Iron Man Armored Adventures Pilot Review
April 22, 2009
Back in late 2008 I first heard about the latest Iron Man animated series. Outside of the name and the network I didn’t learn much else and after a while the show slipped from my thoughts. Then a couple days ago I stumped upon a free iTunes download of the pilot and figured I’d give a look.
The show opens with a young Tony Stark making the iconic Iron Man suit. This incarnation of Tony is soon revealed to be 16 years old. And thus less then a minute into the series we are already faced with an issue.
I am all about character flexibly, I really am. But a teenage Tony Stark/Iron Man just doesn’t work for a number of reasons. For starters the writing doesn’t work with the Iron Man character. To the best of my knowledge (which is admittedly limited) Tony Stark has never in his 49 years of existence been written, acted, or animated as a teenage with the suit. Writing Tony as a teenage was never a notion that even crossed my mind and to be honest it feels extremely forced.
If one really wants to write teenage-based stories about a Marvel superhero then they are better of doing someone like Peter Parker. Spider-Man is a much better fit for a teen oriented show. As a matter of fact that is exactly what’s being done with The Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series. A teenage Peter Parker is awesome; a teenage Tony is just nonsensical.
The plot of the pilot episode is pretty straightforward. Tony and his pal Rhodey (also 16) are introduced right away. It is made clear that Tony is a super genius and that he doesn’t go to school. The next few minutes of the episode are spent showcasing the loving relationship between Howard Stark and Tony. However the happiness is short lived naturally. Tony and his father go flying in an airplane that abruptly explodes. Flash forward to a few months later and we see that Tony is now sporting his trademark pacemaker. We also learn that Tony’s father is dead and Tony is now attending normal school. During his first day of classes we are treated to a silly and clichéd as hell montage of Tony showing his super genius to the teachers and students. This montage even shows Tony solving an “unsolvable math problem”, a feat which left me less impressed and more shocked at the uncreativeness of the scene.
On the villain side of things, Obadiah Stane is introduced right off the bat as a complete prick. Stane is looking to sell Stark technology to the US military for weapons application. Howard Stark is completely opposed to Stane’s proposal. I could go off on rant about how painting the Starks as instantly anti-weapons completely destroys the guilt Tony suffers in most Iron Man adaptations, but considering how much else this show has going against it this little point hardly seems worth the rant. It is implied, quite blatantly, that Stane is responsible for blowing up the airplane that kills Howard Stark and injures Tony.
Pepper Potts makes a quick appearance in the show, being set up as a new school friend for Tony. She alludes to the fact that Stane is behind the plane explosion and Tony, following that lead, decides to take his suit out to investigate. While spying on Stane, Tony learns that Stane has begun to develop weapons with Stark technology. Before he can learn more he gets distracted by a run away train. Which he manages to stop to it in a nice little action moment that is probably the best part of the episode (though that’s really not saying much)
A little surprise awaits viewers at the end of the episode as we are introduced to this series take on The Mandarin. I look at this behemoth of a baddie and the first thing that comes to mind is World of Warcraft. Indeed he looks like some reject from a MMO. The Mandarin was such a kickass character in the 90s Iron Man series; but this new series has done a speculator job of making me wish to never see the character again. I think if I bring myself to watch another episode of this show and their sad excuse for Mandarin pops up on the screen I just might turn my screen off right then and there.
Some other quick notes:
- The dialogue is corny, several really cheesy borderline moronic jokes
- The animation is terrible in my opinion. I’m just not that fond of this breed of CGI animation. I guess it just reminds me to much of that deplorable MTV Spider-Man series (if you’ve never heard of it, you will likely lead a more fulfilling life)
- The opening song makes me cringe. The 90s series theme is light years better.
Final Verdict: This latest incarnation is kiddy and tramples over huge chunks of the source material. It is likely that any hardcore Iron Man fan will be repulsed by this offering. For the time being the pilot is free on iTunes so I suggest if you have any degree of curiosity you should check out. Just be weary of what your getting in to.
presstheactionbutton
vaultdweller13
waufreak89
malcolmchaos7
May 4, 2009 at 6:25 pm
This is supposed to be a freaking kids show! If you don’t like it than too bad.Aren’t like in your thirty’s or something?
May 17, 2009 at 8:05 am
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June 2, 2009 at 10:44 pm
I have to disagree with everything you are saying. It’s actually a pretty cool show, light entertainment for the kids, what’s not to like?
June 2, 2009 at 11:32 pm
I concur with your sentiments of the show being pretty cool. The show has crafted a unique premise and the execution of that premise is solid. My problem isn’t with the execution but rather the premise itself. As a fan of super hero animated series I can point to several examples of shows that played well to kids without bending so much of the source material. Batman TAS and the 90s X-Men come to mind.
In my opinion just because the show is for kids doesn’t mean the cast has to composed primarily of kids.
In it’s own right the show is great and it’s clear that the creators are trying hard to pay homage to the history of the character. It just still remains tough for me to accept a teenage Tony Stark flying around as Iron Man.
June 16, 2009 at 5:06 am
[...] in April I put up a review of the Iron Man Armed Adventures pilot. To give the abridged version I was pretty harsh on it. [...]
August 9, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Actually, Tony Stark was written as a teenage in the comic series. A character Kang took control of older Tony and used him against his friends. The avengers then used a teenage Tony. Young Tony stole armor from STARK INTERNATIONAL (hmmm sounds like the same stark international in the TV series) any way, they had to use young Tony to help them in their battles. So then yount Tony and older Tony came face to face and older Tony was able to defeat Kang’s control over him. But then older Tony sacrificed himself to defeat Kang, and in the process was killed. So young Tony stepped in and became part of the Avengers. There is obviously more after that, but thats the jist. There was such thing as a Teenage Tony Stark.
August 9, 2009 at 11:44 pm
oh and I kind of like how they took an older character and twisted it a little. I have been an Iron Man fan for a long long time, so I know the character well, and personally, I like to see something old turned into something new!