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Title: The SuperFriends
Production Company: Hanna-Barbera
Created by: Gardner Fox, Alex Toth, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
Creative Consultants: E. Nelson Bridwell, Carmine Infantino and Julius Schwartz
Seasons: 9 Official Seasons[1]
Number of Episode: 109
On Air From: 1973-1985
Status: Canceled


SuperFriends is the collective name attributed to a series of animated programs produced by Hanna-Barbera between 1973 and 1985. Over the course of a decade, the series aired on Saturday mornings and ran through several iterations including title changes such as, the All-New Super Friends Hour, Challenge of the Super Friends, the World's Greatest Super Friends, Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, and Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians.


General Information[]

Super Friends Super Friends Super Friends

Super Friends logo shown in a television commercial on ABC.[2]

Super Friends ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera as a child-friendly version of the Justice League of America and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics. There were a total of 109 episodes along with what some are calling, 'back door pilot' episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, with Batman and Robin appearing in "The Dynamic Scooby Doo Affair" and "The Caped Crusader Caper." Superman and Wonder Woman also guest-starred in two episodes of The Brady Kids.

They headquartered themselves inside of the Hall of Justice, a centrally located fortress set within the confines of Metropolis. The heroes routinely monitored global catastrophes with the aid of an automated warning system called the Trouble Alert (or TroubAlert).

The Super Friends roster consisted of a core group of characters central to the spirit of comic book heroism: Superman, Batman, Robin, Aquaman and Wonder Woman. Throughout the different seasons, they began to include other DC Comics characters such as the Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman. The program also introduced several unique characters in the hopes of adding ethnic diversity to its lineup. Such as:

  1. Apache Chief, a Native American gifted with enhanced size and strength.
  2. Samurai was an Asian crime fighter who could rotate the lower half of his body for locomotion (among other powers) similar to the Justice League character Red Tornado.
  3. There was also Black Vulcan, an African American with powers similar to that of the comic character Black Lightning.
  4. The final original character added was El Dorado, a Hispanic hero with a number of abilities including teleportation.

In 1984, the show introduced Firestorm to the line-up. Firestorm joined the Justice League in the comic book shortly before his appearance on the series. The primary villain for this series was the alien demagogue Darkseid and his crew of minions from the other-dimensional world of Apokolips. Each week, Darkseid would engage upon a new and daring plan to conquer the Earth, forcing the Super Friends into action.

In 1985, the Super Friends changed its title to the Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians and added Cyborg to the team roster. This incarnation was the only version of the franchise that did not have Super Friends in the title. This series lasted only ten episodes. The final episode, The Death of Superman, was aired on November 6th, 1985.

Continuity With DC Comics[]

The SuperFriends Universe did not take place in the universe that existed at the time, Earth-One. Rather, it existed in what fans have dubbed the Earth-1A universe. This was because it shared similarities, but was distinctly different.

Many of the characters are based on the Silver Age[3] version of the characters. However, Hanna-Barbera's series is set not during the Silver Age, but the Bronze Age.[4] The Bronze Age is generally noted as starting in the early 70's and ending with the 1985-86 crossover maxi-series, Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Production History[]

When animation company Hanna-Barbera licensed the animation rights to the DC Comics characters and adapted the Justice League of America comic book for television, it made several changes in the transition, not the least of which was the change of name to SuperFriends. In part, it was feared that the name Justice League of America would have seemed too jingoistic during the Vietnam War and post-Vietnam War era. Nevertheless, team members sometimes referred to themselves as the Justice League on the show. The violence common in superhero comics was toned down for a younger audience, as well as to fit with the restrictive broadcast standards regarding violence in 1970s children’s television.

Although like most Hanna Barbera shows, the rights to the Super Friends franchise are owned by Warner Bros., due to the fact that WB owned DC Comics, the shows have always been under WB control. As a result, Cartoon Network was not able to air the shows until after the merger of Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting System was complete.


