''Rocket Power'' is an American

animated television series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

created by

Arlene Klasky Arlene Phyllis Klasky (born May 26, 1949) is an American animator, graphic designer, Film producer, producer and co-founder of Klasky Csupo with Gábor Csupó. In 1999, she was named one of the "Top 25 Women in Animation" by ''Animation Magazine' ...

and

Gábor Csupó Gábor Csupó ( , ; born September 29, 1952) is a Hungarian animator, writer, director, producer and graphic designer. He is co-founder of the animation studio Klasky Csupo, which produced the first three years of ''The Simpsons'', as well as ...

and produced by

Klasky Csupo Klasky-Csupo, Inc. ( ) is an American animation studio located in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1982 by producer Arlene Klasky and her then-husband, Hungarian animator Gábor Csupó (hence the company's name) in a spare room of th ...

and

Nickelodeon Animation Studio Nickelodeon Animation Studio Inc. (also known as Nickelodeon Animation Studios or Nick Animation and credited as Nickelodeon Productions on-screen) is an American animation studio owned by Paramount Global through the Nickelodeon Group. It has c ...

for

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

. The show centers on the daily lives of Otto, Reggie, Twister and Sam, four pre-adolescent children with an interest in

extreme sport Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are physical activity, activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk of injury or death. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly speci ...

s such as skateboarding and surfing while also getting into various situations. The series aired on

from August 16, 1999 to July 30, 2004.

Premise

''Rocket Power'' revolves around the day-to-day zany hijinks of a gang of four young and loyal friends; the adventurous and vain sports enthusiast and perfectionist: Oswald "Otto" Rocket; his tomboyish and kind-hearted older sister: Regina "Reggie" Rocket; Otto's dim-witted but loyal best friend and videographer: Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez; and the brainy techno whiz kid and relative newcomer: Sam "Squid" Dullard — who live in the fictional

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

beach community of Ocean Shores where they spend their free time playing varied extreme sports (such as

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport that involves riding and Skateboarding trick, performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a method of tr ...

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralym ...

biking Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

street hockey Street hockey (also known as shinny, dek hockey, ball hockey, road hockey or street roller hockey) is a collection of team sport variants played outdoors either on foot or with wheeled skates (either quad or in-line), using either a ball or puck ...

, etc.), getting into a wide variety of situations and overcoming the trials and challenges of growing up. Otto and Reggie live with their widowed strict but loving father and veteran surfer, Ray "Raymundo" Rocket, who along with his best friend and business partner, Tito Makani, owns and operates the Shore Shack, a combination burger joint and surf rental shop where the gang usually hang out. In most episodes, they get involved in competitions, but end up learning their friendship is more important than winning.

Characters

Main Characters

* Joseph Ashton as Oswald "Otto" Rocket, a 10-year-old extreme-sports enthusiast. He is the gifted, stubborn and charismatic leader of the gang whose relentless pursuit of athletic perfection may make him unreliable. *

Shayna Fox Shayna Fox is an American former actress, known for voicing Regina "Reggie" Rocket on the Nickelodeon animated television series '' Rocket Power'' as well as Savannah on '' All Grown Up!.'' Early life Fox is the second of two daughters born ...

as Regina "Reggie" Rocket, Otto's 11-year-old sister. She is a strong and intelligent crusader for the underdog and the publisher of ''The 'Zine'', a magazine that covers a wide range of topics from extreme sports to politics. *

Ulysses Cuadra Ulysses Cuadra (born February 24, 1987) is an American actor, involved in cinema, television, and animation. He was the voice of Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez on the Nickelodeon animated series ''Rocket Power''. Career Cuadra started acting in 199 ...

(seasons 1–3) and Gilbert Leal (season 4) as Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez, Otto's best friend. He is an aspiring filmmaker who rarely leaves home without his video camera. Although his older brother Lars can be Otto's biggest competitor, Twister consistently remains loyal to Otto. * Sam Saletta (season 1),

Gary LeRoi Gray Gary LeRoi Gray (born February 12, 1987) is an American actor, who has appeared in movies, television and animation. Early life Gary LeRoi Gray was born on February 12, 1987, in Chicago Illinois. Career He is best known for his childhood role a ...

