Like many kids, I was first introduced to the world of superheroes through cartoons. For that reason, I will always have a soft spot for Superfriends, as even though the show ended before I was born, I watched a lot of reruns as a kid. Thanks to the new Superfriends: The Complete Series on Blu-ray, I was able to revisit the show, which had seven different versions and aired over 12 years.
“DC's greatest superheroes work together to stand up for good, with the help of a few young protégés. Super Friends, created by Hanna-Barbera, is an animated television series featuring the Justice League of America that ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday morning cartoon lineup,” the official description reads.
The coolest part about the Super Friends: The Complete Series Blu-ray set is that it includes every episode of the show ever made. I had no idea the show went through so many iterations. It’s fun to watch this evolution over the course of 93 episodes, as the show originally featured a trio of largely forgotten sidekicks in Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog, who were later replaced by the Wonder Twins and Gleek. While the show was never known for its top-notch storytelling, it does have a ton of colorful, good-natured action that’s just fun to watch in the background, and it looks great thanks to the HD transfer.
Having never seen the full series, I’m also excited to see how the wide range of heroes are introduced as the series progresses. I was surprised to see Cyborg and Firestorm join the series later as full-fledged members of the Justice League of America, and there are a ton of great guest appearances, too. While the villainous Legion of Doom is the main antagonist, there are plenty of outside villains, too, from the Joker to Darkseid to Mister Mxyzptik. It’s a really great look at how diverse the DC universe has always been, and the Super Friends: The Complete Series Blu-ray is a great way to remind ourselves why we fell in love with these characters in the first place.
While there are no bonus features, Warner Bros. has gone out of its way to include everything. That includes eight “lost episodes” that were part of the 1980 SuperFriends series that only aired worldwide. In total, you get the 1973 Super Friends, The All-New Super Friends Hour, Challenge of the Superfriends, The World’s Greatest SuperFriends, the full three seasons of SuperFriends, Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians. That’s a lot of content (3,142 minutes, if you want to count), and there are bound to be episodes you haven’t seen before unless you’re a die-hard fan.
There are 16 discs in the Blu-ray set. Inheritance: The Complete Series set, all the discs are in an Epik Pak tray that simply sits inside the case. However, it fills the entire width of the inside, so you don't feel the discs rattling as you move them around. There's nothing inside the packaging, although each disc has logos for the different shows, making it easy to tell which episodes are on the discs. It's certainly not luxury packaging, but I've seen worse in similar collections.
Super Friends: The Complete Series Blu-ray Review: The Final Verdict
Featuring all 93 episodes of the various versions of Super Friends over the years, Super Friend: The Complete Series Blu-ray lives up to its name. The show is still pretty fun to watch today, even if it was never the pinnacle of superhero storytelling, and is a good introduction to the characters if you have kids. Whether for little kids or for nostalgic reasons, DC fans can’t go wrong with this set.
Disclosure: ComingSoon received product from the distributor for our review of the SuperFriends: The Complete Series Blu-ray.