Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Plastic Man: The Complete Collection

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Plastic Man: The Complete Collection

    Click image for larger version

Name:	cover.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	19.8 KB
ID:	383952

    Released by: Warner Brothers
    Released on: 10/20/2009
    Director: Various
    Cast: Michael Bell, Jack Baker, Melendy Britt
    Year: 1979 - 1981
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    Created by Jack Cole in the golden age of comics, Plastic Man was a staple of four color periodical entertainment for decades before making the transition to animation in the late 1970s. A longstanding member of the Justice League Of America, Plastic Man found a pretty decent sized following with kids of the era thanks not so much to great animation or cool concepts but more for its bizarre sense of humor. Often times bordering on slapstick, the Plastic Man cartoon was played entirely for laughs. Those who saw the series when it first aired will probably remember that it came after The Super Friends on ABC and was called The Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show.

    For those who don't already know or can't figure it out from his name, Plastic Man (voiced here by Michael Bell) is a man made out of plastic. Duh. At any rate, because he's made out of plastic, he can change his shape. You'd think it would be more appropriate to call him Rubber Man, as plastic isn't always all that flexible, but I digress. Plastic Man uses his bending and shape-shifting abilities to fight crime and in this animated series, gets some help from his saucy blonde girlfriend, Penny, and a goofball sidekick named Hula Hula (one of the worst stereotypes of the Hawaiian people ever, but entertaining enough in his own politically incorrect way).

    With help from his friends, Plastic Man would show up on TV once a week on Saturday mornings to save the world from one of the more unusual rogues galleries a hero could ever hope for, usually after getting a mission from his boss, Chief, a foxy dark haired woman who would sometimes make Penny jealous. Villains like The Weed, Hugefoot, The Clam, Computerhead and the nefarious Disco Mummy would cause our rubbery hero a world of trouble, but he'd always save the day by wrapping his elongated arms around them or swallowing them inside his giant plastic head. Yep. You read that right.

    Eventually Penny and Plastic Man would get hitched and Penny would pop out a baby, who the pair would name… Baby. The kid had the same powers as his dad, and like all good cartoon babies, would often get himself into all kinds of dumb trouble.

    The episodes that make up the complete series are spread out as follows:

    Disc One: The Weed / Dr. Irwin And Mr. Meteor / Wham Bam, Beware Of The Clam / The Day The Ocean Disappeared / The Horrible Half-Ape / Hugefoot / The Miniscule 7 / Moonraider / Superstein / Dog Master

    Disc Two: Diabolical Dr. Dome / Honey Bee / The Dangerous Dr. Dinosaur / The Spider Takes A Bride / Empire Of Evil / The Corruptible Carrotman / The Maniacal Computerhead / The Hippotist / Badladdin / Toyman

    Disc Three: Ghostfinger / Highbrow / The Kitty Katt Caper / The Colossal Crime Of Commodore Peril / Terrible 5=1 / Juggernaut / Dr. Duplicator Strikes Again / Thunderman / Count Graffiti Meets Plastic Man / Sale Of The Century

    Disc Four: Plastic Mummy Meets Disco Mummy / City Of Ice / Plastic Man Meets Plastic Ape / The Crime Costume Caper/ The Royal Gargoyle Foil

    When the show originally aired, there were Plastic Man segments, there were Baby Plas Segments, and there were Plastic Family segments - only the Plastic Man segments are included in this set, which is probably why it's called Plastic Man The Complete Series instead of The Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show. It's disappointing that not all of the material is here, but considering that before this release none of this material was available on DVD at all, it's at least a start.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    The series was shown fullframe back when it first aired on television, and that's how it's shown here in this set. Colors are periodically faded and there is a fair bit of grain and even some minor print damage evident but it's all watchable enough even if, unfortunately, it's all interlaced. The animation style employed isn't hyper-detailed so don't expect ultra revelatory clarity, but all in all, Plastic Man looks okay.

    The entire series is presented in a simple but clean sounding Dolby Digital Mono track, in its native English. While a stereo or surround track might have been fun for a few of the scenes it's not really needed and having the original sound mix on the set is in keeping with the time that the episodes were made. No real hiss or distortion or problems worth noting - it's a basic track but it does the job just fine. Optional subtitles are provided in English, French and Spanish and dubbed Portuguese and French tracks, also in Mono, have been included.

    The packaging mistakenly lists the special features on the wrong discs, but dig around a bit and you'll see that they are there. What's there, you ask? Well, first up is a documentary entitled PLAS-tastic: A Brief History Of Plastic Man which features interviews with comic book historians and animation experts about the character, where he came from, how he wound up on television and why he remains moderately popular.

    That's not all, however - Warner Brothers has also dug up the unaired pilot for a later unrealized Plastic Man animated series. The episode, entitled Puddle Trouble, doesn't deviate too much from what you'd expect from a Plastic Man cartoon, but it's a genuine rarity and it's cool to see it included here. Aside from that, the static menus allow you to choose each episode individually or watch them in unison through the 'play all' button.

    The Final Word:

    While Plastic Man may be a bit of a footnote in the pantheons of superhero cartoons, it's dopey enough to still be a whole lot of fun and while the video quality here won't wow you, this is otherwise a pretty decent offering from Warner Brothers.
      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: April 30th, 2024.
      Director: Lee Frost
      Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
      Year: 1969
      Purchase From Amazon

      Hot Spur – Movie Review:

      Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
    • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Mondo Macabro
      Released on: April 9th, 2024.
      Director: Max Pecas
      Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
      Year: 1985
      Purchase From Amazon

      Death Squad – Movie Review:

      Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Blue Underground
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Jess Franco
      Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
      Year: 1970
      Purchase From Amazon

      Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

      Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
    • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Saul Bass
      Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
      Year: 1974
      Purchase From Amazon

      Phase IV – Movie Review:

      Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    Working...
    X