Throughout most of the history of life on the planet Dinosaurs or Mammals or their close relatives have ruled the world.
However one thing I have noticed is that they not only take it in turns to dominate the earth but also in being the other ones bitch for want of a better term.
Allow me to explain.
Hundreds of millions of years ago before the age of the Dinosaurs large reptiles called the Synapsids ruled the earth. These reptiles were not as large as the later Dinosaurs but they still grew to massive sizes and included such famous killers as the Gorgonopsid and Dimetrodon.
The monsters who came before the Dinosaurs!
The Synapsids were wiped out during a mass extinction event at the start of the Triassic period. This mass extinction allowed the Dinosaurs to emerge as the dominant life form. The Dinosaurs evolved from a group of reptiles called Archosaurs. The Archosaurs also gave rise to the flying reptiles the Pterosaurs and the Crocodilians too. During the Permian era the Archosaurs were small reptiles who would have been the prey of large Synapsids.
However after the Permian/Triassic mass extinction event (which was greater than the one that later killed the Dinosaurs) one group of Archosaurs, the Dinosaurs were able to diversify and become the dominant life form on earth for the next 150 million years.
One group of Synapsids, small reptiles called the Cynodonts survived the Permian/Triassic mass extinction that killed the rest of their kind and evolved into the first mammals, small tiny, shrew and mice like creatures.
Over the course of the next 150 million years the Mammals would only get as big as a house cat. They were now the prey of the giant Dinosaurs who stalked the land.
Thus it was the complete reverse of the Permian era. In the Permian we had giant Synapsid carnivores running around whilst tiny ancestors of the Dinosaurs were their prey.
Now in the time of the Dinosaurs we had the tiny descendants of the Synapsids the mammals running around getting eaten by giant predatory dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus Rex as snacks.
Who’s kicking who around now!
Of course as well all know 65 million years ago the Dinosaurs would be killed off by another mass extinction event when a massive asteroid smashed into the earth, killing 65 percent of life on the planet.
With the giant Dinosaurs gone mammals as we know spread out and became the dominant life forms on earth.
Through their descendants the Mammals, the Synapsids once again came to dominate the earth.
One small group of Dinosaurs meanwhile did survive the extinction that killed the rest of their kind. The Birds.
Birds evolved from small meat eating Dinosaurs, specifically the Maniraptoria. Though it was disputed for many years it is now universally almost agreed that Birds are not only descended from Dinosaurs but that they are classed as a sub group of them.
So once again we have the Synapsids (mammals) ruling whilst the Archosaurs (birds) are the small creatures that they prey on.
It seems the tables have turned once again!
Its ironic when you think next time you are chowing down on a chicken or a turkey leg that 65 million years ago his ancestor would have been chowing down on your ancestor.
It just goes to show that you should never ever assume just because you’re riding high right now that it will last. Never assume that quiet unassuming guy like that little mouse or pigeon in the corner doesn’t have big, big ambitions.
Who knows maybe there will come a time when the Dinosaurs rule the earth once again.
Who knows maybe there will come another natural disaster that kills off all the major mammal species including us and the birds grow to massive sizes. It happened before. After the Dinosaurs died out some birds grew to massive sizes such as Phorusrachus in places like South America and they were the dominant predators for many millions of years after.
Thus perhaps if there is another extinction event the birds could very well grow to large sizes once again. All the large mammals will be doomed in another extinction event. Generally speaking the biggest animals go first in a mass extinction event naturally as its harder for them to find food.
Thus the only mammals likely to survive after the next extinction event are small rodents. Therefore depending o the circumstances we could very well see giant Birds (dinosaurs) chasing small mammals yet again. Well we won’t see it but you know what I mean.
“That’s for KFC”
Hopefully this won’t happen but again it just goes to show you how the history of life on earth is just swings and roundabouts in regards to Dinosaurs and Mammals making the other one their bitch.
Gotham for those of you who don’t watch it is a prequel series to Batman. Set not long after Bruce Wayne loses his parents. The series depicts the early life and origins of such iconic characters as the Penguin, Catwoman, The Riddler and even the Joker.
Unlike Smallville however, the hero whose mythology it focuses on. Batman is not the main protagonist of the series. Instead Commissioner Gordon is the main character, though the question of who killed Bruce Wayne’s parents is a major story arc throughout the first and second seasons.
Gotham has proven be a massive hit so far and with a third series set to air in the Autumn, Gotham’s future certainly looks secure so it might seem a little bit odd to be talking about a sequel to the series with this in mind.
Still personally I think that Gotham could be the start of a very big franchise that lasts for possibly 20 or so years. I realise that is unlikely given DC’s love for rebooting things, but still I’m going to say why I think it would be good to see Gotham expand out into a franchise anyway.
I’d like to see Gotham go on for another two years until say 2018. I don’t think they should try and spin it out for 10 years as I don’t think it’s ever a good idea to spin a prequel out for too long. Furthermore at the rate they are going with introducing villains like the Riddler and Mr Freeze, they will be in danger of having all the interesting stuff happen before Bruce becomes Batman.
I’d like to see 2, 3 at the absolute most more seasons of Gotham taking us into 2019.
After that in 2020. I’d like to see a sequel series that revolves around Batman. By this point David Mazouz will be 19 and therefore old enough to play Batman. I’d like to see the Batman series then run for 5 years taking us up to 2025.
Following this we can then have a Justice League tv series that runs for another five years taking us up to 2030 after which we can then have a Batman Beyond series. By this point Mazouz will be in his late twenties. Obviously not old enough to play the elderly Bruce Wayne from Beyond. We would probably need to recast it. You might be able to still have Mazouz play the role under old age make up, but I still think it would be too much of a stretch to have a 29 year old play an 89 year old and it not look naff.
Now the reasons I want this to happen are that I think it would be brilliant to see Bruce Wayne’s whole story unfold almost in real time. Think of how great it would be to see this version go from a young boy confused and scared at the loss of his parents, to the great detective, to eventually an almost intergalactic hero helping the Justice League battle villains such as Darkseid. To finally an embittered old man who still in his final few years manages to help create another hero who will carry on his legacy.
It would also be interesting to see the Joker develop across all of these different series too. We’d see him start out as just a petty psycho in Gotham and then not only become more dangerous, but also completely obsessed with destroying Batman.
There are so many final ends for the Joker that they could draw on. There’s his Return of the Joker ending where he captures and tortures Tim Drake to insanity before being killed by him. There’s his Dark Knight Returns death where he goes on a massive killing spree before framing Batman for his own death.
Then there is his ending in the Justice League comic, The Nail. Here the Joker after gaining control of super powered gauntlets uses them to torture Robin and Batgirl to death right in front of Batman, who murders the villain in response.
All of these would make spectacular ends to the Joker on screen. Of course it goes without saying that in this ideal scenario Jerome would be the Joker.
Cameron Monaghan who plays Jerome is exceptional in the role and again it would be brilliant seeing how he would develop this character over time. Imagine how cool it would be going back and looking at the Jerome in the early days and then seeing how he ends up as the most destructive super villain of all time. How his fathers prophecy that children will wake up terrified at the thought of him and that he will bring madness and death to the city comes true.
Monaghan is easily one of the greatest Jokers there has ever been. He has the swagger of Jack Nicholson’s Joker, the twisted humour of Hamill and the anarchy of Ledger. I would love to see him get a chance to act out some of the characters vilest moments from the comics. An adaptation of Emperor Joker in the Justice League series with Monaghan would be amazing!
I think that all of the actors in Gotham have been great so far and I would like to see how all of them would get a chance to develop their characters.
I’d love to see them have Jerome/Joker murder Leslie Thompkins like he did Sarah Essen in the comics and then have him either murder or cripple Barbara too.
Also I think if this were a massive ongoing franchise then it might prevent DC from rebooting their franchises all the time. Obviously sometimes franchises need to be rebooted like after Batman and Robin, but at other times it can be detrimental as I feel that they can end up finishing a series before it has a chance to get going.
Also there is a limit to how many times we can keep seeing the same origin story over and over again too. That’s always a problem you run into, but it becomes more noticable when you have like 3 of them in just over 10 years like Spider-Man.
Whilst I don’t think its likely we will see a sequel to Gotham I can always hope. I will say though that even if we never see a sequel to Gotham I hope the series finishes in the next few years.
I don’t think a prequel should ever go on too long. That was my problem with Smallville. Now I liked Smallville overall. It had a great cast, some fabulous writing like the whole Lex/Lionel story arc and it did like all great adaptations add something new to the lore with Lionel Luthor and Chloe Sullivan. Two fantastic characters created for the series who have been integrated into the comics.
However having said that my biggest issue with Smallville is that it went on too long. It became ridiculous that it was still meant to be a prequel series after about season 5.
By the end of the series Clark Kent had already done all the things he is supposed to do as Superman BEFORE he has become Superman.
He’s killed Darkseid, he’s killed Bizarro, he’s sealed Doomsday in the earth’s core where he will never get out (and even if he does well he bested Doomsday as a twenty something with minimal effort in about 3 seconds. It’s not like Doomsday is ever going to be a threat again is it?)
He’s also permanently defeated Brainiac too. Also he has formed the Justice League, he’s gotten together with Lois and revealed his identity to her, he is living in Metropolis, he’s even established himself as a superhero vigilante the Red/Blue blur. What the fuck is left?
Lex I suppose, but even then Lex’s memory has been wiped so everything that happened to him in Smallville that was supposed to shape him into the villain he became Is irrelevant. As a prequel Smallville completely fails. From season 5 on, it’s not superman the early years. It’s just Superman calls himself the blur and he doesn’t fly.
Smallville would have been better if he had become Superman after the first episode of season 6 when he beat Zod and the show was renamed Superman the Early Years.
I hope the makers of Gotham don’t go the same way and have The Riddler, Mr Freeze, Catwoman, Hugo Strange, and The Penguin all die before Bruce Wayne puts on the Bat suit and have Bruce Wayne become another hero called say the dark cape for about 5 years. That would just completely ruin one of the best things about this series that we are seeing all of these iconic characters in their early years.
I suppose technically this title is a contradiction, as no animal that is extinct can be dangerous as they are well…. Extinct!
Still if you were ever to travel backwards in time then these would be the most dangerous animals you might be unlucky enough to encounter
Creatures of the past naturally have a certain appeal that modern animals lack simply because they are no longer here. Even small unspectacular birds like the Dodo seem more interesting simply because they are extinct. Would anyone care about an overgrown pigeon on the island of Mauritus had it not been for its tragic fate?
In a way I suppose it’s like celebrities. There is always a certain morbid fascination with something, be it a rock star, or an animal, once its gone.
Still many of these creatures were truly spectacular animals and far more deadly than famous modern predators, and in this article I am going to run down what I feel would have been the most dangerous extinct animals.
This is not going to be in any order as it all depends on where you are as to which would be more deadly.
Megalodon
A prehistoric Shark that was possibly 60 feet long (over twice the size of a modern Orca) and close to 65 short tons in weight.
Megalodon had a bite force of over 20 tons. In comparison the modern day Great white shark has a bite of 1 ton. Considering that a modern day Great White has jaws powerful enough to bite through the bones of whales, then one can only imagine how deadly this predators bite would have been. Megalodon’s bite may very well have been the strongest of any animal ever to have lived on the planet. The only competitor is Tyrannosaurus Rex which according one estimate had a slightly bigger bite than Megalodon.
For over 13 million years Megalodon was the apex predator in its environment and evidence shows that it would have preyed mostly on large whales. Among ts favoured prey would have included the ancestors of the modern day Sperm Whale, a super predator itself.
It just goes to show you there really IS always a bigger fish or mammal out there. The Giant Squid is a dangerous carnivore that can reach a length of 33 feet long and if you encountered it in the ocean you’d be pretty scared.
However this thing is the prey of the Sperm Whale an even bigger carnivore.
2 million years ago however the ancestors of the Sperm Whale would have been the Megalodon’s bitch.
Whilst Megalodon was possibly the most powerful carnivore to live on the planet. It was ultimately driven to extinction, luckily for us, before modern man appeared. Its death is believed to have been caused by a variety of different causes, including the cooling of the oceans, a decline in its prey population and possibly even competition from smaller predators such as the Great White Shark and raptorial whales who emerged near the end of the Megalodon’s reign. (These smaller predators couldn’t have competed with the adults, but would have been more efficient predators than the younger Megalodon, who would not have been looked after by their parents.)
Whilst the Megalodon is generally considered to have died out about 2 million years ago, some conspiracy theorists still believe that they exist hidden in the depths of the ocean. There have even been alleged sightings and even supposed videos of living Megalodons from around the world. There has been no concrete proof of Megalodon’s survival however and experts agree that if it were still around we would see it more often due to its lifestyle. It is also believed that modern whales are only able to get so big in the first place, because there are no giant Sharks like Megalodon around to prey on them.
Still whilst Megalodon’s in the 21st century may be nothing more than science fiction. It’s safe to say that dealing with a Shark this size.
Would be a very scary prospect!
Jaws would have been over a lot faster if they were dealing with a Megalodon.
Haast’s Eagle
Possibly the most powerful and dangerous creature ever to take to the wing. The Haast’s Eagle came from New Zealand, which was cut off from the rest of the world to such an extent that there were no large mammals, which allowed birds to become the dominant life forms.
Some birds lost the ability to flight and grew to massive sizes becoming the famous Moa birds. Here is a reconstruction of a Moa beside a human being just to give you an idea of how big they could get.
The Haast Eagle meanwhile came to occupy the role of the top predator in the absence of any large mammalian carnivores. and grew to massive sizes in response to the Moa who were its main source of prey.
The Haast Eagle had a wingspan of almost ten feet and weighed up to 10 to 15 kilograms. Its talons were up to 4 inches long. That’s about the size of a Bengal Tigers claws.
The beast would strike at its prey with a speed of 60 miles per hour talons first. If its prey wasn’t killed in the impact then they would certainly be completely crippled and unable to fight back as the beast disembowled them and literally snapped their bones with its claws.
Whilst it is not known how strong the grip of a Haast Eagle’s talons were, it is known that a Bald Eagle which is less than half the size of a Haast Eagle’s grip is 350 psi (over three times that of the strongest human’s grip) and so therefore its reasonable to believe that the Haast Eagle may have had a grip of over 700 psi.
This whole animal weighs about 700 pounds. A Haast Eagle’s grip would be like if this bear sat on you!
The Haast Eagle is speculated to have preyed on the first human settlers that arrived in New Zealand, possibly targeting their children in particular. Either way it served as a symbol of both great fear and worship for early Maori tribes. Ultimately however it would be mankind that would drive this winged terror to extinction when they killed off its main food supply, the Moa.
Maori tribes may also have hunted the Haast Eagle itself in defence as with the lack of Moa birds (who it is believed were driven to extinction in under 100 years) the Eagle may have turned to hunting humans more often.
The Haast Eagle went extinct round about 1400, though as with the Moa there have been claims of the odd sighting since, but it is generally regarded as extinct by modern science.
Its lucky for us that other eagles never reached this beasts size and power. Eagles are very bold and dangerous predators and have been known to regularly attack and even kill creatures many times their own size including Goats, Deers, Antelopes, Wolves, Fox’s, Wild Cats and Dogs, Snakes, Jackals, Baboons, and Monkeys. Some Eagles have even been known to attack, kill and eat human children though these instances are very rare, they have still been reported. The Crowned Eagle is the most likely to attack human beings.
Scale this up and imagine what the likes of the Golden, Bald, Harpy and Crowned Eagles could do if they were the size of the Haast’s Eagle and as powerful. It would be a Hitchcock style nightmare!
Andrewsarchus
Andrewsarchus is the largest land based Mammalian carnivore ever to live on the planet. It’s estimated to have been about 6 feet tall at the shoulder and over 12 feet long, though the animal is only known from one single skull specimen and therefore its true size can not be determined for sure. Still Andrewsarchus is still generally believed to have been the largest terrestrial Mammal carnivore of all time.
Whilst there is some debate over whether or not it was a predator or a scavenger, its power is still undisputed. The Andrewsarchus could bite with a force of over 2000 pounds which is comparable to 1 ton, over twice that of a modern day tiger.
Titanoboa
Titanoboa was a prehistoric snake appearing shortly after the Dinosaurs died out. It grew to just over 50 feet long and weighed over 1 ton.
This monster would have preyed on giant fish and Crocodiles. It was mostly a marine animal as on land it would have been somewhat cumbersome, though it could have still pulled prey from the land into the ocean in much the same manner as a crocodile. The beast is believed to have killed its victims using constriction like modern day anaconda’s though some believe it may also have had a poison bite.
Spinosaurus
The largest land based predator ever to live on the planet, Spinosaurus was almost 60 feet long and could weigh up to 23 short tons.
(Edit update: It is now believed that Spinosaurus actually weighed a lot less than Tyrannosaurus at only 7 tons, though it was still the longest land based predator, even then however most estimates put it at just over 45 feet long.)
Spinosaurus’s claws were as big as those you would find in a slaughter house and it was believed that it could have swung its arms with a tremendous force. It also had a relatively powerful bite too of roughly 3 tons, stronger than any animal alive today. In fact it was one of the strongest bites of any animal with only Tyrannosaurus Rex, Giganotosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, Predator X, Deinosuchus a few species of whales and Megalodon having stronger bites.
Spinosaurus’s teeth were better suited for gripping however and it is speculated that it might have been a semi aquatic animal, meaning that most of its diet would may have been made up of marine life. Some of the beasts detractors have used this as proof that it was weaker than other giant meat eating dinosaurs, but it’s worth nothing that the fish it may have ate however, included prehistoric sharks bigger and stronger than the great white shark! Spinosaurus basically ate jaws for breakfast.
There is still proof that the Spinosaurus preyed on other dinosaurs and Pterosaurs however (some believe it may have even killed them by pulling them into the water like a crocodile.) It is also believed to have fought with another large carnivore Carcharodontosaurus which was actually bigger than Tyrannosaurus.
These large carnivores most likely would have given each other a wide berth as large carnivores generally tend not to bother each other, but there is some evidence of conflict with one Spinosaurus sail bearing the bite mark of a Carcharodontosaurus.