(seasons 2–3) and

Sean Marquette Sean Marquette (born June 30, 1988) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayals of Young Matt Flamhaff in ''13 Going on 30'', Johnny Atkins in '' The Goldbergs'' and '' Schooled'', and for voicing Mac in the Cartoon Network animated ...

(season 4) as Sam "Squid" Dullard, an intelligent, inquisitive and loyal technological prodigy from

Hutchinson, Kansas Hutchinson is the largest city in and the county seat of Reno County, Kansas, Reno County, Kansas, United States. The city is located on the Arkansas River. It has been home to salt mines since 1887 (thus its nickname of "Salt City") but locals ...

. He is more cautious than the rest of the gang which helps keeps them more grounded. *

John Kassir John Kassir (born October 24, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as the voice of the Cryptkeeper in HBO's '' Tales from the Crypt'' franchise. He also appeared in the role of Ralph in the off-Broadway show ''Reefe ...

as Ray "Raymundo" Rocket, Otto and Reggie's widowed strict but loving forty-something father, legendary surfer and is the owner and operator of a combination burger joint and surf rental shop called the Shore Shack. He drives a 1962 Mercury Woodie wagon and has developed a fear of dogs after watching the movie ''Attack of the 50 Ft. Poodles'' back when he was just a kid. *

Ray Bumatai Raimund Bumatai (December 20, 1952 – October 6, 2005) was an American actor, musician, singer and recording artist, who worked in comedy and live entertainment in Waikiki and in live-action production and animation in Hollywood. Early life Bum ...

as Tito Makani, a retired Hawaiian surfer and self-designed philosopher who not only works side by side with Raymundo to help him run the Shore Shack, but he also provides the gang with helpful advice and valuable life lessons with his own unique brand of wisdom. He usually starts his advice with "Like the ancient Hawaiians say..." Tito has a young nephew named Keoni who occasionally visits Ocean Shores from the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...

to see him.

Recurring Characters

Lombardo Boyar Lombardo Boyar (born December 1, 1973) is an American actor. He is best known for his recurring role as Chuy in ''The Bernie Mac Show'' and for voicing Lars Rodriguez in '' Rocket Power''. Career Lombardo is a veteran of the United States Army, ...

as Lars Rodriguez, Twister's delinquent teenage brother who harasses the gang a lot from time to time, bullies Twister on a regular basis and generally spends his free time being up to no good. He is also an extremely competitive athlete and is Otto's biggest competitive and social rival. Even though he makes Twister's life miserable, Lars has shown that he really does care about him deep down and would never want anything bad to happen to him. Lars is often accompanied by his three goons: Pi Piston, Sputz Ringley and Animal. * Pi Piston (voiced by

Jason Spisak Jason Spisak () is an American actor, producer, and computer programmer. He is also the co-leader of the Symphony OS Project and the designer of Symphony's unique Mezzo desktop environment and wrote the Laws of Interface Design, to which the proje ...

), Sputz Ringley (voiced by

Dominic Armato Dominic Armato (born November 18, 1976) is an American voice actor, journalist and food critic. He is best known for his work on LucasArts games. His most famous role is the voice of the pirate Guybrush Threepwood in the Monkey Island (series), ' ...

and Jason Spisak) and Animal (voiced by Sam Saletta and John Kassir): Pi Piston, Sputz Ringley and Animal are Lars' friends and loyal henchmen. Pi is often the voice of reason of the group, while Sputz is known for having a speech impediment and speaking in an incomprehensible language. Animal does not officially join the group until the second season and is usually silent. * Jordan Blake Warkol as Eddie Valentine, the imaginative and self-proclaimed "Prince of the Netherworld" who is an occasional participant in the gang's activities and a frequent target of Lars' bullying. *

David Gallagher David Lee Gallagher (born February 9, 1985) is an American actor and former model. He began his career as a child actor and model at the age of two, and is known for his roles as Mikey Ubriacco in '' Look Who's Talking Now'', Simon Camden in '' ...

as Oliver Van Rossum, a highly intelligent kid who has no experience in sports until he meets Sam. *

CCH Pounder Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder (born December 25, 1952) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Claudette Wyms in the FX police drama series '' The Shield'' (2002–2008), Mo'at in the ''Avatar'' (2009–present) franchise, ...

