The Best of Super Friends

From Superhero Wiki Encyclopedia

Home Books Clothing DVDs Posters Toys Video Games

Boards Comic Book News Comic Conventions Search this Wiki

Gallery Features Link to us Online Comic Books

Resources Store Superhero Wiki Wallpaper

Poster Sale Selection

The Best of Super Friends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 1982 to 1984 on ABC. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and is based on the Justice League and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics. It was the sixth incarnation of the Super Friends series following Super Friends (1973 TV series), The All-New Super Friends Hour, Challenge Of The SuperFriends, The World's Greatest Super Friends and The Super Friends Hour.

Background and format

For the 1982-1983 television season, ABC continued to run a half-hour long program, this time called The Best of the Super Friends. Just like its predecessor program, The Super Friends Hour, this series consisted mostly of reruns of shows from the previous nine seasons. The main difference in contrast to The Super Friends Hour is that none of the seven minute shorts were rebroadcast.

Cancellation and lost episodes

By 1983, Hanna-Barbera had created a syndication package (that was distributed by LBS Communications and ran from 1981-1986) of the earlier Super Friends series. These episodes were picked up by various stations across the United States and were typically broadcast on weekday afternoons. Not wishing to compete with the syndicated programming, ABC dropped the series from the 1983-1984 Saturday morning television line-up, and for the second time in its run, Super Friends was canceled.

However, during this period of time, Hanna-Barbera continued to produce new episodes of Super Friends. In total, 24 of the so-called "Lost Episodes" However, unbeknownst to any of us at the time, Hanna Barbera did produce a third set of 7 minute shorts. They actually aired in other countries that year, but not in America since our heroes lost the coin toss in favor of cutesy shows like the Monchichis, Rubik the Amazing Cube, and the Littles. The only Super Hero shows found on Saturday mornings that year were all reruns shows. The final season of SpiderMan and His Amazing Friends and the Incredible Hulk reruns on NBC, and on CBS, Ruby Spears Plastic Man, which was later replaced by Filmation's Tarzan series. And to add insult to injury, Superman fans were none too thrilled with Superman III, released in theaters that year. When the SuperFriends returned the following year as the Legendary Super Powers Show, three of these lost episodes aired as part of that series. When the SuperFriends returned to syndication in the 1990's in the form of the Superman/Batman Adventures package, these lost episodes were part of this show and we were finally exposed to Super Friends adventures we'd never seen before. The series did appear in Australia uninterrupted. Three of these episodes were aired when Super Friends returned to Saturday morning ABC television the following year. The remainder of the episodes finally aired in syndication in 1995 as part of the Superman Batman Adventures show on the USA Network.

List of lost episodes

1. MXYZPTLK'S REVENGE
2. ROLLER COASTER
3. ONCE UPON A POLTERGEIST
4. WARPLAND
5. TWO GLEEKS ARE DEADLIER THAN ONE
6. BULGOR THE BEHEMOTH
7. THE KRYPTON SYNDROME
8. INVASION OF THE SPACE DOLLS
9. TERROR ON THE TITANIC
10. THE REVENGE OF DOOM
11. A PINT OF LIFE
12. DAY OF THE DINOSAURS
13. RETURN OF THE PHANTOMS
14. BULLY FOR YOU
15. SUPERCLONES
16. PRISONERS OF SLEEP
17. AN UNEXPECTED TREASURE
18. THE MALUSIAN BLOB
19. ATTACK OF THE CATS
20. PERSONAL COMMENT
21. VIDEO VICTIMS
22. PLAYGROUND OF DOOM
23. SPACE RACERS
24. THE RECRUITER