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