Challenge of the Super Friends: History of Doom (1978)

A perfect ending to The Challenge of the Super Friends era of this franchise. 

As this episode begins we see Earth completely in shambles. Later we see three alien visitors landing on Earth trying to figure out what happened to this planet. The aliens find the Hall of Justice and they study the tapes there to find out what happened. 

This is one of the best episodes of the show. It has a darker tone than most of the episodes and this darker tone is handled very well. From the start with the wrecked Earth and the empty Hall of Justice this episode has a very unique feel that pays off very well. Also seeing the story in fragments from the tapes creates a unique and very effective form of storytelling for this series and the effect is wonderful. We do see clips from previous episodes here, but the wonderful framing device makes this not simply feel like a repeat of what came before. Also, wonderful here is our couple peeks into the origins of The Legion of Doom. This includes a surprisingly comic accurate (for this time period) origin story for Lex Luthor that is brief but a lot of fun. When we learn what happened to Earth it proves to be a very fun, if brief, story that I simply loved. 

This is simply a wonderful episode. 

Challenge of the Super Friends: Super Friends: Rest in Peace (1978)

 

One of the best episodes. 

In this episode, the Legion of Doom gets a hold of an element known as Noxium, which is capable of killing all of the Super Friends. Unfortunately with this element they have already taken care of Batman before they can stop them. Now the Super Friends must stop the Legion of Doom before they are all dead. This may be their most dangerous mission yet. 

As corny as the idea of  Noxium is, it does a wonderful job of creating an incredibly effective threat to our heroes. Out of every episode of this show, this one probably has the greatest sense of suspense. This is not only due to how big of a threat Noxium is but also because the episode does such a wonderful job making this episode feel much higher stake than the usual episode. This is already set up perfectly from the opening scene, with Batman's funeral. This is not the way you would expect a Super Friends episode to start and the effect is quite jarring. The sense of suspense only grows as the episode progresses and the Legion of Doom finds ways to lure the Super Friends into their trap. Yet even with this the episode still keeps the series' sense of corny fun with some good gags, fun bits of dialogue and fun action sequences. 

The only problem I have with this episode is that the ending is so much of a dues ex machina that it feels like a complete cop out. Of course I don't know how else you can end a story like this for a show like this. 

All in all this is a simply wonderful episode. 

Challenge of the Super Friends: Doomsday (1978)

 

A very fun episode. 

In this episode the Super Friends capture Sinestro, Cheetah, and Black Manta after the rest of the Legion of Doom abandons them. After eventually escaping they seek revenge on the rest of the Legion of Doom.

This is a very clever idea for an episode, as it truly plays what seprates our heroes from our villains. Also pitting the villains against each other is very unique for this show, making the episode truly stand out. I have never been a fan of superheroes fighting each other but I have always liked the idea of villains fighting each other, because they are in it for themselves not for each other. Yet there is still even more fun to be had here as there is a lot of the corny silver age superhero fun that I love. There is some really silly but enjoyably corny bits of dialogue throughout. There is also a wonderfully corny scene where Superman finds himself on a planet where evil is excepted as right and good is viewed as a crime. Early in this episode we get a glimpse of various outer space monsters. The designs of them are simply wonderful and quite creative. 

This is a very fun and unique episode. 

Challenge of the Super Friends: Fairy Tale of Doom (1978)

 

A very fun episode. 

In this episode Toyman invents a device that can trap anyone inside of a book. The Legion of Doom uses this device to trap the Super Friends inside of various fairy tales. Hawkman gets stuck in Jack and the Beanstalk. Wonder Woman gets trapped in Alice in Wonderland. Superman gets trapped in Gulliver's Travels. 

This is corny silver age style superhero antics at their best. The basic story idea itself is simply delightful by itself and the way it plays out is just as much fun. The designs of the various fairy tale lands are wonderfully thought out and very atmospheric. I especially love the psychedelic look of Wonder Land. I also enjoy just how sinister these stories are against our heroes. Including the pure sadistic-ness of Wonder Land. There is also plenty of corny fun moments here. The best of these corny moments includes Brainiac giving the Lilliputians kryptonite weapons. This episode also includes some fun action scenes and a good sense of suspense. 

