THE STORY
We open on a quick series of one shots with fans and celebs all answering the question What is your favorite tv show of all time? to which everyone answers, HOPPER AND KAPOWSKI.
The narrator says What? You’ve never heard of Hopper and Kapowski? Don’t worry. You aren’t alone. The show has been kept alive by loyal fans who come to conventions like this to swap vhs copies of the show and sell homemade t-shirts, reciting whole episodes from memory!
PHOEBE, the lead of the documentary, walks the floor of a convention. We see commercials for the show, fans singing the theme song, cosplayers, old fans shouting catch phrases, and collectors holding up toys.
PATTON OSWALT explains that the show was never released on dvd or streaming because the rights belong to 3 separate networks.
TOY GALAXY DAN explains that toys did make it out prior to the show being canceled before the finale. He’s cut off before saying how much the toys are worth today.
Rumors are there was a finished script by producer and creator, Lucas Bergman who has sadly passed away. Me and my crew are going to answer the question “Whatever happened to Hopper and Kapowski? And track down the script to the un-produced finale. Finally bringing closure to die-hard fans all over the world. No cost is too high for closure.
The cost is too high.
Phoebe sets up a meeting with her financial backers to expand the doc into a hunt for the final script. They receive a small amount of funding as long as there are results. They make a list of all the known people from the show and set out to interview them.
In the car the only fan of the show is the cameraman, he explains the Influence on countless other shows.
Cut to: Fans and Celebs saying all the shows H and K inspired from MMPR, Transformers, TMNT, Twin Peaks, Knight Rider, etc. The show was WAY ahead of its time.
Jimmy Dean Franklin, the show’s villain, is at an autograph signing. He tells them about the show getting the ax and how much he hated his cheap old costume, complains about the budget, and gives them his business card for real estate.
Do you keep in touch with Kapowski, but he’s asked Hopper TONS of times to come on the road with him. You mean the puppeteer? No. I mean Hopper!
Cut to: A famous puppeteer explains that Hopper began as a car and voice actor, but thanks to the big money networks had in the 80s, they teamed up with Nasa to make him an actual Ai vehicle. But sadly, Hopper was a classic 80s bad boy bad boy with a drug problem. He was arrested after snorting the lines of a highway. Years later he broke the internet when his kids filmed him drunk eating a cheeseburger.
They track Hopper down at an AA meeting at a AAA office. He’s the only vehicle. He is celebrating 100 miles sober. He tells the crew what a great time it was but wishes his family had gotten to see him on the big screen. Wait, if he’s a car how does he have a wife and kids? Hopper leads them to Markie Fischer, the actress who played Kapowski.
Kapowski (Fischer) wears a mask the whole interview because they can’t afford to blur her face and she doesn’t want people to know she was Kapowski. Turns out the role is like Boba Fett and 2 actresses have played Kapowski. They bleep out the name of the 2nd Kapowski because she’s still a famous actress. We allude that it’s Sigourney Weaver. Fischer is upset that in the show she wasn’t allowed to do her own stunts.
Cut to: Footage from the show where they yell cut and replace her with a hairy chested stuntman. Seriously?!
They get the 2nd Kapowski on the phone (with bleeps) and she agrees to do it IF THEY BLUR HER FACE. VFX guy gives them a quote and it’s more than they have. Phoebe begs the investors for more money and promises she will get the script. The sound guy says I heard you promise the finale script, but everyone says it’s gone. Phoebe yells to stop filming her.
The 2nd Kapowski explains they each did 6 episodes because the first Kapowski was upset they never took the helmet off. I was even in PSAs wearing that damn thing!
Cut to: Johnny Yong Bosch explains that the PSA got him into martial arts where he met Haim Saban. Without that show I’d never be in MMPR.
The 2nd Kaposwki tells them Lucas Bergman is alive but that he owns a ranch in the middle of nowhere. Phoebe is out of money and maxes out her credit cards. Cameraman sees this and tries to talk her out of it. They crash the van.
Completely devoid of hope, Hopper arrives in classic hero style and drives them to Bergman’s little shack. He’s on his way there too as part of his 12 step program.
They arrive at the isolated ranch and Bergman fires a warning shot at them for trespassing. His wife Stephanie Please, call me Stevie, invites them in for lemonade. She chastises him and says obviously they are fans and he should treat them better. She persuades Lucas to be interviewed.
Lucas explains all his issues with the networks. Every idea he ever had was rejected. “Just Hutch” “Wooden Spoons” “The B-Team” “Ralf” and he kept leaving the studios over interference. Every network promised they wouldn’t dabble, but always did. He finally made his dream show his way and it almost bankrupted him. In the end, HE pulled the plug because it meant so much to him. I didn’t want to watch my dreams be destroyed.
Phoebe and crew beg to see the script. Lucas laughs and tells them it was burned in a fire years ago. Phoebe explodes and runs away. Phoebe calls the investors, tells them the truth, and is fired. She breaks down. After a talk with her crew, she decides Lucas should at least see the fan footage and know how much the show is loved.
Lucas is happy. And he bonds with how hard they worked on it and learns Phoebe took all the debt on herself. This doc was my dream. It’s too bad the script is gone. That would have been such a great thing for the fans.
In a shocking twist, Lucas reveals.. What do you mean too bad? We filmed the finale. I have it right in the house.
That’s not True! That’s impossible!!
Lucas explains it all. When he walked away from the only network left, he decided to finish it himself. He couldn’t leave it all undone. A 3rd actress played Kapowski for the finale. Like Catwoman! Stevie waves and says Meow. Lucas himself played Rider Moko. And Hopper WAS there for it, just didn’t remember because he was on drugs.
Rejuvenated by the love he’s seen for the show. Lucas says they should finish the doc AND have a premiere of the finale at a huge theater.
Yea right, with what money?
Stevie says “Oh, honey. We’re VERY wealthy. The deal with the toy company gets us one check a year. We may be off the grid in a little house but that’s by choice.”
Toys? Why did you switch focus to toys? So the kids could keep telling their own stories.
Cut to: Dan from the Toy Galaxy YouTube show says the toy line to this day still brings in an estimated 2.3 million dollars a year.
3 MONTHS LATER
The Big Happy Ending. The Hopper and Kapowski Lost Episode Premiere. Hopper is clean and comes in through double doors. Rider Moko is there giving out his real estate cards. All 3 Kapowskis are there on the red carpet together.
The finale screens to a captive sold out audience. Fans scream. Fans cry. Patton Oswalt introduces Lucas to the stage.
Cut to: Fans and Celebs saying they could never have guessed that ending! It was everything I wanted. How did they pull off those stunts without CGI?! Hopper reunited with his kids (they are half claymation)
Bergman takes the stage for one final announcement. They are teaming up with a streamer and making Hopper and Kapowski the movie. He has 100% creative control. The doc team is invited to be part of the crew. The New Villain costume is revealed and it is sick. It has a red rotating circle like the Netflix buffer screen. Hopper gets to transform into a bomber jet AND Mech. Phoebe is asked to be the new VO for Kapowski.
Final shot is the fans cheering in an obvious homage shot to the end of the first Star Wars.