Challenge of the Super Friends
Challenge of the Superfriends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from September 9, 1978, to December 23, 1978, on ABC. The complete series was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and is based on the Justice League and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics and created by Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky. It was the third series of Super Friends cartoons, following the original Super Friends in 1973 and The All-New Super Friends Hour in 1977.
Format
First segment
As originally aired, this season featured adventures with Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the Wonder Twins, similar to those that had aired the previous season in The All-New Super Friends Hour. These episodes were later shown using the opening credits of the All-New Super Friends Hour in syndication.Second segment
The second segment of this season was Challenge of the Super Friends, a 16-episode series that came the closest to the comic books. Not only did Challenge have the Justice League of America, it was the first official Super Friends series to feature DC supervillains from the comics, and this series had 13 of them together as a group called the Legion of Doom. It included Superman foes like Lex Luthor, Brainiac, the Toyman, and Bizarro, and Batman foes like the Riddler and the Scarecrow. The Legion of Doom dwelt in a murky swamp and launched their attacks for global conquest from a sinister-looking, swamp-based, mechanical, flying headquarters called the Hall of Doom as a suitable contrast with the Super Friends' gleaming Hall of Justice. Every week, the Legion schemed to either get rid of or destroy the Super Friends so they could conquer the world. The Super Friends themselves consisted of 11 Justice League heroes. Thanks to the first segment alone being used with the Challenge of the Super Friends opening and confusing references to the show, it is often mistakenly believed that the first and second segments were two separate shows.Production background
Early development
When the Challenge of the Super Friends season was originally conceived, it was named "Battle of the Super Friends" and featured the introduction of Captain Marvel to the Super Friends. The group that challenged the heroes was called the "League of Evil", led by Captain Marvel's nemesis Doctor Sivana. However, Filmation produced Shazam! and The New Adventures of Batman, which prevented the use of characters such as Mister Atom, King Kull, Beautia Sivana, the Joker, the Penguin, Mr. Freeze, and the Catwoman. Early conceptual art drawn by Alex Toth also included Heat Wave, Poison Ivy, and Abra Kadabra.Narration, music and character designs
provides the uncredited voice of the narrator in Challenge of the Super Friends, and the opening narration was by Stanley Jones. The show's main theme and original music was composed and arranged by musical director Hoyt Curtin. The music supervisor was Paul DeKorte. Character designs for this particular Super Friends series were done by Andre LeBlanc.Team composition experimentation
Hanna-Barbera's writers experimented with team composition as well. Challenge of the Super Friends added The Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman who were members of the Justice League of America, as well as several new characters: Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, and Samurai. These characters were created to add racial and cultural diversity to the show.Lineups
Super Friends/Justice League of America
Eleven heroes make up the Super Friends/Justice League of America. They are:Legion of Doom
Thirteen villains comprise the Legion of Doom during the Challenge of the Super Friends season. They are:Despite the claim in the program's title sequence that the Legion's members hail from "remote galaxies", only Brainiac and Sinestro are extraterrestrials; the remaining members are all natives of Earth. Solomon Grundy is a zombie, an animated dead person, as the episode Monolith of Evil makes clear. In "History of Doom", even Solomon Grundy supposedly dies from the solar flare.
Voices
- Jack Angel – Flash, Hawkman, Samurai, Pierre Marcel, Professor Nikaido, Fort Knox Guard, Japanese Distress Caller, Soldier
- Marlene Aragon – Cheetah, Queen of Hearts, Hera
- Lewis Bailey – Captain Parkhouse, Yerba's right-hand man
- Michael Bell – Riddler, Zan, Gleek, Fearians, Rom-Lok, Young Lex Luthor, Pete, Robot Outlaw, Dr. Tomokawa
- Bill Callaway – Aquaman, Bizarro, Flash, The Capricorn Kid, Bizarro Alfred Pennyworth, Robot Gangsters
- Ted Cassidy – Brainiac, Black Manta, Barlocks, Diamond Exchange Man, British Soldier, Gorilla Guard
- Melanie Chartoff – Witch
- Henry Corden – Dr. Varga, Brain Creature Leader, North Pole Scientist, Torahna
- Danny Dark – Superman, Commissioner James Gordon, Superboy, U.S. Mint Guard, Man in Car, Radar Engineer, Darkon's Robot Soldiers
