Marvel Action Universe
| Marvel Action Universe | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Action / adventure / animation / fantasy / sci-fi |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 (total) |
| No. of episodes |
Dungeons & Dragons Defenders of the Earth Dino-Riders RoboCop: The Animated Series The New Fantastic Four Spider-Woman Spider-Man Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends The Incredible Hulk X-Men |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Margaret Loesch Lee Gunther |
| Producer(s) |
Bill Hutten Tony Love |
| Running time | 90 minutes (60 minutes in some markets) |
| Production company(s) |
Marvel Productions Orion Television (for RoboCop: The Animated Series only) Sunbow Productions |
| Distributor |
New World Television Orion Television (for RoboCop: The Animated Series only) Claster Television (for the Sunbow Productions animated series based on Hasbro properties only) Mattel Playground Productions (for Dino-Riders) Disney-ABC Domestic Television (currently for Marvel 70's through 90's cartoon series) MGM Television (currently for RoboCop: The Animated Series) Hasbro Studios (currently for Dungeons & Dragons cartoon series) King Features Syndicate (currently for Defenders of the Earth) |
| Release | |
| Original network | First-run syndication |
| Picture format | Color |
| Audio format | Mono / Stereo |
| Original release | October 2, 1988 – September 26, 1991 |
Marvel Action Universe is a weekly syndicated television block from Marvel Productions featuring animated adaptions of Dino-Riders and RoboCop. Marvel Action Universe debuted in 1988.
The first half of the hour was an episode of Dino-Riders; the second half an episode of RoboCop. Reruns of the 1981 Spider-Man cartoon (alternating with Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends) were aired, making the program 90 minutes long in some markets. The block is notable for debuting the X-Men pilot, X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men during its second season. Various other Marvel cartoons began airing during the show's second season as well.
To coincide the airings of various shows on the program, Marvel produced a few comics based on some of the shows; In 1989, a Dino-Riders comic series was published by Marvel. Also in 1989, Marvel reprinted the original one-shot comic Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, first published in 1981, retitled as Marvel Action Universe #1; In 1990, Marvel published another one-shot comic titled X-Men Animation Special, an adaptation of Pryde of the X-Men that featured cell animation from the cartoon rather than original art; Again in 1990, Marvel published a RoboCop comic adaption, which lasted two years.
Dino-Riders was introduced primarily as a promotion to launch a new Tyco toy line. The series told the story of the Valorians, a peaceful race of telepathic humans whose home planet was conquered by the Rulon Empire. 400 survivors escaped on a space ship and time traveled to prehistoric Earth using the experimental Space-Time Energy Projector (also known as the S.T.E.P). But Emperor Krulos and his lead commanders accidentally followed them into the past when a tractor beam locked onto the Valorians' ship during the time jump. Stranded in the past, the two groups recruited the planet's dinosaur population into their struggle. The Valorians used their telepathy for taming dinosaurs to ride and for domestic use. The Rulons captured dinosaurs with 'brain boxes'. These were large metal helmets which fit onto dinosaur's heads and control their brains. Both Valorians and Rulons would often fit dinosaurs with huge arrays of laser and weapon platforms, upon which people could ride, and attack one another. Battles were mostly motivated by the Rulon's desire to steal the S.T.E.P. from the Valorians, and almost always inconclusive, seldom accomplishing more for either side than restoring the status quo from the beginning of the episode.
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