The Impossibles (TV series)

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The Impossibles. (Clockwise from top left: Fluid Man, Multi Man, Coil Man.)

The Impossibles was a series of animated cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera in 1966 and aired on American television by CBS. The series of shorts appeared as part of The Frankenstein, Jr. and the Impossibles Show.

Overview

Characters

The Impossibles were a trio of Rock and Roll musicians who, when called upon to do so by their commander, "Big D," became superheroes. Like the Monkees, the group’s appearance (in their musician form) was based on 1960’s pop star stereotypes, which included long-ish hair, brightly colored (and matching) outfits, high-heeled boots, and, unlike the Monkees, a lineup apparently void of percussion or bass instruments. Each member of the group exhibited specific superhuman powers:

Coil Man (a.k.a. Coily) could transform his limbs into impossibly stretchable coils. Coil Man’s guitar contained a receiver through which "Big D" could contact the group. Coil Man was voiced by Hal Smith.

Fluid Man (a.k.a. Fluey) could morph parts of his body into a liquid form. Fluid Man was voiced by Paul Frees.

Multi Man (a.k.a. Multi) could create infinite duplicates of himself. A physical trait that he shared with many of his contemporaries in cartoons and comics was a mop of hair that entirely covered his eyes. Multi Man was voiced by Don Messick.

As musicians, the Impossibles played their futuristic-looking guitars atop an equally futuristic bandstand that could convert into a car, which, in turn, can transform into either a van, a submarine, or boat.

Villains

The Impossibles faced many of the bizarre villains, similar to those which Batman and Superman had to face.

• Tele-visitron, who used a remote conrtol to send his foes into various channels of the television to do them in
• The Bubbler, who attacked with almost unbreakable bubbles
• The Digger, who burrowed under banks, and pilfered the money inside;
• Fearo, the Fiendish Fiddler, who, despite his attire making him look like a caricature of Nero, can send people and objects to anywhere he wished with a hi-tech violin.

All villains were defeated in a timely manner, and justice was served, afterwards. However, there were villains that went straight upon their capture:

• The Ardent Archer, who was dressed like Robin Hood, decided to take up being a musician;
• Crunella, a witch, who was robbing a charity-for-orphans party, was turned into a cat due to a spell reversal by Multi-Man.

Adaptations

For the 1979 series The Super Globetrotters, the Impossibles' super powers were re-assigned, entirely intact, to three members of the 'Trotters troupe (however, Coil Man was redesigned and renamed to Spaghetti Man; Multi Man and Fluid Man remained the same, right down to Multi Man's shield and Fluid Man's wetsuit and goggles, but Fluid Man was renamed Liquid Man). The transformation sequences and many of the signature "moves" from the 1966 series were re-drawn, frame by frame, to feature the superhero incarnations of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team instead of the guitar-toting Impossibles.

Trivia

Fluid Man had a cameo appearance on the Adult Swim show Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law. He appeared in the episode "SPF" as one of the many characters in the episode who were victims of cybersquatting.