Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light
| Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light | |
|---|---|
Visionaries title screen
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| Genre |
Action/Adventure Science fantasy |
| Created by | Flint Dille |
| Voices of |
Susan Blu Roscoe Lee Browne Peter Cullen Jim Cummings Jennifer Darling Bernard Erhard Jonathan Harris Chris Latta Michael McConnohie Hal Rayle Neil Ross Beau Weaver |
| Narrated by | Malachi Throne |
| Composer(s) | Thomas Chase Jones Steve Rucker |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Tom Griffin C.J. Kettler Yutaka Fujikoa |
| Running time | 22 min. |
| Production company(s) |
Hasbro Sunbow Productions TMS Entertainment |
| Distributor | Hasbro Studios |
| Release | |
| Original network | first-run syndication |
| Original release | September 21 – December 14, 1987 |
Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light was a media franchise consisting of a line of action figures from Hasbro, released in 1987, and its related promotional tie-ins, which included a comic book series published by Star Comics and, the better known of the two, a half-hour animated television series made by Sunbow Productions in the same year.
The toyline was not very successful, which led to both the series and the comic being cancelled after short runs. The comic lasted only 6 issues, and was cancelled halfway through a four-part storyline. The animated series lasted one season of 13 episodes, and was not picked up for a second, possibly because all Sunbow cartoons came to an end after The Transformers' season 4 three-parter "The Rebirth", and G.I. Joe: The Movie, when Sunbow lost its contract and did not get it renewed.
Visionaries is the only Hasbro property to be produced by Sunbow on their own, without the aid of Marvel Productions. Sunbow also used TMS Entertainment, in Japan for the overseas animation work for this show.
The story is set on the planet Prysmos, an advanced society where all electronics have failed and the people are forced to rely on the old magics. The Visionaries consist of two groups of knights — the Spectral Knights and the Darkling Lords. Everyone who wishes to gain magic is invited to a competition by the wizard, Merklynn. After surviving traps, dangerous creatures, and each other, survivors on both sides are rewarded. The front plate of their armor is embedded with unique animal totems, which they can turn into. The animals were selected by Merklynn based on their personalities or abilities they exhibited during the competition.
Knights that had staffs were told to dip them into an energy well, enchanting them with various magic; its power activated by the holder reciting a special verse. Any staff-wielding knight can activate any staff, as long as he casts the spell properly. In one episode, Darkstorm made use of Leoric's staff, while in another, Cryotek used three different power staffs; his own, and those of Witterquick and Cindarr. In the comics, the staffs could be used as many times as needed, without any need to recharge them, but in the cartoon, only one use was permitted before they needed to return to Iron Mountain to recharge them - which caused a lot of tension, particularly on the part of Darkstorm.
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