"Mighty Thor" (1966) TV series

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Creator:

Larry Lieber

Seasons:

1

Genre:

Animation | Fantasy | Action

Plot:

The contemporary adventures of the Norse god of thunder and lightning.

Plot Keywords:

Lightning | Thunder | Norse God | Thor | Son Of Odin

Cast

Bernard Cowan

...

Narrator / ... (unknown episodes)

Also Known As:

"The Mighty Thor" (UK) (video box title)

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Iceland:LH

Company:

Famous Studios

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Parallax View (1974)

THOR-oly Enjoyable, 'Pulse-poundingly' Exciting and Truly Memorable!

Other than that dabbler in Black Magic and Sorcery, DR. STRANGE* just about every major Marvel feature with Super Heroes had roots in Science Fiction. Indeed, when one scrutinizes "THE MARVEL SUPERHEROES" TV Show, we find that 60% of the feature characters are Sci Fi all the way. One is somewhat grounded in the Science Fiction world, at least in "Origin" and "Rebirth". That leaves the last one as being outside of Sci Fi; but inside of what? ANSWERS: "HULK", "IRON MAN" and "THE SUB-MARINER" are all conceived scientifically and fictitiously, albeit in a somewhat Global Warming-like junk science.

"CAPTAIN America" had huge elements grounded in this Sci-Fi; but was largely more akin to a character & feature like BATMAN, lacking any true Super Powers.** And that, Schultz, leaves only the "MIGHTY THOR", which has no pretenses of any scientific basis whatsoever. Instead of Science, or the Supernatural, the Thor saga is derived from the Germanic/Norse Mythology; with Thor being their God of Thunder and Battle.

With regards to their bringing the Mythological Norse Thunder God into a Marvel Universe, one would perhaps, think that it would have trouble fitting-in. The age-old axiom of the "square hole" and the "round peg" would certainly fit most appropriately right here. (Or is it "round hole" and "square peg"?) Material displayed in the Comics Page could well have brought them a good deal of heat from various Cultural, Civic and Religious groups. If one considers the Pagan God origin of the character, his constant references to Odin & his endless conflict with brother, Loki, we see an Ancient World's Eye view of a modern, technologically marvelous sort of anachronism.

In addition to Norse Mythological characters and their own conflicts; the stories very often depict scenes of Life in Asgard (the Mythic Homeland of the Norse deities). There were many stories in Marvels's Journey Into Mystery Comic (title later changed to The Mighty Thor) which depicted the Thunder God's traveling from mother Earth to Asgard and father Odin's Palace of Fallen Heroes, Valhalla (almost sounds like "Hallowed Halls", no?).

Oddly enough, other than a few expressions of surprise that we personally heard; there was no public outcry and the Thor feature was generally warmly and widely embraced. Their great acceptance was a bi-media phenomenon for just the same as the other four comics adaptations to TV Animation, the stories are nearly verbatim transcriptions of the adventures from the printed page.

AS for his Marvel Origin, Thor is given a case of Norse God Amnesia by papa Odin and sent to Earth in the guise of physically frail and semi-crippled Dr. Don Blake. This is meant as an object lesson for Odin's son; who will learn from serving the poor and pitiful mortals who occupy our World. Hmmmm, all of this line of thought sure makes a pretty convincing case for calling Thor a "Christ figure".

With respect to the "MIGHTY THOR" animations, they are just like their 4 other counterparts on "THE MARVEL SUPERHEROES"; being beautifully voiced & musically endowed, with beautiful straight-from-the comics artwork; being topped off with very limited animation work.****

All shortcomings considered, "THE MIGHTY THOR" is a beautiful, exciting and most memorable series of ½ hours TV Animation.

Oh yeah, by the way; we were wondering if THOR played on his own day of the week! C'mon, Schultz, I'm referring to 'Thursday'; which is, after all, named after Thor, himself!

NOTE: * There have been 2 adaptations of the this Marvel Feature: DR. STRANGE (Universal, CBS, 1978), a Made for TV Movie; and DR. STRANGE (Marvel Ent./Lions Gate Home Video, 2007), a direct to video TV Animation.

NOTE: ** Beyond his initial use of that Comic Book 'Anabolic Steroid' and his 'being kept on ice', Captain America was more of a costumed crime fighter and a highly trained specimen, both mentally and physically; much like Mr. Bruce Wayne/BATMAN!

NOTE: *** Others would include Fank Capra's title characters in MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (Columbia, 1939) and MEET KOHN DOE (Liberyt Pictures/Warner Bros., 1941; as well as Siegel & Shuster's original SUPERMAN concept.

NOTE **** "....and the 1966 'Clutch Cargo' Award for Most-Limited of Limited Animation goes to, (s-u-s-p-e-n-s-e!!)THE MARVEL SUPER HEROES"