Challenge of the Superfriends Vol 1 Review(Possible Spoilers)

[adoptedBatpuppy]

I'm sorry I'm posting this thread. I could not find any review of this show on World's Finest. Pardon, my bad English.

I have just finished watching Callenge of the Superfriends the First Season, 16 Episodes. I really enjoyed the DVD and the extras they had. My favorite episodes are "Trial of the Superfriends" I loved the animation and the plot, and the one were Lex Luthor travels back in time to make sure Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman never joined Superfriends. At one point, Superman and Lex Luthor were friends. (Just like in Smallville) Is there any episode you guys liked more than others? :sweat:

I couldn't help but notice how many simularities there are between Superfriends and Justice League. The heroes and villans are practically the same. Except Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, and Samurai. I don't know the history of those three. Can somebody tell me more about each of them?
The design of costumes were different, especially Braniac, Lex, and Toyman.

I enjoyed the way Legion of Doom could travel anywhere they pleased, and they always escaped, each time they were captured by Superfriends. Some of the diologue was scary. I found Black Manta to be a very scary villan. How come he is not in JLA? The art in the show was very fluent and colorful. :D

[Silly McGooses]

I was never a big fan of Super Friends, so I didn't pick this up. There's twenty dollars burning a hole in my pocket, though...it might be an upcoming purchase. I do remember seeing that Lex Luthor episode when it was on Cartoon Network, though, and it was pretty good. I remember there being a great episode with the Scarecrow where Batman kept having hallucinations about his parents; very risque for Superfriends.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you anything about those other characters; I only watch the cartoons. :D

[Style]

I was never a big fan of Super Friends, so I didn't pick this up. There's twenty dollars burning a hole in my pocket, though...it might be an upcoming purchase. I do remember seeing that Lex Luthor episode when it was on Cartoon Network, though, and it was pretty good. I remember there being a great episode with the Scarecrow where Batman kept having hallucinations about his parents; very risque for Superfriends.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you anything about those other characters; I only watch the cartoons. :D
That Batman episode was actually from Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, so it's not on the set. Basically, that show was pretty much the last season of Superfriends where they tried, to varying degrees of success, to take itself seriously. It sort of feels like an evolutionary missing link between Superfriends and Justice League. Though I'm pretty sure it is notable for the following:

First animated appearance of Cyborg, (of Teen Titans Fame,)
First depiction of Batman's origins out side the comics,
and first apperance of the Royal Flush Gang outside the comics, (interesting on that one, they were super powered and they were founded by the Joker then too! except he hid his true identity at first and took the role of Ace.)

[The Penguin]

World's Finest does not cover SuperFriends and thusly neither does the board. Your thread should be more than welcome on Boomerang however (provided one does not already exist). Please continue...

[Mister Intensity]

Interesting that whenever someone who was never told the "Superfriends doesn't belong on the DC Animation Forum" line always post threads about Superfriends on a forum that is now called "The DC Animation Forum," which no longer has the pretention that it only covers what is often refered to as the "DC Animated Universe."

Mister Intensity

[Silly McGooses]

That Batman episode was actually from Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, so it's not on the set. Basically, that show was pretty much the last season of Superfriends where they tried, to varying degrees of success, to take itself seriously. It sort of feels like an evolutionary missing link between Superfriends and Justice League. Though I'm pretty sure it is notable for the following:

First animated appearance of Cyborg, (of Teen Titans Fame,)
First depiction of Batman's origins out side the comics,
and first apperance of the Royal Flush Gang outside the comics, (interesting on that one, they were super powered and they were founded by the Joker then too! except he hid his true identity at first and took the role of Ace.)
Oh; when SF was on CN, I think they rolled all the shows into one.

[mammy2shoesfan]

I hate when they do that. I wish they would play things in their orignal order and format. Because it seems like they leave out a lot of eps.

[adoptedBatpuppy]

World's Finest does not cover SuperFriends and thusly neither does the board. Your thread should be more than welcome on Boomerang however (provided one does not already exist). Please continue...
I'm sorry, I didn't know DC Animated doesn't cover this thread.

[Silly McGooses]

It's kind of weird that it doesn't, considering it covers other non-DCAU shows like "The Batman" and "Teen Titans"

[Chris Wood]

It's kind of weird that it doesn't, considering it covers other non-DCAU shows like "The Batman" and "Teen Titans"

They're embarrassed by Superfriends. I guess they think it's the black sheep of the DC animated family.

