Max Steel is an American animated television series which originally aired from February 26, 2000, to January 15, 2002, based on the Mattel action-figure of the same name. Max Steel ran for three seasons, totaling thirty-five episodes. From 2004 to 2012, direct-to-DVD movies kept the presence of the main character alive. However, the first movie, Max Steel: Endangered Species, was the only one to keep the continuity of the series. After Endangered Species, the continuity was altered. Endangered Species was the only movie to be made available in America, while later releases were in Latin America. The voice-acting cast for the series included Chi McBride and Christian Campbell, as well as well-known sports stars such as Tony Hawk. After the bankruptcy of Netter Digital and Foundation Imaging, Mainframe Entertainment took over the productions of the third season and the movies. The last episode, "Truth Be Told", aired January 15, 2002. Max Steel was the first computer-generated series to air on Kids' WB. A reboot series premiered on Disney XD in 2013.

Backstory

Protagonist Josh McGrath (Campbell) is a 19-year-old fictional extreme sports teen star, whose parents died some time ago. He was later adopted by his father's best friend and partner, Jefferson Smith (McBride), who works in an extreme sports equipment manufacturing company which is in reality a façade for a secret counter-intelligence agency known as N-Tek. One night, while Josh was visiting his stepfather at work, a villain known as Psycho (Szarabajka) broke into the facility. The young McGrath faced him and a brief battle ensued, interrupted when Psycho shot a nearby containment unit of semi-liquid, microscopic Nano-Tech machines called "Max Probes". The nanomachines covered Josh, entering his body, integrating with his organic system, and (as they ran out of energy) started dying, siphoning Josh's life-critical energy as well. In an attempt to save his foster son, Jefferson Smith agrees to submit Josh to a high proportion of the transphasic energy (T-Juice), which the machines need to survive. This saved his life and also gave him superhuman abilities. As a result, Josh took on the identity of Max Steel and fights super-powered villains, mainly Mr. Dread (Jarvis), Psycho's evil boss, and the members of DREAD, his spy organization. Later, in the movies, they fight off mutants, robots, mad scientists, and monsters.

Episodes

Max Steel debuted on Kids' WB with the episode "Strangers" on February 26, 2000, and ended with episode "Truth Be Told" on January 15, 2002. The show ran for three seasons, totaling 35 episodes. The series can be found on DVD: Volume one contains episodes 1–6, Volume 2 contains episodes 7–13, and the final one is a box-set with all of season one. Seasons 2 and 3 were never released. VHS ones were made available with various "Max Steel" action figures: "Strangers," "Snow Blind," "Sphinxes," and "Old Friend, New Enemy" were sold. As of 2009, episodes of Max Steel can be found on Crackle's YouTube account; however, these are no longer accessible.

Characters

N-Tek and civilians

DREAD

Other villains

Movie villains

Principal voice actors

Additional voices

Crew

Series ending and continuity

After the official ending of the original series, due to the success of the action figure in Latin America, but the lack of response from United States market, Mattel removed Max Steel from the American market and focused on foreign markets only. As a result, after two years of absence, in partnership with Mattel, Sony Family Pictures Entertainment and Mainframe Entertainment (now Rainmaker Animation) continued with the animated adventures of Max Steel as a series of Direct to DVD movies and a collection of 1 minute video clips. Each movie or clip usually presents Max challenging one of his enemies, and was used initially as a way to keep the presence of Max on TV, but eventually became a way to promote a series of new toys. After their initial release on TV, the movies were included as bonus gifts in many Max Steel toys or rewards for other activities related to the toy series. Most of the TV ads were grouped under the name of Turbo Missions.

Reboot

In January 2012, it was reported Mattel and Freemantle Media were working on a new television series and reboot of the Max Steel television series, which will still retain the name, but feature different characters, villains, and an entirely new storyline. This time, the show follows a 16-year-old Tachyon-human hybrid named Maxwell "Max" McGrath and his alien "Ultralink" partner, Steel. Maxwell McGrath learns he has the power to generate "TURBO energy", which he struggles to contain until meeting Steel. Steel gives Maxwell the ability to harness his power while merging his own to create one unified super force. The action adventure series was launched on March 1, 2013, to audiences on Cartoon Network channels throughout Latin America, including Mexico, Brazil, Peru and Argentina. On October 5, 2012, it was confirmed that the series will air on Disney XD in the United States. Max Steel premiered Monday, March 25, 2013.