A Warner Bros. & DC Animated Original Series Box Set
The classic Saturday Morning cartoons that started it all, DC’s SUPER FRIENDS! The Complete Collection is available on Blu-ray and is a nostalgic journey for fans old and new of the greatest heroes come alive!
Before there was an expanded DC Animated universe that required its 3-part adaptation of Crisis on Infinite Earths to reboot and rebrand the next phase of its animated capers, there was the Emmy-Award Winning Batman: The Animated Series, which kicked off its connected universe and in 2201reunited [for the first time, wink] the world’s greatest heroes for Justice League and its follow-up Justice League Unlimited. Before the successes of these animated series, the groundwork had been laid out an entire generation before in the only forum promoting these types of superhero adventures. It was called Saturday Morning!
With a captive audience of youngsters in its thrall, Saturday Morning Cartoons held court for decades. They rewarded boys and girls everywhere for diligently completing their studies through the weekday. The morning block of cartoons, which featured prominently across all the major networks and spanned the gamut of variety shows, included Hannah Barbera classics to animated muppets. For over a decade, DC superheroes were also in the fray, battling for truth and justice, challenging the most infamous foes, such as the Super Friends! The legendary animated adventures can all be yours to own and have never looked more exciting.
DC and WB Animated have compiled and captured in high-definition SUPER FRIENDS! The Complete Collection is now available on Blu-ray. The 16-disc set encapsulates all the various Super Friends episodes from 1973 - 1985, including “The Lost Episodes,” which were rarely seen until they were first released on DVD. Although the DC heroes had appeared in animation before, Super Friends was the first time that the pantheon of heroes, including Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and various other members of the Justice League of America, were gathered together on Saturday Morning.
Premiering as the “Super Friends” (the name “Justice League” was in the early ’70s considered too aggressive for youngsters), these animated escapades were far more tame by today’s standards and often wrapped around a positive lesson. The character designs by Alex Toth became legendary and provided the look of the comic book cartoon counterparts for upwards of a decade. The Super Friends didn’t often face off against the traditional rogues galleries of villains in those early days. Still, as their roster expanded to include Green Lantern, The Flash, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl, among others, soon they would find themselves up against their most dastardly foes!
Challenge and Super Powers.
By 1978, Super Friends had proven itself a Saturday Morning mainstay, and with the series’ increasing popularity and efforts to match up with the competition, the format was diversified to include new heroic characters, including Black Vulcan (based on the comic hero Black Lightning), Apache Chief, and Samurai. With more muscle on their side, it was inevitable that the threat level had to match. With the launch of Challenge of the Super Friends, the heroes would be tested against the nefarious Legion of Doom, which Superman’s arch nemesis Lex Luthor led from the hauntingly creepy Hall of Doom. The roster included Cheetah, Sinestro, Black Manta, Brainiac, and other rogues.
The 16 episodes included the fan-favorite “Secret Origins of the Super Friends,” where the Legion plotted to move through time and alter the fate of the world’s greatest heroes. After the Challenge, the Super Friends would emerge again as The World’s Greatest Super Friends before metamorphosizing into a more dramatic incarnation. In the ‘80s, many of the popular animated series supported toylines, and with Kenner appropriating the DC heroes and introducing the “Super Powers Collection” of action figures to toy shelves across the country, the Super Friends became The Legendary Super Powers Show.
Adding Firestorm, The Nuclear Man, to the roster and later recruiting the Teen Titan Cyborg into their ranks, the Super Friends evolved further and emerged as The Super Power Team: Galactic Guardians. They battled more contemporary heavies, including Darkseid and his minions. In 1985, the long-beloved established look of the characters was replaced with the illustrative style of José Luis García-López, the artist responsible for the style guide used widely in 1982. The animation was suped-up and revitalized the heroes if only to mark the conclusion of their 12-year run on Saturday Morning.
The Super Friends era had such a significant influence on contemporary creators that it was highlighted most recently in the epic final act of DC’s Animated Universe Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Three. That release’s bonus feature, “A Multiverse of Inspiration,” explores its legacy in context. With the Blu-ray release, fans relive the most nostalgic era of DC superheroes in animation, and it’s a perfect addition to any collection. Encompassing every era of the Super Friends mythology, the set also includes Special Features with commentary from DC comics greats with behind-the-scenes insight on the Super Friends that captured our hearts and imaginations.
Get your #FanzEyeView of Super Friends on the DC Kids YouTube Channel here:
Warner Bros. Animation and DC SUPER FRIENDS!: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION | is now available on Blu-ray and can be purchased on Amazon for $119.85.
<<Spoiler Alert!>> The HQ.Remixed may be going away, but you can continue to get your dose of entertainment and pop-culture coverage at the central HQ, the OG ThrillseekerHQ site here. Also, visit our sister site TheFanzite.com (available on Apple News).
Comentarios