Fantastic Flops: Fantastic Four (1994) Season 1 is an Exercise in 90s Cheesiness
In a continuation of the “Fantastic Flops” series, I’m going back and re-evaluating the 1994 and 2006 Fantastic Four cartoon as well as the 1998 Silver Surfer seriesand various crossovers and seeing if they’re a “Flop”, “Bop”, or “In-Between”.
The 1990s are seen as somewhat of a golden age for superhero cartoons with such classics as Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men: The Animated Series as well as Superman: The Animated Series and Spider-Man: The Animated Series. One show that doesn’t seem to get as much love of these is the 1994 syndicated Fantastic Four cartoon that aired with episodes of Iron Man as part of The Marvel Action Hour. In fact, contemporary Fantastic Four comic book writer Tom DeFalco made fun of it in Fantastic Four #396 where replacement team member Scott Lang roasts the show while ribbing The Thing.
Fantastic Four‘s animation is nothing to write home about with the exception of some cool monster designs for Namor and Mole Man’s denizens as well as a very Jack Kirby-accurate Blastaar. Mr. Fantastic’s powers definitely will always look better in this medium. On the writing and story side, showrunner Ron Friedman and his cohorts Elwin Ransom (So cool that they have the same name as the protagonist of C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy) and Don Segall’s scripts fluctuate from poignant adaptations of the source material to chaotically humorous (See “The Mole Man”, especially Johnny Storm’s rap because voice actor Brian Austin Green wanted to have a hip hop career.) or intelligence insulting (Both Skrulls episode.) This is a show that jokes about Prince Charles dating Roseanne Barr and features guest spots from Dick Clark and Gary Owens in the two part pilot, but also the solution to defeating various villains comes up in unrelated conversations between Mr. Fantastic and other members of the team. It also loves a running gag and catch phrase, which makes sense for the team that brought you “Flame on” and “It’s clobberin’ time”, but I swear if I have to hear the Thing say “One for the money, two for the show”, I might cancel my Disney Plus subscription. (I do enjoy the Thing’s obsession with Wayne Newton, and how he fights with Johnny Storm when he tries to burn them up.)
The mediocre “Mask of Doom” three-parter is the Fantastic Four show in a nutshell. It begins with the Thing poorly following a TV yoga workout and follows with 2 episodes of he, Mr. Fantastic, and the Human Torch dodging various Dr. Doom death traps while he mansplains his origin story to the Invisible Woman. The third part is an anachronism-filled time travel caper set in 4th century BCE Greece that has big Bill and Ted energy, especially when the Human Torch romances a Greek oracle. The extended theme song, credits, and “previously on” recaps really eat into the runtime of the episode, and important plot points like Victor Von Doom’s relationship with Reed Richards as a college student is quickly glossed over so the team can run around in creepy passageways. Dr. Doom’s origin story should have been the A-plot, and the action hijinks should have been the B-plot, but Friedman and Ransom flip that dynamic. One thing I will say about the Fantastic Four cartoon is that your never more than a few minutes away from the Thing punching something and generally crashing out.
I briefly mentioned the two Skrulls episodes as being the low points of Fantastic Four, and they are along with “Behold the Negative Zone”, which shows that Annihilus and Blastaar are more interesting in their own world than on Earth. Despite having a vast invasion fleet and a warrior with all the powers of the Fantastic Four plus hypnosis, the Skrull never come across as a threat. Friedman, Ransom, and Segall would rather do a cheap imitation of basically Mars Attacks (Which hadn’t come out at the time of the cartoon.) than dig into Marvel’s rich cosmic tapestry. The most memorable moments from this episode are finding out that the Thing didn’t vote for Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential election, and that he has bars. Seriously, he spends the entire “Super Skrull” episode trying to film a rap rock video for MTV, one of his many attempts throughout the season to capitalize on his fame as a member of the Fantastic Four to make money.
The high point of Fantastic Four other than the utter silliness of “Mole Man”, which also features Reed Richards and Human Torch/his spoiled girlfriend Melinda and Sue Storm and the Thing working as pairs, is the “The Silver Surfer and Coming of Galactus” two-parter. The scene where Alicia Master senses the Surfer’s humanity and kindness and compares it to Ben Grimms is played beautifully by Pauline Lomas and Robin Sachs. Also, Alan Oppenheimer and Shakespearean actor Tony Jay bring a real direness and grandeur to the episode as Uatu the Watcher and the Devourer himself with the Fantastic Four facing their greatest threat yet. And while this is going on, they’re facing eviction from their landlady Ms. Forbes in a take-it-or-leave-it performance from Joan Lee, who did a much better job as Madame Web in Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Dealing with every day struggles while facing the end of existence and finding the good in antagonists is Marvel at its finest, and these plus the YouTube clip of Johnny Storm rapping are the episodes of this series you should watch.
The framing narrative of the two-part pilot of Fantastic Four set at a Dick Clark telethon reminded me a lot of how Fantastic Four: First Steps told the team’s origin. Even though the film was set in the 1960s and the show was set in the 1990s, it hops right to the adventures with the Fantastic Four being a known entity with recurring foes, a relationship with the US government (And a nagging landlady), and as public figures. The 2025 film handles these elements in a much more interesting way, but it’s also a PG-13 blockbuster film and not hamstrung by the need to sell toys to cereal eating children and maybe a stoner or two. I really wanted to give a “Mid” score to Fantastic Four Season One, but am choosing to get a “Flop” instead because there is definitely potential for improvement as evidenced by a season finale that balances pathos (Silver Surfer must doing something heroic without his abilities.) and humor (A few meta jabs at their Action Hour compatriot Iron Man). If anything, the theme song is an ear worm!
Overall Verdict: Flop
