Stretch Armstrong
Stretch Armstrong is a large, gel-filled action figure that was first introduced in 1976 by Kenner.[1] In 2016, at the New York Toy Fair, Hasbro announced the return of the Stretch Armstrong toy in its original 1976 design.
This article is about the toy. For other things named after it, see Stretch Armstrong (disambiguation).Type
Stretch Armstrong is made of latex rubber filled with a proprietary gelled substance similar to corn syrup, which allows it to retain shape for a short time before shrinking to its original shape.
Stretch Armstrong is an action figure shaped as a short muscular man with blond hair wearing black trunks. The doll's most notable feature is that it can be stretched from its normal size of about 15 inches (38 cm) to four to five feet (120 to 150 cm). If a tear does develop, it can be fixed with an adhesive bandage. Information on how to repair Stretch is provided in the toy's instruction booklet, which is included in the original box.
Adaptations[edit]
Cancelled film[edit]
In 1994, Walt Disney Studios obtained the film rights to the character. Several scripts were written, including an early version family comedy written by Greg Erb, a co-writer at Disney. The script which cast Tim Allen in the role of Stretch Armstrong as a "kind of single dad who is a research scientist" and is "stretched too thin" trying to balance his work and family life before he inadvertently accidentally takes one of his experimental serums giving himself "stretchy powers". A later version from screenwriter Michael Kalesniko was created and it was set in San Francisco. It was about a somewhat socially awkward nobody beset with troubles trying to venture out his failing personal life and is genetically modified with stretching abilities after a failed nuclear fusion experiment and must use his newfound abilities to solve the tragedy that has befallen his family. Among the actors who were considered for the role was Danny DeVito, who refused to do the film if the script made any jokes about his height. Several other writers, such as Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, provided rewrites, and Peter Care was attached to direct,[8] but due to lack of time on the rights, both ideas from Disney were scrapped and the rights were bought up by Hasbro.[9]
In 2008, Universal Studios signed a deal with Hasbro to create another film based on Stretch Armstrong from a screenplay written by Nicholas Stoller.[10]
It was announced from the studios co-chairman Donna Langley that Taylor Lautner would star as Armstrong and that the film would be in 3-D. She stated that "with Lautner's success energy and athleticism he is a perfect fit to a unlikely hero." Producer Brian Grazer stated "Stretch Armstrong is a character I have wanted to see on screen for a long time ... It’s a story about a guy stretching ... the limits of what is possible to become all that he can be."[11][12]
Another script was being made by writer Steve Oedekerk introducing the character in the form of an uptight spy who stumbles across a stretching formula, which he takes and now must adjust to his newfound abilities when fighting crime and in his everyday life.
Two years later, after the excitement drummed up by the Studios ideas for the character, Relativity Media announced that they had picked up the film after it was dropped by Universal and set a new release date of April 11, 2014.[13] Planning to make the film more serious than originally intended by Universal, Relativity hired The Manchurian Candidate writer Dean Georgaris to write a new script,[14] dropped Lautner, and hired Breck Eisner to direct.[15]
The film origin story was going to introduce an overwhelmed high schooler and the life-or-death consequences he was going to face after undergoing a transformation granting him superhuman abilities. Production was scheduled to start filming on May 15, 2013, in Montreal but by October 2013, both the studio and Hasbro had abandoned the film to work on other projects.[16]