Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show
| Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | Super Friends VII |
| Genre | |
| Created by |
|
| Written by |
!Alan Burnett
|
| Directed by |
|
| Creative director(s) | Iwao Takamoto |
| Voices of |
|
| Narrated by | William Woodson |
| Theme music composer | Hoyt Curtin |
| Composer(s) |
|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 8 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
|
| Producer(s) | Kay Wright |
| Editor(s) |
|
| Running time | 30 minutes (including commercials) |
| Production company(s) | |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | September 8, 1984 – August 31, 1985 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Super Friends |
| Followed by | The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians |
Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 1984 to 1985 on ABC. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and is based on the Justice League and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics.
Format
Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show was the first Super Friends series in a new format since 1979's The World's Greatest Super Friends. Continuing the previous three years' policy of producing short stories, this series' format was two stories per half-hour, so all the separate stories were ten minutes long each. Furthermore, the Wonder Twins were largely supplanted as audience identification figures by Firestorm, a well established teenage superhero in the DC Comics Universe.
Toyline tie-in
Unlike previous series, Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show was produced to tie-in with the Super Powers Collection toyline produced by Kenner, hence the name change. The general story, as detailed in the mini-comics that accompanied the figures, was that the major heroes of Earth had teamed up to fight Darkseid and his villains.
Characters
Super Friends/Justice League of America
Thirteen heroes made up the Super Friends. They were:
- Superman
- Batman
- Robin
- Wonder Woman
- Green Lantern
- Firestorm
- Black Vulcan
- Gleek
- Apache Chief
- Samurai
- El Dorado
- Wonder Twins (Zan and Jayna)
According to DC writer/historian Mark Waid, Aquaman's sole appearance in The Legendary Super Powers Show comes via his appearance within the opening credits. The same is true for The Flash. This was the first time Wonder Woman was animated with the W symbol on her costume instead of the eagle design; this carried over into the final series, Galactic Guardians. Lynda Carter was unable to reprise this role for animation because she was busy with her singing career, commercials for Maybelline cosmetics, and television films. The series was also noteworthy for using Adam West as the voice of Batman, two decades after the end of his live action television series of Batman. West replaced Olan Soule and would continue through the subsequent Galactic Guardians series.
Villains
- Darkseid – Outside of the comic books for the first time, Darkseid was still attempting to conquer Earth (often with help from other villains), but also had a secondary goal, of making Wonder Woman his bride. Darkseid brought a degree of seriousness to a show that had largely lacked it.
- Kalibak – His appearance was not as brutish as in later TV incarnations, more like the original Jack Kirby design for the character. He was almost always depicted as boastful, dull-witted and ineffectual against the heroes.
- Desaad
- Brainiac – The mechanical version of Brainiac appeared in the episodes "The Wrath of Brainiac" and "The Village of Lost Souls". In "The Wrath of Brainiac," Brainiac reveals that he shed his earlier appearance when he worked alongside Darkseid.
- Mirror Master – Mirror Master appeared in an episode entitled "Reflections in Crime". Interestingly enough, the Flash does not appear in this episode. In the episode, Mirror Master sets about trapping the Super Friends in this particular episode inside mirrors called the sixth dimension. The Super Friends managed to escape and trap Mirror Master in a House of Mirrors.
- Lex Luthor – He appeared in the opening and the episodes "No Honor Among Super Thieves" (in which acquires his power suit from the comics of then), "Case of the Shrinking Super Friends" and "The Mask of Mystery".
- Mister Mxyzptlk – In this series, Mxyzptlk's name is pronounced as Miks-ill-plik (backwards, Kilp-ill-skim) and he takes to tormenting all the members of the team, even when Superman is absent.
- The Robber Baron and Sleeves
- Dollmaker
For this series, Lex Luthor and Brainiac were completely revamped to resemble their comic book counterparts.