Reception[]

In January 2009, IGN listed Super Friends as the 50th best animated television series.[5]


Series Guide / Titles:[]

Post Series Shows (loose association)[]

Series Overview[]

'Series Overview'
See Also: SuperFriends Episodes

1973 Series: The SuperFriends

Main article: SuperFriends (1973 TV series)

Plotlines for the first incarnation of the Super Friends did not involve any of the familiar DC Comics supervillains. Rather, they focused on the often far-fetched schemes of various mad scientists and aliens, who were revealed at some point in the program to be well-intentioned but pursuing their goals through an unlawful or disreputable means. Typically, at the end, all that is needed is a peaceful and reasonable discussion to convince the antagonists to adopt more reasonable methods.[6]

1977 Series: The All-New Super Friends Hour

Main article: The All-New Super Friends Hour

The All-New Super Friends Hour departed somewhat from the previous series' formula by using villains that used much more violent methods to further their goals and typically could not be reasoned with, requiring the heroes to use force to stop them.

1978 Series: new Super Friends / Challenge of the Superfriends

Main article: new SuperFriends
Main article: The Challange of the SuperFriends

Beginning with Challenge of the Super Friends, several of the heroes' arch-villains from the comic books, such as Lex Luthor and the Riddler, began to feature prominently in comic-style stories. Throughout the series, plots often wrapped themselves up neatly in the final minutes of an episode in typical deus ex machina fashion.

1979 Series: The World's Greatest SuperFriends

Main article: The World's Greatest SuperFriends

In the fall of 1979, the SuperFriends returned to their prior format, bringing back the original set of five DC superheroes and Zan, Jayna, and Gleek. Eight half-hour episodes were created for this run, with the majority of the season consisting of repeats of The All-New Super Friends Hour from 1977 to 1978 and The Super Friends segments from Challenge of the Superfriends from 1978 to 1979. Renamed The World's Greatest SuperFriends, this series began on September 22, 1979, and ran until September 27, 1980.

1980-81 Series: SuperFriends

Main article: Super Friends (1980 TV series)
Main article: Super Friends (1981 TV series)

Renamed SuperFriends in 1980, the series changed formats again, abandoning the production of half-hour episodes and producing seven-minute shorts. Each episode of SuperFriends would feature a rerun from one of the previous six years and three new shorts. This would prove to be one of the longer-lived incarnations of the series, returning again the following year in 1981. These new adventures featured appearances by the core group of five Super Friends and Zan, Jayna, & Gleek. There were also guest appearances from members previously depicted in Challenge of the Superfriends and the Hanna-Barbera-created hero El Dorado, who was added to the show in 1981 to provide cultural diversity. A total of 24 episodes from 1980 and 16 episodes from 1981 were produced.

1982–1983 Series: The Best of the Super Friends (reruns)

Main article: The Best of the Super Friends

For the 1982–1983 television season ABC ran half-hour reruns of shows from the previous seven seasons, with none of the seven-minute shorts rebroadcast. ABC called the rerun package The Best of the SuperFriends. Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. had created a syndication package of the earlier Super Friends series (co-distributed by LBS Communications); these were picked up by stations across the United States and typically broadcast on weekday afternoons. Not wishing to compete with the syndication programming, ABC dropped the series from the 1983–1984 Saturday morning television line-up. For the second time, SuperFriends was cancelled.

1983 Series: Cancellation and the "lost episodes"

Main article: Super Friends (1983 TV series)

However, during this time Hanna-Barbera continued to produce new episodes with the Super Friends, with ABC's approval and funding. In total, 24 "lost episodes" were produced, but not aired in the United States that season; the series appeared in Australia. Three of these episodes were aired when SuperFriends returned to Saturday-morning ABC television the following year. The remainder aired on the USA network in 1995, as part of the Superman/Batman Adventures show. The 1983 Lost Episodes of Super Friends were released on DVD by Warner Home Entertainment (via DC Comics Entertainment, Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment) in April 2009.

1984 Series: SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show

Main article: SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show

The SuperFriends returned to ABC Saturday, September 8, 1984, with a new 30-minute program typically featuring two 11-minute stories per episode. This incarnation featured Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, and the Wonder Twins and Gleek, this time teamed up with Firestorm. In addition to this core group, episodes during this season also featured cameos by old (and new) Super Friends. The series ended August 31, 1985, and featured comic-book villains such as Brainiac, Lex Luthor, Mirror Master, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Darkseid, and his henchmen from Apokolips. This season and the next featured the "Super Powers" tagline, which was part of a marketing tie-in with a toy line of the same name produced by Kenner.

