Let Me Tell You About Captain Bottle Cap

Those of you who heard our October 23rd show, or at least a certain portion of it, heard a portion of the tale of Captain Bottle Cap. Captain Bottle Cap, or "Cap-Cap" as he was informally called, was the brainchild of little-known Norwegian TV writer Laars Kirkthun. Laars believed suburban youths in his adopted home of Central California were immoral, and needed someone to look up to. This perceived niche, along with his natural fascination with the soft drink industry, led to the creation of Captain Bottle Cap.

Laars first attempted to pitch his idea to comic publishers, but they were less than receptive. His personal diary claims ethnic discrimination was to blame, but this claim has been disputed. Undeterred, the story was re-written for television, a medium Lars had already made a small name for himself in. After quite a bit of persuasion, ABC commissioned a pilot for "The Captain Bottle Cap Show". It was produced on a shoestring budget, but the cast and crew were enthusiastic.

Unfortunately, ABC wasn't at the end of the day. The pilot was shelved for many months and forgotten by everyone except Laars. One day, in June 1978, there was a sudden hole in the network's Saturday morning lineup. Programmers scrambled to find something to fill the slot. Luckily for Laars, he had been having a secret homosexual affair with an ABC executive that remains nameless to this day. He agreed to keep it a secret if "The Captain Bottle Cap Show" was finally broadcast. This successful blackmail plan was first revealed in a sealed note opened upon Laars' death according to his will.

The episode was given moderately poor reviews at the time, but did gain a small following. It introduced The Captain and his nemesis, The Flattener. The plot followed Cap-Cap as he prevented the Flattener from squishing the local farmer's market. This included a remarkable chase scene that was re-edited to be made into the opening credits. This song has recently been re-recorded by Black Bear Combo, but even their fans are largely ignorant to its true history.

After its one and only screening, the show and character fell into obscurity. Captain Bottle Cap was so obscure, Laars Kirkthun saw no need to renew his copyright, and his intellectual property fell into public domain. In the mod-90s, known to some as "the age of irony", independent publisher Image Comics took advantage of that fateful mistake. Years after Laars' death his dream of Captain Bottle Cap gracing the pages of a funny book would finally come true. Image gave Captain Bottle Cap an unfortunate origin story, which we won't expand on here for decency's sake, but they did stay true to his spirit otherwise. In one famous issue, Cap-Cap had a crossover with forgotten marketing mascot Pepsiman, a move that would make Laars truly proud. The book was canceled suddenly after 13 issues that have since become very rare and eagerly sought by collectors, especially the Pepsiman team-up.

Today Larrs' vision lives on in his fellow Norwegians music. We here at the Power Hour Theme Show have also done our part to spread the word. As Cap-Cap would say, "Do your part to keep the fizz in life!"