Product Details

• Actors: Constance Cawlfield, Danny Dark, Mark L. Taylor, Adam West, Casey Kasem
• Writers: Al Milgrom, Gerry Conway, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, William M. Marston
• Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: August 7, 2007
• Run Time: 179 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000PC8AKK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,250 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show - The Complete Series (DC Comics Classic Collection)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Hanna-Barbera's continues at showcasing DC�Comic book characters in animated shorts. These stories contained the now-familiar superheroes Superman, Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman, along with the new Cyborg and Firestorm.� In addition to this core group of six, episodes during this season featured cameos by old and new Superfriends Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show premiered on the ABC television network on Saturday 1984- 1985.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Title Says It All!, May 28, 2007

By 

Servo (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show - The Complete Series (DC Comics Classic Collection) (DVD)

"Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show!" as announced in the opening main title by veteran voice artist Dick Tufeld (Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, Thundarr the Barbarian) was the next-to-last incarnation of the long-running Super Friends series.

Based on the Super Powers toy line of the time featuring select DC Comics heroes including hero Firestorm (a long-time personal favorite of mine), Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984) is most revered as the Super Friends series that first introduced Firestorm the Nuclear Man in animated form, along with evil Apokolips lord Darkseid. Not to mention Adam West reprising his caped crusader role as the voice of this show's animated Batman.

Though still "Super Friends fun," the art and animation for "Super Powers" was diminished to rather cartoony proportions, as most Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the time (Challenge of the Gobots, Scary Scooby Funnies) tended to be. Dedicated SF fans will overlook it, while those spoiled on today's animation may not be so inclined. Firestorm's transformation scene still looks cool though. Plus the tone of the show is *slightly* more intense (for Super Friends) than the previous versions thanks to the presence of Darkseid. So while the quality of the show is down a bit, it still remains highly watchable.

Comprised of 16 episodes totaling almost 8 half hours, this "Super Powers" collection also may seem limited, especially to SF fans who were hoping that the follow-up series The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians episodes would be included on the set. However, unlike the previous collections (each also containing 16 episodes, but were wrongly/confusingly titled "The First Season" and "Volume Two"), Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show - The Complete Series is properly titled and contains exactly what the title says. Look for "Galactic Guardians" in its own 2-disc complete set on October 23rd.

Superfriends: The Legendary Supers Powers Show - The Complete Series is a 2-disc set featuring all episodes from the 1984-1985 season; Full-Frame (1.33:1) video; plus the following Special Features: "Evolution: New Heroes, Viler Villains, and Ethnic Additions" - Featurette on the impact of the Super Friends era of cultural diversity in animation; "The Super Powers Collection" - Featurette covers the correlation between the Super Friends and the toy industry; Commentary: On 5 key episodes by experts.

Episodes:
1. The Bride of Darkseid (Part 1)
2. The Bride of Darkseid (Part 2)
3. The Wrath of Brainiac
4. Reflections in Crime
5. No Honor Among Super Thieves
6. Mr. Mxyzptlk and the Magic Lamp
7. Case of the Shrinking Super Friends
8. The Mask of Mystery
9. Darkseid's Golden Trap (Part 1)
10. Darkseid's Golden Trap (Part 2)
11. Island of the Dinosoids
12. Uncle Mxyzptlk (Super Brat)
13. The Case of the Dreadful Dolls
14. The Royal Ruse
15. The Village of Lost Souls
16. The Curator

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars TYPICAL HANNA BARBERA FARE BUT IT IS THE JUSTICE LEAGUE!, September 3, 2007

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show - The Complete Series (DC Comics Classic Collection) (DVD)

Long before The Justice League animated series on the Cartoon Network there was the Super Friends on Saturday Morning TV. Premiering in 1973, the Super Friends went through various incarnations over the years until the final season during 1985 - 1986. The show featured a number of DC Comics' superheroes but the mainstays were Batman & Robin, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The show was geared toward Saturday Morning TV viewers and not comic book fans. Thus the stories were more simplistic and the violence was toned down quite a bit. One thing that the Super Friends did was to introduce ethnically diverse heroes to Saturday Morning TV with an African American (Black Vulcan), a Native American (Apache Chief), an Asian (Samurai) and a Hispanic (El Dorado)