1985 Series: The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians

Main article: The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians

In fall 1985, the next version of Hanna-Barbera's depiction of the DC Comics heroes began, although it no longer carried the SuperFriends name. This series returned to a conventional lineup for the team, with a focus on teen members Cyborg and Firestorm. Once again headquartered at the Hall of Justice in Metropolis, the heroes battled such familiar foes as Lex Luthor, Brainiac, the Scarecrow, and recurring villain Darkseid. It also contained the only appearances by The Joker, The Penguin, the Royal Flush Gang, and Felix Faust. Most notably, it is in this series that Batman's origin is depicted for the first time outside of comics and the first cartoon series. Batman and Robin chase The Scarecrow into Crime Alley, where Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered, which triggers a fear-induced flashback. Additionally, in the same episode, Professor Jonathan Crane appears as the Scarecrow's secret identity, which was unknown to the authorities, allowing Scarecrow to use it to secretly sabotage the SuperFriends’ investigations until Batman managed to deduce his identity, leading to his arrest. The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians lasted one season before being canceled. The final new episode aired was "Escape From Space City" on October 26, 1985. This third cancellation would be the final one, and Galactic Guardians marked the end of Hanna-Barbera's 13-year run of the series on October 26, 1985.


Cast[]

Narrator[]


Superfriends

The SuperFriends



Junior SuperFriends:

Original Characters Created By Hanna-Barbera for the TV Show


Original Characters Created By Hanna-Barbera for the Comic Book
The Elementals:

  • Gnome (Grant Arden) - earth elemental
  • Salamander (Ginger O'Shea) - fire elemental
  • Sylph (Jeannine Gale) - air elemental
  • Undine (Crystal Marr) - water elemental


The Global Guardians:


Villains appearing not adapted from the comic books


One-shot Justice League Appearances


Guest Appearances


Other Characters

  • -------------[?] (season 1)
  • -------------[?] (season 3)


DC Characters in the SuperFriends Comics but not the Show


SuperFriends Comic Book (1976-81)[]

Main Article: Super Friends (comic book)

DC Comics published a comic book version of the Super Friends in the 1970s. The Super Friends comic was written to a higher standard than the television show. Zan and Jayna were given back-stories and secret identities as a pair of blond-haired high school kids; they were more competent heroes in general than their cartoon counterparts. While the cartoons were not considered canon with DC Comics, writer E. Nelson Bridwell would try to make it into canon by footnotes. Many fans would address the matter in letter columns by addressing the SF stories on a parallel universe called, Earth-1A. An example of trying to fit Super Friends into the DC Universe:

While the TV show never explained the departure of Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog, the story is found in issue #6, issue #7, issue #8 and issue #9.

In 2008, DC began publishing a new Super Friends series starring Superman,Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, and Green Lantern (John Stewart). Aimed at children, and replacing Justice League Adventures (the tie-in to Justice League Unlimited), the series takes a light-hearted humorous tone.


Notes[]

