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For information regarding chemicals used as fuel in space shuttles, see
Rocket propellant.
Rocket Power is a cartoon from United States that aired from August 16, 1999 until July 30, 2004 on Nickelodeon. It is the thirteenth Nicktoon overall.
Premise
Rocket Power involves the daily situations of a group of best friends named Otto, Reggie, Twister, and Sam as they live in the fictional town of Ocean Shores, California, a beach front city based on Oceanside, California. The characters often take part in a variety of sports and activities including surfing, rollerblading, snowboarding, skateboarding, street hockey, and street luge. The show has gained a very large cult following in the years after its original broadcast.
Characters
Main characters
- Oswald "Otto" Rocket (Joseph Ashton), An obsessive-compulsive and greatly successful, courageous athlete whose cocky attitude and short-sighted judgment often got him into trouble. Otto is shown in the opening theme wearing an earring, though he never wears one in the main show. Otto doesn't try hard in school and as a result he is held back. He is Twister's best friend. He is the most well rounded character in extreme sports, and also the leader and chief idea-starter of the group.
- Regina "Reggie" Rocket (Shayna Fox), Otto's older sister by two years, Reggie is an aspiring publisher who, while no less competitive and skillful as an "athlete," happens to be of calmer disposition and greater maturity. Reggie is most noted for her "magazine" (dubbed "The Zine").
- Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez (Ulises Cuadra; Gilbert Leal), Otto's best friend and a "daredevil" on wheels and aspiring "videographer." He hates to be called by his real name. He is often seen being teased by his big brother Lars. Twister's reputation of being the most unintelligent member of the group is one of his flaws. Twister is best at street luge, skateboarding and rollerblading.
- Samuel "Squid" Dullard (Gregory Sobosinski; Sam Saletta; Gary LeRoi Gray; Sean Marquette; Mike Lane), a Hutchinson, Kansas native, who while not as athletically gifted as the others, has found a niche as the brains and conscience of the group—and also as a "rock-solid" goalie when they play hockey ("New Squid in Town", "Power Play"). Sam's reputation of being the smartest member of the group is, at times, one of his flaws. The character of Sam is based on the show's creator. Sam's mom is over-protective, and she has forced Sam to skip the 5th grade. Sam was originally the least athletic character, but eventually developed an expert level of surfing and decent abilities in other sports.
Secondary characters
- Raymond "Ray" Rocket (often called "Raymundo") (Johnny Kassir), father of Otto and Reggie and the owner of the Shore Shack. Ray is a 44 years old, a widower and also a surfer of no renown. He drives a "vintage Woodie." The 'Woodie' is a 1962 Mercury but it is not clear whether or not Mercury ever built 'Woodies' in that model year. In Rocket Power: The Big Day Ray and Tito's cousin Noelani get married and this allows Reggie and Otto to have a new mom.
- Tito Makani Jr. (Ray Bumatai), a Hawaiian surfer and self-styled philosopher who helps his best friend Ray run the business. He has a young nephew who occasionally visits from the islands, named Keoni Makani (professional surfer Matty Liu), who has appeared in a few episodes.
- Lars Rodriguez (Lombardo Boyar), Twister's elder brother, who routinely picks on him and the kids. Lars has his own group of friends. When they compete against the Rockets, they usually end up losing. Deep down Lars is jealous of Twister and his friends, but he'll never admit it.
- Eddie Valentine (Jordan Warkol), the self-styled "Prince of the Netherworld," is an occasional participant in the Rockets' activities and a frequent target of Lars' bullying. The son of a magician couple, he favors an outfit of a hooded cloak and a "scary" mask.
- Oliver Van Rossun (David Gallagher) is at first Sam's main rival in smarts, but became a close friend to the gang along with Eddie. He never played sports, and was only into academics until he met Sam. In the episode where Oliver met Sam, it was made clear that he would rather watch a documentary of a "dung beetle rolling dung balls" than participate in physical activity.
- Officer Shirley (CCH Pounder) is the only noted police officer in Ocean Shores, and does what she can to keep the peace. A minor character, a relationship between her and Raymundo was implied numerous times in the show, usually by means of pet names. She refers to Raymundo as "Big Ray".
