Check out the new look Terry Teo

Terry Teo is a little older and a little wiser - but he's still got his skateboard, and he's busting crime along the way.

The trailer for the reboot of the classic '80s kids show has premiered, and shows Terry has grown up significantly from those that might remember the show.

"I'm a 17-year-old reformed career criminal with no transferable skills ... and I'm brown. Cut me some slack," says the Kiwi icon in the show's first trailer, released today.

The NZ On Air-funded show first screened in 1985 and the show's crime fighting lead became a hero to many children at the time.

Adrian Bell starred as 12-year-old Terry Teo in the original, which also featured guest performances from former Prime Minister Robert Muldoon and comedian Billy T James.

Watch the first episode below:

The revamped Terry Teo has teen actor Kahn West in the lead role, and the show's tone recently caused controversy when TVNZ asked for changes.

TVNZ's general manager of commissioning, production and acquisitions, Andrew Shaw, said the new show had been expected to appeal to a similar audience as the original.

"The language was more gangsta than we were expecting and there is guns and violence in it," said Shaw. "Our appraiser advised it would not get a G rating and could not be shown in a 6pm slot, so we asked the producers to make some cuts and changes.

"We had some very robust exchange of views with the producers but they felt altering the show wouldn't work and we had to agree."

Producer Luke Sharpe, from Auckland-based Semi-Professional Pictures, defended the darker remake: "As far as we were concerned it was always going to be for a PG audience and it is not a show for 5-year-olds.

"It is a super-fun action romp and you can't cut the action from an action series. In the end, TVNZ could see it for what it is and we hope New Zealand is really going to dig it."

The reboot also features Josh Thomson and Kimberley Crossman and is due to hit TVNZ's On Demand streaming service from July 12.