The World's Greatest SuperFriends

The World's Greatest SuperFriends
Genre	Adventure / Animation / Fantasy / Sci-Fi
Created by	E. Nelson Bridwell Carmine Infantino Julius Schwartz (consultants)
Written by	Jeffrey Scott Bob Kane William M. Marston Joe Shuster Jerry Siegel
Directed by	Charles A. Nichols and Ray Patterson
Creative director	Iwao Takamoto
Presented by	Hanna-Barbera (Warner Bros. Television) DC Comics
Voices of	Michael Bell William Callaway Danny Dark Shannon Farnon Casey Kasem Olan Soule Liberty Williams
Narrated by	William Woodson
Composers	Hoyt S. Curtin and Paul DeKorte
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	8 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Joseph Barbera and William Hanna
Editor	Nancy Massie (color key)
Running time	30 minutes (including commercials)
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 22, 1979 – September 27, 1980

The World's Greatest Super Friends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from September 22, 1979 to September 27, 1980 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

This particular incarnation of Super Friends relied heavily on folklore and classic fairy tales for plots. One episode in particular, "The Lord of Middle Earth", was inspired by the novel Lord of the Rings, in which the team journeys to Middle-earth to save the inhabitants from an evil wizard. The series also borrowed from (then) contemporary politics, as the main villain Kareem Azar in "Rub Three Times For Disaster" is almost a carbon copy of the late Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ruholla Mussaui Khomenei (1900–1989).

The series had yet to be released on DVD. Tea and Florence are awesome

Characters

• Superman – The Supermobile appeared in the episode "Lex Luthor Strikes Back". In the episode "Terror at 20,000 Fathoms", Superman gives Aquaman, the Wonder Twins and Gleek a guided tour of the Fortress of Solitude showing off many structures such as the Bottle City of Kandor.
• Batman
• Robin
• Wonder Woman
• Aquaman
• The Wonder Twins
• Gleek

Cast

• Michael Bell – Zan, Gleek
• William Callaway – Aquaman
• Danny Dark – Superman
• Shannon Farnon – Wonder Woman
• Casey Kasem – Robin
• Olan Soule – Batman
• Liberty Williams – Jayna
• William Woodson – Narrator

Episodes

Main article: List_of_Super_Friends_episodes § Season_4:_1979-1980

The second episode "Lex Luthor Strikes Back" features Luthor escaping from jail and challenging the Super Friends. A character similar to Ned Beatty's character Otis from the live-action Superman film from 1978 named Orville Gump also appears in "Lex Luthor Strikes Back". Gump talks with Luthor about his new plans against the Superman, in the same underground lair in the Metropolis subways of the said first Superman movie. Gump disguised himself as Jimmy Olsen at the beginning of the episode before revealing his true self.

The episode "Universe of Evil" features Superman encountering evil versions of the rest of the team from an alternate universe, called the "Super Enemies" (he temporarily swapped places with his own evil counterpart, who wrought havoc and almost defeated the rest of the Super Friends until they swapped back just in time) when trying to stop Mount Vesuvius from erupting (which the evil Superman was causing). This universe's version of the Hall of Justice is called the Hall of Evil, and a demonic-looking face or gargolye-style head is on the outside of the building (above the front entrance). The Super Enemies themselves appear almost identical to the Super Friends, although their version of Aquaman has an eyepatch, Batman's costume is red rather than blue, Robin has a moustache, and Wonder Woman's face is lined, her skin paler, and her costume slightly darker. The evil Superman is the most noticeably different, with black on his costume where the regular version has blue (i.e. the majority), and his eyes are red with black marks around them. The Gleak of this universe has fangs, a more evil face, and an arrow-shaped tail.

As previously mentioned, Kandor appears in an episode called "Terror At 20,000 Fathoms." When an undersea villain plots to sink various continents to rule over them while Superman and Wonder Woman were off planet, the remaining Super Friends request the aid of the Kandorians who help stop the evil scheme. Like in the comics, Kandor and its inhabitants were reduced in size by Brainiac.

In the episode "The Super Friends Meet Frankenstein," Dr. Frankenstein (voiced by Stanley Ralph Ross) is depicted as a mad scientist, monster maker, and great great grandson of the original Dr. Frankenstein. He is assisted by an Igor-like henchman named Gork (voiced by Michael Bell). Dr. Frankenstein used his monsters to take revenge on the Transylvanians for what they did to his great great grandfather. First he unleashes the classic Frankenstein monster to attack Transylvania. The Super Friends were called in to investigate.

When Batman and Robin attack Frankenstein's monster, Dr. Frankenstein ordered his monster to lure Batman and Robin to Frankenstein's Castle in order to trap them. When Batman and Robin short circuit Frankenstein's monster, Dr. Frankenstein arrives and traps them while thanking them for giving him an idea for his next creation more powerful then the original one. First, Dr. Frankenstein transfers Batman's abilities to the target body. Robin manages to escape, but Dr. Frankenstein isn't bothered by this as Robin is only bringing the others. When Superman and Wonder Woman are called in by Robin, they are attacked by a tentacled tar creature with Kryptonite in it enabling Superman and Wonder Woman to be captured. Dr. Frankenstein then transfers Superman and Wonder Woman's abilities into the target body thus creating a composite monster that has Batman's head, cape, and genius-level intellect, Superman's body and super abilities, and Wonder Woman's magic lasso, magic bracelets, and telepathic powers. Dr. Frankenstein sends his Super-Monster to attack Europe while Robin and Gleek free Superman, Batman, and Robin.

With help from the Austrian Energy Research Institute, Robin ends up going through the same technological experiment enabling him to have the powers of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman in order to fight the Super-Monster. Robin and the Super-Monster are evenly matched until Robin dons a lead suit and exposes the Super-Monster to Kryptonite. Robin defeats the Super-Monster while Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Gleek apprehend Dr. Frankenstein and Gork and then regain their powers from the Super-Monster by reversing the experiment.

DC Super Friends

The main title theme for the direct-to-video original animation DC Super Friends: The Joker's Playhouse (2010) is from the World's Greatest Super Friends.

External links

• The World's Greatest Super Friends at Big Cartoon DataBase
• The World's Greatest Super Friends at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com
• The World's Greatest SuperFriends @ Legions of Gotham