14 hours 26 minutes; $19.98;  Buy Link

It's Saturday morning, but it's nowhere near the Saturday mornings that I experienced during my childhood. I remember getting up bright & early, fixing a bowl of a cereal, and turning on the old television set, so I could watch my favorite Saturday morning cartoons. Now thanks to the Children's Television Act, networks have long since abandoned animated programming in exchange for local news. Yes, many cable channels still air cartoons, but it's just not the same as it was in 1980s and the early 1990s.

One my favorite animated series is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which ran for 10 seasons. The series popularity (as well as the Playmates toyline) started to decline in the early 1990s; just around the time a ripoff of sorts arrived - Street Sharks!

Mattel released a line of mutant sharks action figures in 1994, which was mostly likely inspired by the success of TMNT. Of course to help sell the toys, a cartoon series was created! Produced by DIC Entertainment, the series aired from 1994 to 1997, lasting three seasons with a total of 40 episodes.

The premise of the series centered around two scientist, Dr. Robert Bolton and Dr. Luther Paradigm, who created a "gene-slammer" machine which can successfully mix aquatic creatures DNA with human DNA, creating anthropomorphic hybrids. Dr. Paradigm is mad and plans on using the machine to create his own species. He transforms Dr. Bolton into a creature, who escapes. Later, Dr Luther Paradigm lures Dr. Bolton's sons (John, Bobby, Coop, and Clint) into his lair and splices their DNA with sharks.

To make a long story short, John, Bobby, Coop, and Clint become mutant sharks. Most people would be freaked out by this, but they take it pretty well. Actually, they enjoy being mutants. John becomes Ripster, Bobby becomes Streex, Coop becomes Big Slammu, and Clint becomes Jab. Along with their pals Lena Mack and Bends, the brothers set out to stop Dr. Paradigm's (who becomes a
piranha mutant) evil plans.


A short-lived comic series from Archie Comics debuted in 1996. An animated spinoff,  Extreme Dinosaurs, debuted in 1997 for one season of 52 episodes.

Mill Creek Entertainment released the entire Street Shark series on DVD in 2013, but is now out-of-print. Not to worry, as they re-released "The Complete Series" early this year and for the very first time, the series is also available on Digital through the Mill Creek Entertainment website. A free digital code is included with the three-disc DVD set.

Street Sharks: The Complete Series
Voices: Terry Berner, Pam Carter, Matt Hill, Jim Hoggatt, J. Michael Lee, Andrew Rannells, Lee Tockar, D. Kevin Williams, Tony Wike
Studio: Mills Creek Entertainment
Release Date: February 19, 2013
ASIN: B00AQ590IC
Retail: $12.98
Running Time: 14 hours 47 minutes
Rated: TV-Y7

Review: 

Animation series conquered the television screens during the 1980s until the mid 1990s. Growing up during that time period, I watched dozens of cartoon series, but by the mid 1990s I was out of my cartoon stage and became interested in other stuff. Now as an adult, I have taken an interest in revisiting the cartoons that I grew up with and others that I never got a chance to watch. One those series was Street Sharks that aired from 1994-1996. The complete series has recently been released to DVD for the first time from Mill Creek Entertainment, who sent me a complementary copy in exchange for my honest review.

Street Sharks was based on the Mattel toy-line of the same name. The main plot involved Dr. Paradigm experimenting on gene-manipulation. His assistant, Dr. Robert Bolton, tried to destroy his research, but ended up being mutated before escaping the lab. Bolton's sons, John, Bobby, Coop, and Clint, investigated his disappearance, but were kidnapped by Dr. Paradigm, who turned them into sharks.

The rest of the series focused on the brothers', now known as Ripster, Jab, Streex, and Big Slammu, attempts at capturing Dr. Paradigm, so he could return them back to their human form. Each episode has Dr. Paradigm turning people into mutants and the brothers must stop them.

The 40 episodes on the two disc set are: