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Television Media News

Fantastic Four Animated Series 174

Posted by samzenpus from the what-about-galactus dept.
pillageplunder writes "CNN is reporting that Marvel Enterprises has cut a deal with Frances Antefilms Productions to make an animated TV Series based on the Marvel superheros.
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Fantastic Four Animated Series More

Fantastic Four Animated Series

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  • Four again, and again, and again.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Thursday October 07, 2004 @06:31PM (#10464936) Homepage Journal
    No doubt to capitalize on the film (2005) [imdb.com]. (Which will hopefully turn out better than an earlier try (1994) [imdb.com] Of course, us late boom kids will remember this animated series [imdb.com] and try to overlook this one (1978) [imdb.com], when PC and non-violence destroyed Saturday morning TV ("Oh dear, children might see Johnny erupt in flames and try to emulate their animated role model and pour gasoline all over themselves and strike a match! Won't someone please think of the children!')

  • one or four? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Title says "four animated series".
    Blurb says "an animated series".

  • Hrm... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by GR1NCH ( 671035 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @06:33PM (#10464971)
    When I first read this I was pretty excited... but to be honest I'm not so sure now. It seems like lately cartoon series' are really lacking. I mean look at the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles compared to the old one... They chopped out so much of what make the Turtles so cool. I think its because they tried to adapt them more to pop culture. Hopefully they won't do the same to the Fantastic 4.

    Then again, maybe I'm just getting old.

    • Re:Hrm... (Score:5, Funny)

      by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Thursday October 07, 2004 @06:39PM (#10465035) Homepage Journal
      When I first read this I was pretty excited... but to be honest I'm not so sure now. It seems like lately cartoon series' are really lacking. I mean look at the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles compared to the old one... They chopped out so much of what make the Turtles so cool. I think its because they tried to adapt them more to pop culture. Hopefully they won't do the same to the Fantastic 4.

      Maybe if Fox picks it up, we'll see Ralphie on the Simpsons douse himself with lighter fluid...

      Ralphie: "Look! I'm The Human Torch! Ha Ha Ha!"
      Chief Wiggum: "Hu hu hu! That's cute, Ralphie, now drop the book of matches. Ha ha ha! Ralphie, drop the matches.."
      Ralphie: "Whee!" *scritch* FOOM!

    • Re:Hrm... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Masker ( 25119 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @06:42PM (#10465072)
      Wait a minute. You're complaining because TMNT looks all chopped up, and you think you're getting old?

      Christ. About 6 years ago, MTV started showing Speed Racer re-runs, and I thought: "Cool! I can relive part of my past by watching Speed Racer again! But, Pops, I know I can win the transcontinental race!"

      After trying to watch an episode, I realized that:

      1) There is no coherent plot to a Speed Racer episode; it's just a bunch of random clips all spliced together.
      2) I still didn't know if Trixie was Speed's sister, cousin, lover, whatever. And what was her relationship to Spike, the mechanic?
      3) Somehow I tolerated Chim-chim and the little brother (can't recall the name just now), but I don't know for the life of me how.
      4) You just can't go back.

      So, I know I'm getting old & crusty, but I think that if you watched TMNT as a kid, you're probably still too young to gripe about it. Sorry.

      • Re:Hrm... (Score:5, Funny)

        by Bull999999 ( 652264 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @06:45PM (#10465109) Journal
        I still didn't know if Trixie was Speed's sister, cousin, lover, whatever.

        Maybe it was all of the above?

      • Re:Hrm... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by DNS-and-BIND ( 461968 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @07:07PM (#10465326) Homepage
        There's no coherence to most Japanese stuff. The ambiguousness is there, deal. Stop worrying about it...it's a symptom of the Western mind.

        Yeah, TMNT sucked pretty badly...I can't understand how anyone liked it. It's a pretty freaking far cry to call it 'classic'. The comic was okay, though, although when it was out and I was 15, I was a bit old for comic books.

