Super Friends - You Think You Know Cartoons?

[@modelermark172]

I remember one episode of the 1973 "Super Friends" in particular - "The Fantastic Frerps," which first aired November 10, 1973. The villain - King Plasto - was a Mad Scientist whose main piece of equipment was an early, (and as far as I can tell, the first,) depiction on TV of what today would be called a "3D Printer." If memory serves, King Plasto's 3D Printer was truly massive, and could print out large vehicles like a diesel locomotive and a tug boat. But according to Google, the first version of a 3D Printer came out more than 15 years after this episode of "Super Friends" first aired. Interesting stuff . . . . Thanks for sharing this!

[@MezTZO]

Wendy and Marvin actually appeared in the DC Comics. Wendy was the niece of a detective that had trained young Bruce Wayne in crime-solving techniques. Marvin was the son of the original Diana Prince (married name: Diana Prince-White). Wonder Woman had assumed the identity of Diana Prince when the real Diana Prince wanted to leave her job as a military nurse to be with her boyfriend (later husband).

[@SuperFriends1979]

True, but they appeared in the comics after they were introduced on the TV show in 1973.

[@willrodgers2436]

@@SuperFriends1979 Yep. First in the Treasury Edition Tabloid Comic in 1975, and issues 1-9 until the Wonder Twins replaced them. And there was their brief return visit in the Battle of Wits story.

[@MRaadesign]

I knew all of this over 30 years ago. Love the Super Friends.

[@SG-jw8mo]

No mention that the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman and the Atom had previously appeared on the Filmation cartoons. Or that Green Arrow made his tv debut on the Superfriends, never to be seen again on tv until 30 years later.

[@vincentfranklin17]

The intro to the 1973 show makes me feel powerful!

[@Loremastrful]

You missed the Young Justice incarnations of Sami = Samurai, Ed = El Dorado, Longshadow again = Apache Chief and Virgil Hawkins aka Static filling in for Black Vulcan. Also blew past the quasi-rapey vibe from Darkseid in the 85 version of the show. He wanted Wonder Woman to be his queen and didn't mind how he achieved that.

[@kylebastian9809]

Black Vulcan, Samurai, and El Dorado were all underrated, as were the Atom and the Hawks. Even Rima the Jungle Girl was underrated. The rest were all fan favorites (including the Wonder Twins). I wonder why Martian Manhunter did not make the cut...

[@kylebastian9809]

@Will N You know, I kinda liked Justice League United, where they teamed up JLA alumni Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Hawkman, and Stargirl with Adam Strange, Alana Strange, Animal Man, Supergirl, and Equinox. However, they should have added Atom to the group since he was also a good idea for the team (having second stringers on a team together). JLA was OK, but some of the members (particularly Catwoman) were unnecessary.

[@kwetribute3838]

Ted Knight was only the narrator for the first season. William Woodson narrated the show thereafter.

[@jboggs2814]

Wendy and Marvin were in the Teen Titans comics

[@superfriends5683]

The FINAL episode in 1985 was Escape From Space City. I have all the ORIGINAL broadcast recordings from that year recorded on VHS tape (and still do). The Death of Superman was the 2nd to last story. You will need to update and correct this video. There are some other errors in this video that others in this thread have notified.

[@caball3ro]

Apache Chief and El Dorado were the bomb! INUCK CHUCK!! *grows 100 feet*

[@paulpolpiboon9535]

En echa!!

[@kylebastian9809]

Apache Chief was a popular member, but El Dorado was underrated.

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

Wrong. The so-called Lost Episodes did in fact air in America. I remember them both in syndication on WVAH and in broadcast on ABC Saturdays. Also, cultural diversity was not the actual point of adding the SJW Friends: not wanting to pay royalties were and not just for Black Lightning. At the time both non white characters and royalty payments were happening simultaneously.

