I’m going to be doing a section of the Wonder Woman Pages on her animated incarnations.
What are your memories of the Superfriends?
I’m talking from 1973-1983. That encompasses the episodes with Marvin, Wendy, and Wonder Dog, as well as the Wonder Twins, and the Challenge of the Superfriends with the Legion of Doom.
I want to get an idea from dopers, and get your thoughts so I can be as complete as possible.
I have. I found his site and him to be repugnant.
There was one episode of the Superfriends that really upset me when I was a kid.
I don’t remember all the details, and I turned it off halfway through. The Legion of Doom found this weapon that was capable of killing Superman (and any other Superfriend). It was locked in some sort of container that they couldn’t open, but they managed to trick Superman into opening it. They ambushed Batman and killed him first. Then the other Superfriends followed. After about two or three, I was so upset I turned off the TV. I’m sure it had a happy ending, but at the time, it really shook me up to see the Superfriends being gunned down.
Does anyone else remember that episode, or am I just remembering some really bad dream?
Zev Steinhardt
It really is an episode, Zev.
It was titled Superfriends: Rest In Peace, part of the Challenge of the Superfriends. It was first shown on December 15, 1978.
The synopsis from http://www.bcdb.com/bcdb/detailed.cgi?film=12302
The Stile Project is repugnant (with a capital “R”). Seanbaby is just silly.
Besides, I can’t really hate a guy who puts up those goofy Hostess Fruit Pie ads from the comic books of yore. 
I don’t have a Superfriends moment per se, but I gotta admit I really got a big laugh when I heard comic-book superartist Alex Ross was doing a full-blown oil painting of the Wonder Twins (and Gleek!).
I remember debating with my sister how they could have part time members to the Justice League. Like the Indian Chief guy or Green Lantern. Did they think they were better than the regular members that they only dropped by for the really big problems? Did they have day jobs they couldn’t leave? Were there talents so limited that they were only called up on occasion?
That and the fact that the guy wonder twin got ripped off in the power dept. since all he could do was turn into water and spend most of his transformed time being carried around in a bucket. But then one magical episode, he got to change into a water monster, and it made up for all those “form of… water” yawners.
Zan (the guy Wonder Twin) just wasn’t nearly creative enough with his powers. He could turn into any form of water: ice, liquid, or steam. Scalding jets of steam could be pretty effective. He’s obviously got some temperature control going with his transformations, too; he could turn into super-cold, super-hard ice with sharp blades. Pure water doesn’t conduct electricity; he could turn into an ice golem and beat the crap out of electricity wielders.
See, this is why Zan was a superhero in training. He didn’t have enough skill and imagination to stomp with the big dogs. Give me his powers, and I’d be whuppin’ ass inside of a week.
Most of what I remember involves playing Superfriends with my boy friends in the neighborhood. I was always, always (of course) Wonder Woman, and Kevin was Superman, and Alan was always Aquaman, and…well, you get the picture. The thing was, we always fell into these ridiculous gender role things where I (WonderWoman) was always the one getting in trouble. You know, kidnapped, invisible plane out of control, knocked out, trapped under a large boulder. I might have had great powers but when push came to shove I always got in a situation that let the big strong guys be my hero. I remember noticing that even back then. But I can’t recall if that was also true on the show (that Wonder Woman got into a scrape and needed help more often than the fellas).
Thank you. Thank you very much.
I just got “Wonder Twins Powers… Activate!” in my brain, and I can’t get it out.
WonderDog was a cheap-ass Scooby Doo, which means worse than the worst, and the Legion of Doom seemed to think that Lex Luthor was just hanging around so he could give crappy advice after the “brilliant plan du jour” went somewhere in a handbasket.
And why did they have to make Aquaman out to be so darned useless? Or Wonder Woman? Hawkman? I thought this train-wreck was the “Superman and Batman Show” when I was a kid.
I thought the “Justice League” was the stupidest idea I ever saw, until I saw “Superfriends.”
[sub]Okay, so I was a Marvel fan when I was a kid. HULK SMASH.[/sub]
Um… both were by Hanna-Barbera, thus they were ripping themselves off.
Yeah. That was kind of my point.
Where did the “Wonder Twins” come from? Who thought that was a good idea?
Why is Hawkman just this guy who can fly (slowly). Why is Wonder Woman just some chick in a revealing outfit? Aquaman can talk to fish, but that’s about it.
Hanna-Babera stuck this mess in the middle of the “Scooby-Doo Hour,” and the whole thing stunk. DC Comics should never have agreed to it.
Did you read the rest of my post?
[sub]Still a Marvel fan. Avengers, baby.[/sub]
The one I remember most clearly is the one that finally made me decide the show was dumb.(I was about 8) . Superman loses his powers and I was thinking that for once some of the others would do something. But noooo, Superman pulls out the Supermobile which has the exact same powers as him and he saves the day and gets his powers back. I can just remember think what a selfish jerk Superman was if he had this Supermobile in the garage and never used it. If he had just let Batman drive it then there would be two heroes with the power of Superman and they could defeat evil much more efficiently.
I remember when they had the Superfriends doing PSAs (Public Service Announcements). The one I specifically remember was Superman and (I’m almost positive) Wonder Woman in a wind storm. A tiny piece of dirt gets lodged in WW’s eye. Superman proceeds to give an impromptu speech on how rubbing one’s eyes can damage them, then pulls WW’s upper eyelid over the lower eyelid, which causes her eye to water and the tiny piece of dirt to float out.
My eyesight has been saved countless times thanks to…
THE SUPERFRIENDS!!!
Aunty Canty, who wouldn’t mind being a superhero but the career of princess is first on the list.
The Wonder Twins came from Exor.
The cartoon was targeted for YOUNG children.
If we want to bring up faux pas of Marvel’s, there is the Dr. Strange live action movie, the Hulk reunion movies, and the Fantastic Four cartoons.
I did read your posts. Yawn.
[sub]I’m a DC fan. The Justice Society was the FIRST superhero team starting in 1940.[/sub]
When I was a kid, I really loved this show. However, it used to puzzle me even as a small child how, sometimes, some bad guy would trap superman, batman and robin, wonder woman, aqua man, and the wonder twins and claim that world domination was his or something like that, since no one was left to save them. Fortunately, one of the aforementioned would somehow escape, free the others, and save the day. It used to drive me crazy wondering why, in these crises, did not The Green Lantern, Flash, Atom, the indian chief one, the one that wore a black suit, etc., who had just appeared in the previous story 15 minutes earlier, didn’t intervene and save them…where were they!!! and why didn’t the bad guy consider them either??
Yeah, The Super Friendz were a great band. They were from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and they played Beatle-flavoured power-pop. Their frontman, Matt Murphy, who’s now in The Flashing Lights, was and is just an awesome guitarist. Their first album, Mock Up, Scale Down, is probably the great lost power-pop album. In fact…
Aw, wait. Well, at least the band was named after the cartoon.
I remember one horribly written episode.
It was the SF vs. the LoD.
The LoD’s gimmick of the week was a time travel device. They did two things with this device.
The remaining Super Friends (Supes, Batman, and, um, another one or two) went back in time and saved their friends. Then the episode ended.
In the meantime, the LoD got to keep the treasure and then presumably retired.
Batman doesn’t have a Kryptonian driver’s license.