Other than Carcharodontosaurus, Spinosaurus would have had no real threats and would have been the apex predator of its environment. Whilst it may have been a more effective predator in the water where it would have been faster, one things for sure if it were alive today, Spinosaurus could make short work of any land animal with minimum effort.
Predator X
The largest and deadliest marine reptile, Predator X could reach a length of 49 feet long and had the second, or third depending on what estimate you take for Tyrannosaurus Rex’s bite of all time.
Its bite was over 15 tons which would have been powerful enough to bite a car in half! The beast would have preyed on, well just about anything it wanted to. Sharks, Plesiosaurs, giant Squids, Pterosaurs the odd unlucky Dinosaur that strayed to close to the shore.
Its teeth were over twice the length of Tyrannosaurus Rex’s.
Terror Birds
The terror birds is the name given to a large group of flightless meat eating birds some of which could stand over 9 feet tall. They included such killers as Phorusrachus and Titanis. These creatures were for many millions of years the apex predators in their environments and preyed on various mammalian species. They had formidable razor sharp beaks capable of ripping off massive pieces of flesh and long razor sharp talons on their feet which may have been used to disembowel their victims. It is also believed that some of the terror birds may have been able to run as fast as modern day Cheetahs.
These creatures were for all intents and purposes large meat eating Dinosaurs existing millions of years after the likes of Tyrannosaurus had died out and chowing down on the ancestors of many modern mammal species.
They are believed to have gone extinct just before the arrival of man.
Gigantopithicus
The largest species of ape ever to have existed. This beast could be up to 10 feet tall.
It was a real life big foot, and though herbivorous it would have possessed incredible strength. Though generally reconstructed as a Gorilla, it was in fact much more closely related to modern day Orangutans.
When you consider that modern day gorilla’s are as strong as 20 men combined, and then scale up to Gigantopithicus, then it’s no wonder that this ape was able to live among some of the most dangerous carnivores of its age.
Tyrannosaurus Rex
Now I am not going to talk too much about Tyrannosaurus here as I’ve already written about its power before. Still ultimately I can’t not include it as Tyrannosaurus Rex was unquestionably one of the most dangerous predators ever to live on the planet.
No longer regarded as the biggest meat eating dinosaur. T.rex is still considered to be the strongest and most advanced in many ways.
(EDIT update, Tyrannosaurus is now once again regarded as the largest land based predator following recent finds which suggest that it was the heaviest meat eating Dinosaur, though Giganotosaurus and Spinosaurus were both longer, ultimately weight is far more important when determining who is the largest.)
Tyrannosaurus had the longest and thickest teeth of any meat eating Dinosaur, was capable of ripping off over 500 pounds of flesh in one bite, whilst its bite force has been speculated to be anywhere between 4 and over 23 tons. Though six tons is genrally considered to be the most accurate figure, if the largest estimate of 23 tons were correct then the Tyrannosaurus would have had the greatest bite force of all time. Even if the lowest estimates were true, at 4 tons, it would still possess the strongest bite force of any land based animal.
Furthermore due to having such a strong bite, Tyrannosaurus’ skeleton would have been stronger than reinforced steel. In the 2005 documentary “The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs” the reconstructed Tyrannosaur head, nicknamed Steely Dan was made from reinforced steel, as it was felt that was the only substance strong enough to replicate the animals bone. That was when they believed that it only had a bite of 4 tons!
In addition to this, Tyrannosaurus is also believed to have been the most intelligent of the giant meat eating Dinosaurs, and possessed a far more advanced sense of sight, smell and hearing too.
It is a complete myth that Tyrannosaurus could have only seen its victims if they moved. If you were ever to encounter a Tyrannosaurus in the wild, staying still would be a very bad idea, though considering you couldn’t outrun it either. (Even if you did manage to keep ahead of it at first which would be difficult, the animals stamina would have ensured you would have tired before it did.) I’m not sure what you could do in that situation except make peace with whatever gods you may worship, and if possible tell your loved ones you love them.
The 90s was a golden age of cartoons. I think it marked a time when animated series started to become more sophisticated, not just in terms of animation but in terms of story telling.
That’s not to do down the cartoons of previous decades, which still hold up in their own way. In terms of comedy I honestly don’t think anything can top the original Hannah Barbera, Tom and Jerry’s, and the original Warner Bros cartoons starring Mel Blanc.
Still nowadays I think that animated series are taken more seriously. Indeed many modern day animated series could be seen as animated drama’s in a way.
The 90s I think was really the decade where people began to view cartoons as being a medium where they could tell sophisticated proper stories, rather than just light hearted enjoyable romps. It was the decade where we saw series like, The Simpsons, South Park, and Batman the Animated Series make a big impact on the entertainment industry.
The Simpsons and South Park were hard hitting comedies. Arguably more so than most live action comedies from that time in fact, whilst Batman in terms of its serious content could easily hold its own with the likes of Buffy and Star Trek.
At the same time I think that many 90s cartoons also did retain some of the camper elements of previous decades cartoons. To be fair you can never, nor should you even try and ditch camp from cartoons completely, but still I’d imagine that many 90s classic may seem quite goofy in some ways to modern children.
In this article I am going to run down the cartoons from this decade that had the biggest effect on me, in no particular order.
Before I start I should mention that I will not be looking at the Simpsons, South Park and Futurama. They were not just simply 90’s cartoons. They are like Doctor Who or Star Trek in that they continued to run and be just as, if not more significant in subsequent decades. You wouldn’t say Doctor Who is a 60s show the same way that say The Prisoner is. Also if you want to get technical the Simpsons started in the 80s anyway.
Obviously if I were giving an objective overview of cartoons in the 90s then I’d look at all of these shows, and I do personally rate all of these series as among the best cartoons too. Futurama is easily one of my all time favourite series.
Still since this is looking at exclusive 90s cartoons then I feel its best to leave out the big ones that ran throughout many decades. I also want to be able to focus on perhaps some of the more obscure cartoons here.
So then lets look at my favourite exclusively 90s cartoons in no particular order.
Street Sharks (1994-1997)
JAWESOME!
A classic example of 90s cheese and camp. Street Sharks was greatly inspired by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in terms of its style and premise. It obviously didn’t make quite the impact TMNT did, but it does still have a loyal cult following.
The series was based on a Mattei toy line of the same name. I must admit I always LOVED the Street Shark toys. The characters were so visually stunning, and large, and colourful, that they just made irresistible toys.
I feel sorry for the generations of children who didn’t have Street Shark toys.
The premise of Street Sharks revolved around 4 brothers, the Bolton brothers who were experimented on by the evil Doctor Paradigm, and turned into half man, half Shark creatures. Paradigm would later fall victim to one of his own experiments which turned him into a hideous piranha like creature, earning him the nickname Doctor Piranoid.
He also went on to create other hideous hybrid creatures including a Lobster man creature, a weird fish monster with a drill nose, and a Killer Whale human hybrid called Moby Lick.
Over the course of the series, the Street Sharks would travel through time, both to the past in the time of the Dinosaurs, and a future where Paranoid had conquered the earth.
They also worked with highly intelligent Dinosaurs called the Dino Vergers to help battle their sworn enemies, highly intelligent Raptors. The Dino Vergers later got their own series, Extreme Dinosaurs.
The show didn’t have the most nuanced story or characters, and it was a fairly barmy idea, but it did still take itself very seriously, which I think was the key to its success as it wasn’t just a full blown parody.
I always felt that what happened to the Bolton boys father was one of the more interesting story arcs of the series.
He was Piranoid’s first victim and like the boys he was mutated into hideous monster, but what was interesting was that we never saw what he looked like after his mutation. We would only ever see his shadow as he helped the boys from a distance. It was quite creepy seeing how in contrast to the boys, who despite being Shark men still had some quality of life and cool super powers, their father became such a freak that he could not be round ordinary people ever again, or even his own mutated sons. It was quite a dark concept and again an example of how 90s cartoons often took themselves more seriously.
Overall a very entertaining series if not an all time classic.
The two intro’s for the series. I preferred the first one personally. Its lyrics were unbelievably unoriginal, but I think it suited the show more and it was more 90s.
Beavis and Butthead (1993-1997)
Okay this had a brief revival in 2011, but generally speaking this series is a 90s cartoon unlike South Park and Futurama, which had more episodes in the 00s and even the 10s than they did in the 90s.
I was introduced to Beavis and Butthead on video so I never really saw their commentary’s on music videos as much when I was younger, as they were often cut out presumably for copyright reasons. I must admit even today I prefer the actual episodes to the scenes of them watching music videos. I know that a lot of their popularity stemmed from the biting comments they’d make about the likes of U2, but for me the actual stories were often far funnier.
The two main characters are thoroughly unlikable people. They are physically repulsive, stupid, perverted, violent and even though they have no friends but each other they constantly treat each other in the most appalling way. They’ll attack each other, insult each other and show not even the slightest bit of concern when the other is beaten/injured/tortured/deported or even seemingly killed!
The humour could get very dark, and in some episodes the two main characters would even die violent, horrific deaths.
In one episode Beavis, whilst trying to give Butthead a shave kills him by slashing his throat open with a razor. In the Halloween special meanwhile, Beavis is kidnapped by a hideous zombie farmer, who hangs him from a meat hook, and then turns Butthead into a zombie. The two of them then slice Beavis to pieces with chainsaws.
This scene wouldn’t look out of place in a horror movie. as the horrible undead farmer lures the hapless Beavis away to be horrificly tortured and dismembered. Yet in a twisted way its still quite amusing, as Beavis is just so stupid he can’t tell that this guys a lunatic. Even after he hangs him from a meat hook!
The show reminded me very much of the type of humour Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson used throughout their careers. Like Rik and Ade’s series we have the two most undesirable characters imaginable, both mentally and physically, who are desperate to try and lose their virginity, who have nothing in their lives, even each other because they are both just so vile, they can’t even muster the tiniest bit of sympathy and affection for one another.
They aren’t together because they even like each other . Its just because no one else will have them in any way.
I’ve always loved that type of comedy about really unsympathetic characters, as often you can go the extra mile, and have them either do something utterly deplorable, or have something horrible happen to them, and get away with it, because its what you expect to happen with characters like that.
A prime example of this can be found in my favourite ever episode of Beavis and Butthead, Prank Call which sees the two boys relentlessly torment a poor man for months on end, with the most infantile prank calls until they drive him to actual lunacy and violence with absolutely hilarious results
Beavis and Butthead is definitely deserving of its reputation as a classic. It may not have had the staying power of the Simpsons and South Park, but its just as wild and outrageous in its own way and a good example of how 90’s Cartoons could have a bit more of an edge to them.
Rugrats (1990-2003)
Doesn’t that bring back memories.
The anti Beavis and Butthead. This series also ran briefly into the 00’s, but again unlike South Park and the Simpsons it was mostly a 90’s thing.
Rugrats was a classic example of 90s cartoons having somewhat more depth than what came before. All of the characters despite being babies were very fleshed out and so where their parents, and all of their relationships with one another. In many ways it was like an animated soap opera.
The main characters were, Tommy Pickles the brave and kind hearted leader of the babies, Phl and Lil two twins, Angelica, Tommy’s mean spirited cousin, Suzie, Angelica’s frenemy who stood up for the babies, Chuckie Finster the scaredy cat of the group and later Dylan, Tommy’s adorable little brother and Kim, Chuckie’s adopted sister.
The series dealt with some very serious issues from time to time that would have been unthinkable for something aimed at children to tackle in previous decades.
The most notable example of this was in the episode Mother’s Day, where it is revealed that Chuckie’s mother died when he was a baby from a terminal illness at the age of just 33.
Chuckie later finds a letter that contains a poem that she wrote to him when she was dying in hospital. The poem is later read to him by his father and it assures him that she will always be there in some way.
The poem reads as follows.
My sweet little Chuckie though I must leave you behind me, this poem will tell you where you can always find me. When a gentle wind blows, that’s my hand on your face, and when the tree gives you shade that’s my sheltering embrace. When the sun gives you freckles that’s me tickling my boy. When the rain wets your hair, those are my tears of joy. When the long grass enfolds you, that’s me holding you tight. When the whipperpool sings that’s me whispering night night”.
I remember crying my eyes out after seeing this episode as a child. All of it upset me, watching Chuckie ask why he didn’t have a mum unlike the other babies, his dad struggling to deal with the loss of his wife and how to tell his son what happened to her, but it was the poem at the end that just destroyed me.
Its funny in a way how kids react to things.
Seeing a man be tortured and hacked to pieces with a chainsaw and another man have a phone shoved violently up his arse in Beavis and Butthead made me laugh hysterically as a child. A Rugrats episode that tackled a child losing its mother in the most sensitive and beautiful way possible, on the other hand upset me so much I didn’t watch it again for weeks.
I guess its all just in the delivery.
That’s not to say that Rugrats wasn’t fun however. I think the show really captured the limitless imagination you have as a child. It was brilliant watching the way the babies could create the most fantastic adventures involving robots, superheroes, Dinosaurs and journey’s into outer space from nothing.
As a child you’d get caught up in their adventures every bit as much as they did. A favourite episode of mine was one episode where the babies believed the sky was falling down, and began to imagine what life would be like after they survived the end of the world.
The best episodes for me where always the ones that centered around Reptar. Reptar was a gigantic green mutant Tyrannosaurus Rex who was clearly a parody of Godzilla.
The babies were all big fans of Reptar which again as a child viewer made them easier to relate to. What child doesn’t love Dinosaurs? Also as I was a big Godzilla fan then I absolutely loved Reptar too.
You could tell the writers of the series were big Godzilla fans as Reptar was more of an affectionate tribute. Hell it was closer to Godzilla than the 90’s American Godzilla was.
Many episodes involving Reptar directly parodied classic Godzilla films. The season 6, 2 parter Runaway Reptar was a direct parody of Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla and featured almost the exact same plot.
It sees Reptar who by this point has gone from a villain to a hero, revert to being a monster again and begin destroying Tokyo, only for it to be revealed in a twist that this is not the real Reptar but in fact a robot. The real Reptar faces the imposter in a fight and rips his synthetic skin off showing that he is a robot underneath. Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla likewise seemingly saw Godzilla who had gone from a villain to a hero, return to being a monster, only for it to be revealed that it was a robot Godzilla, whom the real Godzilla later exposes when he blasts his fake skin off.
Dectar, Reptars friend and ally who was a giant mutant Pteranodon was also based off of Rodan, whilst Thorg a giant gorilla he regularly fought with was clearly a parody of King Kong too.
Its a shame they never got to do a Ghidorah style character for Reptar to fight. That would have been brilliant!
I think parodies are always better when there is a little bit of love in them like Reptar. On the one hand Reptar was great for Godzilla fans like me as I could recognise who all of the characters he fought like Dectar were meant to be and pick up on all the little in jokes that only Godzilla fans would get.
Yet on the other people who didn’t really care for Godzilla or giant movie monsters could still find Reptar enjoyable as the character did lampoon many of the more over the top and silly aspects of giant monsters movies in a gentle way.
Whilst I would rate Rugrats as a classic series I wouldn’t watch it back today. The Simpsons, Futurama and Batman can all still be enjoyed when you are an adult, hell arguably more so. Even Street Sharks can still be enjoyed in much the same way as the original 60s Avengers series can, as goofy fun. Things like South Park and Beavis and Butthead you probably shouldn’t have been watching as a child anyway.
Rugrats however is definitely one that you can only like as a child and so I’d never watch it back again. Still that does not mean it isn’t a classic as after all most cartoons primary audiences are children and the Rugrats was a lovely series for little kids to enjoy. One that captured the innocence of childhood but also the pain and responsibility of growing up.
Batman (1992-1995)
Possibly the greatest ever adaptation of Batman. This series kick started the entire DC animated Universe franchise that lasted until the later half of the 00s. Batman itself however was purely a 90s thing.
Batman was really along with the Simpsons a turning point for cartoons. Whilst it was aimed at children first and foremost, it still treated itself seriously and thus could be enjoyed by adults too.
Its main characters felt real, its design was atmospheric and the series could have very dark content. You only have to look at its opening to see how much more serious it was than previous superhero cartoons. Most superhero cartoon openings would be the heroes jumping about in the light of day smiling to some cheesy, but relentlessly catchy theme.
Not that there is anything wrong with that of course. The 60s Spider-Man theme has entered into pop culture like few other things, but still once again when you look at Batman’s intro where the caped crusader, is almost like a Demon stalking criminals in the night its obvious that this is more of a proper adaptation of the Dark Knight.
As Batman’s characters were more fleshed out, I feel it also gave its voice actors a chance to shine like no superhero cartoon before.
No one really remembers who voiced the Joker in the Filmation Batman Cartoons or who played Lex Luthor in Superfriends. Those characters were just non entities.
With Batman the voice actors were given proper roles to play. It had a very strong cast all around. Kevin Conroy who voiced Batman is for many the definitive voice of the character. He influenced future performers in the role including Christian Bale by providing a different voice for Batman and Bruce Wayne.
Among the other cast members in the series included David Warner who played Ra’s Al Ghul, Batman’s most dangerous enemy even more so than the Joker. This marked the characters first appearance outside of the comic books.
Warner of course was absolutely superb in the role. Like Ghul should be, he was charming, charismatic, even somewhat likable, yet bubbling under the surface you could tell there was a real fanatical desire to shape the earth in his own image, as well as no real human empathy with anyone including even his own daughter.
Its not hard to see why Warner went into voice acting as he has an absolutely wonderful voice. Warner was part of a group of 4 actors, the other three being Mark Hamill, Tim Curry and Clancy Brown who would go on play villains in so many 90’s cartoons. They are really the voices of 90’s villainy. Most cartoons after Batman TAS are bound to have one or two, or sometimes all 4 of them as badguys.
Among the other members of the cast included Jon Glover, best known as Lionel Luther in Smallville as The Riddler. Glover was for me the best Riddler there has been, as I liked the way he actually underplayed the character. Normally I find the Riddler to be quite boring, as to me he is just kind of a third rate Joker. He is another insane, often cackling villain (like Jim Carrey’s portrayal in Batman Forever) who is obsessed with proving that he is smarter than Batman.
Glover however made the character more of a pompous, snobby intellectual. Like a homicidal version of Frasier Crane who was a deeply insecure and pathetic little man underneath.
