Stan Lee Media productions
Some of Stan Lee Media's most important projects included the animated Web series The 7th Portal (where Stan Lee himself voiced the character Izayus), The Drifter, and The Accuser. The 7th Portal characters were licensed to an interactive 3-D movie attraction in four Paramount theme parks.[1]
During Chapter 11 debtor in possession proceedings following the company's bankruptcy, Stan Lee assigned the major character franchises he created to his new public company POW! Entertainment without the knowledge or approval of the Bankruptcy court. The attempted assignments to POW were ruled by Judge Stephen Wilson to be void and remained the property of Stan Lee Media Inc.
The 7th Portal[]
The 7th Portal, created by Stan Lee to launch his vision of the next universe of Super-Heroes in the digital age became the first ever web animation series to succeed as a 3D ride attraction and to be developed for a $150 million movie by Paramount with producer Mark Canton.
The 7th Portal premiered on the new animation hub Shockwave, on February 29, 2000, when its global launch overwhelmed Macromedia's servers.[2] It became the most successful web originated animated series, being picked up by Fox in mid run, for distribution on TV in South America and Europe.[3] Twenty-two episodes were made,[4] of which the first twenty were shown on-line before the website went bankrupt. The final two episodes were only visible on television.
Main plot[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/86/The_7th_Portal.png/220px-The_7th_Portal.png)
The 7th Portal told the story of Izayus when he approaches a young beta tester named Peter Littlecloud. He claims to have a game that will let him and his friends fight real monsters, which he projects holographically using the CD-ROM he claims contains the game. The game's premise is that there are six other dimensions, all of which have been conquered by the evil Lord Mongorr (who was Izayus's brother). The players need to take the form of a superhero in order to stop him from opening the portal to the seventh universe, their own.
After they have chosen their form, Peter, Roberto, and Greta are sucked into the computer screen, wherein time they learn that they've been transported for real into the parallel universe of Darkmoor. Also, they have been transformed into their superhero forms. Peter is the Thunderer, Roberto is Oxblood, and Greta is Gossamer. Despite their impressive powers, the heroes find that their forms are still subject to the rules of the game such as spending Life Points to use their superpowers. They are eventually captured and brought to The Bloodzone, a gladiator-like arena consisting of floating platforms over a spiked pit.
Meanwhile, Rikio, Ozubo, and Anna are confused by their friends' disappearance. Suddenly, they are transported into cyberspace to meet Izayus. He reveals to them that the CD was actually the half of The Artifact, a mysterious device that grants unlimited power to the one who gathers the two pieces. Izayus has the red half, which symbolizes life and allows transportation between Earth and Darkmoor; while Mongorr has the blue half which symbolizes death and kills anyone who touches it without the red half. Izayus uses the Artifact's red half to transform Rikio, Ozubo, and Anna into their respective superhero forms, The Streak, Conjure Man, and Imitatia.
Thunderer, Oxblood, and Gossamer discover that they must fight the Nullifiers (as Mongorr's select group of minion's call themselves) members Bearhug and Mongorr's daughter Vendetta to the death if they want to leave the Bloodzone. When Thunderer loses all his Life Points transforming back into Peter, Izayus appears and heals Gossamer. After Izayus was impaled by the Nullifier Whipsaw, Mongorr attacked Whipsaw and healed Izayus upon his capture while the Data Raiders escape with The Artifact. The Nullifiers try to stop them when the heroes are saved by The Streak, Conjure Man and Imitatia.
The heroes take the name Data Raiders for themselves and hide in a basement. A fight breaks out among them because Peter had transferred Oxblood's Life Points to his own so that he could transform into Thunderer again. This left Oxblood at zero points and transformed him back into Roberto at the cost of his scanner which is crushed by the Nullifier Krog during battle. Roberto knocks Thunderer and leaves. Knocked out, Thunderer reverts into Peter. The others, however, notice that Peter's Life Potins are increasing, and hypothesize that if they get something to eat they'll be able to increase their Life Points even faster. Roberto is captured by the Nullifiers, who used him as mind-controlled bait to capture the Data Raiders. When the Data Raiders return with the food, they are attacked by the Nullifiers and are forced to surrender. With the assembled Artifact, Mongorr sends the Data Raiders back to Earth, stripping them of their powers.
