Saturday, November 29, 2008

Silver Surfer


The Surfer's first animated appearance was in "Galactus," an episode of the Hanna-Barbera 1967 Fantastic Four animated series, which closely followed the Marvel comic story.

He also made several appearances in the 1994 version of the animated series (that was part of The Marvel Action Hour) voiced by Robin Sachs in the first season, then Edward Albert in the last episode of the second. This series also adhered closely to the original comic book story, recounting Surfer and Galactus' coming to Earth in a two-part episode as well as Doctor Doom's theft of Surfer's powers.

In 1998, the Surfer starred in a solo animated series on the FOX Network, voiced by Paul Essiembre. Blending cel and computer animation, this series was rendered in the style of Surfer creator Jack Kirby but diverged from the comic in various ways. Although it accurately depicted the Surfer's origin on Zenn-La, the method by which he regained his emotions and memories was altered to not involve the Fantastic Four. Further adventures included appearances by many characters from Marvel's "cosmic" stable, including Thanos, the Watcher, Ego the Living Planet, Mentor, Drax the Destroyer, Pip the Troll, Nebula, and the Kree and Skrull empires, their portrayals and roles often differing from their comic book incarnations. Possessed of an unusually serious tone compared to Marvel's other animated projects, with frequent maudlin musings by the Surfer and episode resolutions which were often downbeat. It received good rating, but was canceled after only one season of thirteen episodes due to politics between Toy Biz and Saban Entertainment. The series ending on a cliffhanger. Eight further episodes for the next season were written but never animated. The Comic Book of the Silver Surfer also appeared in an episope of Heroes Season 1.