Classic Superman Cartoons on Cartoon Network

[Super Monkey]

every saturday night from 2am to 3am you can catch classic Superman and DC hero (sliver age style) cartoons! Last night these were shown.

BoomerAction -
Sea Raiders/Can a Luthor Change His Spots?/Between Two Armies
 
Super Friends - History of Doom  

Watching "Can a Luthor Change His Spots?" was like reading a Superman comic from the 60's, it was great! The animation however left a lot to be desired as they must have been working with an extremely limited budget.

If you can't stay up this late, then tivo it or tape it, as they are well worth watching! It's so great to see your favorite heroes looking how they are suppose to look and acting the way they are suppose to act. They put the newer cartoons to shame, even if the newer cartoons have much, much better animation.

[lastkryptonianhere]

I also find myself up watching the older DC comic book heroes in action on the Cartoon Network.  Would love for the Cartoon Network to create a time block for those and other super hero cartoons one night a week instead of showing the same ole Scooby Doo cartoons over and over again.

[Super Monkey]

Just in case you didn't know already,

SUPERFRIENDS ON DVD
Warner Bros. Home Video will release a Superfriends DVD on Apr 22, 2003.  It will contain
five episodes from the Challenge of the Superfriends series (1978-1979) including:
Wanted The Superfriends, Invasion of the Fearians, The World's Deadliest Game, The Time
Trap and Trial of the Superfriends

here's the cover:


You can pre-order now :
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000087F7F/ref%3Dnosim/bargaindvd/103-6152502-8026242

[Rugal 3:16]

It's so great to see your favorite heroes looking how they are suppose to look and acting the way they are suppose to act. They put the newer cartoons to shame, even if the newer cartoons have much, much better animation.

Hah Then does that mean every superhero should act like Superman??

Heck if you ask me Superfriends weren't even a good cartoon for it's time, The best classic cartoon of all time is the max fleisher era..

can you be more thorough super monkey.. "act like they're supposed to act"...

Aquaman has absolutely ZERO personality, nothing to make him interesting rather than masterB*ting on the fact that "viewers are supposed to like him because he's a good guy".. when he cut of his hand in The Justice League episode "Enemy Below" it showed a strong characteristic outburst that although no one is clearly stupid to imitate, the values and fibers he show are very many respectabl. The superfriends aquaman does almost nothing but get captured..

The sad fact is that THIS is a FACT.

Wonder Woman is a little better but she's just a "Female superman" no traces of her heritage outside of her clothing and lasso.. nothing to make you interested.. even for the seventies time.

Batman... Read my other posts loathing the dick sprang disgrace that "history has proven" almost drove batman to a cancellation despite it being  "the Batman many people know"..

HELLO.. Fact check.. A Bat is more generally reffered to as a Creature of the Night

Robin.. waste of space.

Wonder Twins: HECK these nonames are the "main characters" of most superfriends episodes.. and they're "stupidly" predictable predictability (I don't are if that sounds redundant) never fails both to

1. Make me laugh when I was a kid and didn't even know how to argue.

2. Get them in a captured predicament all the time.

since The DC heroes are way too expensive.. I figure that Hanna Barberra used them as packaging phonies.. while the wonder twins are the real main characters.. and they do a patheitic job of it.. and sadly that's a fact too.

The Legion of Doom is a Joke, not even Luthor of the seventies is this laughable.

This is the reason why I prefer the 1940's MAX FLEISCHER Superman Cartoons OVER the 1960's

There were no cheesy, predictable dialogues, No gibberish (use a steel to contain criminals) .. the Fleischer era had a straight up.. PUNCH THEM AROUND AND SMACK THEM.. attitude that had ACTION which is good for it's time. Just like the Golden Age Superman (which in most cases IMO is better than the silver age.. before supervillains came).

Don't get me wrong.. I DO respect your opinions and I do not want you to change them as I won't do the same to me.. but I am challenging you to justify and defend them..

say it's tradition.. by what means??

say it's "supposed to be for fun"

what's fun???

well it's definetely not "Fun is... well HECK I know it when I see it.."

If it was up to me..

That phony who cencored comics in the 1950's whould be shot to the head between the eyes by The Joker in Cold Blood . oh I forgot during the 1950's the Joker was nothing but a pathetic clown who you wouldn't get so intimidated at because he doesn't even hold a gun.

