posted
I'm quite surprised I haven't found a thread here about the Super Friends. I think many of us who grew up in the '70s had our first exposure to DC characters through this series. Even though they often took liberties with the DC continuity of the time--and introduced such embarrassing characters as Black Vulcan and Apache Chief--for an eight-year-old it was just so cool!
Boomerang has been showing the 1977 All New Super Friends Hour (the first season with the Wonder Twins) and it's been fun reliving my childhood. The other night they showed the episode "The Mind Maidens" in which a deranged woman named Medulla attempts to take over the world by possessing women with her "Will Booster" ("We are with you, Medulla!") and force the women to dematerialize men who were then stored on computer tapes. Lots of campy fun!
-------------------- The only character in all of literature who has been described as "badnass" while using the phrase "vile miscreant."
From: The Pyngwyn Colonies of Planet Hyustyn | Registered: Aug 2005
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
You know... the funny thing is I was just thinking this morning about one might re-imagine El Dorado!
[ January 27, 2007, 12:19 PM: Message edited by: Eryk Davis Ester ]
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Tee hee. I was just watching Superfriends last night!! It's fun to relive my childhood (yes, they showed it when babies like me were five, too) but it also made my brain melt a little bit.
Then, they sort of saved Aquaman and got sent to the crushing pressures of the deep ocean with him. But it was okay because giant squids came to save them and... yeah.
-------------------- Abin: You know what to do with a Cali sandwich? No but neither do Cobie and CJ! CJ: Yeah, we do. She's smiling, isn't she?
Context... who needs it?
From: Sunny Cali-- er, Planet Earth? | Registered: Jun 2005
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
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The only ones I really remember watching when they were "new" were the last couple of seasons, when they made Darkseid the main villain. I always kind of liked Darkseid as a villain. I wonder why he never tries to force Wonder Woman to marry him in the comics?
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Ooh, I saw that one a few weeks ago! Cyborg was there with Firestorm and my friend Susan was like, "Cyborg was never on the Super Friends!" And I was like, "Well, I'm watching him right now, so he must've been." The whole thing was weird but made me giggle so all was well.
-------------------- Abin: You know what to do with a Cali sandwich? No but neither do Cobie and CJ! CJ: Yeah, we do. She's smiling, isn't she?
Context... who needs it?
From: Sunny Cali-- er, Planet Earth? | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Eryk Davis Ester: The only ones I really remember watching when they were "new" were the last couple of seasons, when they made Darkseid the main villain. I always kind of liked Darkseid as a villain. I wonder why he never tries to force Wonder Woman to marry him in the comics?
Yeah those were bizzare, I remember watching those as they came out. I would have been around 7-9.
From: Canada | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Having seen THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN in 1966 and the various other Filmation cartoons of the late 60's, I thought THE SUPER FRIENDS was too "watered-down"-- but then, almost everything on Saturday mornings in the 1970's was. Those pesky "anti-violence" groups had done their best to remove anything exciting from the airwaves...
I finally checked out the show again for it's LAST season, SUPER POWER: GALACTIC GUARDIANS, and even taped them. They included reruns from the previous season, and even there you could see a major improvement from one year to the next. I tend to refer to them as the "Firestorm" season and the "Cyborg" season. The look of the show genuinely improved for the "Cyborg" season. I just wish they'd have made more than just 8 episodes. (Cheap bastards!!!)
For me, one of the coolest thing about those later episodes was having Adam West do the voice of BATMAN. In fact, they did an episode featuring The Scarecrow that was the first time (I believe) they ever did Batman's origin on film! (This was some years before they began regurgitating his origin just about every single month in the comics...)
The WB SUPERMAN cartoons may have been better-written, but the guy who voiced Darkseid on them just wasn't nearly as spooky as the one from SUPER POWERS.
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I am not ashamed to admit that when I was a kid, I loved the Wonder Twins. I think Zan was one of my first cartoon crushes.
My sister and I used to play Wonder Twins. We could never get the dog to hold a bucket though.
-------------------- The only character in all of literature who has been described as "badnass" while using the phrase "vile miscreant."
From: The Pyngwyn Colonies of Planet Hyustyn | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
I thought it was funny that on "Superfriends", Green Lantern was really tan (cuz he's from California I suppose). He lost his color on "Super Power" though.
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by profh0011: The WB SUPERMAN cartoons may have been better-written, but the guy who voiced Darkseid on them just wasn't nearly as spooky as the one from SUPER POWERS.
I agree. And to give credit where it's due, the better Darkseid voice was none other than the great Frank Welker.
posted
Ah, you young whipper-snappers. Let's see, in the fall of 1973, when Super Friends first premiered, I was six years old and starting 1st grade at the school down the street. I was SO excited that Saturday morning -- Super Friends and Star Trek The Animated Series were both premiering. I think I woke up at about 3 in the morning, and stayed awake, until the shows came on.
Yes, the first season of Super Friends was very preachy and not very exciting. At the same time, we often got to see the abilities of the members really showcased, especially Aquaman. Oops, there goes the Troub-Alert!
-------------------- ...but you don't have a moment where you're sitting there staring at a table full of twenty-five characters with little name signs that say, "Hi, my superpower is confusing you!"
From: Chicago, IL | Registered: Jul 2004
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I still would like to see that first season with Marvin & Wendy again. I loved the guest-hero episodes.
I also like when they did the team-ups later on. They did one with Green Lantern (Teaming with Batman I think) The writers & animators must have been told that Green Lantern can create anything with his ring, so they have him create a Lantern Jet so he can fly.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
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Yeah I remember being disappointed with their version of GL's powers and what was up with his skin tone? I guess he was the only Super Friend with the power to tan... SUPER-TAN! And then there was that Asin tornado guy. No Red Tornado in sight. I guess it was their effort to be more ethnically diverse but it sucked 'cause I loved Red Tornado.
-------------------- Is that a moon?
From: Portland, OR | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
By the Challenge of the Super Friends season they figured out that GL was able to fly with his ring. I remember seeing the "Lantern Jet" episodes and thinking there was something wrong with that.
As for Samurai, his power was a bit confusing. He apparently could turn into wind, fire or become invisible. Mostly, he did the wind thing where the lower half of his body was a whirlwind, as UL said, not unlike Red Tornado.
Of course, Samurai's compatriots Black Vulcan and Apache Chief found their place much later as fodder for laughs in Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.
-------------------- The only character in all of literature who has been described as "badnass" while using the phrase "vile miscreant."
From: The Pyngwyn Colonies of Planet Hyustyn | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
I thought it was so stupid to call him Samurai. Why? -Just because he was Japanese? He didn't wield a sword or anything. It's like why call Black Vulcan that name? Is it not enough to know he is a black character, but what, we have to put it in his name too? Did the creators ever learn anything from Black Lightning?
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