Monster Warriors is a Canadian television series which first aired on YTV in Canada in 2006. It was created by Wilson Coneybeare and produced by Coneybeare Stories Inc. The series concluded its run on July 26, 2008, with a TV movie titled Monster Warriors Finale on YTV. The series was a purposely campy cross between the Power Rangers and Ghostbusters.
This show is about a group of teenagers who come together to battle monsters that have been brought to life by a former monster movie director. Four teens named Luke, Tabby, Antonio and Vanka originally banded together for a school project on spiders when their city, Capital City, came under attack by a former movie maker named Claus Von Steinhauer. The creature that attacked Capital City was a spider, and since they were doing a project on spiders, they decided to investigate. They felt responsible to destroy this monster with every member of the Monster Warriors using their unique talents to form weapons and armour in order to defeat the monster created by the B movie king Von Steinhauer.
Klaus Von Steinhauer creates his monsters using a machine named the Monster Maker and usually these monsters are created from B-movies that he created in the 1950s. There are also people trying to contact the Monster Warriors from another timeline in order to change the history of events for Capital City. Along with the help of a movie store owner and Von Steinhauer movie buff named Kreeger and also the mayor of Capital City (Mayor Mel) giving them heads up about monster attacks, these teens team up using new weapons made out of junk in order to defeat the monsters created by Klaus Von Steinhauer.
"I make ze tropes big!":
- Action Girl: Both Tabby and Vanka. Tabby is the team's Wrench Wench and macgyers together the weapons the team uses to fight the monsters, while Vanka is a kickass martial artist and the one most likely to end up going toe-to-toe against the Monster of the Week.
- All Trolls Are Different: In "Terror of the Troglothals", mischievous one-eyed troll-like monsters emerge from the ground hours before a Capital City gardening contest.
- Amphibian Assault:
- In "Ribbit", huge frogs rain down on Capital City, trapping the Monster Warriors inside a movie theatre with a stranger who may be something more than human.
- In "Ribbit 2: Froggy's Revenge", the Monster Warriors finally come face to face with an alien at the same time they are being held captive by a legion of giant frogs.
- Animal Wrongs Group: One episode deals with a group of people protesting the Warriors fighting and destroying the monsters, with the leaders of the group being the parents of one of the Warriors. Needless to say, they change their tune when the monsters attack them (although a few still bitch about it during the attack).
- Artistic License – Paleontology: The monstrous pterodactyls in "Pterodactyl Terror" and "The Secrets of the Lost Canyon" are the bat-winged horrors of B-movie fame... because that's exactly what the are, since they were conjured out of an old monster movie by the series' Big Bad.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Klaus Von Steinhauer specialised in giant monster movies, and now that he has access to the Monster maker, these make up the majority of the beasts he unleashes on Capital City. Aside from the Big Creepy-Crawlies (listed under that trope) other giant creatures he created include: alligators ("Gators!"); an anaconda ("Anaconda Of The North Woods"); lobsters ("The Giant Lobster Invasion"); a giant Muck Monster ("Revenge of the Mud Maniac"); a sea cucumber ( "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Cucumber"); frogs ("Ribbit" and "Ribbit 2: Froggy's Revenge"); a jellyfish ("Beast from Below"); vampire bats (Megabatua"); a giant robot ("Astrosaurus vs. Gigantobeast"); a rat ("Ratblaster"); penguins ("Penguins"); and gnomes ("Gnome for the Holidays").
- Attack of the Killer Whatever: The Monster Warriors had to deal - among other things - with a giant carnivorous butterfly that hypnotised people with its beauty, a living and very hungry blob, living radioactive junk (not that kind), giant (again) cockroaches, predatory vines, an army of giant frogs... Well, what do you expect from the show with a deranged and Brainwashed By Aliens ex-B-Movie director as a villain, anyway?
- Bat Out of Hell: In "Megabatua", the Monster Warriors attempt to combat gigantic vampire bats which have invaded Capital City Hospital and depleted its blood supply.
- Bee Afraid: In "Buzz!", a huge electricity-sucking bumble bee is draining all of Capital City's power supply. Why would a bee do that?
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: A staple of Klaus Von Steinhauer's plans. Aside from the Giant Spider, other giant creepy-crawlies he unleashed on Capital City include: a bumblebee (Buzz!"); an earthworm ("The Terror Underground"); a carnivorous butterfly ("Attack of the Carnivorous Butterfly"); a slug ("Capital City vs. the Plant Thing"); cockroaches ("Terror of the Giant Cockroaches"); a praying mantis ("Marauding Mantis" and "Terror at the Drive-In"); termites ("Termites"); a ladybug ("Attack of the Enormous Terrifying Ladybug"); stinkbugs ("Attack of the Stinkbugs: Parts I and II"); leeches (Attack of the Leaping Leeches"); and ants ("Trick or Treat").
