Coincidentally, it was the first episode that I missed (well, saw the last few minutes of).
We'll start with the animation: top-notch for a Saturday morning cartoon, though WAY overboard on the shadows! Remember Todd McFarlane's work when he was at the height of his cross-hatching phase -- where you couldn't tell what the hell was going on anywhere and he did all the two-page splashes -- it's like that. It's way too bright and the shadows may be trying to compensate for that, but I have a feeling it was lightened afterward because all the shadows made it hard to see. It's to the point that it makes it look amateurish and is obviously computer-generated. Aside from that, the animation is smooth (for the most part), rich, and detailed. A little too sharp and angular for my tastes, but not bad.
Reed Richard's voice is totally wrong. He sounds like a kid. Worse, he is not as confident and in-control as in the comics. And that's not just because of his voice; no one paid him much mind in this episode and even his wife pushed him around. It is true to his character that he is overly observational, always waxing scientific over the goings-on around him.
Suzy's voice doesn't fit very well, either. She sounds older than Reed -- a lot older. Yet, at the same time, still like a 20-something.
Come to think of it, aside from Ben Grimm, the voices are not very good. They remind me of bad anime. But this is obviously one of the first episodes, so it may just take the actors a few to catch their stride. It's not that bad, it's just not as good as it could be.
This episode featured the Kree, one of the FF's classic alien frienemies, which makes me hopeful that they will throw in more of them. FF was always known for their galaxy-spanning epics involving aliens from different dimensions, planets, universes -- you name it -- and I hope the cartoon goes into all of that.
All in all, not bad. Not great, but definitely worth checking out.
My cable onscreen guide shows Cartoon Network airing Princess Mononoke tonight from 6-9, but they have been showing promos for the Ultimate Avengers movie, which is supposed to come on tonight at 7:30, so I don't know what's coming on when.
A rambling melange of pop-culture.
2 comments:
Is this the old old Fantastic 4 cartoon show where there's hardly any animation at all? I love it! hehe
No, but I think they still show that one on BOOMerang. This is a brand new one on Cartoon Network on Saturday nights at 8:00 EST/7:00 CST PM. It also comes on in the morning, but I'm not sure when.
Both CN and BBCA move things around a lot, so you always have to check the channel because the schedules are wrong... a lot.
It's worth checking out. I've only seen the one episode so far.
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