DVD Review: Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show
Reviewed by Craig Byrne
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First, there's Superman wearing pants that are jacked up so high, Steve Urkel would be envious. There's Firestorm with his flaming head looking more like an orange crown. Iconic heroes like Samurai, El Dorado, and a Black Vulcan who is not named Tuvok. And Adam West as Batman. Super-villains defeated in less than 15 minutes. No, it's not a Family Guy parody, it's the classic Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, which was released on DVD this week.

Superfriends had a long and storied history dating back to the 1970's, back when they were "the world's four greatest heroes" with "their three junior super friends" totally forgetting Robin. Some interations of the concept are already on DVD. By the early 80's, Superfriends was a popular staple in syndication; but also, animation and toy companies realized that cartoons can make for some really good half-hour-long commercials.

Enter Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, conveniently renamed so people would know to rush to the toy store and buy the latest Super Powers toys. A lot of favorites from classic Superfriends were on hand for new adventures; this new series would also have the added bonus of classic Batman Adam West portraying the Caped Crusader's voice... decades before he became the Mayor of Quahog!

Taking his place as the Superfriends' primary foe in this series is the Jack Kirby creation of Darkseid. I thought Darkseid was supposed to be scary, but, oh yeah, this is a toy commercial aimed at children, so forget about that. Most of Darkseid's schemes, aside from the occasional 2-parters, are stopped within 15 minutes. (Each "episode" is about 15 minutes long)

The early-80's redesign of Brainiac comes in early in the season. It's presented very matter-of-factly and that story, too, is over within 15 minutes.

However... though the later Justice League animated series (especially JLU) are far superior, I admit there's a charm in watching this show. It's not as good as it was in those earlier years, and some of the animation is downright bad. But maybe because I grew up with this, I'm having a lot of fun watching this DVD set. It's been over two decades since I've seen them, but I'm happy to have this one in my collection.

The DVD packaging is, unfortunately, that same super-slim format that WB has been using a lot lately. There are two discs overlapping that always makes me worry about scratches. But hey - on the bright side, the DVD's are single sided! The design of the packaging, with the classic show logo, is perfect, as is the disc art. The menus on the discs themselves are also impressive.

Extras include commentaries from show writers as well as comic book writer and historian Mark Waid. Those people are also included on the two documentaries on the DVD.... a really interesting documentary on the show itself, and also a special look at the Super Powers action figure toy line. Both features are very well put together and full of interesting subjects.

All in all, a fun DVD set to view. And if you crave more League.... another volume of the final Super Powers episodes (featuring Cyborg!) is due for release in October. Don't miss it! (Click here to pre-order it!)

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