        • Yeah, TMNT sucked pretty badly...I can't understand how anyone liked it. It's a pretty freaking far cry to call it 'classic'. The comic was okay, though, although when it was out and I was 15, I was a bit old for comic books.

          TMNT were pretty dark in the original comics, after Eastman and Laird sold the comic it became all warm and fuzzy and cloying and sickening. The TMNT movie was more representative of the later direction of the characters.

          Old? Old? I got into comics when I was recovering from cance

        • Japanese anime is to complicated for it's own good... the stories are so convoluted and complicated and filled with subliminal messages it should be required viewing for all psychology 101 students.

          Reference:

          "Blue submarine 6" - Genetic manipulation will lead to world peace

          "Evangelion" - There not aliens! the us evolved a million years and come back to save us, by killing us all! Gee wiz how sweet...

        • Yeah, TMNT sucked pretty badly...I can't understand how anyone liked it. It's a pretty freaking far cry to call it 'classic'. The comic was okay, though, although when it was out and I was 15, I was a bit old for comic books

          Did you read the comic before the Archie buy out? When the comic was still Eastman/Laird (somone correct my spelling).

          All in all, the orginal black and white turtle comics where very good. The Archie bought the rights and turned into what it is now, something not nearly as cool (ex
        • >There's no coherence to most Japanese stuff. The ambiguousness is there, deal.
          >Stop worrying about it...it's a symptom of the Western mind.

          Some symptom.
        • " There's no coherence to most Japanese stuff." ... What? Have you even watched a decent Anime series? The vast majority of the ones I watch are very heavily plot based. As in, you don't want to miss an episode, 'cause you really *will* be wondering what the heck happened.

          Not like most western series, where there is little to no continuity. You can run the episodes in any order, because nothing actually changes between them. Each is a neat little package, with some interesting/funny content in each, b
      • ...I actually have a DVD with 9 Speed Racer episodes on it. It's... interesting to watch again.
      • And still not to mention how chopped up the original cartoon was from the dark, underground, college campus comic that started it all.

        The cartoon was a pale comparison to the comic.
      • 1)In the Japanese original "Mach Go Go Go", the plot was ... NO! I won't go there.

        2)Trixie was part of the elaborate set of lies that Speed created to hide the fact that he was completely gay for Racer X, secretly his brother Rex Racer.

        3)You tolerated Spridle and Chim-chim because you were Spridle's age when you first watched Speed Racer. You didn't tolerate Spridle - you actually believed that he was cool.

        4)Some of us never left, and we need help.

    • Re:Hrm... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by AgentFred76 ( 684482 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @06:50PM (#10465158) Homepage
      It seems to me that movies like this have a higher possible failure rate due to the fact that the intended audience is split. Explanation: Fantastic four was a comic book decades ago when the adventures and characters seemed "Fatastical" and the enemies were distinct abstractions of curent relevant conditions. Now take those characters commit to the formula of failure: Old characters, in a modern setting with old enemies with agendas that no longer fit the current times. However... I think that given the current uncertain and violent world condition these situations could certainly be viable. And I'm not about to rule out the fact that escaping into an old favorite is a good cure for the occasional stressful day. :-)

      • Re:Hrm...start Comic Book Guy Mode... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by DavidBrown ( 177261 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @08:07PM (#10465837) Journal
        These movies are really ONLY for the established fanbase, and for those who feel a sense of nostalgia when they were in the fan base. That's why "Daredevil" didn't do so well - all four Daredevil fans watched the file, several times each, and two of them made webpages dissecting the plot and character changes made while bringing Daredevil to the big screen, but that just wasn't enough to carry the film. If you didn't already care about Daredevil (seriously, he's a third-string Marvel hero for God's sake, and except for the Elektra saga, hardly deserved his own book), you wouldn't bother seeing it. I went only because I know one of the actors in it (who, incidentally, did a bang-up job, but I'm not here to drop names).