Paul Williams also was wonderfully debonair and sophisticated in an evil way as the Penguin. The Penguin in this series was an odd mix of different styles. On the one hand he was very much the gentleman of crime from the comics, but in terms of design he borrowed from Danny Devito’s version in Batman Returns, and there were hints throughout the series that like Devito’s version, he had been rejected and cast out from high society because of his deformities. The episode Birds of a Feather was able to cast him in a more sympathetic by showing him try and fit in after he had been released, only to be manipulated by two sleazy reporters who eventually push him to a life of crime once more.
One of the most famous reinterpretations of a classic villain the series was responsible for was its version of Mr Freeze voiced by Michael Anzara.
Prior to this series Mr Freeze had been a fairly flat, generic mad scientist. Though he had appeared in the Adam West series he wasn’t really one of Batman’s most famous foes. He had in fact been killed off by the Joker in the 80’s.
This series however in the episode Heat of Ice managed to turn him into a tragic figure and loving husband who was pushed into villainy when the slimey Ferris Boyle (voiced by Mark Hamill) murdered his wife and caused the accident that transformed him into a monster.
Its quite incredible how moving Heat of Ice is considering at the end of the day it is just a children’s cartoon. You forget you are watching a cartoon when Victor Fries pleads with Boyle to spare his wife, both because of the writing and the dynamic performances from Hamill and Anzara.
Heart of Ice would go on to win an Emmy award and it not only caused Mr Freeze to return to the comic books, but the comics would also borrow his origins from this episode, as would future adaptations of the character such as the most recent Gotham series.
Another way that Batman TAS would go on to influence the comic books and later adaptations of Batman was through the character of Harley Quinn. Harley who was voiced by Arleen Sorkin was originally created to just be a sidekick of the Joker, but over the course of the series they would flesh her character out in a number of interesting ways.
She was revealed to have originally been a psychiatrist who treated the Joker at Arkham. The Joker painted himself as a poor lost soul and Harley Quinn eventually fell in love with him and became his most devoted sidekick.
I think that through Harley Quinn we saw a whole new low to the character of the Joker. Here we had a woman who loved him more than anything else in the world. A woman who had given up her entire life for him and he just treated her so appallingly. The series despite being aimed at children didn’t hold back in just how abusive the Joker was to Harley. We saw him back hand her across the room and in one instance smack her with a sword fish through a two story window. Most disturbing of all, is the image of Harley lying on the pavement, most of her bones broken, blood dripping from her face, half dead blaming herself for what the Joker did to her because she didn’t get his joke!
Normally you’d think introducing a character like Harley Quinn, a love interest would soften a character up, but in the Joker’s case it did the opposite and made him even more despicable.
The character of Harley would not only be incorporated into the comic books, but she will also be appearing in the upcoming Suicide Squad film too. Over the years she has become every bit as popular a character as any of Batman’s other enemies.
Whilst the series had a strong cast overall, ultimately the most celebrated performance of the series was Mark Hamill as the Joker. Hamill was not actually the producers first choice for the role ironically. Tim Curry was, and he played the Joker for 7 episodes before he was replaced with Hamill.
According to Bruce Timm the producer of the series, Curry’s smoking habit meant that he could not sustain the Joker’s laugh for long periods and he would cough and gag violently between takes. Thus he dropped out for health reasons.
Paul Dini meanwhile said that the reason Curry was recast was because he was too terrifying and they didn’t want a Joker who would actually scare children out of the room.
Mark Hamill on the other hand said that it was Fox studios themselves who did not want Tim Curry being on too many cartoons, as they were scared he would become seen as the voice of the studio. At that time Curry was also voicing Captain Hook on Peter Pan the Animated series, and had won an emmy for that role.
All of the episodes Curry made as the Joker were re recorded with Hamill and Curry’s performance has in fact never been heard apart from by the makers of the show.
I have no idea if the tapes he made still exist, but if they do they should release them. There could be a special feature which could allow you to view the episodes Curry did with either Hamill or Curry’s performance. There is an entire performance of the Clown Prince of Crime by an amazing actor that the audience has never heard and, so if it still exists then it would be a crime not to let us hear it.
According to Hamill himself Curry was excellent in the role and having played it for 7 episodes that means he was the Joker for about 2 and a half hours. That’s as long as Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson played the part. Yet despite this the audience has never heard it and may never hear it.
According to this forum below the performance did still exist at least as late as 2006 and was even played at a convention by Bruce Timm.
Of course I don’t know how reliable that source is and I have never seen anything to back it up so take it with a pinch of salt of course.
Whilst Tim Curry is one of my favourite actors and I think he would have been an excellent Joker I think they made the right choice as Mark Hamill to me is the best Joker. He was born to play the role. He was hugely sucessful in the role. In fact I’d say Mark Hamill’s performance as the Clown Prince of Crime is easily as popular as any live action version.
I feel he had the most versatility in the role. His Joker could be both funny and camp like the Romero version, but he could also be every bit as dark and frightening as Heath Ledger or Jack Nicholson, and his laugh was by far and away the most distinctive and frightening.
If what Paul Dini said is true you have to wonder how scary Tim Curry was if this was the LESS scary version!
I think that Hamill’s performance as the Joker which managed to combine both humorous and serious elements of the character is reflective of Batman the animated series on the whole.
The show managed to incorporate so many different elements from the Batman back catalogue. There were episodes that were extremely camp and would not have looked out of place in the 60s Adam West series, such as “Make Em Laugh” which see’s the Joker try and win a comedy contest or “If You’re So Smart Why Aren’t You Rich” which sees the Riddler try and kill his former boss with a giant robot minotaur, or “The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne” which has an ending that is taken straight from the campy 60s series. It actually has Dick Grayson dress up as Bruce Wayne to fool an enemy who has discovered Batman’s secret identity.
One episode even featured Adam West as a character based on himself. His character had starred in a television series called the Grey Ghost (which Bruce Wayne loved growing up and even based his Batcave on) but had become so hopelessly typecast as the character that he hasn’t worked in years.
The episode features a rather touching tribute to West where at the end Bruce Wayne lets the Grey Ghost know that he will always be his hero. This episode completely revitalised West’s career and following this, he would win roles in many other animated series before landing his most successful part as the demented mayor of Quohog in Family Guy.
At the same time whilst the Animated series did take a lot from Adam West it obviously did have much darker and more serious content too. There were many episodes that obviously drew from Burtons Batman and had a similar Gothic aspect to them. There were also however episodes that could be seen as more of a precursor to Nolan’s Batman in that they featured Batman tackling more ordinary criminals.
The episode “Its Never Too Late” features no supervillains and sees Batman try and help a criminal who is haunted by a traumatic memory when his brother lost his leg in a train accident because of him. Batman actually attempts to talk to the criminal and brings his brother in to convince him not to turn his back on his family. No larger than life villains, ludicrous plots, but instead a very human story about a man who will never turn his back on his brother no matter what.
Thus to me Batman the animated series is the definitive version of the caped crusader as whilst the Adam West ,Michael Keaton and Christian Bale versions may all be excellent, I feel that you only see all sides to Batman, the camp and the kitsch and the ability to do serious, dramatic and even moving and powerful stories such as “Heart of Ice” and “Its Never Too Late” with the character when you look at Batman the animated series.
Batman the Animated Series ran for 4 seasons. It was followed by a sequel series the New Batman Adventures which had crossovers both with the Superman the animated series and Static Shock, establishing all three series as being set in the same universe. There was then another sequel Batman Beyond, set 50 years in the future, as well as 4 movies Batman Mask of the Phantasm, Batman and Mr Freeze Subzero, Batman Mystery of the Batwoman, and Batman Beyond Return of the Joker.
Finally in the early 00s there were 2 Justice League series set within this continuity, which served as sequels to Batman and Superman TAS and prequels to Batman Beyond, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited which came to an end in 2006. Together these series and films were known as the DC animated Universe or DCAU for short.
The DCAU marked the first time anyone attempted to create a shared continuity based on comic book characters and it is thus a precursor to the modern day Marvel and DC cinematic universes.
The final DCAU series which came to a close 14 years after Batman the Animated Series.
Kevin Conroy reprised his role in all of these productions as Batman, whilst Mark Hamill also appeared as the Joker in many later DCAU series and films such as the New Batman Adventures, Batman Mask of the Phantasm, Batman Beyond Return of the Joker, a crossover episode of Static Shock, three crossover episodes of Superman the Animated series which saw him team up with Lex Luthor, and 6 episodes of Justice League.
Since the end of the DCAU Hamill and Conroy have gone on to reprise their roles as the Joker and Batman in various other non DCAU films, television series, films and video games, such as most notably the Arkham games which saw Hamill win a Bafta for his performance.
Batman the Animated Series has one of the biggest legacies of any animated series and it remains a classic over 20 years on.
Gargoyles (1994-1997)
This 90s animated series featured quite an interesting premise about ancient Gargoyles, who were the last of their kind, being awoken in modern day.
The creatures by day were turned to stone, which was how their race had been brought to the brink of extinction. In the first episode. a warlord voiced by Clancy Brown. smashes all but 5 of them as statues.
The show included among its cast many regulars of 90s cartoons. Tim Curry, David Warner and Clancy Brown all played villains in the series, whilst Ed Asner who had main roles in Batman, Superman and Spider-Man also voiced one of the Gargoyles.
The shows main characters were fairly interesting even just from a novelty point of view, and of course like all characters in 90s cartoons they made brilliant toys. Keith David who voiced Goliath the leader of the Gargoyles was brilliant. He had a very strong imposing voice that was still quite warm and friendly, and he gave the character a lot of gravitas and depth.
Still in spite of this, I think it was really the villains that made the series stand out for me. David Xanatos and Demona.
Xantos was a sleazy corrupt business man, who freed the Gargoyles from their curse for his own benefit.
He is a mastermind who comes up with the most complicated, elaborate schemes that almost always managed to work. He always designs them in such a way where no matter what the outcome, it will always benefit him.
Thus the Gargoyles throughout the series very rarely completely defeat him. If they stop one plan, then the way he has worked things out, he will still benefit from the outcome in some other way. The phrase Xanatos Gambit, has in fact entered into popular culture as an example of a villain who really does think of everything.
The great thing about David Xanatos is that he is a completely logical villain. He isn’t even remotely vengeful or spiteful or sadistic. He never lets his emotions get the better of him and he can be reasoned with. There are many occasions where the Gargoyles are able to get through to him using rationale arguments, such as when he plans to make himself an immortal.
Xantos is the antithesis to villains like the Joker or even Lex Luthor. Lex may be another criminal mastermind, but he is also a very emotional villain who is so consumed by his hatred towards the Man of Steel (in the DCAU at least) that it eventually destroys him. Added to that Lex in most of his incarnations is a sadist and the type who holds grudges.
Xanatos I feel offered up a different type of enemy, one who was a smug slimy snake yet at times quite likable as he wasn’t evil. More just amoral. He was never cruel, just self serving and he was capable of great acts of kindness too, though again almost only if it benefited him. He wasn’t the villain that you loved to hate like say the Joker or Lex. He was a villain you could respect and admire. Jonathan Frakes best known as Riker on the Star Trek franchise, was excellent in the role and brought a real smary, yet charming quality to the villain.
In contrast to Xanatos, Demona the other main villain of the series was a completely irrational, emotional, hysterical villain.
She’s someone who can’t ever blame herself, always paints herself as the victim, lets her prejudices and bitterness rule her decisions, and destroys everything around her. She turns the man she loves into her worst enemy, kills scores of innocent people and nearly brings her own kind to extinction.
She’s far more evil than Xanatos and more capable of senseless cruelty than he is, but you do still have sympathy for her in a way, simply because she is such a tragic, pathetic, hopeless character who in contrast to Xanatos always ruins things for herself.
It was great watching these two villains play off of each other.
Demona doesn’t start out as an evil character. Its just her own inability to accept responsibility for her actions that drive her down such a dark path. In the end she reaches a point where there is no turning back and as a result she becomes a total monster. They don’t hold back with showing us how twisted she becomes. Despite the fact that it is a children’s cartoon, Demona kills scores of people in violent ways, such as turning them to stone and then smashing them to pieces with a mace.
Demona was voiced by Marina Sirtis who was excellent as the character.
I have always felt that Sirtis as Demona was comparable to Mark Hamill as the Joker in that in both cases, we had people who were known for playing a fairly straight forward even perhaps, bland heroic characters in major sci fi franchises. Luke Skywalker, and Deanna Troi, but they later ended up playing a far more interesting villainous character in a classic 90’s cartoon.
Its a shame that Sirtis didn’t do much animation after this. Her performance as Demona is easily on a par with any from David Warner, Clancy Brown, Mark Hamill or Tim Curry in any 90’s animated series, and I’d love to have seen her pop up in the DCAU at some point. She could have been the 5th major voice of 90s villainy.
Gargoyles was a reasonable success when it first aired, but it has since gone on to develop a major cult following and it regularly makes best cartoon lists.
There have been some negative evaluations of the series over the years such as from Bruce Timm the man responsible for all of the DCAU series alongside Paul Dini. Timm dismissed Gargoyles as being too “namby pamby”, and full of “Celtic Mythology crap”
Personally I would rate it as one of the best animated series of all time and deserving of its reputation as a cult classic.
Superman the Animated Series (1996-200)
A somewhat overlooked gem. I think this series is perhaps not given as much attention as either Batman or Spider-Man because Superman sadly has perhaps fallen in terms of popularity compared to other heroes. He’s obviously still a global icon and will always be, and in all fairness he has had a more successful life on television in the last 10 or so yeas via Smallville, the longest running American sci fi series of all time.
Still on the big screen Supes sadly can’t compete with Batman or Spider-Man. Batman has had the Nolan trilogy which has achieved unprecedented critical and commercial acclaim for comic book movies, whilst Spider-Man has starred in 5 films many of which have been regarded as among the greatest superhero films ever made.
Superman has only had 2 average films in terms of renown and impact spread out across ten years.
I’m not saying that that means Superman is dead. There no doubt will come a time when Superman is the most popular again, but right now, of the 3 most iconic heroes Batman, Superman and Spider-Man, I’d say he is the least popular and thus not surprisingly this series isn’t quite as remembered as the Batman and Spider-Man cartoons of the 90’s.
Anyway Superman I think gave us the best version of the man of tomorrow. He wasn’t too powerful which is often the key problem you run into with the character, and unlike the films he actually got a chance to fight super powered beings.
I think Superman had superior animation to many other 90s classics. Its stories were also both strong and faithful to the comics and it had a brilliant cast.
Superman was voiced by Tim Daly best known as J.T. Dolan on The Soprano’s, and Joe Hackett on Wings, whilst Dana Delany whose probably best known to modern audiences as Katherine Mayfair on Desperate Housewives voiced Lois Lane. The two stand out performances for me however were Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor and Michael Ironside as Darkseid.
Brown is the definitive Lex. He has more charisma than any on screen Lex. His voice is just so smooth, rich and full of character. The only problem with Lex in this series is that much like Roger Delgado as The Master in Doctor Who he always gets betrayed by his allies, which kid of makes you doubt his status as a super genius. I did think Brown’s Lex Luthor was far more impressive in the later Justice League series where they were able to make him more like his earlier 60s version, who was more of a mad scientist.
The version in this cartoon follows the later evil business man approach which I have never found as interesting, but it was good the way the DCAU much like with the Joker were able to blend the two different sides of the character by having him start out in this series as just a crooked business man, before having him progress into becoming a more dangerous villain in the later series.
In this respect I actually don’t mind that Lex gets his ass kicked a lot in this series as its quite cool seeing him go from a sleazy business man, who is in some ways out of his depth going up against villains like Brainiac, to eventually in the Justice League series the most powerful villain on earth.
Darkseid meanwhile is a truly terrifying foe. He is pure evil but the best thing is the way you get the feeling he is in control of everything around him. Also the series really goes to great lengths to establish him as a worthy foe for the Man of Steel. Throughout the series he bests Superman in combat, outsmarts him and brainwashes him and sets him loose on the earth where he kills innocent people.
He also murders one of Superman’s friends Dan Turpin right in front of him. It says a lot about a villain when he can kill someone in front of Superman of all people and Superman is completely powerless to stop him.
By far his best moment is when Superman bests him on his home planet and tosses him to his own people thinking that they will be glad to be free of the tyrant, they instead lift him up and carry him to safety after which Darkseid then declares
I am many things Kal El but here I am god!
Superman the animated series was part of the DCAU. It was made by the same team behind Batman the animated series and had a number of crossovers with that series.
The first was a three parter which saw the Joker and Lex team up to take down Superman after the Joker discovers a statue made of Kryptonite.
The fact that its Mark Hamill and Clancy Brown is just as cool as the fact that its the Joker and Lex Luthor.
Batman would pop up in two more episodes of Superman, whilst Supergirl popped up in an episode Batman to help Batgirl. In Superman and Batman’s next meeting Batman is completely taken over by Brainiac and Superman has to save him. However in their next appearance Ra’s Al Ghul (with David Warner reprising his role) very nearly steals Superman’s life force and powers, but Batman manages to save him.
So they both save each other against the Joker and Lex, and then each have a chance to save the other one from one of their most deadly enemies.
Superman never got a sequel like Batman, but this version of Superman did reappear in Batman Beyond and as a main character in the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated series of the 00s.
Clancy Brown and Michael Ironside reprised their roles as Lex Luthor and Darkseid in the two Justice League animated series, with Lex becoming arguably the main villain of Justice League Unlimited. The final episode of Justice League Unlimited and the DCAU itself saw a massive confrontation between Darkseid and Luthor.
I don’t think that this series was quite as good as Batman. I am a much bigger fan of the Batman character overall to be fair, but I don’t think that this series ever quite hit the highs of Batman. There isn’t an episode that’s on a par with the very best of Batman like Heart of Ice. I think that Batman was simply more sensational than Superman. You only have to look at the opening of Superman TAS to see how much more tame it is than Batman.
That’s not a bad intro but its not quite on the level of Batman’s. Its just basically clips of the show to music.
At the same time though whilst this series may not have hit the highs of Batman, I think it may have been more consistent. Batman did have some real low points where as with Superman there isn’t really an episode I dislike.
