Les quatre fantastiques

I've seen several cartoon versions of The Fantastic Four over the years. The latest one is now broadcasting on the Cartoon Network and has outstanding animation and graphics. However, I still favor this 1967 version, which consists of only 20 episodes. The animation is very simple by today's standards, but the stories and script closely mirror the comic book from that era. In fact, the simple nature of the episodes makes them more appealing to me. As I write this, the 1967 Fantastic Four episodes are being shown on Boomerang, an offshoot of the Cartoon Network. The newest Fantastic Four cartoon is a little TOO slick and fancy for my tastes.

There can be no doubt that this cartoon ranks as one of the best if not THE best cartoon ever produced period!!! True to the comic with the outstanding talents of Hanna-Barbera!! There can be no doubt that the entire Hanna-Barbera's world of super adventure cartoon series was the #1 series including Birdman, Space Ghost and others. Fantastic Four was and still is a fun watch even for today standards. My only problem was that the company couldn't use the Sub-Mariner because he was with another animation company and so Triton was made instead. But if you look closely this character looked much like his true self. Thanks to the genius of Alex Toth. But don't let this little matter fool you, this cartoon rocks! Stan Lee and the late great Jack Kirby knew this.

This is probably the best adapted version of Stan Lee/Jack Kirby's Worlds Greatest Comic Magazine, and a really solid representation of Mr Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Human Torch and the ever lovin, blue eyed Thing. It is the only Animated series that manages almost perfectly to capture the energy and excitement that could be found in the Fantastic Four comics from 1961-1969. The F4 Themselves are well presented by their characterisations in this series, and as with most Hannah Barbera cartoons, the show doesn't talk down to the kids. There is alot of good natured bickering between Reed Richards, and trying to upstage him Ben Grimm, and he in turn being wound up mercelessly by Johnny Storm, all under the watchful glare of a bemused Sue Richards. Where the 1979 F4 series went wrong was that it underestimated its audience as being totally juvenile in a way the comics never did. The 1994 animated series managed to get it wrong too because instead of taking its cue from the smash hit X Men animated series and treating the characters with respect, it totally sent, and camped them up. The less said about the 1994 movie the better!

As a kid i loved this swinging 60's version of the Fantastic Four, and i still do. It has all the right ingredients, action, humour, good plots and a kick ass theme tune. On the downside however the animated at times is a little ropey and never manages to match up to the genius and majesty of Jack Kirby's art. Still, the Hannah Barbera F4 Series will be a great nostalgia trip for afficionadoes and is well worth a look.

The move to television of Comic Book adaptations was surely in full swing or beyond that zenith when Hanna-Barbera brought us the "FANTASYIC 4", Saturday mornings, Fall TV Season in 1967 was the time and location. While CBS went with features from Filmation Associates like DC Comics' SUPERMAN/SUPERBOY('66), SUPERMAN/AQUAMAN Hour of Adventure('67-,68) and BATMAN/SUPERMAN Hour('68)(with other features like GREEN LANTERN, ATOM, HAWKMAN and "...all the Super-Super Heroes of THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF America!", ABC stayed with FANTASTIC 4 and the other Marvel Comics' Star Feature, "SPIDER-MAN"('67).

"SPIDER-MAN" was not however also a Hanna-Barbera Project. It was produced by Ralph Bakshi, Steve Krantz & Company(the future Producers of the animated feature adaptation of Robert Crumb's FRITZ THE CAT(1972). Because both half-hour shows aired back to back Saturday Mornings, had they shared a common production company, there would doubtless been plenty of "crossovers"(in comic book jargon, a Cameo Appearance by a character from a different feature, but from the same publisher.

It was Stan Lee and Marvel Comics who turned "crossovers" from the occasional, to the expected! And returning to "FABTASTIC 4"; we find it to be a much more 'realistic' rendering than most any other animated series. Much like the Fleischer Brothers/Famous Studios Paramount Pictures' SUPERMAN Cartoons of the 1940's, the art design of characters and backgrounds were all adaptations of the Comic Pages.

The 'look' of the production, together with a faithful transference of the personalities, the foibles and the rivalries of the team, all add up to a cinematic/electronic clone of the Comic Page Originals.

The casting of proper voices for the group is the crowning glory of the hour, in order to make the series nearly perfect. Ideally the casting would involve examination of the Comic Page personalities of the principals. To make sure the voice would be fitting, proper and supportive amplification of the characters and plot lines, I would choose the voices as if we were doing a Radio Program. They did do that thing! The cast of voice actors led by veteran character actor and Road Show Bogart, Gerald Mohr(Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards), Joann Pflugg(Susan Storm/Invisible Girl),Jack Flounders(Johnny Storm/The Human Torch) and the Dean of Voice Actors, Paul Freese(Ben Grimm/The Thing, many, many others).

The weekly stories were neat adaptations of those Stan Lee/Jack Kirby masterful early Marvel Fantastic Four Classic sagas. We saw the "Screen Debut" of such great friends and foes as: The Mole Man, Super Skrull, Galactus, Silver Surfer, The Watcher and Dr. Doom. Because of the rights of animation adaption belonged to the previously mentioned Ralph Bakshi/Steve Bakshi/Robert L. Lawrence & Associates, their battles with Prince Namor, The SUB-MARINER and THE INCREDIBLE HULK as well as 'crossover' meetings with CAPTAIN America, THE MIGHTY THOR and THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN, were not allowed to be portrayed on the TV Screen, at that time.

The producers added appropriate Musical Theme and incidental music to underscore the action. Hanna-Barbera was well equipped to assure that this audio-emotional aspect of the stories was taken care of properly. They did.

As a sort of dress rehearsal or a pre-courser to "FANTASTIC 4" and other of their other Comic Book-like characters*, Hanna-Barberra had given us "JONNY QUEST"(1964-65) as a Friday Night, early Prime-Time Entry on ABC.

NOTE:* Just as The Comic Book Hero was adaptable to animation, so too we saw some original cartoon series that were very much in the Comic Book Hero tradition. Hanna-Barberra, for example, gave us SPACE GHOST(1966-68,1994-2004) and THE MIGHTY MIGHTOR(1967-'68). And by the by, SPACE GHOST was succrssfully adapted to his own Comic Book! So, the Wheel has spun a full turn, once again!

This cartoon was far better than "the New Fantastic Four" a.k.a. "the one without the Human Torch." This is probably due to the fact that Lee and Kirby had some involvement. My only beef is that Dr. Doom was a bit weak. There's an episode based on an issue with the Sub Mariner, but since his cartoon was done by another company, Namor was replaced by a green sea king named Triton (also the name of one of the Inhumans). Oddly enough, all the other characters remained intact. Kirby later helped Hanna-Barbarra by creating character designs for Thundarr the Barbarian.