[valdemar]

Super Monkey, thanks very much for the info.  I enjoy the Super Friends and the upcoming DVD looks to be a worthwhile investment.  I plan on ordering one.  I also hope that the episode titled, Wanted: Ten Super Friends is the origin of the team, I've never actually seen that one.

But I really agree with you about those 1960's cartoons.  I enjoy those a lot.  You're right, both the Superman ones and the Superboy ones are incredibly faithful (storywise) to the silver age comics.  Seeing Luthor, Krypto, and the rest of the cast is a lot of fun, but seeing things like integrity, solid values, and good-conquering-evil is a breath of fresh air.

[Rugal 3:16]

Well Good unexplainably always wins against evil.. nothing changes.. but the challenge here is to make something truly Interesting so that people won't look at a concept of "good vs evil" as "stagnant" and "straightforward"..

I know arguments favoring the "preference of the righteous" nature can come about the "being fed up" with today's plotless angst and trenchcoats.. yes I do agree with that at some extent.. which is why I prefer JSA over any X-men books anyday.. but EVEN looking at JSA you have to know how properly work the concept in accordance to it's times as much as it should maintain tradition.

In the 70's there were these membership boards of parents who censored cartoons so that any other forms of violence would be non-existent. according to nightwing in the olf forum.. if we're lucky we still get to see superman punch someone, if we're lucky Aquaman won't always get caught all the time and such..

But we have to look at the market at those times, Cartoons is probably the only media that children will see their heroes other than comics. so the developers always went out with the "easy" formula..

1.Make a toon
2. Feature DC's heroes in it
3. It's OK if there is very little plot or substance.. since they're kids.. they won't mind.

Heck number three would almost be saying

"It's OK if there is little plot or substance.. since they're kids.. AND KIDS ARE STUPID"

well that might be putting it too bluntly.. but otherwise it's obvious they're trying to CHEAT the mass viewers with the hybrid concept (not as Bad as Marvel's recent awful AVENGERS anumated series.. but you get the idea) by having the wonder twins show up all the time and saving the big guns to the end.

If you want to talk "Righteous" about this and talk about "Morality" and "values" then obviously you're making the same mistake DC did before the crisis.. NO CHARACTERISTIC DISTNICTION The reason Marvel were popular over the 60's and 70's was because of team depth and character depth.. Spider-man didn't just get adored just because he wore a costume.. they went realistically and thought he was a menace.. a vigilante.. and despite it it was REALLY fun (for those of you liked to use the "comics are for fun" term like it's somewhat supposed to be an infalible law,  an escape, or a fortress of solitude of make-believe, like it's written in stone) The Fantastic Four started the trend that shows group dynamic differences.. as what's happening in real life.. of course it's not as bad as some real animosties in any real group dynamic is in reality but it gets the point across.. and it sold.. X-men dealt with prejudice and expanded the Fantastic Four group dynamic theory..

But still they have good values despite having different characteristics. Good still always win.. so the challenge here is "what if it is hard to tell.. which is gray which is black and which is white??" that adds to the depth ..

but of course the X-men have gone to hell due to being stuck in that perspective with little evilution as of today.. Marvel pushed them to "The other end" so far.. which is as bad as "this other end" where we see "goody-two-shoes" that are both lughable (in general terms) and UNRELATABLE..

The only thing that's going good for superfriends is that it's a "classic"

but hey I read comics, play video games, and watch toons to be ENTERTAINED just because something has historical value doesn't mean it's entertaining.. though I liked the 60's superman and superboy toons to some extent (although MUCH MUCH less compared to the fleischer 40's toons) I never liked superfriends.

and thank god todays' JUSTICE LEAGUE is much much better in many aspects of the concept.. not just relying on "value" or "sentimentality".

[lastkryptonianhere]

Thank Goodnees that cartoons have changed over the past thirty years or so.  I remember the first Super Friends cartoon all those years ago - was I ever thrilled.  Years later I watched the final Super Friends cartoons - was I ever underwhelmed.  The networks really did a good job screwing up cartoons in the 1970's making them so Kid Friendly - the question I ask is who the heck determined what was kid friendly?  Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog?  Get real - I mean what drugs were those guys on when they came up with that?  The Challenge of the Super Friends was a very cool concept for network cartoons of the era but even that was screwed up by the networks but at least it was different than your typical super hero cartoon of the era.  

