...first for Season one, each episode was an hour long (later seasons switched to half hour format, some with 3 stories within an half hour). But due to the hour long format the animation suffers in season 1 (as it did with other hour long formats from Hanna Barbera at this time, the hour long Scooby-Doo movies come to mind) but there are a few moments of good animation usually in the action scenes. Later seasons had better animation along with the tighter shows. So, you should know that ahead of time before viewing...don't expect the quality of later Superfriends seasons...
...this is the only Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog season (later replaced by the Wonder Twins) which as we all know was a good thing. If you thought the Wonder Twins were annoying, you'll be begging for them after a few minutes of these 3. Wendy is ok but, too smart for her own good while Marvin is a moron, and Wonder Dog is far from being a wonder. They have a typical 70's "Donnie and Marie" or "Sonny and Cher" set up, where the male (Marvin) is made to be incredibly dumb, while the female (Wendy) is incredibly smart yet if so, why is she hanging with Marvin in the first place?...
...and they never bother to explain how these 3 got involved to become "junior" Superfriends in training, etc. But in reality they were a plot device to show how real kids at home can contribute in life by using detection and knowledge to fight crime or solve problems. Which wasn't a bad thing, just not handled well by these 3. But stories for this season were very environmentally concerned and actually are still major issues we deal with today. In many ways these episodes pointed towards the problems we now face. Which makes this season ahead of it's time and later Superfriends seasons were never this environmental...
...Episodes focused on energy thieves stealing power and leaving cities powerless (importance of energy conservation), super computers that relieve people of activity which leads everyone to become lazy (um hello, we are now a mostly overweight society thanks to sitting in front of the computer all day), weather controllers who screw up the weather for crime (importance of nature being in balance), art thieves, pollution gone wild, dangers of effecting plant and animal life, planet temperature changes causing glacier melting (global warming anyone?), and corporations destroying the environment with air/land/water pollution (which covers nature in balance, pollution, energy conservation, laziness, and global warming all over again.) With encouragement that many of these problems can only be changed through a combination of knowledge, reporting about the issues, activism and lawful change through politicians and the courts...
...with the Superfriends taking on these challenges in each episode...
...dealing with the chaos they cause and defeating the villain in the end and making everything right again with the world...
...due to the hour long format there's plenty of time to sit around and discuss the problems...
...which leads to slow and too long moments while we wait for them to get back to the action, which they do eventually...
...this season being the first also has some odd presentations of the characters. Sometimes very muscular like the comics, other times very plain. And other weirdness like...
...um, where are Superman's hands going? And why does Batman not have any underwear on at this time?...
...and what's going on here with the lump in Batman's pants and why is Robin holding his hand like that over that area?...
...Anyway, moving on, you can also see a "blink and you'll miss it" cameo by Plastic Man in one episode...
...random speedo guy on water skis...and much more use of Aquaman than in later seasons...
...they do a very good job of making sure Aquaman has something to do in each story. And incorporating water or the ocean into every episode. No sitting around or riding shot gun in Wonder Woman's Invisible Jet, not during season 1 anyway...
...and some nice diving animations for Aquaman too...
...and some hand holding with Superman...
...actually, Supes just helped Aquaman up out of the water but the hand holding lingers a bit too long after he's on board...
... the Flash also stops by for an episode...
...overall, it was a nice visit down memory lane for me. I used to be able to see repeats of these shows weekdays after elementary school. But that was years ago and never complete like this...
...So, I look forward to vol 2 for the rest of the first season episodes, one of which has a one time guest appearance of Green Arrow...so I'll enjoy that...
...but that means suffering more Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog, sigh :)
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