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Post by Duragizer on Sept 12, 2021 0:46:27 GMT -5
Spider-Man (1967). Grantray-Lawrence followed The Marvel Super-Heroes with this adaptation of mixed results. The Bakshi-directed season was vastly superior to the one most think of when recalling this series; in the "Bakshi season" the stories ranged from the character's origin, to many a strange merging of fantasy and crime stories, but quickly jumped to the Lee/Romita era with episodes introducing the Kingpin and Captain Stacy. The series might have earned a higher standing (beyond nostalgia) if Bakshi's approach had been the standard for the entire series. I prefer Season 2 (Bakshi's first season) over Season 1. "Cold Storage" alone places it head over heels. Season 3 is a whole 'nother story.
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Post by zaku on Sept 12, 2021 5:10:17 GMT -5
No love for Invincible?!?!
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Post by profh0011 on Sept 12, 2021 11:38:03 GMT -5
I wonder how many viewers of the Ralph Bakshi SPIDER-MAN episode realize " The Origin Of Spiderman" was not adapted from AMAZING FANTASY #15, but instead, from SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #1, which came out only a few months before the cartoon aired? Some of the dialogue, seriously altered from the original version, was used VERBATIM on the show. This included the bit where the biker said, "THIS'll teach ya, you FOUR-EYED foul-up!" Except.. in the Bakshi cartoon... Peter's NOT wearing glasses. Season 2 started out so promising... then, after one episode, all of a sudden, everything changed. As a kid, I kept wondering... "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS???" I kept somehow hoping the "good" stuff would return, but instead, it just got worse and worse as it went. It took me more than a decade for that show to grow on me, and then, it was mostly for the music. I often say, the Bakshi episodes work less as "adventure stories" and more as "really WEIRD jazz videos". (LOVE the music.)
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Post by Calidore on Sept 12, 2021 12:21:06 GMT -5
Flash Gordon (1979). Filmation's adaptation was the greatest of the franchise's history--no other film or TV series could come so close to capturing Alex Raymond's creation. I shudder to think how a Hanna-Barbera version would have turned out. That would be Filmation's season 2.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 12, 2021 14:09:55 GMT -5
In no particular order:
Peanuts-If anything captured the original, it was this. Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All-the original feature movie developed by Filmation, includes an opening in Warsaw, 1939 and how Flash, Dale & Zarkov get to Mongo. Subplot about Ming providing super-weapons to the Nazis New Adv. of Flash Gordon-terrific adaptation of the key Alex Raymond strips, in the first season. network demands led to the mediocre second season Popeye-more the early cartoons, which captured the spirit of Thimble Theater, before the cartoon series became more formulaic. Superman-the Fleischer cartoons, beautiful animation, god plots and super feats. Batman TAS-perfect adaptation of various eras of the comic, culminating in Mask of the Phantasm, as probably the best Batman feature film. Akira-in production while the manga was still going, so it is more of a parallel telling of the story than an adaptation. Daisy Town-first animated adaptation of Lucky Luke. It captures the look and the tone well. The second, Ballad of the Daltons, is less successful. The Archies-not so much a direct adaptation of stories, as much as the characters, placing them in various situations and played for slapstick. Well done, for what it was and long lived, in several forms Duck Tales-Adapted some direct stories and certainly captured the flavor of the Barks stories, if modernized. Area 88-Very faithful to the characters and plots, with minor alterations, bo the OVAs and the tv series. Shazam!-part of the Kid Power Hour, Filmation was relatively faithful to the classic Marvel Family adventures. Paul Dini wrote a few of them. The Smurfs-cloying and annoying, it still relatively faithfully captured the style of the adventures of Les Stroumpfs, by Peyo. That damn song is an earwig, though. The Adv. of Batman-first Filmation Batman series, captured the style of pre-Adams & O'Neil Batman pretty well For Better or For Worse-started as a series of specials, done by Nelvana, then expanded into a series. Shown more in Canada than the us, but adapts Lynn Johnston's strip well. The first special, The Bestest Present, features Johnston's own children, Aaron and Katie, voicing their counterparts, Michael and Elizabeth, and then-husband Rod, as a mailman. Cadillacs & Dinosaurs-not exactly a faithful adaptation of Xenozoic Tales, it captures enough of the spirit and had some excellent animation and stories, from Nelvana. Heavy Metal-specifically, "Den" and "Capt. Sternn". "So Beautiful, So Dangerous," is relatively faithful, but I was never a fan of the material. "Tarna" and "Harry Canyon" are Moebius knockoffs, because he would not give permission to use "Arzach" and "The Long Tomorrow." The Tick-both an excellent adaptation and a brilliant expansion of the original. Asterix and Cleopatra-fourth adaptation of Asterix, but first done with Gosciny & Uderzo's involvement. Crying Freeman-OVA series, based on the manga-very faithful, with some reduction of some of the more explicit sexual material. Garfield-one upped the comics, but, it had to be more than simple gags. Lupin III-various series and movies, pretty well captures the manga series. Golgo 13-The Professional pretty well captured the style of the manga I haven't watched the Corto Maltese adaptations, but they look good, stylistically.
