Customer Reviews

Challenge of the Super Friends - The First Season (DC Comics Classic Collection)

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"Banded together from remote galaxies, are 13 of the most sinister villains of all time - the Legion of Doom! Dedicated to a single objective, the conquest of the universe! Only one group dares to challenge this intergalactic threat - The Superfriends!"

That's how announcer Stanley Jones (voice of Lex Luthor) opened this classic show from 1978. The opening scenes showing the Riddler caught [like a deer in headlights] in Batman's spotlight, and Black Manta tied up atop a whale "piloted" by Aquaman still look cool.

The appeal of Challenge of the Superfriends is in the fact that they waged an ongoing battle against actual villains from the comic books. Most of which were direct counterparts i.e. Green Lantern/Sinestro, Flash/Captain Cold, Batman/Scarecrow, etc. So the battles never got repetitive the writers wisely mix-matched the contenders. And don't forget the Legion's very cool Darth Vader-headed headquarters based underneath the swamp.

THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Robin, Hawkman, Flash, Green Lantern, Black Vulcan, Samurai, and Apache Chief.
VS.
THE LEGION OF DOOM: Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Solomon Grundy, the Riddler, the Scarecrow, Bizarro, Cheetah, Black Manta, Giganta, Gorilla Grodd, Sinestro, Captain Cold, and the Toyman.

This 2 disc set contains all 16 episodes from the season.

Episodes (by aired & production order):
01. 09-Sep-1978 Wanted: The Superfriends
02. 16-Sep-1978 Invasion of The Fearians
03. 23-Sep-1978 The World's Deadliest Game
04. 30-Sep-1978 The Time Trap
05. 07-Oct-1978 Trial of the Superfriends
06. 14-Oct-1978 Monolith of Evil
07. 21-Oct-1978 The Giants of Doom
08. 28-Oct-1978 Secret Origins of the Superfriends
09. 04-Nov-1978 Revenge on Gorilla City
10. 11-Nov-1978 Swamp of the Living Dead
11. 18-Nov-1978 Conquerors of the Future
12. 25-Nov-1978 The Final Challenge
13. 02-Dec-1978 Fairy Tale of Doom
14. 09-Dec-1978 Doomsday
15. 16-Dec-1978 Superfriends, Rest in Peace
16. 23-Dec-1978 The History of Doom

Features:
Commentary on selected episodes
Saturday, Sleeping Bags & Super Friends: A Retrospective
Hall of Justice - character bios
Legion of Doom - character bios
Trailers - Batman: The Animated Series, The Jetsons: Complete First Season, The Flintstones: The Complete First Season, Jonny Quest: The Complete First Season
Full Frame (1.33:1) aspect ratio
English and Spanish mono tracks
English, Spanish and French subtitles

Anybody else remember the scene where the Flash uses his super-speed to grab Captain Cold and place him in the path of his own coldgun ice-blast thereby freezing himself? "Wild!"

I purchased this for my son's third birthday. He is absolutely crazy about superheros but most of the recent superhero cartoons are too violent. This show has all the superheros and is perfect for children young and old--we have had kids from 3-10 watch it and love it. I highly recommend it!

...the world's greatest super heroes unite to keep a watchful eye on the planet earth.' And it's so cool to be able to be back with the Super Friends once again! Kudos to the creators of this once-in-a-lifetime and unprecedented Saturday morning series event that is certain never to be equaled again. Because of complex licensing issues producing a similar show on television today with all the same characters would be utterly impossible. And so a reunion of the 'World's Greatest Superheroes' is sadly unlikely as well.

Well, if you've seen even one episode of "The Challenge Of The Super Friends" you know it's no Hall Of Fame animated classic - at least not as far as the continuity is concerned. There are some very grievous errors that are hilarious to spot. For instance in the episode "The Time Trap" three sets of the Super Friends get trapped in various eras of earth's past, among them Batman & Robin who are captured and held by the troops of one of the Roman emperor Caesars. In the present day Superman discovers a clue that can pinpoint the time frames each of the set of heroes is being held so off he goes to the lab to have the piece of evidence analyzed; and who should be there amongst the other Super Friends waiting for the analysis - none other than Batman himself! Maybe he was just there in spirit and only we (the fans in Saturday morning TV land) could see him? Another sparkling moment comes in the episode "The Monolith Of Evil" when suddenly Green Lantern has three arms - I can't tell if he has more than one power ring. Other blunders that happened periodically were Hawkman missing his wings; the inversion of colors and/or direction of logos on the uniforms of Batman & Robin; Green Lantern's power ring would emanate a yellow (!) glow instead of green and, best of all, the Flash would go flying off (!!) with Superman and Hawkman whenever it was convenient to the plot. The Flash had no capability of flying in any of his comic book appearances that I can remember - and you'd think the creative staff behind the show would be aware of that. But these are all forgivable mistakes to the fans of the series because it's the strong points of the show that make it the classic that is revered by fans still to this day.

