This cartoon is pretty bad, I’ll admit it. However, I remember loving it as a kid because it had the Thing from the Fantastic Four.

In this series, the Thing is Benjamin “Benjy” Grimm and he’s a high school student. No mention of the FF is made and he can control his transformation into the Thing by using his Thing Ring. By touching the two halves of the ring together (one on each hand) he can transform into the Thing. He’s constantly using his Thing powers to rescue his friends from everyday dangers. Rarely does he face off against any super-villain, but there is the occasional bad guy.

This was a hard series to track down. I finally found great copies through a friend. They were new recordings from Boomerang. I took the set and created a nice menu using some artwork from a Marvel Comics hardback book that details the history of their television projects. It originally aired in a 1-hour block with a Flintstones show and was called Fred and Barney Meet the Thing, although the two cartoons never crossed over.

The first segment, a very loose adaptation of Marvel Comics’ character The Thing, consisted of stories following the Thing as a teenager named Benjy Grimm who transforms into the rock-skinned superhero by touching together magic rings and reciting the words “Thing ring, do your thing!”

The stories centered mostly around Benjy at Centerville High School with his friends Betty, her rich boyfriend Ronald, Kelly (Betty’s kid-sister) and teacher Miss Twilly. Kelly was the only person who knew about Benjy’s secret.

Twenty six 11-minute episodes of The Thing were produced; 2 shorts aired per show.

from Wikipedia

Seven episodes aired through October on 2006. The show was put on hold to be picked up when the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer movie was released. Five more episodes aired starting in June of 2007 until the show was dumped (without notice) to an early Saturday morning slot, where only two more episodes have aired.

It wasn’t a perfect show, but it had a cool style and the dynamic between the characters was perfect. It was a weekend ritual for Carter and I to watch the latest episode on TiVo. Hopefully the Season 1 DVD set will be released and we can catch all of the episodes when we feel like it.

Fantastic Four:Rise of the Silver Surfer comes out this weekend and I’m not ashamed to say I’m excited about it. When I finally made it out to see Spider-Man 3, I enjoyed it, but would have enjoyed it more if Carter could have watched it as well (it was a little to scary for him). I would have also like a few more action sequences (or extended versions of the existing ones). As it was, I felt the villains (and Spidey) received too little screen time. After all, that’s the real reason I go see the silver-screen versions of the comics, to see cool, live representations of the comics I’ve loved for years. I think the new Fantastic Four movie will deliver just that (and Carter and Jill will be right there with me), thanks to the PG rating.

Next up is Transformers and it keeps looking better and better. New tv commercials keep popping up and the “big robots” keep looking better and better. It looks a little explosion heavy, so Carter may not make it to that one, but I’d say that we’ll get to see lots of big robots transforming and beating each other up and what more could you want?

It looks like Marvel is making plans for 2009 and lining up Captain America and Thor for their big screen debuts. These two are the next logical step (after 2008′s Iron Man and Hulk). Throw in an Ant Man film that’s been rumored for a while and you’ve got the perfect setup for an Avengers film in 2010. Since Marvel Studios owns the rights to all of these characters (with Paramount distributing the individual films), there is no reason a team film can’t be done.

It’s too bad DC hasn’t gone Hollywood as well as Marvel has. Their slate of upcoming films includes only the next Batman (The Dark Knight) film (featuring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger). Another Superman film has been rumored, as well as films starring Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash. Rumors aside, Batman is the only one in production.

Sadly, that sums it all up. Let’s see some more DC films. Also, I’m ready for a real photo of Heath Ledger as the Joker, none of the viral marketing stuff, let’s see the real thing. The I Love Harvey Dent Too website stated “see you in December.” I guess we have to wait until then.

It looks like 20th Century Fox should have done a little more research before releasing 40,000 Silver Surfer themed quarters into circulation over the Memorial Day weekend. Created by the Franklin Mint, the quarter violates federal law and the U.S. Mint isn’t happy.

The U.S. Mint said in a news release Friday that it learned of the promotional quarter this week and advised the studio and The Franklin Mint they were breaking the law. It is illegal to turn a coin into an advertising vehicle, and violators can face a fine.