Shortly afterward, he proceeds to send an army through it to destroy several of the Earth's landmarks. However, Izayus sends some of his energy through the portal, returning the Data Raiders' powers to full strength (and even restoring Roberto's scanner), and they return through the portal. The Data Raider free Izayus and defeat the Nullifiers. Izayus then destroys Mongorr and claims the Artifact using it to repair all the damage Mongorr has caused to the multiverse for in Izayus's words, "it will be as if Mongorr never existed." As a reward, the Data Raiders get to keep their powers and return to Earth. The series ends with Izayus saying that Earth and the 7th Portal will always need heroes such as the Data Raiders.
Characters[]
Data Raiders | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Country of origin | Superhero form | Superpower | Voice actor | Other Info |
Ozubo Monduma | South Africa | Conjure Man | Psychokinesis | Joseph Motiki | A magic-based superhero. Initially, Conjure Man had an African accent. As the series progresses, he loses the accent. |
Greta Brecht | Germany | Gossamer | Flight Intangibility Invisibility |
Christina Gordon | A ghost-like superhero. Initially, Gossamer had a German accent. As the series progresses, she loses the accent. |
Anna Nehue | India | Imitatia | Shapeshifting | Ellora Patniak | A shapeshifting superhero. Initially, Imitiatia had an Indian accent. As the series progresses, she loses the accent. |
Roberto Diaz | Brazil | Oxblood | Superhuman Strength Durability |
Carlos Diaz | A super-strong superhero with hair in the shape of horns and sports a nose ring. Initially, Oxblood had a Latino accent. As the series progresses, he loses the accent. |
Rikio Minamoto | Japan | The Streak | Super-Speed | Jovanni Sy | A super-fast superhero. Initially, Streak had a Japanese accent. As the series progresses, he loses the accent. |
Peter Littlecloud | United States | Thunderer | Superhuman breath | Gordon Michael Woolvett | A superhero who is the leader of the Data Raiders. |
Izayus | Psychokinesis | Stan Lee | The final episode reveals Izayus to be Mongorr's brother (a fact already hinted by Mongorr when he captured Izayus in The Bloodzone) suggesting Izayus may in fact be from one of the parallel universes. |
Nullifiers | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Description | Voice actor | |||
Lord Mongorr | The human-looking ruler of Darkmoor, dictator of the six dimensions he conquered, leader of the Nullifiers, and the brother of Izayus. He possesses psychokinetic powers. | Richard Eden | |||
Vendetta | Mongorr's daughter and second-in-command who dresses like a snake. She also possesses psychokinetic powers. During the final battle, Vendetta is badly wounded when Izayus redirects Whipsaw's weapon back to him. | Julie Lemieux | |||
Bearhug | A Dwarfish-looking man with enough strength to suffocate someone by embracing them. He is protective of Vendetta. | Lawrence Bayne | |||
Krog | A huge, indestructible, blue rock monster who is the largest of the Nullifiers. | Tony Daniels | |||
Slyme | A man that can control a bunch of green slime. He carries around on a shovel and a "bag of souls" where he can control the souls as long as the bag is in his possession. | Tony Daniels | |||
Vultura | A vulture-themed woman with a wing-shaped webbing between her arms and feet which enables her to fly. | Shannon Lowsan | |||
Whipsaw | A Rawyan with a scarred face that has a great control of his green whip even with his mind. The whip has a sharp point at the end that can adjust to any bladed weapon. Whipsaw once impaled Izayus against Mongorr's orders causing Mongorr to attack Whipsaw and heal Izayus. One webisode revealed that Whipsaw betrayed his kind to Mongorr. | Peter Wildman | |||
Decimators | The robotic foot soldiers of the Nullifiers. | N/A |
The Drifter[]
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by . (January 2008) |
The Drifter was created by Stan Lee and co-developed by Steve Gerber and Taylor Grant. The story revolved around a character called "The Drifter" who can travel through time with the aid of a device called the decoder (which resembled a black semisphere with colored buttons). Viewers of the series were called true believers.
