Super Friends


Super Friends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday-morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and was based on the Justice League of America and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics. The title of the series varied from season to season, as did the superheroes on the team. Nine seasons, comprising a total of 93 episodes, were produced.

Series titles

Over the years, the show existed under several titles:
Plotlines for the later series involved many of the familiar DC Comics super-villains, like the Joker and the Riddler, that the first incarnation of the Super Friends did not. Instead, like the comic books, they focused on the far-fetched schemes of mad scientists and aliens, who were invariably revealed as being well-intentioned, and simply pursuing their goals through unlawful or disreputable means. Typically, at the end of each story, a peaceful and reasonable discussion would be performed by the heroes to convince the antagonists to adopt more reasonable methods.
The All-New Super Friends Hour departed somewhat from the previous series' formula by featuring villains using more elaborate methods to further their goals; as a rule they could not be reasoned with, requiring the heroes to use direct force to stop them. Beginning with Challenge of the Superfriends, several of the heroes' arch-villains from the comic books 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 the fashion of the typical comic books and deus ex machina.

Production history

In 1973, animation company Hanna-Barbera acquired rights to the DC Comics characters and partnered with the American Broadcasting Company to adapt the Justice League of America comic book for television. The network made several changes in the transition including the change of name to Super Friends to "cut off any accusations of extreme patriotism". 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 and to adhere to broadcast standards governing violence in 1970s children's television.
As a DC Comics-based show, the Super Friends franchise was owned by DC's parent company Warner Bros., who later put the series into syndication. Cartoon Network, which had the rights to air most of the rest of the Hanna-Barbera library from its inception in 1992, was not able to air Super Friends until after the merger of Warner Bros.' parent company, Time Warner and Cartoon Network's parent company, Turner Broadcasting System was completed in 1996. This merger also led to Warner Bros. taking control of Hanna-Barbera and all of its other assets as well. The series was owned by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, DC Comics Entertainment, Warner Bros. Family Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Animation.

1973–1974 series

Super Friends first aired on ABC on September 8, 1973, featuring well-known DC characters Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman. Superman, Batman and Robin, and Aquaman had each previously appeared in their own animated series produced by Filmation, and voice talent from these prior programs was brought in to work on the new show. Shortly before the Super Friends series was developed, Superman and Wonder Woman also guest-starred in two episodes of The Brady Kids, while Batman and Robin appeared in two episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies.
In addition to the superheroes, a trio of sidekicks was introduced, each of whom were new characters not drawn from the comic books: Wendy and Marvin and Wonder Dog, none of whom had any special abilities. The trio—or at least its human members—were depicted as detectives and/or superheroes-in-training; the "teen detectives and their talking animal" cliché, originally popularized by Scooby-Doo, was typical in Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the 1970s.
Each episode began with the heroes responding to an emergency detected by the TroubAlert computer in the Hall of Justice, which served as the headquarters of the team. Colonel Wilcox, a U.S. Army official, was a recurring character who would act as a government liaison with the Super Friends during emergencies. Conflicts were usually resolved with the antagonists persuaded to adapt more reasonable methods to achieve their aims. Natural disasters triggered by human activity were often shown, and environmental themes featured strongly in the program. Three other DC Comics superheroes were featured as guest stars during this season: Flash, Plastic Man, and Green Arrow; the latter two did not appear in any subsequent episodes of the series.
This first run of Super Friends, consisting of 16 one-hour episodes which were rerun several times, concluded on August 24, 1974. At this point, the series was cancelled, but interest in superheroes among ABC's prime-time viewers caused the network to revive Super Friends. The original 16 episodes of the series were rebroadcast as a mid-season replacement, running from February 7, 1976, to September 3, 1977. These episodes were edited into half-hour versions. At the same time, DC Comics published a Super Friends comic, which used Wendy and Marvin from issue #1 to #6. In the meantime, Hanna-Barbera began production on a revamped version of the show.

1977–1978 season: ''The All-New Super Friends Hour''

The All-New Super Friends Hour featured four animated shorts per program. Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog were dropped from this and all future TV iterations of Super Friends, and were replaced by Wonder Twins Zan and Jayna, and their pet monkey, Gleek. Unlike Wendy and Marvin, Zan and Jayna had super powers. A total of 15 episodes were produced. Darrell McNeil of the Hanna-Barbera animation studios later explained the change in cast:
The show followed a basic format each week. The first segment of every show featured two of the heroes teaming up in a separate mini-story. The second segment featured a story with the Wonder Twins. The third segment was considered the primary adventure of the week, featuring the entire Super Friends roster in a longer adventure. The fourth and final segment featured a story with one of the primary lineup and a "special guest star". This segment typically featured a problem that was solved using the guest star's unique abilities. The character of Apache Chief first appeared as a guest star in this series.
Between segments there were short spots with members of the Super Friends giving basic safety lessons, providing first-aid advice, demonstrating magic tricks, creating crafts, and presenting a two-part riddle featuring the week's primary plot line. This was the first season to feature two villains appearing in the comic books, Black Manta and Gentleman Ghost. Each appeared in only one episode this season and each was somewhat modified for television.

1978–1979 season ''Super Friends'' / ''Challenge of the Superfriends''

The next season of Super Friends featured two segments:

First segment: ''Super Friends'' episodes

The first segment of the program featured the established group of heroes: Superman, Batman and Robin, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and the Wonder Twins and Gleek. These segments were rerun with the intro from the All-New Super Friends Hour when in syndication in the early 1980s, but have seldom been seen in syndication since then.

Second segment: ''Challenge of the Superfriends''

The second half-hour of the show introduced the Legion of Doom, a team of 13 recurring foes who are the Super Friends' worst enemies. They used a swamp-based mechanical flying headquarters, the Hall of Doom, as a contrast to the Super Friends' gleaming Hall of Justice. A total of 16 episodes were produced.
Additional heroes who had previously appeared as guest stars were added to the roster as well, to make a total of 11. These included The Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman from DC Comics and three Hanna-Barbera creations to reflect diversity: Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, and Samurai.
The Challenge of the Superfriends segment was expanded to 90 minutes mid-season, with reruns of earlier episodes filling out the last half-hour.

1979–1980 season: ''The World's Greatest SuperFriends''

In the fall of 1979, the Super Friends 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 rebroadcasts 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.

1980–1982 seasons: ''SuperFriends''

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. These new adventures featured appearances by the core group of five Super Friends and Zan, Jayna, and 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 additional cultural diversity.
This would prove to be one of the longer-lived incarnations of the series. A total of 22 episodes were produced.