Challenge of the Super Friends

Challenge of the Super Friends

Also known as	Super Friends III
Genre	Adventure / Animation / Fantasy / Sci-Fi
Created by	E. Nelson Bridwell Carmine Infantino Julius Schwartz (consultants)
Written by	Jeffrey Scott
Directed by	Ray Patterson Carl Urbano
Creative director(s)	Iwao Takamoto
Voices of	Jack Angel Marlene Aragon Lewis Bailey Michael Bell Bill Callaway Ted Cassidy Melanie Chartoff Henry Corden Danny Dark Al Fann Shannon Farnon Ruth Forman Bob Hastings Bob Holt Buster Jones Stan Jones Liberty Williams Casey Kasem Don Messick Vic Perrin Renny Roker Stanley Ross Dick Ryal Michael Rye Olan Soule Jimmy Weldon Frank Welker Louise Williams
Narrated by	William Woodson
Theme music composer	Hoyt Curtin
Composer(s)	Hoyt Curtin
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	16 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Producer(s)	Don Jurwich
Editor(s)	Larry C. Cowan (supervising editor)
Cinematography	George Epperson Tom Epperson Charles Flekal Ron Jackson Jerry Smith Larry Smith Terry Smith Brandy Whittington Jerry Whittington
Running time	60 minutes (including commercials)
Production company(s)	Hanna-Barbera Productions DC Comics
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	September 9, 1978 – December 23, 1978
Chronology
Preceded by	The All-New Super Friends Hour
Followed by	The World's Greatest Super Friends
External links
Website

Challenge of the Super Friends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from September 9, 1978, to December 23, 1978, on ABC. The complete series (16 episodes) was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for Warner Bros. Television and is based on the Justice League and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics and created by Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky. It was the third series of Super Friends cartoons, following the original Super Friends in 1973 and The All-New Super Friends Hour in 1977. It continues to air on Boomerang in the United States.

Format

First segment

The plots for this series were, at the time of its initial airing, arguably the best effort to portray comic book heroes in animated television shorts. As originally aired, this season consisted of two half-hour segments. The first of these featured the Legion of Doom, a team of thirteen recurring foes, the Super Friends' worst enemies. Every episode would feature battles between the thirteen supervillains of the Legion of Doom and the eleven superheroes of the Justice League of America. The Legion of Doom dwelled in a murky swamp and launched their attacks for global conquest from a sinister looking, swamp-based, mechanical flying headquarters called the Hall of Doom (which also resembled Darth Vader's helmet) as a suitable contrast with the Super Friends' gleaming Hall of Justice.

Second segment

The second segment of this season was an adventure with Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Wonder Twins, similar to those that had aired the previous season in The All-New Super Friends Hour.^[1] Thanks to these episodes being shown using the opening credits of the All-New Super Friends Hour in syndication,^[2] the second segment along being used with the Challenge of Super Friends opening, and confused references to the show^[3] it is often mistakenly believed that the first and second segments were two separate shows.

Production background

Early development

When the Challenge of the Super Friends season was originally conceived, it was named “Battle of the Superheroes” and featured the introduction of Captain Marvel to the Super Friends. The group that challenged the heroes was called the "League of Evil", led by Marvel's nemesis Doctor Sivana. However, Filmation produced Shazam! and The New Adventures of Batman which prevented the use of characters such as Mister Atom, King Kull, Beautia Sivana, Joker, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, and Catwoman. Early conceptual art drawn by Alex Toth would also include Heat Wave, Poison Ivy, and Abra Kadabra.^[4]

Narration, music and character designs

Bill Woodson provides the uncredited voice of the narrator in Challenge of the Super Friends, and the opening narration was by Stanley Jones. The show's main theme and original music was composed and arranged by musical director Hoyt Curtin. The music supervisor was Paul DeKorte. Character designs for this particular Super Friends series were done by Andre LeBlanc.

Team composition experimentation

Hanna-Barbera's writers experimented with team composition as well. Challenge of the Super Friends added The Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), and Hawkman (Katar Hol) who were members of the Justice League of America, as well as several new characters: Black Vulcan (who was based on the DC Comics character Black Lightning), Apache Chief, and Samurai. These characters were created to add racial and cultural diversity to the show (this was also mentioned in some of the episode introduction extras on the first two Challenge of the Super Friends DVDs).