This is simply a lot of fun. 

Challenge of the Super Friends: The Final Challenge (1978)

A delightful episode. 

As this episode begins some members of the Super Friends (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Apache Chief) are being chased by some members of the Legion of Doom (Cheetah, The Ridder, Scarecrow, Bizzaro, Black Manta). All of them are teleported to a dimension, where a strange being puts them into various contests against each other to settle their disputes once and for all. Meanwhile the rest of the Super Friends and Legion of Doom try to find where their partners are. 

There is a lot to enjoy about this episode. The various challenges our main characters are put through to decide their differences are very creative and a lot of fun. There is a lot of fun to be had with each of them. Just as much fun is the various universes that the rest of our heroes and villains visit on their way to find their lost partners. This gives a delightfully corny sci-fi feel to the episode, especially with the universe of three-dimensional objects and the strange being that lives there. All of this is boosted by wonderfully atmospheric background art that is simply a joy to look at. The dynamic between the Super Friends and the Legion of Doom working together also gives this episode a unique feel and is also simply a lot of fun. Add to this some really fun action scenes and this episode is a pure delight. There is even a real fun twist here towards the end.

This is just a lot of fun. 

Challenge of the Super Friends: Conquerors of the Future (1978)

 

A delightful episode. 

As this episode begins The Legion of Doom seem to be helping people instead of committing crimes. However the Super Friends are suspicious about this and don't quite believe that their arch enemies have truly reformed. The Super Friends' suspicions happen to be correct as the Legion of Doom has their sights are traveling to the future to take over the world. 

This episode is simply a lot of fun. The Legion of Doom's plans are very clever and well thought out. Again this episode makes it perfectly believable that the bad guys could truly take over the universe. There are multiple times when you truly do feel that the Super Friends are in danger. This creates a real sense of the suspense. I also love that we actually get a glimpse of what the Legion of Doom actually conquering the world would look like. This truly gives the episode a very unique feel. This episode also has some wonderful dialogue. I especially love the Riddler's riddles which are simply a lot of fun and very well written. This episode also features some wonderfully corny silver age superhero dialogue that I love. This dialogue is even fully present in the very first scene, with Green Lantern narrating his own thoughts to us with no one around seemingly hearing him. This is just the kind of corny superhero fun that I love. I also really like the design work in this episode. The futuristic worlds are very well designed and a joy to look at. The designs of the futuristic people are also wonderful. All of this also helps give this episode a unique feel. 

All in all a very fun episode. 

Challenge of the Super Friends: Swamp of the Living Dead (1978)

 

A very atmospheric episode.

In this episode the Legion of Doom find a spooky old lady in their swamp. They confront her thinking she is a spy for the Super Friends. However she turns out to be a witch who summons an evil magical head. The head promises the Legion of Doom evil magical power in exchange for them capturing the Super Friends for him. 

Where this episode really works is its sense of atmosphere. The swamp is a wonderful setting for such a spooky themed episode. The use of lighting and shadows is wonderful and gives this episode a delightfully spooky feel to it. The evil floating head has a great design that has a creepy feel to it but is never too creepy to take away from the light hearted fun that we all love about this series. There are also some zombies that have similarly creepily fun designs. The witch is also a very fun character. The background art is simply wonderful to look at and adds to the spooky fun. This episode also has a unique feel to it because much of the story follows the Legion of Doom instead of our heroes. This works quite well, especially considering the Halloween-y feel for much of the episode. 

All in all this is a really fun episode that has a unique feel to it. 

Challenge of the Super Friends: Revenge on Gorilla City (1978)

 

A very fun episode. 

