Rating: Not Rated
Starring:
Michael Bell as Plastic Man (voice)
Jack Baker as Sunstroke (voice)
Melendy Britt as Penny / The Chief (voice)
Johnny Brown as Splashdown (voice)
Peter Cullen as Mighty Man (voice)
Bobby F. Ellerbee as Cosmo (voice)
Al Fann as Rickety Rocket (voice)
John Stephenson as Additional Voices (voice)
Dee Timberlake as Venus (voice)
Frank Welker as Fangface / Fangpuss
Special Features:
Stretch Your Plastic Man Knowledge with a Plas-tastic Retrospective Featurette
Enjoy a Mindbending Plastic Man Animated Series Unaired Pilot Episode
Other Info:
Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Dolby Digital Mono Sound
French Language
French Subtitles
Running Time: 564 Minutes
The Details:
The following is the official description of the film:
“Supple super hero Plastic Man bends criminals to justice in these 35 exciting animated adventures from the vintage TV series. Jetsetting around the world in the Plastijet with girlfriend Penny and sidekick Hula Hula, the cool, confident Plas wraps up evil villains like Solex, Weed, Half-Ape, The Clam, Computerhead, and Disco Mummy. With the power to conform to any shape or size, Plas can grow, shrink, or flex his way out of any situation–except Penny’s jealous grip. Never yielding under pressure, the only cracks in his super hero style are the quips he throws at his nemeses while turning the tables on them. When danger calls, this is the only four-disc collector’s set–including elastically exciting extras–with enough twists to showcase Plastic Man! Features: retrospective featurette and Plastic Man animated series unaired pilot episode.”
“Plastic Man: The Complete Collection” is not rated.
Mini-Review:
I used to watch the Plastic Man cartoons on Saturday morning TV when I was a kid. The show was different from many of the other cartoons because it mixed comedy with the superhero genre. The original opening to the show actually showed the DC comic book cover which was unusual, too. Most of the superhero TV shows seemed to ignore their comic book origins. As the series progressed, they introduced the Plastic Baby character which as atrocious as it is, was certainly memorable. The show followed pretty much the same formula in every episode. Plastic Man is sent on an assignment by the Chief, he encounters a bizarre villain, he takes several bizarre shapes to battle them, then the day is saved. He was kind of a Maxwell Smart with body stretching superpowers.
The cartoon is only really worth revisiting for the sake of nostalgia for adults that grew up with it. That being said, my kids grabbed the DVD when it arrived and have watched as much of it as they could. So it does still stand strong as entertainment for children.
For me, a more interesting reason to check out this DVD is one of the bonus features. “Puddle Trouble” is an unaired pilot for a new Plastic Man TV series. It was developed by Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants) and Plastic Man was voiced by him, too. It had a “Ren & Stimpy” style animation and featured the mix of cartoon humor with the superhero genre that the previous TV series did. It was an interesting format and is unlike anything they’re airing on TV today. It’s required viewing for fans of Plastic Man.
Another bonus feature is a 14 minute retrospective on the creation of the comic series by Jack Cole, the development of the cartoon, and the development of the unaired TV series. Included in it are producers from the “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” TV series, Tom Kenny, comics historians, and more.
This is an interesting DVD set for Plastic Man fans and anyone that enjoys superhero animation. But you either need kids in your household to make it worth buying or a healthy dose of nostalgia to appreciate it.
