Rating: 
Summary: Meanwhile back at the Hall of Losers
Review: This was why I disliked HB productions so much with their butchering the JLA comic into a camp fest cartoon that was about as sickening to watch as the Adam West Batman TV show. In the comics, there was no Wonder Twins and no Wendy,Marvin, and Wonder Dog. Heck there was so much in this cartoon that was not in the comics, and why Warners is marketing this with the current JLA episodes. Must be cheap marketing and nothing more. The fans who actually like this show must only be angry fat guys in basements.
Rating: 
Summary: The Justice League Of America VS. The Legion Of Doom!
Review: "Banded together from remote galaxies, are 13 of the most sinister villains of all time - the Legion of Doom! Dedicated to a single objective, the conquest of the universe! Only one group dares to challenge this intergalactic threat - The SuperFriends"!
That's how announcer Stanley Jones (voice of Lex Luthor) opened this classic show from 1978. The opening scenes showing the Riddler caught [like a deer in headlights] in Batman's spotlight and Black Manta tied up atop a whale "piloted" by Aquaman still look cool.
The appeal of Challenge of the Superfriends is in the fact that they waged an ongoing battle against actual villains from the comic books. Most of which were direct counterparts i.e. Green Lantern/Sinestro, Flash/Captain Cold, Batman/Scarecrow, etc. So the battles never got repetitive the writers wisely mix-matched the contenders. And don't forget the Legion's very cool Darth Vader-headed headquarters based underneath the swamp.THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Robin, Hawkman, Flash, Green Lantern, Black Vulcan, Samurai, and Apache Chief.
VS.
THE LEGION OF DOOM: Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Solomon Grundy, the Riddler, the Scarecrow, Bizarro, Cheetah, Black Manta, Giganta, Gorilla Grodd, Sinestro, Captain Cold, and the Toyman. This 2 disc set contains all 16 episodes from the season. Episodes (by aired & production order):
01. 09-Sep-1978 Wanted: The Superfriends
02. 16-Sep-1978 Invasion of The Fearians 03. 23-Sep-1978 The World's Deadliest Game
04. 30-Sep-1978 The Time Trap
05. 07-Oct-1978 Trial of the Superfriends
06. 14-Oct-1978 Monolith of Evil
07. 21-Oct-1978 The Giants of Doom
08. 28-Oct-1978 Secret Orgins of the Superfriends
09. 04-Nov-1978 Revenge on Gorilla City
10. 11-Nov-1978 Swamp of the Living Dead
11. 18-Nov-1978 Conquerors of the Future
12. 25-Nov-1978 The Final Challenge
13. 02-Dec-1978 Fairy Tale of Doom
14. 09-Dec-1978 Doomsday
15. 16-Dec-1978 Superfriends, Rest in Peace
16. 23-Dec-1978 The History of Doom Features:
Commentary on selected episodes
Saturday, Sleeping Bags & Super Friends: A Retrospective
Hall of Justice - character bios
Legion of Doom - character bios
Trailers - Batman: The Animated Series, The Jetsons: Complete First Season, The Flintstones: The Complete First Season, Jonny Quest: The Complete First Season
Full Frame (1.33:1) aspect ratio
English and Spanish mono tracks
English, Spanish and French subtitles Anybody else remember the scene where the Flash uses his super-speed to grab Captain Cold and place him in the path of his own coldgun ice-blast thereby freezing himself? "Wild"!
Rating: 
Summary: Superfriends
Review: "My heat-vision will melt that rock away!", "Quick Robin, use the Batarang!" ... that was so lame! Imagine the Superheroes had to say what they're gonna do before they act. Superman in the Superfriends cartoon is almost all powerful except for kryptonite. Almost nothing can stop him. He's too powerful and the bad guys are just too stupid. As compared to the current Justice League Unlimited, it is more realistic and Superman do get hurt with powerful laser beams or forces and this makes the show more exciting. Well, we simply can't compare different cartoons of different eras...
Rating:
Summary: 'Meanwhile back at the Hall Of Justice...
Review: ...the world's greatest super heroes unite to keep a watchful eye on the planet earth.' And it's so cool to be able to be back with the Super Friends once again! Kudos to the creators of this once-in-a-lifetime and unprecedented Saturday morning series event that is certain never to be equaled again. Because of complex licensing issues producing a similar show on television today with all the same characters would be utterly impossible. And so a reunion of the 'World's Greatest Superheroes' is sadly unlikely as well.
