Fantastic Four

This series lasted for two seasons, from 1994 to 1996, for a total of 26 episodes. The first season was quite forgettable, both in terms of story content and animation quality. In one of the few instances of an animated series being retooled in the middle of its run, the second season saw the show rebuilt almost from the ground up, with the only similarity being the voice cast (although Brian Austin Green was replaced by Quinton Flynn as the Human Torch). The animation was first rate, and stories were often taken directly from the comics work of Stan Lee & Jack Kirby and John Byrne. Of special note, the first episode of the season, "And a Blind Man Shall Lead Them," guest-stars Daredevil. Later episodes in year 2 guest-starred Ghost Rider, The Mighty Thor, and even The Incredible Hulk. The season finale is another Lee/Kirby adaptation and features the Silver Surfer. Bottom line, the sublime grandeur of the latter thirteen episodes of this set makes it worth every cent. Not to be missed by any true Fanatic of the Fantastic.

In the mid-90's many of Marvel's characters came to the small screen on Saturday mornings after the success of X-men and Spiderman. One of those was Marvel's very first group of Superheroes, the Fantastic Four. With the movie due to come out in a few weeks, it's great to have these episodes on DVD finally. The set contains all 26 episodes of the run. While I agree that the first season (And I have them on VHS because I am a geek) was inferior to the second season, the first season is not without its merits, mainly in the presentation of the group's origin as well as the two part "Silver Surfer and the Coming of Galactus" episode. This is one of the key moments in Marvel's silver age history and I thought they did a very nice job with it. I also enjoyed the Behold the Negative Zone episode as I loved the goofy villains Annihilus and Blaastar.

Things do pick up in season two in 1995 with several outstanding episodes including:

The Three part Inhumans Saga where the FF battle the Frightful Four and then eventually travel to the hidden Great Refuge of the Inhumans.

To Battle the Living Planet - The FF enlist the Aid of Galactus to battle Ego, the Living Planet, but at what price? Thor co-stars.

When Calls Galactus - Galactus is back to devour the earth and only the sacrifice of Frankie Raye saves the earth as she becomes his new herald named Nova.

Nightmare in Green - The Thing battles the Hulk! Nuff said!

Doomsday is an adaption of one of my favorite stories as Dr. Doom captures the Silver Surfer and steals his power to battle the FF.

While the animation on the Fantastic Four wasn't quite as good as Spiderman or the X-men, it was still pretty good and the show really seemed to be hitting its stride when it ended after just two seasons. And of course this is vastly superior to the two earlier cartoon versions of the 60's and 70's. Herbie the robot anyone?

Marvel had to follow DC and WB's success with BATMAN, and this was the best they could do. The first season was a bit weak, mostly because the episodes were adaptations of the classic Stan Lee/Jack Kirby stories, mostly by screenwriter Ron Friedman of G.I. JOE fame. I only wish this was done in the mid 1980s, because that's where most of the dialogue belonged.

The second season was a great improvement, moreso because of a revolving door of screenwriters. Even though the stories were still adaptations of works by Lee and Kirby, the staff managed to adapt three stories from John Byrne's run, which gave it some depth. The voice acting was on point.

Although now there's an anime-esque FF series on the Cartoon Network now, I still prefer both this set and the 1967-68 Hanna-Barbera animated FF as their best outings in animation. I hope the 1960s FF and SPIDER-MAN & HIS AMAZING FRIENDS will be collected on DVD anytime soon in the near future. The same for IRON MAN, SPIDER-MAN (1980s solo and 1990s solo series), the HULK and X-MEN/X-MEN: EVOLUTION. I can't forget the SILVER SURFER series, too.