SUPER
FRIENDS: THE LEGENDARY SUPER POWERS SHOW - THE COMPLETE SERIES (DC COMICS
CLASSIC COLLECTION) (1984)
Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show - The Complete Series (DC
Comics Classic Collection) (1984)
Actors: Jack Angel, Rene Auberjonois, Michael Bell, William
Callaway, Constance Cawlfield
Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled,
NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 2
Run Time: 179 minutes
DVD Features:
-
Available Subtitles: English
-
Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
-
16 episodes on two discs
-
Commentary on five episodes
-
Evolution: New Heroes, Viler Villains, and Ethnic Additions: how Super
Friends prefigured the era of diversity in animation
-
The Super Powers Collection: The Effect of the Toy Industry on the Super
Friends
Movie:
 
Disc:
As can be expected this Hanna-Barbera-produced Saturday morning kids cartoon
show from the mid-1980s doesn't exactly represent a new high in animation
standards.
The Super Friends are well-known DC Comics superheroes such as
Superman, Wonder Woman,
Batman, Robin, Flash and a few
others such as Firestorm to whom time hasn't been as kind. Even as a kid I
remember not being too impressed with the Super Friends comic books
because they were rather simplistic compared to the regular Justice
League of America titles.
Simplistic storylines mar these 16 twenty-minute episodes too, as the
Super Friends spend most of their time fighting a villain named Darkseid
and his two sidekicks plus a selection of "guest" super villains, mostly
foes of Superman such as Brainiac and Lex Luthor.
As said before, the animation is below par but there is some corny fun to be
had. We can never tire of the husky voice talent behind the Darkseid
character. We also believe that this TV show has somehow been time-warped in
from the pre-Feminist era. Bra burning?
None of that for Wonder Woman whose
role in all these episodes seem to be the designated kidnap victim who has to be
rescued by her male compatriots all the time. It is also positively
unhealthy how Darkseid wants her to be his "queen" all the time and how her
male team members sexually fixate on her as well. Kids won't pick any of
this up though, but adults will find themselves raising the occasional
eyebrow . . .
|