        What were the exceptions to comicbook films that suck? Superman (everyone loves Superman, but even the third film was really, really bad) and Batman (everyone remembers watching Adam West and Burt Ward on the TV show, but after a couple of films, this series went deep south too). Spiderman and X-Men (the first string Marvel books that everyone who has read comics has read). Every other adaptation has been a niche-market film. There are alot of great comics out there (Grant Morrison run of Doom Patrol, Neil Gaiman's Sandman, Thieves and Kings, insert your own here), but only the comics with established widespread appeal are going to succeed in the theater.

    • The pizza shooter shoots sewer lids now, not pizza's.

      It's a fucking travesty...

    • You must noot have seen the new Teen Titans or Batman series, it's not your father bam and pow anymore... plus I'm really impressed with the quality of animation as well as the humor/irony/adult references in today toons...

      "Flame On!"
  • Sounds good... I just hope it dosent get delayed to death like the first version of the movie.

  • What will they think of next? (Score:4, Funny)

    by tapin ( 157076 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @06:34PM (#10464985)
    What will they think of next? Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends?

    Maybe they'll go completely out on a limb and use Iceman or Spider-Woman.

    It'd be even better if Stan Lee did the narration.

    Boy, I can't wait!

  • Flying bathtub again? (Score:4, Funny)

    by fiannaFailMan ( 702447 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @06:35PM (#10464986) Journal
    I wonder will the Fantastic Car be the same flying bathtub I remember from the old Fantasitc Four animated series. Anyone remember that? Gawd it was lame!

  • Capitalism at it's finest... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dominatus ( 796241 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @06:35PM (#10464998)
    "What we are trying to do with our major brands is to support them in every way possible," Marvel Studios chairman and CEO Avi Arad said. "To support the franchise between sequels, we'll have the animated series, the video games (through Activision) and the merchandise licensing. We are just elated to be reintroducing this huge property." And by "support" they obviously mean "suck dry"

  • Fantastic Four: The animated series (Score:5, Interesting)

    by BobWeiner ( 83404 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @06:38PM (#10465027) Homepage Journal
    A Fantastic Four animated cartoon would be great -- tho no doubt the powers at be at Marvel will some how bastardize the TV version. Still, it's better to see the focus on characters other than the X-Men and Spiderman.

    Forget the whales, and bring back Power Man and Iron Fist!
  • Bring back Herbie the Robot!!!
    • Ya, so Ben Grimm can finally pount his little tin-can-smart ass into scrap.

      Man, I hated that blathering contraption.

      <troll>Bet Herbie was run on Windows Embedded. He was more irritating than fucking Clippy</troll>

      Soko

  • Correction (Score:3, Insightful)

    by eseiat ( 650560 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @06:43PM (#10465085) Homepage
    "What we are trying to do with our major brands is to support them in every way possible," Marvel Studios chairman and CEO Avi Arad said.

    This should actually read, "What we are trying to do with our major brands is whore them out to all suitors and make as much money as possible from them, thereby turning everyone's childhood memories against their pocket books, and allowing us to swim in the vast pools of money we have always dreamed of."

  • Does this indicate there's nothing new to do? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by goneutt ( 694223 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @06:51PM (#10465168) Journal
    Okay, there have been plenty of bad, and a few good, take offs of marvel comics. Is the proliferation of marvel movies because it's profitable or because they can't write a new idea.

    I hope they actually kill people in the new animated series. If batman woulda just frick'n killed the joker he woulda saved gotham millions.(This is why Cowboy Bebop kicks ass)
  • Imagine an animated version of "What The". Aelita and crew VS Warlock. How about Funky Cops vs Mojo?
    • What If, IIRC was crossover stuff, What the... was self parody. I've got several of the early What the... comics, which had some pretty funny send-ups. Once they got through most of the line it became a too much of a stretch other than an occasional gem later on. The Pulverizer was pretty hilarious.
      • "What the?!" was pretty much hit-and-miss, even from the beginning.. I laughed myself silly when I saw "The Black Pantster" - althought he only appeared in one episode, but regular stuff like "Peter Porker, The Amazing Spider-Ham" was just dreck, right from the start.