The positives of this program are many beginning with the vibrant theme music; heroic and majestic sounding it is reminiscent of the theme for the classic early 60's animated cult favorite 'Johnny Quest'. It certainly wouldn't surprise anyone to discover that this quite probably was the inspiration behind it. The idea of 'The Legion Of Doom' is a great concept that is still unsurpassed. Scavenging back through the vaults and archives of DC Comics to get the right mix of villains must have been daunting at the time and not as easy to piece together as it appears when seeing the show. There were literally tons of adversaries, antagonists and nemesis's to choose from and creating a balance - that is a viable and believably powerful enough force to challenge the Super Friends - wasn't something that just jumped out at you I'm sure. Seeing such archenemies as Sinestro, Gorilla Grod and Gigantress in television animated form is a rare treat that is doubtful to happen ever again. The headquarters for 'The Legion Of Doom' is equally as impressive. They could go anywhere they pleased as a group; outer space, inner earth, backwards or forward in time, etc. The Super Friends on the other hand all have their own separate forms of transportation - and the Hall Of Justice is anchored to the ground permanently. While the stories are unquestionably juvenile in conception some of them still remain quite entertaining. My favorites are "Fairy Tales Of Doom" and especially "History Of Doom", and the episode "Secret Origins Of The Super Friends" is also memorable. There are other positives about this show I could list but they are already mentioned in other reviews here on this webpage so I encourage you to read them also.

The DVD set is nicely packaged and has an excellent 13 minute mini-documentary titled 'Saturday, Sleeping Bags & Super Friends: A Retrospective' that I think every fan will be pleased with. Also included are bios on each of the Super Friends and also the members that make up 'The Legion Of Doom' that I found indispensable. If I had one quibble at all it would be the title of the set "The Challenge Of The Super Friends: The First Season" - was there ever a second season?

with the shape of t.v. today(and cartoons and channels like cartoon network that don't really show kid friendly cartoons anymore) my wife and i try our best to keep an eye out as to what our boys(8 and 6) get to see.we use a lot of dvds of old t.v. shows and cartoons to better keep an eye on what they see. with that in mind this set is great as it has heros that i grew up with and even bad guys i grew up with and this show is still fun without getting to graphic or any of the things that we feel are wrong with todays cartoons. i remember watching these as a kid and i get a real pleasure out of watching these again with my boys and seeing the look of wonder and the way they get into the stories and it is still fun to watch them myself(ok a few times i watch them after the boys are in bed,what can i say,their still very good shows. the extras are great and the transfers are the best,so give them a try and help the super friends defeat the bad guys one more time.

This two-disc set contains all sixteen episodes from the series "Challenge of the Super Friends". Unlinke the other shows, which just had Batman, Robin, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, two twins, and a dog, this amazing series also featured Green Lantern, The Flash, Hawkman, Apache Chief, Samurai, and Black Vulcan, although there are neither twins nor a dog. Some of these do not appear in any other shows on television, such as Apache Chief, Samurai, and Black Vulcan. These Super Friends, alias the Justice League of America, don't just face different villains. They also battle the 13 members of the Legion of Doom. Giganta, Bizarro, Riddler, Gorilla Grodd, Solomon Grundy, Toyman, Cheetah, Scarecrow, Braniac, Black Manta, Scarecrow, and Sinestro, led by Lex Luthor, all enemies of certain superheroes in this group in the comics. These DVDs also include profiles of both the Super Friends and the Legion of Doom, which state their powers, first appearance in the comics, enemies in the team which they fight, and even a music video of them. There is also commentary on Wanted: the Superfriends and The History of Doom. Here is a list of the discs, their episodes, and their bonus features.

Disc One:

Wanted: the Superfriends
Invasion of the Fearians
The World's Deadliest Game
The Time Trap
Trials of the Superfriends
Monolith of Evil
The Giants of Doom

Commentary on Wanted: the Superfriends

Disc Two Side A:

Secret Origins of the Superfriends
Revenge on Gorilla City
Swamp of the Living Dead
Conquerors of the Future
The Final Challenge
Fairy Tales of Doom
Doomsday

Disc Two Side B:

Superfriends, Rest in Peace
The History of Doom

Commentary on The History of Doom
Profiles on the Legion of Doom and the Super Friends
Trailers (Four, one is B:TAS Volume 1)
Saturday, Sleeping Bags and Superfriends Retrospective

This is a very nice set with some very cool episodes. Some really good ones are The Time Trap, Secret Origins of the Superfriends, and Superfriends Rest in Peace. There is a lot of classic action, surprises, laughs, and adventure in this amazing collection. The storylines may be a little the same and it might get repetitive but I really like it.

