Superfriends vs. Challenge of the Superfriends
Pick hit: Superfriends (but not with Wendy, Marvin and WonderDog). Must to Avoid: Challenge of the Superfriends.Having never seen either of these shows before, I was under the impression that they were actually different seasons of the same show. This is not so. Superfriends, which is a masterpiece, dates from 1973 (or maybe not — see comments). Challenge of the Superfriends, which sucks, is from 1978.
Both shows are good illustrations of why Justice League is better — mainly in the character department. On Superfriends all the superheroes not only talk the same way, they all have the same personality — genial, wisecracking, earnest and stolid. If nothing else, Justice League discovered that by giving superheroes different personalities you could create conflict, which would result in narrative interest. In short, shows like Superfriends are where children get the notion that Green Lantern and Aquaman are lame. Justice League, for better or worse, has, by giving them personalities, somehow made them cool again.
Allow me to discuss some of the key differences between the two shows.
Superfriends (1973? 1979? see comments)
The Superfriends are:
Superman
Batman and Robin
Wonder Woman
Aquaman
The Wonder Twins (and the Space Monkey, Gleek)
They hang out at the Hall of Justice, which is on Earth, rather than in the Watchtower, which is in the unreachable confines of space. There is an abstract sculpture outside the Hall of Justice so we know it’s official.(I wonder what city the Hall of Justice is located in. What is the Superfriends’ deal with the city officials? What city would allow them to put a huge building, complete with “public space,” in the middle of town? Why not just paint a gigantic target on the city?)
Occasionally, someone in Superfriends refers to the Justice League (as in, “the Justice League computer indicates that the electrical disturbances are being caused by the Brain Creatures on Mars”), but the Superfriends do not seem to be the Justice League. Maybe the Justice League has broken up, maybe they’re on hiatus.
Oftentimes, all the superheroes are gone, leaving the Hall of Justice in the hands of the Wonder Twins and their Space Monkey. There is no staff, no security, just two teenaged aliens and a space-monkey.
The Wonder Twins, it should be noted, do not have “super powers.” They have unique powers, but they do not possess super strength or high intelligence. To say the least. And Gleek tends to drag them down, causing mischief and fouling the computer. Personally, I don’t see why they don’t board the Space Monkey in a Monkey Kennel when they travel on a dangerous mission.
The Superfriends mostly fight creatures from outer space and other extraordinary cataclysms.
The Superfriends are generally well-challenged by the disasters hurled at them. Superman and Wonder Woman are the only ones with super powers, and they are often turned to evil by whatever they’re fighting that week, leaving the comparatively mortal Batman, Robin and Aquaman to figure out a solution.
Aquaman is particularly useless in this regard. He’s a good-looking chap, but his ability to communicate with sea creatures is a little beside the point when in space, or on the surface of an alien planet.
I’m not sure why the Superfriends don’t suggest, in a nice way, that Aquaman sit out the challenges that await them in deep space. He’s always good company, but when one sees him in a space helmet, shifting his weight uncomfortably as it occurs to him that he’s utterly dead weight on a desert planet overrun by robot cowboy outlaws, his discomfort and embarrassment is palpable.
The show, which only lasted 16 episodes, explodes with goofy wit, imagination and charm, and is full of perilous, exciting, peculiar and fanciful situations. In one episode, the Superfriends must battle at least a dozen different creatures, from giant eels to sentient tar-men, at the Earth’s core. In another episode, Dracula comes to life after a 100-year slumber and, using an irridescent pink powder, turns an airplane full of tourists into vampires. Before long, Superman himself is turned into a vampire and leads armies of zombie vampires through the Transylvanian Alps to Vienna, where Batman must cure him with a gas retrieved from a cave in the Andes. In my favorite episode, Aquaman is turned into a giant land-dwelling mutant shark and Superman and Wonder Woman are shunk down Fantastic Voyage-style to cure him while he rampages through the city.
Challenge of the Superfriends
In Challenge of the Superfriends, the Superfriends are:
Superman
Batman and Robin
Wonder Woman
Green Lantern
Aquaman
The Flash
Hawkman
and a couple of others, Black Vulcan I think and some Indian guy.
In Challenge of the Superfriends, the Superfriends fight only the Legion of Doom. This is plenty of work, but it gets old fast.
The Legion of Doom consists of:Lex Luthor
The Joker
The Riddler
Cheetah
Sinestro
Solomon Grundy
Black Manta
Bizarro
Gorilla Grodd
Captain Cold
Toyman
and about fifteen other also-rans, some of which are redundant and puzzling. Why, for instance, Lex Luthor thought he needed a zombie strongman on his team is a mystery. The hyper-intelligent gorilla I understand, but some of the others defy comprehension.
