Amazing Extraordinary Friends
Encyclopedia
The Amazing Extraordinary Friends is a New Zealand children's program featuring the adventures of a modern day superhero
teenage boy and his friends.
The protagonist
is a teenage boy called Ben Wilson who finds out about a superhero insignia which gives him powers. He has difficulty with them, especially flight
and using eye lasers at first, but soon learns to control them fairly well. His grandfather is also a superhero, and this is how he comes to acquire the insignia. His mother hates all the superhero business going on for the sake of safety, but his father and stepfather both encourage him, his father being the previous superhero in Ben's position, Captain Xtraordinary or simply Captain X, and his stepfather being the son of a supervillain
, The Comedian. The position, it is found out in the show, has been held by many heroes in the past.
The villain
s in the series are Nemesis, a group led by an old villain and a recently converted hero, Ice, who used to be Blaze in her former era working alongside the former Captain X. The Nemesis group operate in a skyscraper
office block known as Nemesis Headquarters and use computers, suggesting they have updated since the old times. A loose idea of a "new age of superheroes" is suggested throughout the series. They use stormtrooper
s with skull like masks and breathing apparatus. The Nemesis group have many villains under their wing and it is run by Renfield, the main villain in the series who Ice assists in his constant plan to get the ensignia.
Ben Wilson and his friends attend City Central College, run by Principal Locum. At school Ben and his friends are bullied. Often the plot will involve the school or an event at it.
The plot generally involves the insignia, the main target for possession by Nemesis. It is discovered in the series that the power giving insignia, which merges with a persons chest and in the case of Captain Xtraordinary creates a costume as well, is made of Unobtainium, a highly unstable element created by an exiled university scientist. Unobtainium can also, it is discovered, power a ready made suit. The insignia was created using the Unobtainium, which only existed naturally during a short period after the creation of the universe
. Aliens claim to have made it and these resemble humans, even using English as their language of choice.
The show uses several minor devices from the classic superhero/supervillain genre
, including tags like Nemesis Headquarters or Ben Wilson's House in the same manner as in changing a location in a comic book. Also background music and sound accompaniment is often done in the style of animated superhero series.
The series is set in a fictional city called City Central, filmed in Auckland
.
It is currently being shown on ABC television
in Australia
on weekdays at 5:30 pm.
Season 3 was shot in 2008 but was not shown until 2010.
The Wired Chronicles, an online miniseries based on the show, is currently available to view on tvnz ondemand. Another online miniseries 'Origins' is also planned.
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
teenage boy and his friends.
The protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
is a teenage boy called Ben Wilson who finds out about a superhero insignia which gives him powers. He has difficulty with them, especially flight
Flight
Flight is the process by which an object moves either through an atmosphere or beyond it by generating lift or propulsive thrust, or aerostatically using buoyancy, or by simple ballistic movement....
and using eye lasers at first, but soon learns to control them fairly well. His grandfather is also a superhero, and this is how he comes to acquire the insignia. His mother hates all the superhero business going on for the sake of safety, but his father and stepfather both encourage him, his father being the previous superhero in Ben's position, Captain Xtraordinary or simply Captain X, and his stepfather being the son of a supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
, The Comedian. The position, it is found out in the show, has been held by many heroes in the past.
The villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
s in the series are Nemesis, a group led by an old villain and a recently converted hero, Ice, who used to be Blaze in her former era working alongside the former Captain X. The Nemesis group operate in a skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
office block known as Nemesis Headquarters and use computers, suggesting they have updated since the old times. A loose idea of a "new age of superheroes" is suggested throughout the series. They use stormtrooper
Stormtrooper
Stormtroopers were specialist soldiers of the German Army in World War I. In the last years of the war, Stoßtruppen were trained to fight with "infiltration tactics", part of the Germans' new method of attack on enemy trenches...
s with skull like masks and breathing apparatus. The Nemesis group have many villains under their wing and it is run by Renfield, the main villain in the series who Ice assists in his constant plan to get the ensignia.
Ben Wilson and his friends attend City Central College, run by Principal Locum. At school Ben and his friends are bullied. Often the plot will involve the school or an event at it.
The plot generally involves the insignia, the main target for possession by Nemesis. It is discovered in the series that the power giving insignia, which merges with a persons chest and in the case of Captain Xtraordinary creates a costume as well, is made of Unobtainium, a highly unstable element created by an exiled university scientist. Unobtainium can also, it is discovered, power a ready made suit. The insignia was created using the Unobtainium, which only existed naturally during a short period after the creation of the universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
. Aliens claim to have made it and these resemble humans, even using English as their language of choice.
The show uses several minor devices from the classic superhero/supervillain genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
, including tags like Nemesis Headquarters or Ben Wilson's House in the same manner as in changing a location in a comic book. Also background music and sound accompaniment is often done in the style of animated superhero series.
The series is set in a fictional city called City Central, filmed in Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
.
It is currently being shown on ABC television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on weekdays at 5:30 pm.
Season 3 was shot in 2008 but was not shown until 2010.
The Wired Chronicles, an online miniseries based on the show, is currently available to view on tvnz ondemand. Another online miniseries 'Origins' is also planned.
Characters
| Character | Actor |
|---|---|
| Ben Wilson/Captain X | Carl Dixon |
| Roy Bottle/Nitelite | Patrick Morrison |
| Shani Rai/Wired | Robyn Maclean |
| Harry Seaforth/Green Termite | David McPhail David McPhail David Alexander McPhail, ONZM, QSM is a New Zealand comedic actor and writer. He is most famous for the political satire show McPhail and Gadsby in which he co-starred with Jon Gadsby.... |
| Vicki Van Horton | Hannah Marshall |
| Dominic Renfield | Stuart Devenie Stuart Devenie Stuart Forbes Devenie is an actor and theatre director in New Zealand whose career spans three decades on stage and screen. He has performed in theatre productions nationally and internationally. In the 1980s, he was the Artistic Director of Centrepoint Theatre in Palmerston North and has been a... |
| Blaze/Ice | Tyler Jane Mitchell |
| Laura Wilson | Madeleine Lynch |
| Dave Ruben | John Leigh |
| Mayor Jackson | Peter Feeney |
| Victor Zeno | Johnny Barker Johnny Barker (actor) Johnny Barker is a New Zealand actor and professional musician. As a musician, he is currently focusing on his solo project after the breakup of his previous band, Nephew.-Early life:... |
| Cosmonaut/Alien#2 | Campbell Cooley Campbell Cooley -Early life:He attended the University of Louisville where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre. For several years he worked as a stage actor and director.-Acting career:... |