The Tease of Things I Don't Need

And, uh... you are..?

Okay, I was originally going to title this something revelatory of tragic fanboy angst such as "Another Example of Cross-Cultural Rape?" but I figured I'd soft-pedal it until I at least saw the first episode.

As you may have guessed (and as Tony Collett reminded us) a new Fantastic Four cartoon series launches at 8pm today on Cartoon Network. Okay, you likely didn't guess the time. (Updated with some post-show reactions)

Being produced by Moonscoop, a French animated studio is something I recall from when the project was first announced. Once I saw the images I recalled that these were to be done in an anime style, which largely explains why I put it so well out of my mind for so long. Yeah, yeah, I'm a cranky, old, inflexible bastard.

(They're not supposed to look this way. It's just that simple.)

I'll be able to get past that if they're well-written and -acted, so, well, I probably don't have much hope for this, but I'll be happy to be surprised. At least the character sheets for Johnny while he's aflame look promising:

Your local listings -- even what might be on the info screen if you have digital cable/listings - will likely say that tonight's will feature Dr. Doom, but a last minute decision saw them saving Doom for next week. This week it'll be "Trial By Fire", dealing with Ronan the Accuser. Next week is when we'll get Doom... a Doom who looks as if he's about to pull a Yu Gi Oh card attack on the team... augh.



Follow-up: Er... eh.

It could have been far worse, but I'm not sure how. On a superficial level, we have stylistic elements such as the pointed chins on Johnny and Shrew. Speaking of Sue, yow. I suppose making her a domineering bitch was part of the empowerment. I suppose having her faint was supposed to balance it, but it just paints her as even less stable than her posturing did.

Run, Reed! Run!

We were cheated of an actual Kree Sentry (shown here, so as to underscore how cheated the audience was) by having them conventiently replaced with mis-named surveillance droids. Meanwhile, Ronan the Accuser was stripped of his dignity during his introduction, reducing him to a brawling blowhard and possible petty vengeance character.

Oh, I know I'll be back to catch Doom's appearance next week and doubtless complain about it, too.

Given the screwy balance of power at Cartoon Network these days, though, where all manner of crap receives heavy airplay so long as it's done in some sort of anime style (and, yes, I know it's not one, homogeneous style) this might see more regular and consistent airing than the Justice League cartoons unfortunately did. Those would pop in and out of "regular" broadcast slots until I all but gave up looking for them, despite how much I enjoyed them.