Also again the animation is much smoother than a lot of what we see in Batman. I think that the team had learned all of the tricks of the trade when they produced Superman and thus where able to avoid some of the mistakes of Batman.
Thus whilst it may not have been quite as ground breaking as Batman in some ways it was a better series and it still holds up as a classic in its own right.
Mighty Max (1993-94)
Mighty Max is a very overlooked series about a boy named Max, his talking fowl named Virgil and an ancient immortal warrior named Norman.
Virgil is said to be from Atlantis which was destroyed by the vastly powerful demon named Skullmaster. Skullmaster has now awoken in modern day and seeks to destroy all life on the planet.
Most episodes featured Skullmaster as the main villain or one of his minions, though a few did involve stand alone villains. Max travelled the world but also ventured into different dimensions and travelled through time in one episode.
The Skullmaster was voiced by Tim Curry in what is probably his best cartoon baddie role. David Warner also had a role in the series as Talon.
Like many 90’s cartoons it sometimes featured inappropriate levels of violence such as in the last episode of the series where the Skullmaster actually succeeded in killing Virgil and Norman leaving Max to face the monster alone though Max was able to undo their deaths.
The toys for this series might have been the best. They were faces in the shape of monsters from each episode that could open up and there would be a recreation of the setting of an episode complete with small figures of the characters inside.
The series was massively popular at the time, but sadly in recent years its not quite as remembered as other 90s series. I must admit even I forgot it until recently. I think that’s because for whatever reason its not yet been released on DVD which is a shame though thankfully the full series is still on youtube.
This series needs more recognition. It had an interesting premise, Dinosaurs, talking apes, giant sea monsters, zombies and Tim Curry as an evil dark lord. What more could you want!
The Dreamstone (1990-1995)
This barmy British cartoon was a wonderfully surreal and imaginative series that was quite unlike anything else on tv at the time or since.
It revolved around two lands the beautiful paradise, the land of Dreams run by the wizard like Dream Maker and Viltheed a dark hell like place where the evil Dragon Zordrak dwelled.
Zordrak had once been one of the Dream Makers council but he attempted to use the Dream stone, a powerful magical artefact that could bend reality itself to take control of the land of dreams. After his plan failed he turned from fox into a hideous reptilian monster and was banished from the land of Dreams forever.
In Viltheed Zordrak was served by an army of Reptile man called the Urpney’s whom he would regularly send into the land of dreams to try and steal the dream stone. Without the Dream stone’s protection the Land of Dreams would be vulnerable and he could send in his hideous ghostly Argorribles to decimate the land and condemn its inhabitants to an eternity of torment.
The conflict between Zordrak and the Dream Maker was a classic fallen Angel scenario. Zordrak was originally to be called Nasta Shelfim an anagram of Satan Himself.
Later episodes would see Zordrak attempt to use the Dream Stone’s power to try and conquer the entire universe itself.
The main characters aside from Zordrak and the Dream maker included two noops, elf like people who lived in the land of Dreams, Amberely and Rufus, Sergent Blob who commanded the Urpney’s and Urpgyor the Urpney’s leading scientist who was completely insane but still a genius responsible for all of the Urpney’s weaponry and technology.
The plot for every episode would usually revolve around Blob and his subordinates using some new invention of Urpgyor’s to try and steal the Dream stone and failing miserably.
The series in this respect followed on from the tradition of classic British cartoons such as Dick Dastardly. Blob’s haphazard attempts to steal the Dream Stone every week using a new super weapon of Urpgyor’s is comparable to Dastardly’s attempts to catch the pigeon using some fantastic new flying machine.
However the Dreamstone whilst comedic in some respects could also veer into darker territory.
Zordrak was a terrifying villain for younger children for instance. His endgame was to bring eternal torment to the land of Dreams and later the universe itself by bringing their worst nightmares to life. He had genuinely terrifying monsters as his pets including the Argorribles and worst of all the Frazznats, hideous, flesh eating, crab, dinosaur, shark like creatures that dwelled within the pit of no return.
In the first ever scene of the series Zordrak murders Captain Crigg one of his Urpney servants by tossing him into the pit of Frazznats who eat him alive. Crigg’s death is drawn out as we see Zordrak dangle him over the pit whilst he begs for mercy.
Considering hardly anyone ever dies in cartoons for the Dreamstone to open with a man being eaten alive was pretty daring.
Here it is.
You can see how Zordrak would be a lot scarier than you average Saturday morning Cartoon baddie. Zordrak would often punish the Urpneys at the end of each episode in an over the top way though Crigg was the only one he ever actually killed. These punishments were often played for laughs, but sometimes they could be quite violent such as in one episode where he covers them in burning hot wax and sets fire to them.
He also would turn them to stone where they would remain aware, fully conscious, but unable to move, speak or interact with the world around them forever. Compared to these guys Crigg actually got off lightly!
I always felt scared for the Urpney’s whenever they’d fail and they’d have to try and explain it to Zordrak.
I did like the way that the Urpneys all hated Zordrak too. It wasn’t a question of that they were his loyal servants who were devoted to his evil cause. They served him purely out of fear and if it were not for him would have never bothered the main heroes. Every time Zordrak was seemingly killed or lost the Urpney’s rejoiced just as much if not more than the Noops.
One of my favourite episodes sees a spell by Zordrak go wrong which turns him into a very nice person and the Urpney’s are all delighted. They get to hang up decorations and make the hell hole they live in look like a nice place, they happily hand back the dream stone that they finally managed to capture with some flowers and an apology to the dream master. They even put on plays and sing songs, but sadly a bump on the head restores Zordrak to his former persona much to the dismay of all the Urpney’s. “I told you it wouldn’t last”.
The fact that Zordrak’s own men hated him made him seem all the more frightening as it made him seem like he was dangerous to everything around him. It was also a nice twist as normally in fantasy series the villains mooks or minions are genuinely loyal to them. In Lord of the Rings for instance the Orcs though savage brutal monsters that even eat each other on a few occasions are genuinely loyal to Saruman and Sauron and love working for them. The Urpey’s however if anything are bigger victims of Zordrak than anyone else and actually the heroes seem somewhat unsympathetic at times for the way they view them all as evil and never make any attempt to help them over throw Zordrak.
Zordrak was voiced by Gary Martin a prolific British voice artist who has appeared in many productions on both sides of the Atlantic. One of Martin’s other high profile roles was as the virus Epidime in Red Dwarf .
These two roles I think demonstrate his versatility as a voice artist better than anything else as though they are both villains Epidime has a very high pitched, erratic voice and a jokey demeanour whilst Zordrak in contrast has a very deep, growling, demonic slow voice.
Originally the producers of the series wanted Christopher Lee to play Zordrak but he turned the role down. Their first 5 choices for the Dream Maker meanwhile some of whom turned it down, some of whom were too busy were Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy then all living actors who had played the Doctor in Doctor Who. Something tells me the makers of the series were big Whovians.
Billy Connolly, Frank Bruno and Ozzy Osborne meanwhile performed together on the War of the Urpney’s song that was used frequently in the series though none of them provided voices for the show it was still quite an unusual musical collaboration to say the least.
The only time Billy Connolly, Ozzy Osborne and Frank Bruno have sang about how hard it is to be reptile men serving a giant evil dragon.
Another piece of music used in the series was Better than a Dream which was used as the closing theme to the series. It was a more peaceful, serene piece of music in contrast to the march of the Urpney’s as this was meant to reflect the idyllic land of Dreams.
This song was unusually for the theme to a cartoon composed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. It would also later be covered by Katie Melua in 2012 almost 20 years after the Dreamstone had finished.
The Dreamstone was a truly great series full of imagination, humour and stunning visuals.
If t had one drawback then it was that perhaps its main heroes were somewhat dull and boring. Granted the Urpney’s had more screen time anyway, but still I think many people who watched the series was always a little bit annoyed when they lost as they were more interesting than the Moops.
Still overall I think the Dreamstone is a classic series and I think it deserves far more recognition. So far it has never been released on DVD and sadly whilst it does still have a very small but devoted cult following, its largely forgotten about.
I think that might be because it is a British cartoon. British things I think have a greater difficulty becoming known abroad than American forms of entertainment do.
Obviously at certain points British forms of entertainment are dominant such as during the British invasion started by the Beatles in the 1960s or to a lesser extent the new British invasion started in the late 00s by Amy Winehouse.
Still other than these little flourishes I think British forms of entertainment have to struggle more to be noticed abroad. Look at Star Trek and Doctor Who for instance.
Despite the fact that Doctor Who was a massive sensation in its native UK from almost the very beginning whilst Star Trek TOS was a massive flop in the USA we still saw Star Trek a few years after it had finished in the US, where as the Americans didn’t see Doctor Who properly until the late 70s almost 20 years after it had started in the UK.
Thus sadly it doesn’t surprise me that the Dreamstone is more overlooked than even the Gargolyes is.
The Dreamstone definitely deserves more attention and I hope someone big in the industry discovers it one day.
Animaniacs (1993-1998)
One of the most celebrated animated series of all time. Animaniacs in some ways I think was more of an old school cartoon. In terms of its animation, it was very slick of course, but in terms of its content, it wouldn’t have looked out of place in the 30s or 40s.
As we have explored, 90s cartoons tended to have more depth to them than previous decades. Whether that was Mr Freeze crying over his wife’s death, or Chuckie’s mum’s heart breakingly beautiful poem to her son. The 90s saw cartoons move from just being wacky little diversions, to more serious television series.
Even the more comedic cartoons still generally tended to have more hard hitting humour, such as South Park, the Simpsons and Beavis and Butthead.
Animaniacs was thus an attempt to return to more zany, light hearted cartoons that relied on pure slapstick like Tom and Jerry and Bugs Bunny.
There were even homages to the older cartoons. The Pinky and the Brain were shown to use equipment from Acme, the same infamous company who supplied Wile Coyote with his weapons that always backfired.
The show was really like the Amy Winehouse of cartoons in that it returned to the old style, and perhaps as a result of that it was a big hit. Its nice that series like Batman proved to people that cartoons could be more than amusing diversions, but its good to have cartoons that are just good old fashioned fun.
Animaniacs was produced by Steven Spielberg and was a very high budget series. It was an anthology cartoon that focused on a variety of mad characters. My favourite characters were always the Pinky and the Brain who later went on to star in their own animated series. They were voiced by Maurice LeMarche and Rob Paulsen both acclaimed voice actors. LeMarche gave Brain a voice resembling Orson Welles whom he would later impersonate in Futurama.
Its a shame that Animaniacs never quite entered into popular culture like the classic Warner Brothers cartoons but it is still fondly remembered and was in its own right a hilarious cartoon.
Jumanji (1996-1999)
Based on the short story of the same name, Jumanji was an exciting adventure series. It followed the same basic premise as the film adaptation, of two children trying to help a man who had been trapped in the game of Jumanji for decades.
The main villains of the series included the hunter Van Pelt, who was voiced by Sherman Howard, who also played Bub in Day of the Dead (a character who couldn’t be more different to Van Pelt), Professor J.S. Ibsen, an evil mad scientist who is really a cyborg voiced by William Sanderson, famous for his role as J. F. Sebastian in Blade Runner. And J.H. Trader voiced by Tim Curry.
Some of the stories could get quite wild, and involved things like giant chickens, and evil wizards who turned people into stone One story even saw one of the main characters become possessed by the spirit of Van Pelt, after he is seemingly killed.
The series like many 90s classic had a right balance of being light enough for children to enjoy, but having compelling enough stories for adults too.
Sadly the show has not yet been released on DVD but it is available on youtube.
Spider-Man (1994-1998)
Produced by John Semper Jr this series which introduced a whole generation of fans to the wall crawlers exploits, is probably the most 90s cartoon. In some ways it was very sophisticated and took itself very seriously, whilst in other ways it was perhaps a little bit more over the top than later, completely serious animated adaptations of Spider-Man.
Along with Gargoyles, it really helped to pioneer story arcs in cartoons, with all but the first series, having a thread that ran throughout most, if not all the episodes of each season. It also treated Peter Parker much like his comic book counterpart as a three dimensional hero, constantly doubting himself, struggling with every day problems, rather than just a bland, quip spouting, generic hero like previous versions.
It also stayed as faithful as it possibly could to the original source material and adapted many of the most iconic Spider-Man stories too, such as the alien costume saga, the death of Gwen Stacy, the mutation disease and the sinister 6.
Still at the same time its stories could get a little wild, and involved things like Spider-Man losing Mary Jane in a portal to another universe, and journey’s to alien planets. The last episode of the series saw Spider-Man battle an evil alternate universe version of himself, called Spider-Carnage, who tried to destroy every universe!
Even just minor details, like the cops running through the streets with laser guns instead of regular weapons made it seem somewhat more OTT.
Of course in many ways this just reflects the comic books themselves which obviously are very over the top as well. Still I often find that more modern adaptations, such as the Spectacular Spider-man will often try and tone these larger than life qualities down somewhat, where as this version if anything expanded on them.
I’m not saying that against Spider-Man the animated series. To me that’s a huge part of its charm, and also I think its interesting in hindsight as the show does almost feel like a transitional piece, between the old camp “Does whatever a Spide can” type cartoons, and the new, more serious adaptations.
Spider-Man is undoubtedly the most influential superhero animated series of its generation along with Batman. Like Batman it influenced not only the comic books themselves, but future adaptations.
This series depiction of Venom, one of Spider-Man’s archenemies, influenced literally every single version of the character that came after in some way.
In the comic books Venom’s origins began in the Secret Wars, a multi crossover event, where all of Marvels heroes and villains were taken to a far away planet called battleworld, by an evil godlike being called the Beyonder. There Spider-Man found a new costume in the Beyonder’s base. It was black and gave him limitless webbing, as well as the power to blend in with his surroundings.
Spider-Man took the new cool black costume home and kept it for several months until he discovered it was an alien symbiote, that was taking him over as he slept. He discovered this after going to Reed Richards for help. After getting rid of it the black suit, it would later jump him on his way home, and try to bond to him permanently. Spider-Man seemingly kills it using the power of the bells of a church (with sound being one of the symbiotes few weaknesses).
The suit survived however and would later bond to Eddie Brock, a reporter with a grudge against Spider-Man. The two merged to become Venom, a savage monster that wanted nothing more than to make Spider-Man suffer.
In the animated series Venom’s origin was greatly condensed. The Symbiote is found by astronaut John Jameson on the moon. It slips its way back to his ship, causing it to crash on the George Washington bridge, where when Spider-Man comes to rescue the astronauts, the suit bonds itself to him.
This nicely allows them to junk about 8 months worth of build up and go straight to the action, though as it turns out they did later do an adaptation of Secret Wars in the final season. Still this allowed Venom a chance to have a more straight forward, less overly complicated origin.
In additions to this, the animated series also somewhat improves on Venom’s origin in other ways. It has Eddie Brock working at the Daily Bugle where Peter Parker works, with the two having a clear dislike of each other from the start, which only serves to make their feud more bitter and hateful. In the comic though Eddie had a grudge against Spider-Man before bonding with the symbiote, he and Peter did not know each other at all.
More importantly the series also had it, that the Symbiote made Peter Parker stronger and that it made him violent. In the comics it never increased his physical strength and it also did not make him violent. It tried to take control of him when he slept, but it still steered him towards heroism.
Again this was an improvement in my opinion as it allowed the writers to tap into the darker side of Peter Parker, with the symbiote tapping into his feelings of rejection, entitlement and anger he had towards the world, for how it had always treated him.
The fact that the symbiote makes its hosts stronger also makes it like a drug with Peter and Eddie, who both come to crave the power and freedom it grants them. Ultimately however Peter proves to be stronger and manages to reject it, whilst Brock sadly believing he has nothing else allows it to completely consume him.
Finally the Venom of this series was portrayed as a total monster who was willing to murder innocent people in order to get Spider-Man. In the comic books Eddie Brock had a strong moral code that prevented him from harming innocents (except for Spider-Man whom he viewed as a monster.) He never harmed the likes of Mary Jane and Aunt May, Spider-Man’s loved ones and indeed when not trying to kill Spider-Man, he often tried to help people he deemed innocent.
Venom would even later team up with Spider-Man to take down Carnage, the symbiote offspring of Venom bonded to Cletus Kasady.
In this version however Venom is happy to murder Aunt May and Mary Jane in order hurt Peter. I must admit in this instance I don’t think this was an improvement on the original as I preferred Venom’s moral ambiguity.
Still improvements or not, all of these aspects have appeared in later versions. A lot of the time the symbiote will simply crash to earth like in this series. In the Spectacular Spider-Man it comes to earth via a space shuttle, exactly like in this series.
Also all versions of Venom have it that the symbiote makes Peter both stronger and more aggressive. In the Raimi film, the Specatcular Spider-Man series etc. The comic books themselves would later retcon it so that the suit made him aggressive and stronger in their continuity too. Many other versions will have the black suited Spider-Man effortlessly beat villains he’d normally struggle against, to demonstrate how powerful it is and even have him come close to killing them.
We see that in this series when the black suited Spider-Man tortures Rhino and nearly crushes him to death, in what is one of the darkest moments in the series. He also later comes close to murdering Shocker to. In the Raimi movie the black suited Spider-Man nearly kills the Sandman (who only survives through sheer luck) and scars the New Goblin. In the Spectacular Spider-Man meanwhile he defeats the entire sinister 6 on his own and had it not been for the police would have killed Doc Ock by stabbing him to death with one of his own tenticles.
Many later versions of Venom will also have Peter know Eddie Brock personally, before he becomes Venom, such as the Spectacular Spider-Man, which has them as friends before Eddie grows to dislike Peter, or the Raimi movie which like this series has Brock working at the Daily Bugle.
Finally all the later versions of Venom would depict him as a monster who is happy to kill innocent people, such as in the Spectacular Spider-Man, where Venom tries to murder Gwen Stacey, and the Raimi version, who murders many innocent police men, stabs Harry Osborne to death and tries to murder Mary Jane too and at one point even says “I like being bad it makes me happy”.
The Venom of this series is really like Bela Lugosi of Dracula, in that in both cases as much of what we think of, when we think of this character in popular culture, actually stems from this iconic portrayal, as it does from the source material itself.