- Al Fann -
- Shannon Farnon – Wonder Woman, Aphrodite, Hippolyta, Empress Zana, Swiss Scientist, Medusa, Simora, Lois Lane, Raymara, Dr. Brooks
- Ruth Forman – Giganta
- Bob Hastings – Pied Piper/Space Genius
- Bob Holt – Count Dracula, Logar, Gormack, Ozar, Correl, Telegraph Operator, Robot Outlaw, Zeus, Invisible Man
- Buster Jones – Black Vulcan, U.N. Representative, Plutonium Plant Guard, Skier, Galactic Police Officer, Admiral Brighton
- Stanley Jones – Lex Luthor, Opening Narration, Augustus Caesar, Evil Being, Giant, Hul, Jonathan Kent, Jor-El, Lord Darkon, Camelot Knight, Sinbad, Fort Knox Guard, Townsman #2, Gorilla Guard, Scotland Yard Man, Manatoo, Toran
- Casey Kasem – Robin, JLA Computer, Colorado Soldier, Man from Parthenon, Space Pirate, Swiss Scientist, Subway Switchman, Likan, Professor Charleston
- Don Messick – Scarecrow, Sinestro, Astronaut #2, Domed City Ruler, Fear-Gassed Gorilla, Vartoo, Mocking Kryptonian, Ground Quake Kryptonian, Plutonium Plant Guard, White Rabbit
- Vic Perrin – Sinestro, Dr. Starns, Turkish Engineer, Brain Creature, Professor Reed, Frankenstein's Monster
- Renny Roker – U.N. Representative
- Stanley Ralph Ross – Gorilla Grodd, Nar-Tan, Old Indian, Darkon's Robot Soldiers, Space Pirate, Minotaur
- Dick Ryal – Captain Cold, Hall of Doom Computer, Abin Sur, Captain Nemo's Sailor, Gorilla Tracker
- Michael Rye – Green Lantern, Apache Chief, Astronaut #1, Yerba, Solovar, Plutonium Plant Guard, Sinbad's First Mate
- Olan Soule – Batman, Astronaut, Vol, Fort Knox Guard, Scientist, Townsman #1, Space Pirate, Subway Engineer, Train Passenger, Darkon's Robot Soldiers
- Jimmy Weldon – Solomon Grundy, Sphinx
- Frank Welker – Toyman, Lilliputians, Rokan, Mister Mxyzptlk, Wind-Up Baby, Wind-Up Cat, Gorilla Child, Mort
- Liberty Williams – Jayna, Aphrodite, Young Giganta, Sooba
- Bill Woodson – Narrator, Perry White, Rayno, Captain Nemo, Admiral Hubbard, Dr. Willardson, Sheriff
Episodes
DVD release
originally released this season of Super Friends on two separate DVDs on June 1, 2004, the first one being Challenge of the Super Friends: Attack of the Legion of Doom, which featured the "Challenge" segments, and the second being Challenge of the Super Friends: United They Stand, which featured the Super Friends segments. Both DVDs only featured four episodes. The first season with the Challenge episodes was re-released as Challenge of the Super Friends: The First Season on July 6, 2004. The second one with the Super Friends episodes was named Super Friends: Volume Two and was re-released on May 24, 2005.| Title | Type | Number of episodes | Release date |
| Challenge of the Super Friends | The First Season | 16 | July 6, 2004 |
| Super Friends | Volume Two | 16 | May 24, 2005 |
Spoofs
produced a couple of commercials spoofing Challenge of the Super Friends.- One dealt with the idiosyncratic nature of the Legion of Doom and Brainiac's odd manner of dress.
- The second, co-starring the Powerpuff Girls, dealt with Aquaman's powers as well as the level of violence compared to today's cartoons, as Wonder Woman and Aquaman look away while the Powerpuff Girls beat up the Legion of Doom, going so far as to set the Scarecrow on fire. Most notably was Bubbles' double entendre reply to Wonder Woman's compliment on how they were developing as superheroes. "Someday we'll be as developed as you." Lex Luthor, since he was a villain, began laughing. His allies understood the joke and all of them laughed as well. When a piece of the Hall of Doom's ceiling fell on Luthor's head, everyone laughed.
''Legends of the Superheroes''
The two NBC televised live-action specials of Legends of the Superheroes produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions was based largely on Challenge of the Super Friends while featuring Adam West, Burt Ward, and Frank Gorshin of the 1966 Batman television series fame. The Justice League starred Batman, Robin, Captain Marvel, the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, the Huntress, and the Black Canary against the Legion of Doom which featured Mordru leading Doctor Sivana, the Riddler, Giganta, Sinestro, the Weather Wizard, and Solomon Grundy.''DC Super Friends''
Despite using the main theme from The World's Greatest Super Friends, the 2010 DC Super Friends "The Joker's Playhouse" shares several elements of its opening sequence with Challenge of the Super Friends, including introducing the Legion of Doom.''Robot Chicken DC Comics Special''
The opening sequence of the Robot Chicken DC Comics Special parodies the opening of Challenge of the Super Friends with the Legion of Doom substituted for Robot Chicken original characters Chicken, Mad Scientist, Nerd, Humping Robot, Composite Santa, Gummy Bear, the Unicorn, and Bitch Puddin'. The Legion of Doom, Hall of Doom, and Hall of Justice also feature prominently in the episode.Featured link
- at Big Cartoon DataBase
- – cached copy from Internet Archives