(season 1) and

Denise Dowse Denise Yvonne Dowse (February 21, 1958 – August 13, 2022) was an American actress. She was best known for her roles as Mrs. Yvonne Teasley in the television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1991–2000), Judge Rebecca Damsen in ''The Guardian ...

(seasons 2–4) as Officer Shirley, a seldom-seen police officer who does what she can in order to try to keep the peace. Not so much the long arm of the law, but rather the harsh word of the law as Officer Shirley keeps the kids of Ocean Shores in line with equal amounts of tough talk and niceness. She enjoys a slightly flirtatious friendship with Raymundo to whom she often refers to as "Big Ray." *

Lauren Tom Lauren Tom (born August 4, 1961) is an American actress. She began her career on stage, winning an Obie Award, and gained recognition for her role in '' The Joy Luck Club'' (1993). On television, she is known for her roles in the NBC sitcom ''Fri ...

as Trish and Sherry, Reggie's female friends and members of the California All-State Girls' Beach Volleyball Team. They occasionally appear to join in on the gang's activities and have played important roles in several episodes. * Rosslynn Taylor-Jordan as Mackenzie Benders, a tough-as-nails five-year-old girl. *

Obba Babatundé Obba Babatundé (born Donald Cohen; December 1, 1951) is an American actor. A native of Queens, New York City, he has appeared in more than seventeen stage productions, thirty theatrical films, sixty made-for-television films, and two prime-time ...

as Conroy Blanc, the park manager of the Madtown Skate Park. *

Henry Gibson James Bateman (September 21, 1935 – September 14, 2009), known professionally as Henry Gibson, was an American actor, comedian and poet. He played roles in the television sketch-comedy series ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 to 1971, w ...

and

Edie McClurg Edie McClurg (born July 23, 1945) is an American retired actress and comedian. She has played supporting roles in the films ''Carrie'' (1976), ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986), and ''Elvira: Mistress of the Dark'' (1988), and bit parts in ...

as Merv and Violet Stimpleton, the Rockets' next-door neighbors. *

Dale Dye Dale Adam Dye Jr. (born October 8, 1944) is an American actor, technical advisor, radio personality and writer. A decorated Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, Dye is the founder and head of Warriors, Inc., a technical advisory company specializi ...

as Lieutenant Tice Ryan, an Ocean Shores lifeguard who also works as an emergency services coordinator. He is skilled at his job and can often be seen with a megaphone barking orders. While he is shown to be nice and fair, Lieutenant Tice takes his job very seriously. * Matthew Stephen Liu as Keoni Makani, Tito's young nephew who occasionally visits Ocean Shores from the Hawaiian Islands to spend time with his uncle. Keoni first arrives in Ocean Shores to visit Tito where Otto is originally jealous of him, but Keoni eventually becomes good friends with Otto and the gang. He is a straight-A school student and is shown to be a capable athlete. * Jamie Maria Cronin as Clio Rodriguez, Twister's older cousin who is about Reggie's age. Clio is the exact opposite of Reggie in the sense that she is more "girly." Because she openly imposed on Reggie with her beliefs on how girls should act, Reggie goes on the defense. In the first episode where they interact, Clio and Reggie challenge each other to switch their respective competitions and by the end, the girls realize they are not so different from each other and form a strong friendship after Clio proved herself to be surprisingly good at ice hockey and Reggie proved herself to be surprisingly good at figure skating. *

Carlos Alazraqui Carlos Jaime Alazraqui (born July 20, 1962) is an American actor. His voice acting roles include the original voice of Spyro from '' Spyro the Dragon'', the Taco Bell chihuahua in the Taco Bell commercials, Rocko on ''Rocko's Modern Life'', D ...

