Ever since the mid-2000's, whenever someone hears about a present day Disney sitcom, there are eye rolls, groans, and comments about how the old Disney was better. Many people are under the belief that the Disney sitcoms today are nowhere near as good as the ones that ran from 2002-2009. “Lab Rats” was seemingly created to challenge that belief. The series was created by Chris Peterson and Bryan Moore, two former writers for "That '70s Show." Using some of the aspects of the comedy they used in "That '70s Show," Moore and Peterson’s “Lab Rats” is a unique sitcom infused with elements of drama that build as the series progresses.
The primary purpose of the pilot episode, “Crush, Chop & Burn,” is to introduce the characters and the setting, something that the writers accomplished. The synopsis is as follows: After billionaire scientist Donald Davenport’s (Hal Sparks) newlywed wife Tasha (Angel Parker) and her son teenage Leo Dooley (Tyrel Jackson Williams) move into the Davenport mansion, Leo stumbles upon Davenport’s basement where he finds Adam, Bree, and Chase (Spencer Boldman, Kelli Berglund, and Billy Unger respectively): three teenagers with a bionic chip implanted in their necks giving them superhuman abilities. Adam’s abilities include super strength and laser eyes, Bree is the fastest woman alive and Chase’s abilities allow him to be smarter than a computer.
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One thing the writers do really well is display the naivety of Adam, Bree and Chase, all of whom had never left the basement because Donald Davenport (or Mr. Davenport, as he often referred to as) wants to keep their bionics a secret as well as he wants them to keep training to use their bionic abilities for life saving missions. The naivety really comes into play when Leo sneaks the bionic teens out to his school (unbeknownst to Mr. Davenport of course) and the situation becomes an utter disaster, resulting in Mr. Davenport having to pay the school $30,000 for damages caused by glitches in the bionics.
Glitches, as explained in the episode, are when the emotions of Adam, Bree and Chase cause their bionics to malfunction. When the glitches do happen, other students were around and they seem to fail to notice and that’s one of the downfalls of the pilot. Mr. Davenport stresses that their bionics must be kept a secret, yet when the glitches happen the other students are seemingly too self-concerned to notice Bree, who used her super speed to attempt to save a falling cheerleader. It was almost too easy for the bionic secret to be kept. This is an issue that recurs in season one, but it fixed in season two when they become better with keeping their bionics a secret.
The first seasons of the show is mostly spent on either sending Adam, Bree and Chase on various natural disaster missions or them using their bionics for other motives. This is a move that is used to help the viewers get to know the characters. While this is usually a good thing, the way “Lab Rats” does it is that they allot a whole season to just that, and it makes it feel as though the series is moving at a turtle’s pace. By doing this, Peterson and Moore ran the risk of losing faithful viewers going into season two.
Should viewers get through season one, season two and beyond of “Lab Rats” deliver on a nearly consistent basis once Moore and Peterson begin to add villains into the mix. The first villain introduced in “Lab Rats” is a teenager named Marcus (Mateus Ward): a fellow friend of the bionic trio, who makes his first appearance in late season one. However, we do not know of his full capabilities of his abilities until season two, where it is revealed that Marcus is bionic like Adam, Bree and Chase. He uses his bionic abilities to threaten and intimidate Leo, whose life is threatened upon when he becomes suspicious of Marcus.
The introduction of Marcus is smooth and seamless, giving those faithful viewers a reason to keep watching the show. The writers also do a good job of slowly giving the viewers information which add up to more drama. For example, until the hour long episode “Bionic Showdown,” we still don’t know much about Marcus or his father, Douglas Davenport (Jeremy Kent Jackson), who was introduced a few episodes earlier. In that episode, we learn that Marcus is not who we think he is and certain revelations cause us to question who is the true father of Adam, Bree and Chase.
Aside from fighting villains, the drama aspect of “Lab Rats” also includes family matters. Before season one, Adam, Bree and Chase had never left the basement of Mr. Davenport’s mansion and had never seen anything out in the real world. Leo served as their guide to experiencing new things, especially high school. This allowed viewers to watch the characters bond and it showed that no matter how mad they got at each other, they’d always forgive each other, because they were a family and families always look out for one another.
The main cast for “Lab Rats” delivered on a constant basis when it came to acting, and all of them have skill sets in both comedy and drama. Not one actor or actress has to carry the show, for they all performed well in their own ways. Hal Sparks, being a comedian, is talented at bringing out the funny side of Mr. Davenport’s ego-centric character while being able to switch from funny to serious seamlessly. The chemistry between Billy Unger, Spencer Boldman, Kelli Berglund and Tyrel Jackson Williams shows really well on screen, giving fans reasons to watch the show.
The thing that really sets “Lab Rats” apart from many of the other currently running Disney shows is the story telling. The progression of the series is amazing. The show in season four is completely different than what it was in season one. All the characters changed and viewers got to watch them grow for 98 episodes.
For the first two seasons, the series aired on Monday nights at 8 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. on Disney XD. For seasons three and four, the premieres of new episodes were moved to Wednesday nights along with the rest of the network’s live action comedies. The series premiere aired on February 27, 2012, and the series finale aired February 3, 2016.
All four seasons of “Lab Rats” can currently be found streaming on Netflix. Currently, a joint spin-off of “Lab Rats” and fellow Disney XD sitcom “Mighty Med” titled “Lab Rats: Elite Force” airs Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. on Disney XD, allowing Moore and Peterson to continue the story of the Davenport-Dooley family while mixing in some new characters.
