Saturday, September 4, 2010

The Animated World of DC Comics: Plastic Man (1979)

Plastic Man, who came to DC Comics from Quality some time in the 50's, and made his DC debut around 1966-67, made his television debut in a cameo guest shot on Super Friends in 1973, but it took 6 more years before he'd get his own series. By then, Ruby-Spears had acquired the license to produce Plas' adventures, with one major change. Missing were Plas' long-time sidekick and confidant, Woozy Winks, and their employers, per the DC series, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). Instead, Plas had not one but two sidekicks, sexy Southern belle Penny and Hawaiian native Hula Hula, who had a penchant for bad luck. While Penny was in love with Plas, he in turn had eyes on his boss, the Chief.

Here, courtesy of YouTube, is what is billed as the intro to the series, but IMPO may really be a commercial, since the actual opening would include backup features Rickety Rocket, Fangface, & Mighty Man & Yukk:



Plastic Man would return for a 2nd season, trimmed to a half-hour show. The backup segments had all been cancelled, making Mighty Man & Rickety Rocket the first R-S entries not to be renewed, with Fangface gone after 2 seasons. Instead, Penny got her man after all, and the end result was Baby Plas. Ruby-Spears had learned nothing from adding a baby werewolf to Fangface's team the previous year. Predictably, Plastic Man and his family were sent packing at the end of the 1980-81 season.

Plas has recently turned up on Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave & the Bold, and, this time, Woozy is with him. Not only that, but Plas is married to a different woman, probably the same one as in the comics. Unfortunately, with the 1979 series now on DVD, it's doubtful that CN or Boomerang will even bother bringing the series back to their schedules, though it wouldn't hurt them to shake things up for a change.

Back to the 1979 series. It tried to remain true to the spirit of the original comics, but leaving Woozy out of the mix was a critical mistake. It's as if Ruby-Spears felt for some reason that Woozy didn't fit with a Saturday morning audience. I would buy that, but giving Plas Penny & Hula to make up for Woozy was overdoing it just a wee bit.

Rating: B-.

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