Movies / Animé and Toons

Iron Man: The complete 1994 animated television series

By Patrick Bérubé
May 12, 2010 - 10:30

Just in time for the release of the Iron Man II movie comes the complete 1994 Iron Man animated series in a three DVD boxed set containing all 26 episodes of the original animated show. Be ready to see Iron Man in action as he fights The Mandarin's attempts to take over the world. Accompanied by his evil minions (Whirlwind, MODOK, Grey Gargoyle and even Whiplash), The Mandarin will stop at nothing to destroy Iron Man and get his hand on his many armors. Luckily, industrialist Tony Stark can also count on many allies such as War Machine, Spider-Woman, Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye to help him thwart his enemy's plan.

First of all, it's important to mention that this complete series has to be reviewed in two parts. After the first 13 episodes, there is a major change of direction complete with a new opening, a change of cast, new plotlines and some major re-design for the remaining characters. This lead to a great shift in quality but can't help my feeling that this is almost like two different series put together.

As I mentioned above, after the first half of the series, there is a dramatic change for the storyline. The first half can be considered somewhat formulaic since every episode features the same villains (The Mandarin and his acolytes) trying to eliminate Iron Man and conquer the world only to be stopped by the armored avenger. The second part, however, is a lot more diverse and introduces a lot of guest characters. There is also an underlying thread that links every episode together and lead to the series’ grand finale. It is much more effective and reflects the spirit of the comic book more properly. There is even an episode written by comic book scribe Len Wein and one by Stan Lee. If I have one complaint overall, it is that most characters and organizations are not properly introduced. The series starts off with a slew of characters they assume the viewer knows about but I only knew them because I have read comic books before. So I imagine someone coming in without prior knowledge of the Marvel Comics universe would feel a bit lost at first.

The animation also profits from the mid-series change. The first few episodes' animation is not really bad but you can easily see that some scenes are used over and over. Some fight sequences come back up to three times in the same scene. There is also one of the worst moments, which is the special 3D animation moment when Tony Stark puts his armor on. This might have been a cutting edge technology in 1994 but it did not age well at all and I'm glad they got rid of it in the second half of the season. Speaking of the second half, I believe a different studio took care of that part of the season and with much better results. There is a lot more depth, shades and layers to their work which boosts the quality compared with the previous episodes.

So can this series remain watchable even if it more than 15 years old? I would say yes, especially with the change they made mid-season. I have to admit, however, that I might not have been able to watch it all had the changes not been made. I was really starting to feel the rest of the series would be more of the same but found a renewed interest when I reached episode 14.

Rating: 7 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12