Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
101 of 109 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Marvel Superheroes DVD is for baby boomers, not kids., February 23, 2005
I'm sure many of you that have navigated to this item are completely familiar with the program. It's very important before you buy this item that you realize that it is not a kids video. When this show was made in 1966, it was for kids. I watched in on the "Captain Satelitte" (Bob March) program on KTVU San Francisco on weekdays, and it was also on KCRA Sacramento on Saturday mornings. For anyone who was a kid in this era and was lucky enough to be age 8-12 in the mid-sixties, this DVD is for you. If you are a parent and are buying a DVD for your kids that are in the 8-12 year old range today, forget it. I have videotapes of all the episodes obtained at conventions and such and I can tell you from first-hand experience that modern kids don't like these.
The target audience for this DVD is or should be the kids of the 60's who grew up with these characters and want to see the old comic books brought to life. What these videos are, are the images from the actual silver-age Marvel comics of the 60's, crudly animated with over-the-top voice performances that bring the characters to life. The animation itself is simply static images of comic book pages with an occasional animated arm or lip movement and a lot of zooms and pans. They used the panels from the actual comic books to create the animation.
The artwork is classic Jack Kirby, Don Heck, Steve Ditko, and Gene Colan stuff. The voice actors did a great job with the dialogue and performed their lines in a way that must be considered the de-facto superhero standard because it was so comic-book like.
At this writing, the item has not been released and whether it will be released at all is in question. I'm hoping that someone associated with the project will read this review and take the time to present this item correctly into the marketplace. Please do not release and package this as a kiddie video.
This DVD set should be a "scholarly" reference set. There should be notes identifying all the voice talent and the artists and writers who created the original comics. The actual comic books and artists are easily recognizable in the episodes and so each episode should include the information about the comic where the story was first told. Since the audience is the grown-up boomers, this is the best way to get them to buy. That is what they want I guarantee it.
There was no set broadcast episode order. KTVU showed one segment at a time and you had to wait till the next day to get the next part of the story. KCRA showed an entire three segment arc in one broadcast. When I watched the show on KCRA, there was an opening theme song, "The Merry Marvel Marching Society" and end-title song and credits. Each second and third segment had a re-cap of the story.
As far as I know, the opening and closing titles have never been shown on TV again since the 1960's. All you get now are the individual segments and usually the re-caps are edited out or the three segments are edited together into one. Please don't cut this stuff up to make it "easier to watch." Comic fans want the originals and don't like such "improvments." So, if the elements are available, please give us the original "Marvel Super Heroes" program with opening and end titles and all the recaps. Put the shows in comic-book chronological order and include as far as possible the creative credits in the liner notes.
If a DVD box set of this type is produced, it will be purchased and hoarded by every collector and sold in every comic book shop in the land and at every convention every year forever. The silver age comics are the gold standard and are still hoarded and fervently collected. If you guys produce another kiddie video a few die-hards will buy it, but it won't have any legs and will go out of print for lack of sales just like all the other times these videos were released as kiddie video. Learn the lesson and do it right. I'm telling you who your customer is. Will anyone listen to the customer? Market this to an adult audience this time.
|
|
|
34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Nostalgic Trip Down Marvel Lane!, December 9, 2004
This will be a fun series to watch again. Admittedly the animation is very sparse but it maintains the feel of reading the comics all over again which is what Stan Lee intended (along with no doubt, a sparse budget!)...there were 5 Super Heroes highlighted in this series:
1. Captain America, who has The Red Skull as his main antagonist.
2. Hulk, who frequently battles The Leader.
3. Iron Man and his early years foe, The Mandarin.
4. Thor and his evil brother Loki.
5. Sub-Mariner who was basically angry at everybody.
The show aired in early 1966 and was cancelled after one season, but there were enough cartoons made to make this set worth while. Unlike the later seasons of the 60's Spiderman, when Ralph Bakshi turned the Web Slingers adventures into a drug induced bizzaro fest, the Marvel Super Hero series remained faithful to its source...Just a reminder that you will not be witnessing classic animation in these toons (no MTV Digital Spiderman here) but you will find much to enjoy.... whether you are a baby boomer 40 year old, a teen wanting to experience a more simpler time in comic book storytelling, or a comic book buff who wants to recount how the origins and early plots of these characters developed you will be pleased viewing the Marvel Super Hero Set...recommended without reservation....
|
|
|
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
DOC BRUCE BANNER, BELTED BY GAMMA RAYS..., June 10, 2005
Wow...full re-wind to the early 1970's when these used to be on everyday after school. A different character was featured each day with a lineup of Captain America, Iron Man, The Hulk, Sub-mariner, and Thor. This was not animation per se. What Marvel did was use panel art from actual comics, transferred the are onto cels, and give them some slight animated movement. They then added in voice actors and sound effects. What it basically turned out to be was an animated comic book which was kind of cool because it brought a lot of classic silver age comics to life...more or less. Each character eneded up with 13 complete shows so repetitions were quite plentiful, of course.
Captain America would feature stories including Cap's origin retold from Tales of Suspense, The origin of Caps arch-enemy the Red Skull, And cap battling other villains such as Baron Zemo, The Masters of Evil, The Super Adaptoid, The Swordsman, and one of my favorite stories featuring the Sleeper Robots of the Red Skull.
The Hulk (which featured EASILY the catchiest theme song of the bunch) would feature his origin (although curiously it was not the first episode) and also the hulk battling villains like The Leader, The Gorgon, The Abomination, and also feature the Hulk's breakup with the Avengers.
Iron Man had some of the best villains in my humble opinion including other guys in suits of armore like the Crimson Dynamo, and the Titanium Man. Also included on the villain list is the yellow menace "The Mandarin", The Moleman, and would include appearances by Hawkeye.
The Submariner was always my least favorite on account of he was more villain than here to me. I never really liked the water-based characters like him and Aquaman. Typically the stories involved Atlantis being in danger of destruction. There was a very good story featuring Doctor Doom, too.
Thor was always my favorite. Transformed from a lame doctor into the God of Thunder, thor battled the most powerful foes like the Enchantress, the Executioner, Loki, The Absorbing Man, The Destoyer, and featured a great adaption of "Whom the Gods would Destroy" from Journey into Myster #126. Thor would also meet Hecules as well.
As archaic as the animation may be this is still a fantastic trip back in time to the glorious silver age of comics. Hey, the DVD will certainly be cheaper than trying to track down all the comics. Great Stuff!
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
DVD ~ Artist Not Provided
DVD ~ Eric Stoltz
DVD ~ Martin Landau
by Jack Kirby
by Jack Kirby
