The Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show was a Super Friends spin off starring the titular wisecracking superhero and his two sidekicks; the love struck Penny and the bad luck stricken Hula-Hula. It also features a few other cartoon characters, however none of those appear in this collection, only the original 35 Plastic Man cartoons.
This is a very goofy and ridiculous cartoon, intentionally of course. The villains are very preposterous ranging from a pirate clam to the Disco Mummy. And Plastic Man, or Plas to his friends, spouts off bad one liner after bad one liner. On top of that you have Hula, a Costello-esque type character with a Hawaiian flavor, who busts out Boy Wonder-esque exclamations like “Leapin’ Luau” and other such nonsense.
The animation, music and sound effects are done in such away that when Plastic Man isn’t on screen you might think you’re watching an episode of Scooby Doo and it’s almost shocking that the Scooby gang doesn’t show up in at least one episode as Hanna-Barbara produced both shows. The teaming of Shaggy and Hula Hula surely would have be a moment to remember.
Probably the biggest problem with this show is the portrayal of Hula-Hula’s Polynesian ethnicity. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it Andy Rooney from Breakfast At Tiffany’s bad, but his character is very certainly stereotyped. It is a bit dated to portray someone of Hawaiian origin like this now, but it is fun in an over the top manner.
Episodes:
Disc 1:
The Weed/Dr. Irwin And Mr. Meteor 10-27-79/10-13-79
When The Weed, a walking sentient plant, steals a top-secret government plant-growing compound and uses it to create a giant man-eating plant monster, it’s up to Plas to stop it, but how?
When a meteor lands on Earth, puny Dr. Irwin with machinations of world domination touches it and turns into Mr. Meteor! But only for a short time, so while he tries to find a way to make the power permanent, Plas finds a way to stop him.
Wham Bam, Beware Of The Clam/The Day The Ocean Disappeared 10-11-79/9-29-79
Clam the Pirate, who is actually a talking clam, steals a water-controlling machine so he can flood New York and rob all the banks and only Plas can stop him.
When the oceans and seas begin to disappear it’s up to Plas and the gang to figure out who’s behind it and how they’re doing it and the trail leads to the evil Dr. Honctoff.
The Horrible Half-Ape/Hugefoot 11-17-79/9-22-79
Prof. Darwin’s ape experiment goes awry and literally turns him into Half-Ape, a half-man/half-ape monstrosity. Meanwhile a flying saucer lands on Earth and Half-Ape tries to steal it to start an interplanetary war. So Plas must rescue the aliens and stop Half-Ape’s evil scheme.
A brilliant scientist demonstrates his greatest invention to Plastic Man, which is a machine that has the ability to see into the future. When the villain known as Hugefoot steals the machine, Plastic Man must do all in his power to get it back.
The Minscule 7/Moonraider 9-22-79/10-27-79
A group of teeny gangsters (seven, actually) plot to win a basketball tournament on their own terms and it’s up to Plas to stop them.
The sinister Moonraider is stealing NASA’s spaceships in outer space. Plastic Man must now travel to the Moon to put a stop to his dastardly deeds and return the missing spaceships.
Superstein/Dog Master 9-29-79/11-17-79
Dr. Superstein (a weird blend of Frankenstein’s monster and Superman) plans to steal the minds of the smartest people in town to power his monster army. So once again, Plas must come to the rescue.
Dog Master plans to steal the formula for a power ray that has been hidden in a chimpanzee’s brain. Plastic Man and friends are given the job of tracking down the chimp and stopping the Dog Master.
Disc 2:
Diabolical Dr. Dome/Honey Bee 10-20-79/11-3-79
Dr. Dome discovers a way to steal Plastic Man’s powers and use them to commit crimes and Plas must find a way to get his powers back and stop Dr. Dome.
A villainess known as Honey Bee plans to use a heat missile to turn the world into a ‘hot house’ so that only she and insects will survive. Plastic Man is on the case to prevent this injustice from happening.
The Dangerous Dr. Dinosaur/The Spider Takes A Bride 12-15-79/12-8-79
Dr. Dinosaur lets thieves’ use his special dinosaurs that start tiny and grow very large to rob banks in exchange for a cut of the profits and Plas must figure out what’s going on and stop it.
One by one the Spider starts to turn Queen Katherine’s followers into flies until she decides to marry him. Plastic Man is given the job of protecting the Queen until the Spider can be brought to justice.
Empire Of Evil/The Corruptible Carrotman 12-29-79/11-10-79
An airplane carrying the children of an important official crashes in the forbidden zone of Stone Island, which is run by a sinister group known as the empire of evil. So Plas and the others are sent in to rescue the children.
When Carrot Man loses a game show he loses his mind and is determined to never lose again, even if it means breaking the law.
The Maniacal Computerhead/The Hippotist 11-24-79/12-22-79
The evil robot, Computerhead, has developed a device that brings machines to life and uses it to create an army of machines to take over the world. So Plas must stop him.
