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Show:		6.0
Picture:		4.0
Sound:		5.0
Extras:		3.0
Score:		5.0

Director(s):	John Kimball • Rudy Larriva
Writer(s):	Larry Alexander & Creighton Barnes
Starring:	Michael Bell • Melendy Britt • Joe Baker
Genre:	Adventure • Animation • Comedy • Comic Book • Television
Release Date:	October 20, 2009

List Price:	DVD - $28.99
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Apparently the Super Friends set Warner Brothers released a little while back was encouraging enough to warrant further plunging into the depths of their animation vault. Now, you can complement the other set with The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show, a now-marginalized character in the DC canon. The more avid comic book fans amongst us will recognize the red, yellow and black spandex clad hero, but for the newcomers amongst us he’s essentially the original Mr. Fantastic, he stretches into any number of shapes to fit the needs of the moment. Debuting almost exactly twenty years before the Fantastic Four, Plastic Man (Michael Bell) has a more comical twist with villains like the plant-loving Weed or a militant clam and friends helping him along the way like Hula Hula (Joe Baker) and the “plastic elastic loverboy’s” oft neglected girlfriend, Penny (Melendy Britt).

Visually, many people will find Plastic Man very familiar thanks to it being drawn by the old school animation powerhouse of Hanna-Barbera. Just like Scooby-Doo, the Plastic Man adventures suffer from a bit of the jerky motion that plagued Hanna-Barbera’s cartoons. Plastic Man makes much more use of motion than Scooby-Doo did, however, and consequently the show as a whole has a few kinks. Furthermore, the colors haven’t aged particularly well and some sequences have noticeably dimmed or off shades that distract from the story. On the audio front, the show has fared quite well in storage. The music has the perfectly melodramatic tone that has always made these old cartoons so amusing and the voice cast drips with over-the-top camp that you just can’t help but laugh at some of the really odd lines included just for a circumstantial joke.

Plotholes, bad jokes and horribly written dialogue make this an item for the collector’s and probably no one else. The set does little to disguise the show’s animation style which will have different effects depending on who picks it up off the shelf. Anyone who didn’t grow up with Hanna Barbera’s typical flavor of cartoon (I pity you) might find the content too hokey for their palette – again further narrowing this collection’s potential audience. On the other hand, anyone older than twenty will find a nostalgic comfort in the animation and generally goofy nature of the show.

The biggest issue to be had with Plastic Man is the almost limitless form the animators allow him. Granted, Plastic’s ability to turn his hand into a pair of novelty glasses with fake moustache and nose or his entire body into a hose makes for some funny moments and actually compels viewers onwards to see what weird forms he’ll take in the next adventure – but there is a point where the whole gimmick goes too far and becomes the show’s undoing. The show demands the audience’s forgiveness with every moment but leverages it against its charming sense of anything goes.

Plastic Man’s adventures possess a little more substance and maintained plot than the Super Friends episodes and make for a better viewing experience overall. What’s really interesting about the set is imagining which shows have since taken their cues from Plastic Man. You can’t help but think The Tick and its villains derived some of their lunacy from Plastic Man’s legacy.

If you need a show that makes even the remotest amount of sense – steer clear; but if you’re willing to give your cartoons some leeway in “thinking outside of the box” (way freakin’ outside) then Plastic Man: The Complete Collection deserves a spot on your shelf. I only wish Warner Brothers could find a way to restore the cartoon.

DVD Bonus Features

The set has two extras and, unfortunately, only one of them is a featurette. The first is an unaired pilot episode which doesn’t have quite the same flair as the rest of the series – though it does help eliminate some confusion caused by the lack of introductions in the “first” episode of the set. The retrospective piece on Plastic Man will satisfy the fans (even if one legitimate extra is still a bit sparse). Hear various peoples weigh in on the hero and his evolution from the comic book to the TV screen.

The biggest complaint, unjustified or not, is the exclusion of the other Plastic Man-based adventures like Baby Plas, Plastic Family, Mighty Man & Yukk, Fangface and Fangpuss or Rickety Rocket. Whatever you want to call these cartoons (off-shoots, spin-offs, segments, etc.) they were a part of the experience. I guess we can hope for a future release all their own.