Phantom 2040

Like me you've probably never heard of Phantom 2040 and, up until this point, are only familiar with the Ghost Who Walks through the campy 1990s live action movie which, as your first exposure to the superhero movie genre, you now look back on with rose tinted specs.

Like me you've been raised on Batman, Spiderman and all that other syrupy Marvel / DC material that now suffocates pop culture consciousness and obscures knowledge of anything before or after.

Like me you didn't know that The Phantom was the first masked vigilante / superhero. Like me you thought Batman Beyond, as a dark futuristic superhero narrative - featuring a younger successor to a mysterious and near legendary vigilante - was a pretty rad original idea.

Enter "Phantom 2040".

I saw this series when it was telecast on the Indian National television channel "Doordarshan" in 1997. To me, it ranks as one of the best cartoon adaptations (that too, futuristic) to date. However, the channel discontinued the series sometime in 1999. After that, even I was unable to catch the series (if at all telecast). So I'm still left with that incomplete feeling.

Since IMDb forces one to write too many lines, I'm repeating the above text in its entirety. Sorry. I saw this series when it was telecast on the Indian Nationaltelevision channel "Doordarshan" in 1997. To me, it ranks as one of the best cartoon adaptations (that too, futuristic) to date. However, the channel discontinued the series sometime in 1999. After that, even I was unable to catch the series (if at all telecast). So I'm still left with that incomplete feeling.

Phantom 2040 is probably the best animated action-adventure series I've seen. It doesn't cater to a low-intelligence audience: you've really got to watch this, and watch it carefully, to follow everything that's going on. Lots of intricate inter-plotting of episodes and characters, somewhat sympathetic bad guys (Ron Perlman's Graf in particular, one of the "grayest" villains ever), funky artwork, and a well-developed future society (compare it to, say, "The Magician" (1998)). Hopefully someone will carry this in repeats at some point (Sci-Fi Channel, maybe), because it's a show that should have stayed on forever.

Given that "Phantom" creator Lee Falk was never that wild about this show, "Phantom 2040" adhered as close to Falk's formula (hero mantle is passed down from father to son for over 500 years) as possible. Also, the futuristic updating helped garner viewers who were oblivious to the fact that The Phantom is widely viewed in the U.S. as an archaic hero, at least to those only peripherally familiar with the character.

Sci-Fi writers Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens managed to update the legend of The Phantom, throwing in a rather interesting twist; the mantle of "The Ghost Who Walks" was not able to be passed on from the 23rd Phantom to his heir, as he was presumably killed in an accident 16 years prior, making Kit Walker, Jnr. only 2 years old at the time, therefore completely unaware of his father's activities.

18 year-old Kit Walker, Jnr. has been sheltered by his Aunt Heloise (the 23rd Phantom's sister) from the Walker Family Legacy in hopes that the first Walker male in almost 500 years will have the chance at a normal life. When the 23rd Phantom's former comrade-in-arms, Guran, appears from Africa to ensure that Kit knows his family's history, the sparks begin to fly.

The young Kit at first dismisses his responsibility, then acquiesces when he realises the import of The Phantom's work at stamping out piracy, greed, & cruelty, this time in the form of the E-Ville corporation, Maximum, Inc.

The story lines were, for the most part, serialised, an oddity for an animated series, but "Phantom 2040" is much more than an average animated series. This could easily have been a live-action series & it's encouraging to see writers take creative risks like they did here. The series never talks down to its audience, & the writers hired for this project serve to prove that: Marc Scott Zicree & veteran Sci-Fi author Harlan Ellsion top the list of this well-written show.

While this series only lasted 2 seasons, it did have a beginning, middle, & ending, although I suspect the Reeves-Stevenses were hoping to go into a 3rd season, which would've been welcomed with open arms if the writing had stayed as consistent & interesting as it did throughout its 2-year run.

While other series received more acclaim than "Phantom 2040" (the most blatant ripoff being WB's "Batman Beyond"), few were as stylish, ("Aeon Flux" creator Peter Chung did the character design) & even fewer were as tightly plotted. Even though this series never got the accolades it deserves / deserved, at least it got made, it was well-made, & proves that the audience can watch a serious Sc-Fi animated series without being pandered to.

The Amazon prime cut is unwatchable. It's a tragedy, because it's a really intelligent show. You can't even see the faces in most of the scenes. I would estimate about 100 resolution. My system handles HD and 4K, it's the copy not my system.

I watched it decades ago when it first came out.

Is there any place to watch it in high res? IMDB doesn't note that it's a bad copy when they list who is offering it. I wish they would.

Who loses when such a bad copy is distributed? The people who made the show and the viewers. Even the distributer loses, so why do they do it? I contacted Amazon and complained. We all need to do that.