M.U.S.C.L.E. (also known as M.U.S.C.L.E. - Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere!) is a Canadian-American animated television adaptation of the 1983-1986 anime series Kinnikuman, produced by Toei Animation. Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. picked up the rights to produce an English version of the anime series in 1985, which condensed the 137 episodes into 3 seasons of 65 episodes. The theme song for the English-language version was performed by the Danish hard rock band Warplane.
Warner Bros. Television's license to the series expired in 2014, shortly after reruns stopped airing on Boomerang. Gotaku currently holds the North American and European licenses to the series, while Madman Entertainment holds the license for Australia and New Zealand.
Voice Cast[]
Thug Busters[]
- Muscle Man (voiced by Martin Berger - original identity in Japanese series was Kinnikuman) - Leader of the Thug Busters. One of his most well-known superpowers is to become the 30-foot tall "Giant Muscle Man" by eating garlic. Another one of his superpowers is "Maskmania", achieved by taking off his mask, which can perform miraculous acts such as ending pollution of a river or resurrecting deceased people.
- Muscle Lad (voiced by Noam Zylberman - original identity in Japanese series was Meat Alexandria) - Muscle Man's young sidekick.
- Terry Jay (voiced by Keith Berger - original identity in Japanese series was Terryman) - The Thug Busters' second-in-command, known for his finishing move known as the Spinning Toe Hold.
- Grandpa (voiced by Walter Massey - original identity in Japanese series was King Kinniku Mayumi) - Muscle Man's grandfather.
Cosmic Crunchers[]
- Terri-Bull (voiced by Les Lye - original identity in Japanese series was Buffaloman) - Leader of the Cosmic Crunchers.
- Robin Mask (voiced by Rick Jones) - A British wrestler and the second-in-command of the Cosmic Crunchers.
- Ramenman (voiced by Jason Aoki) - A wrestler from China.
- Hans (voiced by Pier Kohl - original identity in Japanese series was Brocken Jr.) - A German wrestler serving in the Cosmic Crunchers.
Production and development[]
Hanna-Barbera's William Hanna and Joseph Barbera hired writers Creighton Barnes and J. Michael Straczynski to transform Kinnikuman into M.U.S.C.L.E., with Barnes and Michael developing the new series. Since they had no means of translating the Japanese series into English, Barnes and Straczynski surmised the plots while a team of writers from Hanna-Barbera wrote all-new dialogue.
Sunrise Sound Services of Detroit, Michigan was hired to remix the audio into stereo and re-record the foley, while also providing post-production audio services. Sunrise contracted out the voice acting & music services to Magnetic Audio in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; a close collaborator of Sunrise in the past. Amin Bhatia was brought in record an all-new soundtrack, while a Canadian voice cast performed the voices. TeleGraphics Corporation of Flint, Michigan provided video post-production & editing.