The Hippotist is hypnotizing bank managers to rob their own banks and return the stolen loot to him. Plastic Man is assigned to stop the evil villain.
Badladdin/Toyman 11-3-79/12-1-79
An evil genie grants wishes to teenagers then turns them into golden statues. So Plas must find a way to stop him.
Toyman is kidnapping famous people and turning them into toys and Plastic Man is on his list!
Disc 3:
Ghostfinger/Highbrow 10-13-79/12-15-79
Ghostfinger has returned to get revenge of the people responsible for sending him to prison. He steals a time machine to bring back evil ghosts from the past.
Highbrow steals a bunch of famous trains and Plas must find a way to stop him.
The Kitty Katt Caper/The Colossal Crime Of Commodore Peril 12-8-79/12-29-79
Kitty Kat runs a circus filed with wild cats, she also kidnaps famous people and turns them into wild cats. Things get bad when she turns Plas into an ocelot and Penny and Hula Hula must find a way to save him.
Commodore Peril holds three billionaires prized possessions to ransom, each time Plastic Man is assigned to the case but the villain always seems to have the upper hand.
Terrible 5+1/Joggernaut 1-5-80
A new villain, Solex, springs Weed, Half-Ape, Clam, Computerhead and Disco Mummy from prison but they won’t serve him so Solex stops all their crimes. So they turn to Plastic Man for help.
Joggernaught plans to steal an energy machine in order to use it to find the treasure of the Amazon City of Gold. Plastic Man is put on alert as he protects the energy machine and its inventor.
Dr. Duplicator Strikes Again/Thunderman /12-1-79/11-24-79
Dr. Duplicator is kidnapping politicians and replacing them evil ones to steal government secrets and only Plas can stop him.
Thunderman steals New York in order to sell it to the highest bidder.
Count Graffitti Meets Plastic Man/Sale Of The Century 12-22-79/10-6-79
Count Graffiti wants revenge on the royal family of Ocentania after being exiled from the Country. He plans on stealing a royal crown in order to make himself the new king, but Plastic Man has other ideas and plans on stopping his scheme.
Desperate for a sale, Gearshift Swift sells Earth to passing aliens. Now Plastic Man must save Earth from being pulled from its orbit by the aliens.
Disc 4:
Plastic Mummy Meets Disco Mummy/City Of Ice 10-6-79/10-29-79
An ancient Aztec Queen called Disco Mummy comes back to life and steals the ancient treasure of Cortez from the government of Mexico. She tricks Plastic Man into helping her and then turns him into a mummy. He must find a way out if he is to have a chance to stop her.
Dr. Frost finds the city of ice and in it the power of eternal youth. After learning its secret she plans on reversing the gases effect and use it on the world. Plas has to stop her evil scheme to turn the world’s population into old people.
Plastic Man Meets Plastic Ape 1-12-80
Dr. Astro creates a giant plastic ape and uses it to ransack New York. So Plas is called in to thwart his evil schemes.
The Crime Costume Caper 1-19-80
Greta Grim designs the ultimate hi-tech villain suit. In order to sell it to every criminal in the world, she decides to film a commercial starring none other than Plastic Man!
The Royal Gargoyle Foil 1-26-80
The evil Gargoyle is hell bent on stealing Doctor Ventor’s invisible ray machine. Luckily, Plastic Man stumbles across the plan and decides to prevent the Gargoyles scheme.
The episodes are presented in fullscreen 1:35.1. Sound is Dolby Digital Mono. The image is okay, lots of dirt and scratches on the image. On my widescreen TV there is a strange white line down the right hand side of the screen during the opening credits on every episode.
Plas-Tastic: A Brief History of Plastic Man: (14 min.) This featurette has interviews with guys who worked on this TV Show as well as other people involved with Plastic Man creativity over the years. They talk about how Plastic Man was the first super hero to mix comedy and action, which I found interesting. This is a pretty good special feature.
“Plastic Man in Puddle Trouble”: (10 min.) The creator and voice of Spongebob Squarepants made this pilot for a new Plastic Man TV Series that was never picked up. Watch this and you’ll know why. It’s really bad, not funny and seemed completely derivative of John Kricfalusi which made it extra annoying.
This is a pretty cheese-tastic cartoon, but it was always meant to be. If you grew up with this show then the nostalgia factor will kick in big here. If you’ve never seen it before you’ll most likely just be left confused. It’s also a little light on the special features.
Warner Bros. presents Plastic Man: The Complete Collection. Created by William Asher and Sidney Sheldon. Starring: Patty Duke, William Schallert, Jean Byron, Paul O’Keefe and Eddie Applegate. Running time: 900 minutes on 6 discs. Not Rated. Released on DVD: September 29, 2009. Available at Amazon.com.
