Super Friends – The Lost Episodes (DC Comics/Warner DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras:  C-     Episodes: C-

 

 

I love superheroes; always have.   But, I cannot sit here and tell you that Super Friends: The Lost Episodes is the best thing that our comic friends have ever delivered to audiences.  The show by all means is poorly animated a hokey (like many of the other Super Friends adventures), but it still has heart.  The history surrounding the The Lost Episodes is a bit convoluted and to make a long story short it was essentially a miscommunication between ABC and Hanna Barbera.  While ABC was primed to discontinue the Super Friends series, Hanna Barbera thought it was just a short break and continued to produce episodes; in the end making 24 “action packed” adventures (8 episodes in total).

 

As previously mentioned, the Super Friends series was never all too solid from the beginning; often times having weak stories and even weaker animation.  ABC was heavily pressured by ratings boards and parents’ groups to keep animation clean; which to them translated as watered down and undaring.  Even if the Super Friends were a weak series, they still had some heart and charisma that kept people (kids) watching; even today a bit of nostalgia hits me while watching The Lost Episodes.

 

The insanely obnoxious Wonder Twins make themselves well known in these Lost Episodes; using their powers to transform from superheroes into annoying Public Service Announcements.  Seriously, The Lost Episodes took the Wonder Twins to a new level of lame as they warn kids to stay out of abandoned amusement parks, don’t drag race or cheat on tests.  No longer was the series an escape from reality into a superhero adventure; it was a downer on the road to morals.

 

Sure a ton of superheroes show up in these 24 adventures, but it is just a sad state of affairs.  I am unsure whether Hanna Barbera lost their minds of they just ran out of material, but by the 1980’s there was no steam left in that engine.  There is even a nutty storyline about (get this) a paraplegic kid who the superheroes think is “faking it” and want to trick him into walking again!  Now don’t get me wrong, I am by no means politically correct, but WTF Superman?!?

 

I cannot in good conscious recommend this set, sure if you are a completist and a fan buy the set; otherwise stay away as if it were kryptonite.

 

Besides the fact that the box art makes the series seem a ton more “badass” than it actually is; the technical features are adequate at best.  The picture once again is presented in a passable but not crystal clear 1.33 X 1 Full Screen that disappoints with its gritty bland colors, but with so many other issues by the time these adventures were made this is no surprise.  The sound is again presented in its original Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono that has depth issues and often times sounds soft, but once again a problem with older super hero cartoons and most Hanna-Barbera DVD features.

 

The extras include 2 Downloadable Super Friends Comic Book Adventures from the DC Vault; including The Mindless Immortal and Wendy and Marvin Meet the JLA.  Overall the downloadable features are BLAH and by the time I got to looking at the extras I had no desire to download these comics.

 

Just say there is no more Wonder Twins and I will be happy…

 

 

-   Michael P. Dougherty II