Superfriends: The Lost Episodes

[Tobias]

Hey, gang, starting a talkback thread for the new DVD set that was released. Since there are no real 'bonus features" to talk about, this is for the episodes themselves.

This season was a nice precursor to the 'Legendary Superpowers' season, although I wish they'd have taken the following seasons route and gone the '11 minute segment' route.

Episodes like 'The Krypton Syndrome' 'The Revenge of Doom' and 'Two Gleeks Are Deadlier Than One' were great, but could have been so much better if they'd had more time. Plus longer episodes would have meant we'd have more Superfriends appearing per segment.

But these were fun episodes that I loved seeing again after all this time. I hope the next set released is the previous season with the rest of the 7 minute shorts.

edit: FYI, 'Return of the Phantoms' is COMPLETELY intact with all of it's Superboy references.

[Starvengers]

Thanks for posting this. As soon as my kids fall asleep I am going out to buy this.

[Kolbar]

I completely forgot this was even coming out, so I'll be off to the store tomorrow to pick it up. Just a shame "Around the World in 80 Riddles" isn't included. I loved seeing the return of the Riddler as he had the guts to take on the entire Super Friends team by himself by making them reverse backwards.

Still, those episodes you mentioned Tobias are some really great picks. Can't wait to see them again after what feels like an eternity.

[dtemplar]

FYI, 'Return of the Phantoms' is COMPLETELY intact with all of it's Superboy references.


I have it being shipped by target.com, but when I heard Return of the Phantoms is complete with the Superboy references. That is extra good news.

I hope the rest of the shorts will be out later (maybe early 2010).

[Replikon Xum]

I've also heard that "The Superman Batman Adventures" format cut a number of the "Super Friends" shorts for time. So the DVD may be our chance to see these so-called "lost" shorts in their entirety.

Xum

[Tobias]

I've also heard that "The Superman Batman Adventures" format cut a number of the "Super Friends" shorts for time. So the DVD may be our chance to see these so-called "lost" shorts in their entirety.

Xum

Yeah, I recall "The Superman/Batman Adventures" airings only being like, five minutes or so. The episodes on the DVD are a full seven minutes.

Another good thing about these shorts are that they're a step up from the ones in the 'All New Superfriends Hour'. In these shorts they get to fight REAL threats like the Legion of Doom as a whole, then later on, Grodd and Giganta in one short, Brainiac in another, and then later on Bizarro by himself.

There's also Mxyzplk, the Phantom Zone villains, and one villain simply called 'Sleep' who could have easily been Dr. Destiny with minor tweaking (or whoever the villain is that can enter your dreams).

[SF4Ever]

I have it being shipped by target.com, but when I heard Return of the Phantoms is complete with the Superboy references. That is extra good news.

I hope the rest of the shorts will be out later (maybe early 2010).

Amen to that, Temp. It'll be next Friday before I can buy both The Superfriends' Lost Episodes and Plastic Man on DVD. I, too, am looking for the remaining SF shorts on DVD as well as both the original series from 1973 and The World's Greatest Superfriends. Perhaps Warner Home Video might even consider releasing Filmation's animated Shazam series from 1981 on DVD as well.

[joltman]

Do the episodes have a title card, and if so, what is the show name, just 'Super Friends'?

[dtemplar]

Amen to that, Temp. It'll be next Friday before I can buy both The Superfriends' Lost Episodes and Plastic Man on DVD. I, too, am looking for the remaining SF shorts on DVD as well as both the original series from 1973 and The World's Greatest Superfriends. Perhaps Warner Home Video might even consider releasing Filmation's animated Shazam series from 1981 on DVD as well.

You may have to wait for Plastic Man, it'll be out on October 20th.

[Jono11]

Does anyone know why they're releasing the Lost Episodes before the, you know, Not-Lost Episodes from this production batch? Is it just because the phrase "Lost Episodes" is guaranteed to rake in some cash? Their whole strategy for putting these releases out has been so weird. Why not just go in chronological order like every other TV show released on DVD?

[dtemplar]

Does anyone know why they're releasing the Lost Episodes before the, you know, Not-Lost Episodes from this production batch? Is it just because the phrase "Lost Episodes" is guaranteed to rake in some cash? Their whole strategy for putting these releases out has been so weird. Why not just go in chronological order like every other TV show released on DVD?


They should've placed it along with the rest of the short episodes on one box set.

[SF4Ever]

You may have to wait for Plastic Man, it'll be out on October 20th.

I thought Plastic Man was released on DVD, last month, but if that's the case, thanks for clearing that up. BTW, I checked the link to TV Shows on DVD, concerning Plastic Man. It states the DVD release date for Sept. 1. I actually checked DarkKnight's thread Plastic Man is coming to DVD for more info.

[Tobias]

Do the episodes have a title card, and if so, what is the show name, just 'Super Friends'?

Yeah, all the episodes have title cards. They're the 'World's Greatest/Legendary Superpowers' title cards.

The show's just called 'Super Friends' and has a 30 second opening with the announcer listing off the cast, although we just see:

Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman & Robin, Aquaman, The Atom, Black Vulcan, Samurai, Apache Chief, and El Dorado.

Besides them, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and the Wonder Twins all appear this season.

The only thing I was disappointed with is that outside of 'Two Gleeks are deadlier than one' and 'Superclones' we only get 2 - 3 Superfriends per segment.