        IIRC they did a story about Superman, which I thought was pretty funny, although I don't remember very much about it except they were making fun of Byrne's "More real" Superman (growing a beard in a few minutes, etc.)

        It reminded me a lot of
  • A few months ago (before I got rid of TV) I found myself watching (and enjoying) Justice League on Cartoon network quite a bit. It was on just before the switch to Adult Swim which was an ideal timeslot for me.

  • as long as... (Score:4, Funny)

    by mforbes ( 575538 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @07:00PM (#10465265)

    they don't 'baby-ize' it like that godawful teen titans series.

    Honestly, I take umbrage at that piece of crap. The comic I remember from back in the 80s was dark and ominous-- not cute and cuddly.

    • Wasn't every comic in the 80s like that, or did I miss the joke?

    • Re:as long as... (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      It's not baby-ized, that's a style and I like it. I also like how they do "chibi" versions of the characters sometimes.

      If it were baby-ized, Raven wouldn't be pissed off and irritable all the time.

      Don't worry, they will probably do another TT series later with a different style. How many X-Men cartoon series have there been by now?
      • She's pissed off and irritable in a cute, funny, harmless Goth sort of way. No real emotional conflict (that we see, anyway. Having her whine a little about keeping her power in check doesn't count). Then again, the latest new ep about that book thing might change that. Still, I usually hate episodic shows unless they're brilliant (Cowboy Bebop), so I'm biased.

        As for X-men, 3. 2 if you don't count the one that only got made as a pilot. I liked the first pilot, the second series was just lazy and I could

  • Am I Alone? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 07, 2004 @07:01PM (#10465266)
    Anyone else except me ever wonder about Mr. Fantastic and many ways his stretching power can be applied in sexual ways?

  • Who was fan of this comic series? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by anactofgod ( 68756 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @07:02PM (#10465281)
    I dunno. I never could get into this series of comic books. X-men, Spiderman, Hulk, The West Coast Avengers...I liked almost every other Marvel series better than F4. Two of the four team members (Reed and Sue Richards) had lame superpowers and the plots seemed kinda hokey and dated.

    Johnny was alright. And Ben Grimm/Thing was good in his own series...esp those times he faced off with The Hulk.

    "IT'S CLOBBERING TIME!!!"
    • When did you read it?

      Afraid FF have suffered more than mot at the hands of hack writers

      To appreciate them you need to read

      lee/kirby
      John Byrne

      and especially any crossver with the X-men during Claremonts reign

    • Re:Who was fan of this comic series? (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Reed Richards didn't have the most amazing powers, but he was the gadget-master for the group. He had more gadgets than Iron Man, and his gadgets drove many of the plots.

      My favorite Reed Richards moment was in a John Byrne comic: he was trapped in a seemingly solid cell (by an enemy who knew he could easily stretch to escape an ordinary cell with bars). But there was a single rivet hole with no rivet. He sat there, and meditated, and relaxed, and r-e-l-a-x-x-e-d, and poured himself through the rivet hol
  • Who cares about the Fantastic Four? What the people are truly demanding is a live-action Q-Bert movie!

    BaltikaTroika

  • Remember when... (Score:5, Funny)

    by nsample ( 261457 ) <nsample AT stanford DOT edu> on Thursday October 07, 2004 @07:10PM (#10465355) Homepage
    ...an "animated TV series" used to be abbreviated as "cartoon?" Those were the days.

  • Will it be as good as the old Spiderman cartoon? (Score:5, Funny)

    by jerkychew ( 80913 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @07:11PM (#10465364) Homepage
    Tell your Tivo to grab "Spiderman and His Amazing Friends", the old cartoon series that (I believe) Fox Family is re-running. It's awesome. I don't mean awesome in that it's a good show; I mean awesome in an MST3K-type way.

