Monday, January 2, 2023

The New Super Friends: The Pied Piper from Space (1978)

 



An excellent episode.

UFO's head to Earth and hypnotize children (including the Wonder Twins) across the world and make them come to Monument Valley Airzonia. Here a mysterious villain called The Pied Piper from Space kidnaps the kids and forces them into slavery. 

This episode is a great example of everything that I love about this show. It has a wonderful villain. It is not easy to make a villain that truly feels like a threat to all these heroes, but this one does. Not only that but the scenes with the hypnotized children being kidnapped, while also be completely helpless, make him feel much creepier than the average villain from this show. He is also given a more menacing presence by the fact that through much of the episode all we see and hear of him is a shadow and a very distorted voice. Leaving this character to our imagination for much of the run time, makes him all the more threatening in our imaginations. The reveal of who he truly is, is quite a good twist. This episode also benefits from the wonderful background art. Once again we visit a distant planet and the artwork makes it a joy to look at. I especially love the purple sky in the background. There are also some excellent and very fun action scenes, which are a joy to watch. 

All in all this episode is a real delight. 



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