In recent years, Disney has created some major animated adventures that have taken the world by storm. While the studio has seen big success in theaters, the House of Mouse has also created classics on the small screen. The Disney Channel has helped introduce fans to the likes of Gravity Falls, Amphibia, and The Owl House. While the latter two entries are returning via upcoming graphic novels, creating wild sequels to the shows, one long-lost franchise has made a return, thanks to its creator. While not confirming that a revival is on the way, the Super Robot Monkey Team has returned all the same.
Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! might be a mouthful, but the Disney Channel original series did have quite the run. Garnering four seasons with fifty-two episodes to its name, the series came to an end in 2006 after being a part of the now-defunct programming block known as “Jetix.” In a recent social media post, series creator Ciro Nieli shared old concept art of the main character Chiro, giving fans an idea of what the hero looked like before he was brought to the screen. You can check out the artwork for the original pitch below from Ciro himself.
The Monkey Team Returns & Revival Plans
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Nieli discussed the original artwork, which the animator managed to find in the bowels of his home, “I don’t have much pre-vis for RobotMonkey. This show’s creation was a blur, Disney didn’t want a full crew in the U.S., so they sent me to Japan with a director and character designer. We all lived in a hotel in Shinjuku and developed the show while the animation team there was ramping up. So much of that early art stayed in Tokyo and is probably lost forever. Here’s an early doodle page of Chiro & the monkeys I found. Not my finest work, but it’s got energy! I’ll post more monkey stuff as I find it.”
In 2014, Ciro actually did discuss bringing this odd superhero team back from the dead. Specifically, the finale has been planned, but unfortunately, nothing has been confirmed even over a decade since the interview. Ironically, much like Dana Terrace and Matt Braly with their series, The Owl House and Amphibia, Nieli confirmed that, if nothing else, he would work his grand finale into a graphic novel.
In talking with outlet AnimeSuperhero.com, the Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go creator said, “There’s a finale planned for that and I don’t know how I’m gonna do it but I swear that I’m gonna do it someday. I can do it as one movie or I can do it as a whole season, it just depends on how much breadth I want to give it. Look at the last episode. You can either pick it up from there or you can go ‘Five years later: it’s the war of the undead vs the robot chimps.’ It’s this crazy battlefield where all forces have kinda teamed up against the ultimate evil. It’d be awesome. It’s all figured out pretty much. Everyone bugs me about it all the time and I really wanna sit down and tell everybody what happens but I’d rather just make it someday and give it to them. Worst case scenario: before I die I’ll do a perfect graphic novel of it and then Disney can sue me posthumously ’cause they now completely own it and that’s how it goes. I guess I could make a comic and change the names and hairdos…”
The Works of Ciro Nieli
Image courtesy of Marvel Animation
If you don’t know of Nieli’s works, there are some major franchises that the animator has been a part of, before and after the introduction of this monkey superhero team. Ciro has worked on Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as the Heroes in a Half-Shell’s executive producer and showrunner. He was also a director on Cartoon Network’s Teen Titans, while also being a key animator responsible for The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Nieli currently doesn’t have future animated projects confirmed, but here’s hoping he gets the chance to bring back his classic Disney series to the forefront.
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