Mummies Alive
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"A little boy name Presley found a secret out this year. That he was once a pharaoh when egyptians ruled the world. Now a sorcerer named Scarab tries to get him day and night. But Presley has four guardians to protect his very life." |
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Mummies Alive! is an animated series from DiC Entertainment that ran for one season with forty two episodes.
Presley Carnavon from San Francisco finds himself the reincarnation of Prince Rapses and as such inherits four mummy bodyguards who "With the Strength of Ra!" defend him from the evil sorcerer Scarab - who is constantly trying to use the boy's soul to become immortal.
He usually fails, as his snake familiar Heka is quick to point out.
Tropes used in Mummies Alive include:
- Action Girl: Nefer-tina, who fights right alongside the other three guardians of prince Rapses and even disguised herself as a guy to ride chariots in ancient Egypt. Is inexplicably still mistaken for a guy on occasion.
- Adaptational Villainy: Various gods, such as Anubis and Bastet, are portrayed as malicious, while they were benevolent figures in Egyptian Mythology. Even Ammut was originally a neutral force who was harmless to people who were good in life.
- All Animals Are Dogs: Ammut, Devourer Of Souls!
- I guess lion + hippo + crocodile averages out to dog.
- So Ammut acts like a mutt?
- Ambiguously Brown: Presley.
- Animation Bump: The Transformation Sequence is notably better animated than the rest of the series, probably because the creators knew you'd be seeing it at least once an episode.
- Animal Motifs: The mummies' transformed forms. Ja-Kal the falcon, Armon the ram, Rath the snake and Nefertina the cat. Also Scarab...the scarab.
- The Archer: Ja-Kal
- Bandage Babe: Nefertina
- Big Bad: Scarab
- Big Eater: Armon
- By the Power of Grayskull: "With the Strength of Ra!"
- Catgirl: Bastet, Nefertina's patron goddess. Also Nefertina herself when Bastet transforms her into one.
- Clip Show: The Series Finale.
- Cool Big Sis: Nefer-Tina to Presley
- Cree Summer: Nefertina
- Dating Catwoman: Nefertina and Apep.
- Deadpan Snarker: Mostly Rath, although everyone gets one in every other episode
- Demon Head: The mummies when extremely angry
- Did Not Do the Research: Combined rather strangely with Shown Their Work. In some aspects, the research is spot-on; other aspects are just plain wrong. 3500 years ago, for example, most Egyptians wore almost nothing. Pharaoh Amenhotep had no son, and Egyptian spirituality of that time did not recognize reincarnation. On the other side, one episode involves the mummies being examined by doctors, who are baffled by their lack of internal organs; Rath protests that he does have internal organs, and keeps them in jars by his bed. Much of Scarab's magic is taken directly from ancient Egyptian traditions, and most of the hieroglyphics are actually meaningful.
- Duck Season! Rabbit Season!: Brains v brawn.
- Everybody Hates Hades: Anubis is a rather stupid villain in the series, when he was a benevolent deity in charge of protecting the dead in mythology. He is associated with Set, who disowned Anubis in the myths for choosing to side with Horus.
- Expository Theme Tune: The page quote is part of it.
- Fetish Fuel Station Attendant: Attractive, confident Sweet Polly Oliver who has aspects of a cat carries a whip. If only Nefertina wasn't 3500 years deceased...
- Fish Out of Temporal Water: Ancient Egypt, San Francisco is not.
- Five-Man Band
- Ja-Kal - The Hero
- Rath - The Smart Guy
- Armon - The Big Guy
- Nefertina - The Chick
- Presley - Tagalong Kid
- Kahti - Team Pet
- Frothy Mugs of Water: Averted in episode 26 - the team are struggling to get back to base with their powers depleted, and spot someone trying to get into his car while clearly drunk. Ja'Kal uses his Demon Head to terrify him into running off. Best drunk-driving aesop on a kid's show ever.
- Handicapped Badass: Armon, the team bruiser, has no right arm. However, while transformed his armor gives him back the missing limb. He's still pretty formidable without it.
- Henshin Hero
- Hey, It's That Voice!: Besides Cree Summer and Scott McNeil, Ja-Kal and Heka are the Ocean dub's Cell and Freeza (Heka is also Airazor).
- Hypnotic Eyes: One of the sorceress Chantra's abilities.
- Idiosyncratic Wipe: Scene-changes were done by having a plate with the series logo... do... stuff.
- Mooks: Scarab has a never-ending supply of clay minions to send at the mummies. Perhaps the most useless ever, they shatter when hit by pretty much anything.
- Meaningful Name: Presley Carnavon - Elvis Presley was associated with Memphis, Tennessee (which was named after the ancient Egyptian capital), while Lord Carnarvon financed the excavation of King Tut's tomb.
- My Other Car is a Chariot
- Powered Armor: The Mummies gain armor when they use the phrase "With the Strength of Ra!" to help them fight. Complete with stock transformation sequences.
- Punny Name: When Armon transforms, he puts his arm on.
- Samus Is a Girl: The other three didn't actually know Nefer-Tina was a girl at first. Her disguise, judging by her form during her first appearance, consisted of nothing but a hat, and did nothing for her narrow waist and noticeable breasts. Then again, she probably dressed differently back when she was, y'know, alive.
- It's kind of funny when her power armor includes...ahem...a noticable "breastplate". Given that Armon mentions his golden arm was a gift from the pharaoh, these were probably made and not due to magic. Somehow Nefertina managed to convince the entire royal court and her tailor that she was a man with assets.
- Scott McNeil: Rath
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Nefer-Tina. In ancient Egypt she pretended to be a boy so she could drive chariots.
- Teenage Mutant Samurai Wombats: The Mummies run around San Francisco with all sorts of magic, monsters, cool cars and gods completely unnoticed.
- Well it IS San Francisco after all...
- Transformation Sequence: Every time the Mummies suit up.
- Treacherous Advisor: Scarab
- Villain with Good Publicity: Scarab masquerades as a respectable businessman, but it doesn't particularly impede the Mummies. Then again, "Scarab" technically has no publicity whatsoever among civillians since the "respectable businessman" is an alter ego the Mummies have no clue to.
- White-Haired Pretty Girl: Nefer-Tina (makes sense, consdering she's dead. But even in flashback episodes she still has white hair!)
- Wrench Wench: Nefer-Tina's the one who maintains the team's vehicles.
- You're Not My Father: During the Father's Day episode "Reunion," Presley says this to Ja'Kal when he offers to take the boy fishing since his real father was in Memphis. It comes off particularly harsh when you take in the fact that Ja'Kal never got to see his own son grow up. Not to mention he has a nephew who was also like a son to him, and his father is Ja'Kal's evil brother.