- Title: Fantastic Four: The Animated Series – The Silver Surfer and the Coming of Galactus (Part 1 and 2)
- IMDb: link | link
Airing in October of 1994, the two-part episode “The Silver Surfer and the Coming of Galactus” stays close to the original story from Fantastic Four #48-50 in which the Watcher (Allan Oppenheimer) warns the Fantastic Four of a coming danger but is unable to stop the Silver Surfer (Robin Sachs) from finding Earth and summoning his master. As in the comic, after an initial skirmish with the Fantastic Four, the Surfer discovers a bit about humanity through his interactions with Alicia Masters (Pauline Lomas) while the Watcher guides Johnny Storm () to the only known weapon in the universe that could turn away Galactus (Tony Jay) and force him to spare Earth.
Aside from abandoning the separate opening battle of the original comic run, the two-parter makes a few other tweaks to the story most notably inserting the characters of Firelord (Oppenheimer) and Terrax (Jay). The two later heralds are added to replace the kind of generic warrior Galactus sends after the Four once they start annoying him. Galactus’ punishment for the Surfer siding with Earth against him is also less severe with the character apparently still being able to roam the Milky Way Galaxy and not limited to the confines of just Earth. It’s a solid adaptation to the original that highlights both the stronger and weaker aspects (such as Johnny’s quest and the various dues ex machina aspects of both the Watcher and the Ultimate Nullifier) of the comic story.