The Legion of Doom, according to the opening titles, has a very vague, broad mission statement: the conquest of the universe. “Conquest of the Universe” apparently includes everything from conquering alien worlds to overtaking secret gorilla cities in Africa.
Why, for instance, does the Clock King need to build a giant clock made out of ice? How will this further the goal of “Conquest of the Universe?” The logic is known only to the Legion of Doom. Lex Luthor is a criminal genius, so there must be a reason that lies beyond my comprehension, but still.
Because there are literally dozens of characters to keep track of, there is always a ton of exposition in each 22-minute episode. You can actually see the animated characters sigh and get impatient with the things they need to do in order to include everyone.
Let’s face it, there is no earthly catastrophe that cannot be solved by the combined superpowers of the Superfriends. But because they all must be included in the solution, Wonder Woman will become stupid and incompetent at crucial moments, or Batman and Robin will suddenly be stumped for a solution so that Black Vulcan (whoever he is) can have his moment in the sun. It’s the democratic ideal at its absolute worst.
For some reason, this democratic ideal extends to the Legion of Doom as well as the Superfriends. You would think that if the Superfriends are a democracy then the Legion of Doom would be a totalitarian dictatorship, but no. A typical Legion meeting will begin with Lex Luthor (who is the undisputed leader) saying “okay, Riddler, what is your agenda for this week?” And maybe the Riddler has a plan, maybe not. Maybe his plan involves conquest of the universe, maybe it just involves a jewel theft or the construction of a robot dinosaur. Lex, for some reason, in spite of the fact that he’s a criminal mastermind, gives all ideas equal weight no matter how expensive or improbable they sound. He might hear a plan from Solomon Grundy that involves little more than Solomon Grundy wishing to destroy something, but all the resources of the Legion will be placed behind his plan. Because, after all, it’s his turn. It doesn’t matter if the Joker has a foolproof plan to crash the Pentagon’s computer system, he had his turn last week and now we’re going to pay attention to the zombie strongman.
At the end of every episode, the Superfriends will have the Legion of Doom cornered and caged. And at the end of every episode, Lex Luthor will pull a device out of his pocket that will, as if by magic, allow the Legion of Doom to escape again.
Strangely, the Superfriends, in spite of their combined might, are always caught short by this ruse, and must always stand frustrated and impotent as the Legion of Doom gets away again.
The squandering of resources on both sides is staggering. Lex Luthor, who seems to have the mental capacity to achieve anything in the world, consistently puts his energy and resources into plans that sound like utter wastes of time. Conversely, the Superfriends have to spend huge amounts of resources cleaning up after these absurd, wasteful spectacles every week.
In this way, Challenge of the Superfriends is the perfect metaphor for the Cold War.
Challenge of the Superfriends, like Superfriends, lasted 16 episodes. Unlike Superfriends, it is dreadful.UPDATE: It appears that the show I identify as 1973’s Superfriends is actually 1979’s The World’s Greatest Superfriends, although it is not identified as such on the DVD box. I strive for the utmost in accuracy in my reportage, unlike some OTHER bloggers I could name, and deeply regret the error. I humbly apologize for any distress this error may have caused anyone.
Justice League part 3 — the Martian Manhunter
left: the Man of Steel. right: creepy green loser.
Superman: super-strength, super hearing, super breath. Telescopic sight, X-ray vision, heat vision. Can fly and travel at super speeds.
Martian Manhunter: super-strength, super breath, heat vision, can fly. In addition, can read minds, communicate with spirits, walk through walls, change his shape.
Superman: the last surviving member of his race, the only living Kryptonian (except for Supergirl, Krypto, Streaky the Supercat, Comet the Superhorse, Beppo the Supermonkey and the entire city of Kandor — Jesus, did anybody but Superman’s parents die when Krypton blew up?). An alien on Earth, doomed to a life of loneliness, except for Lois Lane and the billions of people who adore him.
Martian Manhunter: the last surviving member of his race, the only living Martian. An alien on Earth, doomed to a life of loneliness.
Superman: invulnerable, except to an ultra-rare metal.
Martian Manhunter: invulnerable, except to not-rare-at-all fire.
On paper, Martian Manhunter is the more powerful figure, much more powerful than Superman and possessing a richer internal and emotional life. And yet everyone follows Superman as a natural leader, while Martian Manhunter is the creepy guy who always stands in the back of the group photo. Why?
