The benefits of having your own column is the ability to choose whatever you’d like as a topic. I usually strive to make things coincide with anniversaries, release dates or news about a given subject, but I’ve also indulged my own desires to write about something that I want to write about.

Well, today we have a topic that satisfies both criteria!

Street Sharks turned 28 this week and was one of may favorite shows to watch growing up in the 90s. It also has the unique distinction of also being one of those shows was rare knowledge even amongst my peers.

The show aired from 1994 to 1997 and was made (like many at the time) to promote a line of action figures. It was one of many shows to follow in the wake of theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles popularity involving teams of anthropomorphic superheroes with weird names and plots.

I was made aware of the series via the toys growing up and a VHS that combined the first three episodes of the show into a feature length format.

The first episode introduces us to Dr. Robert Bolton, a university professor, breaking into a facility ran by his partner Dr. Luther Paradigm. Paradigm intends to use a device the pair invented for personal gain, this device is called a “gene-slammer” and works by changing the DNA of an organism to resemble another. Paradigm uses this procedure on a swordfish and a lobster, and then on Dr. Bolton after the latter tries to stop him. This causes Bolton to become some unseen monster that ultimate escapes.

Dr. Bolton’s sons (from oldest to youngest) John, Clint, Bobby, and Coop go looking for their father and meet Paradigm who has the four captured (courtesy of his mutated monsters Slash and Slobster) and geneslammed. The procedure at first appears to not work and Paradigm has the brothers disposed of by dumping them in a spillway.

The four awaken soon mutate into shark/human hybrids, and later assuming new (marketable) names. John becomes a great white shark and takes the name Ripster; Clint becomes a hammerhead and takes the name Jab; Bobby a tiger shark taking the name Streex (although he was called Blades in the toyline); and Coop becomes whale shark nicknamed Big Slammu. The four find themselves pursued by the authorities, especially after Paradigm claims they are dangerous and lies that their father was responsible for their current condition.

The four would even eventually face off with Paradigm and the doctor’s attempt to make them more aggressive and controllable via the use of piranha DNA backfires after the doctor accidentally injects himself (assuming piranha like features whenever angry and the unflattering nickname Dr. Piranoid).

The series would see the four battling Paradigm, all the while searching for their missing father. What I think I enjoyed most about revisiting the show was the focus on a continual storyline alongside the usual “evil plot of the week” that Paradigm would have. However, the show would eventually lose this focus (and even ditch a few supporting characters without any warning) in favor of introducing new characters to sell toys of.

That is kind of the cynical thing about cartoons of that era, they are ultimately funded and made with the purpose of selling merchandise and even if they have a story that might be engaging to a degree, it is always secondary to the all mighty dollar.

The show did have its fair share of problems internally as well. While the first few episodes in season one looked really good for the time, a majority of episodes were animated by what I call the “b-team” as there was a cheaper look to them and a lot of cost saving measures (such as shaking the “camera” to imply motion). The Street Sharks themselves also weren’t as distinct as their contemporaries the Ninja Turtles; don’t get me wrong though, they had separate personalities to a degree, but were largely the same 90s extreme dialed to 11 guy.

That said, warts and all, the coolest thing this show added to pop culture was the “shark dive”. The shark dive was a means the four would use to get around by diving underneath the street and “swimming” through the ground with their fins visible above ground.

How do they accomplish this? Are they eating the concrete? What is even the physics of that?

Who cares!? It was awesome when I was 3, it is awesome still at 30.

You can find most of this show on YouTube now, but there are a few DVDs floating around out there.

Next week, we take a look at the 80th anniversary of an obscure cartoon that got a second life amongst the internet.