Ok so I know I am like old and stuff, but we are going WAY back here. Warner has just released the first seasons of Challenge of the Superfriends on DVD. Appearing on television's everywhere in 1978, I was just a wee child of 4 years old. Yet, I do remember this series fondly, if only for my admiration for Wonder Woman.
The television series brought together a team of DC's best super heroes together for the first time in order to fight off, well a team of DC's best super enemies. Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Robin, Aquaman, Jayna Wonder, Zan Wonder, Gleek were finally together for the first time for animated television goodness.
The first episode, titled The Demons Of Exxor, the super friends find themselves travel to the Wonder Twins' home planet to stop evil conquerors who are attacking the planet with a ray that brings nightmares to life. Of course this premise helps cement the bond between friends furthering the series journey.
The first season continued with some decent writing and a look that was quite impressive for the time of its airing on ABC. Listening to the voices as an adult I have to wonder how I bought into it's cheesiness at the time. Although some of it still seems a bit outlandish (maybe Im spoiled by contemporary Adult Swim type stuff), there's some interesting stories.
It's good that Warner has brought this collection to DVD. Superfriends certainly have plenty of challenges in them.
The Disc:
Being a television show, the series is presented here in a standard screen format that looks quite good actually. Coming from the 1970's there's a certain faded look here that really isn't surprising. Sounds on the disc are pretty standard stuff for a television show. While this cartoon is full of action, there's not a ton of use of the surrounds. Still sounds are decent enough.
Extras on season 1 begin with Commentary on 2 Episodes By Comic Book Writers Geoff Johns and Mark Waid. Hearing these guys was definitely a pleasure. These two guys have penned some of the most famous comics and they definitely know their comic universe.
Next up is Saturday, Sleeping Bags and Super Friends: Retrospective, a feature that delves into the nature of the show and its effect on saturday mornings. Just hearing the titles brought back some good memories for me. Not a bad feature actually with some information I did not previously know.
Next is Hall of Justice and Legion of Doom Character Bios which offers a better look into the various characters seen in this amazing season.
bottom line:
Challenge of the Superfriends offers a neat package, a free movie ticket to see Catwoman and some decent episodes with good writing and awesome super heroes. Not quite as exciting as Batman but still pretty good.
3 out of 5
By - Brian Gray
