Sunday, April 14, 2013

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Space Ghost vs. The Antimatter Man (1981)

Space Ghost (Gary Owens) faces off with "The Antimatter Man" in this short from the short-lived 1981 Space Stars series. The comic by-play between Jan & Jace bookending this story will remind some of another set of siblings who were appearing on another network around the same time, and it makes me think that this adventure might've been meant for a certain franchise on that other network. Agree or disagree?



As you can see, the Antimatter Man was a 1-shot villain who was quickly cured of his condition. Done-in-one stories such as these may need to make a comeback if toon fans want their action-adventure fix in the future, seeing as how the trend today is bending toward light comedy aimed at today's younger generation.

Rating: B+.

4 comments:

magicdog said...

I wouldn't be surprised if the ep could have been re-written for SF (and by extension, Zan & Jana) since many such stories were interchangeable.

If anything, this proves we really need a reboot of Space Ghost pronto! Today's more sophisticated writers could do so much more with the characters and mythos. Jan & Jace could probably use the most upgrades, since they've typically been hostage fodder for the bad guys and should be a bit more independent and able to kick butt a bit more.

I'd hate if action adventure shows went into shorts again - to me that would be a step backward.

hobbyfan said...

I had a discussion with my brother over the weekend, and with Cartoon Network veering away from action toons---their target demo prefers goofy comedy these days----and not being certain about DisneyXD, well, we agreed that the only way for action cartoons to thrive now would be to go back to how they were made nearly 50 years ago. I'd hate to see it happen, too, but the reality is, most kids today can't be bothered to follow a continuing story. CN noted this, and that would explain why they finished out Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc. by stripping it (airing it on weekdays) for season 2 with NO REPEATS for working stiffs like us.

magicdog said...

I can't help but think CN is trying to FORCE their comic drek rather than claiming it's what the audience wants. SDMI still finished respectably despite CN's mistreatment, and if the anger over YJ's concellation is anything to go by, it's not a fluke. The audience is there.

Remember, Hollywood is notorious for claiming to offer what the people want, except THEY are the ones making and releasing duds at the box office "the people" generally don't want to see. I have yet to be surveyed by anyone producing entertainment, because they'd get an earful!

hobbyfan said...

CN does have some relatively decent comedy shows now, like Adventure Time & Regular Show, both of which now have comics adaptations, but they also have dreck like The Amazing World of Gumball, which is like animated colorforms on a CGI background resembling live-action.

Hollywood may be conning people with offers to give them what they want, but so does Vince McMahon, which would explain why he hires failed writers who couldn't hack it in LA.......