Phantom 2040 Cartoon Series Marks 30th Anniversary

The animated cartoon series Phantom 2040 marks it’s 30th Anniversary since it’s release this month.

The French-American produced animated series based on the Phantom was produced by Hearst Corporation and Minos S.A. in France. The central character of the series is the 24th Phantom airing from the 18th of September 1994 thru till the 3rd of March 1996. The series introduction can be viewed below.

The series aired for 35 episodes, set in a futuristic world, featuring creative advancement in technology which includes cities, robots, vehicles and weaponry. We first see a teenage Kit Walker introduced to the Phantom legacy by Guran in episode 1 titled ‘Generation Unto Generation‘, who explains the Phantom mythos before his ‘training’ commencing on carrying the mantle of the Phantom. This scene can be viewed below.

The plot of the Phantom 2040 series is:

It’s the year 2040, all environmental disasters and the economic Resource Wars from the early 21st century have decimated the fragile ecological balance of an Earth once teeming with life. Everywhere, the privileged and wealthy continue to thrive in expensive real estate developments that tower above the suffering masses. The victims of Earth’s misfortune have been forced to subsist on scavenged refuse from the past on the mangled streets of forlorn city-states.

In Metropia (once known as New Yotk City), the largest and most powerful of the city-states, the powerful robotics manufacturing corporation Maximum Inc. has slowly shaped a cold, steely urban center, consisting of huge, residential towers intertwined with TubeTrain tunnels. Maximum’s robotic “biots” (Biological Optical Transputer System) have replaced enormous amounts of human labour, and the corporation is illegally producing prohibited combat biots to form Maximum’s private underground army. Under this guise of efficient progress, Maximum has own plans for the future, all known as the Maximum Era. Through the construction of the fortress of Cyberville, an immense survival shelter where only the wealthiest and most elite humans will retreat, and the take over of Metropia by Maximum’s biot armies, their plans all ultimately involve the dark path of decline and extinction as the culminating result of man’s prior errors and efforts, once Earth finally succumbs to its slowly deteriorating state.

The only hope for the survival of humanity is the Ghost Jungle — thousands of square miles of mutated vegetation that may be the planet’s salvation. This secret source of life is submerged beneath Metropia, unseen by most. College student Kit Walker Jr. is chosen by fate to save the world, donning the black mask and purple suit of his people’s savior, the 24th Phantom.

The role of the Phantom has been passed on from father to son since the 16th century, leading the world to believe that the Phantom is a single immortal individual. Kit, the 24th in the line, is young, unsure, and inexperienced, but he finds within him the courage and might to battle the evil that threatens to destroy the Earth.

The 24th Phantom in the series is voiced by Scott Valentine, described as:

The 24th Phantom, Kit was not trained for the role like his ancestors were. His father died under mysterious circumstances when he was only a baby, and he grew up not knowing about his heritage. When Guran tells him about the Phantom on his eighteenth birthday, he is initially disbelieving, but takes on the role with increasing conviction. His equipment includes optical camouflage for invisibility, a wristband that contains a powerful computer (“analytical”), and another that contains a smart inductance rope. He has several vehicles, including a nimble airborne Hypercycle, a cloaking multi-passenger cruiser and an upgraded 1999 Mustang named “Hero”, after the 21st Phantom’s horse. After defeating Maximum Inc, he looks towards a long vacation, until the day the Phantom is needed again.

The animated cartoon series inspired a variety of products to be produced, including a computer game, lunch box with thermos, posters, clothing, diary, figures, board games, mask, pins and more.

In 1995, Marvel Comics released a comic book series containing 4 editions in the USA. Each of the 4 comic books contain a bonus Phantom 2040 poster in the center-fold. The series can be seen below.