- Trish and Sherry (both voiced by Lauren Tom), Reggie's best friends, surfers, and members of the state volleyball team. Both had peripheral importance to the plot, and appeared in a handful of stories.
- Mackenzie Benders (Rosslynn Taylor), The five-year-old ankle-biter. She continually annoys and torments up the members of "the gang", but has a crush on Twister.
- Conroy Blanc (Obba Babatunde), Owner of the skate park, Madtown, who later becomes Otto and Twister's teacher at their school. Conroy's parents were apparently vindictive, as shown in one episode, when Conroy was intent on finding the person(s) responsible for ruining a newly-poured cement skate ramp in Madtown Skate Park. It was Twister who made an imprint in the wet cement by accidentally falling into it face-first; he was attempting to write his initials in it before it set. He is originally from Jamaica.
- Merv and Violet Stimpleton (Henry Gibson and Edie McClurg) The Rockets' neighbors. Merv is apparently retired and tries to live a life of leisure, but becomes easily frustrated with almost everyone, especially with the Rocket gang. Because of this, he has the Madtown Skate Park opened so that the kids can skate without disturbing anyone. Merv is usually depicted as angry and somewhat eccentric (leading in one episode to Otto and Twister thinking him to be a space alien), although he does have a friendly side, particularly towards his wife. Violet is quite the opposite, always smiling and cheerful. Her pride and joy is growing violets in her garden. She is also a prolific cook, though her food is not always edible.
- Bree "Breezy" Copely A traveling journalist who works for an outdoor adventure/lifestyle magazine, which is not named in the show. Ray has an obvious crush on her and it is implied that there would be a relationship if she wasn't constantly traveling. She only appears in two episodes, and is never heard from again.
- Doug Dullard Sam's estranged father who works in the corporate industry. He is rarely seen, as it's implied that he's always working, which clouds his better judgment. He tries to be the "cool dad" by including Sam's friends in their plans, but it ends up with him talking on his cell phone and ignoring Sam. Though he may seem neglectful, he does have good intentions. He almost seems like a stock character, the neglectful parent who cares about their child in the end, which is noted in the episode where he is the main focus; at the end he throws his ringing cellphone into the back seat of the car as a gesture to Sam that he really does care about him.
- Noelani Makani Rocket (Kim Mai Guest) Tito's cousin. Ray's new wife and Reggie and Otto's stepmom. We meet her in Rocket Power: Island of the Menehune. She has been cautious ever since Ray's first wife Danni was killed in a Surfing Accident when Reggie and Otto were little. Noelani was Danni's best friend until the time of her death. Noelani and Ray get married in Rocket Power: The Big Day.
- Lt. Ryan Lifeguard who has appeared in several episodes.
Tony Hawk (voiced by Tony Hawk) He only appeared once. The rocket power gang skateboarded with him. Otto wanted him to come out of retirement, but it ended up that it was only a rumor.
Television films
Main articles: Rocket Power: Race Across New Zealand, Rocket Power: Island of the Menehune, and Rocket Power: The Big Day
Another television film based on the series, Reggie's Big (Beach) Break, centering on a spring-break type sports and music beach festival, aired on Nickelodeon in July 2003.
Otto is a playable in Nicktoons: Pirate Planet.
Other projects
Other projects related to Rocket Power and developed under the aegis of Klasky-Csupo and/or Nickelodeon have included video games like 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 spring 2002, before being canceled over low ticket sales (it had originally been scheduled to tour about 40 cities all over the U.S., all the way into the fall).
Episodes
List of Rocket Power episodes
Rocket Power Media
A Rocket Power Golden Book has been made along with other video games such as:
- Rocket Power: Beach Bandits (NGC, PS2, GBA)
- Rocket Power: Dream Scheme (GBA)
- Rocket Power: Zero Gravity (GBA)
- Rocket Power: Team Rocket Rescue (PS)
Otto and Reggie were playable characters in the Nickelodeon game Nickelodeon Party Blast. Otto was then a playable character in Nicktoons Racing and Nicktoons: Freeze Frame Frenzy. Reggie was then playable in Nicktoons Basketball for PC.
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