The World’s Greatest SuperFriends
Season 4 Introduction
Series 4, Introduction
The fourth series of Hanna-Barbera's Super Friends was entitled, The World’s Greatest Super Friends. This series included many elements of pop-culture both past and present.
Series Summary[]
Episode Lengths: 60 minutes
By the year 1979, the Super Friends were going strong on the ABC Network Saturday mornings. After an amazing year with the Challenge of the SuperFriends series, Hanna-Barbera decided to get back to basics and make eight new episodes with the established core group along with Zan, Jayna and Gleek. They also went back to an hour length format as well.
The World's Greatest Super Friends premiered in the fall of 1979. It ran from September 22, 1979 to November 10, 1979 on ABC.
The Superfriends also were back in the 8:00 am timeslot followed at 9:00 by fellow DC hero, Plastic Man in his own show, the Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show.
This particular incarnation of Super Friends relied heavily on folklore and classic fairy tales for plots (i.e. Aladdin, Camelot, the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Frankenstein, and the Wizard of Oz). The series also borrowed from (then) contemporary politics, as the main villain Kareem Azar in "Rub Three Times For Disaster" is almost a carbon copy of the late Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ruholla Mussaui Khomenei (1900–1989).
No more Legion of Doom, and fewer heroes this time, although Lex Luthor does return for one episode.
The majority of the season consisting of repeats of the second incarnation, The All-New Super Friends Hour from 1977.
Notes[]
- Filmation served up competition on both NBC and CBS that year. NBC offered up the New Adventures of Flash Gordon and Tarzan and the Super 7. While CBS kept playing in 1979 the 1977 Batman shows.
- The The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show episode Superstein (fall of 1979) is directly linked to The World’s Greatest Super Friends episode The Superfriends Meet Frankenstein (fall of 1979). Dr. Frankenstein's sidekick, Gork, (who was obviously inspired by Igor) appears in both episodes, with the same voice actor and a similar character design.
Intro and Cast[]
From the Opening:
It's the World's Greatest SUPERFRIENDS!
Batman and Robin!
Superman!
Wonder Woman and Aquaman!
the Wonder Twins!
Banded together to protect the universe from the forces of evil; the SUPERFRIENDS!
Dedicated to truth, justice and peace, for all mankind!
the World's Greatest SUPERFRIENDS!
- Narrator – voiced by William Woodson (1977-1985)
Super Friends 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
- Wonder Twin, Jayna – voiced by Louise Williams
- Wonder Twin, Zan – voiced by Michael Bell
- Gleek – voiced by Michael Bell
Also starring[]
- Jimmy Olsen – voiced by[?] (1 episode: Lex Luthor Strikes Back)
- Lois Lane – voiced by Shannon Farnon (1 episode: Lex Luthor Strikes Back)
- Lex Luthor – voiced by Stan Jones (1 episode: Lex Luthor Strikes Back)
- Mr. Mxyzptlk – voiced by Frank Welker (1 episode: The Planet of Oz)
Episode List:[]
| Ep # | Episode Name | Air Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rub Three Times for Disaster | September 22, 1979 |
| 2 | Lex Luthor Strikes Back | September 29, 1979 |
| 3 | Space Knights of Camelon | October 6, 1979 |
| 4 | The Lord of Middle Earth | October 13, 1979 |
| 5 | Universe of Evil | October 20, 1979 |
| 6 | Terror at 20,000 Fathoms | October 27, 1979 |
| 7 | The Superfriends Meet Frankenstein | November 3, 1979 |
| 8 | The Planet of Oz | November 10, 1979 |
DVD / Media info[]
For More DVD Info See:[]
Official DVD releases from amazon.com:[]
External links[]
- The World's Greatest Super Friends at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- The World's Greatest SuperFriends @ Legions of Gotham
- The World's Greatest Super Friends entry at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
- The World's Greatest Super Friends entry at TV.com (episode titles)