Venom truly is Spider-Man’s ultimate foe. He is just a towering mass of unforgiving hate and the series unquestionably played a large part in making him what he was, and added to his enduring appeal.
Venom was voiced by Hank Azaria a prolific voice actor, who is most famous for providing many voices for The Simpsons including Moe, Chief Wiggum, Snake Apu, Professor Frink, Superintendent Chalmers and Frank “Grimey” Grimes. He has also had a few prominent live actions roles too in films such as Night at the Museum 2, Run Fatboy Run and he played David Phoebe’s scientist love interest in Friends.
Aside from Venom, this cartoon also influenced how the Green Goblin would be depicted too. In the comics the Green Goblin was simply driven mad when by a lab accident that also mutated him and gave him powers. He was already a pretty horrible guy before becoming a supervillain.
In this series Norman Osborne is shown to develop a split personality. Thus initially he is not responsible for his actions as the Goblin, but in an interesting twist on the Jekyll and Hyde idea, when the good side finds out about it, he is horrified at first but later goes along with his actions. The good side is a pansy, but actually deep down is as amoral as his evil one. Much like the black suited Spider-Man, the Goblin represents what Norman Osborne would like to do but is too weak to do.
This characterisation would be used beat for beat for the version in the Raimi movie. Willem Defoe’s Green Goblin also has a split personality and his Norman Osborne persona is also like the animated version, a pansy who relies on the Goblin to do what he feels needs to be done.
There is a scene in the Raimi movie of the scared Norman Osborne talking to his evil persona in the mirror, who manages to twist his mind into thinking that he is there to help him, that is taken straight from the animated series episode Goblin War.
The animated version also tries to patch things up with his son which again the film version does as well. Both the animated and film versions are also depicted as being more absentee fathers, than an abusive father like the comic book version.
Also this series had Mary Jane take the place of Gwen Stacey in Spider-Man and the Goblin’s famous duel atop the Brooklyn or George Washington Bridge, which ends in Spider-Man’s beloved falling from the bridge.
Whilst some fans disliked swapping in both the film and the tv series, Gwen for Mary Jane I personally thought it was effective as it meant you didn’t know what way it was going to go. If it were Gwen you’d know that they’d have to kill her.
The series also was the first to have a more sympathetic version of J Jonah Jameson. In the comics he is a total dickhead, and a miserable skinflint bastard who smears Spider-Man simply because he is jealous of him. In this series however he does have some redeeming features and his hatred of Sider-Man is said to stem from a dislike of vigilante’s after one caused the death of his wife. The Jameson from the Raimi films similarly is more sympathetic, and even risks his own life to protect Peter from the Goblin in the first Raimi movie.
Finally this series also brought the character of Blade to Avi Arad, the producer of the Marvel films attention. According to producer John Semper, Arad who was also an executive producer of this series, had never heard of the character and after this series wrapped, produced the big screen film adaptation starring Wesley Snipes.
This film kicked off the Marvel film craze which persists to this day. In many ways Blade was the best choice to use at that point. Vampires were very popular thanks to the likes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Lost Boys, Interview with the Vampire and Gary Oldman’s Dracula. Blade could be sold more as a Vampire film than a Marvel film. Marvel at that point couldn’t get arrested in Hollywood. Of course after the success of Blade all that changed and the likes of X-Men and Spider-Man followed in its wake, and eventually the Marvel Cinematic Universe followed them. But it was this series that brought Blade to Avi Arad’s attention in the first place.
This series also influenced how the character of Blade himself would be portrayed. In the original comics he was not actually a Vampire/human hybrid. He had a longer lifespan, and could sense vampires, but he was not actually a Vampire. This film marked the first time he was a Vampire, that had human qualities instead like compassion and could walk in the day, which earned him the nickname the day walker. This was carried over into the films and then the comic books which had him become a Vampire/human hybrid.
Furthermore the character of Whistler played by Kris Kristofferson who appears in all 3 Blade films, originated in this series where he was voiced by Malcolm McDowell.
Whistler would also go on to inspire a similar character in the Buffy franchise who was even called Whistler. Both Whistlers find a special Vampire, Angel and Blade who has more human qualities (in Blade’s case he is half human, in Angel’s case he has a human soul) who is living on the streets homeless and takes them in, trains them, becomes a mentor to them and teach’s them to use their powers to fight other members of their kind and become heroes.
Thus as you can see Spider-Man had an immense impact on the entertainment industry. Really its on the level of Batman in terms of how it inspired future versions of the character.
Spider-Man was also like Batman, part of a shared universe of animated series. It had crossovers with the 90s X-Men the animated series, the Iron Man animated series which in turn had crossovers with the Fantastic Four and Incredible Hulk animated series creating a Marvel Animated universe. The MAU as it has become known however was not like the DCAU in that it was not created by the one team and therefore there were some contradictions. It also did not last into the 00’s like the DCAU.
Spider-Man TAS benefited from having a strong cast. Christopher Daniel Barnes voiced the wallcrawler and in my opinion was the best voice for the character, as I think he captured Peter Parkers sense of humour, which is one of the most important aspects of his personality to get right.
Mark Hamill and David Warner naturally voiced villains in the series, The Hobgoblin and Doctor Landon.
The crossover episode with the X-Men featured both Landon and the Hobgoblin as the main villains and is thus one of the few times Hamill and Warner have worked together.
Ironically John Semper hated the Hobgoblin character and was forced to include him as there had already been a toy based made. The Hobgoblin thanks to Hamill’s performance went on to become one of the most popular villains in the series. Arguably the most popular after Venom and Carnage in fact, and Semper did later go on to say that working with Hamill was one of the highlights of his career.
I love it when Spider-Man says “I’d know that laugh anywhere”. You think “Yeah that’s the Jokers laugh!”
The main villain of the series was the Kingpin voiced by Roscoe Lee Browne. The Kingpin was re-imagined as a Moriarty figure to Spider-Man here often being the mastermind behind all of the other villains schemes.
Spider-Man the animated series did have some problems. Its animation though starting out strong, did get sloppy in the later seasons, as the budget was slashed and stock footage was often used in later episodes quite a lot too.
Still overall it was a truly groundbreaking series in some way, and ultimately one of the most important adaptations of Spider-Man.
Thanks for reading. Let me know what your top 90s cartoons are in the comments below.
“Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the Earth, and would it not be wonderful to meet Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill.”
From Charles Dickens classic novel Bleak House. This was the first ever mention of a Dinosaur in any work of fiction. The name Dinosaur itself had only been coined ten years earlier by Richard Owen, but the beasts were fast catching the public’s imagination. This reference, like much in Dickens novels reflected what was going on at the time.
The very earliest Dinosaur novels that followed after such as The Lost World, Journey to the Centre of the Earth and The Land That Time Forgot would lay down the foundations for nearly every subsequent Dinosaur story across all mediums.
Since the heyday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Rice Burroughs there have been many more exciting and ground breaking Dinosaur novels, such as Jurassic Park which helped to bring new and exciting theories about Dinosaurs to the public’s attention and changed how we viewed them.
I think that many of the greatest Dinosaur novels can help to show that Dinosaur fiction isn’t just something for children. Sadly many people tend to view having an interest in Dinosaurs as being childish, like in the American sitcom Friends for instance. The character of Ross Geller is frequently ridiculed by both the writers and the other characters for his love of Dinosaurs.
Stories like Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Jurassic Park and The Lost World meanwhile were written by among the most accomplished writers of all time. From Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Jules Verne. Clearly these great literary minds didn’t see Dinosaurs as a childish subject.
The greatest Dinosaur novels are more than just fun adventure stories. They tackle subjects such as exploring the unknown, man’s destructive effect on the environment and tampering with nature as we will soon see.
This list will not be presented in any order of preference, as ultimately I found that I couldn’t pick my all time favourite.
Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864)
The first novel to focus on prehistoric creatures. I wasn’t sure about whether or not to include this as technically there are no true Dinosaurs in it. The marine reptiles who attack our heroes are not actually Dinosaurs. Still I feel I have to include it in this list for a number of reasons.
To start with whilst creatures like Plesiosaurs may not technically be Dinosaurs, they are still often viewed as such in popular culture. Furthermore this was the first book to actually feature prehistoric creatures of any kind. Particularly those who lived at the same time as the Dinosaurs.
Also most importantly, Journey to the Centre of the Earth is essentially the template for close to every single Dinosaur story for the next 150 years.
It is the first story to revolve around a remote area on earth where prehistoric reptiles still roam. Whilst there are a few pieces of Dinosaur fiction that don’t follow this formula. Primeval, Jurassic Park, One Million Years BC etc. The majority do follow the basic premise of there being some little remote area on earth, a valley, a plateau, an island, an underground cave, where Dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals, Pterosaurs, Plesiosaurs, maybe even a tribe of proto humans and ape men or giant apes, still exist into modern day.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World and Edgar Rice Burroughs The Land That Time Forgot both follow this idea, except they moved the land of Dinosaurs to above the ground. Later films such as Gwangi and King Kong also stick to Verne’s formula beat for beat too.
Even the original Godzilla starts with this same premise, as Godzilla is shown to have come from a remote island where Dinosaurs still roam before he was mutated by an atomic blast.
There are even many other stories that revolve around the idea of Dinosaurs living in a land that exists within the Earth’s core. Edgar Rice Burroughs Pellucidar series which began with At the Earth’s Core as well as the Russian novel Plutonia are both among the most famous examples of the hollow earth subgenre.
Most Dinosaur stories are really just variations of Verne’s idea, though that’s not to do down these other works, as the variations ultimately allow them to stand out as classics in their own right.
It should be acknowledged at the same time that Journey to the Centre of the Earth was not the first Hollow Earth story either. Nothing is completely original, as just about every story has been done. All any writer can really do most of the time is just add a new variation to an old idea.
Still ultimately at the end of the day this novel is the forebear of most Dinosaur fiction, so in spite of the fact that there are no true Dinosaurs in it. (Only marine Reptiles and prehistoric mammals.) I still have to include it here.
The novel itself aside from its literary significance still holds up as a great adventure. Some critics have responded negatively to the fact that compared to Verne’s other novels, the science in it is rather dated. It has also been criticised for its very slow pace. .
Still personally I found it an enjoyable read right the way through. The scientific goofs don’t bother me as at the end of the day it is still science fiction. Plus whilst I know a bit about Dinosaurs, the same as any nerdy guy, I’m a complete scientific illiterate anyway.
Also I found the build up to their adventure at the center of the earth interesting as the three main characters, Otto Lidenbrock, his nephew Axel and their guide Hans are all very engaging.
Lidenbrock is a total hot head and the classic insufferable genius type of character like Sherlock Holmes (who he predates by about 20 years) taken to the utmost extreme. He actually locks his own nephew and maid in the house, and starves them until he can find a way to crack an ancient code! Despite this he is given a few moments that show deep down he does care for his nephew, in spite of his borderline psychotic behaviour towards him.
Axel meanwhile is a complete coward and utterly useless. In fact his bumbling almost kills the team and briefly strands them in the valley.
Hans meanwhile functions more as the straight man of the group and helps to balance out the two more extreme personalities of his companions.
The lost world of the story is intriguing as we don’t really know much about it. In later lost world stories we often get a complete image of the valley/island/plateau the main characters travel too. In King Kong and The Lost World we see the natives customs and even little bits of their history too. Peter Jackson did a whole fictional documentary about the history of Skull Island.
Here however it feels like we are only given little glimpses. On the one hand unlike Burroughs later Pellucidar series, Verne isn’t given a chance to really create his own unique little world in quite the same way, but on the other it does allow Verne to build up a more effective atmosphere.
When the main characters discover the remains of a large ape man they decided to avoid encountering one at all costs, which actually helps to make the creature more sinister.
For all we know it may have been a peaceful, even somewhat advanced creature that felt a kinship with the human explorers. Or it may have been a savage monster that would have ripped them limb from limb. The reader is allowed to build up an image of what the true beast could be like, and it becomes much more tense the knowledge that this large, mysterious creature could be lurking around any corner. For all we know it could be stalking the main characters.
Sadly Journey to the Centre of the Earth is not quite as remembered as some of Verne’s other works, but its impact on the genre is immeasurable. It has spawned a few adaptations over the years including 2 live action films, one in 1959 starring James Mason and another in 2008 starring Brendan Fraser.
Neither are particularly faithful to the novel, though both are still good movies nonetheless. The 2008 film does actually have genuine Dinosaurs in it too.
Overall a classic of the genre and the template for most Dinosaur stories.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World (1912)
From the creator of Sherlock Holmes, this was the first true Dinosaur novel.
The Lost World see’s Professor George Challenger lead a team consisting of Lord Summerlee, Lord John Roxton and Edward Malone to a plateau high above the Amazon rainforest where a variety of prehistoric creatures, as well as a tribe of human beings and vicious Ape men (who are at war with each other) roam. Challenger and his team help the natives wipe out the Ape men and later escape the Plateau with a Pterodactly egg. The egg later hatches in London, giving Challenger the proof he needs of his exploits.
Whilst Journey to the Centre of the Earth may have created the Lost World trope, this adventure perfected it. Far more aspects of this story pop up in future Dinosaur stories than from Verne’s novel. The tribe of humans, the giant two legged meat eating Dinosaur that stalks our heroes throughout the novel, and a creature from the lost world of Dinosaurs being brought back to a big modern city like London or New York. These tropes would all later re-appear in classic Dinosaur stories like King Kong, Gwangi and the Jurassic Park films.
Doyle’s Lost World is much more fleshed out than Verne’s. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. On the one hand there is less of an atmosphere and mystery about Doyle’s plateau, but on the other hand we do get more exciting Dinosaur sequences as a result, such as the Allosaurus’s attack on the natives village. The fact that we see the plateau in great detail also allows Doyle to explore a wider variety of ideas, such as how human beings would live alongside prehistoric beasts, how they would manage to tame them in some cases, yet also be completely humbled by the large meat eaters in others.
The natives are also given a very sympathetic and 3 dimensional portrayal unlike in some later adaptations of the novel, such as the Irwin Allen version in 1960 or other films with a similar premise such as King Kong. Whilst much of Conan Doyle’s work was of its time, it is true that he was a very progressive writer in a number of ways too.
He created one of the most memorable female characters in all of fiction in the shape of Irene Adler, who manages to be the only person to beat Sherlock Holmes. Another short Sherlock Holmes story by Doyle “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton” features another female character who wins Holmes respect and actually kills the main villain of the story.
The Lost World similarly can be seen to perhaps be ahead of its time, in that the main characters are shown to have the utmost respect for the natives and their customs. The natives are also depicted as highly civilized and advanced.
A problem with the Lost World is that there perhaps are too few Dinosaur species in it. Allosaurus is the only meat eating Dinosaur to appear in the novel
In all fairness to Doyle however there weren’t that many Dinosaur species known when he wrote this book. Even Tyrannosaurus Rex though it had been discovered by this point, it’s fossils were not that well known.
Still Doyle manages to use his single meat eater in a variety of different ways. When our heroes first encounter the Allosaurus, the reader is given just a fleeting glimpse of how immense and dangerous the beast is, as the explorers are tormented by the sounds of the Iguanodons screaming in the dark.
This just helps to make Malone’s encounter with the Dinosaur in the jungle more effective, as Malone has to deal with a monster that slaughtered an entire herd of giants by himself. Doyle doesn’t just simply have the beast attack however. He builds up the terror gradually as Malone slowly realises he is being followed through the woods by the Allosaur.
Finally when the two Allosaurus’s attack the natives village Doyle show the reader how the Allosaurus truly is the king of the Lost World. The latter part of the book builds the natives who keep Iguanodon’s as pets, hunt Icthyosaurs, and wiped out the Ape men, as seemingly the dominant life on the plateau, yet they are ultimately just powerless against the Allosaurs as anyone else.
The attack on the village was always my favourite sequence from the novel, and surprisingly it is left out of almost all adaptations (except for the 2001 telemovie version, made by Impossible Pictures, the team behind Primeval and Walking with Dinosaurs.)
Another problem with The Lost World is that Edward Malone, the main protagonist is a bit bland. Lord John Roxton meanwhile is also at times a bit annoying the way he is shown to be perfect at everything.
Challenger and Summerlee make an interesting team however. They are almost like two squabbling brothers trying to constantly get one over on the other. It’s also nice seeing them eventually grow to develop respect and even something of a friendship over the course of their time on the Plateau. Though they never become close, the best they become is vitriolic friends.
Professor Challenger was actually Conan Doyle’s favourite creation, even more so than the great detective himself. Challenger is a brilliant character all around. He is cut from the same cloth as Sherlock Holmes in the sense that he too is a maverick genius who plays by his own rules, yet he is almost the complete opposite in every other respect. He is loud, short tempered, violent, boisterous, even physically he is an absolute tank of a man with a massive beard. There is one funny sequence where the leader of the ape men feels a certain kinship with Challenger because he resembles him so much.
Whilst Challenger may not have as complex a personality as Holmes, he still has a huge presence which does somewhat make up for Malone’s blandness.
The Lost World has been adapted more than any other Dinosaur novel across both film and television. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself even appeared in the first ever adaptation in 1925.
No adaptations have remained completely faithful to Doyle’s novel. A female explorer is always added for a bit of variety and also often to supply Malone with a love interest. This began with the very first adaptation in 1925. Roxton also tends to vary between being a hero, an anti hero and even in some cases an outright villain. Tyrannosaurus Rex also often takes Allosaurus’s place as the king of the Lost World too, whilst the natives are often presented in a much more unsympathetic light, though many versions have added a sympathetic native girl at least who helps to save the explorers. The native girl may even become a love interest of Malone or Roxton. The friendly female native first appeared in the 1960 Irwin Allen version and has been a staple ever since.
To be fair this character does have something of a small precedent in the book itself. Just before they leave the Plateau all 4 of the explorers are offered up wives by the natives, but they politely turn them down. Their proposed wives play no real role in the story however, but the idea of the explorers finding romance as it were on the Plateau is not entirely a deviation from Doyle’s story.
The most faithful adaptation of Doyle’s novel is arguably the 2001 tv miniseries produced by Tim Haines, the man behind Walking with Dinosaurs. This version stays close for the most part to the original novel and even has Allosaurus as the main Dinosaur. It also refreshingly portrays the natives as a civilised and advanced society rather than a group of vicious savages.
