Drama
When Hope Calls
When Hope Calls brings a certain hopeful element to the greater TV landscape, offering families a show that elicits warm, happy feelings without relying upon tawdry content.
Kid Cosmic is just your average, sometimes annoying, way-too-big-of-an-imagination kid. But as big as his imagination might be, the reality he finds himself in can sometimes do him one better.
After a battle in space drops five mysterious stones of power on Earth, Kid finds them and takes them for his own. He’s tired of being the weird kid down the road. He wants to be a superhero, and these space rocks might just be his answer.
Well-versed in everything heroic (thanks to hours spent reading comic books), Kid manages to activate the stones (which he turns into rings) through meditation. “Freakin’ out? Breathe it out,” he chants, remembering the mantra of his grandpa, Papa G. And with that, his adventure begins.
Kid assembles a team of Heroes, each with a ring of power, and together, they become the new protectors of Earth.
Kid Cosmic is all about saving the world from bad guys (of which there are many). And we see these bad guys on screen in all their creepy, multiple-eyed, bug-faced alien glory. They carry weapons that can vaporize people (and other aliens) in seconds. But the powers of the stones are stronger.
Ranging in power from telekinesis and teleportation to predicting the future and turning the user into goo, the stones create a diverse group of fighters. But as the team discovers, being a hero isn’t necessarily about having superpowers. It’s about being willing to make sacrifices, being there for your friends and believing in yourself.
Characters will occasionally get mad at each other, call each other names, or (in the case of aliens) make death threats. Some of the younger Heroes can be rude to their caretakers—and sometimes these same caretakers allow it to occur unchallenged. It should also be noted that Kid is an orphan who was raised by his grandpa. Sometimes, he gets mad and throws a tantrum. But he apologizes for his behavior, unable to explain why he got so angry to begin with but understanding and wanting to do better. And, as I mentioned, the show features magic and just a bit of meditation as well.
Beyond that, families watching Kid Cosmic really only need to be wary of the cosmic battles taking place between humans, aliens and more aliens.
After the rings of power lose their potency, Kid Cosmic and the Global Heroes are ordered to forget all their space adventures.
Kid has a hard time accepting the end of the Heroes. He throws a few tantrums and even tries to destroy a newly reopened diner of one of the Heroes. When adults try to reason with him, he explains that it’s not about what he lost, it’s about the truth, and that Earth deserves to know it. After this, the grown-ups listen and decide that sharing the truth with the world is better than living a lie.
A space cat arrives on Earth with kittens, and it’s strongly hinted that the kittens are the offspring of an Earth cat. Someone litters. A giant check blows up (nobody is harmed). We hear a single use of “d–n” and a few uses of “heck.” Kid also exclaims, “What the …” a few times.
Kid Cosmic and the Local Heroes are promoted to Global Heroes after saving Earth from planetary disaster.
Superheroes fight against bad guys, and both parties get beaten up by superpowers. A few civilians also get knocked down. However, nobody is permanently injured.
A man rubs a crystal for luck. A boy says protecting Earth is his “sacred” duty.
We hear about a ring of power passing through a dog’s system after he accidentally swallowed it.
After finding five stones of power, Kid turns them into rings in order to become a superhero.
We witness a space battle between aliens and a spaceship crash lands on Earth, presumably killing the pilot. Kid and Jo use the power of their rings and an alien gun to vaporize a giant, evil, dog-like alien. Kid and Jo both have difficulty controlling their rings, experiencing some crashes and tumbles while getting the hang of them. (Kid accidentally electrocutes himself with jumper cables while trying to activate his ring, for instance.)
Kid is chased out of diner that he has been banned from. Jo is somewhat sassy toward her mom, and her disdain for waitressing is obvious. She also makes a fake phone call to trick her mom. Kid throws a temper tantrum and throws several of his possessions around in anger. We see a biker with a skull on her jacket and walking stick. Jo spots an article about the accident that killed Kid’s parents. Kid vomits offscreen twice.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
When Hope Calls brings a certain hopeful element to the greater TV landscape, offering families a show that elicits warm, happy feelings without relying upon tawdry content.
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