  • This title franchise has been known by several alternate spellings, including: Super Friends, SuperFriends and also as Super-Friends.
  • Although they were commonly known as the SuperFriends, the team also referred to themselves as the Justice League of America.
  • Beginning with the original Super Friends season, the opening narration describes the team's headquarters as "the great hall of the Justice League." The opening credits of Challenge of the Super Friends names the Super Friends as the Justice League of America.
  • Each member of the team had a JLA Communicator device with the JLA banner emblazoned upon it.
  • The Justice League Satellite under repair is clearly the same design as the Justice League Satellite (Earth One) that appeared in the comics at the time, but was shown to be substantially smaller than its comic book counterpart.
  • Many episodes of the series included public service announcements tacked onto the conclusion of each episode. These epilogues traditionally featured only one or two Super Friends and warned younger viewers against societal ills such as talking to strangers and smoking.
  • The Super Friends franchise spawned a DC Comics comic series aptly titled Super Friends (comic book series). The series ran for forty-seven issues and was collected into a trade paperback in 2001, with a cover illustration by Alex Ross (based upon original concept art by Alex Toth). Although the Super Friends comic series took place outside the accepted DC Comics continuity of the time period (aka Earth-One),[8] it is noted for introducing several canon DC Characters.
  • The Super Friends also appeared in a wide variety of commercials, including the famous Underoos commercials of the '70s. The character designs were once again done by Alex Toth, and the DC Comics superheroes appeared alongside several characters from Marvel Comics and other companies.
  • In reruns 30 minute segments of one hour shows would be shown separately.
  • The place of Super Friends within the Silver Age canon has been vague over the years.
    • Initially, some stories such as SuperFriends #7, SuperFriends #8, Superman Family, Vol. 1 #190 and Limited Collectors' Edition, C-41 treated the events of the series as if they happened on Earth-One.
    • In the letters column of Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe, Vol. 1 6, Len Wein explained that "[A]ll the adventures of the Super Friends [...] are not considered part of our regular continuity [...]."
    • The Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Compendium (the collected works) (2005) places the events of Super Powers, a tie-in series that expands on both Super Friends and mainstream comics as all happening on Earth-Thirty-Two, placing them explicitly outside Earth-One.
    • The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia (2010), in its entry for Super Friends, lists the regular Super Friends as Earth-One (and the unrelated DC Super Friends, Vol 1 as Earth-508).


Trivia[]

  • Cartoon Network produced a series of Super Friends lampoon shorts as a means of marketing their action/adventure line-up. In one animated short, Aquaman and Wonder Woman meet the Powerpuff Girls.
  • The SuperFriends have also been lampooned on popular programs such as South Park, the Family Guy, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and Robot Chicken.
  • Wendy and Marvin, originally characters created specifically for the Super Friends, recently made their canon comic book debut in the pages of Teen Titans, Vol. 3 #34 (2006). They were inspired by the Scooby Doo gang. The voices of Marvin and Wonder Dog were both performed by Frank Welker, who also did the voice of Fred Jones on the Scooby-Doo series.
  • Late actor Ted Knight, more popularly known for his roles in the movie Caddyshack and the television sitcom Too Close for Comfort provided the voice of the Narrator on the 1973 version of the SuperFriends. His signature line was, "Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice!" William Woodson took over once they dropped the original format.
  • Adam West provided the voice for Batman in SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians. Casey Kasem provided the voice for Robin, along with many others in the show.
  • Up until 2003, Robin was the only original Super Friend who was never a member of any incarnation of the Justice League of America (excluding characters created expressly for the show). During the Obsidian Age storyline running through “select issues of JLA”, Dick Grayson became a deputy leader of the Justice League under his modern identity, Nightwing. Taking into account the entire Super Friends roster, Cyborg (Victor Stone) is the only comic-based character featured on the Super Friends who was never a member of the Justice League.
  • In the third chapter of the Secret Origins pilot movie of the Justice League animated series, the Flash issues a nod to older fans by referring to the newly formed Justice League as a "bunch of Super Friends".
  • Despite the fact that the series focused on high-flying heroes and evil, diabolical menaces, there has never been an overt scene of direct physical violence.
  • The character of Samurai made one canonical appearance in DC Comics. He appeared in the 1985 six-issue limited series “Super Powers (Volume 3)”. It can be argued that the Super Powers series of comic titles do not take place within mainstream DC continuity. Samurai is also the only character unique to the Super Friends cartoon to receive his own Super Powers action figure.
  • The character Apache Chief had the ability to enhance his physical stature to cosmic proportions by speaking the Native American words "Inuk-chuk".


