Action Man is an American children's animated/live-action television series, created by DIC Productions, L.P. and Bohbot Entertainment. The cartoon is based on the Hasbro toy line of the same name. The show also featured live action segments before and after the main show, which were filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood and Florida.
Set in a fictional version of the post-Cold War world where the United Nations has been replaced by the World Security Council after the dissolution of the Soviet Union from which was followed then by the rapid decline of the already known political tensions between some nations and conflicts being waged around the world, leading to the rise of a steady peace in their place. However, what seems to be considered the build-up to world peace, that is slowly happening, is constantly threatened by an international paramilitary terrorist organisation since its emergence. The organisation is staffed by mercenary soldiers called "Skullmen", whose loyalty is to their leader, an evil mastermind who operates under the mysterious phantom identity of Doctor X. Doctor X is determined to achieve his ultimate goal of conquering the world and ruling it with an iron fist, but the only thing that's stopping him and his army of Skullmen from achieving world domination is the Action Team, an elite multinational military task force created by the leader of the World Security Council, Secretary General Norris, that is tasked with stopping all schemes overseen by Doctor X and have the responsibility of capturing him.
The series revolves around the title character Action Man, a British national and the field leader of an elite multinational military task force called "The Action Team", who fight against the evil terrorist Dr. X and his army of Skullmen, an organisation whose goal is world domination. Before joining the Action Team, Action Man was already an enemy of Dr. X and had been pursuing his own personal mission of thwarting Dr. X's operations and trying to capture him, all while doing so without being affiliated with any law enforcement agencies or military forces. In his last mission of his solo career, Action Man fought Dr. X at a chalet in Switzerland while also crossing paths with his then future team-mates of Action Team: Natalie, Knuck and Jacques. The battle resulted in the building being set on fire, Dr. X escaping and Action Man being rescued along with Jacques by Natalie and Knuck before the chalet exploded. However Dr. X was able to shoot a brain wipe serum that made contact with Action Man's skin which caused him to have amnesia. Because his team-mates only heard Dr. X address him as "Action Man" on that night they first saw him it became his name from then on. Since then, Action Man tries to follow every lead he can to piece together the clues and recover his forgotten past whenever a random memory of his returns, all while he and Action Team stop Dr. X and his organisation from conquering the world.
Action Team are based on an orbiting space station called Space Station Extreme where travelling to and from it is by their high tech aircraft Jet Extreme, which they also use to travel to any part of the world where they are needed.
Each time a forgotten memory returns to Action Man he'll go to a secret base called "Base Paradise", which is hidden underground on an uninhabited island, where inside there is a machine that Action Man uses to undergo a virtual memory scan in which he enters a virtual simulated mindscape where he views the memory in vivid detail. The machine operates with an artificial intelligence named Vira, whose role is that of an assistant in the mindscape that provides Action Man with information and insight on unlocked memories when he's exploring them. To enter the mindscape, Action Man must wear a virtual reality suit and headset and stand inside a chamber that is a part of the machine, once inside he then gives Vira the verbal command to activate the virtual memory scan.
Action Man is a member of an elite multinational task force named the Action Team (not Action Force) who fight against the terrorist Dr. X and his evil organisation that is not called the "Council of Doom" in the TV series.
The show introduced several new teammates for Action Man which were then made into toys. The action figures of Natalie Poole and Knuck have become very rare collector's items. At Joecon 2010, a convention exclusive Q-Force action figure of Natalie Poole was released.
In November 2001, Lions Gate Home Entertainment and Trimark Home Video released two VHS tapes titled "Secret of Action Man" and "Action Man in Space", containing two episodes each. A DVD also titled Action Man in Space was also released, containing the same four episodes as the VHS tapes. None of these DVDs contain the live-action segments.
In 2003, Sterling Entertainment released a DVD called "Space Wars". It was re-released by NCircle Entertainment in 2007. As with the Lions Gate releases, this DVD doesn't feature the live-action segments either.
In February 2015, Mill Creek Entertainment released Action Man - The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 as part of their "Retro TV Toons" series. This marked the first time all episodes of the show had received a DVD release.
In the United Kingdom, the series was released on VHS by Abbey Home Entertainment/PolyGram and later Just Entertainment and Abbey Home Media.
The episodes were also released on DVD by Abbey Home Media, with two releases from Prism Leisure, but the episodes on the DVDs are in a random order, and many episodes have been released numerous times while several have not been released at all. This has caused confusion amongst many fans.
In France, Spain and The Netherlands, VHS tapes of the series were released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment, once again usually containing two episodes.