Rescue Heroes (1999)
Rescue Heroes is a Canadian/American animated children's television series produced by Nelvana, CBC and CBS. Based on the 1995 Fisher Price toy line of the same name, the series tracks the adventures of a team of globetrotting emergency responders who save people from a variety of disasters. Rescue Heroes stars Norm Spencer as Billy Blazes, Lenore Zann as Wendy Waters and Martin Roach as Rocky Canyon. Three seasons of Rescue Heroes were produced and aired from 1999 until 2002. YTV aired the series as a feature of their "Playtime" block, and re-runs of the series were aired internationally. In 2003, Nelvana released Rescue Heroes: The Movie.
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Episode 1 - Peril on the Peaks
Release Date: 1999-10-02During a fire rescue, the rookie, Rocky Canyon, is overly zealous and takes matters into his own hands, ignoring the team plan, and inadvertently putting the others at risk. The Rescue Heroes express the importance and safety of sticking to the plan, and of being a team player. And so when the Rescue Heroes are called in to rescue mountain climbers faced with a fierce, unexpected storm and subsequent avalanche, Rocky relies on the team plan, and the Rescue Heroes successfully come to the aid of the mountain climbers.
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Episode 2 - Wrath of El Nino
Release Date: 1999-10-09On a remote South American island, unexpected torrential rains cause a volcano filled with water to burst, sending an enormous mudslide barreling toward the town below. As the Rescue Heroes come to the town's aid, Jake Justice is faced with an elderly man who insists on relying on an Ancient Legend to save him. As it turns out, the Ancient Legend is a rock structure built by ancestors to shield them from the volcano when it was active. Jake realizes now that he should not be so quick to discard information simply because it is foreign to him, since there is often some validity to it.
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Episode 3 - Tidal Wave
Release Date: 1999-10-16An earthquake off the coast of South America creates an enormous tidal wave threatening oceanographers in the area, an oil derrick home to several workers, and worse, the entire population of Chile. Wendy Waters, with the assistance of Gil Gripper, must strategically place a detonation device beneath the ocean's surface to help quash the tidal wave before it wipes out all of Chile. Unfortunately, she is ill at ease with underwater rescues because of a scuba-diving incident that happened in her childhood. For the sake of the rescue, Wendy faces her fear by trusting the training of Gil Gripper, the professional expert in this field, so that she can deal with the situation at hand.
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Episode 4 - Twister
Release Date: 1999-10-23During a tornado which sweeps across his home town, Rocky Canyon is desperate to protect a hot rod which has sentimental value from the devastation of the twister. Unfortunately, his childhood nemesis, who continues to antagonize him at every opportunity, is in need of rescuing, as well. Rocky realizes that people, no matter who, are more important than even the most special objects.
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Episode 5 - Electrical Storm
Release Date: 1999-11-06A sudden electrical storm throws a town into mayhem as the lightning knocks out power and phone lines, and causes fires to erupt, as well as explosions on volatile power plants. During their rescues, the Rescue Heroes are faced with Murphy's Law, in that anything (and everything!) that can go wrong does go wrong. But Billy instills in them a lesson in remembering and practising what they already know, which is that they must persevere.
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Episode 6 - Meteor
Release Date: 1999-11-13After Wendy has a close call and gets injured during a train wreck rescue, she obliges the wishes of her father, Warren Waters, to recuperate on the Space Command Center (aka ""The Hexagon"") so that they can spend some time together. During her time there, a Meteor Shower strikes the Hexagon on its way to Earth, and, as the other Rescue Heroes tend to the devastation on Earth, Wendy works alongside her father to tend to the damage aboard the Hexagon. Warren suggests that Wendy forego the dangerous field work on Earth and transfer to the Hexagon, where she can enter the Space Training Program and be closer to him. Wendy would rather be stationed on Earth, battling fires and other disasters to help rescue those in need, and so she is faced with the difficult task of telling her father that she wants something different for herself than what he wants for her.
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Episode 7 - Arctic Spill
Release Date: 1999-11-20The hull of a high-tech oil tanker takes a beating from the barrage of massive icebergs in the Arctic until it is ripped apart, causing a major oil spill. The Rescue Heroes are quick to respond to the disaster, utilizing the expertise of Jack Hammer to do an underwater construction and repair. The task proves more difficult and time-consuming than Jack had anticipated, and he learns that it is more harmful than helpful to push himself too hard to get a job done when it can be accomplished just as well with the help of others.
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Episode 8 - When It Rains, It Pours
Release Date: 1999-12-04When the media catch wind of Ariel's heroic rescue of a trapped hiker during a forest fire, she is approached by a National Safety Council to become a Spokesperson for Safety. She eagerly agrees, since she would love nothing more than to educate others on safety. Unfortunately, what she did not anticipate is that her hectic ""spokesperson"" schedule would take her away from being an actual, in-the-field Rescue Hero. During a devastating flash flood, it becomes apparent to Ariel that her skills are desperately needed, and that being a Rescue Hero is where she can do the most good, and hence, is where she belongs. She comes to learn that it is okay to change her mind, and to rectify the situation, after realizing she made the wrong decision.
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Episode 9 - Cave In
Release Date: 1999-12-11Rocky's professor is trapped in an underground tunnel.
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Episode 10 - The Fire of Field 13
Release Date: 1999-12-18The Rescue Heroes are called in to assist fire fighters with a massive forest fire that is heading directly for thirteen natural gas wells. Billy Blazes comes to the side of his fire fighter brother, Bobby, who is faced with the biggest fire of his career. But Bobby has a difficult time controlling his anger when it comes to this beast of a fire, and hence, loses his perspective, putting himself and others in danger. He learns from his older brother, Billy, not to let his anger get the best of him so that he can keep a level head and complete the task at hand.
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Episode 11 - Four Alarm Fire and Brimstone
Release Date: 2000-01-15A burning home is usually handled by the local fire fighters, but this particular home has Jake Justice, and the other Rescue Heroes involved because it is the home of Jake's ""Little Brother"", Nick. Jake belongs to a ""Big Brother"" program and has become very close to Nick and his younger brother, Eddie. Nick is extremely angry at the neighborhood kid who accidentally set the house ablaze, so the Rescue Heroes offer the Command Center as a temporary home to the family in the hopes that Jake can bring Nick around to forgiving the neighborhood kid. But when Nick takes his little brother and stows away on the Hyper Jet to be closer to Jake, inadvertently causing serious complications during a rescue mission on an active volcano, Jake finds himself in the situation of having to forgive Nick. He does, of course, show the youngster that there is room in everyone to forgive others for their mistakes.
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Episode 12 - Storm of the Century (1)
Release Date: 2000-01-22A huge cold air mass takes place in the world and causes snowstorms all over North America. Billy encounters his father when he is called on a rescue mission in his hometown, Quebec. Later on Billy and his father are stuck in the hyperjet and they must put their differences behind them so they can find a way to get out of the situation.
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Episode 13 - Storm of the Century (2)
Release Date: 2000-01-29Billy and his father are still in the hyperjet and Billy's father comes to accept the choice Billy has made in his life to help others. They still work together and try to get out of the dangerous situation.