Fantastic Four (1967 TV series)

Fantastic Four
Genre	Action Adventure
Created by	Stan Lee & Jack Kirby (characters)
Based on	Fantastic Four by Stan Lee Jack Kirby
Voices of	Gerald Mohr Jo Ann Pflug Jac Flounders Paul Frees
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	20 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Running time	22 mins (per episode)
Production company(s)	Hanna-Barbera Productions Marvel Comics Group
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	September 9, 1967 – March 15, 1970
Chronology
Followed by	Fantastic Four (1978 TV series)

Fantastic Four is an animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and the first animated series based on Marvel's comic book series Fantastic Four.^[1] The program, featuring character designs by Alex Toth, aired on ABC from 1967 to 1970. It lasted for 20 episodes, with repeat episodes airing on ABC until the network cancelled the program. It was also rerun as part of the continuing series Hanna–Barbera's World of Super Adventure.

Through a series of transactions, Disney currently holds the rights to the majority of Marvel's 1960s-1990s animated output. However, the 1967-1968 Fantastic Four was produced by Hanna-Barbera, whose library is now owned by Time Warner, making the series one of only a handful of Marvel-related TV projects not owned by Disney (which has since acquired Marvel outright). Time Warner is also the owner of Marvel's biggest competitor, DC Comics.

Cast

Credited cast

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

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 - Doctor Doom
• Hal Smith - Judge, Klaw, Otto Von Lenz
• Ginny Tyler - Anelle
• Janet Waldo - Lady Dorma, Princess Perla
• Jack DeLeon - Mole Man

