The Impossibles

Setup

Posing as a trio of young rock 'n roll musicians, The Impossibles were actually crime fighters, with superpowers, dedicated to battling evil supervillains of all shapes and sizes. When performing for their adoring fans (usually star-struck, screaming teenyboppers), the lads would play their mod, futuristic-looking guitars atop an equally futuristic bandstand (emblazoned with their "Impossibles" logo on the side, a la Ringo Starr's drumkit) that could convert into a car (the "Impossi-Mobile"), or a jet (the "Impossi-Jet"), a speedboat, or even a submarine. Their standard catch cry when called into action was "Rally ho!"

Their humorous dialogue was typically peppered with puns. As with many Hanna-Barbera characters, the Impossibles were topical and inspired by the times, in this case resembling the rock 'n roll groups of the mid-Sixties.

Songs

Hey You Hiddy Hiddy Hoo

She Couldn't Dance

Little Sally Ann

Meet Me at Caesar's Place

Dance Dance Dance

The Pussycat Walk

Characters

The Impossibles

Each member of the Impossibles had a specific and visual superpower:

Coil-Man (voiced by Hal Smith) - Coil-Man can transform his arms and legs into stretchable or coiled springs, allowing him to bounce to avoid attacks, deliver long-range punches, or drill through walls.

Fluid-Man (voiced by Paul Frees) - Fluid-Man can transform part or all of his body into liquid. His liquid body allows him to vaporize himself into a cloud or storm, but also leaves him vulnerable to being soaked up by a sponge or frozen solid. Fluid-Man's costume resembles a lime green wetsuit, complete with diver's mask and swimfins.

Multi-Man (voiced by Don Messick) - Multi-Man can create infinite duplicates of himself that are often destroyed, leaving only the original behind. His duplicates rarely, if ever, function independently, and are often used as camouflage, a bluff, or for extra strength or transportation. The character had shaggy orange hair that covered his eyes (his eyes, in fact, are never seen) and he usually holds a shield for apparently decorative reasons.

Each episode usually began with the villain pulling off an improbable caper while The Impossibles were busy performing across town. The team is called into action by their chief "Big D" (voiced by Paul Frees) and stop the villain before returning to finish their concert.

Villains

Spinner (voiced by Hal Smith) - Spinner has spider-based powers, specifically the ability to generate webs.

Paper Doll Man (voiced by Don Messick) - Paper Doll Man is made of paper, allowing him to slip underneath locked doors or fold himself into paper airplanes for a quick getaway.

Professor Stretch (voiced by Paul Frees) - Professor Stretch Super-stretchy with elasticity powers. He appeared twice. The first time was when he sabotaged a tank by using powder from a shaker that turns anything into rubber and in the end we see him used as a basketball. The second time was when he created a monster made of rubber cooking chowder.

Beamatron (voiced by Hal Smith) - Beamatron can shoot laser beams from his fingers, although lasers had short battery lives. He owns a giant bat called Belfry.

Bubbler (voiced by Don Messick) - Kidnaps the young Shah of Shishkabob (voiced by Ginny Tyler) by sealing him in an unbreakable bubble. The Bubbler has an undersea hideout at the bottom of the ocean.

Octavius - A giant attack octopus who guards Bubbler's undersea hideout.

Burrower (voiced by Allan Melvin) - A villain who burrows under banks to pilfer the money inside.

Muddy (Hal Smith) - Burrower's henchman.

Curly (voiced by Don Messick) - Burrower's pet worm.

Timeatron (voiced by Keye Luke) - A villain who uses a time cabinet to recruit historical figures. These villains include Captain Kidd (voiced by Paul Frees), Jesse James (voiced by Don Messick), and Goliath (voiced by Hal Smith). Timeatron goes to bring back Alexander the Great (voiced by Don Messick), but ends up trapped in his time when Multi-Man destroys the time cabinet with an ax.

Comic books

A single issue of a Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles comic was released by Gold Key as a tie-in to the TV series, and the contents were reprinted in The Impossibles Annual in 1968. "The Impossibles" comic story was titled "The Impossibles vs. The Mirror-Man". A new text-based story, specially written for the annual was "The Impossibles Cure a Doctor", with the villainous Herr Doktor Adolf von Tischklautz. Big D is mistakenly called "Big B" in this story.

In 2016, the Impossibles appeared as part of the cast of the Future Quest comic book, where the origin of their powers is explored; having been exposed to a special radiation, as part of an experiment by F.E.A.R., they gained their powers and became agents for Big D, who is depicted as female and named Deva Sumadi. They are also joined by a fourth member, a girl called Esme Santos who has control over magnetic fields, who nicknamed herself Cobalt Blue. Together, they fight against an alien being called Omnikron, who absorbs everything and everyone in its path.

Adaptations

For the 1979 series The Super Globetrotters, the Impossibles' super powers were reassigned, entirely intact, to three members of the Globetrotters team. Coil Man was redesigned and renamed Spaghetti Man. Fluid Man was renamed Liquid Man. Multi Man was unchanged.

The Super Globetrotter costumes of Fluid Man/Liquid Man and of Multi Man remained the same as their Impossible counterparts (including the unexplained "F" on Liquid Man's wetsuit), except the color palettes were changed to match the Globetrotters' uniforms. 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.