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 Productions and is based on the Justice League and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics.[1]
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 SuperFriends.[2] Continuing the previous three years' policy of producing short stories, this series' format was two 11-minute stories per half-hour. Furthermore, the Wonder Twins were largely supplanted as audience identification figures by Firestorm, a well-established teenage superhero in the DC Comics Universe. However, continuing the trend from the "lost season" episodes, the Wonder Twins were paired with other Justice League members, as opposed to always teaming up with Wonder Woman or Batman and Robin. In "Case of The Shrinking Super Friends", they are teamed with Firestorm and Robin. In "Uncle Mxyzptlk", they work with Firestorm and Samurai. In "Village of The Lost Souls", they work with Wonder Woman and Apache Chief.
For the next season, the show was retitled The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians.
Toyline tie-in
Unlike the 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
The Super Friends consist of 13 heroes:
- 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.[3] 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. Shannon Farnon was unable to reprise her voice work for Wonder Woman because the new voice director cast his girlfriend Connie Cawfield in her place. 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 – Appearing outside of comics 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 – A master torturer and one of Darkseid's acolytes.
- 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 appeared in an episode entitled "Reflections in Crime". Despite Mirror Master being a Flash villain, 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 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 revamped to resemble their comic book counterparts.
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
- Gregg Berger – Benny the Bungler (in "Mr. Mxyzptlk and the Magic Lamp"), Ernie (in "Mr. Mxyzpltlk and the Magic Lamp)
- 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")
- Connie Cawlfield – Diana Prince / Wonder Woman
- Danny Dark – Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman
- Fernando Escandon – El Dorado
- Patrick Fraley – Captain Mystery/Sidney Wanamaker (in "Mask of Mystery"), Bank Guard (in "Mask of Mystery"), Remlar (in "The Curator")
- Liz Georges – 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 – Dick Grayson / 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, Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, Dan Corwin's Assistant (in "Island of the Dinosoids")
- Olan Soule – Martin Stein
- Mark L. Taylor – Ronald Raymond/Firestorm
- Dick Tufeld – Announcer
- B.J. Ward – Jayna
- Frank Welker – Uxas/Darkseid, Kalibak, Mister Mxyzptlk, Trucker (in "The Wrath of Brainiac"), Inspector Throckmorton (in "Mr. Mxyzptlk and the Magic Lamp"), Dollmaker (in "The Case of the Dreadful Dolls")
- Adam West – Bruce Wayne/Batman
- Bill Woodson – Narrator
Note: Beginning with this version, Adam West replaced Olan Soule as the voice of Batman.
Episodes
Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show was the first Super Friends series in a new format since 1979's The World's Greatest SuperFriends. 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. Firestorm, a well established teenage superhero in the DC Comics Universe, was added to the lineup of characters. Continuing the trend from the "lost season" episodes, the Wonder Twins were paired with other Justice League members, as opposed to always teaming up with Wonder Woman or Batman & Robin. In "Case of the Shrinking Super Friends" they are teamed with Firestorm and Robin. In "Uncle Mxyzptlk" they work with Firestorm and Samurai. In "Village of The Lost Souls" they work with Wonder Woman and Apache Chief. Despite appearing in the opening credits, Aquaman and The Flash are not in this version. This is the only version of the Super Friends that doesn't include Aquaman. Adam West replaces Olan Soule who voiced Batman. Connie Cawfield replaces Shannon Farnon who voiced Wonder Woman.
Home media
- On August 7, 2007, Warner Home Video (via DC Entertainment, Hanna-Barbera Productions and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment) released the complete series of Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show on DVD, featuring all 16 episodes of the eighth Hanna-Barbera-produced Super Friends series on a 2-Disc DVD boxed set, uncut and unedited, presented in its original broadcast presentation and original airdate order.[4]
| DVD name | Ep No. | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| The Complete Series | 16 | August 7, 2007 |
See also
References
External links
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- ↑ Template:Cite book
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- ↑ Waid, Mark. Audio Commentary, "The Wrath of Brainiac" Episode, Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, The Complete Series Region 1 DVD Set Disc 1.
- ↑ Template:Cite web