Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Rally-ho!

Reviewed by Randy Miller III March 4, 2025

A charming one-season wonder from Hanna-Barbera Productions during the height of their powers, Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles isn't a team-up but rather something of a half-and-half variety show where its titular stars never actually cross paths... well, except for a literal bridging sequence that plays partway through each ~22 minute episode. This mash-up features not one but two absurd premises that are both entirely of-the-moment yet still kind of ageless, providing you can appreciate late-1960s kitsch and goofy song breaks. Even so, this one's largely aimed at anyone who grew up during that time period, as those of a certain age will undoubtedly have faint memories of Buzz Conroy, his homemade robot, and of course Multi-Man, Fluid-Man, and Coil-Man safely nestled in their hippocampi.

The format of each and every episode begins with a short adventure starring The Impossibles, H-B's first full-time cartoon band which is comprised of three crime fighters masquerading as a rock and roll group. Adoring fans? Check. Catchy songs? Naturally. A bandstand that transformed into multiple vehicles? You know it. Always interrupted during a live performance, bandmates Multi-Man (voiced by Don Messick), Fluid-Man (Paul Frees), and Coil-Man (Hal Smith) use their boffo superpowers to take out a bevvy of bad guys, all the while cracking bad puns and wrapping things up in less than eight minutes. Laced with original tunes including "Hey You, Hiddy Hiddy Hoo", "Little Sally Ann", "Dance Dance Dance", and "The Pussycat Walk", these colorful adventures are good, goofy fun and absolutely breeze by. A second Impossibles adventure appeared at the end of each show, bringing the total count up to 36 bite-sized outings.

Frankenstein Jr. gets half of that number, as each of its 18 adventures serve as the peanut butter and marshmallow inside each Impossibles sandwich. This isn't gothic horror, of course: it actually stars young Buzz Conroy (Dick Beals), a child scientist who, along with his dad Professor Conroy (John Stephenson), battles supervillains in Civic City with the help of Buzz's hand-built giant robot, Frankenstein Jr. AKA "Frankie" (Ted Cassidy). The Conroys keep it in the family Jonny Quest style, yet Frankenstein Jr. has a light tone similar to The Impossibles yet obviously without all the pop music and most of the bad puns. There's exactly one two-parter entitled "The Alien Brain from Outer Space" (which should give you an idea of what you're in for) but, like The Impossibles, these 18 outings are all otherwise one-and-done adventures that are uniformly cute, colorful, and easy to digest. Collectively, again this is all in-the-moment stuff and best enjoyed as nostalgic entertainment but perfectly suitable to new audiences as well. (Case in point: I'm more than a decade too young to consider these "my generation" and had no trouble jumping right in.)

Doing their usual good work for H-B animation (maybe even better than usual), Warner Archive serves up a two-disc Blu-ray collection that, like their 2011 DVD set, herds together all 18 episodes in one handy package. The names of all 54 included segments -- which can be found here for The Impossibles and here for Frankenstein Jr., with descriptions of each -- are helpfully printed on each disc, and a lone DVD-era supplement is also included on Disc 2. It's a solid package for a very fair price, one that can and should absolutely be snapped up by all interested parties.

Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Warner Archive's start-to-finish handling of Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles is great work from the boutique label, who built 1080p transfers of all 18 episodes from brand-new 4K scans of the original camera negatives before applying their proprietary method of careful manual cleanup. The end result is quite simply as good as you'd expect, a clean and pure presentation of classic animation that doesn't seem to have been played around with in any way, shape, or form. The first things to note are the colors, which are by design a little more muted and low-key than perhaps expected for material of this type, yet it seems to be largely in keeping with what might be considered an authentic replication of its original appearance. Fine detail and overall density are exceptional; again within limitations of the show's visual design, yet consistently solid due to the presence of organic film grain and the lack of processing on Warner Archive's behalf. I've said it before, but this is absolutely a best-case scenario for purists as it really shows how good classic animation can look on Blu-ray. It's as good or even better-looking than other H-B TV titles from this era like The Jetsons and Jonny Quest, so die-hard fans will be over the moon for Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles' new facelift.

Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Similarly, the DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix is a perfectly plain-wrap presentation of the film's one-channel source in a split mono container. Quite simply, it sounds as good as possible and likely far exceeds what many heard during original broadcasts or even the 2011 DVD set with its lossy Dolby Digital audio. Dialogue is clean and intelligible, those familiar Hanna-Barbera stock sound effects sound great, and the occasional music -- whether incidental background cues or the main focus, like during The Impossibles -- adds a lot of fun to the proceedings. No audible hiss, pops, or crackle could be heard along the way, rounding out the audio mix nicely. In short, fans will absolutely love how it sounds.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered during all 18 episodes, but not the lone extra listed below.

Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc set ships in a dual-hubbed keepcase with vintage cover artwork and no inserts.

One DVD-era featurette is included on Disc 2.

• Monster Rock: The Adventures of Frankenstein Jr. & the Impossibles (5:24) - This light retrospective featurette was created for Warner Bros.' Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Vol. 1 set, which was a fun series while it lasted. Though short and surface-level (and pretty rough-looking), it offers a quick history of the show's place in pop culture at the time as well as some interesting concept artwork and other trivial tidbits.

Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hanna-Barbera Productions' Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles is one of the company's quirkier and lesser-known 1960s offerings but no less charming than the classics, standing decently tall as a one-season wonder that still holds some clout in certain animation circles. As usual, the artwork and voice acting outpace the actual stories (at least as far as substance goes), but that's par for the course and, with three 7-8 segments apiece, each of these 18 episodes flies by quickly enough. It's tough to tell whether or not Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles will play as well for younger audiences these days, but anyone born within a decade or two of its airing should have absolutely no problem enjoying themselves. Those still holding on to Warner Archive's 2011 DVD set should officially retire it, as the boutique label's new Blu-ray meets or beats that older release in every possible category. Firmly Recommended.