abstract
| - Episode Lengths: 60 minutes “Super Friends” was the first season of the SuperFriends series. SuperFriends debuted on the ABC Network on September 8, 1973 on Saturday mornings in the 9:00 AM timeslot for 60 minutes. It was narrated by Ted Knight and it featured well known DC characters Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. Superman, Batman and Aquaman had each previously appeared in their own animated series produced by Filmation. In addition to the superheroes, eager young hero trainees Wendy Harris, Marvin White, and Wonder Dog (who interestingly could 'reason' and 'talk') were along for adventures. Inspired by the Scooby-Doo gang, the trio—or at least its human members—were depicted as detectives and/or superheroes in training. Their base of operation was called the Hall of Justice, where they responded to TroubAlerts and information supplied by Colonel Wilcox (a government liaison to the SuperFriends during emergencies). 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. This season also included occasional cameos by other heroes like Plastic Man, Flash and Green Arrow. This first run of Super Friends, consisting of sixteen one hour episodes that were rerun several times, concluded on August 24, 1974. At this point, the series was cancelled and did not appear on the fall lineup for 1974. However, interest in superheroes among ABC's prime time viewers, especially with the success of The Six Million Dollar Man (January 18, 1974 – March 6, 1978) and the live-action Wonder Woman series (November 7, 1975 – September 11, 1979) caused the network to pursue reviving the Super Friends. To begin with, the original sixteen episodes of the series were rebroadcast as a mid-season replacement, running from February 7, 1976 to September 3, 1977. These episodes were edited to half-hour versions. In the meantime, Hanna Barbera began production on a revamped version of the show. Their mission:
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