A lot about the Fantastic Four, and a wee bit about Miracleman.
In response to yesterday’s post, Earl asked:
“Out of curiosity, regarding Doom, do you have a favorite version of him from the various Marvel animated series?”
And to be honest…aside from my memories of watching a whole lot of the 1960s Spider-man cartoon, and some random installments of various series here and there over the decades, I really wasn’t much of a Marvel cartoon watcher. I have a vague memory of watching some animated version of Doom who spoke with a heavy accent, but I’m not sure what cartoon that may have been from, assuming I didn’t just cook that up myself in this aging brain of mine. The end result is that I don’t really recall enough about any of these cartoons to be able to pick out a fave Doom.
Earl suggested the Dr. Doom from the 1960s Fantastic Four cartoon [EDIT: um, Earl actually said the Doom from the 1970s FF cartoon – oops, my brain apparently needs new batteries], and having taken a brief look at a sample:
…why, he’s adorable! That’s some voice he’s got, so watch enough of the video I linked there to experience it yourself.
Other comments from yesterday: esteemed longtime reader G23 suggests that maybe they should just stop trying to do a live action FF altogether, and while I understand the frustration, I’d hate to not see one at all. Now, I realize a live action FF wouldn’t add anything to the comics, wouldn’t improve the overall state of culture, wouldn’t cure the common cold, etc. and so on, but boy I’d like to see one anyway, and I don’t think it’s so insurmountable a task that it can’t be done. I know it’s fanboyish wishful thinking, but it’s so fundamentally a part of the artform I’ve devoted most of my life to, I’d hate that the world at large wouldn’t get to experience at least some portion as to why we all like the FF so much. In fairness, though there was a lot they didn’t get right, at least those two previous Fantastic Four movies managed to do a good job with Aunt Petunia’s favorite nephew. The Thing, as I have noted before, is one of those creations that is so strong on its own that its basic essence can survive even the worst circumstances, though I understand the new film puts even that to the test.
Anyway, I think a good FF film isn’t impossible. It’ll probably just take a little more understanding about what made the original comics work, and a little less fixing it ’til it’s broken.
Another longtime commenter Jer notes that the problem with getting a Dr. Doom that’s like the Dr. Doom in the comics comes down to basic Hollywood blockbuster film-making. Everything’s gotta tie together, that gun in Act One better shoot something in Act Three, an’ all that. The trend — and Jer lists several examples — is that the villain is inextricably tied to the hero’s origin. And, in a way, the Doom of the comics is tied to the heroes…specifically, to his old college roommate Reed Richards, who tried to warn him about his experiments, and, well, you get the picture. But that’s probably not dynamic enough for a Big Moving Talkie, so we get the Doom who’s caught in the same accident as the rest of the FF and thus also gets superpowers.
Now arguably, one could say that there’s no such connection between the film versions of Superman and Lex Luthor, or between Nolan’s version of Batman and the Joker. But even without an origin/plot connection, there’s a thematic connection: brain versus brawn, order versus chaos. I suppose Reed Vs. Doom could be “science for good vs. science for evil,” but that’s not quite as basic a thematic struggle on which to hang your superhero movie, I guess.
At any rate, we’re probably some ways away from the next attempt at the World’s Greatest Comics Magazine That Hasn’t Quite Managed A Great Movie Yet, but I hear tell the final battle in the new film actually approaches the FF we know. Maybe, on the very slim chance the planned sequel actually happens, we can get past this rough set-up and get down to the business of punching Galactus and tangling with the Impossible Man, as God, and Stan and Jack, intended.
In other news, someone asked Neil Gaiman on the Twitterers how many new issues he and Mark Buckingham were going to produce to wrap up his Miracleman story, and the answer was “about nine.” The reprints for the previously-issued Gaiman and Buckingham comics are about to start up, so we’re that much closer to seeing some decades-old plot threads finally getting resolved. Barring any more production errors, of course.
The Fantastic Four are the greatest 50’s B-Movie never filmed. Smart guy, tough guy, punk kid, and girl. In their first four issues they fight an underground kingdom, aliens, an “evil wizard,” and a more humanoid, smarter version of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. All of whom either have or become giant monsters along the way.
Agh :) I said the 70’s one :) Still, this one wasn’t really that bad, either. The 1970’s series had H.E.R.B.I.E. in it instead of the Torch — but the 60’s version was pretty nice, too. I think both used Kirby layouts and definitely used Kirby/Lee plots.
The Doom with an accent was from the 1990’s FF series, I think. He sounded like Ahnuld, and it really didn’t fit at all (IMHO).
Thanks for the reply!
Oops, sorry about that, Earl! I’ve edited the post to address my error!
“About Nine” makes sense based on the lingering assumption that each arc/collection will be six issues. The Golden Age was six issues. Gaiman and Buckingham made three issues of Silver Age though of course only two were published. So they just need three new issues for Silver and six after that for The Dark Age.
No harm, no worries, thanks so much for the post! I really miss these cartoons sometimes, wish they were available here on DVD (they are available in the UK, but not here, not on official dvd anyway).