I used to (and still do) like Battle of the Planets. My Raleigh Chipper wasn’t as cool The G-Force ship Phoenix, never the less, many missions were completed aboard that bike. Spectra never stood a chance, as my mate Tommo had a Chopper for the really hard missions. BOP was the must-act-out show for us latch-key-kids.
The secret of G-Force, — all action defenders of everything cool in 1978/9 — was their power to Transmute – change form and rid the galaxy of evil-doers.
The duel-life of these super-cool teens was inspiring. Everyone wanted to be Mark, the cool one, and no one wanted to be Tiny (but everyone back then had a fat kid friend who was automatically typecast). Each of the G-Force team of course had a special power, but always used it for the benefit of everyone (like us).
The thing about BOP in the late 70s was that it presented a very wholesome view of morality, sexuality and winning. In much of the production, the producers cut out things such as missiles blowing up people and cities. I was slightly niffed when the latest G-Force movie cast the protagonists as rodents.
(this is a great moment where Mark leans on Jason to do his part to save everyone)
I got to thinking how different games are now. We get to lay waste to, or create entire worlds. Being social and co-opting is just ‘how games work’.
Then I started to really think – hang on, isn’t this what some parts of education are doing? – presenting cyber-teachers able to transform learning while at the same time removing the parts of the web (and content) that they don’t like.
Perhaps real super-teachers transmute when the bell goes and the finally rise like the fiery phoenix to work on secret missions and adventures while watching #qanda on a Monday night.
So that’s the watch-word. TRANSMUTE! – a state by which an ordinary teacher keeps their super-power for defeating the FUD.
Playable 