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Post by berkley on Sept 12, 2021 16:37:27 GMT -5
I don't think I ever knew about the 1979 Flash Gordon animated series. After hearing the praise for it here, I'll definitely put it on my list.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 12, 2021 19:52:02 GMT -5
I don't think I ever knew about the 1979 Flash Gordon animated series. After hearing the praise for it here, I'll definitely put it on my list. Sadly out of print, and goes for top money, in the complete set. Mill Creek put out a budget set, but it is missing the final two episodes, as the original set had them on another disc, then season 2 and the extras. However, it is up on Youtube, at least for now.... You used to be able to see the complete Flash Gordon: the Greatest Adventure of All, on Youtube, but it appears to have been taken down. The first 10 minutes is here, starting in Warsaw and then arriving on Mongo.... The same poster included another part, which has scenes only in the movie version, about the Nazi subplot... The rest of the film was used for footage in the first 4 episodes of the tv series, as well as the final episode (in part, as the movies finale is split between Chapter 4 and chapter 16, with new footage in chapter 16, to lead into the reused footage). Filmation wanted to do a live action film, but the cost would be too high, but sold an animated feature to NBC and created the whole thing, using rotoscoping (animating over live action footage) to give it more motion. The plot and characterization was a little more mature than the average Saturday morning fare, too. NBC loved the footage and asked for a series and the movie was broken into segments, making up the first 4 episodes, more or less. Then, they animated new episodes, to continue the story, withholding the climax until chapter 16. They reused scenes in multiple episodes, to save time and money. They also revoiced some of the parts. For instance, Vic Perrin, the voice of Dr Zin, in Jonny Quest (and the Control voice, on The Outer Limits) voiced Ming, while Alan Oppenheimer voiced him in the tv series (and later did Skeletor, on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe). When you watch the series version, Episode 1 opens with Flash, Dale and Zarkov already orbiting Mongo, when they are attacked. They are also wearing their Mongo clothing, rather than their Earth clothing, as in the film. A rifle also gets redrawn as a raygun. You also see the same sequences, as Ming's ships come in for a landing, the same aerial battles, and the same movement of Ming's robot soldiers. Ming's ships are said to be robot-controlled, though you do see some of Barin's fighters disappear and those are definitely piloted by humans, and Hawkmen disappear, when hit by rays, and they are also living.
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Post by berkley on Sept 12, 2021 22:58:02 GMT -5
Thanks for all the info. And did I understand correctly that the later seasons were significantly different from the first year?
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 12, 2021 23:29:52 GMT -5
Thanks for all the info. And did I understand correctly that the later seasons were significantly different from the first year? Yeah. The network wanted stand alone episodes and something more kid friendly. They added a little dragon, Gremlin, who was played for cute effect. The plots were self contained, though there were a few callbacks to season 1. There is an episode with Azura, the Witch Queen, and Ming is still a threat, hidden away n a mountain fortress, with his robots. The tone was definitely lightened up and there are more moments played for laughs. It was disappointing, when you went into expecting more like the first season. Once again, the networks underestimated their audience. It was also scheduled late in the morning and was often interrupted for sports broadcasts, in different markets. The episodes were also split into two shorter cartoon adventures per episode. Here is an example, with Azura included.....
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Post by berkley on Sept 12, 2021 23:58:29 GMT -5
Thanks again. I'll definitely watch the first year at least.
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Post by profh0011 on Sept 13, 2021 7:39:32 GMT -5
from Archive.org... in ENGLISH with Japanese subtitles (heh). Arguably the best damn thing Filmation EVER did.