However once again there is a female explorer and whilst the natives are portrayed sympathetically, they do still turn on the explorers after Challengers actions accidentally cause the two Allosaurus to attack the village. The natives however seem to forgive Roxton who in a further deviation is left behind and marries the friendly native girl of this version.
The Lost World is to Dinosaur fiction what Dracula is to Vampire fiction. Its the quintessential Dinosaur adventure and one of the most influential pieces of prose ever written.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would be surprised to see the two women as well as the T-Rex’s on his plateau.
Caspak Trilogy (1924)
The Caspak trilogy consists of The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot, and Out of Time’s Abyss. All 3 have regularly been collected together in one volume, though they are also still released separately too. For the sake of this list however I have decided to list them as one story. I feel they work better as the one adventure.
The Caspak trilogy represents a somewhat grittier, darker take on the Lost World idea than either The Lost World or Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
The main characters do not choose to visit Caspak for the sake of scientific curioisty. Instead they become trapped there after their mission is sabotaged by a traitor. Furthermore the explorers do not all willingly work together either. They are made up of British, American and German soldiers from the First World War, who are forced together to survive, but who ultimately betray one another.
None of the explorers in The Lost World or Journey to the Centre of the Earth were killed either. They all made it back and were given happy endings to boot, where as in Burroughs trilogy, many of the main characters meet violent ends at the hands of the Dinosaurs and monsters they come across.
The darker more pessimistic tone of Land That Time Forgot can be seen to reflect the time this story was written when compared to the earlier classics. This adventure written not long after the first world war, and not long before the great depression reflects a more unsure, darker time as opposed to The Lost World.
In terms of the Dinosaurs there is a much larger bestiary of creatures, with Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus making an appearance. Edgar Rice Burroughs was fascinated by Dinosaurs. Arthur Conan Doyle and Jules Verne merely had an interest in them, but Burroughs loved them so much he would write many books about the beasts. The second entry in the series however tends to focus more on the natives of the island. The second and third books also create a new kind of creature, a vicious winged humanoid known as the Wieroo, which is feared by many of the natives even more so than the Dinosaurs!
The Wieroo marks the beginning of a trend in future Lost World stories of introducing new, fictional beasts, which Burroughs would continue to a greater extent in his Pellucador series.
Burroughs also goes into much greater detail about his Lost World than even Conan Doyle did and he provides a full and proper explanation as to why it exists. Here evolution is determined by the location of the island and individual mutation. It’s a complicated process which Burroughs describes as such in Out of Time’s Abyss.
“All came up from the beginning. The egg from which they first developed into tadpole form was deposited, with millions of others, in one of the warm pools…. Down the warm stream from the pool floated the countless billions of eggs and tadpoles, developing as they drifted slowly toward the sea. Some became tadpoles in the pool, some in the sluggish stream and some not until they reached the great inland sea. In the next stage they became fishes or reptiles, An-Tak was not positive which, and in this form, always developing, they swam far to the south, where, amid the rank and teeming jungles, some of them evolved into amphibians. Always there were those whose development stopped at the first stage, others whose development ceased when they became reptiles. Few indeed were those that eventually developed into baboons and then apes, which was considered by Caspakians the real beginning of evolution. From the ape the individual, if it survived, slowly developed into the lowest order of man — the Alu — and then by degrees to Bo-lu, Sto-lu, Band-lu, Kro-lu and finally Galu. And in each stage countless millions of other eggs were deposited in the warm pools of the various races and floated down to the great sea to go through a similar process of evolution outside the womb as develops our own young within;
Burrough’s also even gives his Lost World a name Caspak, though it is known as Caprona by the explorers with Caspak being the name its natives give to it.
The Caspak trilogy is also notable for its strong female characters. Whilst much of the novel is still of its time in terms of attitudes to race and gender, Lys La Rue from Land That Time Forgot and the native girl Ajor from People That Time Forgot are both portrayed as strong, brave, resourceful and regularly save the main male characters lives.
Lysa is actually in some ways portrayed as being more competent than Bowen J Tyler. It is Lysa who not only figures out the identity of the real saboteur, but also singlehandedly saves the British crew from the Germans after they are captured in the opening part of the novel. She is also shown to survive the horrors of the island by herself for several days after she becomes separated from Bowen.
Burroughs generally tended to write more dynamic and interesting female characters than many of the contemporaries. By modern standards his female characters may be somewhat lacking, but still much like Doyle he tended be ahead of the curve in more ways than one.
Whilst the Caspak trilogy may not be Burrough’s best work, they are still exciting and engaging stories in their own right and a must have for any fan of Dinosaur fiction.
The three books were later adapted as two films for Amicus studios in the 70s, The Land that Time Forgot, People that Time Forgot starring Doug McClure.
Pellucidar novel series (1914-1944)
Whilst this is technically a series, ultimately much like the Caspak trilogy, I feel that the Pellucidar novels work better as a one long story. That’s not to say that the individual stories aren’t great in their own right, but still I find that when you read one it isn’t enough. You have to read another and another, so I am listing all the books together in this list.
Burrough’s has always been one of my favourite authors because I think he really had a talent for creating whole worlds that would spread out across many books like no other.
Most writers would usually only create one big fictional universe like J R R Tolkien and Middle Earth, but Burrough’s has many with Tarzan, John Carter, Pellucidar, Caspak and the Amtor (Venus) series. Though the Tarzan and Pellucidar series were actually linked via a crossover story, Tarzan at the Earth’s Core.
The Pellucidar series revolves around yet another land at the center of the earth where Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures still roam to this day, but it combines magical, fantastical elements with science fiction concepts.
Its much wilder than previous Lost World stories and features ideas like sentient Pterosaurs called Mahars, that are able to take control of people via mind control and kill their victims by forcing them to drown themselves. Best of all is a flying Stegosaurus that is able to glide through the air using the plates on its back in Tarzan at the Earth’s core.
Pellucidar takes the Lost World formula to a whole new level by filling it full of many fictional species of creatures. Previous Lost World stories had featured fictional creatures from the giant Ape man in Journey to The Centre of The Earth, to the Ape Men in The Lost World, to the Wiemoo in the Caspak trilogy. However all of these monsters were different in that they all had at least some basis in science. Pellucidar takes it to a whole new level by having actual supernatural creatures inhabit the Lost World.
From this point on most Lost World stories will often invent their own monsters as well as having regular Dinosaurs such as Skull Island with King Kong, the Savage Land in Marvel Comics with its various Dinosaur and ape men and even later versions of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Lost World, such as the version in the 1990’s tv series that has everything from Dinosaur men, to Aliens from outer space, to Vampires!
The Pellucidar series had a massive influence on many subsequent works of fiction including H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountain of Madness. I’d also argue that it had an influence on subsequent adaptations of other Lost World stories too. The friendly native girl that often pops up in the later versions of The Lost World really has more in common with Dian the Beautiful from this series.
The full series consists of
At the Earth’s Core (1914)
Pellucidar (1915)
Tanar of Pellucidar (1929)
Tarzan at the Earth’s Core (1929)
Back to the Stone Age (1937)
Land of Terror (1944)
Savage Pellucidar (1963)
Surprisingly there have only been two adaptations of stories from the series. One film version of At the Earth’s Core in the mid 70’s starring Peter Cushing and Caroline Munro, and another television adaptation of Tarzan at the Earth’s Core which served as the pilot for a Tarzan tv series.
Raptor Red (1995)
This novel was written by paleontologist Bob Bakker. It tells the story of a Utahraptor named Red and her attempts to survive after her pack’s death.
Its obviously written from a third person perspective. Think of it as being like Walking with Dinosaurs though it actually came a few years earlier.
The story despite being written by one of the worlds leading experts on Dinosaurs does take a few creative liberties with what the Dinosaurs could actually do.
Utahraptor for instance whilst being a formidable predator most likely would not have been able to kill a sauropod like it does in this novel.
Its quite an interesting change to focus on a predatory Dinosaur. Normally stories that feature only Dinosaur characters tend to focus on the herbivores like say The Land Before Time. The novel does quite a good job of getting us to sympathise with and root for what was one of the most dangerous predators ever to live on the planet!
I don’t know if I’d rate it quite as a classic but it is an enjoyable read nonetheless. Its fun reading about Dinosaurs frolicking in their natural habitat and running around without any damn humans getting in the way.
Jurassic Park (1990)
There are many reasons Jurassic Park stands out as the most acclaimed Dinosaur novel after The Lost World itself.
Obviously it has benefited in terms of fame from the fantastic film adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg in 1993, but still I think the novel can hold its own even without the film.
It’s not just another variation of the Lost World theme. That’s the problem with Dinosaurs is that as interesting as they are, there are only a few ways you can bring them back into the modern world.
Jules Verne and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle basically established the method to bring them back by having them survive in a little remote area, and after that you can tell it was hard for writers to think up new ways that weren’t just variations of that. Even Godzilla though a very different type of Dinosaur story still used that method to bring the titular Dinosaur into modern day.
Jurassic Park which had the Dinosaurs brought back by cloning broke the mould and in doing so was able to explore a new theme. Jurassic Park explores the idea of man tampering with nature, rather than exploring the unknown like The Lost World.
The Dinosaurs are almost like a prehistoric Frankenstein Monster turning on the people who created them. Whilst the ideas in the novel of Dinosaurs being brought back through cloning might seem far fetched, it might not be complete science fiction.
Jack Horner a leading Paleontologist (who worked on the Jurassic Park films) has in fact embarked on a project to clone a Dinosaur from a Chicken!
Crichton’s novels may still turn out to be somewhat prophetic!
Of course it should be said that Jurassic Park was not actually the first novel to explore the idea of Dinosaurs being brought back by cloning.
Carnosaur by Australian author John Bronson revolves around Dinosaurs being created in the modern day through cloning, and it predated Jurassic Park by about 6 years. Now I have not had a chance to read Carnosaur yet so I am afraid I could not include it on this list, though it sounds brilliant.
Having looked at its synopsis it appears to be more of a comic book type of story about a mad professor who plans to have his Dinosaurs repopulate the earth. Not that I am holding that against it, but still I think this is where Jurassic Park establishes its own identity in that it sees people try and capitalise on the new scientific discovery instead.
Still its interesting seeing how nothing is original. Even something as ground breaking as Jurassic Park has a precedent.
It would be funny to think that at some point in 1990 this might have happened to Michael Crichton after he sold his novel to his publisher, and was talking about this great new idea he had of Dinosaurs being brought back by cloning to his friend at the local store; only for the person behind the counter who was a fan of Carnosaur to give him a dressing down like this. It could also have happened to Edgar Rice Burroughs when he talked about his new idea about Dinosaurs living at the center of the earth called At the Earth’s Core, and a fan of Journey to the Center of the Earth told him off.
Maybe Skinner shouldn’t have given up on Billy and the Cloneasaurus after all?
Another great thing about the way this novel portrays its Dinosaurs is that it actually tries to make them seem like real animals. Jurassic Park helped to bring what at that time were many ideas and theories about Dinosaurs that weren’t widely known to the public’s attention, such as the idea that some Dinosaurs may have been warm blooded and that birds evolved from small meat eating Dinosaurs.
The Dinosaurs in this novel are fast, quick and as realistic as they can possibly be. There are still a few gaffes however. Most famous of all is that Velociraptor is depicted as a 6 foot tall killer capable of disembowling a human being with its sickle like claw. In reality Velociraptor was the size of a turkey. The reason for this was because at that time Velociraptor was considered a member of the Deinonychus family, a much larger group of meat eating Dinosaurs, but this has since been disproven.
Still the book did more than simply use Dinosaurs for thrills and escapism. It tried to teach its reader about them.
Finally the Velociraptors also helped to make a break from the usual Tyrannosaurus/Allosaurus giant meat eater. The T-Rex still got a look in, but the Raptors gave us Dinosaur enemies who could fight you indoors, sneak up on you, even in some circumstances outwit you. The way they killed you was also more gruesome too. With a T-Rex and an Allosaurus its at least over in just one quick bite. With the Raptors its a horrific, painful, drawn out affair as they slice your guts open and eat you alive!
The novel does have some key differences with the film though I won’t reveal what they are so as not to spoil it for people who might only be familiar with the film. It’s a classic piece of entertainment in its own right every bit as much as the film and I can’t recommend it enough.
The Lost World (1995)
The only sequel that Crichton ever wrote to one of his books. This is not as strong as the original. Really I’d say that there is as big a gulf in terms of quality between the first and second books as there is between the first and second films.
However don’t think that means I dislike the book. I happen to still love the second film too by the way. The Lost World doesn’t really add to the point of the first film. It’s plot is really just a collection of Dinosaur attacks.
That’s not to say it isn’t still a page turner of course. The Dinosaur attacks are very exciting and creative such as the Carnotaurs that have camouflage abilities or the Tyrannosaurus Rex’s smashing the trailer over the edge of a cliff ( a scene that was later used in the film), but again whilst its a good read it doesn’t really feel like it has much else to say from the first book.
It bares very little similarity to the film. In fact the only scene from the book that is in the film is the T-Rex vs trailer scene. It could be argued that Spielberg’s film borrows as much from Conan Doyle’s Lost World as it features the idea of a Dinosaur being brought back to civilisation from Doyle’s novel. Really Spielberg’s film is like a hybrid of the two Lost Worlds.
When I first read the book it was like reading a completely new story. I’d say that the book is at places more of a character piece focusing on how Ian and Sarah survive on the island than the film. Definitely worth a look, but not quite the classic the first Jurassic Park is.
Allosaurus is probably the most represented giant meat eating Dinosaur in popular culture after Tyrannosaurus Rex.
At one point I’d say that it was the second most famous Dinosaur of all time, but in more recent years it has been replaced by other Dinosaurs such as Velociraptor and Triceratops.
Still it does have a fairly large body of work behind it and in this article I am going to explore its role in popular culture.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World
Allosaurus appeared in this novel as the main predatory Dinosaur.
It appears in three sequences. First it murders several Iquanodon’s in the middle of the night and briefly attacks the main characters before Lord Roxton chases it away with a torch.
It later chases Edward Malone when he is exploring on his own into a pit after which it abandons him. Malone theorizes that the great Saurians were practically brainless and that’s why it loses interest as soon as it can’t see him and heads off.
Finally two Allosaurus’s attack the Natives village when they steal two of their eggs. They kill dozens of them, destroy their houses and buildings until the natives manage to kill them with a barrage of poison arrows.
This sequence was always my favourite in the novel as it showed the reader just how vulnerable the humans were on the plateau.
Two Allosaurus’s very nearly destroyed the entire village. Up until that point in the novel it appeared as though the humans were at the top of the food chain on the plateau the way they hunted the Iquanodon’s, the Icthyosaurs and wiped out their rivals the Ape men, but this scene shows you how mankind are in Malone’s words only there on tolerance. A pack of Allosaurus could exterminate all trace of them in about 10 minutes if they wanted too.
The giant predator of the novel is never actually identified as an Allosaurus. Challenger only speculates that it is an Allosaurus, though Summerlise also says that it could be a Megalosaurus.
The two men admit that it could be any one of the great meat eaters and so I suppose its up to the reader to decide which one it is.
Still its often considered to be an Allosaurus most of the time so what the hell I’ll list it here anyway.
The Lost World (1925)
The first ever film adaptation of Conan Doyle’s novel (which he himself appeared in) featured Allosaurus as the main predatory dinosaur.
A Tyrannosaurus Rex appears too and is portrayed as the most powerful creature on the Plateau as it effortlessly kills a large Ceratopsian Dinosaur that mere minutes ago had gored an Allosaurus to death with its horns.
Still Allosaurus has more screen time. Only one scene is taken from the novel where it attacks the camp fire. One humorous moment see’s Roxton toss the torch into the Allosaurus’s mouth which makes it look like its smoking a cigar.
Probably the most famous moment in the film is when an Allosaurus pushes a Brontosaurus over the edge of a cliff.
The special effects in this film were supplied by Willis O’Brien who would later go on to provide the effects for King Kong in 1933.
Allosaurus was O’Brien’s favourite Dinosaur which is probably why he gave it a bigger role than Tyrannosaurus. Tyrannosaurus had only been discovered about 25 years before this film was released and as it was thought to be the largest meat eating dinosaur of all time it had completely overshadowed Allosaurus. So it was only natural that Tyrannosaurus would appear in the film.
Still O’Brien’s loyalty to Allosaurus meant that he still got the bigger part.
The Beast From Hollow Mountain
This 50’s movie about Cowboy’s fighting Dinosaurs was made by Willis O’Brien. It originally began as a project called the Valley of the Gwangi, that would have seen an Allosaurus discovered in a valley alongside other prehistoric beasts be brought back to a Circus where it escapes and murders several lions, before being killed by being knocked over the edge of a cliff.
The project finally materialized as Beast From Hollow Mountain and bore very little resemblance to O’Brien’s original script other than them both revolving around Dinosaurs fighting cowboys.
No explanation is given as to how the Allosaurus is alive in modern day. It just shows up and starts eating people and cattle.
The film is still brilliant nonetheless. Its often regarded as one of O’Brien’s weaker films, but I don’t know why.
Its an interesting and original idea of merging the Western and giant monster movie genre’s. The beast itself is also an impressive monster. I like the way its fast. Normally the big Dinosaur villains in movies are obviously slow so its quite frightening and surprising when the Beast darts after the main characters. This is also actually more accurate too as Allosaurus could run at 35 miles per hour which is faster than any land animal alive today except for Ostriches, Horses and Cheetah’s. Thus it would easily be able to outrun a human being despite its massive size.
Its death sequence is also spectacular as we see the monster struggle and writhe as it sinks into the swamp. Like all truly classic monster movie deaths such as Kong and Godzilla’s deaths its quite moving in a way as the beast looks so helpless when it sinks.
The Animal World
Allosaurus appears in this film that was basically the 1950’s version of Walking with Dinosaurs. It attempted to tell the story of all life on earth and though it did try to be as accurate as possible, by today’s standards it is dated. It features many theories that are now often used as a by word for showing how little we understood Dinosaurs in the past such as the idea of Sauropods living in the water or Dinosaurs not caring for their young.