Lineups

Super Friends/Justice League of America

Eleven heroes make up the Super Friends/Justice League of America. They are:

Legion of Doom

Thirteen villains comprise the Legion of Doom during the Challenge of the Super Friends season. They are:

Despite the claim in the program's title sequence that the Legion's members hail from "remote galaxies", only Brainiac and Sinestro are extraterrestrials; the remaining members are all natives of Earth (Even though Bizarro called Bizarro World home he was created by Lex Luthor via duplicator ray on Earth technically making him a 'native' of Earth)

Voices

Jack Angel - Flash, Hawkman, Samurai, Professor Nikaido (in "Journey Through Inner Space"), Fort Knox Guard (in "Wanted: The Super Friends"), Japanese Distress Caller (in "Monolith of Evil"), soldier (in "Super Friends: Rest in Peace")
Marlene Aragon - Cheetah
Lewis Bailey -
Michael Bell - Riddler, Zan, Gleek, Fearians (in "Invasion of the Fearians"), Romlock (in "Terror From the Phantom Zone"), Young Lex Luthor (in "History of Doom"), Pete (in "Trial of the Super Friends")
Bill Callaway - Aquaman, Bizarro, The Capricorn Kid (in "Batman: Dead or Alive"), Alfred Pennyworth (in "Wanted: The Super Friends")
Ted Cassidy - Brainiac, Black Manta, Barlocks (in "Conquerors from the Future"), Diamond Exchange Man (in "Super Friends: Rest in Peace"), British soldier (in "The Giants of Doom"), Gorilla Guard (in "Revenge on Gorilla City")
Melanie Chartoff -
Henry Corden - Dr. Varga (in "Invasion of the Brain Creatures"), Brain Creature Leader (in "Invasion of the Brain Creatures") Torahna (in "The World Beneath the Ice")
Danny Dark - Superman, Commissioner James Gordon (in "Super Friends: Rest in Peace"), Superboy (in "History of Doom"), U.S. Mint Guard (in "Wanted: The Super Friends"), Man in Car (in "Monolith of Evil"), Radar Engineer (in "Doomsday")
Al Fann -Young Apache Chief (in "History of Doom")
Shannon Farnon - Wonder Woman, Empress Zana (in "The World's Deadliest Game"), Medusa (in "Battle of the Gods"), Timora (in "Conquerors of the Future"), Lois Lane (in "Super Friends: Rest in Peace")
Ruth Forman - Giganta
Bob Hastings -
Bob Holt - Count Dracula (in "Attack of the Vampire"), Logar (in "Terror From the Phantom Zone")
Buster Jones - Black Vulcan, U.N. Representative (in "Trial of the Super Friends"), Plutonium Plant Guard (in "Swamp of the Living Dead"), Skier (in "Fairy Tale of Doom"), Galactic Policeman (in "Doomsday")
Stan Jones (actor) - Lex Luthor, Opening Narration, Caesar (in "The Time Trap"), Evil Being (in "Swamp of the Living Dead"), Giant (in "Fairy Tale of Doom"), Hull (in "Terror from the Phantom Zone"), Jonathan Kent (in "Secret Origins of the Super Friends"), Jor-El (in "Secret Origins of the Super Friends"), Lord Dar-Con (in "Demons of Exxor"), Sinbad (in "Sinbad and the Space Pirates"), Fort Knox Guard (in "Wanted: The Super Friends"), Knight (in "The Time Trap"), Townsman 2 (in "Trial of the Super Friends"), Gorilla Guard (in "Revenge on Gorilla City"), Scotland Yard Man (in "Conquerors of the Future"), Manatoo (in "History of Doom")
Casey Kasem - Robin, JLA Computer, Colorado Soldier (in "Super Friends: Rest in Peace"), Man from Parthenon (in "The Giants of Doom"), Subway Switchman (in "Conquerors of the Future"), Likan (in "Conquerors of the Future")
Don Messick - Scarecrow, Astronauts (in "Giants of Doom"), Domed City Ruler (in "Conquerors from the Future"), Fear-Gassed Gorilla (in "Revenge on Gorilla City"), Vartoo (in "The Final Challenge"), Mocking Kryptonian (in "Secret Origins of the Super Friends"), Ground Quake Kryptonian (in "Secret Origins of the Super Friends"), Plutonium Plant Guard (in "Swamp of the Living Dead"), Rabbit (in "Fairy Tale of Doom")
Alan Oppenheimer - Zeus (in "Battle of the Gods"), Sphinx (in "Battle of the Gods")
Vic Perrin - Sinestro, Dr. Starns (in "The Anti-Matter Monster")
Renny Roker -
Stanley Ralph Ross - Gorilla Grodd, Nar-Tan (in "Doomsday"), Old Indian (in "History of Doom")
Dick Ryal - Captain Cold, Hall of Doom Computer, Abin Sur (in "Secret Origins of the Super Friends"), Captain Nemo's Sailor (in "Fairy Tale of Doom"), Gorilla Tracker (in "Revenge on Gorilla City")
Michael Rye - Green Lantern, Apache Chief, Outer Galaxy Region Ruler (in "Conquerors from the Future"), Solovar (in "Revenge on Gorilla City"), Plutonium Plant Guard (in "Swamp of the Living Dead")
Olan Soule - Batman, Astronaut (in "The World's Deadliest Game"), Vull (in "Demons of Exxor"), Fort Knox Guard (in "Wanted: The Super Friends"), Scientist (in "The Time Trap"), Townsman 1 (in "Trial of the Super Friends"), Subway Engineer (in "Conquerors of the Future"), Train Passenger (in "Conquerors of the Future")
Jimmy Weldon - Solomon Grundy
Frank Welker - Toyman, Lilliputians (in "Fairy Tale of Doom"), Mr. Mxyzptlk (in "The Rise and Fall of the Super Friends"), Wind-Up Baby (in "The World's Deadliest Game"), Wind-Up Cat (in "The World's Deadliest Game"), Gorilla Child (in "Revenge on Gorilla City"), Mort (in "Conquerors of the Future")
Liberty Williams - Jayna, Aphrodite (in "Secret Origins of the Super Friends"), Young Giganta (in "History of Doom")
Bill Woodson-Narrator, Perry White (in "Super Friends: Rest in Peace"), Rayno (in "History of Doom"), Captain Nemo (in "Fairy Tale of Doom"), Admiral Hubbard (in "Doomsday")

