Robot 6
Remember when Bill Murray played the Human Torch?
Flame on!
I didn’t either, but it happened on the radio in 1975. The Fantastic Four radio show was the brainchild of a couple of New York DJs (Sean Kleefeld interviewed one of them in 1999) who pitched the idea to Marvel. The company went for it, and Stan Lee even provided the narration. The scripts were based entirely on actual Lee/Kirby comics and, yes, a 25-year-old Bill Murray played Johnny Storm.
The Kleefeld interview has all the details, including why the show only lasted for 13 episodes. And if you’re interested in hearing an episode for yourself … well, thank Galactus for YouTube.
6 Comments
JRC
May 31, 2012 at 10:22 am
I found these a while ago on Archive.org, I really recommend skulking around on there, in addition to these FF episodes (not too bad really).
There’s lot of old radio shows and pulp characters: Shadow, Blue Beetle, some Superman, some stray Batman stuff, and more if you hit the right word combination.
VanGoghX
May 31, 2012 at 11:44 am
It wasn’t 13 episodes… It was 13 weeks of episodes, 5 a week. 65 episodes total.
Kurt Busiek
May 31, 2012 at 11:47 am
I listened to that show when it was first broadcast.
I am old.
VanGoghX
May 31, 2012 at 11:54 am
Well, I guess it could be considered 13 half-hour episodes broken up into 5 minute segments. It sounds as though they were originally 65 five minute segments.
VanGoghX
May 31, 2012 at 11:57 am
10 of the episodes have been archived here: http://archive.org/details/FantasticFour-10Episodes
Donald G
May 31, 2012 at 11:17 pm
I seem to remember it being plugged in one of the Marvel Bullpen Bulletins pages of the time.