Super Friends

SPOILER: Many enduring Saturday Morning characters grew progressively grimmer in terms of quality over their life span. Scooby-Doo degenerated from Scooby-Dum to Dynomutt,all the way to Scrappy-Doo to "The 13 Ghosts Of Scooby Doo" and ultimately to babyfication in the mid-1990's with "A Pup Named Scooby Doo". Even other Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters like Yogi Bear,Huckleberry Hound and other Hanna-Barbera cartoon funny animals went from their mildly amusing late 1950's-early 1960's shorts to the horrific antifun of "Yogi's Gang","Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics and not to mention "Yogi's Space Race",during the rest of the 1970's. Other characters too fall aprey as well,for example Looney Tunes' character of Daffy Duck descended from heights like "Duck Dodgers in the 24 and 1/2 Century" and "Duck Amuck"(which basically were two Oscar winning animated shorts)to stupidly chasing Speedy Gonazles in a desultory series of Friz Freleng-directed shorts. Even other shows follow suits as well. The Flintstones went from their own successful original show,deriative but often entertaining,to rerun disgraces and total failures like "Fred and Barney Meet The Thing", "Fred and Barney Meet The Shmoo",and "The Flintstones Mysteries".

THE SUPERFRIENDS on the other hand,got better and better in each episode of their incarnations. This was a series that was one of the top rated programs during its entire thirteen and a half year run on ABC-TV from September 8, 1973 until September 6, 1986 and was mostly seen during the earlier part of ABC's Sunshine Saturday Morning schedule. Produced in association with DC Comics and Hanna-Barbera Productions. At the time of their first appearance,the Superfriends were a sort of stripped down version of DC Comics' Justice League Of America. The characters of Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman were already old hands on Saturday Morning. Wonder Woman was the only newcomer,but in comics terms she was a long established a fairly well known character. Even during the earlier seasons(between 1973 through 1975),a few other characters made brief appearances,like Green Arrow. During the show's first three seasons by the way,the heroes never got the chance to fight any villains(that wasn't until The Challenge Of The Superfriends six years later). Instead you got to see these superheroes running around like toddlers saving the world from natural disasters. The worst of this was during the years 1973-1975(seasons one through three). The cause of this fiasco was the repulsive sidekicks that had on the show basically were the characters of Wendy,Marvin and Wonderdog-who were basically teenage kids who hung around the Superfriends. Marvin was the antithesis of Shaggy while Wonderdog was the copy of Scooby Doo(and of all the Scooby clones that came around during the 1970's,Wonderdog was the worst of them all). At least Wendy was mildly competent while Marvin was one of the dumbest kids ever conceived. Wendy and Marvin were just that--the ultimate degenerate form of the kid sidekick that was repulsive and annoying to which in just about every episode Wendy and Marvin always stumbled into trouble and every time were to be rescued in one form or another by The Superfriends. The other aggravating thing and this was what the producers thought was educational during the first three seasons of The Superfriends was the profunsion of short public-service blurbs,in which Batman would help kids cross the street property or various others with Superman telling kids not to smoke cigarettes or used drugs or Aquaman telling kids not to pollute the environment or Wonder Woman telling kids not to get near or talk to strangers. All of that would change quickly in 1975.

At the start of the 1975-1976 season,Wendy,Marvin and Wonderdog were completely eliminated and were replaced by The Wonder Twins-which consisted of Jayna,Zan,and their space monkey Gleep(which was a recycled version of Hanna-Barbera's Space Ghost which consisted of Space Ghost's two sidekicks Jan and Jayce and space monkey Blip). Unlike Wendy and Marvin,they actually had superpowers. Hailing from an alien planet,they were able,whenever they touched hands,to take on the form of an animal and the shape of some kind of water. At least the Twins were not helpless idiots like Wendy and Marvin. Most importantly,the new format had more to offer too--more superheroic adventure and some reasonably interesting plots and the occasional addition of new members of the Justice League including Hawkman and Green Lantern and others that featured insulting ethnic characters too like Apache Chief, Black Vulcan,and Samurai. Zan and Jayna were given their own format adventures as well featuring them helping hopeless teens in tight situations. By the end of the 1977-1978 season Zan and Jayna were eliminated from the group. By the start of the 1978-1979 season,the Superfriends FINALLY get the fight their villains which was the next incarnation of the show which in my opinion was one of the coolest and innovative shows ever the grace Saturday Mornings in the late 1970's. "The Challenge Of The Superfriends" premiered during the 1978-1979 season and it featured the Justice League battling the Legion Of Doom(which consisted of Superman's arch nemesis Lex Luthor)and other diabolical villains not to mention once again saving the world from doom and total destruction.

The overall success prove brilliant and from there at the start of the 1979-1980 season,The Superfriends expanded to a full 90 minute format that offer more action and thrills than ever which also included repeated episodes from earlier seasons too. That lasted until 1983. The final content of this came at the height of the show's final season with "The Superpowers Team:Galactic Guardians"(premiered during the 1984-1986 seasons) which they faced a new sinister and more deadlier villain "Darkseid" and along with new heroes to join the Hall Of Justice(or the Justice League Of America) as well to battle deadlier and menacing foes. However,after the success of The Superfriends there were other shows that could do follow the same formula,but this was show that change like the colors of the rainbow in different segments.

