Ja-Kal's brother is apparently more important than that fourth guy...
"A little boy named Presley found a secret out this year. That he was once a pharaoh when Egyptians ruled the world. Now a sorcerer named Scarab tries to get him day and night. But Presley has four guardians to protect his very life."
Mummies Alive! is an animated series from DIC Entertainment that ran for one season with forty two episodes.Presley Carnavon, a boy from San Francisco, finds himself the reincarnation of Prince Rapses and as such inherits four mummy bodyguards who "With the Strength of Ra!" defend him from the evil sorcerer Scarab - who is constantly trying to use the boy's soul to become immortal, and failing, as his snake familiar Heka is quick to point out.The mummies also have to contend with many gods and spirits from Egyptian myth summoned to the modern world, including Anubis, Set, Apep, Bastet, Sekhmet, and many others usually as part of one of Scarab's schemes.
Tropes:
Aborted Arc: Season one ended with the implication that Scarab and Heka were still on the loose and that something important would have to happen in the far future to defeat him for good, things that were never resolved due to the series cancellation.
Adaptational Villainy: Various gods, such as Anubis and Bastet, are portrayed as malicious, while they were benevolent figures in Egyptian Mythology. Even Ammut was originally a neutral force who was harmless to people who were good in life.
Affably Evil: Anubis, Nuhn, Geb, Bes, the list goes on.
And I Must Scream: Before the start of the series. Scarab was sealed in a tomb for thousands of years, he was immortal at the time...
Animation Bump: The transformation sequence is notably better animated than the rest of the series, probably because the creators knew you'd be seeing it at least once an episode.
Ancient Egypt: Featured once in Presley's vision of the past, as well as some flashbacks.
Ancient Egyptians Speaking English: It's amazing how four people from another country, who have been dead for thousands of years, manage to speak perfect English the moment they wake up in modern day America.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In "The Face In The Mirror", Anubis gets possessed by the Eye of Darkness and gains immense knowledge, but he has other things concerning his mind...
Anubis: Hey, I know everything. Dead languages, subatomic things... The origin of mayonnaise.
Bond Villain Stupidity: Scarab proves himself a match for the Mummies in armed combat, yet on many occasions when confronted, he escapes, though he's not the only villain to fall into this habit.
Boy Meets Ghoul: In "True Believer", Nefertina goes on a date with a living human.
Brought Down to Normal: If the mummies don't sleep in their sarcophagi regularly they become depowered; basically amounting to the power source for their amulets running dry.
Buried Alive: Scarab's punishment for murdering the Pharaoh's son.
Butt Monkey: Joe and Bob, the cops that often spot the Mummies driving over the speed limit usually end up being scared off.
Lampshaded in the second episode "Sleepwalk Like An Egyptian" when the Guardians' Sphinx hideout is about to be demolished and they start a protest as "people wearing mummy costumes".
Dumb Muscle: Armon is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Everybody Hates Hades: Anubis is a rather stupid villain in the series, when he was a benevolent deity in charge of protecting the dead in Egyptian mythology. He is associated with Set, who disowned Anubis in the myths for choosing to side with Horus.
For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: One episode actually had the mummies go to a Halloween party without costumes, though they managed to ruin the party for Presley anyway.
Frothy Mugs of Water: Averted in episode 26 - the team are struggling to get back to base with their powers depleted, and spot someone trying to get into his car while clearly drunk. Ja'Kal uses his Demon Head to terrify him into running off. Best drunk-driving aesop on a kid's show ever.
Mooks: Scarab has a never-ending supply of clay minions to send at the mummies. Perhaps the most useless ever, they shatter when hit by pretty much anything.
Meaningful Name: Presley Carnavon - Elvis Presley was associated with Memphis, Tennessee (which was named after the ancient Egyptian capital), while Lord Carnarvon financed the excavation of King Tut's tomb.
Oblivious to Love: Presley doesn't seem to take any notice of his classmate Elaine's feelings for him, especially when there's usually someone like Chantra posing as an attractive new student nearby.
Past Life Memories: In the second episode, Presley experiences the memories of Rapses just before he died. It turns out, they're being caused by one of Scarab's spells.
Recap Episode: The only noteworthy one being the series finale, which featured a compilation of clips from the entire season.
Right Hand Versus Left Hand: Sometimes Presley and the Mummies survive only because of bickering and backstabbing on the villains side.
Samus Is a Girl: The other three didn't actually know Nefertina was a girl at first. Her disguise, judging by her form during her first appearance, consisted of nothing but a hat, and did nothing for her narrow waist and noticeable chest. Then again, she probably dressed differently back when she was, y'know, alive.
It's kind of funny when her power armor includes...ahem...a noticable "breastplate". Given that Armon mentions his golden arm was a gift from the pharaoh, these were probably made and not due to magic. Somehow Nefertina managed to convince the entire royal court and her tailor that she was a man with assets.
It seems likely that Rapses (who knew the truth) more or less ordered the higher-ups to "not realize" what Nefer-Tina was trying to pull. Considering what people didn't wear in early Egypt...
It gets rectified in "Sleepwalk Like An Egyptian", where Presley dreams he's Rapses in ancient Egypt with his living guardians. Nefertina is shown to have an outfit that manages to cover much of her feminine physique as well as flatten her chest.
Subways Suck: On one occasion where the mummies take the subway, Rath takes one look at the subway map and thinks it's the first sign of actual intelligence in the modern world.
Sweet Polly Oliver: Nefertina. In ancient Egypt, she pretended to be a boy so she could drive chariots.
Teenage Mutant Samurai Wombats: The Mummies run around San Francisco with all sorts of magic, monsters, cool cars and gods completely unnoticed.
Villain with Good Publicity: Scarab masquerades as a respectable businessman, but it doesn't particularly impede the Mummies. Then again, "Scarab" technically has no publicity whatsoever among civilians since the "respectable businessman" is an alter ego the Mummies have no clue to.
Villainous Crush: Strangely enough, the metal giant Talos once fell for a San Francisco's Statue of Victory.
You're Not My Father: During the Father's Day episode "Reunion," Presley says this to Ja'Kal when he offers to take the boy fishing since his real father was in Memphis. It comes off particularly harsh when you take in the fact that Ja'Kal never got to see his own son grow up. Not to mention he has a nephew who was also like a son to him, and his father is Ja'Kal's evil brother.
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