Challenge of the Superfriends
release year: 1978
genre: classic TV animation
viewing setting: home DVD, 8/1/04
synopsis: All of the superheroes join forces to form the Superfriends, which is a good thing since all of the supervillains have joined forces to form the Legion of Doom.
impressions: Ah, Saturday mornings in the late 1970s...a time when Thundarr the Barbarian roamed the world fighting the plots of various mutated bad guys...a time when there were hours of Road Runner reruns...a time when the Superfriends engaged in regular adventures of maximum corniness. It was great when I was a kid, but I never expected it to be great now. And it wasn't. Truthfully, I only bought this DVD set to relive my childhood. It's all really very silly. We're talking about plot holes you can drive a bus through. Lex Luthor invents a ray that controls the Superfriends' minds, so does he make them kill each other or take over the world? No. He makes them commit crimes in their sleep, then tricks them into a cage which he launches toward the sun. Very inefficient, Lex Luthor, you super-genius you. Another example: the cage is flying through space, toward the sun, but the Superfriends inside can breathe normally. A third example: Luthor uses his mind-control ray to transform all of Earth's people into criminal Biazarros and Cheetahs. Huh? Why? Why those two? Still...it's good kids' fun, so I don't expect it to scale to the logic level of adults. I do think that I'll watch the rest of these while drunk, though.
outstanding funny Superfriends criticism: Seanbaby's Superfriends page
acting: n/a, but there are a lot of voices, including Casey Kasem
final word: corny but worth watching for fun and nostalgia
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