Let's get one thing straight, this is not a FF
series for old-school Marvel fanboys; the kind who
complain that an adaptation is cheesy if it is 100%
faithful to the original material but go ballistic
if they change anything from the comic. I know you
know what I'm talking about. This series is a fresh
reinvention of the superheroes we know and love and
personally I enjoyed it. The animation is certainly
above average for a cartoon; it's not exactly Pixar,
but it's far superior to the more traditional 90's
series with that horrible theme song. The look is a
uniquely modern mix of eastern and western styles
that may be off-putting to those who just want an
animated version of a forty year-old comic book
(that's already been done...twice) but it works
nonetheless. But the series' best attribute by far
is it's sharp sense of humor. For example, in one
episode Dr. Doom manages to switch bodies with Reed
Richards while he is imprisoned. Reed, in Doom's
fully armored body, escapes and hails a cab. As he
sits down in the back of the taxi, the driver eyes
him for a second before commenting, "Hey, aren't you
that Iron Man guy?". Reed/Doom simply looks at him
and responds, "Yes. Yes I am.". Great stuff, but if
the notion of poking fun at classic comic characters
is sacrilegious to you, skip this show. As with all
Marvel animated series, this one's got it's share of
guest stars including Ant Man and the Hulk (note to
self: don't make fun of his momma) so three cheers
for that, too. The series is episodic so there are
no continuous arcs to follow, each show is a twenty
minute story full of humorous situations, cool
action scenes, and new interpretations of classic
villains (the episode where the Skrulls disguise
themselves as the FF's neighbors and ask them
bizarre questions about their powers/weaknesses is
another fun one). Are all of these episodes I
mentioned on this disc? I don't know yet, but I'm
gonna guess no, so I'll tell you to give this disc a
rental. If you like what you see, you can catch the
series Saturday afternoons on Cartoon Network this
summer and then you should wait for a full season
set to come out before you buy. That is, assuming
Marvel will release this season in a boxed set as
every other normal company would. But with Marvel
series', you never really know.
[edit: The entire first season of this show is
available now and highly recommended so don't waste
your money on these one-discers.]
