Details

Release year: 1990

Storyline

Scientist Alec Holland invents a growth substance that could end world hunger, but a plantation owner obsessed with immortality tries to steal it and causes an accident that turns Alec into a human-plant mutant, protector of the bayou.

Top credits

Cast

Len Carlson — Swamp Thing
Don Francks — Dr. Arcane
Philip Akin — Bayou Jack
Errol Slue — Dr. Deemo

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Did you know

• It would aired on YTV from 1991 to 1993 in Canada. Produced by DIC Entertainment, the series corresponded with Kenner's Swamp Thing action figure collection released in 1990. Despite the animated series' brief run, various merchandise was also produced in 1991 resulting in the only significant marketing platform ever created for the character.

• The series was apparently turned down by CBS, leading to its mid-season debut on FOX. Despite the show's limited number of episodes, NBC featured it during Chip and Pepper's Cartoon Madness in fall 1991, and the Sci Fi Channel would syndicate it years later. The UK's Children's Channel also re-aired Swamp Thing in the 1990s.

• In 1990, Kenner produced a line of Swamp Thing action figures with vehicles & playsets that served as a direct counterpart to the animated series. Arcane and his Un-Men include translucent, rubbery BioMask accessories that give the effect of their transformation into monstrous creatures. Their eyes also glow-in-the-dark, a popular feature in action figures of the era. Arcane's transducer machine even includes a Mantid figure that referenced an episode where Bayou Jack is mutated. Some accessories would also be reused for Hasbro's The Original Battle Trolls in 1992. According to an online fan source, Kenner invested approximately 6 million dollars into the Swamp Thing figure line. It also states that, according to Kenner, test results using male children between the ages of 6 and 11 showed them to be more popular than both G.I. Joe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It had been speculated throughout the toy collecting community that Swamp Thing would have been included in the unproduced fourth series of Kenner's Super Powers Collection and that Bio-Glow Swamp Thing may have been based on the prototype. This is due to the figure's swinging arm feature similar to that seen in the Super Powers Collection. However, such rumors have since been refuted by the uncovering of new information regarding the proposed fourth and fifth series of the Super Powers Collection.