Fantastic Four (1994 TV series)

Overview

In the early-to-mid-1990s, the Fantastic Four got their own animated series, which aired as part of the Marvel Action Hour weekend block. This block was later renamed Marvel Action Universe when a second show joined the lineup. Each hour-long broadcast split time between an episode of Iron Man and an episode of Fantastic Four. For the first season, Stan Lee appeared on screen before each episode to talk about the characters featured in the upcoming story and what had inspired him to create them.

The series also aired on Fox Kids and Disney XD in the United States. Most episodes from the first season closely adapted classic Fantastic Four comic book stories from the 1960s by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. For example, a two-part episode faithfully retold the arrival of the Silver Surfer and Galactus on Earth, and another covered Doctor Doom stealing the Surfer’s powers. However, fans were generally unhappy with the cheap animation, which was handled by Wang Film Productions and Kennedy Cartoons, and with the show’s attempts at humor, particularly a fussy British landlady voiced by Lee’s wife Joan.

The first season was also the only one to use digital ink and paint in some episodes. In the two-part premiere, “The Origin of the Fantastic Four,” the Puppet Master took control of the Thing and used him to capture the Invisible Woman. Mister Fantastic freed the Thing and defeated the Puppet Master, who then apparently fell to his death from an apartment window but vanished from Earth, with the team unable to find him. In “The Silver Surfer & the Coming of Galactus,” the Silver Surfer, Firelord, and Terrax fought the Fantastic Four while Galactus tried to consume Earth.

By the second season, the Silver Surfer’s role in that battle was ignored, and Terrax was shown again, referred to as the replacement for the Silver Surfer. In the episode “When Calls Galactus,” Terrax was turned into a worm, and Nova (Frankie Raye) became Galactus’s new herald.

Crossovers

When the Fantastic Four appeared on The Incredible Hulk, Chuck McCann and Beau Weaver returned to voice the Thing and Mister Fantastic. For Spider-Man, only Quinton Flynn—who took over as the Human Torch from Brian Austin Green in season two—rejoined the cast. The other three roles were recast: Cam Clarke, Gail Matthius, and Patrick Pinney voiced Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, and the Thing, while Tom Kane provided the voice of Doctor Doom in parts two and three.

Broadcast and release

The show originally ended in 1996, but the popularity of the live-action Fantastic Four movie later brought in new viewers. This led to reruns on the Jetix block of Toon Disney after The Walt Disney Company acquired the network. In February 2012, all episodes were made available for streaming on Marvel.com, though they were later taken down.

Home media

During the series' run, some episodes were released on VHS by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. In the late 1990s, another selection of VHS compilations was released by Marvel Films/New World Entertainment, distributed in Canada by Telegenic Entertainment, featuring episodes edited into 40-minute movies based on particular story arcs. It features new introductions by Stan Lee for all 26 episodes, replacing the original introductions that had been removed for network broadcast, as well as an interview where Stan Lee talks about creating the Fantastic Four.

Pieces of footage from the episodes themselves had also been removed for network broadcast, and it is these cut episodes that comprise the DVD set. Before the boxset release, the first episode of season two, "And a Blind Man Shall Lead Them", appeared on the DVD release of Daredevil vs. Spider-Man as a bonus feature. In April 2008, Liberation Entertainment secured home media rights to select Marvel shows from Jetix Europe in select European territories, planning to release both seasons in the United Kingdom, but the company shuttered its UK operations on October 22, 2008.

Lace International released their remaining stock, including both seasons and a boxset of all 26 episodes in November 2008, with remastered video and audio.