In this episode Gorilla Grodd intends to take over Gorilla City with the help of the rest of the Legion of Doom. However the leader of the city escapes and contacts the Super Friends for help. The Super Friends must stop the Legion of Doom before they use their conquest of Gorilla City to take over the world. 

This episode is full of corny silver age fun and works as a great example of why I love this type of silly superhero fun. The episode rather than underplaying or making fun of the silliness of the plot, instead embraces it. Because of this I found it very easy to get caught up in the fun of the story. It doesn't hurt that the action scenes here are a lot of fun and with the heroes losing their powers there becomes a real sense of suspense here. This action scenes are also very well staged and with some well done twists on the average Super Friends action scenes feel quite unique to this episode. Even with a large army of gorillas here as well, this episode does a great job giving nearly every Super Friend a time to shine. This episode is also filled with the type of corny superhero dialogue I love. In fact Robin gets one of his finest holy-isms here, "holy guerilla warfare." Gorilla City also is a perfect setting for a Super Friends adventure and has a real sense of atmosphere to it as well as boasting some more great Hanna-Barbera background art. 

All in all this is just a delight of an episode. 

Upon its original airing this episode was paired with The New Super Friends episode, The Anti-Matter Monster (1978). 

Challenge of the Super Friends: Secret Origins of the Super Friends (1978)

 

One of the best episodes.


In this episode Lex Luthor comes up with a plan for the Legion of Doom to travel back in time to stop Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman from becoming the superheroes they do become. They go back to each of their origin stories to stop them from happening. 

This is simply a wonderful episode. The basic premise is very clever. The idea of villains traveling back in time to stop superheroes from ever coming to be, is one that can still today, be used as the basis for a great story. Though given less than half an hour, this version of the story is obviously very simplistic but that doesn't mean that it isn't effective. This episode is simply a lot of fun and moves at a fast pace that never once loses the attention of the viewer. Also giving us a look into the origin stories of three of the Super Friends gives this episode a very unique feel that sets it apart from your typical Super Friends episode. Also as much as these origin stories are very familiar to all of us DC fans, they are still wonderful origin stories and to see them play out here is simply a lot of fun. It is also nice to have some time to focus solely on these characters one at a time in a show that is often crowded with superheroes. The environments that these origin stories provide are also wonderful and provide us with some great atmosphere and some more of the wonderful background art that populates Hanna-Barbera cartoons of this time period. The way in which things resolve here is also very cleverly done and seems like such a naturally logical conclusion. 

There is so much to enjoy about this episode and it should prove to be a delight to most any DC fan. 

The Challenge of the Super Friends: Giants of Doom (1978)

 

A wonderfully silly and fun episode. 

This episode has a delightfully simplistic story. Bizzaro comes up with a plan to make the Legion of Doom into giants. The Legion of Doom then uses this idea to take revenge upon the Super Friends. 

This is exactly the type of corny superhero fun that I love. This episode is full of many moments of pure over the top fun. I especially love Batman, Robin and Superman putting back together the moon after Bizzaro and Sinestro break it in half is simply wonderful silver age style fun and for those who love this kind of corniness (like me) is simply a joy to watch. The action scenes with the Legion of Doom as giants are just as much of absurd fun as you could hope for. The very simplicity of the idea is also a lot of fun. Sometimes we want to see Superheroes face various moral conflicts or be pushed to their emotional limits, but sometimes we also just want to see them fight giant versions of their villains. This episode fully understands that concept and just has a lot of fun with this simple idea. At the same time this episode really does make the giant versions of the villains feel like major threats to our heroes and create a real amount of suspense. This episode also has a wonderfully atmospheric scene, with our heroes on Saturn. That scene features wonderful background art and great use of coloring. It also has a wonderfully creepy type of vibe that I love. I also really enjoyed the silly dialogue that Toyman is given in this episode. This is silver age type of dialogue at its best. 

Simply a lot of fun. 

This episode originally aired with The New Super Friends episode, Terror from the Phantom Zone (1978). 

Challenge of the Super Friends: Monolith of Evil (1978)

 

A very fun episode. 

