The All-New Super Friends Hour (1977–1978)

A team of the greatest DC Comics superheroes protects Earth with the help of a pair of alien sibling apprentices.

Stars:

Norman Alden, Michael Bell, Danny Dark

Cast

Series cast summary:
Norman Alden	...	Aquaman (6 episodes, 1977)
Michael Bell	...	Zan (6 episodes, 1977)
Danny Dark	...	Superman (6 episodes, 1977)
Shannon Farnon	...	Wonder Woman (6 episodes, 1977)
Casey Kasem	...	Robin (6 episodes, 1977)
Olan Soule	...	Batman (6 episodes, 1977)
Louise Williams	...	Jayna (6 episodes, 1977)
William Woodson	...	Narrator (6 episodes, 1977)
Jack Angel	...	Hawkman (2 episodes, 1977)
Ted Cassidy	...	Crag (2 episodes, 1977)

Storyline

Continuing the adventures of the Justice League, this incarnation of the show replaced Marvin, Wendy, and Wonder Dog with the Wonder Twins. Zan and Jayna, from the planet Exor, possessed shape shifting powers; Zan could become any form of water or ice, while Jayna could assume the shape of any animal. Assisted by their pet monkey Gleek, they not only helped the Justice Leaguers but lent assistance to teenagers in trouble. In addition to the classic Superman/Batman/Robin/Aquaman/Wonder Woman lineup, guests such as the Flash, the Atom, Green Lantern, and Hawkman & Hawkwoman appeared occasionally.

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Plot Keywords:

dc comics | twins | superhero team | robin the boy wonder | based on comic book | 

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Family | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 September 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

Novi čas Super prijatelja

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hanna-Barbera Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 60 min (15 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

In an effort to add racial diversity, Black Vulcan, Samurai, and Apache Chief were created specifically for the show. Black Vulcan is black, Samurai is Japanese and Apache Chief is an American Indian. 25 years later, the Justice League comic writer Joe Kelly, a fan of the show, brought the character of Apache Chief to the comic book world. Hanna-Barbera had originally planned to use Black Lightning, DC Comics' first prominent black superhero, for the African-American character. But the company learned that, in order to use the character, it would have to pay a royalty fee to Tony Isabella, the writer who had created Black Lightning and wrote the "Black Lightning" comic book. Instead, the artists created Black Vulcan, whose powers and costume were similar to Black Lightning's, in order to avoid paying the fee. In response, Tony Isabella wrote a story in the comic book that featured a con artist named Barbara Hanna and an impostor pretending to be Black Lightning.

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Quotes

[repeated line]
Zan, Jayna: Wonder Twin powers: ACTIVATE!

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Connections

Spoofed in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law: Very Personal Injury (2001)

User Reviews

Good show, but the Legion of Doom episodes are better

As a kid I used to watch this show every Saturday morning on ABC. This show featured Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Batman & Robin, and the Wonder Twins, Zan & Jayna, with their pet monkey Gleek. I did like the Wonder Twins but Gleek was annoying. Aquaman was my favorite character, although he was unfortunately relegated to flying around with Wonder Woman in her invisible jet whenever the action took place on land or in space.

A previous reviewer was correct in the format used: there were three mini-episodes, approximately 10 minutes in length, with one half-hour episode. The first mini-episode featured a pair of the Superfriends battling evil scientists or scheming enemies. The second mini-episode featured the Wonder Twins in stories about adolescents who were either up to no good or were in dangerous predicaments. The third was the half-hour episode with the entire cast, generally battling aliens or other life forms from far away galaxies. The final mini-episode paired one principal Superfriend with a guest Superfriend such as Green Lantern, Flash, Apache Chief, Samurai, Black Vulcan, Rima, Atom, or Hawkman & Hawgirl.

The stories were good but were definitely preachy. I liked the mini-episodes that paired Aquaman and Superman together. My favorite half-hour episode dealt with an evil zombie woman named Minerva or Medusa or something like that(she didn't have any eyeballs, just white eyes!) who, along with her other female assistants, planned to transform all the women of Earth into similar zombies in order to use them to help her rid the planet of all men by changing them into microchips to be stored on tape so that she could ultimately conquer the world. When Wonder Woman and Jayna, thinking they would be undetected as females, infiltrated her base of operations, they were transformed into zombies with white eyes. They then transformed Aquaman, Batman, Robin, and Zan into microchips and stored them on tape. They thought they also did that to Superman, but he had substituted a statute of himself; he then singlehandedly saved the other Superfiends, changed all the women of Earth back to normal, saved all the men by reversing the deeds of the zombies, and finally caught the main zombie woman.

Also, there originally were several brief spots throughout each program that featured the Superfriends dispensing health advice and safety tips to children and teens.