|
Post by zaku on Feb 20, 2023 9:54:45 GMT -5
This story of the Human Torch has always puzzled me. How is it possible that in 1977 they thought they could make a show about him? The Torch has a lot of super powers that would have been difficult and expensive to reproduce on TV at the time. He flies, throws fireballs, builds things with flames, and best of all, well, he's a human torch. Even if they had decided to give his TV counterpart only a subset of powers it would have been complicated. And the Human Torch, unlike Wonder Woman and the Hulk (probably the most famous superhero shows at the time) is ALWAYS the Human Torch while the latter two became their superhero counterparts at most a couple of minutes per episode (resulting in savings on special effects). I would be very curious to read at least the pitch of the series... If memory serves, the series would've focus on professional race car driver Johnny Storm who secretly assumed the Torch identity when crime or trouble reared their ugly heads.
Cei-U! I summon the fire extinguisher!
But did he have superpowers..?
|
|
|
Post by Cei-U! on Feb 20, 2023 10:45:37 GMT -5
If memory serves, the series would've focus on professional race car driver Johnny Storm who secretly assumed the Torch identity when crime or trouble reared their ugly heads.
Cei-U! I summon the fire extinguisher!
But did he have superpowers..? Supposedly, yes, albeit limited by low-tech SFX and a TV budget.But since the show never got past the planning stage we'll probably never know how they would've looked.
Cei-U! I summon the unanswerable question!
|
|
|
Post by zaku on Feb 20, 2023 11:42:32 GMT -5
But did he have superpowers..? Supposedly, yes, albeit limited by low-tech SFX and a TV budget.But since the show never got past the planning stage we'll probably never know how they would've looked.
Cei-U! I summon the unanswerable question!
Did I ever tell you that I love your summons?
|
|
|
Post by jason on Feb 20, 2023 15:10:37 GMT -5
Wonder if they'd have actual villains from the comics or have original villains, none of whom have any actual superpowers a la the Hulk (and other superhero shows of the time).
|
|
|
Post by zaku on Feb 20, 2023 15:51:22 GMT -5
Wonder if they'd have actual villains from the comics or have original villains, none of whom have any actual superpowers a la the Hulk (and other superhero shows of the time). All the Marvel superheroes tv show of the time didn't have actual super-villains so....
|
|
|
Post by EdoBosnar on Feb 20, 2023 16:54:40 GMT -5
Wonder if they'd have actual villains from the comics or have original villains, none of whom have any actual superpowers a la the Hulk (and other superhero shows of the time). Asbestos Man would have been doable...
|
|
|
Post by MWGallaher on Feb 20, 2023 17:11:34 GMT -5
I'd expect a tv Torch in that era would be restricted to projecting flames from his hands and tossing fireballs, maybe controlling external fires by directing them, damping them, or exciting them. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be getting an all-over flaming human. Trying to do that on TV back them would not only have been unconvincing, it would have highlighted just how inconvenient and dangerous it would be to have a Human Torch interacting with ordinary people.
|
|
|
Post by tarkintino on Feb 20, 2023 19:22:10 GMT -5
I'd expect a tv Torch in that era would be restricted to projecting flames from his hands and tossing fireballs, maybe controlling external fires by directing them, damping them, or exciting them. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be getting an all-over flaming human. Trying to do that on TV back them would not only have been unconvincing, it would have highlighted just how inconvenient and dangerous it would be to have a Human Torch interacting with ordinary people. By the tine the 1970s rolled around, special effects were quite advanced, with flame FX--whether generated by a person, or device--were not a challenge. The expense of what I imagine would have been animating flame FX on a blue-screened stuntman for an entire season might have been the reason a workable Human Torch TV series was not greenlit.
Then again, TV modified superhero powers frequently, so instead of Storm's entire body turning into a torch, perhaps his flames would be "limited" to streaks, bursts and blow-torch-like FX from his hands, or augment his skin tone or eyes while in Torch mode. It's all guessing at this point, but I believe there were ways to produce a live action Human Torch during the 1970s.
|
|
|
Post by zaku on Feb 21, 2023 1:56:29 GMT -5
I just read that even though they didn't do the pilot, they did write a full teleplay. I'm really curious...
|
|
|
Post by tonebone on Feb 21, 2023 9:49:37 GMT -5
The belief that Human Torch wasn't in the 1979 FF cartoon because of worries that kids would set themselves on fire is an urban myth that's been debunked numerous times. The real reason is that the Human Torch had been separately optioned for another project so he couldn't be used in the cartoon. Among other things, it was one of the earlier " Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed" at Comics Should be Good! (way back in 2005). There's also a video that provides a pretty good rundown of the entire matter (although you can pretty much skip ahead to about the one-minute mark, as there's a lengthy introduction about the mid-'00s FF movie):
Of course, you are correct. What irks me is how many times that urban myth has been repeated in various publications. Reminds me of that myth that a duck’s quack doesn’t echo. That made its way into countless fact/trivia books, yet a duck’s quack does echo. I've always loved the myth that the Great Wall of China was the only man-made structure that could be seen from space... a claim made in the late 30's (by Ripley, I think), some 30 or so years before ANYONE could see anything from space. But the myth is still bouncing around, even today.
|
|
|
Post by Cei-U! on Feb 21, 2023 11:22:42 GMT -5
I've always loved the myth that the Great Wall of China was the only man-made structure that could be seen from space... a claim made in the late 30's (by Ripley, I think), some 30 or so years before ANYONE could see anything from space. But the myth is still bouncing around, even today. The original edition of Trivial Pursuit even cited it as a "fact"... which made me wary of every other question in the game that I didn't already know the answer to.
Cei-U! I summon the lie that won't die!
|
|
|
Post by badwolf on Feb 21, 2023 12:18:48 GMT -5
They might be able to calculate that would be visible from a certain distance.
|
|
|
Post by MDG on Feb 21, 2023 13:37:41 GMT -5
I've always loved the myth that the Great Wall of China was the only man-made structure that could be seen from space... a claim made in the late 30's (by Ripley, I think), some 30 or so years before ANYONE could see anything from space. But the myth is still bouncing around, even today. The original edition of Trivial Pursuit even cited it as a "fact"... which made me wary of every other question in the game that I didn't already know the answer to.
Cei-U! I summon the lie that won't die!
David Letterman: According to NASA, the only two man-made objects visible from space are the Great Wall of China and Tip O'Neill.
|
|
|
Post by Prince Hal on Feb 21, 2023 14:25:30 GMT -5
The Great Wall of China's visibility from space proves to be the only way that the astronauts in this cover story can tell which is the counterfeit Earth and thus defeat the aliens.
|
|
|
Post by tonebone on Feb 21, 2023 15:10:57 GMT -5
They might be able to calculate that would be visible from a certain distance. But it would be no more visible than a 4 lane highway. It's a LONG object, winding across the continent, but not really that wide. Even in the 30s, there were larger man made objects, the pyramids, for instance.
|
|