Well, if you've seen even one episode of "The Challenge Of The Super Friends" you know it's no Hall Of Fame animated classic - at least not as far as the continuity is concerned. There are some very grievous errors that are hilarious to spot. For instance in the episode "The Time Trap" three sets of the Super Friends get trapped in various eras of earth's past, among them Batman & Robin who are captured and held by the troops of one of the Roman emperor Caesars. In the present day Superman discovers a clue that can pinpoint the time frames each of the set of heroes is being held so off he goes to the lab to have the piece of evidence analyzed; and who should be there amongst the other Super Friends waiting for the analysis - none other than Batman himself! Maybe he was just there in spirit and only we (the fans in Saturday morning TV land) could see him? Another sparkling moment comes in the episode "The Monolith Of Evil" when suddenly Green Lantern has three arms - I can't tell if he has more than one power ring. Other blunders that happened periodically were Hawkman missing his wings; the inversion of colors and/or direction of logos on the uniforms of Batman & Robin; Green Lantern's power ring would emanate a yellow (!) glow instead of green and, best of all, the Flash would go flying off (!!) with Superman and Hawkman whenever it was convenient to the plot. The Flash had no capability of flying in any of his comic book appearances that I can remember - and you'd think the creative staff behind the show would be aware of that. But these are all forgivable mistakes to the fans of the series because it's the strong points of the show that make it the classic that is revered by fans still to this day.
The positives of this program are many beginning with the vibrant theme music; heroic and majestic sounding it is reminiscent of the theme for the classic early 60's animated cult favorite 'Johnny Quest'. It certainly wouldn't surprise anyone to discover that this quite probably was the inspiration behind it. The idea of 'The Legion Of Doom' is a great concept that is still unsurpassed. Scavenging back through the vaults and archives of DC Comics to get the right mix of villains must have been daunting at the time and not as easy to piece together as it appears when seeing the show. There were literally tons of adversaries, antagonists and nemesis's to choose from and creating a balance - that is a viable and believably powerful enough force to challenge the Super Friends - wasn't something that just jumped out at you I'm sure. Seeing such archenemies as Sinestro, Gorilla Grod and Gigantress in television animated form is a rare treat that is doubtful to happen ever again. The headquarters for 'The Legion Of Doom' is equally as impressive. They could go anywhere they pleased as a group; outer space, inner earth, backwards or forward in time, etc. The Super Friends on the other hand all have their own separate forms of transportation - and the Hall Of Justice is anchored to the ground permanently. While the stories are unquestionably juvenile in conception some of them still remain quite entertaining. My favorites are "Fairy Tales Of Doom" and especially "History Of Doom", and the episode "Secret Origins Of The Super Friends" is also memorable. There are other positives about this show I could list but they are already mentioned in other reviews here on this webpage so I encourage you to read them also.
The DVD set is nicely packaged and has an excellent 13 minute mini-documentary titled 'Saturday, Sleeping Bags & Super Friends: A Retrospective' that I think every fan will be pleased with. Also included are bios on each of the Super Friends and also the members that make up 'The Legion Of Doom' that I found indispensable. If I had one quibble at all it would be the title of the set "The Challenge Of The Super Friends: The First Season" - was there ever a second season?
Rating:
Summary: An absolute "Must-Have"
Review: Challenge of the Super Friends - The First Season is a must-have DVD set for any fan of DC Comics' most memorable and exciting Saturday morning cartoon series ever created. Even if you're not a fan and are just looking for a fantastic adventure, I would encourage you to check this out.
Back when Saturday morning cartoons were geared only towards toddlers, along came this "adult-themed" science-fiction and fantasy adventure for the "older" crowd. Pushing the boundries of science, imagination and characterization, Challenge of the Super-Friends introduced real drama, conflict, heroism and horror into one fine cartoon series.
This is a classic tale about good versus evil. The Super Friends (consisting of Aquaman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Batman, Robin, The Flash, Hawkman, Apache Chief, Black Vulcan and Samurai) face off against a team of villianous foes calling themselves the Legion of Doom (Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Gorilla Grodd, Giganta, Black Manta, Sinestro, Solomon Grundy, Scarecrow, Cheetah, the Riddler, Bizarro, Captain Cold and Toyman). In each episode, the evil Legion of Doom hatches a horrific plan, and in each episode the Super Friends fight to stop them.