List of episodes
Cast
- Jack Angel – Samurai
- René Auberjonois – Desaad
- James Avery – Alien Auctioneer (in "Darkseid's Golden Trap"), Cromar (in "Darkseid's Golden Trap")
- Michael Bell – Zan, Gleek, Captain Mystery/Sidney Wanamaker (in "Mask of Mystery")
- Gregg Berger – Benny the Bungler (in "Mr. Mxyzptlk and the Magic Lamp"), Ernie (in "Mr. Mxyzpltlk and the Magic Lamp), Orson the Pig
- Arthur Burghardt – General Plankton (in "Mr. Mxyzptlk and the Magic Lamp")
- Howard Caine – Dr. Dan Corwin (in "Island of the Dinosoids"), King Timon (in "The Royal Ruse")
- William Callaway- Aquaman
- Connie Cawlfield – Wonder Woman
- Danny Dark – Superman
- Fernando Escandon – El Dorado
- Patrick Fraley – Remlar (in "The Curator")
- Liz Georges – Jayna, Little Superman (in "Uncle Mxyzptlk")
- Buster Jones – Black Vulcan
- Stan Jones – Lex Luthor, Robber Baron (in "Mask of Mystery"), Sleeves (in "Mask of Mystery")
- Casey Kasem – Robin, Mirror Master (in "Reflections in Crime")
- Mary McDonald-Lewis – Lois Lane
- Mickey McGowan – Princess Tara (in "The Royal Ruse")
- Stanley Ralph Ross – Brainiac
- Michael Rye – Apache Chief, Green Lantern, Dr. Dan Corwin's Assistant (in "Island of the Dinosoids")
- Olan Soule – Professor Martin Stein
- Mark Taylor – Ronald Raymond/Firestorm
- Dick Tufeld - Announcer
- Frank Welker – Darkseid, Kalibak, Mister Mxyzptlk, Inspector Throckmorton (in "Mr. Mxyzptlk and the Magic Lamp"), Dollmaker (in "The Case of the Dreadful Dolls"), Pingu
- Adam West – Batman
- Bill Woodson - Narrator
Note: Beginning with this version, Adam West replaced Olan Soule as the voice of Batman
Crew
- Gordon Hunt - Recording Director
- Mitch Schauer - Title Design, Story Director
Production credits
- Producer: Kay Wright
- Story Editors: Alan Burnett, Jeff Segal
- Supervising Director: Ray Patterson
- Director: Oscar Dufau
- Assistant Director: Jay Sarbry
- Story Direction: Bill Barry, Michael Maliani, Lew Saw, Mitch Schauer, Kay Wright
- Recording Director: Gordon Hunt
- Animation Casting Director: Ginny McSwain
- Voices: Jack Angel, Rene Auberjonois, James Avery, Michael Bell, Gregg Berger, Arthur Burghardt, Howard Caine, Connie Cawlfield, Danny Dark, Fernando Escandon, Pat Fraley, Liz Georges, Buster Jones, Stanley Jones, Casey Kasem, Mary McDonald Lewis, Mickie McGowan, Howard Morris, Kathy Najimy, Stanley Ralph Ross, Michael Rye, Olan Soule, Mark Taylor, B.J. Ward, Frank Welker, Adam West, Bill Woodson
- Title Design: Mitch Schauer
- Graphics: Iraj Paran, Tom Wogatzke
- Musical Director: Hoyt Curtin
- Musical Supervisor: Paul DeKorte
- Creative Producer: Iwao Takamoto
- Design Supervisor: Bob Singer
- Character Design: Geoff Darrow, Gabriel Hoyos, Lew Ott
- Animation Supervisors: Roger Chiasson, Sean Newton, Don Patterson, Don Spencer
- Sound Direction: Alvy Dorman, Phil Flad
- Camera: Bob Marples
- Supervising Film Editor: Larry C. Cowan
- Dubbing Supervisor: Pat Foley
- Music Editors: Cecil Broughton, Daniels McLean, Terry Moore, Joe Sandusky
- Effects Editors: Michael Bradley, David Cowan, Mary Gleason, Jon Johnson, Carol Lewis, Catherine MacKenzie, Kerry Williams, Jerry Winicki
- Show Editor: Gil Iverson
- Negative Consultant: William E. DeBoer
- Post Production Supervisor: Joed Eaton
- Production Coordinator: Peter Aries
- Production Manager: James Wang
- Executives In Charge of Production: Jayne Barbera and Jean MacCurdy
- Supervising Executive Producer: Margaret Loesch
Home media releases
- Warner Home Video released The Complete Series of Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show on DVD[1] on August 7, 2007.
| DVD name | Ep No. | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| The Complete Series | 16 | August 7, 2007 |
See also
References
- ↑ Cyrenne, Randall (2007-09-30). "Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show: The Complete Series • Animated Views". Animated-views.com. Retrieved 2016-06-01.
External links
- Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show at Big Cartoon DataBase
- Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show on IMDb
- Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show at TV.com