“The promotion is in no way approved, authorized, endorsed, or sponsored by the United States Mint, nor is it in any way associated or affiliated with the United States Mint,” according to the release. The federal mint did not say whether the studio or the private Franklin Mint would face a penalty.

The altered coins are quarters honoring the state of California that entered circulation in 2005. They feature George Washington on the front, as usual, but a colorized version of the character on the back. All 40,000 are slated to be in circulation throughout the country by the end of Memorial Day weekend, and about 800 were released in each state.

In all likelihood, the studio knew exactly what they were doing, as did the Franklin Mint. What started out as a unique promotion is now national news. Since there’s no such thing as bad publicity, just add this law-breaking tactic to the list of promotions used by 20th Century Fox to increase visibility for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

If you’d like a Sliver Surfer quarter of your own, they are (of course) currently all over ebay.

Alright, I really need to find one of these. If there are any generous readers out there who manage to find ore than one and would like to send one my way, it would be greatly appreciated. This has got to be one of the most unique promotions I’ve ever seen. Details below from Newsarama article.

According to the plan for the promotion, a fleet of silver armored trucks have been loaded with the coins, will leave from the Twentieth Century Fox lot to deliver quarters across the United States, and on May 22nd, 40,000 Silver Surfer quarters will be put into circulation across the country.

From the official rules:

Those who find the Silver Surfer coin can go to the movie website (http://www.riseofthesilversurfer.com/) and register to win a Four-day trip for Four to the World Premiere of Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer in London. The grand prize winner will be announced on June 1st.

The first Four people to go online to report Silver Surfer coin findings will receive a special private screening of Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer for their friends and family in their hometown the night before the film’s nationwide release (June 14th).

Every person who finds a Silver Surfer coin will be eligible to visit the movie’s website on a daily basis to flip the virtual coin for a chance to win Fantastic instant prizes.

Pretty cool TV Spot for the new Fantastic Four:Rise of the Silver Surfer movie. Unlike some, I really liked the first film. The effects were good, the film was fun and the Human Torch was awesome. The new one should be more goodness in that vein. With their origin out of the way, we can get to them using their powers immediately. I’m also looking forward to seeing them swap powers (see the commercial). Writer Mark Waid had a story that used something similar to this a few years back in the Fantastic Four comic where Johnny and Sue swapped powers.

Now, try out some Human Torch action.

The final trailer for the new Fantastic Four movie Rise of the Silver Surfer was released on Monday. I know a lot of people may disagree, but I think it looks great. The Silver Surfer looks great and the movie looks to take a fun tone, which is what a lot of people may not like.

As the father of a superhero / Star Wars obsessed 3.5 year old, I’m glad the new FF movie looks fun. He’s been talking about Spider-Man for months now, but Jill and I think Venom may be a bit too much for him to see, in the theater at least. Just last night I was showing him some preview and he said he didn’t want to watch the scene where Toby Maguire turns into Venom, so I covered his eyes.

Just a few minutes before, he laughed out loud at the part in the FF trailer Johnny and Ben switch powers and he said “the Thing’s got hair!” So, with Spider-Man 3 looking a little too intense (same for Transformers), I’m glad that Fantastic Four is a movie we can both see and geek out over together.

Speaking of geeking out, check out the image above. It looks that Johnny won’t just be switching powers, but he’ll be pulling a Super-Skrull and wield the powers of all 4 members of the FF. The image shows Johnny with a flaming Thing hand (which later stretches in the trailer).

Mister Fantastic is an inherently cool character (I think). He may be the least powerful member of the Fantastic Four, but he can do so many things with his power, that he’s a fun character to read (or watch). I hope that in the upcoming Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer movie, that the character is played much more like he was at the end of the first film.

His power doesn’t work on film in slow shots. for example, the scene in the first film where he stretched his hand under the door just doesn’t look good. It looks fake. However, in the final battle with Dr. Doom, his stretches and turns into several shapes quickly an rapidly. It was the first time in the film I smiled while watching the character. Hopefully, the new film will feature lots of shapes, bouncing and stretching for Mister Fantastic (read more about the character).