Episodes

See: List of Super Friends episodes

DVD release

Warner Home Video originally released this season of Super Friends on two separate DVDs on June 1, 2004. The first one being "Challenge of the Super Friends: Attack of the Legion of Doom", which featured the "Challenge" segments, and the second being Challenge of the Super Friends: United They Stand", which featured the Super Friends segments. Both DVDs only featured four episodes. The first season was re-released as "Challenge of the Super Friends: The First Season" on July 6, 2004. The second season was re-released as "Super Friends: Volume Two" on May 24, 2005. Both of these DVDs were a box set with all sixteen episodes.

Title	Type	Ep No.	Release date
Challenge of the Super Friends	The First Season	16	July 6, 2004
Super Friends: Volume Two	Volume 2	16	May 24, 2005

Spoofs

Cartoon Network produced a couple of commercials spoofing Challenge of the Super Friends.

One dealt with the idiosyncratic nature of the Legion of Doom and Brainiac’s odd manner of dress (Brainiac: “Look, I just want some pants...a decent pair of pants!” Solomon Grundy: “Solomon Grundy want pants, too!”).

The second, co-starring The Powerpuff Girls, dealt with Aquaman’s 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, going so far as to set the Scarecrow on fire. Most notably was Bubbles' double-entendre reply to Wonder Woman's compliment on how they were developing as superheroes. "Someday we'll be as developed as you." Lex Luthor, as a villain with a dirty mind, began laughing. His underlings understood the joke and laughed as well. When a piece of the Hall of Doom's ceiling fell on Luthor's head, everyone laughed.

In 2003, Cartoon Network Latin America aired the spoof series The Aquaman & Friends Action Hour that starred Aquaman as a children's television show host and the Legion of Doom as his bankrupt villains.

Legends of the Superheroes

The two NBC televised live-action specials of Legends of the Superheroes produced by Hanna-Barbera was based largely on Challenge of the Super Friends while featuring Adam West, Burt Ward, and Frank Gorshin of the 1966 Batman television series fame (West would go on to voice Batman in Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians). The Justice League starred Batman, Robin, Captain Marvel, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Huntress, and Black Canary against the Legion of Doom which featured Mordru leading Doctor Sivana, Riddler, Giganta, Sinestro, Weather Wizard, and Solomon Grundy (Superman, Wonder Woman, and their associate characters were absent due to the Superman film and Wonder Woman television series licensing the rights, respectively).