"FLASH GORDON: THE GREATEST ADVENTURE OF ALL" (1979) archive.org/details/youtube-f6YhSjRiVio
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Post by mikelmidnight on Sept 14, 2021 11:43:05 GMT -5
Fleischer/Famous Studios Superman. Most likely the best adaptation of the character ever, 'cause it hews closely to the comics of the time, without any of the Silver/Bronze Age baggage I dislike. In some regards, it's an improvement on the source material (flight instead of leaping; Clark & Lois' characterization). Shame the social commentary and Luthor/Ultra-Humanite are absent, though.
On the other hand, they had a non-stereotyped Native American scientist villain, with a legitimate gripe.
Although the character originated in animated cartoons, he appeared early in comics, and I just want to throw in some praise for Bakshi's rendition of Mighty Mouse.
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Post by tonebone on Sept 14, 2021 16:30:06 GMT -5
I don't think I ever knew about the 1979 Flash Gordon animated series. After hearing the praise for it here, I'll definitely put it on my list. Sadly out of print, and goes for top money, in the complete set. Mill Creek put out a budget set, but it is missing the final two episodes, as the original set had them on another disc, then season 2 and the extras. However, it is up on Youtube, at least for now.... You used to be able to see the complete Flash Gordon: the Greatest Adventure of All, on Youtube, but it appears to have been taken down. The first 10 minutes is here, starting in Warsaw and then arriving on Mongo.... The same poster included another part, which has scenes only in the movie version, about the Nazi subplot... The rest of the film was used for footage in the first 4 episodes of the tv series, as well as the final episode (in part, as the movies finale is split between Chapter 4 and chapter 16, with new footage in chapter 16, to lead into the reused footage). Filmation wanted to do a live action film, but the cost would be too high, but sold an animated feature to NBC and created the whole thing, using rotoscoping (animating over live action footage) to give it more motion. The plot and characterization was a little more mature than the average Saturday morning fare, too. NBC loved the footage and asked for a series and the movie was broken into segments, making up the first 4 episodes, more or less. Then, they animated new episodes, to continue the story, withholding the climax until chapter 16. They reused scenes in multiple episodes, to save time and money. They also revoiced some of the parts. For instance, Vic Perrin, the voice of Dr Zin, in Jonny Quest (and the Control voice, on The Outer Limits) voiced Ming, while Alan Oppenheimer voiced him in the tv series (and later did Skeletor, on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe). When you watch the series version, Episode 1 opens with Flash, Dale and Zarkov already orbiting Mongo, when they are attacked. They are also wearing their Mongo clothing, rather than their Earth clothing, as in the film. A rifle also gets redrawn as a raygun. You also see the same sequences, as Ming's ships come in for a landing, the same aerial battles, and the same movement of Ming's robot soldiers. Ming's ships are said to be robot-controlled, though you do see some of Barin's fighters disappear and those are definitely piloted by humans, and Hawkmen disappear, when hit by rays, and they are also living. My set is from "Ink +Paint" Hearst Productions and contains everything, minus the Greatest Adventure movie.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2021 16:46:48 GMT -5
My set is from "Ink +Paint" Hearst Productions and contains everything, minus the Greatest Adventure movie. that's the set I have as well. -M
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Post by tonebone on Sept 14, 2021 16:53:57 GMT -5
I have to echo Flash Gordon... one of my all time favorite series. Actually, I was a sucker for ALL the Filmation shows, Tarzan, Lone Ranger, Shazam! (the animated one), New Adventures of Batman, Archie.
I love the Charlie Brown specials, but the Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show actually adapted a lot of the comic strips as well, almost word-for-word. If I remember correctly, at some point, maybe a later season, they decided to give Snoopy a voice. Heretical.
I love Justice League Unlimited, as well as Batman Brave and the Bold, for all the crazy guest stars. That last episode of B+B always makes me tear up.
The Tick was a revelation. It actually IMPROVED the concepts put forth in the comics.
The Popeye Fleischer cartoons were great. Not exactly adherent to the strip, but they added to the mythos. The 3D backgrounds were groundbreaking.
Sam and Max was great, but felt a little restrained on kid-tv.
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs was a fun adaptation. I always wondered how much involvement Mark Shultz had in the series. The toys were cool.
I liked the first season (or was it the second?) of the Fantastic Four series on syndication in the 90s.
Swamp Thing was NOT a good adaptation. But you gotta love the theme song.
Also, not great, Fred and Barney meet the Thing! But I loved it. ("Thing Ring, do your thing!")
By the way, I'm 50+, and have been a longtime cartoon watcher, first as a kid, then as an adult, then with my kids.
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