The All-New Super Friends Hour
| The All-New Super Friends Hour | |
|---|---|
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| Also known as | Super Friends II |
| Genre | Adventure / Animation / Fantasy / Sci-Fi |
| Format | animated series |
| Created by | E. Nelson Bridwell Carmine Infantino Julius Schwartz (consultants) |
| Developed by | Dave Gibbons Gil Kane Alan Moore |
| Written by | Dick Conway Willie Gilbert Orville H. Hampton Elana Lesser Duane Poole Dick Robbins Cliff Ruby John Strong Jeffrey Scott Mark Jones Robert Kanigher |
| Directed by | Charles A. Nichols |
| Creative director(s) | Iwao Takamoto |
| Presented by | Hanna-Barbera (Warner Bros. Television) DC Comics |
| Starring | Norman Alden Michael Bell Danny Dark Olan Soule Casey Kasem Louise "Liberty" Williams Shannon Farnon |
| Narrated by | William Woodson |
| Opening theme | Hoyt Curtin[1] |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 15 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | William Hanna and Joseph Barbera |
| Camera setup | George Epperson, Jerry Whittington, Chuck Flekal, Curt Hall, Ron Jackson, Jerry Smith |
| Running time | 60 minutes (including commercials) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Audio format | mono |
| Original run | September 10, 1977 – September 2, 1978 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Super Friends (1973 TV series) |
| Followed by | Challenge of the Super Friends |
| External links | |
| Website | |
The All-New Super Friends Hour is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from September 10, 1977, to September 2, 1978, on ABC. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and is based on the Justice League and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics.
Summary
The popularity of TV's Wonder Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man spurred network interest in reviving the Super Friends program, which had run in the 1973/1974 season. When it was again unveiled in 1977, more young children and teenagers than before tuned in, making The All-New Super Friends Hour a huge ratings success. The success prompted the ABC television network to plan a new and even more innovative series for the fall of 1978.
Characters
In this particular incarnation of the Super Friends, the DC Comic book legends Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman and Aquaman return to fight for justice. However, this time, they get help from the shape-shifting super-teens Zan and Jayna (a.k.a. The Wonder Twins), along with their space-monkey Gleek.
Format
The All-New Superfriends Hour featured four animated shorts per program which followed a basic format each week.
The first segment of every show featured two of the heroes (for the purposes of the team-ups in the first and fourth segments, Batman and Robin were considered one hero) teaming up in a separate mini story.
The second segment featured a story with the Wonder Twins. The typical plot is that teenagers engage in a specific anti-social activity like vandalism or hitchhiking, and the Twins are summoned to deal with it. Inevitably, the misbehaving teenagers find themselves in danger as a consequence of their misbehavior and the Twins rescue them.
The third segment was considered the "primary" adventure of the week which featured the entire Super Friends roster (including the Wonder Twins) in a longer adventure.
The fourth and final segment featured a story with one of the primary lineup along with a special guest star. The fourth segment typically featured a problem which was solved using the guest star's unique abilities.
In addition, there were additional short spots between segments with members of the Super Friends giving basic safety lessons, basic health and first aid advice, magic tricks, and a two-part riddle featuring the week's primary plot line.
Syndication/cable
The 15 hour-long shows[2] were later cut into half-hour installments for local syndication[3] in the early 1980s. Episodes from the 1977 series were included in The Superman/Batman Adventures, which aired on the USA Network in 1996 and later on the Cartoon Network and Boomerang Network, which would air the original hour-long shows from 1977 in their full-blown entirety (save for the next week's previews) in July 2004 and again in June 2008.
Character lineup
- Superman
- Batman
- Robin
- Wonder Woman
- Aquaman
- The Wonder Twins
- Zan
- Jayna
- Gleek
Guests
- Black Vulcan
- Apache Chief
- Hawkman
- Hawkgirl
- Rima the Jungle Girl - Rima the Jungle Girl appeared in three episodes of The All-New Super Friends Hour. In "Fire", Batman, Robin, and Rima the Jungle Girl contend with a spreading forest fire, and have to search for a pair of escaped prisoners who have stolen a forestry truck filled with dynamite. Rima's main contribution is to call upon a nearby bear to push down some trees for an emergency bridge across a wide gap. In "River of Doom", Wonder Woman and Rima the Jungle Girl search for archaeologists who have accidentally stumbled onto a burial ground of angry natives. The archaeologists are captured and sentenced to death on the River of Doom. The superheroines find the would be victims with the indigenous animals scouting them out at Rima's command. They later rescue the scientists while Rima's main contribution being summoning crocodiles to attack their pursuers' canoes. And in "Return of Atlantis", Aquaman is captured by Queen Ocina when the lost city of Atlantis rises from the sea. Ocina plans to conquer the world with her female warriors, but Wonder Woman and Rima gather the Amazons of Paradise Island to stop her. Note: In breach of both DC Comics' and the Super Friends TV show's continuities, this "Atlantis" is not the kingdom over which Aquaman reigns. In her run with the Super Friends TV series, she is often known for being one of the new "affirmative action heroes" during that period. Along with characters Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, El Dorado and Samurai, Rima is considered a minority character.
- The Atom (Ray Palmer)
- Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
- Samurai
- The Flash (Barry Allen)
Black Manta appeared on the episodes "The Whirpool" and "The Water Beast", where he was referred to simply as "Manta" and his suit color was now olive brown.
Gentleman Ghost appears in the episode titled "Ghost." In this show, he is referred to only as "Gentleman Jim Craddock" instead of "Gentleman Ghost." A man casts a spell to bring Gentleman Ghost to the living so that he can take revenge on Superman and Wonder Woman for imprisoning his spirit. He uses his powers to turn U.N. representatives into ghosts and later turns Superman and Wonder Woman into ghosts. The curse is eventually broken, after which the Super Friends used the mystical Rods of Merlin to send Gentleman Ghost back to his grave, never to return.
Cast
- Jack Angel - Hawkman
- Wally Burr - Atom
- Regis Cordic - Apache Chief (debut episode), Manta
- Shannon Farnon - Wonder Woman
- Casey Kasem - Robin, Police Officer (in "The Brain Machine")
- Ross Martin -
- Richard Paul - Gentleman Ghost
- Mike Road - Barko (in "Planet of the Neanderthals")
- Louise Williams - Jayna
Note: Norman Alden, Michael Bell, Danny Dark, Buster Jones, Michael Rye, Olan Soule and Bill Woodson also provided voices for the show, but are not credited.
DVD release
Warner Home Video released The All-New Super Friends Hour – Season 1, Volume 1 on DVD [4] on January 8, 2008, containing 7 episodes (28 cartoons). However the episodes are not in the order they originally aired on ABC. On January 27, 2009, Warner released The All-New Super Friends Hour – Season 1, Volume 2 featuring the remaining eight episodes.
| DVD name | Ep No. | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Season 1, Volume 1 | 7 (28 cartoons) | January 8, 2008 |
| Season 1, Volume 2 | 8 (32 cartoons) | January 27, 2009 |
DC Super Friends
Despite using the main theme from the World's Greatest Super Friends, the 2010 DC Super Friends "The Joker's Playhouse" shares several elements of its opening sequence with The All-New Super Friends Hour including introducing several of the Super Friends by name.[5]
External links
- Superman Homepage: Hanna Barbera's Super Friends – The All-New Super Friends Hour
- The All-New Super Friends Hour at Big Cartoon DataBase
- The All-New Super Friends Hour at the Internet Movie Database
- The All-New Super Friends Hour at TV.com
- The All-New Super Friends Hour @ Legions of Gotham
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