In 1973, animation company
Hanna-Barbera acquired rights to the DC Comics characters and partnered with the
American Broadcasting Company (ABC) to adapt the
Justice League of America comic book for
television. The network made several changes in the transition including the change of name to
Super Friends to "cut off any accusations of extreme patriotism". Superman, Batman and Robin, and Aquaman had each previously appeared in their own animated series produced by
Filmation, and voice talent from these prior programs was brought in to work on the new show (with the exception of
Marvin Miller who was replaced by
Norman Alden as the voice of Aquaman). Shortly before the
Super Friends series was developed, Superman and Wonder Woman also guest-starred in two episodes of
The Brady Kids (voiced by Lennie Weinrib and Jane Webb under Filmation), while Batman and Robin appeared in two episodes of
The New Scooby-Doo Movies. In addition to the superheroes, a trio of sidekicks was introduced, each of whom were new characters not drawn from the comic books:
Wendy and Marvin (voiced by
Sherry Alberoni and
Frank Welker) and
Wonder Dog (also voiced by Welker), none of whom had any special abilities (save the dog's unexplained ability to reason and talk). The trio—or at least its human members—were depicted as detectives and/or superheroes-in-training; the "teen detectives and their talking animal"
cliché, originally popularized by
Scooby-Doo, was typical in Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the 1970s. Each episode began with the heroes responding to an emergency detected by the TroubAlert computer in the
Hall of Justice, which served as the headquarters of the team. Colonel Wilcox (voiced by
John Stephenson), a
U.S. Army official, was a recurring character who would act as a government liaison with the Super Friends during emergencies. Conflicts were usually resolved with the antagonists persuaded to adapt more reasonable methods to achieve their aims (with the assistance of the heroes). Natural disasters triggered by human (or alien) activity were often shown, and environmental themes featured strongly in the program. Three other DC Comics superheroes were featured as guest stars during this season:
Flash,
Plastic Man, and
Green Arrow; the latter two did not appear in any subsequent episodes of the series. This first run of
Super Friends, consisting of 16 one-hour episodes which were rerun several times, concluded on August 24, 1974. At this point, the series was cancelled, but interest in superheroes among ABC's prime-time viewers (with the success of
The Six Million Dollar Man and the live-action
Wonder Woman series) caused the network to revive
Super Friends.
1980–1982 seasons: SuperFriends Renamed
SuperFriends in 1980, the series changed formats again, abandoning the production of half-hour episodes and producing seven-minute shorts. Each episode of
SuperFriends would feature a rerun from one of the previous six years and three new shorts. These new adventures featured appearances by the core group of five Super Friends and Zan, Jayna, and Gleek. There were also guest appearances from members previously depicted in
Challenge of the Superfriends and the Hanna-Barbera-created hero
El Dorado, who was added to the show in 1981 to provide additional cultural diversity. This would prove to be one of the longer-lived incarnations of the series (three years). A total of 22 episodes were produced.
1982–1983 season: The Best of the Super Friends (reruns) For the 1982–1983 television season ABC ran half-hour reruns of shows from the previous seven seasons, with none of the seven-minute shorts rebroadcast. ABC called the rerun package
The Best of the Super Friends.
1983–1984 season: Australian "lost episodes" Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. had created a
syndication package of the earlier
Super Friends series (co-distributed by
LBS Communications); these were picked up by stations across the United States and typically broadcast on weekday afternoons. Not wishing to compete with the syndication programming, ABC dropped the series from the 1983–1984 Saturday morning television line-up but continued to fund the production of new episodes.
1985 season: The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians In the fall of 1985, the next version of Hanna-Barbera's depiction of the DC Comics heroes began, although it no longer carried the
Super Friends name. This series returned to a conventional lineup for the team, with a focus on teen members
Cyborg and Firestorm. Once again headquartered at the Hall of Justice in
Metropolis, the heroes battled such familiar foes as Lex Luthor, Brainiac, the
Scarecrow, and recurring villain Darkseid. It also contained the only appearances in the series by
Joker,
Penguin, the
Royal Flush Gang, and
Felix Faust. Notably, it is in this series that Batman's origin is depicted for the first time outside of comics.
The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians lasted one season before being canceled. The final new episode aired was "Escape from Space City" on October 26, 1985. This third cancellation would be the final one, and
Galactic Guardians marked the end of
Super Friends. ==Characters==