Street Sharks (1994–1997) User Reviews (15)

"Jawsome" "Street Sharks"

[dee.reid · 7/10 · 7 September 2017]

The animated animal-themed superhero TV series "Street Sharks" (which aired from 1994-1997) was one of several animated animal-themed superhero TV shows to air during the 1990s - probably to cash in on the craze for such properties created by the wildly successful "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." Like more than a few of such series, "Street Sharks" was co-created by Ron Askin and Phil Harnage to cash in on an already-existing toy line (by Mattel).

I eagerly collected the Street Sharks action figures as a nine-or-ten-year-old growing up during the mid '90s. I still have those Street Sharks toys, too. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to watch the TV series that was inspired by the toys that came before it. Fast-forward two decades and lo and behold, the wonders of TV-on-DVD: "Street Sharks" is released on DVD and I'm able to finally watch the series I remembered so fondly growing up - even if I never actually got the chance to watch it.

"Street Sharks" was very obviously influenced by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and so were so many other such animated children's TV shows produced during that time. So, try to imagine this series as "Jaws" meets the Fantastic Four. "Street Sharks" concerns the Bolton Brothers - John, Clint, Bobby, and Coop - who are transformed by the insane, megalomaniacal and power-hungry university geneticist Dr. Luther Paradigm, who kidnaps the four siblings and injects them with an experimental serum that transforms them into massive half-man/half-shark mutants:

• John becomes Ripster, a Great White Shark and their "de facto" leader of the four and is the most brilliant Street Shark; Clint becomes Jab, a Hammerhead Shark and is the tough-talking fighter of the group who often charges, quite literally, head-first, into battle; Bobby becomes Streex, a Tiger Shark and is the most fun-loving of the bunch and is always seen wearing a pair of trademark roller blades; and Clint becomes Big Slammu, a Whale Shark who is the resident jock and proves to be the physically strongest of them all.

Together, the four of them team up as one, as the "Street Sharks," to fight crime and all manner of evil in their native Fission City. Of course, Dr. Paradigm becomes their primary nemesis, who has an insane scheme to "gene-slam" the entire human population into nefarious "Seaviates," hideous genetic mutants based on marine animals that will exist only to serve him. Paradigm himself becomes a victim of his own sick and twisted experiments when he is accidentally injected with his own "gene-slamming" serum and is transformed into "Dr. Piranoid," whose face assumed an inhuman piranha-like form during moments of extreme emotion. The Street Sharks are aided in their battles against Dr. Piranoid by Bends, their genius human friend, and other "gene-slammed" human/animal mutants like Moby Lick (a Killer Whale) and Rox (a Mako Shark) and later, the Dino Vengers.

"Street Sharks" is not a particularly deep or involving show. The animation is pretty simple and straight-forward, with no other underlying theme other than the theme of brotherly camaraderie amongst Our Four marine Heroes. Seeing the show in my adult years, it's not as mind-blowing as I thought it was going to be - but perhaps that's just the 31-year-old adult in me. But remembering back to my nine-/10-year-old self, it's easy to get lost in a show that promises nothing more than just great fun and "Jawsome" one-liners.

7/10.

A Good Show

[Ginger87 · 25 August 2004]

"Street Sharks" wasn't that bad of a show. I used to watch it about five years ago on UPN on Sunday mornings. I liked the animation, the plots, and the characters. My favorite character was Streex. He was cool. I also liked Roxie. She was also cool.

My favorite episodes were: "Attack of the shark bots (1)", "Here Comes The Mantaman", "Clash of the Titans", "Follow The Leader", and "Cabin Fever". I also liked the "Street Sharks" movie "The Shiva Saga". I even have that on video.

Overall I really enjoyed this show and it is ashame that it didn't last that long. I give this show 8/10 stars.

It's kind of bad

[Takeshi666 · 4/10 · 25 January 2016]

I'm not saying it's really bad, just plain bad. And I'm not even comparing it to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, of which this is one of the many ripoffs made in the 90's.