This particular series, The Legendary Super Powers, was a rather ingenious media tie-in with Kenner Toys' line of action figures called the Super Powers Collection. This is truly one of the great action figure lines of all time. First, the line featured many characters who would not be seen in action figure form until the DC Direct series. This included Red Tornado, Dr. Fate, Martian Manhunter, and Captain Marvel. In addition, many of the figures were short-packed, creating instant collectibles for figures such as Cyborg, Plastic Man, and Mr. Miracle. It was a great line of toys.

Onto the DVD...The Two Disc set includes the complete, 16 episode series to go along with some nice special features. No one will ever accuse Hanna-Barbera of producing great animation, at least not in the 70's and 80's. Animation was still on the downslide prior to being revived by Disney in the late 80's and early 90's. Hanna-Barbera did what they do very well...and that was produce animated shows quickly and cheaply and it's a far cry from today's animated TV shows.

Each episode runs about 9 - 11 minutes in length and there are a couple of two-parters on here as well. The First episode, "The Bride of Darkseid" (a two-parter) introduces Firestorm. This is the first version of the character who is made up of teenager Ronnie Raymond and Professor Stein. The mysterious new hero aids the Super Friends and is soon welcomed into their ranks to help battle Darkseid who has kidnapped Wonder Woman and intends to make her his bride. The hilarious thing about Firestorm is that the flames atop his head never move, making him look like he's wearing some kind of a goofy hat. That's just one of the many corners that Hanna-Barbera cut to keep costs down.

In, "The Wrath of Brainiac", the new and improved Brainiac is introduced in his new robotic body as he and Darkseid join forces to destroy the Super Friends. "The Royal Ruse", "Island of the Dinosoids" and "Darkseid's Golden Trap are other standout episodes. The disc comes with commentary on five of the shorts by the episode's original writer, and comic writer/historian Mark Waid. These provide some insightful and often humorous revelations about the constraints placed on the writers on how they had to present the heroes. There are two special features on the set, the first a look at the previously mentioned cultural diversity of the Super Friends; and the second a look at the Super Powers Toy line.

The Commentaries and documentaries are very good and worth the price of the set alone. Yes the animation is very outdated and the stories are rather juvenile but taken within the context of the era they were produced, the Super Friends was still a great series and its nice to see these on DVD. Total run time is 179 minutes.

REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Probably one of the best SF series ever, May 1, 2007

By 

James Fabiano - See all my reviews

This review is from: Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show - The Complete Series (DC Comics Classic Collection) (DVD)

Yes if they are only doing the 1984 series, it will be a bit skimpy (still want to know what the bonuses are, and I wonder if any of the "lost" 1980s shorts will make it on this set, as they were seen as filler on some of the original broadcasts). But being "abused" by WB's marketing schemes in this case is worth it to me...well, in general, I am a big Superfriends fan anyway. And by this time, the show was turning towards the elements (including a slightly more serious nature) that would culminate with The Super Powers Team. It took one of Challenge of the SF's main strengths by using more villains from the comics; Lex Luthor and Mxyzptlk would return, joined by appearances from Mirror Master, the revamped Brainiac, and most of all, Darkseid and other New Gods characters! And on the side of justice is one of the most underrated DC heroes, Firestorm the Nuclear Man (by the time of the SPT, Cyborg would join next, and we'd see the Wonder Twins and most of the Multicultural Pals phased out). As a bonus, Batman's voice from then on would be Adam West, which made the character seem less nerdy than the Olan Soule version. Soule would take over the role of Martin Stein, one-half of Firestorm, in this season. Stein and Batman even team up for one episode!

Yes this might be a sparse DVD release, but still worth it for me to have pristine copies of this season. Bring on the Super Powers Team, and some more of the Superfriends series (All-New SF Hour, anyone? World's Greatest SF? The aforementioned "lost" episodes? Heck I'd even buy a set devoted to the Wendy and Marvin episodes)