The 7th Portal is an American animated web series produced by Stan Lee in 1999.[1] It was the first global team of cyber Super Heroes produced by Stan Lee.[2] The main content of the series is an Internet-based adventure in which six characters from all over the world who got their super powers in cyberspace are drawn into the Web and must fight super villains.[3][4][5]
| The 7th Portal | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | The Seventh Portal |
| Genre | |
| Created by | Stan Lee |
| Developed by | Bryce Zabel |
| Screenplay by | Brian L. Davidson Taylor Grant |
| Starring |
|
| Composer | Robert J. Walsh |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 22 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer | Stan Lee |
| Running time | ≈ 5 minutes |
| Production company | Stan Lee Media, Inc |
| Original release | |
| Network | UPN |
| Release | 29 February 2000 |
The 7th Portal premiered on the new animation hub Shockwave, on February 29, 2000, when its global launch overwhelmed Macromedia's servers.[6][7] 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.[8][9] Twenty-two episodes were made, 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
editThe 7th Portal told the story of Izayus (played by Stan Lee) 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 Points 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.[10]
Characters
edit| 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 | |||
Episodes
editSeason 1 (2000)
edit| Episode | Title | Written by | Produced by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Let the game begin!" | Stan Lee and Bryce Zabel | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 2 | "Enter Darkmoor" | Stan Lee and Bryce Zabel | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 3 | "First Landing" | Stan Lee and Bryce Zabel | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 4 | "Mercy Killing" | Stan Lee and Bryce Zabel | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 5 | "Out Of Time" | Stan Lee and Bryce Zabel | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 6 | "Trap Door pt 1 of 2" | Stan Lee and Bryce Zabel | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 7 | "Trap Door pt 2 of 2" | Stan Lee and Bryce Zabel | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 8 | "Dark Light pt 1 of 2" | Stan Lee and Bryce Zabel | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 9 | "Dark Light pt 2 of 2" | Stan Lee and Bryce Zabel | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 10 | "Bloodzone" | Stan Lee and Bryce Zabel | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 11 | "Desperate Measures" | Will Meugniot and David Ransil | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 12 | "Powers That Be" | Will Meugniot and Andy Baker | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 13 | "End Game" | Will Meugniot and Brian Davidson | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 14 | "Fall Of Izaus" | Will Meugniot and Andy Baker | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 15 | "One Krog Too Many" | Will Meugniot and David Ransil | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 16 | "Dangerous Alchemy" | Will Meugniot and Andy Baker | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 17 | "Trapped" | Will Meugniot and Andy Baker | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 18 | "Whipsaws Curse" | Mark Evanier and Andy Baker | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 19 | "Depths Of Memory" | Mark Evanier, Andy Baker and David Ransil | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 20 | "Back In The Game" | Mark Evanier, Andy Baker and David Ransil | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 21 | "Heroes Once More" | N/A | Stan Lee | N/A |
| 22 | "Game Over" | Stan Lee and Will Meugniot | Stan Lee | N/A |
Facts
edit- The 7th Portal 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 Pictures with producer Mark Canton.[11][12]
- The first public use of the word Webisode has been attributed to the marketing and promotion of The 7th Portal. It is a portmanteau formed by the words 'web' and 'episode'.[13]
Awards
edit- In November 2000, The 7th Portal won the Best of Show Web Award for "Best Entertainment Portal".[14]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "7th Portal: Animated on-line series". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021.
- ^ Zhang Ruinan (29 November 2018). "Legacy of comics giant Stan Lee heads to China". www.chinadaily.com.cn. China Daily. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021.
Stan Lee Holdings Ltd owns the assignment of Stan's brand and 3 original superhero franchises including 7th Portal the first global team of superheroes.
- ^ Ed Gross (28 December 2019). "Remembering Stan Lee With a Previously Unpublished Interview". www.closerweekly.com. Closer. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021.
- ^ David Kushner (19 March 1999). "Stan Lee spins a new web-comic". www.ew.com. Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021.
- ^ Frank Houston (21 October 1999). "Creator of the Fantastic Four Is Ready to Spin More Tales on Line". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021.
- ^ James Poniewozik (14 February 2000). "Look Up On The Net! It's...Cyber Comics". Time. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021.
The first new series, The 7th Portal - about multicultural computer geeks who travel cyberspace to protect Earth against a villain from another dimension - debuts Feb. 29
- ^ "IMDB page for The Seventh Portal". www.imdb.com. Internet Movie Database.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "INTERVIEW---Spider-Man's Business Brain". www.labusinessjournal.com. Los Angeles Business Journal. 21 August 2000. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021.
Former Sony Pictures Chairman Mark Canton has signed on to develop "7th Portal" into a movie, Paramount Pictures is creating an amusement park ride based on the webisode, and Fox Latin America and Fox Kids Latin America will translate the series into television programming, magazines and other media throughout South America.
- ^ Karen Moltenbrey (8 August 2001). "A 3D Portal". www.cgw.com. Computer Gaming World. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021.
- ^ "Paramount Parks & Stan Lee Media". www.bloomberg.com. Bloomberg News. 22 May 2000.
- ^ Karen Moltenbrey (8 August 2001). "A 3D Portal". www.cgw.com. Computer Gaming World.
- ^ "Superheroes serenade Stan Lee". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 1 March 2000. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021.
..it will become a new way of making comics - simple 3-5 minute online animated shorts called "webisodes" designed to accommodate slower modems.
- ^ "WebAwards: Best of Show Winners". www.webaward.org. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021.
