Dick Conway
Willie Gilbert
Donald F. Glut
Mark Jones
Elana Lesser
Dick Robbins
Cliff Ruby
George Gordon
Charles A. Nichols
Ray Patterson
Carl Urbano
DC Comics
1980 shorts, Episode Lengths: 7 minutes
This incarnation of the Super Friends ran during the Fall of 1980 on the ABC Network.
The format was changed again. This time around, we find ourselves with seven-minute shorts. So for the next couple of years, viewers would be treated to 3 new episodes weekly and a rerun from one of the previous six years.
These new adventures featured appearances by the core group of the five classic Super Friends (Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman and Aquaman) along with the illustrious Wonder Twins (Zan, Jayna and their pet monkey Gleek). There were also guest appearances from members previously depicted in Challenge of the SuperFriends series. Occasionally, a DC Villain, namely a couple of former members of the Legion of Doom would resurface to menace our heroes, but for the most part, our heroes would continue to deal with non comic villains and threats.
The 1980 timeslot ran for a full hour, combining a new 30-minute episode of this run (three new stories) with 30-minute reruns from one of the previous 4 seasons.
The SuperFriends were joined this year on ABC by Plastic Man in his second and final season on the The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show by Ruby-Spears who also produced the fantasy action cartoon, Thundarr the Barbarian, which also aired on ABC that year. Batman fans got their final year of double dose when Filmation's 1977 Batman series played in reruns one last time before vanishing into obscurity. On NBC as part of the 90 minute rerun series, you were treated to Batman and the Super 7. We also saw the Godzilla Dynomutt Hour on NBC while on CBS, Filmation served up the Tarzan/Lone Ranger Adventure Hour and Hanna-Barbera featured a short lived Super Heroish monster cartoon called the Drak Pack.
Still, the SuperFriends managed to hold their own.
Notes
- Black Vulcan, Samurai, and Apache Chief were promoted to starring status on the series short.
- Another aspect of this season was that there were new health and safety tips as well as crafts that were made, this time being hosted by Black Vulcan, Samurai, Apache Chief, and the Wonder Twins as well as the original five heroes.
- With the exception of Mxyzptlk Strikes Again, these episodes have been edited and aired as part of the 90's syndicated Superman/Batman Adventures package. The series featured edited episodes of various seasons of the Super Friends, as well as the 1983 lost episodes of the Super Friends for the first time on television,[1], which has aired on USA, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang. It has been reported that these shorts have all aired uncut on TV stations in Canada.
Intro and Cast
- Narrator – voiced by William Woodson
SuperFriends Cast
- Superman – voiced by Danny Dark
- Batman – voiced by Olan Soule
- Robin – voiced by Casey Kasem
- Aquaman – voiced by William Callaway
- Wonder Woman – voiced by Shannon Farnon
Also starring
- Wonder Twin, Jayna – voiced by Louise Williams
- Wonder Twin, Zan – voiced by Michael Bell
- Gleek – voiced by Michael Bell
- Samurai – voiced by Jack Angel
- Hawkman – voiced by Jack Angel
- Hawkgirl – voiced by[?]
- Green Lantern – voiced by Michael Rye
- Black Vulcan – voiced by Buster Jones
- Rima the Jungle Girl – voiced by Shannon Farnon or Kathy Carver (1 episode: Return of Atlantis)
- The Atom – voiced by Wally Burr (2 episodes: Elevator To Nowhere and The Man in the Moon)
- Mr. Mxyzptlk – voiced by Frank Welker (1 episode: Mxyzptlk Strikes Again)
- The Riddler – voiced by Michael Bell
- Bizarro – voiced by Bill Calloway
- Brainiac – voiced by Stanley Ralph Ross
- Sinestro – voiced by Vic Perrin
- Solomon Grundy – voiced by Jimmy Weldon
Episode List:
| Ep # | Episode Name | Air Date | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bigfoot | Ice Demon | Makeup Monster | September 13, 1980 |
| 2 | Journey Into Blackness | Cycle Gang | Dive to Disaster | September 20, 1980 |
| 3 | Yuna the Terrible (episode) | Rock and Roll Space Bandits | Elevator To Nowhere | September 27, 1980 |
| 4 | One Small Step for Mars | Haunted House | The Incredible Crude Oil Monster | October 4, 1980 |
| 5 | The Voodoo Vampire | Invasion of the Gleeks | Mxyzptlk Strikes Again | October 11, 1980 |
| 6 | The Man in the Moon | Circus of Horrors | Around the World in 80 Riddles | October 18, 1980 |
| 7 | Termites from Venus | Eruption | Return of Atlantis | October 25, 1980 |
| 8 | The Killer Machines | Garden of Doom | Revenge of Bizarro | November 1, 1980 |
See Also
DVD / Media info
For a DVD set of SuperFriends Shorts (Parts 1-3) check out I Miss My TV Show, an incredible website for old and rare cartoons.
External links
| Season 1 (1973) Season 2 (1977) Season 3 (1978) Season 4 (1979) Season 5, 1980 Shorts Season 6, 1981 Shorts Season 7, 1983 Shorts Season 8 (1984) Season 9 (1985) | |
| Previous Series: The World’s Greatest Super Friends (1979) |
Next Series: 1981 Shorts |
References
- ↑ The series featured edited episodes of various seasons of the SuperFriends, as well The New Adventures of Superman, The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure and The Batman/Superman Hour.