Fantastic might be overstating things a bit...

So I watched the premiere of the new Fantastic Four cartoon the other night. They lost me within the first 5 minutes, but I stuck it out for you, my public, so I could give you the straight poop.

This new FF show is horrible. I could tolerate Johnny's stereotypical portrayal as a hot-headed, impatient, immature goof. Barely, but I could tolerate it. What killed it for me was Sue's shrewish, bitchy, overly aggressive characterization and Reed's wishy-washy, weak-willed "personality." Seriously, he should have been called Mr. Doormat. Sue was walking all over him.

I liked the Thing, though. He, at least, was more accurately characterized. His scenes at the hospital dedication were pretty funny.

The animation was adequate. Although I may be spoiled by the JLU/Timm-style animation.

Story? Meh. It was ok. It wasn't the advertised "Doomsday" episode, but the "Trial by Fire" ep that my DVR is telling me is coming on this Saturday. I like the whole Kree-Skrull thing that they seem to be working towards, and I'm curious about whether we'll see Captain Marvel (though I suspect that's pretty unlikely. But maybe Marvel Boy wouldn't be out of the question). In fact, I suppose the Kree-Skrull War will dominate the season's storylines. But I'm not holding my breath that it'll be done well.

In all, I can't really recommend this series, although I'll give it one more episode. Well, let me qualify that: if you're into pretty moving pictures, then you might enjoy this show. If you're looking for creative stories and "real" character interaction, then you'll be sorely disappointed. Which makes me unhappy. Seriously, this show should be like Jack & Stan's run on the series: ideas falling out of every frame. But they're not. And again, the characters just aren't quite the Fantastic Four I know. It's like they're from Earth 619 instead of Earth 616.

And as I re-establish my nerd-cred, I give this episode a D and prepare to go to bed.

Peace