[Ascended Fanboy]] Max reports that it's a "[[Scooby Doo]]" and explains what he means to his [[British Stuffiness|Stuffy British]] partner.
{{quote|'''Max''': Since when do [[Stock Monsters|ancient Egyptian death gods]] have jaws that [[Robotic Reveal|clank when you hit them?]] It's all classic Scooby-Doo.
'''Rachel''' (puzzled): Scooby-what?
'''Max''': (groan) [[Genre Blind|Your ignorance is frightening]]. When the bad guys are up to no good, they use local lore to scare away the curious. That's the Scooby Way.
'''Rachel''': I'll study his teachings later. }}
* [[Shout-Out]]: To various installments in the espionage genre, of course.
** [[The A-Team|I love it when a plan comes together!]]
** [[Mission: Impossible (TV series)||Your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to save that fruit!]]
* [[Sinister Shades]]: John Dread's slick shades never come off.
* [[Something Only They Would Say]]: Inverted when Max figures out Dread is impersonating Roberto because Dread gets Berto's nickname for him consistently wrong. Played straight when Dragonelle, impersonating Rachel, stands ''next'' to Rachel and tries to accuse the real one of being the impostor. The real Rachel tells Max not to even bother playing along and to just destroy the episode's [[MacGuffin]], ensuring the impostor has no chance of getting it. Max quips, "Now ''that'' sounds like our Ms. Leeds" as he does so.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Kids WB]]
[[Category:Turn of the Millennium/Western Animation]]
[[Category:All CGI Cartoon]]
[[Category:Western Animation]]
[[Category:Max Steel{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Western Animation of the 2000s]]
[[Category:Films of the 2010s]]
[[Category:Film]]