I liked the Super Friends then and still do but give me the cartoons of this era - Justice League, Batman, Superman, X-men and Spider Man.

[Super Monkey]

Please remember that there were actually a lot of different Superfriends shows, it's a bit confusing I know. Superfriends last for an amazing 10 years! It changed a lot during that time. There was 6 different versions of the show.

The show that I talked about being like the comic was not Superfriends, but had many different stories, one team up and the rest were solo stories. Aquaman was always with his sidekick Aqualad and they had their own stories. Superman also had his own story which were faithful to the Sliver Age comics.

Here is a nice history of Superfriends :

History of the Superfriends Cartoon
Here we are going to try to show the progression of the show through all the seasons of air play.
Season #1
1973's Super Friends' was a cartoon centered around Superman teaming up with the other popular DC Comics superheroes (Aquaman, Batman and Robin, and Wonder Woman) along with eager young hero trainees Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog for adventures. Their base of operation was called the Hall of Justice, where they responded to Troublalerts and information supplied by Col. Wilcox. The main superfriends stopped the powers of evil and taught a new lesson to thier sidekicks. Wendy demonstrated the brains, Wonder Dog was similar to Hanna Barbera's Scooby Doo, and Marvin was enthusiastic but needed to learn the moral of each episode. The adventures were one hour long, and included cameos by the other heros Plastic Man and Flash(Who would later join the superfriends). Hanna Barbera artist Alex Toth did the character designs. This series was cancelled in 1975 after two seasons.
"Their mission: To fight Injustice. To right that which is wrong. And to serve all mankind!"

Season #2
1976 reruns in a half-hour format proved successful enough to cause The All-New Super Friends Hour in 1977. The hour had a half-hour episode and numerous shorts. This time besides Superman and the major DC heroes, the youthful trainees were aliens Zan (male) and Jayna (female) (a.k.a. the Wonder Twins) with their pet monkey Gleek. The Wonder Twins had the ability to telepathically communicate with each other, and shapechange. The twins wore Teen Trouble Alerts to signal them, and unlike their predecessors, Wendy and Marvin, the twins were good in a fight. More DC heroes appeared in these adventures, such as Hawkman and Hawkgirl, along with newly invented multicultural heroes like Apache Chief who could become a 50 ft giant, elitric Black Vulcan and the whirlwind Samurai. Each episode also featured a special public service cartoon warning kids about the evils of cheating, smoking or drag racing (among other vices).
Season #3
In September 1978, the Super Friends changed concept again becoming Challenge of the Super Friends on ABC. Superman and his 10 Justice League of America colleagues found themselves battling the 13 member Legion of Doom composed of DC Comics supervillains like Superman foes Lex Luthor, Braniac, Toyman, and Bizarro, and Batman foes like the Riddler and Scarecrow. This series did not have the Wonder Twins. The episodes are one half-hour long, although the series was so successful that it became a 90 minute show. This show used the Justice League and genuine supervillains more than the previous Super Friends cartoons and real locales helping keep the show alive.
SEASON #4
In 1979, another change as the Super Friends became The World's Greatest Super Friends. No more Legion of Doom, and fewer heroes this time. Superman was joined with Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Batman and Robin, and the sibling Wonder Twins. From 1980-1984 episodes ran as The Super Friends.
Season #5
Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show
In 1984, as a tie-in with the Kenner Toys Super Powers line of toys and comics based on DC Comics heroes, Hanna Barbera created Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show. The comics hero Firestorm joined the team in fighting the evil Darkseid, ruler of Apokolips and other villains.
Season #6
In 1985 a new version called The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians appeared lasting until 1986. No more Wonder Twins but more DC heroes and villains were used including Flash, Green Lantern, and a strong focus on the Teen Titan, Cyborg. The Super Powers team headquarters was the Hall of Justice in Metropolis. By today's standards this series is the most faithful adaptation of the comicbooks. Each episode is a one half-hour story.

For more info, check out this great website :
http://fantasia.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Doug/superhtml/