DC Super Friends

Despite using the main theme from the World's Greatest Super Friends, the 2010 DC Super Friends "The Joker's Playhouse" shares several elements of its opening sequence with Challenge of the Super Friends including introducing the Legion of Doom.^[5]

Robot Chicken DC Comics Special

The opening sequence of the Robot Chicken DC Comics Special parodies the opening of Challenge of the Super Friends with the Legion of Doom substituted for Robot Chicken original characters Chicken, Mad Scientist, Nerd, Humping Robot, Composite Santa, Gummy Bear, the Unicorn, and Bitch Puddin'. The Legion of Doom, Hall of Doom, and Hall of Justice also feature prominently in the episode.

References

↑ Hanna-Barbera Superfriends Chronology (archive)
↑ LBS Communications
↑ McNeil, Alex (1997). Total Television Book and CD-ROM. Penguin (Non-Classics). ISBN 0-14-026737-9.
↑ Nobleman, Marc Tyler (29 July 2011). "Super ‘70s and ‘80s: "Super Friends"—Darrell McNeil, animator". Noblemania. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDSj5ZvlbuU

External links

Challenge of the Super Friends at the Internet Movie Database
Challenge of the Super Friends at TV.com
Challenge of the Super Friends @ Legions of Gotham

Super Friends

Television series

Super Friends (1973)
The All-New Super Friends Hour (1977)
Challenge of the Super Friends (1978)
The World's Greatest Super Friends (1979)
Super Friends (1980)
Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984)
The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985)

Heroes

Villains

Legion of Doom	Bizarro Black Manta Brainiac Captain Cold Cheetah Giganta Gorilla Grodd Lex Luthor The Riddler The Scarecrow Sinestro Solomon Grundy Toyman

General	Darkseid Desaad Kalibak Mirror Master Mister Mxyzptlk Paradrones Time Trapper

Merchandise

Miscellania

Children's programming on the American Broadcasting Company in the 1970s

First-run animated series	The New Casper Cartoon Show (1963–70) The Smokey the Bear Show (1969–70) The Cattanooga Cats Show (1969–71) Hot Wheels (1969–71) The Hardy Boys (1969–71) Skyhawks (1969–71) The Adventures of Gulliver (1968–70) Fantastic Voyage (1968–70) Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down (1970–72) The Road Runner Show (1971–73) The Funky Phantom (1971–73) The Jackson 5ive (1971–73) The Osmonds (1972–74) The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie (1972–74) The Brady Kids (1972–74) Kid Power (1972–74) Yogi's Gang (1973–75) Super Friends (1973–74) Lassie's Rescue Rangers (1973–75) Goober and the Ghost Chasers (1973–75) Mission: Magic! (1973–74) Hong Kong Phooey (1974–76) The New Adventures of Gilligan (1974–77) Devlin (1974–76) These Are the Days (1974–76) The Tom and Jerry Show (1975–77) The Great Grape Ape Show (1975–76) The Oddball Couple (1975–77) Jabberjaw (1976–78) The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour (1976–77) The Mumbly Cartoon Show (1976–77) The All-New Super Friends Hour (1977–78) Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics (The Scooby-Doo Show Laff-A-Lympics Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels) (1977–79) Fangface (1978–79) Challenge of the Super Friends (1978–79) The All-New Pink Panther Show (1978–79) The World's Greatest Super Friends (1979–80) The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show (Mighty Man and Yukk Rickety Rocket) (1979–81) Spider-Woman (1979–80) Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1979–80)

First-run live-action series	American Bandstand (1957–87) Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp (1970–72) Here Come the Double Deckers (1970–72) Lidsville (1971–73) Curiosity Shop (1971–73) Make a Wish (1971–76) Korg: 70,000 B.C. (1974–75) The Lost Saucer (1975–76) Uncle Croc's Block (1975–76) The Krofft Supershow (1976–78) Junior Almost Anything Goes (1976–78) Animals, Animals, Animals (1976–81) ABC Weekend Special (1977–97) Kids Are People Too (1978–82)

Rebroadcasts	George of the Jungle (1967–70) Bewitched (1972–73) Jonny Quest (1970–72) H.R. Pufnstuf (1972–73) The Monkees (1972–73) Speed Buggy (1976) Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1978)

Schedules	1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80

Related topics	Animation in the United States in the television era

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