and Dyana Ortelli as Raoul and Sandy Rodriguez, Twister and Lars' parents and the uncle and aunt of Clio and Scotty. *

Jennifer Hale Jennifer Hale is a Canadian voice actress. She is best known for her work in video game franchises such as ''Baldur's Gate'', ''Mass Effect'', '' Metal Gear Solid'', '' BioShock Infinite'', '' Metroid Prime'', '' Halo'', '' Overwatch'', and '' ...

as Paula Dullard, Sam's mother and the ex-wife of Doug Dullard. *

Jane Krakowski Jane Krakowski (; ; born October 11, 1968) is an American actress and singer. She starred as Jenna Maroney in the NBC satirical comedy series ''30 Rock'' (2006–2013, 2020), for which she received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Out ...

as Bree "Breezy" Copeley, a traveling journalist who works as a sales representative of the Sunset Surf sporting goods company. Breezy first arrives in Ocean Shores to conduct business with the shop below the Shore Shack where Raymundo immediately becomes infatuated with her and it is implied there would have been a relationship if she wasn't constantly traveling. *

Greg Coolidge Gregory Coolidge is an American film writer, director, and television showrunner. He is best known for creating the '' Ride Along'' franchise, executive producing and showrunning the limited series '' The Continental: From the World of John Wick' ...

as Trent, a brand-new resident who moved into Ocean Shores from

Gisborne, New Zealand Gisborne is a List of cities in New Zealand, city in northeastern New Zealand and the largest settlement in the Gisborne District (or Gisborne Region). It has a population of Gisborne District Council has its headquarters in the central city. ...

. Trent is a handsome new student in Reggie and Sam's class where Reggie along with Trish, Sherry and all of the other girls in their classroom quickly grow a crush on him. He is shown to be a talented surfer and after Trent and Reggie spend time getting to know each other, it is revealed that Trent has also grown a crush on Reggie. * Shayna Fox as Danielle, Otto and Reggie's deceased mother and Raymundo's first wife when she was alive. *

Kim Mai Guest Kim Mai Guest is an American voice actress. She is best known for her role as Mei Ling in ''Metal Gear series''. Early life She was born in Illinois, U.S.. She was interested in acting from childhood and took part in school plays after she went ...

as Noelani Makani, Tito's cousin from

Oahu, Hawaii Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northw ...

and an old friend of Raymundo who became Otto and Reggie's stepmother and Raymundo's second wife in the final episode of the series.

Production

''Rocket Power'' was produced by

and

. Producers on the series include Susan Ward, Pernelle Hayes, Victor Wilson, John Crane, Maureen Iser and Erin Ehlich.

and Eryk Casemiro served as executive producers.

Episodes

Home media

A VHS tape titled ''Maxing Out'' was released by Nickelodeon and

Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, originally Paramount Home Video, and operating as the namesake film studio since 2022) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures. The division oversees Para ...

on August 7, 2001. It was sold exclusively at

Toys 'R' Us A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and p ...

and contained five episodes. On July 27, 2004, Nickelodeon and Paramount Home Entertainment also released the feature-length episode ''Island of the Menehune'' on VHS and DVD with the DVD including three bonus episodes. Other episodes were featured on multiple Nickelodeon compilation VHS tapes and DVDs such as ''Nickelodeon Super Toons'', ''Nicktoons Christmas'', ''Nicktoons Halloween'' and ''Nickstravaganza! 2''.

and

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

teamed up to release ''Rocket Power'' and other Nick shows on manufacture-on-demand DVD-R discs available exclusively through Amazon.com's

CreateSpace On-Demand Publishing, LLC, doing business as CreateSpace, was a self-publishing service owned by Amazon. The company was founded in 2000 in South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, So ...

arm. The ''Rocket Power'' manufacture-on-demand DVD-R discs have since been discontinued.

Broadcast

''Rocket Power'' premiered on

on August 16, 1999 and its final episode (a television movie called "The Big Day") aired on July 30, 2004. Reruns were then aired on the channel until October 7, 2011.

