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Thing DVD Menu

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

Thing from The Thing Cartoon

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Nightman DVD Menu I don’t claim that this is a good show, in fact, I know it’s not. What it is though, is good, cheesy, superhero fun.

Based on the Malibu Comics (later purchased by Marvel) series of the same name, Nightman is really saxophonist Johnny Domino. After being struck by lightning, he finds he is telepathically tuned to the frequency of evil (what!?). This gives him an edge in tracking down bad guys. With the help of high-tech suit that gives him the power of flight and a laser eye, Domino begins fighting crime as Nightman.

Produced by Glen A. Larson (look for his character Manimal in Season 2), who also createdAutoman and Knight Rider. If you’ve seen either of those shows, then you know what to expect.

Nationally syndicated Chicago WGN channel aired these a few years ago and I managed to get all but two episodes. After quite a bit of searching, I tracked down nice quality versions of the two missing episodes and was able to finish the set. Now I can watch the badness whenever I want thanks to my Nightman DVD set.

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Filmation DC 1966 Cartoon DVD MenuGreen Lantern Menu from DC Heroes DVD

In 1966, Filmation successfully launched The New Adventures of Superman cartoon. It’s success led to a number of spin-off shorts and series. Between 1967 and 1969, Filmation produced a series of 18 shorts featuring The Atom, The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, the Justice League, and the Teen Titans.

Growing up, I remember seeing these on the Bozo show and years later when they began running on Cartoon Network’s Boomerang in between shows I began recording them. A few episodes were recorded off of S-VHS tapes from a friend and cleaned up and enhanced. All in all, it’s a great looking set. Here’s hoping that Warner will release this series on DVD with extras similar to the New Adventures of Superman and the Adventures of Aquaman sets.


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SuperFriends 1973 DVD 1 Menu Another set a long time in the making, the SuperFriends 1973 cartoon is easily my least favorite of the SuperFriends series. Since Warner has done a great job of releasing the other series in the SuperFriends line of shows, I had to complete the original set. Something tells me we may not see this set for a while.

Featuring Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog, this was the first series to refer to the Justice League as the SuperFriends. Each 44-minute episode featured the main cast of Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog battling a villain or menace created specifically for the show. No comic villains were used.

Two episodes (of the 16 total) did feature guest appearances from other heroes. Green Arrow played a prominent role in one episode and Plastic Man made a minor appearance in another.

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Krypto DVD Menu When Cartoon Network announced the Krypto cartoon a few years ago, I was excited to see a new cartoon for kids done in a more classic style. So many shows now feature wacky characters doing wacky things. The idea of an innocent adventure cartoon for kids was appealing. The series premiered and I wasn’t disappointed.

As with many of the shows I record, I wanted to make this set to share with Carter. I also wanted to experiment with the menu as well. I had figured out how to create custom thumbnails, but that wouldn’t work on a set with so many episodes and such long episode titles. I decided to use one large thumbnail in the shape of the Superman S. Placed behind Krypto, it plays the intro to the show and provides the background music for the menu.

I recently completed this set. It took quite a while to catch all of the Season 2 episodes, as they premiered with little fanfare. However, the set is now done a looks great.