After 25 years, Challenge of the Super Friends is finally released on DVD! Saturday morning viewers may or may not recall Hanna Barbara, the creators of Scooby Doo and Yogi Bear, brought the Silver Age of DC Comics more popular exposure with their earlier version of the Super Friends saving the world from catastrophe. They had Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Dynamic Duo with Wendy, Marvin, Wonder Dog, the Wonder Twins, and Gleek?! But after those campier seasons, DC Comics may have talked privately with H.B. to make the series more accurate to DC's storylines. Therefore, H.B. came up with JLA's archrivals, The Legion of Doom, in a 16 episode clash of good v.s evil warfare. "Holy turf wars Batman!" Yes those one liners were cliche and silly. But some of those episodes had some shocking moments.
Wanted: The Super Friends - Lex Luthor uses a dream machine to make the Justice League commit crimes.
(My personal favorite) Super Friends: R.I.P. - the Justice League pay their final respects to their fallen comrade Batman.
Some of the Silver Age heroes were different from today's Justice League series. Barry Allen was the Flash. Today his nephew Wally West is the current Flash. Hal Jordan was the Green Lantern. Now it's John Stewart. (In the comics, Hal Jordan is likely to return as Green Lantern again.)
And I was really surprised this series inspired today's comic-book artists and writers. This series was meant for those who are from the 70's and watching the current series still brings back those Saturday morning moments.

The various series of the SUPER FRIENDS ran from 1973-1986 this set is actually the third incarnation in the SUPER FRIENDS franchise. It is however, the season that was called CHALLENGE OF THE SUPER FRIENDS. And it is complete in its original running order. The real first season of THE SUPER FRIENDS featured Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog. Remember them? For those reviewers that lambasted this show in comparison to JUSTICE LEAGUE and JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED,(which in fact are awesome shows) that's a very unfair assessment. Not only was the budget limited so was the general additude of the animation industry at that time. Remember these were cartoons, and "cartoons" were geared to small children on Saturday Mornings. Back then 12 year old boys were expected to mow lawns and rake leaves not sit around watching tv. But now with the advent of DVDS giving us back the Satudays Mornings we lost, we expect the production values to be low, but the fun invaluable. Sometimes simple animation with cut and dried stories of good vs evil is what we need to get us through the rough times in our lives, no matter how old we are.

I bought this for my 5 year old son because he's really into the Super Friends right now. I knew this wouldn't be violent and I wouldn't have to worry about context. He loves it! He doesn't get all of the voice over information, but it doesn't matter. He loves the characters and the action.

Challenge of the Super Friends - The First Season is a must-have DVD set for any fan of DC Comics' most memorable and exciting Saturday morning cartoon series ever created. Even if you're not a fan and are just looking for a fantastic adventure, I would encourage you to check this out.

Back when Saturday morning cartoons were geared only towards toddlers, along came this "adult-themed" science-fiction and fantasy adventure for the "older" crowd. Pushing the boundries of science, imagination and characterization, Challenge of the Super-Friends introduced real drama, conflict, heroism and horror into one fine cartoon series.

This is a classic tale about good versus evil. The Super Friends (consisting of Aquaman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Batman, Robin, The Flash, Hawkman, Apache Chief, Black Vulcan and Samurai) face off against a team of villianous foes calling themselves the Legion of Doom (Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Gorilla Grodd, Giganta, Black Manta, Sinestro, Solomon Grundy, Scarecrow, Cheetah, the Riddler, Bizarro, Captain Cold and Toyman). In each episode, the evil Legion of Doom hatches a horrific plan, and in each episode the Super Friends fight to stop them.

Although originally produced as a Saturday morning cartoon, this series boasts two very distinguishable attributes:

The first is that of incredible characterization. Each hero and villain has his or hew own unique look, personality and voice characteristics. In fact, the voice-over work done on this series is the best ensemble voice work ever done on a series of this magnitude. Indeed, no one can argue that the the voice of Black Manta is not the creepiest in cartoon history.

Second, the stories may be geared towards youngsters and teens, but there are elements in them that take it well above "kiddie-fare". There is an inherent quality of gothic horror in most of the tales (marauding zombies/attacking gorillas/evil swamp hags) that take this series up to a higher standard in cartoon story-telling.

The DVD also contains extras, such as commentary by current DC Comics writers. In addition, you haven't lived until you watch Challenge of the Super Friends dubbed in Spanish! (Just listen to them dub Black Manta's voice through what sounds like a tin can!)

Bottom-line: If you watched this series as a kid, you're already hooked. If you haven't watched this as a kid, then watch it now. This is a guaranteed winner!

I asked for this DVD for Christmas because I thought it would be fun to watch all these episodes again - I was always GLUED to the TV every Saturday morning to watch the Super Friends throughout most of the 70's. It has been a blast watching these episodes and I'm amazed how many of them I actually remember once they get started. The animation is classic 70's and it's fun to catch animation blunders such as Batman talking without his Utility belt on and then the next few seconds when the camera is back on him, he has it on! Also hilarious is the Justice League computer that prints out information instead of talking, and some crazy plot points such as the Super Friends always catch up with the Legion of Doom, but can never find their headquarters!?!

By the way, the Legion of Doom are the bomb!! They are so kooky and fun!

I have enjoyed every minute of watching these episodes... they are so corny now-a-days that I simply laugh all the way through them, and it's been great re-living my childhood again!