[Replikon Xum]

Do the episodes have a title card, and if so, what is the show name, just 'Super Friends'?

Yes. And yes. It is the traditional title card with Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman flying over the episode title.

Xum

[Jono11]

Sometimes the sparse extras on these old-school animation releases gets me wondering how difficult/expensive it would be to contact some of the people involved with the show and make my own friggin' commentary tracks and whatnot.

Super Friends is a good example. People involved with the show that are still alive:
Casey Kasem (voice, Robin)
Norman Alden (voice, Aquaman)
Sherry Alberoni (voice, Wendy)
Frank Welker (voice, Marvin and various villains)
Bill Woodson (announcer, still alive at a ripe old 95!)
Carmine Infantino (creative consultant, how the hell is this guy still alive?)
John Stephenson (voice, various)
Michael Bell (voice, Zan)
Wally Burr (apparently somehow involved)
Mike Road (voice, various)
Alan Burnett (writer)
Geof Darrow (character design)
Donald F. Glut (writer)
Mark Jones (writer)
John Beal (music)
Jack Angel (voice, various heroes)
Bill Callaway (voice, Aquaman and Bizarro)
Melanie Chartoff (voice, various)
Bob Hastings (voice, various)
Buster Jones (voice, Black Vulcan)
Jimmy Weldon (voice, various)
Gerry Conway (writer)
Al Milgrom (writer)
John Semper (writer)
Marc Zicree (writer)
Gordon Hunt (director)
Rene Auberjonois (voice, Desaad)
Mark L. Taylor (voice, various)
B.J. Ward (voice, Wonder Woman)
Peter Cullen (voice, various)
Jerry Houser (voice, various)
Ernie Hudson (voice, Cyborg)
...and probably a lot more.

[Kenny E. McCall]

Yo Jono,

Marlene Aragon (Cheetah) and Shannon Farnon (original Wonder Woman) are still alive as well. Check out Replikon Xum's interview with Farnon in another thread in the same forum.

And Bill Woodson is 95? Awe-some Sauce!

Kenny:D

[Mister Intensity]

I just finished watching it yesterday. Maybe it's the way they released the episodes but I find myself enjoying the non-Jeffrey Scott seasons more. He wrote almost all the scripts for the seasons he worked on and judging from his bio, he worked on more than just Superfriends during those years so there is a certain lack of quality control on the scripts he worked on. A lot of the episodes would gave been better served by the 22 minute format (although to be fair, his Challenge scripts were not that good). I'm not expecting great art but these episodes did not have the fun factor of the All-New Super Friends Hour, Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, or even Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians.

[Jon T]

I'm with you, Mister Intensity. As soon as other writers aside from Jeffrey Scott began to be brought into the series, the general quality of writing really started to improve. Although this final season of 'lost' episodes was written entirely by Scott, Hanna-Barbera started bringing in new writers with the previous year's worth of SF shorts, so it would be nice if they were eventually released to compliment the other seasons.

[Optimus81]

I watched this whole set over the weekend, and while I usually love classic DC superhero cartoons, I found this season to be pretty darn bland. I thought the animation and stories were poor, with a few exceptions: The Krypton Syndrome, Two Gleeks are Deadlier Than One, Revenge of the Phantoms, and Revenge of Doom were all very good, but outside of these four episodes, not much else to write home about.

I loved Superfriends as a kid and even liked a lot of the Filmation DC shorts they've been releaseing recently, but didn't like these very much. Galactic Guardians and Challenge these are not.

[hobbyfan]

Wally Burr was the voice director for most of SF's run, and IIRC, also did some voice work himself.

[Tobias]

I watched this whole set over the weekend, and while I usually love classic DC superhero cartoons, I found this season to be pretty darn bland. I thought the animation and stories were poor, with a few exceptions: The Krypton Syndrome, Two Gleeks are Deadlier Than One, Revenge of the Phantoms, and Revenge of Doom were all very good, but outside of these four episodes, not much else to write home about.

I loved Superfriends as a kid and even liked a lot of the Filmation DC shorts they've been releaseing recently, but didn't like these very much. Galactic Guardians and Challenge these are not.

I felt the same, but I also feel like if they'd expanded the shorts to 11 minutes (altough they'd have to eleminate 8 shorts, but some of them I wouldn't have missed anyway), the season would have been greater.

- The Revenge of Doom would have been much better if it'd been more than just Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Robin. Maybe add GL into the mix.

- Return of the Phantoms could used another Superfriend or two on the mission back to Smallville.

- Superclones REALLY could have benefitted from Brainiac choosing something other than the least blandest 2 Superfriends to capture.

But on the bright side, The Wonder Twins, outside of 'Space Racers' seemed to actually be fairly more competent in this run of episodes.

[dtemplar]

Wally Burr was the voice director for most of SF's run, and IIRC, also did some voice work himself.

He voiced The Atom.

[Ed Liu]

This is the talkback thread for "Super Friends: The Lost Episodes" - We All Did Love Them Once, Not Without Cause (http://news.toonzone.net/articles/30872/super-friends-the-lost-episodes---we-all-did-love-them-once-not-without-cause).
http://news.toonzone.net/images/2009-08/SFLostEps/splash-sflosteps.jpg

Apologies for the delay in getting this review done. I watched the set and realized I had absolutely no idea what to say about it, for reasons that I articulate in the review.

This, of course, didn't stop me from babbling on at length about it ;).