Super Friends

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The title card for the first Super Friends series.
The title card for the first Super Friends series.

Super Friends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 1973 to 1986. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and is based on the Justice League and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics.

Contents

[edit] History

When animation company Hanna-Barbera licensed the animation rights to the DC Comics characters and adapted the Justice League of America comic book for television, it made several changes in the transition, not the least of which was the change of name to Super Friends. In part, it was feared that the name Justice League of America would have seemed too jingoistic during the post-Vietnam War Era. Nevertheless, team members sometimes referred to themselves as the Justice League on the show. The violence common in superhero comics was toned down for a younger audience, as well as to fit with the restrictive broadcast standards regarding violence in 1970s children's television.

The primary characters featured in the series were Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are generally considered DC's flagship characters. Aquaman had previously appeared in his own animated series produced by Filmation, as had both Superman and Batman. Shortly before the Super Friends series was developed, Superman and Wonder Woman guest-starred in two episodes of The Brady Kids, while Batman and Robin appeared in two episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies. The team's first sidekicks were Wendy Harris (voiced by Sherri Alberoni) and Marvin White (voiced by Frank Welker) and their dog Wonderdog, none of whom had any special abilities (save the dog's unexplained ability to reason and "talk"). Marvin and Wonderdog did exhibit a levitation ability in one episode; however, it was only for comedic effect, and never shown or mentioned again. Starting with the third season, they were replaced by pointy-eared shapeshifting extraterrestrials Zan and Jayna, the "Wonder Twins," and their "space monkey" Gleek. Earlier seasons occasionally introduced other members of the Justice League as guest stars, including The Flash, Plastic Man, and Green Arrow.

Initially, during the Wendy and Marvin years, each episode was a single one-hour story, and the villains (mostly original creations not in the comics) were often misguided, rather than evil. Subsequent seasons were a mix of one-hour and half-hour episodes, the one-hour episodes sometimes featuring two or more short stories in each hour, and made use of established villains from the DC comics. The Challenge of the Superfriends season introduced the Legion of Doom, a team of 13 recurring foes comprised of the Super Friends' worst enemies. They used a swamp-based, mechanical, flying headquarters, the Hall of Doom (which suspiciously resembled the helmet of Darth Vader), as a suitable contrast with the Super Friends' gleaming Hall of Justice.

Hanna-Barbera's writers experimented with team composition as well. Challenge of the Superfriends kept the teen sidekicks, but they were not directly involved with the super-villain stories. It also added Hawkman, Green Lantern, and The Flash as well as three characters without previous comic-book antecedents: Black Vulcan (who appears to have been based on a minor DC character, Black Lightning; see Trivia below), Apache Chief and Samurai. These last three were intended to be international heroes and were created in order to encourage racial and cultural diversity. Critics felt that these attempts were, at best, awkward and, at worst, very stereotypical and somewhat offensive. Subsequent versions of the show resulted in a fourth "diversity" hero, El Dorado, and guest stars who had also appeared in DC comics, including Rima the Jungle Girl (a Tarzan-like character similar to Sheena, Queen of the Jungle and Marvel Comics' Shanna the She-Devil), Hawkgirl and the Atom. During Challenge of the Superfriends original run, sixteen more episodes were made. These episodes were shown during the original season of the show (and possibly again during the 1980's in syndicated re-runs) but were not shown when Cartoon Network aired the show. These episodes may have been the "craft segment shorts" remembered by some who watched the show during its original run (or in syndication). In one episode, Aquaman demonstrates how to make a kazoo out of wax paper and a comb.

The final two seasons, Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, (the "Super Powers" tag reflected a marketing tie-in with a toyline of the same name produced by Kenner[1]) made further refinements to the roster, adding teen members Firestorm and Cyborg, each with a comics history. The tone of these last two seasons, in particular the Galactic Guardians version, was notably more serious than Super Friends had been in the past (possibly due to the success NBC was having with their own Saturday morning cartoon series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends). This was reflected with the introduction of Darkseid and his minions on Apokolips as recurring villains in these episodes. The series in these last two seasons ceased trying to be so much a "kid-friendly" version of the DC characters and mythos, and began targeting a slightly older audience with more of an emphasis on action as opposed to morality lessons in the guise of superhero stories. In particular, the Galactic Guardians series featured a notable first: in the episode "The Fear", Batman's origin is told for the first time outside of the actual comics.

