Saturday Morning Cartoon Rewatch – Super Friends

Do you remember waaaaaay back when having a day off meant Saturday, and Saturday meant waking up at the crack of dawn to plop yourself in front of the television set with a bowl of sugar based cereal substitute to watch Saturday morning cartoons? Yeah, me neither. But that’s okay. Let’s get NOSTALGIC!

There’s a knock on the door. Your sister, Wendy, is downstairs. She’ll answer it, right? Out in the backyard, your canine companion, cleverly named Wonder Dog, starts barking. With a pronounced teenage sigh, full of angst and redolent of acne medication, you trudge your way down the steps, making your discontent obvious with every trudge. Greeting you, greeting them, is Earth’s mightiest heroes. Only you, Marvin, can save the world from certain doom. Congratulations! It’s a Saturday, specifically September 8, 1973, and you are now a member of the Super Friends.

I think I’ve watched every incarnation of DCs Justice League with the exception of this one. In fact, this DVD might not even contain the version of the Super Friends that I’m aware of because the description on the back cover of the DVD case doesn’t mention the Wonder Twins, one of which could only assume forms that involved water. And wasn’t there a super monkey? Am I thinking of something other than Super Friends?

Ah ok. This makes a little more sense now. There have been many different versions of the Super Friends series. The one I am familiar with was The All-New Super Friends Hour, which, in addition to Zan and Zaya, featured the adventures of Superman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Batman and Robin, and Wonderwoman. Wait… I was wrong. I should have kept reading before I started typing. The series I am familiar with is Challenge of the Superfriends because it included Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, Samurai, and Hawkman. Easy mistake. I’m still not seeing a super monkey though. Maybe I’m confusing Super Friends with Space Ghost?

In Episode 1, “The Balloon People,” Earth’s mightiest heroes face an interstellar peril… aliens that can inflate themselves to the size of ordinary human adults or deflate themselves to the size of ordinary human children. Yes, that’s correct. They can grow and shrink. Only the quick thinking of Batman and Robin is able to secure a spot in someone’s backyard, right next to the doghouse, for their ship. If only there was something the other Super Friends could do… like taking the aliens fishing. Meanwhile, Mr. Know-it Tall, a scientist who looks like a Scooby-Doo villain sans mask, plots to capture the aliens with the intention of blackmailing them into giving him the secret of their psychokinetic teleportation technology. What is Know-it Tall’s power, you ask? He’s read a lot of books. Specifically, the books in his office. Can the Super Friends save the aliens from such a devastatingly fiendish ability? Stay tuned! (Hint: “I could have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you, Superman.”)

This looks like a job for… anyone else really. Anyone, including Wendy, Marvin, and Wonderdog, two ordinary teenagers and their dog who, for unexplained and inexplicable reasons, are also allowed into the Hall of Justice. This is not the grim and gritty DC Universe you’ve gotten used to. Super Friends isn’t even on par with Christopher Reeve as Superman or Michael Keaton as Batman. This is on the level of all Aquaman, all the time.

If you liked Super Friends:

Super friends! – season one, Volume two
All New Super Friends Hour. Season 1, Volume 2
South Park. Season 5
Justice League
Binge Box : Superheroes
Wonder Woman
Superman returns
The Flash. Season 1
Supergirl. Season 1
Batman

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