From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marvel_Super_Heroes
Format: Animation
Starring: Peg Dixon, Paul Kligman, Arthur Pierce, John Vernon, Chris Wiggins
Country of Origin: Canada
No. of Episodes: 65
Production Running Time: Half-Hour Series
Broadcast: Original Channel First-Run Syndication
Original Run: September 1, 1966 – December 1, 1966.
The Marvel Super Heroes is a Canadian-made animated television series starring five comic-book superheroes from Marvel Comics. It was first syndicated, on U.S. television, in 1966.
Produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation, headed by Grant Simmons, Ray Patterson and Robert Lawrence, it was an umbrella series of five segments, each approximately seven minutes long, broadcast on local television stations that aired the show at different times. The series ran initially as a half-hour program made up of three seven-minute segments of a single superhero, separated by a short description of one of the other four heroes. It has also been broadcast as a mixture of various heroes in a half-hour timeslot, and as individual segments as filler or within a children's TV program.
The segments, and their original rotations, were:
Monday: Captain America
Tuesday: The Incredible Hulk
Wednesday: The Invincible Iron Man
Thursday: The Mighty Thor
Friday: Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner
Production
Title card for a Sub-Mariner episode.
Sixty-five episodes of three seven-minute segments were produced, for a total of 195 segments that ran initially in broadcast syndication from September 1, 1966 to December 1, 1966. The series, produced in color, had extremely limited animation produced by xerography, consisting of photocopied images taken directly from the comics and manipulated to minimize the need for animation production. The cartoons were presented as a series of static comic-strip panel images; generally the only movement involved the lips, when a character spoke, the occasional arm or leg, or a fully animated black silhouette. Some animation fans have criticized the production as shoddy while noting that the series used the original stories largely in their entirety, showcasing classic Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Don Heck art, among others, from the period fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books.
Stan Lee, Marvel's editor and art director at the time, said in 2004 that he believed publisher Martin Goodman negotiated the deal with Grantray-Lawrence and that Lawrence chose the characters to be used. Lawrence rented Lee and his wife a penthouse at 30 East 60th Street, near Madison Avenue, for Lee's use while he worked on the series. (Lee lived in Hewlett Harbor, New York, on Long Island, at the time.) Lee recalled, "I really don't remember any reaction from the Marvel artists involved. I wish I could claim to have written the [theme song] lyrics, because I think they're brilliant, but alas, I didn't". Grantray-Lawrence subcontracted production of The Mighty Thor to Paramount Cartoon Studios headed at the time by Shamus Culhane.
Marvel announced the series in the "Marvel Bullpen Bulletins" of the November 1966 issues, stating in that monthly fan page's hyperbolic style that, "It won't be long before our swingin' super-heroes make their star-studded debut on TV, appearing five nights a week — that's right, five — count 'em — five nights a week, for a half-hour each night. So you've just got time to make sure your set's in good working order — check your local paper for time and station — and prepare to have a ball!"
Cast
* Captain America / Steve Rogers - Sandy Becker
* Hulk - Max Ferguson
* Bruce Banner - Paul Soles (a.k.a. Paul Sols)
* Iron Man / Tony Stark - John Vernon
* Sub-Mariner - John Vernon
* Thor - Chris Wiggins
* Narrator - Bernard Cowan
Other Cast
* Bucky Barnes - Bernard Cowan, Paul Soles
* Lady Dorma - Peg Dixon
* Jane Foster - Peg Dixon
* Happy Hogan - Bernard Cowan, Paul Soles
* Rick Jones - Bernard Cowan, Paul Soles
* The Mandarin - Henry Ramer
* Pepper Potts - Peg Dixon
* The Red Skull - Paul Kligman
* Betty Ross - Peg Dixon
* General "Thunderbolt" Ross - Paul Kligman
* Major Glenn Talbot - John Vernon
Guest Characters
Appearing in guest roles were:
* The X-Men — The original lineup of the Angel, the Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, and Marvel Girl appeared in a Sub-Mariner episode, "Dr. Doom's Day / The Doomed Allegiance / Tug of Death". The story was an adaption of Fantastic Four 6 (Sept. 1962), but since Grantray-Lawrence Animation did not own rights to the Fantastic Four, the producers substituted the X-Men — although referring to them instead as "Allies for Peace". However, the characters retained their original designs and individual names from the comics.
* The Avengers — The lineup beginning in Avengers #4 (March 1964), with Thor, Iron Man, Giant-Man, the Wasp and the newly installed Captain America, appears in several Captain America episodes, as does the later line-up from Avengers #16 with Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch.
