The Fantastic Four (1967 TV series)

The Fantastic Four is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. The program, featuring character designs by Alex Toth, aired Saturday mornings on ABC from September 9, 1967, to September 21, 1968. It lasted for 20 episodes, with repeat episodes airing on ABC for three years until the network cancelled the program. It was also rerun as part of the continuing series Hanna–Barbera's World of Super Adventure.

The show was followed by another Fantastic Four cartoon produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, The New Fantastic Four, in 1978.

Plot
In the show, the super-team battles some of their comic book nemeses, including Dr. Doom, the Mole Man and Diablo.

Credited cast

 * Gerald Mohr - Mister Fantastic / Reed Richards
 * Jo Ann Pflug - Invisible Girl / Susan Storm Richards
 * Paul Frees - The Thing / Benjamin J. Grimm, Uatu the Watcher, Additional Voices
 * Jac Flounders - Human Torch / Johnny Storm, Mole Man

Notable guest stars

 * Tol Avery - Warlord Morrat
 * Ted Cassidy - Galactus
 * Henry Corden - Attuma, Molecule Man
 * Regis Cordic - Diablo
 * Frank Gerstle - Blastaar
 * Don Messick - Kurrgo, Skrull Emperor
 * Marvin Miller - Super-Skrull, King Toth
 * Vic Perrin - Red Ghost, Silver Surfer, Professor Gamma/The Demon
 * Mike Road - Prince Triton, Rama-Tut
 * Joseph Sirola - Dr. Doom
 * Hal Smith - Judge, Klaw, Otto Von Lenz
 * Ginny Tyler - Anelle
 * Janet Waldo - Lady Dorma, Princess Perla

Production
The impetus for The Fantastic Four series began when Hanna-Barbera's agent, Sy Fischer, noticed his son reading a Fantastic Four comic book. Fischer asked him if he would be interested in seeing it turned into a Saturday morning cartoon. Upon confirming his son's interest, Fischer took the idea to Joseph Barbera who read the comic himself and agreed that it would translate well as a cartoon. The two soon contacted Stan Lee at Marvel Comics to discuss their interest. After acquiring the rights, Barbera and Fischer successfully pitched the series to ABC for the 1967 TV season.

Reception
In The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows, David Perlmutter writes, "While Hanna-Barbera was, because of obvious production restrictions, unable to duplicate Lee and Kirby's complex, labyrinthine plotting from the comics, their 1967 adaptation of the Four was well produced in every other respect, and gave the team welcome exposure to those previously unfamiliar with their comic-book existence. The voice actors were unusually well cast, with Frees' Brooklyn-accented Thing standing out, and this helped compensate for the limitations of the animation process of the time. Unfortunately, the erroneous concerns about violence in the mass media ultimately marginalized the series, as it did others from the same time period."

Legal issues
The ownership of the show was split between Marvel Comics and Hanna-Barbera. The Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel Comics in late 2009. It is quite unlikely that Warner Bros. Discovery will release The Fantastic Four on any physical nor digital format, including the Boomerang app. Prior to 2009, the show re-ran on Cartoon Network in the 1990s and on Boomerang in 2000. It never ran again after Disney’s ownership acquired Fox Kids Worldwide that has full rights to Marvel content. Time Warner ended distribution rights to Fantastic Four.