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: In "Terror in the North Woods", Mayor Mel disappears and the gang searches for him in the woods outside Capital City, where they discover the Bigfoot “hoax” might not be a hoax at all.
- Blob Monster: In "Beware the Blob Thing", the Monster Warriors battle a blob monster that somehow appears to consume Mayor Mel and almost does the same to Vanka.
- Bloodsucking Bats: In "Megabatua", the Monster Warriors attempt to combat gigantic vampire bats which have invaded Capital City Hospital and depleted its blood supply.
- City of Adventure: Takes place in Capital City (although exactly where it is the capital of is never established) and its immediate surrounds, with the nearby North Woods being an especially popular spot for monsters.
- The Commissioner Gordon: Mayor Mel. Always a friend to the Monster Warriors, he is the first one to give them a buzz when a nasty monster shows up, uninvited, in Capital City.
- Creature-Hunter Organization: The Monster Warriors are a group of teenagers who come together to battle monsters, initially created by Von Steinhauer, but eventually a slew of others.
- Dem Bones: Von Steinhauer unleashes a gang of animated skeletons upon Capital City in "Last Ride of the Skeleton Crew" and "The Skeleton Crew Rides Again".
- Enemy Mine: In "Attack of the Leaping Leeches", Klaus Von Steinhauer seeks the Monster Warriors' help when giant, leaping leeches attack him and his monster-movie film crew.
- Energy Absorption: In "Buzz!", a huge electricity-sucking bumblebee is draining all of Capital City's power supply.
- Fish People: In "Curse of the Lagoon Man", the legendary Lagoon Man, a nocturnal creature that's known for devouring humans whole, hits Capital City — and the gang must track him down before dawn.
- Flying Seafood Special: In "Day of the Piranha", the Monster Warriors are trapped in a cabin in the woods and being attacked by a school of mutant man-eating flying piranhas.
- Gender-Equal Ensemble: The Monster Warriors consist of two boys (Luke and Antonio) and two girls (Tabby and Vanka).
- Giant Enemy Crab: In "The Giant Lobster Invasion", a giant lobster attacks the beaches of Capital City and the Monster Warriors learn an alien force might be behind it.
- Giant Flyer: The Warriors battle monstrous pterodactyls in "Pterodactyl Terror" and "The Secrets of the Lost Canyon". The inaccuracies are Justified is this case these are not supposed to be real pterodactyls, but creatures conjured out of an old monster movie by the series' Big Bad.
- Giant Spider: The first monster Von Steinhauer unleashes upon capital City is a giant spider in "The Giant Spider Invasion".
- Griping About Gremlins: In "Invasion of the Computer Bugs", computers in Capital City are infiltrated by gremlin-like computer bugs that wreak havoc with the city's infrastructure.
- Haunted House Historian: Unabashed B-Movie Fan Kreeger runs a video store devoted to obscure B-grade science fiction and horror films. In particular, he is a huge fan of 1950s director Klaus Von Steinhauer and is a walking encyclopedia regarding Klaus and his oeuvre. This makes him the perfect person to advise the Monster Warriors when Klaus starts creating real monsters based on his old films and unleashing them upon Capital City.
- Homemade Inventions: Not only Tabby can make laser weapons out of plastic bottles and a blender in a matter of seconds, but she is always able to find a huge pile of trash everywhere. Mainly because Luke's hobby is to collect it inside his house and car.
- I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: In "Attack of the Abominable Snowman", Tabby mysteriously disappears during a skiing vacation at a place called Suicide Hill.
- Inventor of the Mundane: Luke's family is wealthy because his parents invented the grocery cart coin dispenser.
- Kid from the Future: Henry—the child attempting to deliver an Ominous Message from the Future to the Monster Warriors—turns out to be a clone of Luke.
- Kraken and Leviathan: In "The Beast From Beneath the Sea", Von Steinhauer use the Monster Maker to recreate the Kraken from one his old movies and sends it to attack Capital City via its harbour.
- Living Lava: Astrosaurus, a molten lava dinosaur, is one of the two monsters in "Astrosaurus vs. Gigantobeast".
- Living Statue: In "Attack of the Monumonsters", newly elected mayor McClellan decides to turn Monument Park into a teen-detention center, but the park's statues will have none of it as they come to life to defend their turf.
- MacGyvering: Tabby is a real gadget queen who takes ordinary household appliances and turns them into monster-blasting weaponry—hold on to your hair diffuser around this girl!
- Mad Artist: The Big Bad is Klaus Von Steinhauer: an embittered 1950s film director. His career was destroyed in the 1960s when beach movies supplanted his giant monster movies in public popularity. Now granted a machine called the Monster Maker by aliens, he seeks revenge by using the Monster Maker to create real versions of the monsters from his movies and unleashing them upon Capital City.
- Make My Monster Grow: Claus uses the Monster maker to create giant monsters straight of his 1950s B Movies. His Catchphrase (which appeared in the opening credits) is "I make ze monsters big!".
