The Best of Super Friends

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Super Friends
Also known as Super Friends VI
Genre Animation / Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi
Developed by Hanna-Barbera
DC Comics
Written by Haskell Barkin
Dick Conway
Willie Gilbert
Donald F. Glut
Mark Jones
Elana Lesser
Dick Robbins
Cliff Ruby
Directed by Oscar Dufau
George Gordon
Charles A. Nichols
Ray Patterson
Carl Urbano
Voices of Jack Angel
Lewis Bailey
Michael Bell
Wally Burr
William Callaway
Melanie Chartoff
Danny Dark
Fernando Escandon
Shannon Farnon
Buster Jones
Stan Jones
Casey Kasem
Vic Perrin
Stanley Ralph Ross
Michael Rye
Olan Soule
Jimmy Weldon
Frank Welker
Louise Williams
William Woodson
Narrated by William Woodson
Theme music composer Hoyt Curtin
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
Language(s) English
No. of seasons 2
Production
Executive
producer(s)		 Joseph Barbera
William Hanna
Co-executive
producer(s)		 Margaret Loesch
Producer(s) Gerard Baldwin
Editor(s) Jeffrey Scott
Running time 60 minutes (including commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel ABC
Original run September 8, 1982 – 1984
Chronology
Preceded by The Super Friends Hour
Followed by Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show
External links
Official website
IMDb profile

The Best of Super Friends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 1982 to 1984 on ABC. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and is based on the Justice League and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics. It was the sixth incarnation of the Super Friends series following Super Friends (1973 TV series), The All-New Super Friends Hour, Challenge of the Super Friends, The World's Greatest Super Friends and The Super Friends Hour.

Contents

[edit] Background and format

For the 1982-1983 television season, ABC continued to run a half-hour long program, this time called The Best of the Super Friends. Just like its predecessor program, The Super Friends Hour, this series consisted mostly of reruns[1] of shows from the previous nine seasons. The main difference in contrast to The Super Friends Hour is that none of the seven minute shorts were rebroadcast.

[edit] Cancellation and lost episodes

See also: Lost episode

By 1983, Hanna-Barbera had created a syndication package (that was distributed by LBS Communications and ran from 1981-1986) of the earlier Super Friends series. These episodes were picked up by various stations across the United States and were typically broadcast on weekday afternoons. Not wishing to compete with the syndicated programming, ABC dropped the series from the 1983-1984 Saturday morning television line-up, and for the second time in its run, Super Friends was canceled.

See also: 1982-83_United_States_network_television_schedule (Saturday morning) and 1983-84 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)

However, during this period of time, Hanna-Barbera continued to produce new episodes of Super Friends. In total, 24 of the so-called "Lost Episodes"[2] were animated but not aired in the United States that season. The series did appear in Australia uninterrupted. Three of these episodes were aired when Super Friends returned to Saturday morning ABC television the following year. The remainder of the episodes finally aired in syndication in 1995 as part of the Superman/Batman Adventures show on the USA Network.[3]

[edit] List of lost episodes

  1. MXYZPTLK'S REVENGE
  2. ROLLER COASTER
  3. ONCE UPON A POLTERGEIST
  4. WARPLAND
  5. TWO GLEEKS ARE DEADLIER THAN ONE
  6. BULGOR THE BEHEMOTH
  7. THE KRYPTON SYNDROME
  8. INVASION OF THE SPACE DOLLS
  9. TERROR ON THE TITANIC
  10. THE REVENGE OF DOOM
  11. A PINT OF LIFE
  12. DAY OF THE DINOSAURS
  13. RETURN OF THE PHANTOMS
  14. BULLY FOR YOU
  15. SUPERCLONES
  16. PRISONERS OF SLEEP
  17. AN UNEXPECTED TREASURE
  18. THE MALUSIAN BLOB
  19. ATTACK OF THE CATS
  20. PERSONAL COMMENT
  21. VIDEO VICTIMS
  22. PLAYGROUND OF DOOM
  23. SPACE RACERS
  24. THE RECRUITER

[edit] References

  1. ^ If I can recall, it was most of the 30 minute episodes featuring the core group containing all 8 episodes from the World's Greatest series, all 16 episodes from 1978, the first 8 of the half hour episodes from the All New SuperFriends Hour from 1977, and one episode of Challenge of the SuperFriends: Swamp of the Living Dead.
  2. ^ However, unbeknownst to any of us at the time, Hanna Barbera did produce a third set of 7 minute shorts. They actually aired in other countries that year, but not in America since our heroes lost the coin toss in favor of cutesy shows like the Monchichis, Rubik the Amazing Cube, and the Littles. The only Super Hero shows found on Saturday mornings that year were all reruns shows. The final season of SpiderMan and His Amazing Friends and the Incredible Hulk reruns on NBC, and on CBS, Ruby Spears Plastic Man, which was later replaced by Filmation's Tarzan series. And to add insult to injury, Superman fans were none too thrilled with Superman III, released in theaters that year. When the SuperFriends returned the following year as the Legendary Super Powers Show, three of these lost episodes aired as part of that series. When the SuperFriends returned to syndication in the 1990's in the form of the Superman/Batman Adventures package, these lost episodes were part of this show and we were finally exposed to Super Friends adventures we'd never seen before.
  3. ^ HANNA-BARBERA SUPERFRIENDS CHRONOLOGY
v • d • e
Super Friends
Television series
List of episodes
Production and distribution
Production staff
Composers and music supervisers
Characters "cast" lists
Miscellania