Super Friends! – Season One, Volume One (1973 aka Superfriends!/Warner DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras:
C- Episodes: B-
After a
backlash on violence in the late 1960s, some series (like Wild Wild West) were cancelled outright,
while others were altered and with the additional wave of making TV more
educational (thanks in part to PBS), the networks responded by changing the
kind of programs they were putting on. Superhero shows also suffered to
the point that Batman and Robin landed up on Scooby Doo. However, that was a huge surprise pairing and the
first time the Dynamic Duo showed up since the Adam West show ended and
Filmation’s contract with DC Comics folded. It was the beginning of DC at
Hanna Barbera and that success produced an unexpectedly huge hit in Super Friends! in
1973.
Originally
intended as a Justice League series, the new show was reformulated to be more
child-friendly, more pro-ecology, more educational, more scientific and more
comical to the point that teen friend Wendy and Marvin were created and Wonder
Dog (a brief, early Scooby Doo-inspired comic dog) added as the mascot.
Derided for years by fans of the serious version of the DC heroes, the show is
a howler and is also very smart, more so than its later seasons would offer in
their behest to have as much fighting as possible with less thinking.
This Season One, Volume One set is half of
the hour-long shows (rare for Saturday Morning TV or any other animated TV of
the time) was also responsible for relaunching a new wave of interest in the
whole DC Comics cannon, The Hall Of Justice became a classic locale, a comic
book series (one of the first for younger children to be launched) was made for
the show and also of great significance, the Mego Toy Company did 8” action figures
of the four male heroes (Batman, Robin, Superman, Aquaman) and changed toys
forever making action figures and these characters permanent fixtures in
franchising and toy history. The initial success established Mego as the
#1 toy company of the 1970s and even after they folded in the early 1980s, the
influence is still with us as the early toys continue to jump in value.
The
episodes here include:
The Power
Pirate
The
Baffles Puzzle
Professor
Goodfellow’s G.E.E.C. (yes, pronounced “geek”)
The Weather
Maker
Dr. Pelagian’s War
The
Shaman “U”
Too Hot
To Handle (with guest superhero The Flash)
The
Androids
No
regular DC villains surfaced in these early shows, but the ones created are
amusing and the narratives are better than I had remembered, if not greatly
memorable. This is a great show for young children as intended and holds
up very well. The only thing is some technology is dated, while other
examples still make their point. The TroubAlert computer seems larger now
than ever.
The 1.33
X 1 image is a little soft throughout, but this is the best color I have ever
seen on these shows in the over 35 years they have been available on and
off. The prints have cel dust and sometimes, you can see the outline of
actual cels used. Still, the color is superior to later seasons as Hanna
Barbera started to ship their shows overseas to be finished, quality and color
noticeably suffered. The Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono is a little compressed
and the sound is down a generation at least, but it is never too bad that you
cannot hear the dialogue or Ted Knight’s hilarious delivery of the
narration. Extras include trailers for other Warner animated releases and
a quiz that is tougher than you’d think.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