SuperFriends DVD Info[]


Spin Offs and Comics[]

'Spin Offs and Comics'

Spin-offs

The Legends of the Superheroes

Main article: Legends of the Superheroes

On January 18 and 25, 1979, Hanna-Barbera ran two one-hour live-action specials under the umbrella title Legends of the Superheroes. The first special, subtitled "The Challenge", was loosely based on the Super Friends and the 1960s Batman series (played for laughs, but this time, including a laugh track) and included several other DC characters who replaced Samurai, Black Vulcan, and Apache Chief: Black Canary, the E-2 Huntress Helena Wayne (a new DC character, gathering her own following in All-Star and Adventure Comics JSA runs as a JSA member), and Captain Marvel (who had previously had his own live action series through Filmation studios). The second special, entitled "The Roast", featured Ed McMahon as emcee of the roast, along the lines of The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast specials. Due to Warner Bros.' contracts on Wonder Woman (already being used in her own live action series; Lynda Carter) and Superman (in his own live-action theatrical movie at the time; Christopher Reeve), they were unable to be featured on the specials.

The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show

Plastic Man first appeared in the first season of Super Friends, in one episode. Later, Ruby-Spears Productions released a series starring the character in his own solo adventures. The Plastic Man episode "Superstein" is actually directly linked to the The World’s Greatest Super Friends episode "The Super Friends Meet Frankenstein." Doctor Frankenstein's sidekick,Gork, (not to be confused with Igor) appears in both episodes, with the same voice actor and at least a similar character design.

An unnamed Batman Series

A Batman animated series was also considered in the mid-'80s, presumably with Adam West reprising his role as the voice of Batman. "The Fear" was written as a pilot episode for the series, but it was instead adapted in to an episode of The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians.

The New Teen Titans

In 1983, a cartoon based upon the New Teen Titans comics began development. It was created as a companion for the Super Friends, to be set in the same continuity. Robin wasn't going to be featured in the cartoon though, at least not as a regular, since he was already seen prominently featured as a Junior SuperFriends Member on the Super Friends TV show. Like Super Friends, the show was to be developed by Hanna-Barbera for ABC, but since shows like The Smurfs (airing on NBC) were so popular at the time, this show was never picked up by the network. The show would have featured Wonder Girl as the leader, along with Cyborg, Kid Flash, Changeling, Raven and Starfire. Although the show failed to get picked up, a television commercial with an anti-drug theme did feature the Titans, as they would have appeared in the animated series, along with a new superhero named the "Protector." He was expected to be the replacement for Robin.

Superman (1988 TV series)

In 1988, just two years after the final season of the Super Friends, a new series created by Ruby-Spears Productions that featured a solo Superman aired on CBS. On the episode called "Superman and Wonder Woman vs. The Sorceress of Time," Wonder Woman guest stars, and BJ Ward reprises her role as Wonder Woman.


DC Comics

Extreme Justice

The Wonder Twins were members of the short-lived Justice League International offshoot, Extreme Justice.

Young Justice

Young Justice was a comic series that followed the adventures of a group composed of the latest teen super-heroes of the late 90's and early 2000s, including Tim Drake, who was Batman's new Robin, Superboy, Bart Allen, aka, Impulse & Wonder Girl. Towards the end of the run, Young Justice was involved in a mission which required them to invade an island who's population was made up of super-villains. In order to achieve a successful attack, the core team assembled all the, then, known teen heroes, including the Wonder Twins. Like in Extreme Justice, neither of them could speak English and seemed to enjoy eating CD's. Unlike their cartoon counterparts, the Wonder Twins were far more rude and sarcastic towards other people.

Super Buddies

The lighthearted nature of the show was partially spoofed in the 2000s with two DC miniseries, Formerly Known as the Justice League and I Can’t Believe It’s Not the Justice League! (although these series were more direct take-offs on the 1980s Blue Beetle/Booster Gold-era Justice League). In these miniseries, the group is known as the “Super Buddies,” and consists of a team of various ex-Justice League members. Writer Keith Giffen has stated that his original proposal was titled 1-800-SUPERFRIENDS.

Teen Titans

In #34 (2006), Wendy and Marvin are now part of DC continuity. They are now fraternal twins (a possible nod to their Super Friends successors, the Wonder Twins), engineering geniuses (apparently having graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at sixteen), and are employed at Titans Tower as maintenance crew and all-around mechanical troubleshooters. They were responsible for restoring Titans member Cyborg to full functions after he sustained damage to his artificial body parts during the events of the Infinite Crisis mini-series and publishing event. Wonder Dog was also introduced into the series, however unlike the cartoon, he was not a lovable sidekick, but was instead a murderous shapeshifting demon dog who was sent to Titans Tower to kill the team. Wonder Dog killed Marvin White brutally, and then attacked Wendy, leaving her crippled from the waist down. Wendy is currently a supporting character in the new Batgirl series, where she receives help accepting her new disabilities from the former Batgirl Barbara Gordon.