Episodes

No.	Title	Original air date	Production code
2	"Menace of the Mole Men"	September 9, 1967	1
The Fantastic Four are off to carry out their experiments on a remote island. The Mole Man, however, has been waiting for them and traps them in a radiation field and plans to submerge the world’s largest cities. The Fantastic Four escape but the Mole Man traps them again. They manage to escape their separate ways. They successfully foil Mole Man’s domination and escape the island once and for all.
3	"Diablo"	September 16, 1967	2
In Transylvania, the Fantastic Four find a ruined castle. Ben is summoned by Diablo and unable to resist, opens Diabolo’s prison, unleashing him and later brainwashing Ben. Diablo tricks the world into thinking he has the power to help them. The world then realises what a fraud Diablo really is. The Fantastic Four seize this opportunity to attack Diablo’s castle. After getting far in the dungeons, the four get captured. Ben escapes, releases the others and they defeat Diablo.
7	"The Way It All Began"	September 23, 1967	3
Reed recalls the time he first met Victor before he became Dr. Doom. Victor was working on a dangerous experiment that brought him to the hospital, got him expelled from university and badly altered his face and he swore revenge on Reed. Ben and Reed became soldiers in WWII. Ben, Susan, Johnny and Reed all went aboard a space rocket for space exploration. And so the origin of the Fantastic Four began. Dr. Doom confronts the Fantastic Four and briefs them on his origin. After that Dr. Doom attempts to get his revenge, but fails and escapes only to crash.
5	"Invasion of the Super Skrulls"	September 30, 1967	4
The Skrulls have failed to destroy the Fantastic Four. They introduce The Super-Skrull who possesses double power effects the Fantastic Four have. The Fantastic Four are overwhelmed by the Super-Skrull's combined powers. The Fantastic Four lure the Super-Skrull to Crater Island. Susan plants a sonic wave jamming device on the Super-Skrull before he can destroy them with his ultimate power level.
1	"Klaws"	October 7, 1967	5a
The Klaw is here to vanquish the Fantastic 4 with his solidifying sonic waves. Johnny is on vacation or so it would seem and arrives in the nick of time to assist Mr. Fantastic in catching The Klaw.
4	"The Red Ghost"	October 7, 1967	5b
Reed is competing with Dr. Kragoff in race to the moon for astronomical research. During the launch, Dr. Kragoff and his primate crew have developed some reverse energy powers. Dr. Kragoff is now transparent. Dr. Kragoff kidnaps Susan after counter attacking. She escapes and thwarts Dr. Kragoff's attempt to eliminate her companions. Using a special device, Reed turns Dr. Kragoff into a plastic statue.
9	"Prisoners of Planet X"	October 14, 1967	6
A UFO abducts the Fantastic Four from the Science Centre to Planet X. There, their dictator Kurrgo requests the Fantastic Four save their planet from another planet knocked off its orbit. Reed manages to formulate a working plan to save the population. While the plan is in process, Kurrgo has other ideas. However Reed tricks Kurrgo and leaves him on the exploding planet while the micro-sized population and the Fantastic Four get away to safety.
14	"It Started on Yancy Street"	October 21, 1967	7
The Fantastic Four face a bunch of old rivals in Yancy Street, but their old enemy Dr. Kragoff and his primates show up and capture them. During their voyage to the moon, the four turn the tables, but Dr. Kragoff gets away and the four are dumped on the moon. They barely manage to get to a source of oxygen, which is the Watcher’s laboratory. Using one of the Watcher's machines, Reed brings down Dr. Kragoff's ship. Susan gets Dr. Kragoff banished into a transnitron machine. Reed uses that machine to get back to Earth.
6	"Three Predictions of Dr. Doom"	October 28, 1967	8
Dr. Doom challenges the Fantastic Four. Doctor Doom begins his plans by capturing Susan. Soon the Fantastic Four manage to locate and penetrate Dr. Doom's flying fortress, but Ben is turned back to his former self and the other three are trapped. Ben turns himself back into the Thing, releases the others and aborts Dr. Doom's tidal waves. They chase Dr. Doom out and back to the flying fortress. After a struggle through the dangerous complex of the fortress, they abort Dr. Doom's global destruction for good.
8	"Behold a Distant Star"	November 4, 1967	9
The Fantastic Four are testing their rocket when they are drawn into the Skrull Galaxy. After beating the first round of Skrulls, the Fantastic Four weaken and are taken prisoner. The cruel Skrull Warlord Morrat wishes to overthrow the Skrull Emperor. The Warlord gives the Fantastic Four the option to assist them or die. Reed tricks the Warlord into getting him and his friends' powers fully charged. They defeat the Warlord as the Emperor arrives and he allows the Fantastic Four to go freely back to Earth.
12	"Demon in the Deep"	November 11, 1967	10
The Fantastic Four successfully beat the criminal forces working for Dr. Gamma, and blow up the island with its secret weapons. While escaping, Dr. Gamma is infected by the radiation levels in the seabed and morphs into some creature. Johnny is flustered with being moved around and quits from the Fantastic Four. In the town Johnny goes to, there have been sightings of the Gamma Ray. Johnny defeats the Gamma Ray by himself, but he comes back with the hideous giant sea monster Giganto. Johnny rejoins the Fantastic Four. Ben succeeds in eliminating the sea monster. The Gamma Ray is defeated but not finished.
11	"Danger in the Depths"	November 18, 1967	11
Johnny finds Lady Dorma and takes her back to the Headquarters. She claims to have come from a land beneath the sea called Pacifica, which is under siege by Attuma. They manage to slip past Attuma's forces. Pacifica is losing hope and Attuma has shadowed the seabed. Triton can only fight man-to-man with Attuma while his men prepare traps to weaken Triton into a losing battle. The Fantastic Four thwart every trap. Triton beats Attuma and the forces retreat.
13	"Return of the Mole Man"	November 25, 1967	12
The Mole Man is creating earthquakes and causing buildings to sink deep into the Earth. In addition, he and his Moloids kidnap Susan. The Mole Man as usual has been expecting the other three and sends them back to the surface to tell the Army not to get involved. They manage to halt them and seek an alternate entrance in the underworld. Johnny rescues Susan, then they penetrate the laboratory. They all return the buildings to the surface and escape the exploding caves.
19	"Rama-Tut"	December 9, 1967	13
After coming back from vacation Reed tells Ben an interesting theory on attempting to restore him. They head to Dr. Doom's deserted castle to use the time machine the doctor left behind. In 2000 B.C the four weaken during a fight and are taken by Pharaoh Rama-Tut. Susan is to be Rama-Tut's queen while the other three are put to work with some mind control. Ben turns back to his former self. As he rescues Susan he is once again the Thing. The four battle Rama-Tut to his sphinx. Finally they destroy his sphinx and return to their own time.
15	"Galactus"	December 16, 1967	14
The Watcher fails to prevent the Silver Surfer from coming and summoning Galactus. Susan assists the unconscious Surfer and he begins to think differently. The Watcher has a plan only Johnny can undergo. Reed and Ben sabotage Galactus' Earth draining machine and the Silver Surfer arrives to battle Galactus. Johnny gets back with the weapon that makes Galactus see reason not to destroy the Earth.
16	"The Micro World Of Dr. Doom"	December 30, 1967	15
The Fantastic Four have been shrunken to small size. Dr. Doom is after them and takes them to the Micro World. Dr. Doom briefs them on his micro genius experiments involving a king and a princess from the micro world. The four battle the giant guards but Dr. Doom catches them and imprisons them with the King and Princess. They all escape and enlarge themselves. Ben puts a stop to the Lizard Men, then the four return to their own world.
17	"Blastaar, the Living Bomb-Burst"	January 6, 1968	16
On a remote planet, its inhabitants are fighting against Blastaar and are able to banish him. Reed and Johnny enter the dangerous space zone via dimensional transport. As they depart, Blastaar escapes and follows them. Blastaar is too powerful for the four to handle. They lure Blastaar into an evacuated atomic power plant, where they use some atomic matter to put him in a coma. They eject him through the dimensional transport back into the space zone.
10	"The Mysterious Molecule Man"	January 13, 1968	17
The Fantastic Four study a radiated meteor. The Molecule Man appears and threatens the public. After the Fantastic Four tastes some of his power, he leaves to undergo his ruling the world. Reed has developed a weapon he thinks will defeat the Molecule Man. The weapon works, but the Molecule Man gets away. The Fantastic Four continue their pursuit. The plan to stop the Molecule Man is tricky. They manage to reverse the Molecule Man's form with a fragment of the meteor.
18	"The Terrible Tribunal"	September 14, 1968	18
The Fantastic Four are taken to another planet where they are regarded as criminals against evil, charged by three old enemies. Reed is forced to recall his memories on Klaw, Molecule Man and Blastaar's defeat. Meanwhile the other three escape and they rescue Reed just as the verdict is given. At the surface, they have to battle the court judge before they are able to leave the planet for Earth.
20	"The Deadly Director"	September 21, 1968	19
The Imposter plans to lure the Fantastic Four into a trap by posing as a famous Hollywood director. The four are tempted to be in a movie and briefly retell their previous adventures to the director. The next day, the four fly to the director's island and the director blows them out of the sky. The Fantastic Four are forced to go through the director's deadly movie landscapes and make it to the boat on the other side of the island which the director detonates. The Imposter removes his disguise and the Fantastic Four surprise him. The real director prevents the Imposter from escaping.

References

1. "Fantastic Four on TV". IGN. Retrieved 2010-09-09.

External links

• Fantastic Four (1967) at TV.com
• Fantastic Four at the Internet Movie Database
• Marvel Animation Age: Fantastic Four (1967)
• Fantastic Four at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• International Hero: Fantastic Four
• Pazsaz - synopsis and episode guide