Was the Silver Surfer Cartoon on Fox really that bad?

[I.R Joey]

I only got to see 1 or 2 eps of it? I heard that their where only 13 or 14 made. From what I saw it looked like it had possibility unlike the wart on the backside of animation that was the Avengers. (see the 10 worst cartoons thread) They seemed to portray Noran pretty well, ( I could have done without the CGI Galactus though) and they even had villans like the living planet and Thanos. So what went wrong?

My brother and I where talking about this and he thinks it was the battles.

"When you have two cosmic beings just throwing energy at each other it isn't very exciting." he claimed. "It should have been more like DBZ."

I disagreed (notbecause I hate DBZ as some of you) because I've never seen the Silver Surfer as the kind of person who's goal in life is to fight. For a hero of such power he is more of a passive philosepher, then one to go into battle. He's trying to purge his soul of his legacy as the herald of the planet eater. Agree, disagree, want to spam my thread with smilies?

[The Mad Hatter]

Yeah, Silver Surfer was pretty bad. The animation style got on my nerves (the lines were way too thick), and the CGI was extremely badly blended. But the worst part was, indeed, the philosophising. I've read some SS, and I know that the hero can get pretty deep. I can't cite specifics because I've long since purged it from my brain, but the show's philosophising was EXTREMELY dumbed down for kids, leaving a heavy-handed yet vapid mess. You didn't miss much.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

The original SS comic, launced in the 60s-70s, written by Stan Lee and drawn by John Buscema, featured a philosphical Surfer who often was opposed to violence and deliberately held back in most of his battles. The main thrust of the comic was his attempt at breaking the 'barrier' Galactus erected that held him on Earth indefinitely, and to reunite with his lover, Shalla Bal. This series lasted 18 issues before the plug was pulled due to low sales. Many say it was due to his 'wimpy' nature.

The 2nd SS series, launched in the 80s, featured a more aggressive Surfer who was not beyond using his powers in extraordinary levels. It lasted about 200 issues.

[James Harvey]

I have 12 of the episodes taped. I enjoyed it althught it might've been to..well..."wordy" for the kids. The CGI looked nice in it most of the times. There was a 2nd season planned, but when Marvel went bankrupt, so did the show's future. There's still the Ada Warlock episode I mised, but Teletoon repeats the show once a week so I'll get it sooner or later. SS wasn't that bad. THE AVENGERS was pure crap.

[I.R Joey]

So the 2nd season was just in the planning stages but it never actually went into motion?

[James Harvey]

Yup. The writers even had a solid resolution for the series cliffhanger. I would've been interested to se ehow they would've avoided the end of the world.

[Crazy8s]

I've always loved t he Surfer, despite his rather dumb concept (space man with surf board). I just fell for his angsty, philosophical personality. I have his original appearances in the the Fantastic Four and many of the original SS series, including #1. I didn't care as much for the second series. The space pirates and the whole deal with those jewels were dumb and boring, the changes in Shala Bal were disturbing, and they killed Mantis!!!! (I really like the little green nature goddess). When they killed her, I dropped the comic (liked her much better than Shala Bal, who had become really hateful--and that stupid Frankie, the flaming Herald). Thankfully, she has recently been resurrected!!!

As for the toon--I found it true to the original series in many ways, so I liked it. Kinda freaky to see that cgi Galactus--not fond of cgi/cel mixes, anyway. Only Futurama seems to pull it off. I don't mind the thick lines in the animation (similar to Spidey Unlimited). They are an attempt to make the toon look like a comic. Just a style that I can get past if I like the show.

[pinballwiz2004d]

I found the SS really interesting. The plot and narration philosophy style used was actually a refreshing changeup to all the formulaic marvel cartoon series....with plenty of action. But don't get me wrong, there was plenty of action in SS to go along with the verbose dialogue and narration.

I think it definitely targets an older audience in their teens and later. I can imagine that it could have been boring for those under 12 or 13 years old or anyone who prefers Spidey ,Xmen and Hulk !Its a shame this show didn't get atleast another season. One of the best toons from the 90s, and I thought Galactus was fine, great voice job for him too!

