A dorky teenage boy finds an amulet, that turns him into a real life superhero, with powers. Where there are superheroes there are always super villains but with the help of his friends they don their masks to fight for justice. Being a superhero is every boy's dream but when you have to balance battling evil by night and attending school by day there's not enough time left for homework, or chores. Will he graduate high school, will he be able to save the world, will his arch nemises finally defeat him, does the amulet hold untapped powers, can he find a girlfriend, can they really all stay friends? Travel on Amazing Extraordinary adventures with the Amazing Extraordinary Friends! This is another attempt at trying to bring back the long dead and much too flogged horse genre of heroics. The protagonist, Ben Wilson, is a superhero, the latest holding the position and power giving 'ensignia' of Captain Xtraordinary. He battles the forces of evil in the form of Nemesis in a fictional city filmed in New Zealand using real locations under different names. This is hardly the best quality TV your'e going to see, and really isn't that entertaining. The stormtroopers and office blocks all make it try to seem grand and on a grand scale, but the action itself is, as with all of the 'superhero' genre, a tad on the small side. Nothing gets done and nothing needs to be. It's all a bunch of excuses for a pathetic battle scene. They could at least have made a proper 'comeback' for the genre rather than some story about a 'everyday' teenager. After all, who wants to watch a 'everyday' character? Two stars at best. One highlight is the opening credit graphics which feature 'comic book' style scenes which move smoothly in a pattern along with 'comic style' images of the cast. Maybe had it all been made in that style it'd be worth another star. Hopefully time has lent my fellow reviewers 10 years worth of perspective; they have somewhat missed the mark! This series doesn't punch below it's weight, nor is it a superhero reboot gone awry (wtf??). <br/><br/>The writing, acting and pacing are of a rare quality, comparable to those classic shows we miss with that pang of nostalgia; more so because of some of the gash currently on offer. The adventures really are well thought out so that the series interconnects, while episodes carry their own weight and identity too.<br/><br/>There's a chemistry here that's difficult to come by, which makes the show's short lifespan kind of understandable - things change quickly and so the magic withers. Some more robust marketing may have extended the show's audience but it's the lack of expectation which helps it exceed expectation x
Shanano replied
295 weeks ago