[edit] Trivia

  • The commanding voice of the Narrator was provided by actor Ted Knight during the early hour-long episodes. His signature line was, "Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice!" William Woodson took over once they dropped the original format.
  • Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog were inspired by the Scooby-Doo gang. The voice of both Marvin and Wonder Dog were both performed by Frank Welker who also did the voice of the Scooby Doo gang's Fred.
  • In Teen Titans #34 (2006), Wendy and Marvin are now part of DC continuity. They are now fraternal twins (a possible nod to their Super Friends successors, the Wonder Twins), engineering geniuses (apparently having graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at sixteen), and are employed at Titans Tower as maintenance crew and all-around mechanical troubleshooters. They were responsible for restoring Titans member Cyborg to full functions after he sustained damage to his artificial body parts during the events of the Infinite Crisis mini-series and publishing event.
  • In one episode where a giant Kryptonian pteranodon (based on Rodan) is rampaging on Earth, the team must choose whether they should acquire a massive supply of kryptonite to drive it off and risk Superman's life in the process. Superman asserts that the team has a long-standing principle of seeking "the greatest good for the greatest number" and insists that the kryptonite be used. The quote is taken from Frances Hutcheson and introduced the ethical principles of utilitarianism to viewers.
  • At one point, Cartoon Network produced three commercials lampooning the Super Friends. One dealt with the idiosyncratic nature of the Legion of Doom and Brainiac's odd manner of dress (Brainiac: "Look, all I want is pants... a decent pair of pants!" Solomon Grundy: "Solomon Grundy want pants, too!"). The second dealt with the Wonder Twins' uselessness in battle (Zan: "I could get beaten by a sponge! It doesn't even have to be an evil sponge!"). The third, co-starring the Powerpuff Girls, dealt with Aquaman's useless powers (Aquaman: "My ability to talk to fish is of no use to us, Wonder Woman!") as well as the level of violence compared to today's cartoons, as Wonder Woman and Aquaman look away while the Powerpuff Girls beat up the Legion of Doom.
  • An issue of Wizard Magazine also parodied the Super Friends, in which the JLA is sent through a dimensional rift and meets some members of the Super Friends. After Martian Manhunter simply uses his martian vision to melt the villain and his machine, much to Green Lantern's dismay ("You have to trick him into leaving, or shutting off his machine, NOT direct physical violence!") the Super Friends decided to send the JLA'ers back to their own dimension. The Wonder Twins turned into water and a bug and paddling, Green Lantern shone his ring on them, Flash ran around them a lot, and Aquaman stood around until water could be introduced at a convienent manner. Despite the fact that their plan made no sense scientifically, it worked and restored the JLA'ers to their proper world.
  • A first season episode of the Cartoon Network television series Justice League Unlimited featured The Ultimen, a group of superheroes that are a pastiche of heroes unique to the Super Friends. The members were Long Shadow (based on Apache Chief), Wind Dragon (Samurai), Juice (Black Vulcan), Downpour (Zan of the Wonder Twins), and Shifter (Jayna of the Wonder Twins). The headquarters of the Ultimen, although on top of a skyscraper, resembled the Super Friends' Hall of Justice. Of note also is that the JLU heroes featured in this episode was the line up of the original Superfriends, save for Robin as the concurrent Teen Titans cartoon series meant that no Bat-heroes beyond Batman himself could be used in the JLU.
  • The fifth season of Justice League Unlimited has shown Gorilla Grodd forming a massive Legion of villains. While not called "The Legion of Doom" on the show, their headquarters is a craft similar to the Hall of Doom, located in a swamp.
  • DC Comics published a comic book version of the Super Friends in the 1970s. The Super Friends comic was written to a higher standard than the television show, and Zan and Jayna were given backstories and secret identities as a pair of blond-haired high school kids; they were more competent heroes in general than their cartoon counterparts.
    • While the cartoons weren't canon with DC Comics, writer E. Nelson Bridwell would try to make it into canon by footnotes. Though, many fans would address the matter in letter columns by addressing the SF stories on Eatrh-1A.[8] An example of trying to fit Superfriends into the DC Universe:
      • Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog are the only ones active at the Hall Of Justice because the Justice League are in the 30th Century with the Justice Society as shown in Justice League Of Aemrica #147-148. Robin is busy helping the Titans in Teen Titans #50-52.
  • The lighthearted nature of the show was partially spoofed in the 2000s with two DC miniseries, Formerly Known As the Justice League and I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League! (although these series were more direct take-offs on the 1980s Blue Beetle/Booster Gold-era Justice League). In these miniseries, the group is known as the "Super Buddies," and consists of a team of various ex-Justice League members. Writer Keith Giffen has stated that his original proposal was titled 1-800-SUPERFRIENDS.
  • The Hall of Justice from the Super Friends can be seen in the Teen Titans animated series. It appears behind the Titans Tower in the opening sequence and uses of the same shot in the show.
  • Filipino comedian Rex Navarrete gave a satirized depiction of the Super Friends in his comedy routine Maritess vs the Super Friends about Maritess, a Filipina immigrant who worked as the Super Friends' maid at the Hall of Justice. This was made into a short Macromedia Flash animation by Dino Ignacio. [9]
  • After Olan Soule served as the voice of Batman on the show for several years, he turned the part over to none other than the man who played Batman on the live action 60s TV series, Adam West, for the Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians series. For these seasons, Olan instead played the voice of Professor Martin Stein, one half of Firestorm the Nuclear Man.
  • Noted painter Alex Ross is an avowed fan of the show and has worked it into his various projects. In Kingdom Come, the United Nations building resembles the Hall of Justice while the Gulag is obviously designed on the Hall of Doom. Marvin can also be spotted in a brief cameo in that book. Ross is also helping to create the current 12-issue Justice series in which a new and improved Legion of Doom clashes with the JLA.
  • The opening credits of Challenge of the Super Friends names the Super Friends as the Justice League of America. In addition to the appearance of a JLA emblem on a communicator and a reference to a mission to repair the Justice League satellite, the Super Friends are often linked with the JLA.
  • In that mission, the Justice League satellite under repair is clearly the same design as the Justice League Satellite that appeared in the comics at the time, but was shown to be substantially smaller than its comic book counterpart, and thus uninhabitable.
  • The Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "MC Pee Pants" uses backgrounds taken from the Challenge of the Superfriends episode "Monolith of Evil" for the location of Hell.
  • Super Friends was spoofed in an episode of That '70s Show with a dream sequence where the "Super Pals" made fun of Eric's Superman because Donna's Wonder Woman had given him a ring as a gift. "I got it at the mall!" she exclaims.
  • At the end of Earthworm Jim Special Edition's Easy Mode ending, Doug TenNapel proclaims, "Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice, Superman, Batman and Jan and Zeyna, uh- the Wonder Twins. They've... pronounced that it's the end. We're not kidding. Uhh... really!"
  • 'The Hall of Justice' as often seen in the cartoon, seems to have a striking resemblence to the Union Terminal building in Cincinnati, Ohio. Once a train station, it is now a museum. It seems likely that the animators copied the design from this or a similar building.
  • In The Fairly Oddparents episode "Power Pals," Timmy wishes for bigger, better, super friends. As a result, he gets a team of superheroes - the Power Pals - as "friends." The four characters parody Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Aquaman, and come with their own narrator. Various aspects of the Super Friends were parodied, such as randomly pressing beeping buttons (that flash in an equally random pattern) on any computer module, invisible vehicles (somehow, the Power Pals are able to recognize a dent in the invisible rocket, and can be seen from the outside as only the rocket is invisible), the uselessness of Aquaman's (Wet Willy's) ability to talk to fish and powerlessness outside of water, and near-instantaneous travel to distant galaxies.
  • In the third episode of Justice League, when Superman proposes the idea of a team, Flash responds "What, you mean like a bunch of... super friends?"
  • The South Park episode, Super Best Friends, is a spoof on this series and depicts religious figures such as Jesus, Krishna and so on as a team of superheroes. The only member of "The Super Best Friends" who is not a religious figure is "Seaman" (pronounced semen), a spoof on Aquaman whose power is to talk to fish (referring to the fact that fans have viewed Aquaman, as seen in Super Friends, as a joke).