- Maker of Monsters: The Big Bad Klaus Von Steinhauer is a former B-list monster movie director who now creates real monsters that the protagonists fight in order to protect Capital City.
- Man-Eating Plant: In "Capital City vs. the Plant Thing", Capital City is attacked by a killer vine.
- Metal Muncher: In "Attack of the Junk Monster", the Monster of the Week is a giant metal-eating radioactive junk monster: one of Klaus' seemingly failed experiments, but when he threw it out it started absorbing all the metal in the junkyard, becoming a radioactive menace so deadly even Klaus wanted to destroy it.
- Monster of the Week: The format of the show. Every episode Klaus (or, more rarely, someone else) creates a monster (intentionally or unintentionally) which attacks Capital City and the Monster Warriors have to stop it. The monsters are generally the sort of creature one would find a 1950s giant monster movie because Big Bad Klaus is an embittered film director from the 1950s who now has the means to bring his movie monsters to life.
- Muck Monster: In "Revenge Of The Mud Maniac", a giant mud monster is on the attack in Capital City.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: In "Gators!", a family of giant alligators are in the sewers and it's up to the Monster Warriors to get rid of them.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Superintendent McClellan. This paper-pusher is a real stickler for policy and procedure. He’s Mayor Mel’s right-hand-guy, but he’s no Warrior ally—in fact quite the opposite! When something goes wrong in Capital City, teenagers are blamed—namely the Monster Warriors.
- Ominous Message from the Future: A mysterious child named Henry from the future keeps trying to contact the Monster Warriors to warn them about a hideous fate that is approaching them.
- Our Gnomes Are Weirder: In "Gnomes for the Holiday", the Monster Warriors on the trail to search for the missing Kreeger, they stumble on a criminal gang of gnomes led by Klaus. Like all tthe monsters in the series, the gnomes have been brought to life from an old monster movie.
- Our Zombies Are Different: The Alien Zombie from the Planet Zeenom is not related to the mystery aliens although it does resemble them, it was created by accident when Klaus' Monster Machine broke and zapped Missy's comic book. This intelligent and benevolent giant monster is featured in season 1 and 2.
- Perky Female Minion: Klaus Von Steinhauer's assistant Missy Gore is unfailingly upbeat and ditzy despite the fact she is helping Klaus create monsters and unleash them on Capital City. Her ditziness makes her as much a hindrance as a help, especially when combined with Klaus' instability.
- Piranha Problem: In "Day of the Piranha", the Monster Warriors are trapped in a cabin in the woods and being attacked by a school of mutant man-eating flying piranhas.
- Rodents of Unusual Size: In "Ratblaster", a sanitation workers strike, a giant rat and Luke's monsterblasting weapon combine to test the Monster Warriors.
- Sewer Gator: In "Gators!", a family of giant alligators are in the sewers and it's up to the Monster Warriors to get rid of them.
- Slaying Mantis:
- "Marauding Mantis": While the Monster Warriors battle a herd of giant praying mantis, Luke finds himself strangely bothered by Tabby’s friendship with her good-looking student council co-president.
- A giant praying mantis is one of the monsters brought to life in "Terror at the Drive-In".
- Snakes Are Sinister: The Monster of the Week in "Anaconda of the North Woods" is a giant anaconda.
- Teen Hater: Obstructive Bureaucrat Superintendent McClellan. He is Mayor Mel's ambitious and incompetent adviser who constantly suspects teenagers are behind all wrongdoing in Capital City. And when he becomes mayor, his fact is to build a detention centre for teenagers.
- Terrifying Tyrannosaur: In "Fall of the Haunted House of T-Rex", a T-Rex threatens the opening of the Capital City Amusement Park.
- Terror-dactyl: In "Pterodactyl Terror" and "The Secrets of the Lost Canyon", the Warriors battle monstrous bat-winged pterodactyls conjured out of an old monster movie by the series' Big Bad.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: In season 2, Obstructive Bureaucrat and Teen Hater Superintendent McClellan is elected mayor and attempts to shut the Monster Warriors down: putting Capital City at the mercy of the monsters. He eventually resigns and goes back to being superintendent.
- Unabashed B-Movie Fan: Kreeger runs a video store devoted to obscure B-grade science fiction and horror films. In particular, he is a huge fan of 1950s director Klaus Von Steinhauer and is a walking encyclopedia regarding Klaus and his oeuvre. This makes him the perfect person to advise the Monster Warriors when Klaus starts creating real monsters based on his old films and unleashing them upon Capital City.
- Water Source Tampering: In "Last Ride of the Skeleton Crew", the Skeleton Crew—a small tactical strike team of living green skeletons — try to poison Capital City's water supply.
- Wrench Wench: Tabby. Invents all manner of weaponry, and makes the Monster Mobile go, all with household waste.