A series of twelve animated webisodes were set to stream Sci-Fi's website in 2001,[5] though only one saw release. In late 2000, a revamped live action version of the concept was created, based on the characters but notably different in its story. Discussions with Sci-Fi/USA were ongoing to create the series for television, however, the collapse of Stan Lee Media shelved the project. At the time, fan response to a detailed preview on IGN Filmforce was notable; though, the series was never to surface again.[6]
The Backstreet Project[]
Main Plot[]
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by . (December 2014) |
The story depicts a reality where the Backstreet Boys are superheroes called the Cyber Crusaders.
Characters[]
Cyber Crusaders | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Superhero form | Superpower | Voice actor | ||
Nick Carter | Ninja Man | Lightning-Quick Martial Arts ability | Himself | ||
Howie Dorough | Illusioneer | Skills of illusion and mental telepathy | Himself | ||
A. J. McLean | Ordnance | Unbearing marksmanship | Himself | ||
Brian Littrell | Top Speed | Able to generate spheres of energy | Himself | ||
Kevin Richardson | Power Lord | Super-Strength | Himself | ||
Zanell | Unknown | Psychokinesis | Christina Gordon |
The Accuser[]
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by . (January 2008) |
The Accuser was created by Stan Lee and co-developed by Roy Johansen, Taylor Grant and Steve Gerber. It starred a character who took justice into his own hands. The Accuser is a science-fiction series starring Richard Clarkin as Dan Mason, as the Corporal, as the Doctor Tony Daniels as the Fullbright, Lawrence Bayne as Charlie Johnson Savitch and Susan Roman as Fore.
Plot[]
At the first chapter starts, we see a recently hospitalized Dan Mason recalling his past as the best criminal defense attorney money could buy. He usually didn't care about whose money was buying him and taught himself not to know what his clients do after being acquitted. At the cost of his own wife Lucia, Dan learns the underworld's gratitude isn't long-lasting.
One of his clients (upset that he agreed to defend Lucas Cortex) tried to have him killed. As a result, Dan is now a full-time wheelchair-using widower. In the hospital, Dan said he'd give his soul in exchange for a chance to bring justice. A mysterious entity accepts the deal and gives Dan a special wheelchair that can be converted into a special armor that will move his legs for him. What Dan doesn't know is that his mysterious benefactor is evaluating him for some unknown agenda.
Other projects[]
Other productions included the Evil Clone —a purported attempt to clone Stan Lee as a cartoon that wackily criticized many aspects of the media, including happy endings, the StanLeeMedia.net website—, and The Backstreet Project, a project including the Backstreet Boys. Different editions on The Backstreet Project comic books were released on the market. Six webisodes were also released in 1999 via StanLeeMedia.net.
References[]
- ^ Emmons, Natasha. "'7th Portal' On Despite Stan Lee Media Problems" (news article). Amusement Business.
- ^ "IMDB page for The Seventh Portal". Retrieved 2008-01-10.
- ^ "STAN LEE MEDIA INC, Form 10QSB, Filing Date Aug 14, 2000". secdatabase.com. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
On June 14, 2000 FOX Latin America and FOX Kids Latin America formed a strategic alliance with SLM [Stan Lee Media] to repurpose SLM's content and to create original branded content for distribution on the Internet and television outlets throughout the Latin American Region.
- ^ "The Stan Lee Resurrection:The 7th Portal". Retrieved September 2007.
{{cite web}}
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(help) This site hosts the episodes without known legal permission. - ^ DeMott, Rick (October 31, 2000). "Stan Lee Media Toon Drifts Onto SciFi.com". Animation World Network. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ "The Stax Report: Exclusive Sneak-Peek at Drifter!". IGN. December 12, 2000. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
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