The continuity is really sketchy - I mean restoring status quo is/was a popular thing to do in these cartoons, but considering the series kind of established itself as continuity actually mattering at all early on, it's really jarring when Piranoid finally gets arrested with the President of all characters giving a full expose on his activities, and he's shown trying to escape from prison at the end...and then in the next episode, he's hosting some trade symposium as if nothing had happened.

And the animation is really bad, with the framerate frequently dropping way below the television animation standard of 12 frames a second, leading to characters moving in a very choppy manner, and the characters' body parts occasionally miscolored or left uncolored entirely, like Ripster's jaw disappearing in one frame but the outlines are still there (and considering the low framerate, all the errors are very easy to spot). The show does a lousy job at conveying action on-screen sometimes, making it confusing to figure out what exactly is going on - such as when Piranoid is about to crash the van he's driving in, he's shown screaming, and it cuts to a backdrop painting which doesn't give you a faintest idea about what he's supposed to be crashing into...and then it cuts back to him, screaming again, and a brief pause, and he screams AGAIN as if to inhale between screaming, all before finally actually crashing, it's like the steam roller scene from Austin Powers except I'm not entirely convinced they did it deliberately since it's the kind of meta humor the series rarely dwells in.

And don't get me started on the weird montages that replace action scenes where they just play clips in split screen not only from earlier in the episode but even after the montage, while some second-rate song plays in the background - and once the montage is over, it rarely has made any difference, clearly existing only to pad out the episodes.

Street Sharks!!!!!!!!!!!

[mikeyhelm · 10/10 · 14 June 2006]

Absolute masterpiece. Any one who judges street sharks is a fool. I grew up with Street Sharks and i couldn't get enough. Recommended for retro fun or definitely kids should be watching this kind of entertainment. Pure genius. It came around in mid nineties with a very mainstream idea just like the teenage mutant ninja turtles which was also magnificent. Street sharks is a little more action packed with cool catchphrases and a catchy theme song that will always be remembered. This cartoon was not very long running and that is a great shame. I think the creators of this cartoon need to bring themselves together and bring about some new street shark episodes to entertain the young audience and just notice how popular it becomes once again just like it did in the 90's.

Bad

[coles_notes · 3/10 · 13 June 2022]

Created after the also massively successful TMNT, Street Sharks tries to follow the same formula of anamorphic crime fighters, this time sharks with badass street tough attitudes. They fight bad guys, particularly the evil Dr. Piranoid, a half-man, piranha villain, they drive and fly cool vehicles, and most importantly, sell coool toys. There is no real overarching plot, new sharks and enemies are introduced over the course of the series, but nothing really matters and the plots are very expected for this style of show. The characters all seem to accept that they're going to be grotesque muscular half-sharks for the rest of their lives willingly, the only thing they care about is beating up bad guys. And that's cool, that's all they were really needed for. Street Sharks!

They're Jawsome!

[LTPHarry · 8/10 · 1 December 2022]

Street Sharks is a cartoon from DIC and Bohbot Entertainment that originally aired on the latter's "Amazin' Adventures" syndicated block in the Mid-1990's.

The series follows on the adventures of Ripster, Jab, Streex and Big Slammu, four half-human, half-sharks who were originally the Bolton brothers John, Clint, Bobby and Coop, who thanks to the evil Dr. Paradigm's gene-slamming device were injected with the DNA of different Shark species, but to the point they thought for good instead of evil which Dr. Paradigm wanted, but he soon gets injected himself with piranha DNA and became Dr. Piranoid, and episodes followed on this formula - Paradigm creates new creatures with the device and the Street Sharks must beat them all down, while still being like humans and scaring everyone along the way due to Dr. Paradigm's smart and lying ways.

The animation in the show is your typical standard DIC-quality animation, so at times it may look cheap, or it may look decent. The voice acting is good as well and was one of the few DIC toons where they mostly went with voice talent from Omaha, Nebraska who have done little, if any well known work.

