I don’t have cable at home. As a result, I haven’t seen Challange of the Superfriends for, oh, about twenty years. I had all sorts of memories of liking the series (although there was one episode that freaked me out) and could look back upon the series with a fond nostalgic recollection.
Until last Thursday night.
Last Thursday night, I went over to my mother’s house to take care of some things (my mother is living with us, for now). Anyway, I turn on her TV (she has cable) and start flipping through the channels. All of a sudden, I’m getting a nostalgic rush. I see the Munsters, Gilligan’s Island, Batman (West/Ward), and other shows I haven’t seen in at least a decade. Then I find the piece de’ resistance… Challange of the Superfriends! And it was just starting… OK! We had a winner!
Well, the episode featured a new device that the Toyman created, which could draw a person into a classic storybook. It just so happens that most of the Superfriends were off-planet at the moment at a Galactic Peace Conference or some Intersteller Olympics gathering. Three (Superman, Wonder Woman and Hawkman) were left behind to watch the planet. Now is the Legion’s time to strike.
First Toyman draws Hawkman into the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. While in the story, Toyman takes the magic beans and throws them on the ground. Sure enough, a big beanstalk starts to grow, and the Toyman begins climbing it. Hawkman realizes that if he’s going to get out of the story, he’s going to have to catch Toyman. So he starts climbing the beanstalk after Toyman. (Um, hello, did you forget about those wings you have…)
Cheetah traps Wonder Woman in the story of Alice in Wonderland, with WW cast as Alice. It all goes fine for a few minutes until the catepillar and the Cheshire Cat begin tormenting poor Diana. Well, Diana decides she’s not going to put up with that, so she takes out her lasso and throws it around the cat (Um, hello, did you forget that it’s a Cheshire Cat and can disappear at will…)
Brainiac, meanwhile, traps Superman in the story of Gulliver’s Travels, with Supes cast as Gulliver. Superman wakes up to find that he’s tied to the beach by kryptonite ropes (um, hello, how did Kryptonite get into Lilliput?) Then when he breaks free (how did he do that? Shouldn’t the kryptonite ropes have sapped his strength?), the Lilliputians begin catapaulting kryptonite rocks at him (see above). Well, now Supes is really in bad shape. The kryptonite pebbles at his feet and that he’s being pelted with are too much for him to stand up. He’s got to get away from it, but how? He looks around and sees a castle gate. Perfect! He uses his heat vision to magnetize the gate, thus attracting the kryptonite (is kryptonite attracted to magnets?) to the gate and away from Superman.
Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice…
… the Legion has taken over. But sure enough, some of the SF are on thier way back. Soon Batman, Robin, Black Lightning and one other (I think it was Green Lantern, but I forget) waltz in. A Legionaire pulls a lever and the floor opens underneath the SF. They fell into their own unescapable prison (you’d think if you found the enemy running the place, don’t stand over your own unescapable prison…) In any event, sure enough the SF escape from the unescapable prison and save the day.
I know my memory is failing me, but were all the COTSF that bad? While I don’t expect perfection from an old Saturday morning cartoon, at least the story should be somewhat plausable, no?
Zev Steinhardt