DBWI: "Fantastic Four" TV Series Finally Goes on DVD/Blue Ray

Mr_ Bondoc

Mr_ Bondoc

For those of you who don't have Nikelodeon, TV Land or SyFy Networks. The 1963-1969 series Fantastic Four is finally on DVD and Blue Ray, and on Netflix. As such, what episodes were your favorites? What effect did the series have on the world of television?

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The story is based on this hoax site : http://auntpetunia.com/index.html

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Emperor Norton I

Emperor Norton I

The show really went downhill in the last few seasons. On the one hand, it began to deal more openly with social issues (which got really heavy the last two seasons), but on the other hand, the network budget cuts did a number on production quality, and a show like that needed production quality. Ironically the later seasons was when they really started to get the special effects much better when they could afford them (such as they were for that era and television of that era). That's probably why they dealt with those issues more, which probably only hastened the show's cancellation; after all, your average show like Gilligan's Island didn't deal with nondescript-Asian-countries-that-are-totally-Vietnam. You never saw Jerry Van Dyke get shanghaid by a lost Viet-Cong unit. And the network liked that, and black and white morality plays like Gunsmoke (albeit there's irony in mentioning those two shows in the same sentence). The campiness circa the mid 60s seasons is fun though.


OOC:
If you didn't pick up on it, Jerry Van Dyke was cast as Gilligan in this reality, as he would have been had he not picked "My Mother The Car" instead, and I inferred Gunsmoke was cancelled to keep Gilligan's Island on the air, which nearly happened.
 

Whitewings

The effects were amazing for the time; I have a background in stagecraft, and it was nothing less than an ongoing wonder that Tim Considine didn't go up in smoke. On the story front, the writers did their best to stick with the kind of exotic adventures the FF had in the comics, but with the budget being minuscule and the execs' ongoing hatred of anything too "cerebral," meaning anything that required more thought than "none," they were pretty well confined to urban adventures, not exactly their strong suit. The Hanna-Barbera series, being animated, had a lot more freedom that way, and it really did show. Still, the cast did their level best, and for the most part did quite a good job. The cheapness of Sue's powers actually led to her being a larger part of the TV show that she would become in the comics for decades. Sadly, the execs learned the wrong lesson from the series' failure, deciding it had failed due to having lots of special effects instead of failing because of *bad* effects and declining writing. What is it about being a Hollywood executive that makes people think quality is evil?
 

Whitewings

Mad Bad Rabbit said:
My fave episode was with Cesar Romero as Dr. Strange:
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That was an interesting one. Didn't do much for his career either way, but Fabian would likely have just faded into obscurity without his surprisingly effective turn as the Avenging Son to help him on the way to recognition as more than just another pretty boy.

A lot of fans have complained about their exclusion, but I think they were wise to leave out the Skrulls. Shape-changers are just too hard to do extensively in live action, even today.
 
Mr_ Bondoc

Mr_ Bondoc

Am I the only one who will admit that Elizabeth Montgomery was one of their first television crushes? Yes, she was a mother on the series, but she was also one of the coolest women on television until Linda Carter and Lucy Lawless.
 

Willmatron

I only recently got into this series. I'm glad it wasn't as flashy as the Batman series at about the same time.

My favorite episodes were Vincent Price as Diablo. He actually did the character justice.
 

Whitewings

That armour was magnificent. I can't remember who they cast as Doctor Doom, I keep wanting to say Ted Cassidy did the voice but I know that's wrong. But the man they did cast nailed that part to the wall.
 
Mr_ Bondoc

Mr_ Bondoc

Whitewings said:
That armour was magnificent. I can't remember who they cast as Doctor Doom, I keep wanting to say Ted Cassidy did the voice but I know that's wrong. But the man they did cast nailed that part to the wall.
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Believe it or not I believe it was Michael Ansara, who would later play the Klingon character Kang in Star Trek. Believe it or not that voice would also be used for "Mr. Freeze" on Batman: The Animated Series,....
 
Mr_ Bondoc

Mr_ Bondoc

With the current set of terrible to mediocre wave of films based on TV franchises and comic book series, who do you think should star in the long-rumored Fantastic Four movie? There was talk throughout the 2000s, about a film adaptation, but nothing ever got past "development hell"....
 

Mako-Chan

Willmatron said:
I only recently got into this series. I'm glad it wasn't as flashy as the Batman series at about the same time.
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Personally I liked Patrick McGoohan's take. Quite a risk but after the 1950s something had to be done with that character. That and Alan Moore's revamp of Supergirl in '85 have to be my favorites of the British Invasion.

My favorite episodes were Vincent Price as Diablo. He actually did the character justice.
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You too? That and Lisa Loring as Valeria have to be the most underrated performances. Which is saying something!
 
Mr_ Bondoc

Mr_ Bondoc

What do people think of the rumors that with the Bryan Singer film next year, we are looking at Ben Affleck as Mister Fantastic and Jessica Alba as Invisible Girl?
 

Whitewings

Mr_ Bondoc said:
What do people think of the rumors that with the Bryan Singer film next year, we are looking at Ben Affleck as Mister Fantastic and Jessica Alba as Invisible Girl?
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I can see her as Sue; Sue needs to be a beautiful blonde, and to look much younger than Reed (though the age difference in the comics is only ten years at most). But Ben Affleck as Reed? He's certainly a competent, established actor, but I just can't see him as Reed Richards, the top genius in the Marvel Universe.
 
Mr_ Bondoc

Mr_ Bondoc

Whitewings said:
I can see her as Sue; Sue needs to be a beautiful blonde, and to look much younger than Reed (though the age difference in the comics is only ten years at most). But Ben Affleck as Reed? He's certainly a competent, established actor, but I just can't see him as Reed Richards, the top genius in the Marvel Universe.
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That is putting it mildly!! After the film Hollywoodland, I heard he was knocked out of contention for Superman. In the meantime, has anyone heard about Ben and Johnny?
 

Whitewings

Michael Clarke Duncan has come up a time or two, but his being cast as Ben Grimm seems unlikely, considering he passed away in late 2012. There aren't a lot of competent actors with the needed voice, height and build, so he and Reed are going to be the choke points for casting. Sue and Johnny are pretty straightforward.
 
Mr_ Bondoc

Mr_ Bondoc

Whitewings said:
Michael Clarke Duncan has come up a time or two, but his being cast as Ben Grimm seems unlikely, considering he passed away in late 2012. There aren't a lot of competent actors with the needed voice, height and build, so he and Reed are going to be the choke points for casting. Sue and Johnny are pretty straightforward.
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With the Michael Duncan Clarke rumors, there was a lot of controversy over the issue of Ben Grimm, who is a white Brooklyn Jew in the comics, being portrayed as an African-American. Apparently it is being called "stunt-casting" in some cases and in the worst cases "the worst forms of affirmative action" on some of the discussion sites. What are your thoughts?
 
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