SuperFriends Hour, The – Nostalgia Central

1 9 8 0 – 1 9 8 3 (USA)
14 x 60 minute episodes

In 1980, the title of the long-running ABC Super Friends franchise was changed to The SuperFriends Hour, although viewers at home only saw the title SuperFriends.

Eight new half-hour shows were produced by Hanna-Barbera, with each split into a trio of seven-minute short stories, similar to The All-New Super Friends Hour.

In addition to the return of Hanna-Barbera–created Black Vulcan, Samurai, and Apache Chief, viewers also saw the return of Flash, Atom, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl, Rima (the Jungle Girl), and Green Lantern.

Familiar villains included the Riddler, Bizarro, and Mr Mxyzptlk, while other elements from DC Comics lore appeared, including Wonder Woman’s mother, Queen Hippolyta; the Batcave (complete with Bat-Computer and giant dinosaur); and the returning Supermobile and Fortress of Solitude.

Other menaces included an alien tribe of Bigfoots (Bigfeet?), a motorcycle gang called “Highway Angels”, trance-inducing Rock and Roll Space Bandits, Vampiress the Voodoo Vampire, the Termites from Venus, the Incredible Crude Oil Monster, and the IBN-created evil supercomputer named Romac.

One story guest-starred both General George Washington and Blackbeard the pirate (!)

The first half of the hour-long episodes contained reruns, with the new shows airing in the second half-hour.

The series ran from 4 October 1980 to 19 September 1981, at which point ABC had planned to order another eight new episodes.

Unfortunately, a 13-week strike of the Writers Guild of America disrupted all scripted shows, so Hanna-Barbera could only provide the six shows already completed at the time of the strike.

A new hero was introduced in these new stories: El Dorado was a Mexican hero (introduced to provide more cultural diversity for the show’s growing Latino audience) with super strength, growth power, telepathy, and “hologram vision”, which allowed him to cast realistic illusions. His cape also gave him the ability to teleport.

Hanna-Barbera decided not to order any new episodes of SuperFriends for the 1982–1983 season, instead choosing to air half-hour reruns from the 1977–1979 catalogue until the last ABC airing on 3 September 1983.

By the time ABC decided to quit the franchise, they had produced a staggering 58 hours of the show since the debut episode of Super Friends in 1973.

A syndication package was assembled by Lexington Broadcasting Services Company, Inc (LBS).

The company edited all the episodes, cutting some completely, and reduced the hour-long episodes to half-hour stories.

In total, they offered 110 half-hour shows and became the#2 syndicated show in the US (after Scooby-Doo!).

Narrator
Bill Woodson
Superman
Danny Dark
Batman
Olan Soule
Robin
Casey Kasem
Aquaman/Bizarro
Bill Callaway
Wonder Woman/Lois Lane
Shannon Farnon
Jayna
Louise Williams
Zan/Gleek/The Riddler
Michael Bell
Lex Luthor
Stanley Jones
Mr Mxyzptlk
Frank Welker
Hawkgirl
Janet Waldo
Apache Chief/Green Lantern
Mike Rye
Flash/Samurai/Hawkman
Jack Angel
Black Vulcan
Buster Jones
El Dorado
Fernando Escandon
The Atom
Wally Burr