''Silver Surfer'', also known as ''Silver Surfer: The Animated Series'', is a 13-episode animated television series based on the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

Silver Surfer The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first a ...

, created by

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book author, writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later bec ...

and

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

. The series aired for one season on the Fox Kids Network in 1998.

Overview

Blending

cel-shaded Cel shading or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make 3D computer graphics appear to be flat by using less shading color instead of a Color gradient, shade gradient or tints and shades. A cel shader is often us ...

and

computer animation Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating Film, moving images. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both still images and moving images, while computer animation refers to moving images. Virtu ...

, the series is rendered in the style of Silver Surfer creator Jack Kirby. Inspired by various Silver Surfer comic book stories, the series alters the original mythos in some key ways. It removes the

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four, often abbreviated as FF, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in '' The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover-dated November 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism i ...

from

The Galactus Trilogy "The Galactus Trilogy" is a 1966 three-issue comic book story arc that appeared in ''Fantastic Four (comic book), Fantastic Four'' #48–50. Written, co-plotted and drawn by Jack Kirby with editor Stan Lee for Marvel Comics, it introduced the char ...

, the foundation for the first three episodes. In this version, the Silver Surfer, who has had the memories of Norrin Radd partially restored to him by

Thanos Thanos () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in '' The Invincible Iron Man'' #55 (cover date February 1973). An Eternal– Devia ...

, protects Earth from the hunger of

Galactus Galactus () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Formerly a mortal man, he is a cosmic entity who consumes planets to sustain his life force, and serves a functional role in the upkeep of the p ...

because it reminds him of his home planet of Zenn-La. Many other characters from Marvel's cosmic stable appear in the series, including The Watcher,

Ego the Living Planet Ego the Living Planet is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in ''Thor'' #132 (September 1966) and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. The character ha ...

Pip the Troll Pip the Troll is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He made his live-action debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film '' Eternals'' (2021), voiced by Patton Oswalt. Publication history Pip the T ...

Drax the Destroyer Drax the Destroyer (Arthur Sampson Douglas) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in '' The Invincible Iron Man'' #55 (February 1973). The character's or ...

, and

Adam Warlock Adam Warlock is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in ''Fantastic Four'' #66–67 ( cover-dates September 1967 and October 1967) created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, originally ...

. Most of the characters featured in the series differ from their printed-page incarnations. For instance, Adam Warlock is an alien supersoldier designed to fight the

Kree The Kree, briefly known as the Ruul, are an List of fictional extraterrestrials, alien race appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They are native to the planet Hala in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and have a scientificall ...

and, due to

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

broadcast standards, Thanos serves Lady Chaos rather than

Death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

. The series utilizes a serialized storytelling approach. As with many Silver Surfer comic book stories, episodes tackle a range of social and political issues, including

imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

non-violence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

, and

environmental degradation Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

. The series frequently alludes to the

Golden Age of Science Fiction The Golden Age of Science Fiction, often identified in the United States as the years 1938–1946, was a period in which a number of foundational works of science fiction appeared in American genre magazines. Exemplars include the '' Foundation' ...

, with two episode titles from novels by

Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...

(''

Second Foundation ''Second Foundation'' is the third novel published of the ''Foundation'' Series by American writer Isaac Asimov, and the fifth in the in-universe chronology. It was first published in 1953 by Gnome Press. ''Second Foundation'' consists of two ...

'' and ''

The End of Eternity ''The End of Eternity'' is a 1955 science fiction novel by Isaac Asimov with mystery and thriller elements on the subjects of time travel and social engineering. Its ultimate premise is that of a causal loop, a type of temporal paradox in w ...

''), one from

Joe Haldeman Joe William Haldeman (born June 9, 1943) is an American people, American science fiction author and former college professor. He is best known for his novel ''The Forever War'' (1974), which was inspired by his experiences as a combat soldier ...

(''

The Forever War ''The Forever War'' (1974) is a military science fiction novel by American author Joe Haldeman, telling the contemplative story about human soldiers fighting an interstellar war against an alien civilization known as the Taurans. It won the N ...

''), and character names from Asimov ( First Speaker) and Doc Smith (

Mentor Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the perso ...

). The story for one episode was by

Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave science fiction, New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. His published wo ...

. The series was canceled after one season. Eight episodes were written for the second season before production was shut down. According to series creator Larry Brody, the cancellation was the result of a legal dispute between Marvel and

Saban Entertainment BVS Entertainment, Inc., previously known as Saban Productions, Saban Entertainment and Saban International, is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. Founded on April 24, 1980, as a music production company by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, it ...

Voice cast

Episodes

Home media

In the UK the complete series on two discs were to be released by Liberation Entertainment on July 28, 2008; however, because of the closure of the UK division of Liberation Entertainment, the release was cancelled. The rights were then acquired by Clear Vision LTD who released the set on May 11, 2009. As with most of the Marvel Films Animation and New World Animation libraries, the rights to this show are currently owned by Disney Enterprises, through

BVS Entertainment BVS Entertainment, Inc., previously known as Saban Productions, Saban Entertainment and Saban International, is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. Founded on April 24, 1980, as a music production company by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, it ...

and

Jetix Jetix (stylized in all caps) was a children's entertainment brand owned by The Walt Disney Company. The brand was for a slate of action and adventure-related programming blocks and television channels. Jetix programming mainly originated fr ...

who acquired the

Fox Kids Worldwide ABC Family Worldwide is a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company that operates American basic cable channel Freeform (previously known as ''ABC Family'') and manages the programming libraries of BVS E ...

franchise and the kids’ entertainment programming properties of Saban Entertainment and Fox Children's Productions in 2001 and also,

Marvel Animation Marvel Animation Inc. is an American animation production company. It was incorporated on January 25, 2008, to direct Marvel's efforts in animation and home entertainment markets. The incorporated Marvel Animation included then ongoing animatio ...

, which Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment in 2009. However, there are no plans to release the series on Region 1 DVD in its entirety. In September 2019, it was announced that the complete series would be streaming on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Intro theme

The intro theme was produced and credited by

and

Shuki Levy Shuki Levy (; born June 3, 1947) is an Israeli-American music composer and television producer. Levy created soundtrack compositions for children's television programs of the 1980s, such as ''The Real Ghostbusters'', ''Inspector Gadget'', ''The ...

. The music and lyrics were made by Deddy Tzur and co-written by Phil Steele.

References

External links