[I.R Joey]

Who talk about old threads, where did this thing come from, even I forgot that I wrote it.

[Deadly Messiah]

I thought it was an excellent series. THe animation was awesome, the stories were cool, and Thanos ruled. It is too bad the series ended on a cliff hanger. Not to mention Fox gave it a piss poor schedule. They said it was going to premier in Nov when they aired the first 3 episodes in Sept, then it disappeared until they ended Spider-Man.

Would be nice if Disney would get off their lazy asses and release this series on DVD IN ORDER! since it is so short.

[bigddan11]

Marvel never went bankrupt. I don't know where you got that idea from. Haim Saban sold them out to Disney, and Disney didn't want to sponsor a rivals shows. Afterwards Marvel created their own Animation studio where they created X-men: Evolution, a new Spider-man series, and a Blade series, but they couldn't finish the previous Silver Surfer series or Spider-Man Unlimited because Disney had the rights to them. Unless they create a new series for those shows, then they will always be left behind just because Disney, not Marvel, decided to cancel them because Haim Saban sold Disney the rights to all his shows.

[Deadly Messiah]

Marvel never went bankrupt. I don't know where you got that idea from. Haim Saban sold them out to Disney, and Disney didn't want to sponsor a rivals shows. Afterwards Marvel created their own Animation studio where they created X-men: Evolution, a new Spider-man series, and a Blade series, but they couldn't finish the previous Silver Surfer series or Spider-Man Unlimited because Disney had the rights to them. Unless they create a new series for those shows, then they will always be left behind just because Disney, not Marvel, decided to cancel them because Haim Saban sold Disney the rights to all his shows.

When did the Blade series happen? This is news to me.

Spider-Man Unlimited got canned because it sucked. There was nothing exciting about it. The only cool thing was the animation for V and C.

[bigddan11]

2000. It aired on MTV.

Unlimited was cancelled because Disney didn't want to renew it, and for no other reason. If you take away the middle episodes, then Unlimited had the same flavor as the original Spider-Man that everyone loved. It was those middle episoes that killed the series.

[Westlander]

Surfer wasn't bad, but they really screwed the animation (3D CGI didn't work well with the 2D characters, and those thick lines...Owww).

[Paul_Cousins]

Marvel never went bankrupt. I don't know where you got that idea from. Haim Saban sold them out to Disney, and Disney didn't want to sponsor a rivals shows. Afterwards Marvel created their own Animation studio where they created X-men: Evolution, a new Spider-man series, and a Blade series, but they couldn't finish the previous Silver Surfer series or Spider-Man Unlimited because Disney had the rights to them. Unless they create a new series for those shows, then they will always be left behind just because Disney, not Marvel, decided to cancel them because Haim Saban sold Disney the rights to all his shows.

Actually, Marvel did go bankrupt in the mid 90's because the comic market tanked, it over-extended itself with way to many comic series and it raided (brought out) entire comic companies like Malibu Comics (I have never forgiven Marvel for killing the Ultraverse).

[Crossdive]

uh... speaking of the Silver Surfer Series, I would really like to know... was there thirteen or forteen, I heard forteen but from DRG4's page, it says it had a finish 2-parter, that only had one part...

[RAINMAN]

The fact they change his origin, almost told me from the start it was gonna be a bad show.

[Donald Duck 12]

Don't any of you go to http://www.mightmarvelmovies.com ? It explains that it was a wonderful cartoon and a second season was scripted. The only problem with it was that it was made while Marvel went bankrupt, so that's why it ended soon. I have never seen the cartoon, but I would love to.

[Spider-Man]

The fact they change his origin, almost told me from the start it was gonna be a bad show.

So what if they tweaked his origin? Many cartoon version of comic characters have their origins slightly changed or altered andit doesn't directly mean the character or show is going to be terrible.

[Hypestyle]

I didn't understand the "lady chaos" thing.. it's lady DEATH, dopes!

and where was Mephisto?!?!?!?