Nicktoons Nicktoons is the brand name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Paramount Global) in their copyright bylines. Since ...

aired the series from 2002 to 2010.

Nick GAS Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids (stylized as either Nick GaS or Nickelodeon GaS and commonly known as Nick GAS) was an American cable television network that was part of MTV Networks' suite of digital cable channels. The channel was primari ...

also aired the series from 2003 to 2005. The series reran on TeenNick's former block

NickRewind NickRewind (formerly The '90s Are All That, The Splat, and NickSplat) was an American late night programming block that aired nightly over the channel space of TeenNick. The block showed reruns of mid-late 1980s, 1990s, and early-mid 2000s ...

(formerly The '90s Are All That, The Splat and NickSplat) from 2014 to 2017.

Other projects

Other projects related to ''Rocket Power'' and developed under the aegis of Klasky-Csupo and/or Nickelodeon have included '' Rocket Power: Beach Bandits'', and ''Maximum Rocket Power Live: The Battle for Madtown Park'', a live-action extreme-sports dramatic arena play that briefly toured the U.S. Midwest in the spring of 2002 before being canceled over low ticket sales (it had originally been scheduled to tour about 40 cities across the U.S. all the way into fall). In 2002, Nickelodeon also aired the ''Maximum Rocket Power Games'', an extreme-sports competition inspired by the series which pits three teams consisting of professional athletes competing alongside aspiring youth athletes in a series of events. The special was co-hosted by professional skateboarder Andy Macdonald.

Video games

Several video games based on the series were released on the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

Game Boy Color The (GBC or CGB) is an 8-bit handheld game console developed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color features a color TFT scre ...

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

and PC throughout the years, including ''Rocket Power: Team Rocket Rescue'', '' Rocket Power: Beach Bandits'', ''Rocket Power Gettin' Air'', ''Rocket Power: Dream Scheme'', ''Rocket Power: Zero Gravity Zone'' and ''Rocket Power: Extreme Arcade Games''.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album to ''Rocket Power'' was released on February 6, 2002. It is officially the soundtrack to the

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

''Rocket Power: Race Across New Zealand''. Track listing #"''Rocket Power'' Theme Song" by The Wipeouters #"Individuality" by Area-7 #"

99 Red Balloons "99 Luftballons" (, "99 balloons") is a song by the West German band Nena from their 1983 self-titled album. An English-language version titled "99 Red Balloons" (), with lyrics by Kevin McAlea, was also released by Nena on the album ''99 Luft ...

" by Goldfinger #"Valentino" by

Bowling for Soup Bowling for Soup is an American rock band formed in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1994. The band consists of Jaret Reddick (lead vocals, guitar), Gary Wiseman (drums, percussion), and Rob Felicetti (bass, backing vocals, acoustic guitar). The band i ...

#"I'm Cool" by

Reel Big Fish Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Huntington Beach, California. The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s during the third wave of ska with the release of the gold-certified album '' Turn the Radio Off''. So ...

Reception

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

give the series a three out of five stars, writing "Parents need to know that watching this show just might inspire future X-games participation. The kids – never without a skateboard, bike, hockey stick, or surfboard – perform incredible stunts, seemingly without risk of injury. A boy with less sports ability than the others shows kids that it's OK to need a lot of practice and only take the risks you're personally comfortable with."

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, 2000s, Television, United States, Cartoon, Sports, California, Hawaii 1990s American animated television series 1990s American children's television series 1990s American sports television series 2000s American animated television series 2000s American children's television series 2000s American sports television series 1999 American animated television series debuts 2004 American television series endings 1990s Nickelodeon original programming 2000s Nickelodeon original programming American children's animated action television series American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated sports television series American English-language television shows Nicktoons Television series by Klasky Csupo Animated television series about children Animated television series set in California Television shows set in Orange County, California Skateboarding mass media Television series created by Gábor Csupó Television series created by Arlene Klasky Hawaii in fiction Cultural depictions of Tony Hawk Television shows scored by Mark Mothersbaugh