Der unbesiegbare Iron Man

In an age where animated features that had more than just the simplistic bluntness of such shows like Animaniacs or Tiny Toons, a show that had more to say or rather show was extremely rare. The WB or rather Fox delved into what was only seen in Anime, a cartoon that wasn't a cartoon. Batman: The Animated Series reshaped what was considered the only way comic 'toons was to be done. The X-Men re-introduced the world to comic 'toons after the "Superfriends" era, but it was Iron Man, or rather its second season; we try to forget the first one, that really expanded the world of comic 'toons. In fact, it took the "cartoon" away from such features.

To be honest, when Iron Man started, it was crappy. The artwork was a bit too detailed and the voice acting hurt the ears spoiled by such talents from WB animation. The plots for the show were more childish then necessary. Simply, I hated it and didn't miss it when it disappeared, along with its kindred of similarly pathetic story-telling, Fantastic Four.

But, in 1995, the series, along with the four in blue, returned with not only more stylish animation that didn't turn the stomach, voice action that had a sense of professionalism, and even the theme took on a style of its own that was really one of the best out there at the time. I was saddened, this time, when the series didn't return with a third season, but was hoping to see it back in some form or another.

Thankfully, and in awesome style, shell-head did return in one of the best films,in regards to comic book movies, since Batman Begins. Iron Man became a feature film in May 2008 and it was awesome. I still haven't seen this animated series come out on DVD as yet, but I have a feeling that it will eventually( the lack-luster animated antics of Fan Four came out on DVD the same year as it's first, good movie, so who knows).

Even though it wasn't the best series to Marvel's credit, it was still, for me, the best introduction to Iron Man in animation. I can't wait to see it....again.

The first season of "Iron Man" was written for the most part by Ron Friedman, who would be better known to most animation fans as the writer of "Transformers: The Movie." And, quite frankly, the first season of "Iron Man" sucked.

The overlarge cast of characters did not help Friedman's meandering scripts, which were usually needless complex (the first episode, "And The Sea Shall Give Up It's Dead," is a very good example of this) - and not in an intelligent way, more of a lurching, stumbling way. Crammed to the gills with awful pseudo-science which didn't make a lick of sense, bizarre, out-of-left-field dialogue (the title of this review is one such example, which Tony spontaneously recites while briefing his teammates), and ill-fitting humour that, for the most part, just wasn't funny, about the only thing this show had going for it was the animation, and even that was weaker than other shows on TV at the time. "Iron Man" season one was entirely too 80's to stack up against it's fellow Marvel shows, such as "X-Men" and "Spider-Man."

It's bizarre, because Friedman also wrote the first season of "Iron Man"'s sister show on the Marvel Action Hour, "Fantastic Four," and it was much better. The pseudo-science and humour WORKED on that show, sounding just right coming out of Mr. Fantastic and the Thing - Friedman seems to be a better hand at dealing with outer space fantasy than with the business-and-espionage world of Iron Man. Regrettably, FF was hampered by truly, truly appalling animation, which could have stepped right out of the 70's. To me, however, "Iron Man" was just the show I had to sit through before I could watch "Fantastic Four."

The SECOND season of "Iron Man," however, saw Marvel Productions switch animation houses, and the whole series got a makeover. Gone was Friedman - gone were the bad humour, oversized cast and stupid plots. The show started to make *sense.* Some of the changes were a little sudden, yes, and could have done with a little exposition to help them (Iron Man's new armour, the sudden appearance of HOMER), and it'd be lying to say that the shift in voice actors for the bulk of the cast wasn't jarring. Ultimately, though, the performances on the show were better in the second season, the animation was modernised, and there was finally a sense of arced plot, as we watched the Mandarin reclaim his rings.

You can bet your booties that if an "Iron Man" motion picture is produced, then some old episodes of this series will see a DVD/video re-release - hopefully they'll elect to go with the vastly superior second season.

The first 13 episodes are some strange 80s cartoon fever dream. What makes episode 14 so special? New writers, new director, new theme song. All waaaaay better. Episode 14 and onward is actually worth your time if you enjoy 90s superhero shows.

Iron Man was a great Marvel cartoon series. Just as good as Spider-Man and X-Men. The series focused on the super hero team formed by Iron Man, Force Works. The team consisted of Iron Man, War Machine, Spider-Woman, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Century. They fought Mandarin and his group of super villians. The series was good from start to finish, but the last season left something to be desired.

I didn't watch Iron Man on Sky Digital. Instead, I watched every Iron Man episode (26 episodes) at a hospital when I was a boy. Iron Man was shown on the this tv channel - Fox Kids. It belonged over there. So did other ones such as The Incredible Hulk, Silver Surfur, and the Fantastic Four. Neither was as popular as Spider-Man and the X-Men on Fox Kids, however, among the children. If I could reverse back-the-clock, I would've made an effort to see every episode or season of Iron Man (26 episodes), Spider-Man (65 episodes), The Incredible Hulk (21 episodes), Fantastic Four (26 episodes) and Silver Surfur (13 episodes). Not the X-Men (76 episodes) however though it was deemed too long. I didn't mind if for example X-Men had over a 100 episodes even, but I still wouldn't watch it. Realism I presume. If the Spider-Man had over a 100 episodes, I still would've made an effort to watch these 100 or so episodes of this spectacular show ;) I'm glad for 65 episodes in the end ;) I liked how Iron Man looked in this animated series ;) I even liked how Tony Stark looked in this Iron Man series ;) Yet I would've preferred had Tony Stark looked different completely to the one we usually know or see ;) Not some man. If you want to see the Mandarin, see this tv series. Iron Man 3 will disappoint you. 8/10.