IRON MAN: ARMORED ADVENTURES

 

IRON MAN: ARMORED ADVENTURES

(Nicktoons, April 24, 2009-July 25, 2012)

 

Marvel Animation, Marvel Entertainment, Method Animation, DQ Entertainment, LuxAnimation (season 1), Fabrique D’Images (season 2), Onyx Lux (season 2)

 

 

            Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe there was Iron Man, which became a bigger hit than anyone could have anticipated for such a widely unknown character. Naturally, Marvel Entertainment sought to capitalize on that momentum and commissioned the creation of an animated series; only the second after 1994’s Iron Man, although the character has appeared in other shows. Developed by Alexandre de La Patelliére, Craig Kyle, Romain van Liemt and Christopher Yost, Iron Man: Armored Adventures was a French co-production that followed a teenaged Tony Stark (Adrian Petriw). Unlike the comics and film, Tony was injured in a plane crash that seemingly killed his father, Howard (Fred Henderson). He was saved by his Iron Man armor which he used to investigate Obadiah Stane’s (Mackenzie Gray) possible involvement in the crash. That leads him into superheroics with the aid of his best friend, James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Daniel Bacon), and a girl he meets at his new school, Pepper Potts (Anna Cummer). They eventually get their own armor and become War Machine and Rescue, respectively.

Tony, Pepper and Rhodey in their armors.

            Iron Man: Armored Adventures debuted on Nicktoons on April 24, 2009, breaking the network’s record of the highest-rated original series. The CGI-animated series ran for two seasons, with Yost serving as head writer for the first and Brandon Auman assuming the role for season 2. The series loosely adapted several storylines from the comics, making changes to account for the characters’ reduced ages and integrating elements introduced in the Iron Man films and blossoming MCU; such as Tony’s armor resembling the film version and even changing his chest beam from round to triangular as in Iron Man 2. Unlike the MCU, the series was able to incorporate characters licensed at the time to other studios; such as Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom (Christopher Britton) and X-Men villain Magneto (Ron Halder), both with 20^th Century Fox (which later became a part of Disney). The series’ theme was written by Robert Schwartzman and recorded by his band, Rooney.

Kids on a mission, even without their armor.

            A third season was planned, but following Disney’s acquisition of Marvel the series was quietly and informally cancelled in favor of moving the character over to a show that brought him more in line with the MCU. However, instead of a solo effort, that ended up being Avengers Assemble which replaced Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes on Disney XD. The month following the final episode, Armored Adventures began airing on The CW’s Vortexx Saturday morning programming block until that December. The entire series was made available to stream on Disney+ in 2020.

MINNIE'S BOW-TOONS

MINNIE’S BOW-TOONS

(Disney Junior, November 14, 2011-January 22, 2016)

Disney Television Animation, DQ Entertainment, Technicolor Animation Productions

            Spinning off out of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode “Minnie’s Bow-Tique”, Minnie’s Bow-Toons followed Minnie Mouse (Russi Taylor) and Daisy Duck (Tress MacNeille) as they ran Minnie’s Bow-tique; a specialty shop stocked with an assortment of colorful bows and bowties. Helping them out was their clock-dwelling bird assistant, Cuckoo Loca (Nika Futterman). Also residing in the Bow-tique was Figaro (Frank Welker), the pet cat from Pinocchio. Although the male Disney characters weren’t stars in the series, they did make occasional guest appearances.

Minnie, Daisy and Cuckoo taking a break from the bow business for some kitchen adventures.

            Minnie’s Bow-Toons debuted on Disney Junior on November 14, 2011. Like Clubhouse, the series was completely rendered in CGI. Episodes would typically start out with something bow-related that would serve to help in a given situation; such as rubber bows being used to stop leaky pipes, Figaro-shredded material helping a cheerleader friend replace her lost pom-poms, or fluorescent paint on bows to light-up Daisy’s birthday party when the fuses blow. Over the course of the series, the focus expanded to include a new pet-grooming salon across from the Bow-tique, as well as a world-spanning travel adventure. The series ran for 5 seasons, spawning a variety of merchandise and video games. The series would continue on in reruns on Disney Junior, eventually finding its way onto the Saturday morning schedule.

MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE

MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE

(Playhouse Disney/Disney Junior, May 5, 2006-November 6, 2016)

Walt Disney Television Animation/Disney Television Animation, DQ Entertainment

For the history of Mickey Mouse, check out the post here.

            Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was the first computer animated series from Disney Television Animation. Developed by Bobs Gannaway, the series was aimed at pre-schoolers. It was designed so that the audience could solve basic problems along with Mickey (Wayne Allwine & Bret Iwan) and Minnie Mouse (Russi Taylor), Donald (Tony Anselmo) and Daisy (Tress MacNeille) Duck, Goofy, Pluto (both Bill Farmer) and a mechanical assistant called Toodles (Rob Paulsen). They summoned their clubhouse with the chant “Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse!” via the theme song by They Might Be Giants, which housed the Mousekadoer, a giant Mickey-head shaped computer that distributed the objects needed to solve the day’s problem, called Mouseketools.

Daisy, Donald, Pluto, Goofy, Minni and Mickey in computer animation.

            Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ran for four seasons over a period of ten years; during which time the Playhouse Disney network transitioned into Disney Junior and Walt Disney Television Animation saw “Walt” removed from their name. The show spawned two spin-offs. The first was Minnie’s Bow-Toons, which followed Minnie’s adventures running a business making and selling bows from 2011-2016. The second was Mickey and the Roadster Racers, following the Sensational Six as they participated in races around the town of Hot Dog Hills.