Justice League of America

During the events of the 2005 company-wide Infinite Crisis crossover, the Justice League Watchtower was destroyed by Superboy-Prime, leaving the JLA without a base of operations. To that end, the team established the Hall of Justice in Washington D.C. to act as an embassy for the team, as well as an emergency base of operations if needed. In the continuity of the comics, the Hall was designed by Green Lantern (John Stewart) and Wonder Woman. In Justice League of America #46 (2010), Samurai makes his first official appearance in the DC Universe, where he is shown as one of the heroes driven temporarily insane by Alan Scott.

Wizard Magazine

An issue parodied the Super Friends, in which the JLA is sent through a dimensional rift and meets some members of the Super Friends. After Martian Manhunter simply uses his Martian vision to melt the villain and his machine, much to Green Lantern’s dismay (“You have to trick him into leaving, or shutting off his machine, NOT direct physical violence!”) the Super Friends decided to send the JLAers back to their own dimension. The Wonder Twins turned into water and a bug and paddling, Green Lantern shone his ring on them, Flash ran around them a lot, and Aquaman stood around until water could be introduced in a convenient manner. Despite the fact that their plan made no sense scientifically, it worked and restored the JLAers to their proper world.

Wizard magazine also ran an April Fool's promotion for a Wonder Twins special by painter Alex Ross. The promo was in jest, though, as it appeared in the April Fool's edition of that year. The book, titled "Wonder Twins: Form of Water," was to be one of Alex Ross' oversized books chronicling the Justice League. The plot would see Zan and Jayna using their powers to help the Earth's famine and drought-stricken nations after their monkey Gleek contracted super-rabies after severe dehydration.

Alex Ross

Noted painter Alex Ross is an avowed fan of the show and has worked it into his various projects.

  • Kingdom Come — The United Nations building resembles the Hall of Justice while the Gulag is obviously designed on the Hall of Doom. Marvin can also be spotted in a brief cameo in that book.
  • Justice — A 12-issue miniseries series in which a new and improved Legion of Doom clashes with the JLA.


Parodies

Earthworm Jim Special Edition

At the end of the game’s Easy Mode ending, Doug TenNapel proclaims, “Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice, Superman, Batman and Jan and Zayna, uh—the Wonder Twins. They’ve...pronounced that it’s the end. We’re not kidding. Uhh...really!”

That 70s Show

Super Friends was spoofed in an episode with a dream sequence where the “Super Pals” made fun of Eric’s Superman because Donna’s Wonder Woman had given him a ring as a gift. “I got it at the mall!” she exclaims. The episode features Eric Forman as Superman, Donna as Wonder Woman, Kelso as Batman, Fez as Aquaman and Hyde & Jackie as the Wonder Twins. Red is also featured as their nemesis, “Dr. Bald.", wearing Lex Luthor's green and purple costume.

Justice League

In "Secret Origins, Part 3", when Superman proposes the idea of a team, Flash responds “What, you mean like a bunch of...super friends?”

In "Injustice For All", during a battle in a museum, a statue of the Wonder Twins can be seen in the background.

Justice League Unlimited

"Ultimatum", a first season episode of the Cartoon Network television series, featured the Ultimen, a group of superheroes that are a pastiche of heroes unique to the Super Friends. The members were Long Shadow (based on Apache Chief), Wind Dragon (Samurai), Juice (Black Vulcan), Downpour (Zan of the Wonder Twins), and Shifter (Jayna of the Wonder Twins). The headquarters of the Ultimen, although on top of a skyscraper, resembled the Super Friends’ Hall of Justice. Of note also is that the JLU heroes featured in this episode was the line up of the original Super Friends, save for Robin (due to the concurrent Teen Titans and The Batman cartoon series, DC and Warner Bros. mandated that no Bat-characters other than Batman himself could be used in JLU).