Still I find that its quite an interesting little time capsule much like the statues in Crystal palace of Iguanodon that help us to see how much our understanding of Dinosaurs has changed throughout the years. The dinosaur sequences themselves are also very well animated and too.
In all fairness there are aspects of Walking with Dinosaurs itself that are dated by today’s standards such as the idea of non feathered Raptors.
The Allosaurus is described in this movie as the precursor to the Tyrannosaurus Rex (though the two were not actually related, T-Rex in fact is much more closely related to modern day birds than it is to Allosaurus) and archenemy of the Brontosaurus. Brontosaurus doesn’t actually exist as what they thought was a Brontosaurus was in fact another specimen of Apatosaurus so this is another example of how the film is dated. By the time this film was made it was already known that Brontosaurus did not exist. Its name had simply become much more well known. To be fair it is a much, much better name.
Allosaurus only actually appears fleetingly where it menaces a Brontosaurus. The meat eater with the most screen time in the film is in fact Ceratosaurus.
The effects for this movie were supplied by Willis O’Briend and Ray Harryhausen, Obrien’s protege and friend.
One Million Years BC
Allosaurus appeared in this 60’s remake of One Million BC. This is a classic example of the remake being better than the original in pretty much every way. The sets, direction, the music, the acting and above all else the special effects supplied by Ray Harryhausen.
Allosaurus appears in a sequence where it attacks a tribe of cavemen. There are a lot of really creative and thrilling moments in this scene such as when the Allosaurus fishes the cave men who are swimming in the lake out, or when it corners a young girl trapped in a tree which is somewhat reminiscent of the scene in King Kong when the Brontosaurus corners a sailor up a tree.
Its probably a little homage as Kong was the film that directly inspired Harryhausen more than any other and there are little bits and pieces of it scattered throughout all of his work.
By far and away the most spectacular moment of the fight is when the main hero Tumak kills the monster by impaling it and actually lifts it off the ground before ramming a spear into its throat!
The Allosaurus sequence is one of the three most famous scenes from the film. The other two are when the Pteranodon captures Raquel Welch and carries her above its young, and the fight sequence between the Ceratosaurus and the Triceratops.
Often whenever you see Dinosaur documentaries mentioning how man and dinosaurs (except for Birds) didn’t live side by side you will see an image of Tumak fighting the Allosaurus with a spear. I must admit whenever I picture cavemen and Dinosaurs living together this is also the image that pops into my head first.
Gwangi
This Dinosaur western originally began as an idea by Willis O’Brien and was finally made into a movie in the late 60’s by Ray Harryhausen.
O’Brien did make a Dinosaur western in the 50’s The Beast From Hollow Mountain, but Harryhausen’s Gwangi actually followed the plot of O’Brien’s original idea more closely.
The main meat eating Dinosaur in the film Gwangi is often identified as an Allosaurus and O’Brien had intended him to be, but in truth he is actually a hybrid of Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Harryhausen said that he wanted to incorporate elements from both meat eaters.
Though Allosaurus may look like just a smaller Tyrannosaurus the two predators were actually very different.
Allosaurus was faster than Tyrannosaurus. Tyrannosaurus meanwhile was far more powerful and intelligent. Thus Gwangi has the speed and agility of an Allosaurus and the big bite and intelligence of a Tyrannosaurus.
Harryhausen dubbed Gwangi a Tyrannosaurus Al, “Odd Lizard King”.
The Land of the Lost
A female Allosaurus named Alice appeared as a regular antagonist in this classic campy 70’s series about a group of explorers who fall through a portal into another universe where Dinosaurs still roam. She doesn’t pursue the main characters quite as often as Grumpy the large male Tyrannosaurus who is the main villain of the series.
Still despite this she is also the only creature in the series that Grumpy never bothers by and large, though the two do fight each other on a few occasions. Some fans however speculate that Alice and Grumpy are actually mates (which would make her child another T-Rex/Allosaurus hybrid)
Big Alice is also worshipped by the reptile men the Sleevaks whose eggs she protects in exchange for sacrifices (which at one point includes the main characters of the series!) They refer to her as Seleema.
Alice also appeared in the 2009 film remake of the series. Once again she is shown not to be afraid of Grumpy.
She gets killed however in a surprisingly gruesome way when the main characters toss a can of nitrogeon down her throat which freezes her and then causes her to explode.
The 70’s Grumpy and Alice.
The 00’s Grumpy and Alice.
Walking with Dinosaurs
Allosaurus appeared in 3 episodes of this ground breaking BBC series.
In Time of the Titans several Allosaurus attack the main protagonist, a female Diplodocus at various points in her life. The episode gives an insight into how Allosaurus may have hunted the giant Sauropods as we see the creatures use their superior speed and agility to leap through through the air onto their backs and hack at them with their hatchet like jaws.
There is also a memorable sequence of an Allosaurus confronting a Stegosaurus that uses its plates to scare the beast off. This is undoubtedly one of the most famous images from the series.
I always loved the design of the Allosaurus in this series. It looked fast, but powerful and the bright red crests on its head were very striking. I always preferred the Allosaurus in this series to the Tyrannosaurus.
In the fifth episode of the series “The Spirits of the Ice Forest” which is set during the Cretaceous period features a smaller relative of the now extinct Allosaurus which is simply referred to as a polar Allosaur.
This creature is not as big or as powerful as its Jurassic ancestor, though its still depicted as a dangerous carnivore in its own right and it actually manages to kill the main Dinosaur of the episode the female Leaellynasaura who it crushes in its jaws and then decapitates.
A young male Allosaurus is the main character in the Christmas special The Ballad of Big Al. This story was based around the discovery of a real life near complete Allosaurus skeleton that was nicknamed Big Al and attempted to try and tell the story of its life.
In many ways I think Walking with Dinosaurs helped to reintroduce Allosaurus to a whole generation of people. By the time this documentary came around Allosaurus had kind of fallen out of popular culture. Velociraptor and Triceratops had kind of taken its place. I think it was because people tended to see Allosaurus as just the second rate T-Rex.
Its a shame as Allosaurus is every bit as fascinating an animal as any other Dinosaur in its own right and in terms of story telling I think its quite a good mix of Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor. Its big and can eat you whole like T-Rex, but its also fast and nimble like the Raptors and also like the Raptors it is also often depicted as living in packs.
Thus I think you can do a lot with it and I think this series which showed Allosaurus as a fast, strong, intelligent carnivore helped to break it away from just being the second rate T-Rex. I suppose this series was really its second big break.
The Lost World mini series
This 2001 BBC adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic novel starring Bob Hoskins restored Allosaurus to being the main villain of the story.
Produced by the same team behind Walking with Dinosaurs this is the most faithful adaptation of the novel ever made.
There are a few changes namely the inclusion of the character Agnes Cluny played by the lovely Elaine Cassidy in what was her breakthrough role and her insane father played by Peter Falk. These are more practical changes than anything else as naturally modern versions tend to include a female character to give it a bit of variety, whilst Falk’s character who strands them there is clearly designed to make Lord Roxton seem more sympathetic. In the novel its a man named Gomez whose brother Roxton betrayed on a previous expedition that strands them on the Plateau. Some versions have made this a much more important plot point and even turned Roxton into an outright villain, but this version makes him a dashing hero. At the end of the mini series in a further deviation from the book he stays in the Plateau and marries a native woman who he rescued from n Allosaurus. He also keeps an Allosaurus skull in their tent as a trophy!
All of Allosaurus’s sequences are taken straight from the novel. It attacks the camp fire and chases Malone (and Agnes) into a pit, though here it also falls in with them and becomes impaled on the spikes below. It also is shown to attack the village too (though here it is summoned by the Ape men who are kept prisoner by the humans)
This is the first ever adaptation to include the Allosaurus’s attack on the camp. I don’t know why as it always had the potential to be a spectacular sequence.
Tyrannosaurus Rex isn’t even mentioned in this film which is refreshing. As much as I like T-Rex (its my favourite Dinosaur) it is the main Dinosaur in just about every adaptation of The Lost World after Willis O’Brien’s original version. So its great to see Allosaurus back as the king of the Lost World once again.
Jurassic Park Operation Genesis
Allosaurus appears in this game based on the Jurassic Park franchise. Its a shame that it has never appeared in any of the films even in just a cameo but at least it has been represented in the games.
The Allosaurus is a medium sized carnivore. It can’t take down the big predators, but it is still powerful enough to destroy vehicles and swallow visitors if it escapes in one bite. Its one of the most aggressive Dinosaurs in the park too.
Dino Crisis 2
Allosaurus appears regularly throughout this game. I think this game which has always been my favourite Dinosaur game makes use of the Allosaurus better than many other forms of media.
Here it is portrayed as a big and fast carnivore that travels in packs. It helps to stop it from just falling into either shooting endless crafty Raptors or running away from an unkillable T-Rex like in the first game.
The Allosaurus can pick you up in its jaws and thrash you around, though it can’t swallow you.You will first encounter one as Regina when you are trying to rescue Dylan. It makes its entrance by knocking a car off a cliff.
The best thing to do is shoot it at the side as its head is very heavily armoured.Also if you shoot at its head not only will you not kill it but it will piss it off until it goes bright red and feral. In this state it becomes twice as strong and fast.
You will encounter it at various points including one scene where you have to travel through a nest of Allosaurus’s where you will have to signal your partner to blow them up.
The Allosaurus also plays an important part in the plot when it kills Dylan’s best friend David. Poor David dies a heroes death as he sacrifices himself to save Dylan. Throughout the game Dylan blows the eye out of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and blasts dozens of Raptors yet its the Allosaurus that gets him in the end. I love the final crunch you hear as the Allosaurus tears him apart off screen. Even Regina whose seen more than her fair share of gruesome Dinosaur attacks can’t look at what happens to David.
It was recently announced that there will be a biopic based on the life of Amy Winehouse that will be directed by Kirsten Sheridan.
According to some rumours Noomi Rapace who is best known for starring in Promethius the prequel to the Alien film series will play Winehouse..
Now its early days yet and nothing has been confirmed. I have no problem with Rapace playing Amy. She doesn’t look like her, but she is still fairly exotic looking and she is a great actress too so I’m sure she will be great in the role.
Still for all I know its all a lot of smoke and Rapace isn’t even in the running. Until she is confirmed for the role then I see no problem with suggesting another choice for the part. That is if there is even going to be a film. Movies about Alex Harvey and Jimi Hendrix have been stuck in development hell for years so we will see how things go with an Amy movie.
Now my choice for Amy is Ferne McCann a reality tv star best known for appearing in The Only Way is Essex and I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. She is also a host of this morning. I have never seen a single episode of TOWIE and I admit I have no real plans to, but I did see her on I’m a Celebrity. I even voted for her.
Now the reason I think Ferne would be good is that she really bares quite a startling physical resemblance to the late soul singer.
She has a very similar shape of face and mouth and her nose is very similar too.
They also have a very similar speaking voice too. I think that people who look alike often sound alike too and in Amy and Ferne’s case they have the same accents, the same mannerisms, expressions. Its quite uncanny.
Not to get off topic but its cool that John Hurt was one of the other guests on that show clapping Amy as she went out.
You can see how Ferne certainly would look and sound the part. Also I think that perhaps she could somewhat relate to Amy Winehouse too as she does come from a similar back ground to Amy in that both are/were working class women from London who were somewhat more unusual, but still managed to shoot to fame anyway. Ferne also it seems sadly suffers from many of the same insecurities as Amy too.
Amy Winehouse was always very insecure about her appearance and in the last few years of her life she even wanted plastic surgery. She felt her nose in particular was unattractive and wanted to change it as you can see in this link below.
Ferne similarly has often spoken about how she would like to change her nose too and has come close many times to having an operation done to change it.
I personally hope she doesn’t change her nose as I think she looks gorgeous the way she is and plastic surgery is never the option. Also her nose ironically I think is part of what makes her so beautiful because its so striking.
Any way getting back on track you can see how Ferne might be able to relate to Amy more so than say a big Hollywood actress would. The two of them were an odd combination of being quite strong and even strident in some ways, whilst very vulnerable and self conscious in others.
Now whilst Ferne may have many of the right qualities for the role the most important thing is can she act?
Well whilst she is best known as a reality star Ferne has recently moved into acting. She was cast as Myrtle in a west end production The Great Gatsby and she has recently won a role in a Hollywood film as well. So it seems that she must be a professional actress at least in order to get such high profile work. On top of that she can also sing too which would obviously be important for playing Amy! I sadly haven’t seen her in the Gatsby so I can’t comment on her acting personally but still whilst she may be at the start of her career in a few years time she could easily be a reasonably respected actress.
Remember Billie Piper was just a pop star, a faded pop star when she was cast as Rose Tyler in Doctor Who. After that part she went on to become a very successful and international actress.
So perhaps Amy Winehouse could be the role that launches Ferne McCann’s career.
Whatever the case I think Ferne should be considered for the role at least as she certainly does have the right look, voice and persona for the late Queen of Camden.
Edit Update
Since I wrote this sadly Ferne got a nose job. It thankfully wasn’t that extreme and she still does look great, but I really wish she hadn’t changed her nose as she was such a unique beauty the way she was.
If you are reading this Ferne please, please, please do not change anything else about yourself. You are gorgeous just the way you are.
Despite her surgery I think Ferne still looks like Amy. Here is what she looks like post her nose job.
She still looks amazing and I think she would also still be a good match physically for Amy, particularly the Frank era Amy.
Dan Dare has never been adapted as a live action series. There have been a number of radio adaptations over the decades and there is even another audio series scheduled for release this year, but sadly the Pilot of the Future has never really had that big a life outside of the comic book medium.
In this article I am going to explore what might have happened if there had been a Dan Dare television series in the 60’s. Who could have played Dan, The Mekon, Digby, who would have written for it, how would the series have tackled bringing to life the terrifying monsters, impressive spaceships and bizarre planets to life?
Pretend that the subsequent review fell through a portal from an alternate universe where Dan Dare was adapted to tv in the 60’s.
History
In 1965 Britain was in the grip of Dalekmania. Nobody could have predicted the success of Doctor Who, not even the BBC themselves who had expected it to run a mere 13 episodes.
Ultimately thanks to Terry Nation’s fabulous creations the Daleks Doctor Who had taken the entire country by storm and ITV naturally were somewhat envious of the success. The BBC were not only winning the ratings war thanks to the Daleks, but they had also made a fortune on spin off material, comic books, toys, costumes, stage plays, even a big screen film adaptation starring Peter Cushing. For a television series to produce this kind of merchandise and material was at that point completely unprecedented.
ITV wanted to produce a science fiction series that could rival Doctor Who and allow them a chance to cash in on the new sci fi craze.
Many new proposals for science fiction series were considered, but ultimately ITV turned to the Eagle’s flagship character Dan Dare.
Dan Dare had been Britain’s most popular comic book throughout the 1950’s with sales at one point reaching as high a figure as 3 million. Though its popularity had declined somewhat throughout the 60’s ITV still felt that it was a good candidate to base a television series on as it already had a large fan base and audience. The series script editor was David Whitaker who had just left the same position on Doctor Who itself. The series was produced by Barry Letts meanwhile who would later go on to work on Doctor Who.
ITV were determined to make this series seem more sophisticated than Doctor Who however and thus not only was it allotted a larger budget, but it was also made in colour. The effects for the series were initially supplied by Ray Harryhausen using his stop motion process. Sadly however as this was too time consuming he was dropped from season 3 on. Many viewers felt this was to the detriment of the show. Dan Dare remained the only tv work Harryhausen did throughout his long career.
The cast included some very well known actors including horror icons Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Vincent Price. The part of Dan meanwhile was given to a then relatively unknown Nicholas Courtney who would ironically become well known for appearing in Dan Dare’s rival Doctor Who as Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart.
The series was initially quite popular and would draw in audiences of round about 8 million for its first few series. Much praise was heaped on its special effects and strong cast, and it also increased sales of the Dan Dare comic book which at that time were in a slump.
The show also broke new ground by being the first British series to feature a black actor among its lead cast. A then 14 year old Don Warrington who played Flamer. This provoked some controversy among fans of the original comic strip for deviating from the source material by changing Flamer’s ethnicity. Still the producers argued that this was close to the spirit of the original comic book series as it promoted equality by depicting a multi ethnic version of the future where there was no prejudice. The series naturally drew many comparisons to Star Trek due to its multi ethnic cast and up beat, optimistic tone.
Sadly the series ultimately did not have the same staying power as Doctor Who. Its viewers and quality began to dip after series 3 and after a 5 year run it finished in 1969.
The series throughout the 70’s would be sold to other countries where it would develop an audience. Ironically the original comic book version of Dan Dare had never really had a life outside of the UK. The series would catch on in America in the late 70’s, early 80’s following the success of the Star Trek movie as well as Star Wars and even Doctor Who itself which finally managed to catch on in America.
This coupled with the rise in popularity of sci fi in general, and the success of the new Dan Dare in the revamped Eagle ultimately made ITV revive their Dan Dare series in 1984. This sequel series would be produced by another Doctor Who veteran Philip Hinchcliff who had been a fan of Dan Dare as a child, having based the design of Davros, the creator of the Daleks on the Mekon.
This series was based on the 2000AD Dan Dare comics and featured none of the returning cast from the original. Despite this it was intended to be a sequel and it utilized the idea from the 70’s series that Dan Dare had not only be cryogenically frozen for over 200 years, but that he had also been horrifically scarred in an accident which resulted in his whole face being reconstructed to look different using surgery, which in turn allowed another actor to play him.
The producers had originally wanted David Bowie to play Dan as the 70’s version had been based upon his Ziggy Stardust persona. Sadly he was busy with other commitments. Bowie later expressed regret over this as Dan Dare had been one of his favourite childhood heroes. The role eventually went to a young Iain Glen who would later become best known for playing Ser Jerah Mormont in Game of Thrones. Among the shows other cast included Tim Curry, Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson and Tom Baker. Reflecting the comic books the tone of the series was much darker with main characters more likely to be killed off. It was seen as a spiritual successor to the recent Blake’s 7 this way by many critics. The series theme was written by Brian May who had been a life long fan of Dan Dare.
