8/10
Superman vs King Kong, the last cartoon produced by Fleischer Studios
7 March 2018
Warning: Spoilers
This cartoon is not only the last of the Superman cartoons produced by Fleischer. But the last animated short Fleischer Studios ever produced. This is one of the Superman cartoons i remember the most, of the 8 Fleischer cartoons, and 4 Famous Studios cartoons i had on DVD as a kid. It scared the crap out of me when i was little. But despite all these facts, this is still one of my least favorite of the cartoons produced by Fleischer, along with Volcano. But it's still great and enjoyable. Let's see why.

The story is about this circus that Lois is sent to review. Later that night, as Lois attends the clown performance, a monkey wanders from the main tent and accidentally opens the cage of a giant gorilla (That looks an awful lot like King Kong). Growling, the Gorilla named "Gigantic" wanders into the tent, sending everyone into pandemonium, as the Gorilla goes on a rampage. Circus workers try to stop the Gorilla, but are overpowered by it's strength. Now it's up to Superman to save the day.

So this is one of my lesser favorite Superman cartoons. It seems kinda weird that Superman is challenged by King Kong. I know it has a name, but i'll just refer to it as King Kong. I mean, he has been up against giant robots, death rays, and Godzilla. And destroyed them all with little challenge, and with ease. But he seems to have the same challenge against King Kong, as he had against all his other foes. Many of the action scenes in this one, also aren't quite as good as in the other cartoons. So what do i like about this cartoon?? Well i like that the animation isn't as colorful in this one, but darker. Fitting the tone of the cartoon. So this cartoon has great animation. An although i find it silly that Superman is challenged by an animal, i still find alot of the scenes with King Kong, and the other animals exciting. Even though they aren't the best action scenes in the series. And Lois proves to be very brave in this one. She doesn't get into trouble because of some selfish reason, but because she is trying to save a child. I also really like that they pay tribute to King Kong in this one.

So although not one of the best, still highly recommended. 8/10

Like i said above, this was not only the last of the Superman cartoons produced by Fleischer. It was the last cartoon that Fleischer Studios produced in general. Leaving behind a legacy of experimentation, wacky visuals, gags, and sensual appeal.

Starting out with the groundbreaking Out of the Inkwell series, being the first animated films to use the rotoscope. An animated series made to demonstrate his invention of this technique.

And later the Betty Boop cartoons, starring the first animated sex symbol. with they're dark and etchy humor, and surreal gags, these cartoons i sometimes think were superior to the old black and white Mickey Mouse cartoons.

And of course the Popeye cartoons. Which alot of times i think were funnier than both the old Mickey Mouse cartoons and Donald Duck cartoons. Atleast the ones made by the Fleischers were. I especially love Popeye's voice, it cracks me up.

They also created the Color Classics series, which i will admit were far from the quality of the Silly Symphony cartoons, which they were made to compete with. I will still admit alot of these cartoons still have they're own charm, and kept with the fleischer tradition of showing a grimmer reality than that of they're Disney counterparts.

They also made 2 very good animated feature films. The second animation studio to make feature films in fact. These were Gulliver's Travels, and Mr. Bug Goes to Town. Although i will admit these films were not as good as the ones Disney made. They still had alot of charm to them.

And finally the Superman cartoons. The first action cartoons ever.

And they made other cartoon series as well, but the ones i mentioned seems to be the most famous, and i'm not even going to get into them all, i mean i could go on about this forever, i just love this stuff.

When Fleischer Studios closed down, Paramount replaced the studio with Famous Studios. Which would continue the Popeye and Superman cartoon series' and would make other cartoon series' as well.

Anyways, Terror on the Midway wasn't the best Superman or Fleischer cartoon, but it was a decent cartoon to end the studio off with.
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