Behold the Negative Zone - S1-E12
Trivia: When Blastaar comes through the Negative Zone into the Earth dimension, Thing remarks that Blastaar makes him look like Brian Austin Green. Brian Austin Green was the voice of Human Torch for the first season of this show. (00:11:18)
Trivia: After Silver Surfer passes by the Marvel Comics office, two other characters fly by his path, while a third lands on the building on the right. The two that fly by are Darkhawk and Justice, and the other is Speedball. All three are members of the superhero team New Warriors. (00:01:00)
Trivia: When Silver Surfer is departing Africa, you can very briefly see a woman jumping out of the ocean and back in with a couple of dolphins. This woman is Namorita, cousin of Namor, who appeared as a foe-turned-friend to the Fantastic Four early in the series. (00:00:50)
Trivia: When Reed is exploring Frankie's memories of when she snuck into her stepfather's lab as a child, he discovers that her stepfather was working on an android Human Torch for the military. This is a reference to the original Human Torch from the comics, who alongside Namor and Captain America, was one of Marvel's very first characters. (00:04:20)
Prey of the Black Panther - S2-E7
Trivia: After the Fantastic Four have battled Black Panther, there is a panning shot in the village, and you see a young man in the foreground wearing a red headband. This is Mjnari, who is the godson of X-Men member Storm, and appeared in the X-Men episode "Whatever It Takes." Additionally, the woman standing next to Mjnari bears a strong resemblance to the younger version of Storm that was shown in the flashback of the aforementioned episode. On a related note, Storm and Black Panther have been married in the comics. (00:12:25)
Trivia: When Johnny and Rick Jones are taking the air-cycle out for a spin, the following Marvel characters make a cameo appearance: the Scarlet Spider, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Gambit, Wolverine, Storm, and Juggernaut. Additionally, the Juggernaut is shown with his hand emerging out of the New York Harbor, which alludes to his previous appearance in X-Men, where he was thrown out into the ocean by Gladiator near Cassidy Keep in Ireland in the season 3 episode "The Phoenix Saga, Part 3: The Cry of the Banshee," and seemingly walked all the way back to New York from the ocean floor for his next appearance in the episode "Juggernaut Returns." (00:09:31)
Prey of the Black Panther - S2-E7
Trivia: At the end of the episode, Thing calls Black Panther "Shere Khan." Shere Khan is the main antagonist, a tiger, from The Jungle Book. Thing likely meant to call him Bagheera, which is the name of the black panther from the same story, though this was probably deliberate on the part of the writers in order to make Thing look like a doofus. (00:21:16)
Trivia: The intro for season 2 features shots of the heroes battling a big green monster called Giganto in the streets. This is a recreation of the cover of the very first issue of Fantastic Four.
Superskrull - S1-E7
Trivia: The Godzilla parody movie that the Skulls are watching at the beginning of the episode says it is presented by Roger Shnorman. This is a reference to cult-film director Roger Corman, who himself was an executive producer on a Fantastic Four film that was made around the same time this series aired, but was deliberately never released. (00:01:30)
Trivia: The Fantastic Four's landlady at the Baxter Building is voiced by Stan Lee's wife, Joan.
Trivia: When Dr. Doom is attacking Mr. Fantastic, there is a portrait of a nude woman on the wall that somehow made it past the network censors. (00:16:11)
Answer: Gleaned from the Internet: Much of the negative reaction was due to the poor, simplistic, and outdated quality of the animation where the characters moved stiffly and clumsily through scenes. There were also some obvious animation compositing gaffs. The animation colors were also criticized as being overly bright and cheery and out of character to the established story's darker tone. The broad humor of the first season was replaced by a more mature narrative between the characters.
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