"It's more than just a game."
A Disney live-action adventure series, produced by Bruce Kalish from
Power Rangers, about
typical teen Charlie Landers, whose skills at the online game
Hero Rising bring him to the attention of reclusive billionaire T. Abner Hall. Hall offers Charlie the chance to save the world from
Real Life bad guys—specifically, the Omega Defiance, the same evil conspiracy featured in
Hero Rising. After an initial
Refusal of The Call, Charlie accepts and is soon fighting the same kind of battles that he'd previously experienced only in the game.
According to
The Other Wiki, the show was not renewed for a third season, the official reason being that Disney XD wanted to focus on comedy live-action shows. The series lasted from February, 2009 to July, 2010. A total of 35 episodes were released in its two seasons.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Jason.
- Artificial Human: STAN.
- Backstory: "My Stakeout with S.T.A.N." is chock full of it.
- Big Bad: Dr. Necros, the Omega Defiance member who appears the most times.
- Season Two has him Eviler than Thou'd right out of that position by Damaged, in a VERY frightening way... alongside the rest of the Defiance...the worst part is we don't see what kills them. Because of Never Say "Die", a horrifying scene became arguably EVEN WORSE.
- At the end of "Mutant Rain," Elias Powers looked like he was on his way to becoming the next Big Bad after stepping into the Uria Chamber, but then the show got canceled.
- Clothes Make the Superman: Charlie may have video game skills and be athletic, but he'd be pretty useless without his Powered Armor and gadgets.
- Darker and Edgier: Season 2. Oh so much Season 2. The first episode deals with one of the season 1 bad guys getting killed by an Eldritch Abomination with telekinesis! Sure it's off-screen and its costume looks fake and silly, but still!
- Evil Counterpart: Grudge in "Mutant Rain."
- Expy: U, a shapeshifter who is rather gleeful about ruining Aaron, is likely one great big Envy homage.
- Face Framed In Shadow: T. Abner Hall. The end of "Mutant Rain" has him reveal his face to Aaron and the rest of his team.
- Fun with Acronyms: STAN, Sentient Tactical Assistant Neurohuman.
- Guilty Pleasure
- Heroes R Us: The Hall Foundation.
- It's A Small Net After All
- Kill Sat
- Last Starfighter: The series premise.
- Losing Your Head: Stan.
- Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Dr. Necros, Souljacker.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Emma
- Papa Wolf: Don't mess with Aaron's little brother.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: You couldn't design a Hero Rising avatar who wore a mask, huh, Charlie? Good thing you can just say you're cosplaying as Aaron Stone.
- Parental Abandonment: Charlie's dad is dead...
- Refusal of The Call: Charlie is (of course) initially reluctant to accept the Call to Adventure.
- Replacement Goldfish: What this show is essentially meant to be for the Power Rangers franchise.
- Ridiculously Human Robot: STAN.
- Screwed by the Network: Disney XD decided not to renew the show for a third season because they chose to put more emphasis on comedy based live-action shows.
- Shirtless Scene: Charlie in the beginning of "Time Out."
- Shout Out: The Laws of Robotics, established by Isaac Asimov, are programmed into STAN, which is often an important plot point.
- Tattooed Crook: Souljacker.
- This Is Sparta: I. Am. An. Android!
- Those Two Guys: Vas and Ram.
- Ultimate Gamer 386
- Villainous Rescue: The Season 2 premiere provides an inadvertent example. In-between seasons, the Omega Defiance figured out that Charlie is Aaron Stone and everything else about him. Why didn't they then attack? Well, they were getting ready to, but then Damaged and the other mutants escaped. By taking revenge against the Omega Defiance, Damaged wound up saving his soon-to-be arch-foe from almost certain death.
- Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Stan.
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