Fantastic Four

This is probably the best adapted version of Stan Lee/Jack Kirby's Worlds Greatest Comic Magazine, and a really solid representation of Mr Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Human Torch and the ever lovin, blue eyed Thing. It is the only Animated series that manages almost perfectly to capture the energy and excitement that could be found in the Fantastic Four comics from 1961-1969. The F4 Themselves are well presented by their characterisations in this series, and as with most Hannah Barbera cartoons, the show doesn't talk down to the kids. There is alot of good natured bickering between Reed Richards, and trying to upstage him Ben Grimm, and he in turn being wound up mercelessly by Johnny Storm, all under the watchful glare of a bemused Sue Richards. Where the 1979 F4 series went wrong was that it underestimated its audience as being totally juvenile in a way the comics never did. The 1994 animated series managed to get it wrong too because instead of taking its cue from the smash hit X Men animated series and treating the characters with respect, it totally sent, and camped them up. The less said about the 1994 movie the better!

As a kid i loved this swinging 60's version of the Fantastic Four, and i still do. It has all the right ingredients, action, humour, good plots and a kick ass theme tune. On the downside however the animated at times is a little ropey and never manages to match up to the genius and majesty of Jack Kirby's art. Still, the Hannah Barbera F4 Series will be a great nostalgia trip for afficionadoes and is well worth a look.

There can be no doubt that this cartoon ranks as one of the best if not THE best cartoon ever produced period!!! True to the comic with the outstanding talents of Hanna-Barbera!! There can be no doubt that the entire Hanna-Barbera's world of super adventure cartoon series was the #1 series including Birdman, Space Ghost and others. Fantastic Four was and still is a fun watch even for today standards. My only problem was that the company couldn't use the Sub-Mariner because he was with another animation company and so Triton was made instead. But if you look closely this character looked much like his true self. Thanks to the genius of Alex Toth. But don't let this little matter fool you, this cartoon rocks! Stan Lee and the late great Jack Kirby knew this.

This cartoon was far better than "the New Fantastic Four" a.k.a. "the one without the Human Torch." This is probably due to the fact that Lee and Kirby had some involvement. My only beef is that Dr. Doom was a bit weak. There's an episode based on an issue with the Sub Mariner, but since his cartoon was done by another company, Namor was replaced by a green sea king named Triton (also the name of one of the Inhumans). Oddly enough, all the other characters remained intact. Kirby later helped Hanna-Barbarra by creating character designs for Thundarr the Barbarian.

I was never much of a Fantastic Four comic book reader but I must say that I highly enjoy this show. It was fun, exciting, and at times funny. Courtesy of the Thing! More over, it featured great villians like Doctor Doom. It's a great show for both fans and non-fans of the classic comic book characters.

In my eyes, this version of the Fantastic Four is the best overall. Number one, all the voices are great except for Doctor Doom... he's not really scary enough. But Reed and all the gang have their ultimate voices here, especially Reed and Ben! Even the Mole Man has a cool voice.

In the Silver Surfer/Galactus episode, they captured the essence of both characters far better than the 90's cartoon did in their telling of the tale (but they more than made up for it the following season). You get to see the Molecule Man, Super Skrull, and you KINDA get to see Namor... the other toon company had the rights for Namor's own series, so they actually replaced him with a Triton like character.

The animation may not look all that great, but the tone and mood are just like the classic comics that inspired them.