The tone of the show is a bit like Mummies Alive!, it's a bit serious at times but it's not meant to be taken seriously, if at all. It's just silly campy fun with four Human Sharks kicking tail and being Jawsome.

The music, especially the theme tune, is catchy and cool. It certainly gives that nineties feel to it.

And now, the fact that this show is normally classified as a big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ripoff, and yeah, there are many similarities with the turtles, but it also does its own things as well that still make it unique, abit uninspired at the same time.

Overall, Street Sharks is a fun and campy show that's worth watching for a good nostalgia trip.

Absolute tosh

[leejjones-92486 · 3/10 · 19 February 2020]

I loved the action figures as a kid but seeing clips of the show it looks so cheap and bad,Finding out this was a toyline first then a cartoon series does not surprise they wanna make there money these companies also the designs look awful stay away.

They fight and bite, and fight and bite and fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Bite! Bite! Bite! It's the Street Sharks, a cartoon show!

[NickSoapdish · 11 August 2005]

While the children of the 80s watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the children of the 90s (myself included) watched Street Sharks. This cartoon was pretty crazy. Some evil scientist turns a father and his four sons into half human half shark mutants, and the father goes into hiding for no apparent reason. Then the four sons ( aided by a surfer dude) fight the evil scientist and his own group of evil mutants, like Killamari, a violent half man half squid. I admit, I thought this cartoon was hokey even when I was watching it ten years ago, but it was still fun to watch. I liked how Dr. Paradigm (what a bizarre name!)wore that robotic battle suit. I thought it was funny that he would always wear that suit no matter what the occasion. (Although he would wear a huge purple cape over the suit when he went out into public although people could still see the bubble-head part of the suit.) I'll never forget that in one episode he addressed the public and told them why he always wore the cyber attack suit; he told the crowd that the Street Sharks had somehow imprisoned him in it. Yeah, the Street Sharks would force their mortal enemy to wear a suit that gives him deadly increased strength and incredible attack powers. I quit watching the Street Sharks after a while and I'm not sure how many episodes I missed. I wonder if the Sharks were ever reunited with their father. This show is no cultural masterpiece, but it was fun to watch. I would be glad to see the Street Sharks get released on DVD.

jawsome

[jcatspawn · 9/10 · 7 April 2008]

I grew up watching the street sharks. they were and still are one of my favorite cartoons. I thought it was a pretty good show as far as quality went, considering the other cartoons that came out at the time and I think it's a lot better than shows we see now. It seems like now they don't try anymore. There's a quality that went with this show and others in this time period that has been lost some how. Yes, it's unrealistic and a little campy, but that's what's fun about it. It was just that, fun and I think the story, characters and topics fit. I just wish they would give it it's recognition already...if the Mario brothers super show can have seasons' and volumes on DVD, why can't the street sharks?

Street Sharks 4 Life

[hawkeyes_zdd_24 · 10/10 · 12 April 2010]

Hello people. Me and my buddy, Aaron have been avid Street Sharks fans since I can recall. It is the ultimate T.V. experience ever for kids and adults alike. When my kids get old enough, they're going to watch it, easy, hands down. It not only rocked my world, but taught me new slangs(CAN ANYONE SAY JAWESOME?), and taught me how to fight crime when crime fights me. All I can say is 'What would Ripster say?' to all the downers and nay-sayers of the Street Shark Nation? Street Sharks, they're fintastic! We bite, we fight. We're street sharks. The world as we know it today is crumbling and I want you to know Street Sharks will be back because Aaron and I will remake it. Expect the bite!

Stay sweet, sharkies.

I loved this show as a kid

[elonmusk-is_a_moron · 9/10 · 16 July 2022]

I see many people accusing this show of being a "rip-off" of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And while I do see more than evident similarities between both series (I think the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were even referenced at one point) I still watched this series almost religiously.

