| Silver Surfer | |
|---|---|
The Silver Surfer |
|
| Format | Animated Drama |
| Created by | Stan Lee |
| Developed by | Fox Studios |
| Starring | Paul Essiembre Camilla Scott Colin Fox |
| Narrated by | George Johnson |
| Opening theme | Sliver Surfer (by Fantastic Four) |
| Ending theme | Sliver Surfer (by Fantastic Four) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 13 (aired) 8 (on script) (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Stan Lee |
| Camera setup | Caption Setup |
| Running time | 26 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Marvel Entertainment Group Marvel Studios Saban International A. G. Fox Kids Worldwide |
| Distributor | Saban Entertainment |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Fox Kids Network |
| First shown in | October 22, 1994 - February 24, 1996 |
| Original airing | February 7, 1998 |
Silver Surfer, also known as Silver Surfer: The Animated Series, is an animated television series based on the Marvel Comics superhero which aired on the Fox Kids Network in 1998.
Contents |
Blending cel and computer animation, this series was rendered in the style of Surfer creator Jack Kirby.
This series drastically altered much of the comic book incarnation of the story. The most notable change is the specific removal of the Fantastic Four and Watcher completely from Galactus assault on Earth. In this series version of events, instead the Silver Surfer is not inspired by the actions of the Fantastic Four to protect Earth from Galactus's hunger, but is promoted by anger resulting from the Surfer's first encounter with Thanos, who temporarily restores Norrin Radd's memories to the Silver Surfer. Most of the other familiar characters are also largely changed from their printed page backgrounds such as Thanos who is in this series serves Lady Chaos rather than Death itself, Adam Warlock of this series was created as an alien supersoldier specifically against the Kree, rather than an Earth made enhanced human and the Watcher alien race has been destroyed with the exception of Uatu.
Further adventures included appearances by many characters from Marvel's "cosmic" stable, including Thanos, the Watcher, Ego the Living Planet, Mentor (though Eros is a brother of Thanos, Mentor became the brother due to a typographical error in the script), Drax the Destroyer, Pip the Troll (the close companion of Silver Surfer, whom he follows on his quest to find Surfer's treasured homeworld Zenn-La)[1]).
After the 13-episode first season, Marvel was facing bankruptcy problems (and more than likely, due to politics between Toy Biz and Saban Entertainment) and could not afford to air the second season, despite that scripts were written and the show had attained successful ratings..
While some viewers have described the show as stylishly and intricately well animated mixing traditional and CGI animation as well as being loyal to Jack Kirby's original design, others have criticized the series for failing to adhere to the complex social analysis and morality debates that were the basis of the original printed page version of the series. One of the detractions includes the original printed page acceptance that the Surfer's decision to lead Galactus to other habituated worlds in order to safeguard his original home of Zenn-La, which was completely negated in this series but was included as part of the Silver Surfer-Galactus storyline in the Marvel Action Hour's Fantastic Four animated series.
"The Galactus Trilogy" was loosely adapted into the first three-part episode of the TV series. The Silver Surfer was the herald of Galactus for a very short time (episode wise). He was ultimately replaced by Nova (Frankie Raye) after the young girl somehow teleports onto his ship after Galactus and Silver Surfer part ways. Both heralds have regular appearances on the show and even team up at times.
In "The Planet of Dr. Moreaux", the Kree enslaved the Silver Surfer and had him work alongside Pip the Troll's kind until they revolted and escaped. In "The Forever War", Adam Warlock is seen fighting the Kree in a space anomaly when the Supreme Intelligence sends the Silver Surfer to get him. If there was a Season 2, an episode called "Rebirth" would have the Silver Surfer trying to stop the Kree-Skrull War.
Drax the Destroyer appeared in the episode of the "Learning Curve". He is seen as an android and a companion of Mentor. Beta Ray Bill meanwhile, debuts in the episode "Innervision".
Nebula appears in the two-part episode "Learning Curve". Nebula, like many before her, wants to gain knowledge from The Universal Library (Home of the Watchers). Because the motive of her search for knowledge is greed, she devolves into a creature known as a viral (a blob-like creature full of knowledge, but unable to act on it). The Silver Surfer needs help from the virals in order to penetrate a force field covering Zenn-La. After doing so, the Surfer has to help Zenn-La leave a dimension belonging to a being known as The Soul Hunter. During the escape, The Silver Surfer fails to save Shalla-Bal, for which he blames Nebula. He starts to blast her, but she is protected by Thanos' energy field (in the new history of the universe, Thanos is a peace seeker and resident of Zenn-La). One of the energy blasts penetrates the field, restoring Nebula to her humanoid form, and she takes her leave.
