Super Friends Season One

[megoscott]

Ooof. I'm sure this has been discussed a dozen times here, but I gotta say...We picked this up recently and I think of all the retro nostalgia fails this one is the greatest. I can't believe I was so into this when I was a kid, but my kids loves watching it too. I guess just seeing the super heros onscreen is exciting enough, but all they do is talk and talk and walk around. The stories are simultaneously convoluted and boring. All the "villains" are obscure professors and scientists with misguided schemes to change the world. People complain about how PC things are now, but these things are all blatant 1970s morality plays about pollution and war concerns. As bad as they are Wendy and Marvin are the best thing in the show.

Bring on Challenge of the Super Friends!

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yeah, I haven't picked up the first two seasons yet. When they hit $8 a piece or so, I'll probably bite. But yeah, it's too slow and WAY too preachy.

Toth's influence seems to be stronger in the first version though. That is one strong point. Despite the standing around (or maybe because of it), Toth's cinematic storyboards seem to be followed more closely.

The opening is still great, but I have trouble making it through an episode. It's still cool to see the Green Arrow guest spot though.


Chris

[palitoy]

Yeah, those were kind of tough for me. There are still some twinges of nostalgia in there, I REALLY loved that show when it was first on. i suppose that's because i was 3. My son loved it too but as he got older he began to say no to the "Wendy and Marvin" ones.

[megoscott]

The Super Friends are golfing right now.

[thunderbolt]

SF does not hold up well for me, either. But on the other hand, 67 Spidey and Marvel Superheroes do. Probably because they were fighting crime and were lots closer to the source material than the Friends were. Even tho I am a child of the late 60's/early 70's the 70's stuff does nothing for me. Give me Jonny, Space Ghost or the FF Hanna Barbera shows anytime.

[palitoy]

Somebody once called them "The Super Parents" because they kind of act like your dad. SF suffers from being the first Superhero show to emerge after the 60s anti violence clean up when all Capes were vanquished.

I like the later seasons a lot better.

[megoscott]

We got a lot of mileage out of the 1966 Filmation Superman. Plenty of action and bad guys.

Super Parents is exactly right. And Marvin, Wendy and Wonderdog are just Scooby, Shaggy, and Velma before they did drugs.

[Earth 2 Chris]

It's funny how far DC is going nowadays to distance themselves from that paternal, boy scout image. There is a happy medium, me thinks.

I like how SF comic writer E. Nelson Bridwell had to come up with back stories for Wendy and Marvin to justify their existence. Marvin was the son of the original Diana Prince White, who Wonder Woman literally bought her identity from. Wendy Harris was the niece of Batman's mentor, Detective Harvey Harris. Some sources called Wendy Batman's niece, so he had to make some kind of connection.

Chris

[BlackKnight]

I can't believe I was so Into this either.
I can not for the Life of me, make it threw 1 Episode Today.

[MIB41]

Yep. I think I enjoy watching the animation more than I do listening to the Super Friends. I didn't mind the lessons. It was just the cardboard acting that delivered said message. Even as a kid I didn't take them seriously in the mid-70's. But I loved seeing them in action. So it's something of a mixed bag for me too. I'm more like Thunderbolt here. I can watch the '67 Spider-man endlessly because the vocal acting was enjoyable and it had great event music throughout. I guess it's like anything though. Whatever you're exposed too first in life typically becomes the standard by which all others get measured. So, for me Spidey was the quintessential cartoon experience. Remains that way to this day.

[silveralex]

I got this dvd a while back. Sold it oln ebay not much later.

The Legion of Doom years are better, but I really remember getting up early to watch Wonder Dog !

[VintageMike]

There's a reason this version tanked. I still have the sets for completion's sake and because I had already watched the others. Just for pure fun "All-New Super Friends" hour held up better than this. Real/better villains and even the magic/safety segments have a charm to them.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yeah, I really like "All-New". It's not "Challenge" or "World's Greatest" where they really just went for fantasy and ditched the morals for the most part, but it's fun. I recently got the 2nd volume, and enjoyed watching "The Ghost" with the Gentleman Ghost, or as they call him, Gentelman Jim!

Chris

[Figuremod73]

I still like them. Of course, I like them more for the nostalgia factor more than anything eles. Challenge may be the best season, IMO.

The season with Wendy and Marvin was done by a subsidary of Hanna-Barbara. It may have been in Australia. This was most likely why the animation isnt in the ball park of other offerings from HB in the early seventies (just compare it to Speed Buggy, another cartoon from '73)

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Some of the animation in HB stuff from the early 70s is horrible. The New Scooby Movies for instance. This was the follow-up to the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You, and the decline in quality of the drawings and background paintings is substantial. As a kid I never noticed it, but watching them now, you'd think that the Scooby movies came from some first time studio.

Chris