Mummies Alive!

Mummies Alive! is an animated series from DIC Productions L.P. and Northern Lights Entertainment. It originally aired for one season in 1997. The show was part of a general trend of "mummymania" in 1990s pop culture.
In ancient Egypt, an evil sorcerer named Scarab kills the pharaoh's son, Prince Rapses, to become immortal. Entombed alive for his crime, Scarab revives in the modern world and begins his search for Rapses' reincarnation, a San Francisco-dwelling boy named Presley Carnarvon, to retrieve the spirit of Rapses so he can become immortal. Rapses' (Presley's) bodyguards, Ja-Kal, Rath, Armon, and Nefer-Tina, along with Rapses' cat, Kahti, awake from the dead to protect him from Scarab. They use the power of Ra to transform into powerful guardians.
Each of the mummies is aligned with the power of an Egyptian god. Ja-Kal uses the spirit of a falcon, Rath uses the spirit of a snake, Armon uses the spirit of a ram, and Nefer-Tina uses the spirit of a cat. The mummies are able to call upon it for magical armor and powers to fight superhuman evildoers by shouting "With the strength of Ra!". Once their strength is exhausted, they must rest in their sarcophagi to regain the ability. The mummies also have the power to make a horrifying face, usually used to scare away nosy bystanders.
In addition to Scarab, the mummies often had to contend with gods and spirits from Egyptian myth summoned to the modern world, including Anubis, Set, Geb, Apep, Bast, Sekhmet, Bes, and many others, usually as part of one of Scarab's schemes that went out of his control.
Originally, Mummies Alive! was geared towards an older audience, but during production, it became predominantly a children's show. The series ran for one season of 42 episodes; the last two episodes link together to end the show, as it appears episodes 38–40 were the finale of the first season. A second season was planned, but due to low ratings, it was canceled.
Eric and Julia Lewald, writers/producers for Mummies Alive!, were also head writers for the third season of the Gargoyles animated series. The programs share common plot elements, including a group of warriors from the past that awaken in the present to fight a wealthy, immortality-obsessed enemy; their initial difficulties in adapting to the modern world; the use of mythological figures in numerous episodes; and a recurring femme fatale antagonist. These similarities made Mummies Alive! vulnerable to criticism describing it as little more than a Gargoyles clone.
Mummies Alive! originally aired on syndicated television stations in the United States (mostly on The WB, UPN and Fox affiliates), being distributed through Hasbro's Claster Television. The following year, the series aired on the Bohbot Kids Network block until 2000.
In September 2004, the series alongside Sonic Underground was added to the syndicated DIC Kids Network block, where both shows would air during the weekends as part of an hour of non-E/I material.
The series previously aired every Sunday on Cookie Jar Toons on This TV.
In Canada, the series aired on YTV.
In the United Kingdom, the series first aired on GMTV on the Disney-produced block Diggit as one of its launch programmes. It later aired on Sky One from 1999 until 2002. From 2004–2006, the series aired on ITV2 as part of GMTV2 Kids (later Action Stations!).
In India, the Hindi-dubbed version of the show ran on Cartoon Network, with children of all ages, pre-teens and teens alike, enjoying it. It was also dubbed into Tamil and Malayalam and aired on Sun TV and Amrita TV in the early 2000s, becoming popular in South India. In India, the show was telecasted on DD Metro Channel from 1998 - 2000, and was later converted to DD News.
The three part "Family Feud" arc was edited together as a single movie, entitled Mummies Alive! The Legend Begins, and was released on VHS on April 7, 1998, by Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
In August 2001, the first four episodes of the series were released on VHS and DVD simply titled Mummies Alive!, by Lions Gate Home Entertainment and Trimark Home Video. The DVD version also included a bonus episode, as well as an interview with Andy Heyward and Ivan Reitman about the series.
In October 2003, Sterling Entertainment released the first three episodes on VHS and DVD under the title of Mummies Alive! - The Beginning. The DVD release contains the four episode as a bonus. NCircle Entertainment re-released the DVD in August 2007.
In June 2004, Anchor Bay UK released a single VHS/DVD volume in the United Kingdom containing the first four episodes. The company released a second DVD in August, containing the next four episodes. In June 2005, Avenue Entertainment released two DVDs containing two episodes each.
Three volumes of double DVDs were released in Germany, with 14 episodes on each volume. The complete 42 episode series is available as of March 2017, the release date of the third and final volume. The DVDs are region 2 with German, and English audio as well.
Harlene Ellin of the Chicago Tribune panned The Legend Begins: "The saga jumps between past and present without warning, giving the story a disjointed feel. And while the animated adventure goes for laughs at times, the jokes generally fall flat". She was also critical of the series' animation: "All the characters move as if they have rigor mortis. Mouths flap open and shut when delivering dialogue, giving the film a primitive look". She gave the movie one star.
To coincide with the animated series, DIC signed deals with various companies to make merchandise for the series.
Hasbro produced a series of Mummies Alive! 5" tall action figures and vehicles in 1997. There were regular and "fright face" varieties of the main mummies. Nefer-Tina and Presley got toys as well, but they are later releases and harder to find. A final wave of toys would have contained a Night Hunter Ja-Kal and Armon, as well as Cobra Strike Pep but only a few of these figures were released in some parts of Europe.