Iron Man Animated Series

<div style="text-align: right;"><img src="http://i641.photobucket.com/albums/uu140/mrjag/ironmanfiring.jpg" /><!--right--></div> <strong>Iron Man</strong> is an animated television series based on Marvel Comics' superhero Iron Man. The series aired from 1994 to 1996 in syndication as part of The Marvel Action Hour, which packaged Iron Man with another animated series based on Marvel properties, the Fantastic Four, with one half-hour episode from each series airing back-to-back. The show was backed by a toy line that featured many armor variants. <div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i641.photobucket.com/albums/uu140/mrjag/ironmanlogo.jpg" /><!--center--></div> This series of Iron Man was among the few television series to be rerecorded in THX. This may have been usual at the time for a motion picture, but it is rare for a television series. Off the heels of the release of the live-action Iron Man film in 2008, reruns began airing on the Jetix block on Toon Disney. <div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i641.photobucket.com/albums/uu140/mrjag/tonyworking.jpg" /><!--center--></div> Although only lasting two seasons, Iron Man was the subject of a major overhaul between seasons when its production studio was changed. The result was a massively changed premise, tone, and general approach, which left the disparate seasons scarcely recognizable as being two halves of the same series. - Second season In 1995, Marvel switched The Marvel Action Hour to a new animation studio (as previously mentioned, the animation in Season 1 was provided by the Rainbow Animation Group, while the animation in Season 2 was provided by Koko Enterprises), and with it came new writers (Ron Friedman was replaced by Tom Tataranowicz for Season 2) and new music for each sequence, coupled with a new direction for the series. The first season's subtle keyboard theme music for Iron Man (composed by progressive rock artist Keith Emerson) was replaced by an intense electric guitar theme featuring the repeated refrain of "I am Iron Man!", while showing Tony Stark beating red-hot iron plates into shape with a blacksmith's hammer (possibly to mimic the Black Sabbath song "Iron Man"). Tony Stark's longer hair style in the second season was based upon the artist Mark Bright's depiction of Stark from the late 1980s, which is where most of the episodes from Season 2 were based upon. The new storylines spanned multiple episodes and were no longer "open and shut" cases. They formed a linking narrative, featuring themes of duplicity, consequence, and phobias. Also, the stories were no longer centered on the Mandarin, whose rings had been scattered and whose power had been depleted. While the Mandarin did appear in these episodes, his appearances were reduced to cameos in the cliffhangers at the end of the story, as he tried to retrieve each ring. <div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://i641.photobucket.com/albums/uu140/mrjag/season_2_zpsd9a8577e.jpg" /><!--center--></div> - DVD Release On October 8, 2007, both seasons were released together in a Region 2 three-disc set from Maximum Entertainment in 2007, when Disney had the rights to the Marvel shows and before they brought the rights back, all before the 2009 take over of Marvel by Disney. The 3 disk set had no features and just included all 26 episodes. UK company Clear Vision released two sets exclusive to their website on April 19, 2010. One contains all 26 episodes over 4 disks while the other - which includes the 1960s Iron Man animated series - is a six disk box set entitled Iron Man: The Ultimate Collection. Buena Vista Home Entertainment released the entire series on Region 4 DVD - which spans 3 separate volumes - on March 30, 2010 and later released the series on Region 1 DVD on May 4, 2010 to coincide with Iron Man 2, which opened in theaters a few days later, on May 7. - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Man_" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Man_</a>(TV_series) <div style="text-align: center;"><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://youtube.com/v/0xyDyDfOlHc&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0xyDyDfOlHc&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://youtube.com/v/4EgdKjZNu1k&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4EgdKjZNu1k&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://youtube.com/v/J9dYqaV-7dk&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/J9dYqaV-7dk&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> <!--center--></div>