[@willrodgers2436]

Well, sort of. The only episodes from the Lost Season that did air on ABC were Mxyzptlk's Revenge, Roller Coaster and Once Upon a Poltergeist. This was the premiere week of the lost season, but it aired as week #9 as part of SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show. I remember watching them and was surprised that Olan Soule was back as Batman and Louise Williams was back as Jayna, and no Firestorm. And I recall ABC did air the Krypton Syndrome, Invasion of the Space Dolls and Terror on the Titanic. Shannon Farnon was back as Wonder Woman and the only new episode featuring Aquaman. But they never aired again. During my college years, I found these episodes bootleg at a comic con and also some episodes I had never seen before. But I didn't recall seeing that whole season until 1995 -1996 as part of the Superman/Batman Adventures on USA, Cartoon Network and Boomerang, but they were all butchered, and it wasn't until the DVD release that we finally got them all uncut and in their correct chronological order. Anyway, that's what happened as far as ABC airing those episodes in Chattanooga Tennessee. If you saw all 24 of those episodes in 1982-1983, then you were a lucky fan.

[@michaelpowell5266]

I've every episode on DVD and as for the Lost Episodes, those episodes were made for the 1983-84 season, but didn't air until later. The 1982-83 season were titled The Best of the Superfriends and were primarily reruns. At that time, reruns of The Superfriends were starting to turn up in rerun syndication, airing in the afternoons, after school. Still, Hanna-Barbera could've made more episodes of The Superfriends, especially for the 1974-75 season, where Leonard Weinrib would've taken over for Ted Knight as the show's narrator or the 1976-77 season, where Wendy, Marvin and Wonderdog would've helped The Superfriends collar some more lawbreakers, but that was just a thought!!!

[@Neoguest]

Could had mention about Filmation version of the DC heroes

[@paulpolpiboon9535]

Totally. Seems like a biggie

[@loanaoftheshellpeople5627]

Filmation was the first animation studio to do adaptations of many of the DC Characters. Their shows included The New Adventures of Superman. The Superman/Aquaman Hour, and the Batman/Superman Hour. In addition to Cartoons about Superman, Batman & Robin, and Aquaman, They also did segments and shorts which featured The Flash, Green Lantern, The Atom, Hawkman, The Justice League, and the Teen Titans. Later on, They also did the New Adventures of Batman, In which Adam West and Burt Ward did the voices of Batman & Robin.

[@ericjones9975]

The Samurai Character was like the Red Tornado character in the comics. Well, they had similar powers.

[@SuperFriends1979]

There are a few other errors that people have commented who do know cartoons by the comments so far. I would like to add a few others. 'Death of Superman' was NOT the final episode, it was 'Escape From Space City' in 1985. Also the image you show for Batman cartoon show for 1968 is actually from THE NEW ADVENTURES OF BATMAN 1977 cartoon show, not 1968 as intended. Some good information compiled, and as some said some missing too. However see this image for the correct final and Batman show: facebook.com/AdzFlicks/photos/a.537597979599485/2948826145143311/?type=3&theater

[@willrodgers2436]

The biggest error made was the total number of episodes. I just commented on the true total number of episodes. And I did the math quite a few times over before I write my SuperFriends books on Amazon.

[@purpleraider8105]

nothing about the Legion of Doom? I'm disappointed

[@thelight7623]

Meanwhile at the Legion of Doom.......

[@Endgame707]

Freaking love this show.

[@ivane5110]

Even though I knew all of these, it was still a very cool video; a blast from the past. In this age of Multiverses being one of the pop culture fads (who would've guessed I'd ever be saying that?) I hope the 90's DCAU get to meet the Super Friends and Filmation's JLA (Fleischer's univers would be nice too); but only if it's respectfully and accurately.

[@kennethjohnson9370]

My favorite cartoons were the challenge of the super friendl with the legion of Doom it had more action and it had some of the best villains in DC comics

[@bjnowak]

109 episodes? Damn

[@willrodgers2436]

Actually, he was wrong about that. The actual number is 208. I did the math quite a few times before writing the Ultimate SuperFriends Companion books on Amazon.

[@robertcarlos7273]

D.C COMICS AND MARVEL ARE MY FAVORITE. MOST NOTABLY THE FANTASTIC FOUR

[@celticwolff5429]

If I remember correctly, Super Powers was DC's answer to Marvel's Secret Wars comics and toy line.

