Ruby Spears Superman animated series.

[Werewolf]

Rarely airs on TV and a lot of people seem not to remember it. Anyone else liked it? Great intro. Loved the mix of the movie theme with the spoken intro from the classic TV series.

I really dug the animation style and the character designs were great. Everything is so stylized now in cartoons. I miss the more realistic designs.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxS_MT22mSk

[Earth 2 Chris]

I was and am a big fan of this series. This series is the next step in comic cartoons getting away from being too "Super Friendly". The early 80s Marvel series upped the ante, and then the last two seasons of Super Friends/Super Powers made strides, and when this one came along, it seemed more true to the feel of the comics at the time. Having Marv Wolfman and Gil Kane working on it not long after their well-done Action run was nice too!

My son watched this when I bought the DVD and really liked it. It's blasphemy, but I like some aspects of this show better than STAS. Especially the Williams score/Reeves series mash-up intro!

Chris

[kingdom warrior]

Yeah i loved it, I still have it on tape lol. Gil Kane's designs were awesome and it's one of the better Superman Cartoons......I'm in the minority but I dislike the Superfriends cartoons

[Werewolf]

and then the last two seasons of Super Friends/Super Powers made strides, and when this one came along, it seemed more true to the feel of the comics at the time.

The last season Galactic Guardians version of Super Friends was great. The animation and character designs were a huge improvement.

Galactic Guardians intro.

Awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfZFKUPfYLg

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yeah, I love the Super Friends for nostalgia, but some of them are hard to watch. The story quality approved so much with Galactic Guardians. Alan Burnett came on the season before and started making headway. Of course he was involved in BTAS and many other DC projects later.

Chris

[Werewolf]

Super Friends was pretty weak pre Legion of Doom. I find the Wendy and Marvin era fairly unwatchable. Even as a little kid I was disappointed. Instead of fighting Super villians they did these weird environmental stories. Kinda like a pre-curser to that abomination Captain Planet.

[boynightwing]

I have this on DVD. I bought it because I vaguely remembered watching as a kid but I REALLY remembered there being a Wonder Woman episode that was great. Thus I wasn't disappointed when I saw it again.

I also got Galactic Guardians that day. I was/am a huge Firestorm fan so I had to have this in my collection.

[Figuremod73]

remember the Ruby-Spears Superman real well, i think it came on in the fall of '88. i liked it but would have rather have had the Superfriends continued, especially after it moved toward the super powers type material. I was wondering if anyone remembers "The Worlds Greatest Superfriends". This was a very Mego inspired Superfriends run from the early eighties. I dont think it aired in reruns much. along with challenge of the superfriends its my favorite mini run from the superfriends series. I really enjoyed cartoons from the eighties and seventies, kids are really missing out on some good stuff. im so disappointed with todays cartoons that it makes me sad. im glad most of its available on dvd but they really should be still on television its not like theres really anything worth watching on tv these days anyways....

[emeraldknight47]

Cool!! Until watching this, I never realized that the guy doing the voiceover was the same guy who did the voiceover for Battle of the Planets!! That's kind of as cool as realizing that the same guy who did Herbie the Elf in Rudolph also voiced Spider-Man in the '67 series and that Tony the Tiger's voice used to be done by the same guy who sang the Grinch song...!

[VintageMike]

Liked it but thought it suffered a little from being tied into the Byrne era too much.
Other than Luthor the only real Supes villian to make it on the show was The Prankster. I did enjoy the Superman/WW team ep quite abit.

[madmarva]

I was a sophomore in college when this came on and I liked it when i saw it, but I think it was on at like 7:30 central so it was tough to catch.

I really enjoyed the backup feature that showed Superman growing up in Smallville.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I was wondering if anyone remembers "The Worlds Greatest Superfriends".

Isn't that the only version of SF NOT on DVD? It's a shame too, because there are some real gems there. SF Meet Frankenstein, and my all-time favorite, "Universe of Evil".

I really enjoyed the backup feature that showed Superman growing up in Smallville.

Yes, those are great. My wife loves them. She enjoys them more than the Superman segments!

Chris

[Hector]

Great series...but I have to admit...did not get exposed to it too much over the years...was hard to catch on my local TV.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

I remember this one being a mixed bag quality-wise.... but it was incredibly ambitious, especially for '88. I do like it better than the 90's OR the 60's ones.

Don C.

[Figuremod73]

also i think i remember this being Ruby-Spears last project (or close to it) by this time many of the old established animation studios were starting to dry up because of animation cost. Filmation closed its doors right after bravestar failed to gain a strong audience and this was also around the time Turner started gaining control of Hanna-Barbara. '88 and the years after werent very good for saturday morning cartoons as the networks started supporting them less and less. the majority of the new cartoons released in the '90s were from dic, fox, WB, and a handful of imports. now its worse and i dont want to even get started on cartoon networks offering....