    Basically, Spiderman has 2 friends/ roommates. Firestarter is this hot chick that turns into a fireball at a moment's notice and burns everything in her path. As an added bonus, she has a permanent cameltoe.

    Then there's Iceman, the other roommate who can (you guessed it) turn into a frozen bald guy that looks strikingly like Silver Surfer, and freeze everything in his path.

    The best part about this show (besides the aforementioned cameltoe) is the shoestring budget it must have had. The voice of Iceman is the same dude that voiced Fred in the Scooby Doo cartoon. But what's funny is that he's also the voice of virtually every erroneous character in the show. He doesn't even try to mask it. New bad guy? Give him Iceman's voice. Shopkeeper at the local store? Iceman.

    The show is great fun to watch, especially while drinking. I highly recommend it to everyone. Let's hope that this F4 cartoon is slightly higher quality... or if it sucks, let's hope it's the same level of sucktitude that envelops Spidey and his amazing friends. Either way, we win.
  • Is that the people making it will turn out another exceedingly crap version of the Fantastic Four. If they cater this to late teens / late 20's instead of 11 and 12 year olds they might actually have a story that is worth watching.
  • The fantastic four was part of a generations of cartoons that were just lame. At least for kids. IIRC, the basic dynamic of the show was a roommate situation and the villian destroying was not nearly the highest priority. It was all about relationships and feeling and that kind of crap. Which would be fine except it took itself too seriously.

    Other cartoons of this period still make good money because they appeal to the adolescent male. The fantastic four just doesn't.

  • Anyone else? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by BackwardHatClub ( 763903 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @07:50PM (#10465699)
    Am I the only one here who remembers a Fantastic Four series from about 10 years ago? Ran back to back with Iron Man usually? In my market it was on Sunday mornings at 6AM (great time slot). I just looked through this whole thread and I didn't see one mention of this cartoon, now I'm wondering if I'm the only one who remembers it.

  • I always thought that... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Xaoswolf ( 524554 ) * <Xaoswolf&gmail,com> on Thursday October 07, 2004 @07:50PM (#10465705) Homepage Journal
    The fantast 4 were gayest superheroes ever...

    Lets take a look.

    You have a man who can stretch any part of his body

    A man who is rock hard

    and a man who is rather flaming

    And none of the team can see the only woman because she is invisible.

    Totally gay...

  • Any chance of seeing the 1994 Fantastic Four Movie (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The first Fantastic Four was made in 1994 but never released because unbeknown to the cast and crew, the movie was never intended to be released, and was made only because the studio who owned the rights to make a Fantastic Four movie would have lost the rights if they did not begin production by a certain date.
    • I've seen the movie, and it is without doubt, the worst movie ever made. It was rightfully not released. Its pitiful. Pitiful bad but bad in an MST3k way. I recommend watching it with copious amounts of booze. It was leaked onto your favorite .torrent and file sharing app just last year. If you watch it, it only makes you wonder who had to suck whose member in hollywood for this film to be greenlit.

  • it won't be as cool... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by sammy baby ( 14909 ) on Thursday October 07, 2004 @09:12PM (#10466238) Journal
    No matter what they do, the show won't be as cool as the spoof of the Fantastic Four on The Venture Brothers [tvtome.com]. Here's a thought: ever wonder what it would be like to be constantly on fire? They did. It'd suck.
  • Cue the H.E.R.B.I.E jokes...

  • http://www.tvtome.com/FantasticFour/ [tvtome.com] (circa 1994)

    And maybe once more before that???

    http://www.tvtome.com/NewFantasticFour/ [tvtome.com] (circa 1978)

    But wait, there's more!

    http://www.tvtome.com/FantasticFour_1967/ [tvtome.com] (circa 1967)

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