In the comics, Martian Manhunter has his back-of-the-bus position simply because of seniority. Superman had been around for twenty years before Martian Manhunter showed up, and while MM might come in handy blowing out a forest fire or lifting up a bus, the Justice League in the ’60s couldn’t find much use for his talents. It took Bruce Timm and Co. to not only bring Martian Manhunter to life but to make him the most soulful, introspective and interesting member of the team.
The most obvious difference between Superman and Martian Manhunter, of course, is their looks. They’re both tall (MM is actually a good six inches taller than Supes) but Superman is white and handsome with a lantern jaw and a cleft chin, gimlet eyes, oodles of charisma and a charming spitcurl while Martian Manhunter is green, sepulchural, bald, sullen, beetle-browed and red-eyed.
But apart from the looks thing, why is it that Superman leads the Justice League around the world, punches robots, melts buildings and spaceships, destroys alien menaces and makes speeches to governmental bodies about the wise use of power, while MM can be found, every day, chained to a desk at the Watchtower, administering shift-changes and delegating task-work? Why does Martian Manhunter get no respect?
I think it has something to do with when their respective planets were destroyed. Superman was a baby when his father blasted him off of Krypton; he has no memory of it. All he knows is his his home planet was great and his parents loved him enough to give him a new lease on life, on a planet where he would be worshipped like a god. Martian Manhunter, on the other hand, was already married with a child when Mars was destroyed by an alien invasion. Superman has nothing but fond memories of his home, MM watched his wife and child murdered and his civilization destroyed before his eyes.
It’s broken him. He can’t just fly around smashing things because he’s seen too much flying around and smashing things in his life. It’s turned him into a scold and a gloomy gus. He’s always staring out windows and chastising the other members for being too quick with the violence. This sometimes makes him a wet blanket and a stick in the mud as he intones about the lessons he learned in seeing his home destroyed (in one issue of the comic, Flash, upon hearing the umpteenth iteration of MM’s origin story, finally sighs and says “Were all the Martians as whiny as you?”).
Then there’s the fire thing. The fire thing is lame. A shape-changing, building-lifting superhero should not be afraid of fire.
Maybe the fire thing has made MM gunshy. Maybe, despite his awesome powers, he’s happier in his administrative position, high above the Earth, unlikely to be caught in the clutches of a supervillain who might have, say, a book of matches and a pile of oily rags. MM stays in the Watchtower to avoid the embarrassment of a headline like “JUSTICE LEAGUE TRIUMPHS! Martian Manhunter felled by kid with Zippo.“
Then there’s the self-hate thing. MM failed his family, his civilization and his planet. In his mind he will never be free of his survivor guilt. Maybe that’s why he chooses to look like a tall, green creepy guy. I mean, keep in mind, the way we see MM is not how he sees himself. MM, in his “natural state,” looks like this:
That’s right — the creepy-green-guy look is how MM changes his appearance so as to look normal and not creep people out too much. He could look like Brad Pitt if he wanted to, but the MM look is what he chose. (In case he’s not creepy enough for you, keep in mind that the cape, trunks and pirate boots are all artificial; that is to say, MM is actually always naked. So when, say, Hawkgirl stands around the Watchtower with MM, she’s aware on some level that she’s standing next to, you know, a naked shape-changing Martian.)
But, point is, he has chosen to look the way he does. He has chosen to creep people out, to stay on the fringes of the group; his choice of look throws up a barrier to anyone who might get too close to him. Compare MM, moping around in his artificial creepy-guy state, with X-Men‘s Mystique, who prefers to strut around in her blue scaly state and only uses her shape-shifting powers to rob an armored car or bust a guy out of prison (there is the famous exchange between Nightcrawler and Mystique in X2: Nightcrawler asks “If you can change the way you look, why don’t you?” and Mystique sniffs “Because I shouldn’t have to.”) MM is not proud of the way he “naturally” looks, but at the same time he refuses to look “normal.” He shifts from “repulsive-looking” to “differently repulsive-looking.” It’s as though a Jew were to flee Poland and change his name from Greenberg to Lopez in order to sound “less Jewish.” That’s a level of self-disgust I’m not sure children should even be exposed to.
Then there’s the mind-reading thing, which, truth be told, is a burden to MM as much as it is an asset, and something he only uses when he really needs to. Otherwise, he is exposed to what everyone around him is really thinking, both about him and about the world. Martian Manhunter couldn’t live like Clark Kent, live a normal life with a job and friends and a love-interest. Because the natural, everyday masks that people wear don’t work for him. How could he be married if every time his wife kissed him good morning he could feel her resentment towards him or her subtle yearnings for the man next door? How could he go to work and carry on a job if he knew what petty, self-involved, disgusting thoughts were bubbling under the surface of the most mundane of everyday transactions?