[@willrodgers2436]

I'm not sure which came first, but I'd have to agree. And while the SuperFriends last 2 seasons were a tie in with Super Powers, the only Marvel too at the time that could have been a tie in with Secret Wars was Spider Man and His Amazing Friends. To this day, I still hate that the Hulk was not in this toyline.

[@jaxmotes3584]

You remember incorrectly. Secret Wars was a reaction to Super Powers. Mattel didn't want to create a toy line to compete with their own Masters of the Universe... Until Kenner came out with Super Powers.

[@prankcaster713]

At Last

[@willrodgers2436]

Great video. I do have to point out an error that you and one other show covering the SuperFriends have made. The episode total is not 109 episodes. Not by a long shot. The total number is 208. Here's the reasoning. SuperFriends 1973 had 16 hour long episodes. The All New SuperFriends Hour in 1977 did 3 episodes for 15 weeks totaling 60. In 1978 Challenge of the SuperFriends had 16 half hour episodes. Not to be left out (which many people tend to do) are the additional 16 half hour episodes I call the companion series that ran back to back with the Challenge episodes that have the main 5 heroes and the Wonder Twins. So there were 2 separate SuperFriends series in the same hour having 16 episodes each totaling that season to 32 episodes. The World's Greatest SuperFriends in 1979 was the shortest season since there only 8 new half hour episodes. With the 1980's shorts, There were three 7 minute episodes each week. In 1980, there were 3 episodes for 8 weeks totaling 24 episodes. The abbreviated season of shorts in 1981 (which introduced El Dorado) had 3 episodes in 6 weeks totaling 18. The Lost Season of 1983 was like the 1980 season. Three episodes over 8 weeks totaling 24. episodes. With SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, the episodes were extended to 15 minutes each, so there were 2 episodes each week for 8 weeks totaling 16 episodes, and finally, the Super Powers Team Galactic Guardians was a little tricky in that most of the episodes were half hour shows with the exception of 4 15 minute episodes totaling 10 episodes over 8 weeks. which brings the final total to 208 episodes over a period of 9 seasons. Also, Escape From Space City ended up being the final episode. I remember watching them in the correct chronological order, but I feel that the Death of Superman would have been a more fitting finale. Too bad it wasn't. I have written a pair of books called the Ultimate SuperFriends Companion. There was so much material to cover, it took 2 volumes in hard copy and the ebook is a little over 800 pages long. Both hard copies and the ebook are all available on Amazon. And I have a Facebook Page for the Ultimate SuperFriends Companion. You did a great job with this video and I knew most if not all of what you have covered. But I had to let you know the true number of episodes, in case you ever wanted to update your video.. It was more than Batman: The Animated Series, which had 121 episodes and more than Justice League (Unlimited) which only made it to 91 episodes before it was cancelled. So for the present time, SuperFriends is the longest running DC comics cartoon series.

[@tdamiano1970]

Wonder Dog didn't talk...just fyi

[@paulpolpiboon9535]

@1:22 " in later seasonS" The plural of seasons is stating West was in more than one season, therefore this statement is absolutely incorrect. West was only in the last season which had only six or eight episodes. @3:15 is also incorrect, those episodes did indeed are in the US but not widely spread. I mean for a channel that calls itself "you think you know cartoons"... apparently YOU don't either?

[@SG-jw8mo]

Adam West voiced Batman in the final two seasons.

[@Dawn_Of_Justice]

Meanwhile on Apokolips :D

[@rubysword1955]

yay I'm early

[@loanaoftheshellpeople5627]

I'm surprised you didn't mention Legends of the Superheroes, A Co-Production between Hanna/Barbera and NBC, Which featured a Campy, Live Action Version of the Superfriends. With a Lineup that included Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin, and the first live action depictions of such Characters as Green Lantern, The Flash, Hawkman, and Black Canary. While it was played mostly for laughs, It's interesting to note that this was one of the first attempts to bring DC Comicbook Heroes to Prime Time on Network TV.

[@ericjones9975]

I remember that!!! It was real cheesy, but I tuned on every week!