Ah, the Super Friends. Anyone who grew up in the 70's and calls themselves a comic book fan has a special place in their heart for this show; the first cartoon to depict the Justice League of America (well, apart from the Filmation cartoons, but they didn't have the big guns of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman in the JLA cartoons). Some hated it because it was watered down, with no memorable villains. Other enjoyed its charm and goofy fun. Some of us were glad to see any show with superheroes.

Now, in the 70's, the networks didn't allow much in the ways of violence in cartoons (except for Bugs and company), so we didn't get any slobberknockers with the bad guys. Still, there were memorable conflicts, with some creativity involved. Yeah, most of the "villains" were misguided and not evil, but there was fun to be had.

Some of my personal favorites were the GEEC episode, where a computer controls all of man's machines, only to go haywire when a mouse gets inside it; The planet-splitting episode, where Superman's origin is retold; the Gulliver episode, where everyone is reduced to the size of a doll; and the episode with the Flash.

The series went out of its way to present environmental issues, moral dilemmas, and other thought-provoking conflicts. It had far greater educational value than the "commercial" cartoons of the 80's and was far more entertaining than most. Yes, Wendy and Marvin were annoying at times, but they did have some value. I'll take them over the Wonder Twins any day. Besides, Marvin made it into Alex Ross' Kingdom Come.

If you wanted action in the 70's, you had to find Jonny Quest reruns or catch Speed Racer in syndication. The Super Friends would suffice until something better came along. It took two more series, but arrive it did; and, it still carried the name, Super Friends.

This was an hour long show that was actually two shows put together. Half of it was a continuation of The All-New Super Friends Hour but just a half hour this time. The second part is them fighting the Legion Of Doom. That's the series I remember seeing the most as a kid, it was probably re-run by itself later. This is the only series that came close to the comic book, they even go to the Bat cave. I would highly recommend not watching any series that came before this one.

Now this is how you make an animated series based on superheroes. "Super Powers Team: The Galactic Gaurdians" aired in 1985-'86 and it was the last SuperFriends show based on the Justice League of America from the 1973-1986 run. In my opinion, this was also head and shoulders the best. The animation is greatly improved from any earlier SuperFriends show. The characters act like mature adults, and a few of them even have some distinct personalities that separate them from the rest of the JLA. There were also no stupid teenage tag along like Wendy & Marvin or Zan & Jayna on this show. And thankfully, no stupid animals like Wonder Dog or Gleek. A new character Cyborg is introduced, he is an African American teenager, but he is not a silly background extra that screws up and gets captured repeatedly so Superman and Green Lantern could come save the day the way the previous non-White heroes (Black Vulcan/Lightning, Samurai, and Apache Chief) did on the other shows. Cyborg is a great character that is not a cardboard cut out of Superman. Firestorm is back from the "Super Powers" series from the previous year, and he too is in top form. Wonder Woman acts, well like a woman and we see her life more fleshed out. Superman even behaves more adult like and does not have the ridiculous God-like powers he had in the 70s. The Batman in this show is more in line with the comic book character.

Here Batman behaves like a very mature grown man, a man that is tormented over his compulsion to go out and fight crime. He is also a detective in this show like he should be, and not a blundering buffoon that pulls out all kinds of stupid gadgets from that little utility belt. 'The Fear' is a stand out episode that illustrates the difference in Batman in this show from the previous SuperFriends. It is ironic that this Batman is the most serious, since he is voiced by Adam West who played the idiot Batman in the 1960s TV series. Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, and Samurai don't get a whole lot of time devoted to them, but at least they don't do anything embarrassing.

The JLA team primarily butts heads with the villainous Darkseid and his cronies Dessad and Kavlik, but the Joker and Scarecrow turn up in two episodes as well. I always get the feeling that the two "Super Powers Team" series from the mid 80s doesn't have the incredibly loyal Gen Xer following that 1978's "Challenge of the SuperFriends" enjoys because Darkseid and Dessad were too comic book heavy for mainstream viewers. The plots could be a bit comic book heavy as well. That and I think children were just burned out on SuperFriends by 1985, the whole thing had been around for 12 years at that point. "Challenge" was a great and memorable show no doubt, and DC comic book villains like Lex Luthor and Black Manta were there, but the Legion of Doom tended to formulate rather childish plans to knock off the SuperFriends and rule the planet. Nevertheless a kid today will probably look at this show and still laugh at it while finding a ton of problems with it (because there are problems). "The Super Powers Team" is not nearly as rounded out as the current Justice League animated series. But I remember being blown away by how far the whole SuperFriends deal had come since the stupid early years of the 70s when Wonder Dog or the annoying space monkey Gleek would hang around the Hall of Justice with those kids. A long way indeed. Watch this show, "SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Team", and "Challenge of the SuperFriends". They are the 3 best ones, with "The All-New SuperFriends Hour" and "The Worlds Greatest SuperFriends" being not all that bad and entertaining at times. The worst one remains the original "SuperFriends" from 1973-1977.

While this time they do fight some super villain type characters(none I've ever heard of), there's still plenty of well meaning scientists/inventors and alien races thrown into the mix. The Wonder Twins are even worse than the original kids. Thankfully they are mostly kept to their own short segments where they teach kids important lessons like don't go joyriding in airplanes. The segments were the best thing about this series. Instead of a tedious one hour story, we are treated to 3(sometimes 4) shorter tedious stories. Other than that, it's the same as the original.