[edit] Series

The show was featured under several titles, though only about 60 episodes were produced altogether.

  • Super Friends (1973)[2]
  • All-New Super Friends Hour (1977)[3]
  • Challenge of the Super Friends (1978)[4]
  • World's Greatest Super Friends (1979)[5]
  • Super Friends (1980-1983; this show had 3 different short cartoons that starred at least 2 or 3 different superheroes dealing with different crises)[6]
  • Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984)[7]
  • The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985)[8]

[edit] Challenge of the Super Friends

Eleven heroes made up the Super Friends during the Challenge of the Super Friends season. They were:

 

Additional members included:

One-shot appearances were made by:

The teen sidekicks and their pets:

[edit] Legion of Doom

Thirteen villains comprised the Legion of Doom during the Challenge of the Super Friends season. They were:

 
  • Doctor Natas - a one-time member briefly mentioned in "Superfriends, Rest In Peace" as the inventor of the Noxium crystal, which had the power to kill any Super Friend. He never actually appeared on screen, not even in a flashback or a photograph.

[edit] Other DC Comics villains

 

And independently From the Legion of Doom:

 

Villains appearing in the show but not in DC comics:

  • Rock and Roll Space Bandits

[edit] References

  1. ^ toyotter.com
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ [2]
  4. ^ [3]
  5. ^ [4]
  6. ^ [5]
  7. ^ [6]
  8. ^ [7]

[edit] External links

Justice League
Characters

Members | Villains
Related teams

Justice Society of America | Outsiders | Teen Titans | Young Justice | Super Buddies
Headquarters

Secret Sanctuary | Justice League Satellite | Justice League Watchtower
Ongoing series

Justice League of America (vol. 2) | JLA: Classified | Justice League Adventures / Justice League Unlimited | Justice
Previous series

Justice League of America | Justice League International | Justice League Europe
Justice League Task Force | Extreme Justice | JLA | Formerly Known As the Justice League
Other media The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure | Super Friends | Legends of the Superheroes | Justice League | Justice League Unlimited
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