The Kids From C.A.P.E.R.

"The Kids From C.A.P.E.R." was a Saturday morning live action television comedy series for children, produced by NBC, that aired from September 11, 1976 to November 20, 1976 and resumed from April 9, 1977 to September 3, 1977. The show produced only 13 episodes and was produced and directed by Stanley Z. Cherry (deceased), who directed and/or wrote episodes for previous television series', including The Monkees, which is said to be the show that inspired "The Kids From C.A.P.E.R."

Although the show was never released on video, there was an LP of most of the songs from the series (omitting the theme song) released by Kirschner Records and Tapes in 1977.

Premise

C.A.P.E.R. (The Civilian Authority for the Protection of Everybody, Regardless) consisted of four youths, P.T., Bugs, Doomsday and Doc, operating as an undercover division of the 927th Police Precinct in the town of Northeast South Weston, under the supervision of Chief Vinton. C.A.P.E.R. travelled about in a van known as the Big Bologna, a conspicuous vehicle (considering C.A.P.E.R. was an undercover division) due to a gigantic hot dog mounted on the roof.

Every episode generally followed the same pattern, the boys out solving some unrealistic crime, a beautiful girl that usually had P.T., Bugs and Doc aggressively vying for her affections (the ever-innocuous Doomsday was never aggressive in anything) and a song featuring one of the boys while the rest sang back up, which was reprised just prior to the episode's end. A running gag during the series was the inevitable explanation of what the acronym C.A.P.E.R. stood for. The boys would adopt an almost military bearing and reply in unison, "The Civilian Authority for the Protection of Everybody...Regardless," and follow with a four-part harmonized "da-daah." (P.T., who was the last voice to join in, would improvise elaborately on his part.)

Of the team members, P.T. was the leader of the group, and the only character who broke the fourth wall, providing narration and exposition to the audience. Besides his skill with gadgetry, P.T. had an extraordinary sense of smell. His nose, dubbed Seymour, was once able to track the scent of water across an entire city by smelling a soft drink that had spilled on his clothes. He could also produce a pitchpipe-like tuning note through his nose by depressing one nostril and exhaling through the unobstructed nostril. He was always seen wearing a khaki shirt (more resembling a short-sleeved safari jacket) with leopard-print collar and pocket flaps with an ascot.

Bugs possessed superhuman strength and speed. His abilities seemed to be a loose parody of The Six Million Dollar Man. For reasons that were never explained, Bugs reacted very strangely to the word "bananas." Upon hearing the word, he would immediately stop whatever he was doing, regardless of how dire the situation, and devolve into an incoherent and short-lived rage. One might say, the word "bananas" drove him bananas. Bugs always wore a white cap, a red and white striped shirt, white pants and mukluks.

The ironically-named Doomsday was known for his unfailing gentleness, childlike disposition and good nature. He also had a Dr. Doolittle-like ability to speak to animals. He wore a black hooded sweatshirt and black pants.

Doc was the handsome romantic, noted for both his intelligence and charm. When women looked deeply into his eyes, they literally heard violins, bells, and thundering hoofbeats. He wore a blue vested suit with a white shirt, sans necktie and basketball shoes. Unlike the other members, Doc did not wear the trademark beltbuckle with a large blue letter "C" on it.

In addition to the four boys and their supervisor Chief Vinton, the regular cast also featured a milquetoast reporter named Klintsinger who persistently pursued C.A.P.E.R. in hopes of an exclusive.

The group's actual mentor was Mr. Featherstone, a shark who lived a fishtank in their headquarters in the Krelvin Building ("the tallest building in the world with no elevators"). He also had a tank inside the Big Bologna. An unrealistic-looking handpuppet who more closely resembled a child's plush toy than an actual shark, he spoke only in unintelligible gibberish although he often appeared to be singing along with the boys during the reprise of the episode's featured song.

Each episode began with a silent comedy vignette, with a cast member in voiceover giving "the secret word". This is usually a word that ended up being featured in the episode. At the end of the episode, another silent vignette would appear in which "the caper code" would be given in voice over -- a series of letters and numbers such as "E4, D2, C6, B6". This was presumably code for the next week's secret word.

At the start of the 1976-77 television season, The Kids from C.A.P.E.R. was part of a three-hour block of six live action shows that aired Saturday Morning on NBC, alongside Land of the Lost, which was entering its third season, and four other new shows: Monster Squad; McDuff, the Talking Dog; Big John, Little John; and Muggsy. NBC shook up this lineup in late November, cancelling McDuff and putting The Kids from C.A.P.E.R. on hiatus. The Kids from C.A.P.E.R. returned on April 9, 1977 and replaced the cancelled Muggsy in the lineup. Neither C.A.P.E.R. nor any of the other three remaining shows returned to the NBC lineup for the beginning of the 1977-78 television season.

Running jokes

The series was characterized by persistent running jokes, most of which appeared in some form in every episode. These include:
* Some reference to The Krelvin Building, which, it would be pointed out by all four in unison, is "the tallest building in the world with no elevator."
* Mr Featherstone, a shark who lived in a tank aboard The Big Bologna, who possessed a radar-like navigation sense and would emerge from his tank in a manner reminiscent of the JAWS poster, utter some gibberish which a cast member would invariably translate as "he says make a left at the next corner!"
* Overt "fourth wall" references to the fact that each episode has a girl guest star, or that one or another of the cast members is this episode's "love interest".
* Bugs' super strength seldom being of any use in practice -- any time he sets out to use it he is almost invariably rendered helpless by his vulnerability to the word "bananas", said either inadvertently by some innocent party -- typically the girl guest star -- or deliberately by the week's villain.

Lyrics to theme song

:If you've got a case that needs super detection,:Well, here come the C.A.P.E.R.s and we never lose.

:P.T. is first. (P.T.: I'm cool and I'm clever.):Just like a bloodhound, he'll sniff out the clues.

:Then there is Bugs (Bugs: I'm tough and I'm feisty.):He takes care of trouble, 'cause he's super strong.

:And Doomsday's the one who is all full of sunshine.:(Doomsday: Me and those animals sure get along.)

:And Doc, he's got the looks:And the brains to catch the crooks.:(Doc [spoken] : Ah, come on.)

:We're the Kids, we're the Kids, we're the Kids from C.A.P.E.R.:We'll race to your place on the case every time.:We're the Kids, we're the Kids, we're the Kids from C.A.P.E.R.:Four in a war, evermore against crime.

:(musical interlude)

:We're the Kids, we're the Kids, we're the Kids from C.A.P.E.R.:We'll race to your place on the case every time.:We're the Kids, we're the Kids, we're the Kids from C.A.P.E.R.:Four in a war, evermore against crime.

:We're the Kids, we're the Kids, we're the Kids from C.A.P.E.R.:We'll race to your place on the case every time.:We're the Kids, we're the Kids, we're the Kids from C.A.P.E.R.:Four in a war, evermore against crime.

:We're the Kids from C.A.P.E.R. (We look for the crooks):We're the Kids from C.A.P.E.R. (We handle the bad guys):We're the Kids from C.A.P.E.R. (We bug the thugs):We're the Kids from C.A.P.E.R. (Get the goods on the hoods)

Cast

P.T.: Steve Bonino
Bugs: Cosie Costa
Doomsday: Biff Warren (deceased)
Doc: John Lansing
Vinton: Robert Emhardt (deceased)
Klintsinger: Robert Lussier

External links

http://www.toonarific.com/show.php?show_id=6752
http://www.70slivekidvid.com/kids.htm