Fantastic Four - the Complete Animated Series

This is one of those rare boxed sets that I had been savoring for quite some time. It turns out that I somehow managed to completely overlook this series when it was originally syndicated for broadcast television- probably on account of the hugely successful Batman and X-Men The Animated Series which ran at the same time.

To clear the air, I've always had a bit of difficulty with the Fantastic Four source material, feeling that it had aged much less gracefully than some of the other comic stories that had spawned around the same time (in some cases, even earlier). I had never fully grasped why the solar radiation that bombarded the spacecraft had affected each of the crew members' DNA in such diverse means. Mutations I can understand, but the net result of the exposure had absolutely nothing in common with how it affected a person seated a mere foot away. Add to this names like Mr. Fantastic and the Fantastic-car and it doesn't take long to realize that Marvel has their hands full in this day and age with trying to represent a much more innocent era of human society to one that is far more jaded. But I digress, this is comic animation after all so let us put aside such technicalities and focus on the two-season boxed set at hand.

Regardless of how you view the team itself, the opening credits to the first season will recreate the group's origins through a cheesy pop jingle that will cause even the most diehard FF fans to question their devotion. Once the credits fade and the program begins, there is little in the way of an improvement to report. The plot execution and character development are simply terrible throughout the first two discs.