Growing up, I was a huge comic book fan, and most of my tastes leaned towards DC more so than Marvel (with the exception of Spider-Man who is my all-time fave super hero). I was totally into Superman and Batman, but most of my favorite issues involved team-ups, so of course I read all the Justice League comics I could get my grubby little hands on. I have fond memories of watching the old “Super Friends” animated series that aired way back in the 1970’s, but they are marred a little by additional memories involving characters known as Marvin, Wendy and Wonder Dog. Then I also seem to remember the Wonder Twins and their monkey. Yet these memories are vague, as if I was somehow traumatized when watching the series.

When the new Warner DVD release of the 1st season of “Challenge of the Super Friends” showed up at my house a few months ago, I was both elated and a little worried. For some reason I remembered enjoying the series way back in the old days (when we didn’t have electricity and I had to watch TV by candlelight…), but I had a lot of hesitation about seeing those other characters. Would they ruin the experience for me? Did they back when I was a child?

After I finally got up the nerve to put in the 1st disc, I got quite a pleasant surprise. There was no Marvin or Wendy. No Wonder Dog. No Wonder Twins. Not even a monkey (well, unless you count Gorilla Grodd… but don’t ever call him a monkey). It seems I had forgotten that there were several different incarnations of the “Super Friends” series, and this particular one, “Challenge of the Super Friends” didn’t have those characters. (“Can I hear an Amen?”) Here we had the Justice League as it should be: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, The Flash, and Hawkman. The few new characters the series introduced (in the interest of political correctness – which I will not get into here), Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, and Samurai, were a bit unusual but they fit in much better than the Wonder Twins.

What was even better was the fact that this particular version of the series introduced the Legion of Doom, so our intrepid heroes had some recognizable Super Villains to fight. Headed up by Lex Luthor, the roster included Brainiac Toyman, Bizarro, The Riddler, Solomon Grundy, Scarecrow, Cheetah, Giganta, Gorilla Grodd, Captain Cold, Sinestro, and Black Manta.

The series also featured some of the best voice actors in the business, most of whom are still at the top of their game today. I’m sure if you’re into animation you’d recognize some of the names. Michael Bell, Don Messick and Frank Welker all lent their talents to the series. Even perennial favorite and American Top 40 host Casey Kasem and “The Addam’s Family” alumni Ted Cassidy do their share of the voice work.

“Challenge of the Super Friends” lasted only one season, initially airing in 1978. There were a few other incarnations of the Super Friends that followed, but then they eventually dropped out of site. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that Cartoon Network began running the series again and started using the characters in a slew of hysterically funny commercials for the network. Those commercials alone began to get an interest in the series going again, and of course now we have the opportunity to see them on DVD.

Having enjoyed the simple silliness of the 1st volume, I kind of wondered where the episodes in the new “Volume 2” set came from. I noticed the title had been shortened on the case from “Challenge of the Super Friends” to just “Super Friends.” After doing a little bit of digging my memory was jogged even further and it seems the “Challenge of the Super Friends” originally aired as an hour long series. The first hour was made up of stories involving the Wonder Twins, while the second half hour was devoted to the ‘Legion of Doom’ episodes mentioned above. The first DVD set was made up of these second half hours. “Volume 2” includes the first half hours. (Confused? Good…) So, where I mentioned before not having to see the Wonder Twins in “Volume 1”, they are by and large a part of “Volume 2.” These stories involve a more varied grouping of villains, including (believe it or not) Dracula.

The new ‘Volume 2’ set includes all 16 ‘first halves’ from that season, but unlike “Volume 1”, there aren’t a whole lot of extras. Here we only have a couple of strange featurettes focusing on the Wonder Twins (help me Lord…) and a retrospective.

If you have memories of watching the series as a kid, don’t be turned off the way I almost was. “Super Friends” was definitely kind of silly, considering it was created for younger children. There’s certainly no comparison if you look at the newer “Justice League Unlimited” (which by the way really NEEDS some full season DVD releases), but they’re still kind of fun to watch.

Episodes:
Rokan: Enemy from Space
The Demons of Exxor
Battle at the Earth’s Core
Sinbad and the Space Pirates
The Pied Piper from Space
Attack of the Vampire
The Beasts are Coming
Terror from the Phantom Zone
The Anti-Matter Monster
World Beneath the Ice
Invasion of the Brain Creatures
The Incredible Space Circus
Batman: Dead or Alive
Battle of the Gods
Journey Through Inner Space
The Rise and Fall of the Superfriends

Extras: Pajama-Rama Super Friends Retrospective, The Ballad of Zan and Jayna
Specifications: Full Screen
Studio: Warner Home Video
Release Date: 5/24/2005
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
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We'll give Super Friends: Volume 2 a B-.