Challenge of the SuperFriends – Nostalgia Central

1 9 7 8 – 1 9 7 9 (USA)
16 x 60 minute episodes

Super Friends had aired on ABC from 1973 to 1977, with The All-New Super Friends Hour airing in 1977 and 1978.

Although  Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman had been joined by other DC Comics heroes (such as Flash, Green Arrow, Plastic Man, Hawkgirl, Hawkman, Rima the Jungle Girl, Green Lantern, the Atom, and the Hanna-Barbera–created Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, and Samurai –  as well as teen sidekicks Wendy Marvin and Wonder Dog, and Zan, Jayna, and Gleek) there was very little actual comic-book content in the 32 hours of shows in those two series.

This time around, Hanna-Barbera planned to have two half-hour stories per episode – one continuing the All-New Super Friends Hour line-up of characters, with a second featuring DC Comics heroes fighting 13 of DC’s villains, with stories and plots that actually reflected content from the comic books themselves.

The first half-hour was almost indistinguishable from the previous series’ half-hour segments, even using the same opening credits.

The stories included the Wonder Twins’ planet of Exxor, a subterranean world beneath the Earth’s crust, UFOs, Dracula, space pirates, and a space circus, as well as visits to Aquaman’s Atlantis and Mount Olympus, home to Wonder Woman’s Greek goddesses and gods.

The second half-hour (with its own opening credits) was radically different. Gone were the Wonder Twins, and the group was now more often referred to as the Justice League, with other members including Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, and Samurai.

Fighting against the heroes was the Legion of Doom, whose swamp-based HQ – the Hall of Doom – blatantly resembled Darth Vader’s helmet from the year-old megahit Star Wars.

The 13 well-known comic-book villains included Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Cheetah, The Riddler, the Scarecrow, Toyman, Sinestro, Black Manta, Captain Cold, Bizarro, Gorilla Grodd, Solomon Grundy, and Giganta.

ABC’s Standards & Practices censorial department was nervous about Challenge because it would contain actual conflict between heroes and villains, so the stories were often softened slightly.

The villains could still have plans to conquer the world or destroy things, but they had to be caught by the heroes for punishment.

The series debuted on 9 September 1978 to excellent ratings.

The one-hour show proved so popular that it was expanded to 90 minutes (replacing Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?) from November 1978 (until September 1979), with older episode reruns added in to fill the time.

Narrator/Perry White
William Woodson
Superman/Superboy/Commissioner Gordon
Danny Dark
Batman
Olan Soule
Robin/Computer
Casey Kasem
Aquaman/the Flash/Bizarro
Bill Callaway
Wonder Woman/Hippolyta/Lois Lane
Shannon Farnon
Jayna
Louise Williams
Zan/Gleek/The Riddler
Michael Bell
Lex Luthor
Stanley Jones
Jor-El
Jonathan Kent
The Flash/Samurai/Hawkman
Jack Angel
Black Vulcan
Buster Jones
Apache Chief/Green Lantern/Solovar
Michael Rye
Cheetah
Marlene Aragon
Brainiac/Black Manta
Ted Cassidy
Giganta
Ruth Forman
Scarecrow/Sinestro
Don Messick
Sinestro
Vic Perrin
Gorilla Grodd
Stanley Ralph Ross
Captain Cold/Hall of Doom Computer/Abin Sur
Dick Ryal
Solomon Grundy
Jimmy Weldon
Toyman/Mister Mxyzptlk
Frank Welker