The Fairly Oddparents

In the episode “Power Pals,” Timmy wishes for better super friends. As a result, he gets a team of superheroes—the Power Pals—as “friends.” The four characters parody famous characters including Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Aquaman, and come with their own narrator. Various aspects of Super Friends were parodied, such as randomly pressing beeping buttons (that flash in an equally random pattern) on any computer module, invisible vehicles (somehow, the Power Pals are able to recognize a dent in the invisible rocket, and can be seen from the outside as only the rocket is invisible), the uselessness of Aquaman’s (Wet Willy’s) ability to talk to fish and powerlessness outside of water, and near-instantaneous travel to distant galaxies.

MTV's The State

During a transition between two other skits there is a brief scene with members of the State dressed as the various Super Friends. The Flash runs in an informs them all of an impending disaster. Superman then begins assigning serious tasks to all of the members but finishes by saying "and Aquaman... go talk to some fish". The members of the Super Friends then begin laughing hysterically while a visibly embarrassed Aquaman just stands there.

South Park

The episode "Super Best Friends" is a spoof of this series and depicts religious figures as a team of superheroes. The only member of "The Super Best Friends" who is not a religious figure is "Seaman" (pronounced "semen"), a spoof of Aquaman whose power is to talk to fish.

In "200", the parody was revisited complete with an opening sequence for the Super Best Friends that takes its cues from the Super Friends cartoon with each of the religious figures (except for Muhammad who is portrayed as a Censor Bar walking down a street) and Seaman's introductions being played out like the Super Friends opening with Jesus as Superman, Buddha as Wonder Woman, Krishna as Batman and Seaman as Aquaman with Joseph Smith and Lao Tzu acting as Wendy and Marvin White.

In "201", Tom Cruse's house is described as the Legion of Doom headquarters (initially it is described as "The Legion of Doom Headquarters [awkward pause] which is Tom Cruse's house).

Additionally, the episode, "Krazy Kripples", features a Legion of Doom featuring Christopher Reeve as the leader. The episode "Spookyfish" also features a Super Friends-style scene transition with images of Barbra Streisand's head superimposed over the trademark lensflares.

Family Guy

In the Family Guy episode "A Hero Sits Next Door", there's a cutaway joke involving Peter Griffin playing a game of strip poker with Wonder Woman. Also, the Super-Friends-style scene transitions appear twice in the episode.

In "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High", Peter flashes back to the time he was a Wonder Twin, with him taking the form of Jayna's tampon.

In "Perfect Castaway", when Lois tells Peter how great the family has been doing ever since she married Brian, she mentions that Meg got on a date with Ted Knight (the Super Friends' announcer). Then, a scene shows Meg and the announcer in a car on a hill where the announcer says, "Meanwhile, underneath Meg Griffin's bra".

In "No Meals on Wheels", Peter makes a reference to the Mexican Super Friends, and a non-sequitur shows many Mexican versions of superheroes, including "Mexican Superman" and "Mexican Batman."

In "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One" when Lois Griffin runs for mayor, she attempts to gain the "stupid vote" by claiming Adolf Hitler was working with the Legion of Doom to plot the assassination of Jesus. Shortly after this the Legion of Doom's base rises from the lake and Lex Luthor asks the other Legion members how she knew their plans. Solomon Grundy admits he "kinda dropped the ball on that one".

The opening of "Family Goy" parodied the opening sequence of Super Friends with Peter as Superman, Brian and Stewie as Batman and Robin respectively, Lois as Wonder Woman, Chris as Aquaman, and Meg as....Meg.

An ongoing animated series featuring controversial celebrities Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan, and the Olsen Twins in the roles of tasteless superheroes, created in 2006 by Heavy.com. Both the setting and the some of the girls’ superpowers are plays on elements from the Super Friends.

