Talk:The Kids From C.A.P.E.R.

Hit song?

I was told that one of the songs, "When It Hit Me (The Hurricane Song)," sung by John Lansing (Doc) was actually a hit. I've been trying to find out where it placed on the charts and when, but no such luck. Anyone know? PatrickLMT (talk) 14:25, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

I doubt that's true, since it's a really awful song (see youtube if you want to see for yourself). On the other hand, stranger things have happened. Eaglizard (talk) 20:35, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Edits

I just noticed that an IP editor has recently made a few tweaks to the text on this page, and I'd like to point out that I'm planning on rewriting 90% of the text, so your fixes may disappear. Nothing personal, of course, it's just that the entire section is not written with the proper encyclopedic tone, and needs substantial changes, mostly in the form of removals. :( Eaglizard (talk) 20:35, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

I created the page. And I am continuing to work on it. Your additions and edits are welcome. Your presumption is not. You are not rewriting it. End of discussion. PatrickLMT (talk) 07:07, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia, Patrick! Don't you think you might want to familiarize yourself with how things are done here, before you start telling me how to do things? Just a friendly suggestion. :D Eaglizard (talk) 10:40, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Edits

Made some changes to the format. Since someone helpfully posted the infobox, I removed the cast section and the theme song I decided is no longer necessary.

A few minor details. Klintsinger is often (not always) seen wearing goggles pushed on his forehead, and those aren't swim goggles, either.PatrickLMT (talk) 10:24, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

The infobox does not replace the cast section. (Have a look at any other tv show article, if you disagree). Actually, the common format seems to be the 'Cast' section as the 2nd section, with each character described there, rather than intertwining the descriptions in the Premise section. Care to have a go at it? Eaglizard (talk) 10:57, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

I went to look at Land of the Lost, another uber-schlocky cheesy piece of work that I happened to fall in love with as a child. But perhaps that's not the best example. You don't like the idea of having cast members merely as parenthetical inserts? Seems redundant to have a cast section while your wonderful infobox has the cast. Can you recommend a good page for a show of this type? What do you consider a pristine page?

Also, since these actors (except Robert Emhardt) have no pages of their own and probably would not meet the notability criteria, is it appropriate to say anything about what they're doing now? Steve Bonino (P.T.) is a singer/songwriter (although perhaps he should get his own page http://www.stevebonino.com/Bio.html) Cosie Costa (Bugs) I have no idea about, John Lansing (Doc) appeared in a few episodes of Texas Ranger although he currently does real estate for a living. Biff Warren, tragically, died at a young age, but was very prominent in children's Saturday morning live action shows, such as Shazam!, and later became a Soap Actor. I know Robert Emhardt (Chief Vinton) is deceased and I have no idea about Robert Lussier (Klintsinger). I'm don't really care all that much one way or another. Merely asking. And if it's useful fleshy material, that's fine.

By the way, I'm glad you're seeing this as a cooperative venture now. (Which is good, since neither one of us has any choice.)PatrickLMT (talk) 21:30, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Readded the cast section. Should I try to find guest stars or no? PatrickLMT (talk) 22:15, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Running jokes?

I took out, or I thought I did, the running gag about the inevitable explanation of what C.A.P.E.R. stood for from the first paragraph under premise, and placed in the section on Running jokes (which I did not add, and I haven't weeded through the history to find out who did). Is it appropriate to have a section on Running jokes, or should they be incorporated into the article? I notice in other articles that Wikipedia frowns on sections like "Trivia," and requests that they be incorporated into the article. Should this be done with Running jokes? It can easily be done. In fact, some of them already are.

The production notes are not mine, either, and while seemingly plausible (to the best of my recollection), I don't know what the source is.

I'm not even sure what constitutes a running joke. P.T., as the narrator, was ubiquitous. When Doc and Rosemary were duelling those two (very inept) swordsmen (during the Hurricane Song), P.T. was present and commented on the incident, but did not aid his teammate and neither Doc nor Rosemary even knew he was there. P.T. secretly observing these incidents, concealing himself from teammates (for no reason), not intervening, but just providing gratuitous narration, might seem like a running gag. The only alternative is that he's some kind of voyeur, or Peeping Tom. PatrickLMT (talk) 22:15, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Removed "Running Jokes." It was effortless to incorporate them into the article. PatrickLMT (talk) 20:01, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Police Interns? Trainees?

I've added 'fact' tags requesting support for the flat assertion that C.A.P.E.R. were police interns or trainees. I'm familiar with the series due to having audio recordings of about half of them and of course I watched them all. I'm curious as to the basis of this claim. I haven't any recollection of such a thing being even remotely suggested. Subjectively the notion seems a very poor fit for the era and kind of show it was.

Excessive interpretive and creative detail, much of it dubious

There's a good deal of interpretive detail in this article now, much of it very fannish in tone, all of it unsourced.

An example of the fanzine-toned material:

his favorite dishes included hot fudge omelets, tuna fish burritos and pizzas with unusual toppings (the other CAPERs shared his quirky culinary preferences).
His childlike demeanor made him more susceptible to trickery, but what he lacked in brains he more than made up for in heart and determination.

This is more era-equivalent Tiger Beat in tone and depth than encyclopedic.

There's also a lot of questionable material; was there ever any in-story support or evidence for assertions like "Vinton helped P.T. to create the CAPERs"? The assertion that they were police interns has been removed, but there's still the line "they helped the police to solve unusual cases while they learned the ropes of law enforcement"; retaining the implication of internship.

Even where toned down from the teen-fanzine style, many assertions still appear to be editorial assumption and interpretive guesswork, such as

To wit, unlike the Monkees, the CAPERs did not consider themselves musicians
Despite being "all full of sunshine" to everyone around him, Doomsday believed he was bad luck to others, hence his dismal wardrobe

I acknowledge that the article as a whole walks very closely to original research, being based on the primary source of the programs themselves. But much of this new material goes further, in the direction of creative original writing. The use of "the CAPERs" as an abbreviation for the group or its members is also a creative addition not present in the program nor usual encyclopedic style.

Recommend this article be stripped of details which are not explicitly stated or clearly shown in the series (or overgeneralized from isolated jokes or incidents), and cleaned up of unencyclopedic descriptive verbiage. P.T.isfirst (talk) 15:35, 9 July 2016 (UTC)