Tales from the Flipside

From Video To Radio: Kidd Video from A Pre-Teen Perspective.
On
December 17, 2006
Before the Backstreet Boys, before N Sync, and even before New Kids on the Block there was a group of four kids who took the world by storm. Bryan Scott, Robbie Rist, Steve Alterman, and Gabrielle Bennett made up the pop band Kidd Video. Their brand of love ballads, and rocking songs were aimed at the pre-teen market. Boy howdy did they ever get the point across with their music. This article is set to explore the pre-teen pop phenominon that is Kidd Video.



Back in 1984 NBC started a little known cartoon show called Kidd Video which follows the adventures of a pop band who, through no fault of their own, gets sucked into a cartoon dimension called the Flipside. The kids go on all kinds of crazy adventures while trying to avoid Master Blaster and the Copy Cats. Their goal is to find their way out of the Flipside and back home.

Kidd Video (Voiced by Bryan Scott)



Bryan Scott's character Kidd Video is the appointed leader of the group who always managed to get the team out of every single scrape. Bryan was a musician in real life and played the lead guitar and sang vocals. I always had such a crush on Bryan that it wasn't even funny anymore and I was only 7 when the show started in 1984.

Wiz (Voiced by Robbie Rist)



I almost feel sorry for Robbie because he was type cast as one character.... Cousin Oliver on the Brady Bunch. Then the fame of Kidd Video made him fall into the trappings that fame gives you. Robbie has said many times that money didn't always bring him happiness. He fell into a world of drug and alcohol addiction. Now Robbie is a keyboardist in another band and has done voice over work that includes Michaelangelo in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.


Ash [Voiced by Steve Alterman]



Steve plays keyboards and saxaphone. His character Ash is a bit of a schmuck who almost went home to the real world but then he gave it up after he saw that his friends were not coming back.


Carla (Voiced by Gabrielle Bennett)



An interesting note that I've come across is that unlike the three guys in Kidd Video Gabrielle wasn't a musician in real life and had to fake playing the drums. Her character Carla was the drummer and vocalist in the band.



Glitter (Voiced by Cathy Cavadini)



Glitter is the analgisic fairy who comes up to the gang and sneezes them out of Master Blaster's grasp. She has been responsible for getting the gang out of every tight scrape that they seem to come across in the Flipside.
The Bad Guys.

No show would be complete without the bad guys and Kidd Video had several bad guys that were always trying to capture Kidd Video etal.

Master Blaster (Voiced By Peter Renaday)



Master Blaster rules the Flipside with an iron fist. He's the one who pulls Kidd Video into the Flipside and tries to turn them into his musical slaves.

The Copy Cats



The Copy Cats consisted of

She-Lion (Voiced by Susan Silo)



The Lovable but dimwitted She-Lion is the leader of the Cool Cats. She is pretty vain and almost always needs to "do her nails."

Fat Kat (Voiced by Marshall Efron)



Fat Kat always has a sandwich in his hand. Is true to his name and always a bit of a suck up to Master Blaster.

Kool Kitty (Voiced by Robert Towers)



Kool Kitty almost always wears sun glasses and tells the others to "take a nap."

Music Videos

At the end of every episode of Kidd Video there was a music video designed to promote the band in a positive light. The music videos were shot in real-life and were in very notable locations.

Kidd Video represents all that is good in the 80s and while some people hate this show for unknown reasons others such as myself wished that this show never ended. I hope that this gives some insight as to why the pre-teen and even the teen market go for things like this because it's the "flavour of the year."
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