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Thunder in Paradise is an American action-adventure TV series created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Greg Bonann (the same people who made Baywatch), and starring Hulk Hogan (who also served as co-executive producer), Chris Lemmon, Carol Alt, and Patrick Macnee. The show originally premiered as a straight-to-video feature film released on September 27, 1993, then ran for one season of 22 episodes on CBS from March 25 to November 27, 1994.
Synopsis[]
Ex-U.S. Navy SEALS Randolph J. "Hurricane" Spencer and Martin "Bru" Brubaker ride around in a futuristic speedboat called "Thunder" and fight crime around the world, while carrying the responsibility of raising Spencer's young daughter Jessica.
Why It's Always Another Day In Paradise[]
- So many great characters, such as the main heroes Spencer and Bru (the former being the muscular family man, and the latter being the snarky brains), the sassy barmaid Kelly LaRue, the comically serious Uncle Edward Whittaker, and the recurring villain Hammerhead.
- The Thunder speedboat is awesome, with so many features such as machine guns, rocket launchers, thruster jets, and a stealth mode.
- Fun action scenes, such as major gun-fights, vicious fist fights, and high-speed boat chases.
- Several of Hogan's wrestling colleagues appeared throughout the show, such as "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Jorge Gonzales (formely known as El Gigante in WCW, and Giant Gonzales in WWF), Hercules Hernandez, Fred Ottman (best known as Tugboat and Typhoon in WWF, and as The Shockmaster in WCW), Steve Keirn (who played Skinner and Doink the Clown II in WWF), Terry Funk, and Steve Borden a.k.a. Sting (who played Hammerhead here).
- Awesome theme song.
Bad Qualities[]
- American magazine TV Guide called the show "violent, dumb, and dull" and said that Hogan's facial expressions are all the same, like he swallowed a bottle of kaopectate.
- Almost every episode always has either Jessica and/or Kelly getting in peril or being kidnapped and having to be rescued by Spencer and Bru.
Trivia[]
- George Foreman was originally offered the role of Bru, but had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts.
- Thunder in Paradise was filmed at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Baylake, Florida, where World Championship Wrestling was taping episodes of its shows Saturday Night and Worldwide. During production, Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff met with Hogan and successfully convinced him to sign with WCW in 1994.
- The two-part episodes "Sealed with a Kismet" and "Deadly Lessons" would be combined and released on VHS as the respective feature films Thunder in Paradise II and Thunder in Paradise 3.
- The two-part finale "The M.A.J.O.R. and the Minor" was used as the basis for the Thunder in Paradise video-game released on the Philips CD-i. In addition to the episode itself, additional footage was filmed for use at different stages in the game. This game-exclusive footage was shot at the same time as the episode itself.
- Prior to cancellation, there were plans for a second season and more TV movies, which would've involved Hammerhead joining Spencer and Bru in their fight against evil. Also, Hogan thought about rebooting the show with himself, Sting, Mr. T, and a female martial artist as the main cast, and a new title Thunderforce.