In this episode Solomon Grundy convinces the Legion of Doom to find and retrieve the monolith that brought him back from the dead, to give the evil criminals incredible power. When they themselves cannot get to it, they trick the Super Friends into retrieving it for them.

This episode has all the corny superhero fun that I love so much. This episode moves at an incredibly fast pace and when it ends it feels like it has only begun. There are some delightful action sequences that easily put a smile on my face. I especially love them fighting the various monsters the monolith creates, these are as much fun as any action scenes in this show ever were. The sheer power the monolith gives these villains creates a real sense of suspense. The conclusion to this battle is very clever and quite believable. There is also some wonderful design work, both on the monsters and the various locations seen in this episode. This episode is simply a treat to look at. This episode is also full of the corny superhero dialogue that I love. 

A delight of an episode.

This episode originally aired alongside The New Super Friends episode, Attack of the Vampire (1978). This episode also features a scene that dated very poorly with the Legion of Doom attacking the World Trade Center. 

Challenge of the Super Friends: Trial of the Super Friends (1978)

 

A really fun episode. 

In this episode Cheetah steals Wonder Woman's magic lasso, Brianiac steals Green Lantern's power ring and Scarecrow steals Batman and Robin's utility belts. They are then teleported to the Legion of Doom's headquarters where they are put on trial by the Legion of Doom with Lex Luthor as judge. Things are made worse by the fact that our heroes were protecting the liquid light in the Astro-Chemical Research Plant. While the trial is going on some other members of the Legion of Doom steal this liquid light and put the whole Earth in danger. The rest of the Super Friends must protect the world before the liquid light destroys much of it.


This is such a fun episode that perfectly shows why I love these types of corny superhero stories so much fun. The idea that the Legion of Doom puts them on trial for trying to uphold the law is simply really funny. I love how after Batman says that everything, they are on trial for is perfectly within the law, Lex Luthor states, "your laws." The complete nonsense of this and just how much the villains are enjoying this trial is a joy to watch. I especially love Grodd's line of "so help you Grodd." The punishments for each of the Super Friends are very creative. They also lead to some great and very atmospheric background art that is wonderful to look at. The action scenes here are very exciting and there is even a good deal of suspense in them. 

This is simply a very fun episode that shows just why I love this show so much. 

This episode originally aired with The New Super Friends episode, The Pied Piper From Space (1978)

Challenge of the Super Friends: The Time Trap (1978)

 

A really fun episode.


In this episode, Gorilla Grodd invents an inter-spacial time conveyor, that allows the Legion of Doom to go back in time to steal various historical treasures. It is up to the Super Friends to stop them but they are excepting and ready for the Super Friends. 

There is a lot to enjoy about this episode. The idea is just the type of over-the-top type of Super Hero adventure I love. There is a real creativity to this story, and it is fun to see our favorite DC heroes and villains travel to all these different time periods and locations. This also gives the episode a unique feel among Super Friends episodes. Naturally this also allows for the great background art that populates Hanna-Barbera cartoons of this era and this makes the episode a joy to look at. The episode also moves at a really fast and fun pace that never allows the episode to become boring for a second. This is helped by some really good action set pieces. The fact that this episode never takes itself too seriously, only adds to the fun. I also love that this episode gives nearly every Super Friend something to do without feeling overcrowded. 

This episode is simply a lot of fun to watch.

This aired on TV alongside The New Super Friends episode, Sinbad and the Space Pirates (1978). 

Challenge of the Super Friends: The World's Deadliest Game (1978)

 

A wonderful episode. 


In this episode Brainiac uses a device to make it seem like the Earth has vanished. When Wonder Woman, Hawkman and Black Vulcan try to investigate, Toyman tricks them into falling into a black hole and landing in a planet full of toy-based traps.  The rest of the Super Friends set out to save their friends. However the Riddler is sending the other Super Friends on a wild goose chase with his riddles. 