Although originally produced as a Saturday morning cartoon, this series boasts two very distinguishable attributes:
The first is that of incredible characterization. Each hero and villain has his or hew own unique look, personality and voice characteristics. In fact, the voice-over work done on this series is the best ensemble voice work ever done on a series of this magnitude. Indeed, no one can argue that the the voice of Black Manta is not the creepiest in cartoon history.
Second, the stories may be geared towards youngsters and teens, but there are elements in them that take it well above "kiddie-fare". There is an inherent quality of gothic horror in most of the tales (marauding zombies/attacking gorillas/evil swamp hags) that take this series up to a higher standard in cartoon story-telling.
The DVD also contains extras, such as commentary by current DC Comics writers. In addition, you haven't lived until you watch Challenge of the Super Friends dubbed in Spanish! (Just listen to them dub Black Manta's voice through what sounds like a tin can!)
Bottom-line: If you watched this series as a kid, you're already hooked. If you haven't watched this as a kid, then watch it now. This is a guaranteed winner!
Rating:
Summary: Corny Fun from my Childhood!!
Review: I asked for this DVD for Christmas because I thought it would be fun to watch all these episodes again - I was always GLUED to the TV every Saturday morning to watch the Super Friends throughout most of the 70's. It has been a blast watching these episodes and I'm amazed how many of them I actually remember once they get started. The animation is classic 70's and it's fun to catch animation blunders such as Batman talking without his Utility belt on and then the next few seconds when the camera is back on him, he has it on! Also hilarious is the Justice League computer that prints out information instead of talking, and some crazy plot points such as the Super Friends always catch up with the Legion of Doom, but can never find their headquarters!?!
By the way, the Legion of Doom are the bomb!! They are so kooky and fun!
I have enjoyed every minute of watching these episodes... they are so corny now-a-days that I simply laugh all the way through them, and it's been great re-living my childhood again!
Rating:
Summary: OK, Now Where's The Rest?
Review: I immensly enjoy this particular season of episodes, but it is way past time to release the rest of this series on dvd. I know for a fact there are TONS of other stories that haven't been seen anywhere since the seventies, not even when Cartoon Network was rerunning the series a while back(when Cartoon Network was in its infancy it was, beleive it or not, showing older, decent cartoons, I guess to attract viewers, something it doesn't seem to care about now.) I realize this might be the best season of the series(my particular favorite is The World's Greatest Superfriends, that came right after it), but that doesn't mean they should stop here. This was pretty much everyone of a certain generation's favorite cartoon growing up, and it should be treated with more respect. Whoever is releasing these dvds needs to get up off their butts and finish what they started.
Rating:
Summary: A Super Series
Review: I love Batman and the Superfriends. I can still remember watching this cartoon on Saturday mornings and after school back in the seventies and early eighties. I still watch it every so often on Boomerang. Watching these cartoons has brought back some very fond memories.
I am so glad that this is all on one set so I do not have to have lots of individual videos with four or five episodes on each.
If you liked the series and you like watching the shows over again then you will be super happy with this set. The picture is great, I liked the stories and this is the series that featured Lex Luthor and the Legion of Doom- no Marvin and Wendy.
Boomerang is always showing the Marvin and Wendy or Supertwin episodes and lately they have shown the newest Superfriends episodes. Now I do not have to wait for them to to get around to showing the Legion of Doom shows. I have then in my hand to watch any time.
Rating:
Summary: super!
Review: I loved this show as a kid and I still love it! I've had a wonderful time watching these episodes. This is a nicely designed package too and I enjoyed the extras. It's great having the Challenge of the Super Friends on DVD!
Rating:
Summary: The best season of Superfriends ever
Review: I remember crawling out of bed on a Saturday morning before 8am from when I was a kid until nearly high school to watch the Superfriends and I've collected as many episodes as possible over the years. My favorite was always the Challenge of the Superfriends because of the Legion of Doom and the great assortment of villains they presented and now to have all the episodes on one DVD is a collector's dream. Looking back on it they are naturally hokey and contrived in spots but they still hold up great. My 3-year old son loves them and could watch for hours. Just a few minor points - it's a little disingenuous to call it the complete first season since I am pretty sure there was only one season with the Legion of Doom. Also, although the Superfriends did air for an hour as another reviewer has alluded, the Challenge of the Superfriends was the title for the episodes with the Legion of Doom only. The other half-hour was a separate show that morphed into the World's Greatest Superfriends the next season (and featured somewhat more mature and better episodes if you can stand the Wonder Twins).
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