Much like the original the series was a success at first and ran for 5 series until 1988. Its decline in ratings during its final few years was attributed to the decline of the popularity of sci fi in general in the UK. Indeed next year Doctor Who itself was cancelled after 26 years, whilst in just a few years time the revamped Dan Dare would finish after a 13 year run too.
In the decades since there has been talk of another sequel or a reboot which has sadly never come to pass. Big Finish did produce an audio series based on the 80’s series which saw Iain Glen reprise his role as Dan, but sadly to date there has been no tv revival yet of the pilot of the future’s exploits. At 10 years in total it remains the second longest British science fiction series and one of the worlds longest running and most iconic sci fi series.
Cast
1960’s version
Dan Dare/ Nicholas Courtney
Nicholas Courtney was perfect in the role of Dan. He not only looked the part, but he perfectly emboided the authority, and stiff upper lip, no nonsense aspects of the character superbly.
Sadly for Courtney whilst he was very popular in the role I think he was somewhat typecast as the dashing, man’s man army hero afterwards. Certainly his other most famous role, that of the Brigadier in Doctor Who only came about because of his performance as Dan Dare. Still it was an excellent performance nonetheless and really helped to carry the series.
Naturally there is a huge debate among fans as to who was the better Dan, Courtney or Glen. Personally I don’t think its fair to compare them as they were both playing very different versions of Dan from different generations and ultimately I think they both were just as successful in capturing the spirit of each version of Dan.
At the same time however I will say that Courtney’s Dan is by far and away the most iconic. Whenever you see a spoof of Dan Dare in popular culture its always Courtney’s image they use. Indeed you will always see Dan with a moustache which the character never had in the comic books pre Courtney. On the other hand however Courtney’s Dan was perhaps a bit more one dimensional than Glen’s, though I think this was due to how it was written more than how Courtney played it.
Overall Courtney did an excellent job in bringing Hampsons hero to life.
Digby/ Michael Ripper
Michael Ripper was best known as a character actor in many Hammer movies. Digby was the only leading role he ever had. He was every inch the perfect Digby both physically and in terms of his performance. He captured the innocence, loyalty and somewhat bumbling yet resourceful nature of the character excellently.
Sir Hubert/ Andre Morell
Andre Morell made a career out of playing authoritative, professorial, somewhat old fashioned characters such as Professor Watson and Bernard Quatermass and thus was a natural choice for Sir Hubert. I think Sir Hubert was a tricky character to get right as he is intended to be the old fashioned character whose out dated values such as not viewing men and women as equal (which actually reflected the norm more at the time of the original Dan Dare comics in 1950) clash with the modern day younger characters. Thus naturally its hard to make an old fashioned sexist seem somewhat likable, but Morell managed to make the character seem like more of an old fashioned gentleman than anything else which helped to soften some of his attitudes towards Peabody.
Professor Peabody/ Barbara Shelley
Barbara Shelley was the producers only choice for the role of Peabody and its not hard to see why as she was excellent, though apparently she also refused to dye her hair blonde which resulted in red haired Peabody instead. Fortunately the makers of this series kept up the feminist spirit of the original Dan Dare comics and Peabody was shown to be a capable, strong, intelligent and independent female character like in the source material. There was also no romance between Peabody and Dan either, despite the obvious chemistry between Courtney and Shelley. This was not only to remain true to the source material, but also because much like Doctor Who the series was aimed at a family audience and so therefore Dan and Peabody were both rendered completely asexual.
Shelley won great acclaim for her role as Peabody. She has said that many young women to this day have told her that Peabody directly inspired them to become scientists as it was the first time they had ever seen a woman on television play such a role.
Sondar/Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee had never heard of Dan Dare prior to appearing in the series, but he nevertheless was eager to play the role as he felt it would give him a chance to break free from his typecasting problem of always playing the villain. Sadly despite the popularity of the role I don’t think this really helped him break free as it was another monster part.
Lee was perfect in the role. His previous experience acting under make up in classics like the Mummy coupled with his strong voice allowed him to inject a lot of personalty and presence into the character. He was able to make him seem strong and powerful in certain scenes and inject a lot of vulnerability into him when he was experiencing his first emotions.
The Mekon/ Peter Cushing
Cushing was absolutely superb as Dan’s archenemy. His quiet, soft spoken voice really suited the cold, logical and scheming Mekon.
Many have compared Cushing’s performance as the Mekon to his later more iconic role as Grand Moff Tarkin. Both icey, ruthless intergalactic tyrants. Personally though I prefer The Mekon as I feel it gave Cushing more to do and it was brilliant watching Cushing as the villain go up against Christopher Lee as the hero too. It was just a total inversion of what we normally see in their most famous collaborations.
The make up for the Mekon was spectacular too. Sadly they didn’t have the effects to make the Mekon hover. Instead he simply sat in a large yellow chair which completely covered his bottom half. Cushing’s naturally thin and slight frame also made him a good choice for the character too.
Cushing said that he found the extensive makeup which took 3 hours to apply very difficult to act under, but that he enjoyed playing the villain none the less and cited it as one of his favourite roles.
Xel/ Vincent Price
Xel was Dan’s second archenemy in the comics and thus he was a natural candidate to appear in the series. His portrayal in this series however was somewhat different to his comic book portrayal as he here he was depicted as a more insane, intense character. No doubt this was to tailor the character to Vincent Price’s personality more. Whilst some complained that this was a deviation from the source material personally I loved Price’s performance and I think the more crazy Xel served as a good contrast to the cold and logical Mekon. Cushing and Price obviously played off of one another brilliantly.
I don’t think Xel was quite as good a villain as the Mekon, but then again he never was as the Mekon is Dan’s ultimate enemy, but Vincent Price as an evil alien overlord is always entertaining.
80’s Version
Dan Dare/ Iain Glen
Glen’s version of Dare was a lot more intense and dramatic than Courtney’s. This of course reflected the 70’s version of Dan Dare. Just as with the comic books there were some complaints from fans about this not being the Dan they remember, but I think that Glen’s performance suited the darker tone of this series.
Whilst his Dan may not be as iconic as Courtney’s in some ways I think he was more human. We saw more sides to his character, we saw him lose his cool, make mistakes, mourn his friends like Monday and even fall in love. This series really fleshed Dan out like never before and Glen’s performance definitely benefited from it.
At the same time of course Glen had as much authority and presence as Courtney in the role.
I think that Glen’s real strength was in capturing the loneliness of this version of Dan who was very much a stranger in a strange land having been catapulted 200 years in the future.
Monday/ Tom Baker
The character of Monday was only a minor character in the original comic books, but his role was greatly expanded in the series. Tom Baker was obviously the perfect choice for the enigmatic, mysterious, otherworldly alien. He was a lot more toned down here than as the 4th Doctor. I was pleasantly surprised to see Tom give a more subdued, thoughtful performance here rather than just play Tom Baker again.
Its one of his best performances.
Doctor Ziggy Rodan/ Caroline Munro
Dan’s brief love interest from the 2000AD comics was much like Monday expanded to become the main female character in this series, effectively replacing Peabody.
Caroline Munro normally was only given smaller parts such as in The Spy Who Loved Me, so it was great to see her get a larger role as Doctor Rodan.
A lot of people didn’t like the romance between Dan and Ziggy as they felt that Dan much like the Doctor was better as an asexual character. Still I must admit I enjoyed it as I felt that Glen and Munro had good chemistry with one another.
Bear/ Brian Blessed
One of Dan’s best friends in the comic books, Bear’s character was changed somewhat from his comic book persona. In the 2000AD comics he was just a slow witted, lumbering character who spoke in third person. Here he was merged with Rok to be an alien who was a member of a proud warrior race.
Naturally Brian was superb as this character who was essentially just Vultan again. Its sad that Brian has been typecast as the big , hearty, shouty warrior guy, but its not hard to see why as no one can do that better than him.
Gun/ Bob Peck
Much like Bear this character in the comics never really had a personality. He was really just one of Dan’s men with the gimmick being that he had a gun for a hand. This I feel gave both Bob Peck and the writers of the series a chance to really start from scratch in creating a new character.
Bob Peck was an excellent choice for the character as he brought a lot of gravitas and presence to what would have been a fairly bland supporting character otherwise.
Two of Verath/ Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson
One of Dan’s more unusual enemies, the effects used to bring this character to life were absolutely superb. Some fans have said that the effects look somewhat dated but I think they still hold up.
Of course what really makes the Two of Verath such a wonderful character are the performances of Rik and Ade. Both spent their whole careers playing characters who hated each other but were forced to be together anyway. Thus its only natural that they would be the perfect choices for these two criminals who were literally sewn together. That’s all the two are basically is just Eddie and Richie if someone stitched them together, but it doesn’t matter as its hilarious.
At the same time however whilst the Two of Verath did bring a lot of dark comedy to the series I also feel that they could be very menacing too. The thing about Rik and Ade’s comedy act is, if placed in a serious environment then it can actually be quite scary.
The characters they normally play like Richie and Eddie are violent, sadistic, homicidal perverts, but obviously in something like Bottom they are so cartoonish then its funny. In this instance however it takes on a very dark tone.
The Dark Lord/ Tim Curry
One of my favourite actors, the Dark Lord one of Dan’s biggest enemies in the comics was not quite as colourful as the Mekon. He was a bit more of a straight forward, generic evil space emperor, but Tim Curry’s gloriously over the top performance manages to elevate the character to being one of the most genuinely entertaining villains in television history.
You can tell that Curry loved playing this character as he just absolutely chews the scenery in every scene he’s in with absolute relish. Much like Vincent Price’s Xel in the original series this helps the character to stand out somewhat from the cold and logical Mekon.
John Hurt/ The Mekon
According to Philip Hinchcliff Peter Cushing was approached about reprising his role as the Mekon from the original 60’s series. Sadly Cushings ill health and advanced age meant that he would not be prepared to undergo the heavy make up for the role once again.
John Hurt was cast by Hinchcliff due to his previous experience acting under make up in The Elephant Man and his strong, distinctive voice.
No explanation is given as to why the Mekon looks different in the show itself, though the make up applied did look somewhat similar and he was given a similar large yellow chair that once again did not hover. Hurt was short and much like Cushing had a slighter frame which made him a good choice for the character.
Hurt’s Mekon was a more emotional character than Cushing’s. Though he generally kept his cool he was shown to be a more bitter hateful character as seen when he enjoys torturing Dan Dare in their first clash.
Hurt was absolutely superb at playing the more sadistic, flamboyantly evil version of Dan Dare’s archenemy.
At the current time of writing anyway. I find that my opinions on this show can sometimes change though there are a few episodes that always remain my favourites, but still my tastes and opinions can vary over time as anyone’s can and this list reflects my top 10 at the moment.
10/ Time of the Angels/Flesh and Stone
A lot of people felt that the Angels were not as strong in their later appearances but I disagree. I felt this was one of the greatest base under siege stories the show has ever produced. Its got everything you could want from a Doctor Who story. Great ideas, fantastic set pieces, compelling supporting characters (particularly Iain Glenn’s character), scary monsters, spooky atmospheric moments and brilliant action.
9/ Pyramids of Mars
One of the most genuinely terrifying Doctor Who stories ever made. This adventure is a classic haunted house story and features some of the darkest moments in the shows 50 plus year history such as when the possessed Marcus Scarman murders his own brother.
What really makes this story stand out however is Gabriel Woof’s amazing performance as Sutekh. He has easily one of the best voices of any villain. Calm, soft yet with a hint of quiet rage bubbling under the surface. His delivery of lines like “I am sutekh the destroyer and where I tread leave nothing but dust and darkness. I find that good” is truly chilling!
8/ The Waters of Mars
David Tennant’s best story, this features one of the shows most frightening monsters in the form of the flood which plays on body horror and the fear of possession. It plays on an interesting idea of the Doctor a time traveller landing somewhere important like say the titanic where he knows something bad is going to happen, but has to let it happen anyway because its an important event in history.
Lindsey Duncan is also a brilliant, non sexualized Ellen Ripley style heroine and the end of her story is one of the darkest moments in the series.
7/ Earthshock
Easily the best Cyberman story in my opinion. Its plot is somewhat straight forward, but by no means poor and what makes it so strong is both its superb direction and the fact that it arguably features the most menacing and effective versions of the Cybermen to date. I not only liked the designs of them in this story, but David Banks is also the best Cyber leader and the monsters actually are only beaten by a fluke too.
6/ The Day of the Doctor
The best anniversary story in my opinion. I suppose you could consider this Tennants best story as he is in it, even though it isn’t in his era. Everything about this story is a joy from start to finish, from the fun with the Zygons to the three Doctors interactions with one another to the surprise twist at the end.
5/ The Web of Fear
My fave Troughton story, this adventure is just a straight forward monster romp, but it doesn’t matter as its superbly directed (it is Douglas Camfield) it moves along at a superb pace and it introduces the Brigadier! The Yeti attacking convent gardens is one of the greatest scenes in the entire history of the show.
4/ The Daleks
The first appearance of the titular monsters on the surface this is a fun, boys own adventure but underneath its actually one of the deepest Doctor Who stories ever made that is a powerful comment on race hatred, fascism, the threat of nuclear power, the horrors of war and even just standing up for yourself. Its a masterpiece in many ways and an important piece of British tv.
3/ Inferno
One of the best alternate universe stories ever made, this adventure offers a deep insight into the main characters of the series through their counterparts. It also has some of the darkest material in Doctor Who’s long history when we see the alternate world burn. I would also rate this as Nicholas Courtney’s greatest performance in the series too.
2/ Vincent and the Doctor
Narrowly missing out on the top spot, this story features what I think is one of the most beautiful and mature depictions of depression of any television series. Its impossible not to be moved by the final moments of the episode. Yes its overly sentimental but when dealing with Van Gough its hard not to be and Tony Curran is superb as the tortured artist.
1/ Genesis of the Daleks
Yes I now its a predictable choice but that’s only because it is the best in my humble opinion. Everything about this story works. Its plot, its dialogue, the performances, the sets, the direction, even the lighting. Michael Wisher is excellent as Davros one of the shows most insane, unpredictable and genuinely loathsome villains whilst the Daleks themselves have never been more alien and genuinely monstrous. Its just perfect.
Allosaurus was the lion of the Jurassic. Though it was much smaller than the likes of say Tyrannosaurus Rex, it was still the largest predator in its environment and preyed upon some of the mightiest animals ever to live on the planet such as the gigantic Sauropods.
At one point it was one of the most famous of Dinosaurs, but sadly in recent decades it has been somewhat usurped in popular culture by other giant killers such as Giganotosaurus and Spinosaurus.
Still we know more about Allosaurus than most other Dinosaurs as there have been considerably more skeletons discovered of the beast over the years than the majority of other Dinosaur species.
Description
Allosaurus was a medium (by Dinosaur standards) sized carnivore. It could reach a maximum length of 39 feet long, with a height of 13 feet and a weight of 2 tons.
Allosaurus lived during the Jurassic period 150 million years ago. It belonged to a group of large meat eating Dinosaurs called the Allosaurs who flourished throughout the Jurassic period and the early to middle Cretaceous. They also included Giganotosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus two of the largest meat eating dinosaurs of all time.
Allosaurus lived alongside other giant predators such as Ceratosaurs with the two occupying different niches to one another. It is believed that Ceratosaurus may have been a pescovore. Allosaurus also lived alongside giant herbivores such as Diplodocus, Apatosaurus and Stegosaurus, all of which it may have preyed on.
Allosaurus was first discovered during the middle of the bone wars in the late 19th century. The first bone fragments were found in the year 1869, but it was not named until the year 1877. It was called Allosaurus Fragilis by Othneil Marsh which means Odd or different lizard.
It was originally thought that female Allosaurus’s were larger and more powerful than the males, but the evidence for this is no longer considered valid. Now no one knows whether the males or female were larger for any species of Dinosaur. It is possible that males may have been larger like most modern day reptiles and birds the living relatives of the Dinosaurs, or its possible that like modern raptors (birds of prey) the females may have been bigger.
Scans of its brain case reveal that its brain was virtually identical to that of a modern day Alligator meaning that it most likely would have behaved in a similar fashion and had similar levels of intelligence. Alligators have a higher level of intelligence than certain species of cats and dogs and therefore Allosaurus most likely would have too.
How Did Allosaurus Kill Its Prey?
Allosaurus was most certainly a predator. There are several pieces of direct evidence for this. A stegosaurus skeleton has been found with an Allosaurus bite mark on one of its plates that has healed, whilst at the same time another Allosaurus skeleton has been found with slash marks from a Stegosaurus tail that have similarly healed. There have also been footprints discovered made by a large sauropod Dinosaur with the footprints of an Allosaurus following behind.
Several other Allosaurus specimens have been found with broken bones and gruesome injuries that have clearly been gained in conflicts too.
Whilst some may dismiss these as rare occurrences its important to remember that given how rare the fossil record actually is this seems unlikely. In order for so many cases of active predation by Allosaurus on other animals to be preserved it would have to be happening fairly regularly.
Despite its size however, Allosaurus is believed to have had among the weakest bite forces of any meat eating Dinosaur.
The reason for this was because Allosaurus didn’t need a massive bite. Instead it would open its jaws much wider than that of most other meat eater, and then swing its head like a hatchet at its victims allowing it to cleave off huge pieces of meat. In order to do this more effectively Allosaurus skull was also much stronger and more reinforced than those of other predators too.
Allosaurus could open its mouth even wider than T. rex.
Allosaurus was also among the fastest of all the large meat eating Dinosaurs. Allosaurus could run at 35 miles per hour. This is almost four times as fast as an African Elephant.
Finally as if that wasn’t enough Allosaurus also was very strong and durable. They could survive injuries that would have killed other animals. One specimen, a sub adult nick named big Al had 18 major injuries including smashed ribs almost all of which had healed.
All of these factors made Allosaurus a very effective predator of some of the largest animals ever to live on the planet.
There is also a possibility that Allosaurus may have swarmed their prey in groups too. Contrary to popular belief, they most likely would not have hunted in coordinated packs like wolves, as such behaviour is not known among Archosaus. Still swarming behaviour is certainly possible, and Allosaurs may very well have been social animals too. There have been many Allosaurus specimens that have been found together, but all this proves is that they died together for now.
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