All-New Super Friends Hour: The Monster of Dr. Droid (1977)

 

This is the first segment of the fifth episode of The All-New Super Friends Hour, unlike most other Super Friends formats, this one had hour long episodes that were made up of various shorter cartoons. The first segment would be an adventure staring two members (or three in some cases as Batman and Robin would often team with another Super Friend) of the Super Friends. The second would be a morality play staring the Wonder Twins. The third would be a typical half hour Super Friends adventure. The fourth and last segment would feature one of the main Super Friends teaming up with a special DC Comics guest star. 

Scientist Dr. Droid creates a robotic creature to help mankind, but the android goes mad and gets lose into the small town of Wheatville. Superman and Wonder Woman team up to stop the creature. 

This is a fun cartoon. The creature (obviously inspired by the creature in Frankenstein) is a really funny antagonist. He has a great design and manages to feel like a real threat to our heroes. This cartoon is inspired by classic horror movies and in many ways captures the feel of those classic films. There is a really effective creepy atmosphere to this cartoon. This is especially present with the use of fog and some wonderful background art of a graveyard. The nighttime setting and the very atmospheric final fight with the creature add a lot to this delightfully Halloween-y feel. The action scenes are also a lot of fun. While there is not a lot of hand to hand combat the cartoon makers find clever ways around this that are just as fun. 

All in all this is a wonderfully fun and atmospheric cartoon.