The First (and Only) Live-Action Plastic Man Goes to the 1984 Democratic National Convention

There's no current shortage of live-action superheroes running around these days -- I mean, did you ever think we'd see a day where there would be a live-action Crimson Fox? -- but there's still plenty of untapped potential in the comic book archives. 

Where, for example, is Plastic Man?  The Jack Cole-created stretchy crime fighter has been far from an unknown figure since his first appearance in 1941, commanding several solo comic book series along with his own cartoon and plenty of appearances in other DC Comics-related properties.  Sure, his powers are a bit tough to do in live-action, but that's what terrible CGI is for!  It is a bit odd that the character, a fun-loving creation with a good back story, decent name recognition and an affable sense of humor that would appeal to younger audiences, has never appeared as a live-action figure.

Except that one time.

In 1984, Arlington Television picked up the two-season animated TV series "The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show" for syndication a few years after the show had concluded its Saturday morning run on ABC.  Not content to just repackage the old material, director Steve Whiting shot additional bookend footage for the show, featuring actor and comedian Mark Taylor (billed as "Taylor Marks") as the lead character in all his plastic glory.


The segments aren't exactly action packed - they're mostly making Plas making gags about the show coupled with some rudimentary special effects.  But the costume design is good, and Taylor seems to be having a good time, so it's not all that shocking that the syndicated package became a minor hit, with Taylor's Plas getting the attention of the San Francisco-based "Evening Magazine."

In fact, Taylor's incarnation of Plastic Man was enough of a hit that Whiting and Taylor took it on the road to the 1984 Democratic National Convention.  According to Noblemania's great interview with him, "I did a more lame version of what [Sasha Baron Cohen's 'Borat'] did so well."

Sadly, Taylor's Plastic Man didn't fare much better than the Democrats that year, and he was soon retired to the footnotes of history.  Taylor went on to continue his stand-up comedy work and, as of 2011, works in a hospital as a physical therapist - a perfectly appropriate calling for someone whose portrayal of an infamous comic book character who can assume any physical form is, to date, the definitive one.

BIG BUG MAN - The final, lost film of Marlon Brando

Film icons making their cinematic swan song as the voice in an animated film of questionable repute isn't unheard of -- who can forget Sean Connery's (most likely) final role in the choppy Scotish film SIR BILLI (released to the states as GUARDIAN OF THE HIGHLANDS) or Orson Welles belting out commands as the planet-eating Unicron in TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE?

At least those movies were released.  Marlon Brando's last foray into features hasn't been so lucky.  BIG BUG MAN, an animated feature that uses Brando's voice recorded on June 10, 2004 (three weeks before his death) has yet to see the light of day.

BIG BUG MAN is the story of a candy factory worker (voiced by Brendan Fraser) who is bitten by bugs and becomes a superhero.  You can check out the storyboards for the film here.

So who does Brando play?  A mob boss?  A kindly "Uncle Ben" type to Fraser's Spider-ish-man? 

No, Brando plays Mrs. Sour, the elderly owner of the candy company in which our hero works.  In fact, he was so committed to the role that, according to writer/director Bob Bendetson, he performed his voice acting in drag, with a blonde wig, a dress, full makeup and gloves.

"He was gorgeous," Bendetson said. "I guess it was part of his Method training or something, where you almost embarrass yourself as the character, so that way you're free to be the character. ... About halfway through he took off the wig because he was getting too hot."

 So where is this amazing piece of cinema that you can hear a clip from in this 2004 news report?


 Lost to cinematic limbo, unfortunately. The film has yet to find any sort of release, and a search for updated information has yielded no results.  Bendetsen, who wrote the infamous final episode of "Newhart," hasn't had a screen credit since.  How many SPIDER-MAN reboots do we have to go through in order to make this one see the light of day?

Morning Cartoon: The Mighty Heroes in THE STRETCHER, directed by Ralph Bakshi and Robert Taylor

Robert Taylor, the animator who lent his talents to the likes of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "Challenge of the SuperFriends," "Spider-Man" and countless more cartoons, passed away last week.  Here is one of his many projects with Ralph Bakshi, from the 1966 series "The Mighty Heroes," featuring five heroes that are only vaguely mighty.

Morning Cartoon: 1967's Spy Shadow in "The Mystery Rustler Caper," voiced by Ted Cassidy

Government agent Richard Vance had the power to control his own shadow, a talent he used effectively in the secret agent-meets-superhero oddity "Spy Shadow," a segment of the brief "Super President" television show.  Former Lurch Ted Cassidy provided the voice of the hero, with June Foray as his love interest.

2001 pilot for "Electra Woman and Dyna Girl" reboot starring Markie Post

Oh, sure, NOW the CW is all about superhero shows.  This wasn't the case in 2001, when the pre-CW WB Network commissioned this pilot for a prospective series reviving Sid and Marty Krofft's fondly-remembered but completely silly distaff dynamic duo starring Deidre Hall.  This pilot plays the concept for laughs, starring Markie Post as an alcoholic, bitter, surly Electra Woman, who gets a brand new Dyna Girl in an effort to revive her career.  It's actually an entertainingly misanthropic good time, but it makes sense that it wouldn't have been turned into a series -- the original isn't exactly well-known, and the concept of the reboot would just tick off humorless fans of the first series.