The Super Powers Team – Galactic Guardians (Warner)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C Episodes: C+
Are you
ready for your next dose of Super Hero mayhem?
Well, this dose may be a bit hard to swallow. The 1985-86 series The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians by Hanna-Barbera is now
available for all to own on a 2 Disc DVD set.
This Complete Series set features all eight 30 minute episodes of the
one season that exists. The series is
very detailed and true to the DC Universe for only being ten episodes long;
featuring many super heroes and super villains.
The main focus of the series is accurate to the DC Universe as it gets
back to the core super heroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin,
Aquaman, Cyborg, Firestorm, and many more.
This was
a landmark series in that it was the first series to feature Cyborg and have a
sizable focus of the hero Firestorm.
Actors such as Adam West (Batman) and Casey Kasem (Robin) lend their
voices to this distinct yet slightly outdated series. It is true that in 1985 this series was the
truest and most innovative series to be added to the DC Universe, but over the
past 20 years the series has not aged well and whereas it is super fun to
watch, it has lost some of its original luster.
The villains like Lex Luthor, The Penguin, The Joker, The Scarecrow, and
especially Darkseid all help to make this particular Justice League adaptation memorable and aren’t nearly as campy as
the villains often seen on Super Friends. The series is fun and well written, but more
recent series have done a better job in presenting the Justice League in their
best light.
The
technical features on this 2 disc set are nice but simple at best. Though the promoters of this DVD set call it
a ten episode set in actuality it is only eight 30 minute episodes; originally
2 of the episodes were split into two 15 minute episodes hence the ‘ten
episodes.’ The picture is presented in
an adequate but not crystal clear 1.33 X 1 Full Screen that can be seen as
disappointing, but then again most of these older super hero releases have
sadly been given little attention. The
sound is presented in its original Dolby Digital Mono that has depth issues and
often times sound soft, but once again a problem with older super hero
cartoons. The extras are sparse and
interesting to view once, but the only extra available is a simple featurette
entitled Super Friends Redux: Galactic
Guardians Retrospective goes into the power behind the series, but is
nothing spectacular.
In the
end, the series was pretty interesting and definitely has its merits. One episode in particular caught this
reviewer’s interest and without saying too much I will just give you the title;
‘The Death of Superman.’ You heard right…a must watch. This will be the last true incarnation of The Super Friends on DVD, so for fans
this is a must have. If nothing else was
great about this series, at least I don’t have to see those damn Wonder Twins
anymore.
- Michael P Dougherty II
