Welcome! In the near future, Doc Terror and his cyborg companion Hacker unleash their forces to conquer Earth! Only one force can stop this evil -- a handful of brave men -- in specially created exoframes, they can be transported anywhere -- to fuse with incredible assault weapon systems -- beamed down from the space station Skyvault -- becoming Man and Machine - PowerXTreme! Max Ray -- brilliant sea operations commander! Jake Rockwell -- rugged land operations specialist! Ace McCloud -- daring air operations expert! Whatever the challenge, they are ready! The Centurions!
That's how the Centurions cartoon was introduced every afternoon in the mid 1980's. Premiering in 1986 (I believe), the series' description was ably described in the opening sequence. This is what I believe to be the first Centurions site on the Web. (Correct me if I am mistaken) The Centurions can still occasionally be seen here in the United States on the Cartoon Network. There were also two other Centurions -- Rex Charger, whose weapons included a gatling gun; and an Indian named John Thunder. They came around later in the run.
An interesting fact about the Centurions that you may not know: Several designs for the series were done by legendary comic book artist Jack Kirby. Kirby is revered as the "king" of comic book greats and his influence can be seen on the show, particularly with characters such as the main Centurions, Doc Terror, and Hacker -- all have the unique Kirby style. Other designs were done for the show by comics artist Gil Kane, another comics legend in his own right best known for his work on DC Comics' Green Lantern, as well as some excellent covers for Marvel Comics in the 1970's. Kane's influence is seen primarily on designs for the Centurions' leader, Crystal Kane (possibly named after Gil himself). In my area, Centurions would air at 2:30, so I'd often have to tape it if I wanted to see it, since it was on before I got home from school. Each Centurion had specialties and weapons systems that would help them with their individual specialties. For example, Ace McCloud would get all the air weapons -- Jake Rockwell would get the land stuff (including weapon systems "Awesome Auger" and "Wild Weasel") -- and Max Ray, the brains of the group, would get the sea assualt weapons. Keep an eye out on this site for updates. Like I said, it's very new... and if you have any comments/ideas/anything, feel free to send me an e-mail. And you know... I think "The Centurions" was the first place I ever heard the words "Cyborg" and "Hacker." Cool. This
site was created in 2000 by Craig Byrne. |