Like many 90s cartoons, it had an awesome theme song, and many cool characters; kinda wish the series continued: As far as I remember, the series ended in some sort of cliffhanger (Sadly, also another common element from many 90s cartoons)

Considering the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had many reboots and movies, Street Sharks should get at least one reboot series.

You kidding me?

[iwishiwasfashioncore · 6 September 2005]

First of, TMNT was an amazing show that fed my childhood imagination.

Street Sharks was awesome. What kid didn't want to watch a show where tough sharks were punching down criminals. It was made simple for children and not adults.

I believe the idea might have been based of of Maui and son's (sp) Typical shark character that they but all over skate boards, boogie boards, shirts, shoes and anything else that was popular in the early 90's

When I see pictures from this show it reminds me of a time when Neon colored fanny packs, Bk knights light up shoes, Over-sized sunglasses, squeeze its, legos, and slap on bracelets were only a necessity of life.

The MUST SEE show for kids who love sharks!

[smsteger · 10/10 · 23 November 2009]

Okay, my opinion is biased, but man if you were a kid in the 90s like me who LOVED sharks, snakes, and generally every other animal that most people feared then this show was like heaven for you. When I watched Street Sharks it was like watching God turn grass into gold.

The characters were awesome, Slammu was my favorite (Whale shark with super strength!) The Ripster was the leader of the 4 brothers, he was a level headed Great White mutant. Slammu, a Whale shark, was the biggest and strongest of the crew, with the ability to tear a water tower from the ground! (It was awesome!) Streex was the Tiger shark mutant with all the suave charming skills. Jab, the Hammerhead, was the lazy street shark who was most like me, but I still liked seeing Slammu smash stuff around. Dr. Paradigm... he was actually very scary if you were only about 5 or 6 like I was when you watched the show. The Piranha was a good idea, I've yet to see another show even use a piranha in a way other than being used as a method to get rid of a body... The GUY IN THE SKY!! He was never show but you'd always hear him reporting the latest news and it would set the theme for what the Street Sharks had to save/right. I never saw if the boys ever found their father... it always made me sad when I saw the shadow of Dr. Bolten because I knew it was him. I hope they did. Minions; Killamari was one mean son of a gun. That guy was easily the meanest and scariest of all of the minions. He was a mutant squid that shot deadly barbs from his mouth. He was very intelligent and often made fun of his fellow minions since they could never do anything right, especially the Slobster.

Surfing through the concrete was seriously almost the best part of the show! How could any kid not like that?! They jump out of it for goodness sakes! It blew my mind.

I had all the toys and everything. Sure it wasn't as big of a collection as my TMNT stuff, but hey Street Sharks was definitely the show to watch before TMNT came along. The surfer guy, with subliminal pothead references was cool too because as someone else said they started introducing a supporting cast and guest characters early on. Street Sharks was the epitome of what the 90s brought for cartoons, pure, action-packed, somewhat violent, anti-hero goodness in the form of experiments gone wrong trying to right the wrongs of others! The strongest thing the Street Sharks had was an ORIGINAL concept for what kind of animal to use. I have yet to see anyone DARE to use a shark in a cartoon that isn't just like Jabber Jaw or those dumb sharks from Finding Nemo.

It was not culturally significant at the time, but for kids that were into sharks and reptiles like me this show was probably one of the best I've ever watched in my life. (Swat Katz is about the only one that can touch it!!)

Horrible TMNT Rip-off

[Kai-18 · 14 November 1999]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was bad but this is just plain horrendous. Poor plot, horrible animation, stupid character designs, and a really lame attempt to cash in on something kids aren't even interested in anymore. Avoid this piece of crap at all costs.

Brilliant Jaws

[ThunderKing6 · 8/10 · 22 June 2021]

Such a lovely show with superb animation, color and unique characters. I enjoyed watching some of this show as a kid. I couldn't indulge a lot, however when I did and from what I remember it still was an amazing show.