In Something, Something, Something Dark Side shortly after Chris/Luke and Cleveland/R2-D2 land on Dagobah, the Legion of Doom fortress rises from out of the swamp with the same narration and music. But Chris/Luke then yells "Not now!" and the fortress quickly retreats underwater.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force

The Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "MC Pee Pants" uses animation backgrounds taken from the Challenge of the Super Friends episode "Monolith of Evil" for the location of Hell. It is reused in MC Pee Pants' other appearances ("Super Sirloin", "The Last One", "Little Brittle")

Justice Friends

One of the backup segments in Dexter's Laboratory was called Justice Friends. The title is derived from the Justice League of America and Super Friends, and the series makes many references (in a sitcom style) to the superficial plot lines of the Super Friends shows. However, the characters are parodies of Marvel Comics' Avengers team (the Marvel equivalent of the Justice League/Super Friends).


Bumpers

The Cartoon Network produced three commercials lampooning the Super Friends.

  • One dealt with the idiosyncratic nature of the Legion of Doom and Brainiac’s odd manner of dress (Brainiac: “Look, I just want some pants...a decent pair of pants!” Solomon Grundy: “Solomon Grundy want pants, too!”).
  • The second dealt with the Wonder Twins’ uselessness in battle (Zan: “I could get beaten by a sponge! It doesn’t even have to be an evil sponge!”).
  • The third, co-starring Powerpuff Girls, dealt with Aquaman’s useless powers (Aquaman: “My ability to talk to fish is of no use to us, Wonder Woman!”) as well as the level of violence compared to today’s cartoons, as Wonder Woman and Aquaman look away while the Powerpuff Girls beat up the Legion of Doom, going so far as to set the Scarecrow on fire. Most notably was Bubbles double-entendre reply to Wonder Woman's compliment on how they were developing as superheroes. "One day we'll be as developed as you are." Lex Luthor, as a villain with a dirty mind, began laughing. His underlings understood the joke and laughed as well. When a piece of the Hall of Doom's ceiling fell on Luthor's head, everyone laughed.
  • A fourth bumper was produced for Adult Swim. This bumper was a clip from the episode “The Time Trap,” and edited some beeping in to give the appearance of profanity. Many other Hanna-Barbera toons had the same thing done.
  • There was a 5th bumper produced that lampooned the manner in which the Superfriends described every action before completing it (e.g., "I need to reach my utility belt so that I may free myself!"). In this commercial, the heroes go to a movie and struggle to find money for popcorn.


External Links[]


References[]

  1. There are six seasons along with 3 sets of shorts.
  2. This image was taken from here.
  3. The Silver Age is the informal term applied to a specific period of comic book publishing history. Following the Golden Age era, DC's Silver Age is largely recognized as beginning with the introduction of the Flash in Showcase #4. However, there are several other characters commonly associated with the Silver Age that actually predate the Flash. Science-fiction adventurer Captain Comet debuted in 1951 in the pages of Strange Adventures, and the Martian Manhunter made his first appearance in 1955 (a full year before the Flash) in Detective Comics #225. Although the Martian Manhunter is technically the first super-hero exclusive to Silver Age era publishing, comic historians generally give that honor to the Flash. Most DC comic fans typically site that the Silver Age era ended in the early 70's. Many characters and events that are germain to the continuity of Earth-One are said to be part of the Silver Age.
  4. The Bronze Age is the informal term applied to a specific period of comic book publishing history. Following the Silver Age era, DC's Bronze Age is largely recognized as beginning with the 1970's and ended with the 1985-86 crossover maxi-series, Crisis on Infinite Earths. Crisis yielded not only the end of an era, but also the an omni-versal reboot of the internal history of most of their major projects. The Bronze Age retained many of the conventions of the Silver Age, including Earth-One, with brightly colored superhero titles remaining the mainstay of the industry. However darker plot elements and more mature storylines featuring real-world issues, such as drug use, began to appear during the period, prefiguring the later Modern Age of Comic Books.
  5. "IGN - 50. SuperFriends". Tv.ign.com. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  6. "A History of Batman on TV". IGN. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
  7. Source: Will's Ultimate Super Friends Episode Guide!, "Don Messick started off only voicing the Scarecrow, but also took over the voice of Sinestro after Vic Perrin only did the first 4 episodes."
  8. It actually existed in its own universe called Earth-1A


The SuperFriends Series Guide


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