This episode already sets itself up as a great episode from the very start. The opening shots of the swamp where the Legion of Doom has their headquarters is simply wonderful and features some truly great and atmospheric artwork. The design of the various toy traps are also wonderful, especially the design of the giant pinball machine. Many of these traps are also very clever and the pure imagination put into them is a lot of fun. I also love how this episode does a great job of making non-superpowered villains like Toyman and The Riddler feel like believable threats to the Super Friends. This is quite impressive and certainly no easy feat from a writing standpoint. This is especially a joy for me as The Riddler is my favorite Batman villain. Many of the action scenes here are quite fun and exciting. This episode also features a lot of the great dialogue that is simply very charming in its corniness. I especially love a lot of the Toyman's quips and The Riddler's puzzles. Speaking of the Riddler's puzzles the places they lead our heroes to are also very atmospheric and well designed. 

This is a really fun episode and a pure delight to anyone who enjoys old fashioned superhero fun. 

  

The Challenge of the Super Friends: Invasion of the Fearians (1978)

 

A really fun episode.


An alien race called the Fearians promises to help the Legion of Doom take over the world and defeat the Super Friends. However first they want the Legion of Doom to make the Earth suitable for them. To do so Captain Cold sets out to freeze the world, Black Manta tries to flood it and Sinestro sends comets towards the Earth.

This is a very fun episode. I love how even though this episode features all of the Super Friends it lets us see three of them in their own element. We see the Flash take on Captain Cold, Aquaman take on Black Manta and Green Lantern fight Sinestro. Each of these scenes are very exciting action scenes and help show why each of these three characters are great superheroes, even without the rest of the Super Friends to help them. These are not the only great action scenes in this episode. The final action scene here is simply a lot of fun. This episode also has a lot of great artwork. This episode takes place in different areas throughout the world and each environment here is wonderfully designed and has a great sense of atmosphere. The background art in each of these environments is simply a joy to look at. While they do not have enough screen time to give them memorable personalities, the Fearings have cool looking designs, a creepy voice and feel like a major threat to our heroes.

This episode is simply a treat for Superfriends fans.  

Challenge of the Super Friends: Wanted: The Super Friends (1978)

 

Hanna-Barbera's Super Friends franchise appeared under many different names and worked in many different formats. However the format of the Super Friends that comes to most people's mind is Challenge of the Super Friends. This show (which ran 16 episodes) involves the most famous (and some not so famous) DC heroes, Super Man, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Black Vulcan (who was created for this show), The Flash, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan to be exact), Apache Chief (also created for this show), Aquaman. Samurai (also created for this show) and Hawkman fight against the Legion of Doom, a gathering of some of their most deadly villains. These villains include the Lex Luthor, Solomon Grundy, Sinestro, Black Manta, The Cheetah, Giganta, The Toy Man, The Riddler, Bizzaro, Brainiac and Gorilla Grodd. Even with the first episode, it is apparent why this version of Super Friends is so popular. 

In this first episode The Legion of Doom, uses a dream machine to make our heroes commit horrible crimes in their sleep. When this gets the Super Friends out of their way, the Legion of Doom turns everyone else in the world into slaves (that look like Cheetah and Bizzaro) to do their evil bidding. 

This episode stresses why I love this show so much. Though much of the episode is simply corny fun, with the Legion of Doom there is also a great sense of suspense that makes you wonder just how our heroes will save the day. Their plan in this episode is especially threatening and evil. While all the slaves looking like Cheetah and Bizzaro adds to the silly fun, there is also something quite creepy about villains who have the ability to turn the whole world into their slaves and this brings a real feeling of dread to the episode. This episode's sense of corny fun is also wonderful. I especially love the scenes involving the Legion of Doom interacting with each other which contains all of the over the top but very fun dialogue that always helps make this show such a delight to watch. The action scenes here are also excellent and there is also the wonderful background art that I love about many Hanna-Barbera cartoons of this time period.

All in all this is a wonderful start to a delightful series.