"He has the mummies,
From 1525 B.C.
He has the mummies,
Protection for the new Rapses…"

All right, it might not have won any points for historical accuracy, but that’s a pretty lofty thing to ask of any cartoon. Still, the 1997 cartoon, Mummies Alive! managed to make up for its academic shortcomings in other way. And if the publicity for the series was to be believed - it “kicked some Tut!”

Co-produced by Ivan Reitman (of Ghostbusters fame,) this animated series, produced by DCI Entertainment, revolved around a modern boy named Presley Carnovan who just so happened to be the successor to Prince Rapses, an ancient Egyptian who was next in line for the throne. Unfortunately, his father’s advisor Scarab had killed Rapses before he could take power. As a punishment for his misdeeds, Scarab was entombed alive.

Flash forward to modern times and an archeologist has unwittingly freed Scarab from his tombed prison. The first thing he sets his sites on is immortality, but to achieve that he is going to have to find Rapses spirit. And that just happens to reside within young Presley. Along with some zombie friends, Scarab manages to attack Presley at the newly opened Rapses Museum, but the boy gets some unexpected help from four ancient bodyguards (the same that tried to originally protect Rapses and have spent centuries in a mummified state.) Summonsing the battle cry, “With the strength of Ra!” they fend off the attackers and become the boy’s new guardians, since Scarab is still on the loose.

Ja-Kal is the leader of the mummy quartet. He possesses a bow that shoots flaming arrows, has the ability to fly and wears a suit of armor patterned after a falcon. Armon was the muscle of the group. Although he only had one arm, his other weighed one ton and was made from solid gold. Rath was the inventor of the group, with a sword that could change into a snake, and armor fashioned after a cobra. And finally, the only female mummy of the group, Nefer-Tina, drove the group around in the formidable Hot-Ra dragster. Providing support was the team mascot, a frail little feline named Khati, who could transform into a much more ferocious beast when necessary.

All the mummies were originally perplexed and fascinated by the changes that had occurred in society over the thousands of years they had been out of commission. But they quickly adapted, creating the Hot-Ra, as well as some other nifty modes of transportation including the lofty Skycophagus and the sleek Nile-Ator jet cycles. When they weren’t engaged in battle, they were either resting over at the museum or teaching young Presley to protect himself with the lost martial art of Egyp-Tsu. Most of the time, however, they were busy fighting Scarab, who masqueraded in the modern era as Harris Stone, an unscrupulous businessman. Alongside his bumbling pet Hamma (who possessed the head of a crocodile and the body of a lion,) and his faithful servent serpent Heka, Scarab was a ferocious nemesis that kept Presley and his mummified friends on their toes.

Rather than focus on things such as life lessons, Mummies Alive! was all about action and adventure and made for an exciting, if not short-lived series. Unfortunately, It only lasted a single season - but when you are dealing with the undead, you never know when they might rear their head again. Perhaps all involved are just resting for another thousand years or so.