Hero Factory: Rise of the Rookies

Hero Factory: Rise of the Rookies is a 1990 Inter-El Kadsreian science-fiction action tokusatsu superhero film. It is the sixteenth Technic Heroes installment and the first Hero Factory installment. It is also the first film to be released on newly-launched Acura Digital.

Plot
The Alpha 1 Team is dispatched to guard a shipment of explosives, with fresh rookie Furno observing above from the Hero craft under Team Leader Stormer's orders as part of his mission trial. Criminal XPlode and his maniacal ally, Rotor, attack the shipment. XPlode abandons Rotor when the battle goes in the Heroes' favor. Stormer gives permission to Furno to come down and states that his mission trial is to chain up Rotor. However, due to his inexperience, the criminal manages to escape. The failure of the mission and Stormer's words make Furno train very hard to become a better Hero, to the point of exhaustion. Eventually, XPlode and Rotor strike an explosives plant, and when Stormer is felled, Furno manages to apprehend Rotor.

Bulk, Stringer and Surge are caught in a fight against the vicious Corroder on a prison planet still under construction. While Corroder traps Bulk under a load of girders meant for Surge, Breez transports the injured construction workers to a medibot station, while Furno and Stormer are waiting for core recharges back at the Hero Factory. Corroder has easily gained the upper hand. The Heroes realize the best idea is to form a Hero Cell to protect themselves using their Hero Cores. The energy of their Hero Cores is near depletion, but they all agree it's a chance worth taking. No sooner does the shield go down due to lack of energy, Furno crashes his Hero Pod into Corroder. However, he takes everyone by surprise when he appears unharmed, stating he used his ejector seat to get out before the ship crashed. Meanwhile, Breez has returned with an empty cargo ship, and Furno uses this to his advantage: he bluffs to Corroder and says that a squad of heroes is contained in Breez's ship. Corroder uses his acid weapons to create a smokescreen and escape the scene, while Bulk gets a full core recharge back at the Hero Factory.

A distress call comes in from Mekron, where Stormer knows the police chief Drax. However, Chief Drax is acting strangely and even threatens Stormer and the rookie Heroes. Criminal Meltdown then smashes through the roof window, spraying Stormer with sludge. He later learns that his body has been corrupted by nanobots from the sludge and, after a fight with Stringer, Bulk and Furno, escapes the Hero Factory. The Heroes then travel to a remote planet to acquire an antidote, while Furno finds Stormer and duels him. Furno makes Stormer realize his actions are wrong by comparing him to a rookie that went rogue, Von Ness, and Stormer shuts down. The Heroes finally cure him, and Stormer deduces that someone is plotting against them. Elsewhere, at the centre of a black hole, Von Ness, now re-born as the villainous Von Nebula, notes that police chief Drax survived his nanobots corruption and announces to himself that Stormer will be crushed by his hand.

The Alpha 1 Team is sent to investigate a strange happening at Stellac, Stormer soon realizes it's a trap when Thunder and Corroder arrive. Stormer appears to be downed, and the rookies are sent to the scene with new tools. As they arrive, so do XPlode and Meltdown. A black hole opens in the sky, and Furno and Stormer jump in to combat the villain they now know to be pulling the strings - the villain Von Nebula, a rogue rookie Hero known formally as Von Ness. Von Nebula goes after Stormer, believing him to be the bigger threat, but Furno destroys the black hole and Von Nebula is sucked into his own Black Hole Orb Staff. Meanwhile, the remaining Heroes take out Von Nebula's thugs. After returning to Makuhiro, the team is cornered by reporter Daniella Capricorn, and the senior Alpha 1 Heroes reveal that Furno, Breez and Surge are now fully fledged Heroes, with Furno as a new Team Leader and referred to by his name by Stormer, something he had previously refused to do.

Cast

 * Goro Yukimura as Preston Davis/Stormer
 * Darren Nye as Duncan Foster/Bulk
 * Hiroto Cross as Jimi Satou/Stringer
 * Hayden Forester as William Jacobson/Furno
 * Natasha Mills as Barbara Hanarets/Breez
 * Newt Hargrave as Mark Bradley/Surge
 * Deven Elliott as Lenny Jon
 * Maja Prebensen as Daniella Capricorn
 * as Von Nebula (costume)
 * Shouhei Fujita as Von Nebula (voice)
 * Marcel Casey as Von Ness
 * as XPlode (costume)
 * as XPlode (voice)
 * David Howard as Rotor (costume)
 * Liz English as Rotor (voice)
 * as Bob Hanarets
 * as Douglas Hanarets

Production
The production of Hero Factory dates back in 1988, a year after El TV Kadsre was bought by MCA Inc, in one of the meetings in MCA discussing about the possible replacement for Bionicle. While Bionicle was popular during the Vlokozuian tokusatsu craze of the mid-1980s and was the cash cow of El TV Kadsre, but its sequels were becoming more expensive to make and the interest on Bionicle started to decrease. El TV Kadsre decided to cease production on future Bionicle films, despite its original decision to run the franchise until 2006.

Filming
Filming had begun in June 19, 1989 and ended in October 24, 1989. It was filmed in Makohiro, El Kadsre City and Eirabourne and the Assembly Tower interior scenes were filmed in the El TV Kadsre Television Centre. The Sharkfin Building, a futuristic skyscraper built for Expo 87 was used as the exterior location for the Assembly Tower.

Effects
The CGI was produced by CiGiWOW, with additional CGI produced by Ed Kramer at Editel, however Editel is not credited on the El Kadsreian poster for unknown reasons.