Fantastic Four "And A Blind Man Shall Lead Them..." Talkback (Spoilers)

[Stu]

Discuss this second season Fantastic Four episode!

Episode #14: And A Blind Man Shall Lead Them...
Original Airdate - 23rd September 1995

After being exposed to radiation resulting from Doctor Doom's nuclear bomb, the FF find themselves powerless. Reed discovers a way to artificially reinstate the FF's powers, but not before Doctor Doom takes over the Baxter Building. With the help of the blind lawyer Matt Murdock (alias Daredevil), the Fantastic Four are able to infiltrate the building and reinstate their power. They let Doom escape, and in the process Doom destroys the Baxter Building.


Comments?

 

[whitmore_sean]

This was such a fabulous show...in its second season, anyway (I like to consider the first season a separate, crappier series). They may have been a smidge too slavish to the source material, since every single episode was taken directly from either a Kirby or Byrne issue of the book, but it was still the truest representation of its characters to animation since the Batman toon.

And "Blind Man Shall Lead Them", the second season opener, was one of the best episodes. It was great to see Daredevil (animated WELL for once) as agile and sarcastic as 90's animated Spidey never was. Doom displayed the perfect mix of standard super villainy necessary for a cartoon and an egotism that made it seem like it was all beneath him.

The Thing's subplot was excellent, perfectly showcasing the "damned if he do, damned if he don't" situation that has always plagued the character. I also appreciate that Ben didn't spring into any expositional monologues to drum home the point of his angst, like Spider-Man and the X-Men did in every episode of their toons. The scene where Ben simply

Spoiler

crushed Alicia's engagement ring

was an honest-to-goodness tearjerker, as were MANY other scenes throughout the series.

This show has always deserved wider recognition (a DVD release or at least some friggin reruns would be nice). Maybe the upcoming FF movie will spark the interest that the Hulk movie failed to with its own cartoon (i.e. one DVD and then kaput).



SEAN

 

[HellCat]

Like the first second season ep of Iron Man, the main point behind this episode was to bridge the gap between the much crappier first season. Hence we have the Baxter Building imploding, ridding us of the stupid "FF's nasty landlady" plots.
I liked second season Doom alot better. First season Doom was always drawn horribly and was pretty cliche. Second season Doom was more stylish and smart, especially with the Tim Curry-like voice.
Ben's emotions were a key part of this episode. Unlike the rest of the team, he enjoys being back to a normal human. You really feel for him when he's forced to return to being The Thing and starts beating the crap out of Doom.

 

[Spider-Man]

I really liked the subplot with the Thing. A nice highlight from the animated series. I didn't like the Daredevil subplot, mainly for how he was portrayed. Since when is Daredevil a fun-loving kind of guy? It didn't seem like he had any emotional baggage with him, like when he was in the Spider-Man Fox series. He just seemed like a cliched guest-star who just pops in and out - nothing more.

 

[whitmore_sean]

I didn't like the Daredevil subplot, mainly for how he was portrayed. Since when is Daredevil a fun-loving kind of guy? It didn't seem like he had any emotional baggage with him, like when he was in the Spider-Man Fox series.

To be fair, this was a Daredevil from before the days of Frank Miller and others started the ball rolling on the "make you wanna kill yourself" torture of the character. Back in the day, DD was a swashbuckler in the vein of Spidey or Nightcrawler. The problem with the angsty Daredevil from the Spidey toon is that all we got were a few cheap flashbacks to understand (not to mention care about) why he's so tortured.


SEAN

 

[Stu]

I really liked the subplot with the Thing. A nice highlight from the animated series. I didn't like the Daredevil subplot, mainly for how he was portrayed. Since when is Daredevil a fun-loving kind of guy? It didn't seem like he had any emotional baggage with him, like when he was in the Spider-Man Fox series. He just seemed like a cliched guest-star who just pops in and out - nothing more.

My thoughts exactly, I'm a big Daredevil fan, and being that I didn't get to see the second season of FF until about 5 years after I saw the first, terrible season, this was the one episode I wanted to see, the one that made me want to watch the show. So, despite damn nice animation, Daredevil failed to please, as he was basically a poor mans Spider-Man. The producers apprantly read a lot of the Lee/Kirby and John Bryne Fantastic Four comics, they should have read some of Frank Millers Daredevil. I don't really like this cartoon much at all, I never really thought it was that much better than the first season, this show, unlike Iron Man, didn't really do much for me. I wish Daredevil would've guest starred on that instead.

 

[Stu]

ABC Family aired this episode as part of thier marathon this morning.

Episode #14: And A Blind Man Shall Lead Them...
Original Airdate - 23rd September 1995

After being exposed to radiation resulting from Doctor Doom's nuclear bomb, the FF find themselves powerless. Reed discovers a way to artificially reinstate the FF's powers, but not before Doctor Doom takes over the Baxter Building. With the help of the blind lawyer Matt Murdock (alias Daredevil), the Fantastic Four are able to infiltrate the building and reinstate their power. They let Doom escape, and in the process Doom destroys the Baxter Building.


Comments?