[Robin]

It's kind of weird that it doesn't, considering it covers other non-DCAU shows like "The Batman" and "Teen Titans" Are you guys seriously blind? Can you not read? The DCAU Forum (or DCAF...whatever it is) only covers what the website covers. The website doesn't cover Superfriends, therefore it's not on the board. They cover DC animated shows from 1992 to now. That means it doesn't cover Superfriends and whatever came before 1992. Is it really that hard to understand? I can't believe you people keep going on and on and on about this.

I do have a question but I am afraid to ask it now. Does WB plan to release another Superfriends DVD set? The current one has me wanting more.

[adoptedBatpuppy]

I think the WB will release 2 Season Set of Superfriends, depends if the first one sells well.

I'm not exactly sure. You have to ask them that.

[Brainatra]

>>I'm sorry I'm posting this thread. I could not find any review of this show on World's Finest. Pardon, my bad English.

I have just finished watching Callenge of the Superfriends the First Season, 16 Episodes. I really enjoyed the DVD and the extras they had. My favorite episodes are "Trial of the Superfriends" I loved the animation and the plot, and the one were Lex Luthor travels back in time to make sure Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman never joined Superfriends. At one point, Superman and Lex Luthor were friends. (Just like in Smallville) Is there any episode you guys liked more than others? :sweat:
<<

Well, actually, "Smallville"'s modeling the Lex-Clark relationship off of the old "Superboy" comics (the "Superman as a teen hero" version that held up from the mid-1940's until Supes' origin rewrite in 1986). But yep, Supes and Clark in this era were friends (until Lex got tired of Superboy showing him up constantly when his experiments to improve Smallville's life failed/felt Superboy was humiliating him on purpose/blamed him for a lab accident that cost him his hair and the loss of an experimental new lifeform of his).

>>I couldn't help but notice how many simularities there are between Superfriends and Justice League. The heroes and villans are practically the same.

Well, since they're both (loosely) based on the actual JLA comic book, probably not surprising. :-)

>>
Except Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, and Samurai. I don't know the history of those three. Can somebody tell me more about each of them? <<

Characters added to give the Superfriends some degree of ethnic diversity---though it came off with mixed results. Black Vulcan is the only one of these three loosely based on an actual character, a comic character named Black Lightning (who also had electrial powers).

>>The design of costumes were different, especially Braniac, Lex, and Toyman.

The whole show was made in, and based on, the way the characters all looked/behaved in the 1970's and early 80's DC Comics (aka the "Silver Age" versions). Hence, Brainy, Lex and Toyman were different.... lessee, IIRC:

Brainiac: In the Superfriends' day, Brainiac was an android who originated on a planet once ruled by computer-tyrants. After leaving the planet, he shrank several cities using a shrinking ray and stored them in his spaceship; after first encountering Supes, the cities were all returned to normal size, save one: a Kryptonian city named Kandor. Supes kept the bottled city [and its nonsuperpowered Kryptonian inhabitants] in his Fortress of Solitude until he could figure out how to reverse the shrinkage. Brainiac would become a recurring enemy of Superman's, coming back to harass him and make trouble again and again. First comic book appearance: 1958.

No idea what they were thinking with Brainiac's outfit, frankly. :-)

Lex Luthor: A brilliant scientific mind, Lex and his family moved to Smallville when Lex was a teenager. He befriended Superboy, but after the incident described above, Lex decided to devote his intellectual and scientific efforts for the rest of his life to taking out the Man of Steel once and for all. In the 70's, Lex eventually got some groovy, kewl purple and green outfit as seen on the Superfriends (hence the costume).
Lex's first comic book appearance: As a character, he first appeared in 1940---but the familiar "Silver Age" version probably first appeared in/around 1955 (by my logic)...

The Toyman:
This guy isn't the familiar Toyman of the comics, but a replacement introduced a few years earlier in the then-current Superman comics. Apparently the SF staff saw this guy and decided to use him when it came time to make "Challenge". In the comics, though, the old Toyman made a return and killed off this guy in the late 70's or so.Post-"Crisis," this version of Toyman doesn't exist/never existed in the current comics...

>>I enjoyed the way Legion of Doom could travel anywhere they pleased, and they always escaped, each time they were captured by Superfriends. <<

Yeah, that was cool. :-)

>> Some of the diologue was scary. I found Black Manta to be a very scary villan. How come he is not in JLA? The art in the show was very fluent and colorful. <<

I thought Manta did show up on the Cartoon Network "Justice League" cartoon, unless I'm wrong...


-B.