Nebula's final scripted appearance has her attempting a journey to Galactus' ship, because of the knowledge she recalled from her time as a viral. Unfortunately, no further scripts were written to explain this. Like many characters, Nebula was to make another appearance on the second season of the series. Eight episode scripts were written, but were never produced.
Episodes that remained in the scripting stage. The second season was not produced because of Marvel's bankruptcy problems. However, eight episodes were written before production was shut down.[2]
| # | Title | Writer(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | "The End of Eternity, Part 2" | Larry Brody | N/A |
| After he fails to stop Thanos, Silver Surfer recreates the universe and learns the history behind Thanos and Lady Chaos. | |||
| 15 & 16 | "Soul Hunter" | Larry Brody | N/A |
| As a reward for returning all creation to existence, Eternity and Infinity have brought the Surfer home to Zenn-La. But he finds that only the Virals can help him set foot on his home planet again, and to get that help he must first save the Universal Library from Morg. In a situation that is the direct opposite of the Silver Surfer's origin, his blissful reunion with Shalla Bal is short-lived as she sacrifices herself to save Zenn-La. | |||
| 17 | "Rebirth" | Larry Brody | N/A |
| Searching for meaning in the universe now that he has lost his beloved, the Silver Surfer decides to perfect his new cosmos by trying to end the Kree-Skrull War. | |||
| 18 | "Battlecry" | Larry Brody | N/A |
| Terrax decides to take over as the herald of Galactus. | |||
| 20, 21, & 22 | "Down to Earth" | Larry Brody | N/A |
| The Surfer accompanies the newly "unemployed" Nova back to Earth, where he finds himself acclaimed as the Interstellar Savior of the planet and ends up battling none other than the recently created Fantastic Four. The Silver Surfer has his hands full when he tries to force the people of Earth to behave as he, not they, thinks they should. Can the Silver Surfer come to his senses in time to help the planet survive against the return of Galactus and Terrax? | |||
| Voice actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Paul Essiembre | Silver Surfer/Norrin Radd |
| Voice actor | Character |
|---|---|
| James Blendick | Galactus |
| Colin Fox | Uatu |
| Gary Krawford | Thanos |
| Camilla Scott | Shalla-Bal |
| Voice actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Dennis Akayama | Watcher Prime |
| Lawrence Bayne | Zedaro |
| Oliver Becker | Adam Warlock |
| Bernard Behrens | Nietr |
| Rick Bennent | Votrick |
| Robert Bockstael | Pip the Troll |
| Christopher Britton | Zarek |
| Valerie Buhagiar | Shellaine |
| Lally Cadeau | Lady Chaos |
| David Calderisi | Kiar |
| Michael Copeman | MacLag |
| Alyson Court | Amber |
| Jennifer Dale | Nebula |
| Len Doncheff | Raze |
| Shirley Douglas | The Universal Sourge |
| Don Francks | Kalek |
| Elizabeth Hanna | Kili the Troll |
| David Hemblen | Supreme Intelligence, Husseri |
| Howard Jerome | Geatar |
| Lorne Kennedy | Planetary Essence |
| Roy Lewis | Ego the Living Planet |
| John Neville | Eternity |
| Nicole Oliver | Gamma Jen Beth |
| Karl Pruner | Beta Ray Bill |
| Tara Rosling | Frankie Raye/Nova |
| Elizabeth Sheperd | Infinity |
| Alison Sealy-Smith | Gamora |
| Cedric Smith | Mentor |
| Norm Spencer | Drax the Destroyer |
| John Stocker | Ivar |
| Marc Strange | Lord Glenn |
| Aron Tager | The Master of Zenn-La |
Several cast members of The Silver Surfer were also a part of the cast of the X-Men animated series from around the same period:
In the U.K. the complete series on two discs were to be released by Liberation Entertainment on July 28, 2008[3] however because of the closure of the U.K. division of Liberation Entertainment the release was cancelled. The rights have now been picked up by Clear Vision LTD who released the set on May 11, 2009.[4]
All 13 episodes are now available on Netflix Instant.
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