 

[Xtreme]

This was a great episode, I really liked to see Daredevil wit The Fantastic Four.

 

[Pyro]

I liked this episode a lot better than the Galactus episodes from Season 1. Daredevil wasn't quite what I expected, but the animation was probably the best I've seen from that age of Marvel toons.

 

[Spider-Man]

I liked this episode a lot better than the Galactus episodes from Season 1. Daredevil wasn't quite what I expected, but the animation was probably the best I've seen from that age of Marvel toons.

The animation in this episode looked like the animation from the final X-Men: TAS episodes. A bit rubbery but nice to look at. I wish this Daredevil appearance would've led to more. Here he seems like a Spider-Man stand-in, too jokey and not his usual self.

 

[thanos28542]

Ist off, there's no way in H%$# that anyone should be saying the animation of FF's second season was the same as season 1's atrocious animation! Season 2 of FF was totally superior to Season 1 in every way, shape & form! The stories were great adaptions of some of Lee & kirby's stories from the 60's & some were adaptions of John Byrne's great run on FF in the 80's! The animation was fluid & the amount of guest heroes & villians was awesome! The same can be said for Ironman's 2nd season in his animated series. I really hope they make DVD's of seasons 2 of both FF & Ironman in the near future!

 

[Christopher Glennon]

Like many of you have said, Fantastic Four season 2 (as well as Iron Man) was very underrated, and this episode is a great example. It's a comic book adaptation that works well as a half hour show. It's got great character development for Ben, and it shows that Dr. Doom is a real threat. You could hold this episode up to any single episode of X-Men or Spider-Man (which, granted, was very story arc-driven). Besides, I felt Daredevil's portrayal was pretty cool.

 

[RAINMAN]

It one of these ep that you love to hate. It show that despike ben being the humorus brawer we come to know, that deep down he really is a bitter person who wish to be normal guy.

 

[spyke]

Like many of you have said, Fantastic Four season 2 (as well as Iron Man) was very underrated, and this episode is a great example. It's a comic book adaptation that works well as a half hour show. It's got great character development for Ben, and it shows that Dr. Doom is a real threat. You could hold this episode up to any single episode of X-Men or Spider-Man (which, granted, was very story arc-driven). Besides, I felt Daredevil's portrayal was pretty cool.

I agree. Heck, I'll even go as far as to say that the 2nd season of FF (along with the 2nd season of Iron Man) was a whole hell of lot better then both the 90's X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons.

 

[AlphaPrime]

Its been awhile since i've seen FF til this ep, and boy, am i glad i saw it, i loved it!! the subplot of Ben was great! and sad *sniffle*, i liked Daredevil more in it then his Spider-Man incarnation.

And oh yeah, Dr Doom = Kain WOOT!! *maybe i play just a lil to much Legacy of Kain games......naaaaaaaaaaaaaah*

 

[Spider-Man]

Its been awhile since i've seen FF til this ep, and boy, am i glad i saw it, i loved it!! the subplot of Ben was great! and sad *sniffle*, i liked Daredevil more in it then his Spider-Man incarnation.

I thought his Spider-Man appearance was a bit better than here. He just didn't seem right in this episode. He came off as Spider-Man Lite where in Spider-Man he seemed to be his regular brooding self.

 

[Stu]

The Fantastic Four returns to TV today, starting with the second season premiere.

This is an episode I didn't originally like, but it grows on me after each viewing. I'm still not too fond of Daredevil's portrayal, but there's a lot of other, much better stuff to the episode such as the great subplot with Ben being human again, thier artificial powers and that brilliant ending with The Thing and Doom's hands.

Anyone else catch this today?

 

[Spider-Man]

I was surprised to find out that this episode is actually based off an old issue of the Fantastic Four comic. I stumbled upon the cover art and some small interior shots when flipping through the last Starlog magazine. I wonder how true to the story they kept it. It's a pretty enjoyable fluff episode and it a good way to spend 20 minutes.

 

[bigddan11]

This show has always deserved wider recognition (a DVD release or at least some friggin reruns would be nice). Maybe the upcoming FF movie will spark the interest that the Hulk movie failed to with its own cartoon (i.e. one DVD and then kaput).SEAN

Actually, the Fantastic Four is supposed to get a full series DVD release before the Fantastic Four movie comes out. I just wish they'd have shown a couple of episodes of Ben's misery from season 1 before showing the season 2 premeire, but maybe they only have season 2 or something. I can't wait to see the other episodes of the series again, and just maybe Fatastic Four will get to be on longer than 3 months.

 

[Stu]

ABC Family airs this episode yet again. There are 26 episodes available ABC, maybe you should air the other 22.

Episode #14: And A Blind Man Shall Lead Them...
Original Airdate - 23rd September 1995

After being exposed to radiation resulting from Doctor Doom's nuclear bomb, the FF find themselves powerless. Reed discovers a way to artificially reinstate the FF's powers, but not before Doctor Doom takes over the Baxter Building. With the help of the blind lawyer Matt Murdock (alias Daredevil), the Fantastic Four are able to infiltrate the building and reinstate their power. They let Doom escape, and in the process Doom destroys the Baxter Building.


Comments?