Max: The New Adventures

***Max: The New Adventures*** is an American animated miniseries of retail direct-to-video episodes produced by Siam's Network (now known as Starlight Productions) in association with the OfficeMax Inc., centering on the OfficeMax stick figure mascot Max and his gang in OfficeMax World. A total of eight 40-minute episodes were produced and released on VHS exclusively in participating OfficeMax stores from December 12, 1996 to August 25, 1999.

## Production

Ed and Mark Holmquist (best known for composing the music for Street Kids, another Siam's Network series) composed the score of the series while Kevin Helsberg (who has also directed some Street Kids episodes) directed the first episode of the series. The artistic style of the series has a similar look to Street Kids because they were designed by Siam's founder Ross Margrave. The background music was recycled from later episodes of Street Kids. Each episode starts and ends with the animated Max (and Rufus starting in Episode 4) in a live-action OfficeMax store.

By various accounts, the episodes turned out to be rather popular, to which individual OfficeMax locations frequently ran out of VHS tapes, which were sold individually for $25.49 and could be bought with any OfficeMax-branded items such as Laser Labels or Premium Glossy Inkjet Photo Paper. Siam's also sold them through their online gift shop, which was shut down in fall 2006.

An OfficeMax World playset was released at OfficeMax stores in 1997, a year after the series originally premiered. The playset contains mini-figures of the OfficeMax mascot characters in the Siam's style, as depicted in the series.

## Episodes

### **1. The Night After Christmas**

**Release Date:** December 12, 1996

Max and his friends Rufus, Abigail, the Computer Mice and Penny sets up the theme park called "Snow Land" in OfficeMax World. While setting up, Penny tells the gang about the legendary bell that makes Santa Claus instantly coming to OfficeMax World if it rings. While decided to visit the CopyMax section in OfficeMax, Max found a bell laying next to the set of computers, believing it is the same bell Penny told earlier. Meanwhile, an evil mad scientist by the name of Dr. Foam plans to steal the bell so he can get a gift from Santa. When he does after Rufus left the bell on the counter, Max and his gang followed him to the FurnitureMax section where he get cornered by a flock of talking office chairs led by Odis. After finally encounter Dr. Foam, the bell is accidentally dropped into the floor vent. Turns out that the floor vent is actually Dr. Foam's secret base. After several attempts, Max corners Foam for good and takes the bell. After Rufus nervously rings the bell, Santa Claus spotted the OfficeMax store and comes to give Max and friends some special gifts: More computers people wanted for Christmas.

**Note:** The 1996 Siam's Network "Nightmare Face" logo makes its debut on this episode.

### **2. Class Clone**

**Release Date:** May 23, 1997

Max's friends tired of being treated by him because his behavior and accident causes them to leave, forcing Max to work without his friends. He visits Dr. Erik Von Clonewitt's lab in CopyMax and asks him to clone him with the copying machine so he can finish organizing stuff. Chaos ensures when the Max clones invades FurnitureMax and attacks Rufus, Penny and Abigail. It's up to Max to save his friends from the clones. Afterwards, his friends befriended him again after the clones were defeated.

### **3. Max's Birthday**

**Release Date:** June 6, 1997

Rufus is sad because he didn't get invited to Max's birthday party. To cheer him up, Penny sends Rufus to the TriMax section where he encounters Charlie Smith to get him a birthday present for Max. The birthday present is the magical theme park which the gang heads to but are disappointed with the park's attractions. Turns out that the theme park is false and Smith reveals his true self to the gang. In an addition, he reveals that he made the park so he can take over OfficeMax as his evil scheme. Max and his pals decided to save OfficeMax by destroying the park's attractions and defeating Smith for good.

**Note:** This is the final episode where Max says "..And that we go to the Max for you!" in the outro.

### **4. Stapler Island**

**Release Date:** November 18, 1997

Max and his friends are invited to Stapler Island ruled by Abigail's mother, Queen Stapler. Meanwhile, the evil stapler named Frank is going after Abigail and traps her in the room where he attended the wedding. After Abigail refuses to marry Frank, Max and his friends comes to the rescue.

**Note:** A new opening sequence was made for this episode and the next four. As the result, the animated Rufus is added to the introduction and outro.

### **5. Folks from Planet Mars**

**Release Date:** March 11, 1998

Rufus believes there are martians in OfficeMax, but Max and his pals ignored him, saying that it was a false alarm. Meanwhile, Rufus dressed up as a martian to prove the martian's presence to Max and friends. Later, the real martians abducted Rufus after Max and Abigail are totally fooled. When Office Man announces that there's martians at OfficeMax, Max believes Rufus was right and finds out that he's missing. After Rufus is sent to Mars, he befriends a Martian named Iko who wanted to show him the "Paradise Park", but panics when he finds out that the Paradise Park is in fact the Martian base. As a result, Max and his pals go on a mission in outer space to save Rufus.

### **6. The Many Faces of Max**

**Release Date:** September 28, 1998

Max has caught a flu that causes him to get shocked whenever he sneezes. Penny takes him to the CopyMax section to meet Professor Willby who tries certain methods on Max (such as giving Max pills that makes him breathe fire, inflating Max with a balloon pumper, etc.). The condition worsens when Max is getting close on being severely injured, thus being inflated, Penny finds out that the only cure for the flu is the hot water with a bar of soap in it, which is located in the OfficeMax restroom. Max does so... And he's finally cured!

**Note:** This episode is released on the same day *Pokémon Red* and *Pokémon Blue* games are released in the United States. This episode is also notable for Max having a mouth shown when he breathes fire. This is also the only episode where there is no villain in this episode.

### **7. The Legend of Mossil**

**Release Date:** July 17, 1999

Max and his friends are invited to the Rubberband Island where Mossil the talking rubberband lived. Meanwhile, the island are attacked by the Rubberband Pirate who steals various rubberbands and and it's up to Max and his friends to save them!

**Note:** This episode is released on the same day *Pokémon: The Movie 2000* is released in Japan.

### **8. Energy Dragon (aka Heroes 2000)**

**Release Date:** August 25, 1999

Max and his friends visit Rufus' brother Rudy in the TriMax section where he is greeted by Sara Clip, who wanted to participate the Energy Ball game. At the game, Abigail encounters a small dragon who claimed himself the "Energy Dragon". When Sara takes the dragon away from Abigail, Max and his friends are off to save him.

**Note:** This episode is the rarest of all eight, as it was only released online on the Siam's website on August 25, 1999 as opposed to OfficeMax stores. The episode was erroneously titled "Heroes 2000" on most websites. It was also Jack Linz's final acting role, as it was released before his death in 2006.

## Cast

Voice talent on the series includes Siam's veterans Chris Spinnich, Charles Burton, and Jack Linz. Comedian Richard Jeni provided the voice of Max as he did in the OfficeMax commercials.

**Richard Jeni** – Max the Stick Figure, Max clones

**Chris Spinnich** – Mossil, Mouse #3, Office Man, Santa Claus

**Charlie Adler** – Mouse #1

**Tara Strong** – Rufus the Ink Pen, Energy Ball Announcer, Bunny, Abigail the Stapler

**Pamela Adlon** – Queen Stapler, Paper clips

**Christine Cavanaugh** – Odis the Office Chair, Iko

**E.G. Daily** – Penny the Pencil, Sara Clip

**Jim Cummings** – Rubberband Pirate

**Jack Linz** – Frank, Charlie Smith, Energy Dragon

**Kath Soucie** – Mouse #2

**Charles Burton** – Dr. Foam, Professor Willby, Dr. Erik Von Clonewitt