Super Friends

Super Friends is an American animated television series about a team of superheros, which ran from 1973 to 1986 on ABC as part of its Saturday morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and was based on the Justice League of America (JLA) and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics.

The name of the series (and the JLA members featured on the Super Friends) changed at different points in its broadcast history, these include: Super Friends (1973-1974, 1980-1983), The All-New Super Friends Hour (1977-1978), Challenge of the Super Friends (1978-1979), The World's Greatest Super Friends (1979-1980), Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984-1985), The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985-1986).

There were a total of 93 episodes and two backdoor-pilot episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, with Batman and Robin appearing in the episodes "The Dynamic Scooby Doo Affair" and "The Caped Crusader Caper." In 1995 an edited version of episodes from various seasons of the Super Friends, as well as the Filmation series The New Adventures of Superman, The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure and The Batman/Superman Hour was repackaged into The Superman/Batman Adventures which originally aired on the USA network.

Super Friends (The Superman/Batman Adventures) aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block from Monday, October 5, 1998 to Thursday, January 21, 1999. The series appeared on Toonami for the final time during the 24-hour Toonami: Full Cycle.

Plot
The greatest of the DC Comics superheroes work together to fight against evil. Conflicts are often ultimately resolved with the antagonists persuaded to adapt more reasonable methods to achieve their aims with the assistance of the heroes. Natural disasters triggered by human (or alien) activity were often shown, and environmental themes featured strongly in the program.

Characters
There were multiple appearances by many other JLA members on the show, including some created specifically for the series, such as Apache Chief, but originally the show centered around a core group of five members.

Superman — Displayed all of his usual abilities including; heat vision, super strength, super speed, flight, x-ray vision, etc.

Batman — The Batmobile as seen in the early episodes of Super Friends was based on the Lincoln Futura design as seen on the live-action TV series starring Adam West. The main difference with the Super Friends version was that the lines of the car were modified substantially for use in animation. The most obvious change was to the nose of the car, where the hood received a "V" depression that echoed the lower fascia. This was also the first Batmobile (of any medium) to feature yellow bat emblems on the doors. This particular feature would be quickly adapted by the comics.

Robin — A member of the JLA in the series, but not in the comics.

Aquaman — In this series, Aquaman was shown to display super-strength, hefting a bulldozer blade over his head, for example, and using it to help stop a tidal wave. He also had encyclopedic knowledge of oceanography and oceanology, in addition to his more familiar water-breathing power and aquatic telepathy. However, the series has been blamed for making Aquaman unpopular and even laughable by reinforcing a weak image of the character.

Wonder Woman — In the Super Friends animated series, the Lasso of Truth possessed the ability to follow the telepathic commands of Wonder Woman, physically moving on its own to accomplish tasks. The ability is never displayed in the comics, although it is hinted that without her tiara, Wonder Woman cannot fully utilize the lasso's ability. In Super Friends, Wonder Woman was typically displayed using the lasso as a tool for accomplishing feats of strength, leaving it unclear to what extent Wonder Woman herself possessed great strength or the lasso itself performed the feats. In addition, its truth-compelling power was used to free Wonder Woman when she was under the mind control of space pirates. Superman found himself snared by the lasso, but he manages to tie the controlled Wonder Woman as well. In that situation, Superman forces her to confess whether he is her enemy or friend and the truth of her friendship with him forced from Wonder Woman broke the pirates' power over her. The Invisible Plane is also a regular feature on the Super Friends cartoon show; Wonder Woman gives a ride to Aquaman and other flightless heroes on a regular basis.

Broadcast History

 * United States (ABC) — September 8, 1973 - September 6, 1986
 * United States (Cartoon Network) — June 1996 - 2000
 * United States (Boomerang) — April 2000 - February 2005 ; 2006 - September 2008

Toonami Broadcast History
Super Friends was part of the 2-day Toonami kick-off marathon titled Superheroes Weekend, which saw 12 episodes of the series air on Saturday, March 15, 1997 from 12:00-6:00 PM. Toonami premiered 2 days later on Monday, March 17, 1997 and neither of the series that aired during Superheroes Weekend (Super Friends and SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron) were part of the debut lineup.

Episodes of Super Friends (The Superman/Batman Adventures) premiered on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block at 4:30 PM on Monday, October 5, 1998, replacing Thundercats in the lineup. The series remained in the lineup through Thursday, January 21, 1999, and was subsequently replaced in the lineup by the returning Thundercats.

Although the series that aired on Toonami was billed as Super Friends in intros and bumpers, it was actually the 1995 repackaged series The Superman/Batman Adventures which consisted of edited episodes from various seasons of the Super Friends, as well as the Filmation series The New Adventures of Superman, The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure and The Batman/Superman Hour.

During Toonami's 24-hour marathon Toonami: Full Cycle, 6 episodes of Super Friends aired throughout the marathon despite the series not being in the Toonami lineup at the time. The first two episodes were actual Super Friends episodes while the final four were episodes of The Superman/Batman Adventures.


 * Toonami (United States) — October 5, 1998 - January 21, 1999; April 8-9, 2000

Toonami Marathons
Super Friends only had one marathon appearance during its run on Toonami, Toonami: Full Cycle. However, the series was aired as part of the Toonami preview marathon, Superheroes Weekend.