Super Friends - Season 1, Vol. 1

I grew up in the 70s and LOVED watching the Super Friends on my grandma's color TV. As an adult I like to recapture some of that magical nostalgia by watching episodes on weekend mornings. By modern standards its pretty simple and might not appeal to hard core comic fans, but it's phenomenal for nostalgia at the price Amazon is charging.

This is it!! If you started collecting from the first DVD release, then you know it wasn't a journey but a struggle. Warner Bros releases of this cartoon were tortue. They released the series in no particular order. Like 1977 was first, 1983 second then maybe 1980 then 1985 show and given stupid names like "Lost episodes". The only thing lost were our patients. Arrrghhh!! but here it is. I made a list for those who want them in original airing dates.Season 1 Super Friends (1973) Vol. 1 Super Friends (1973) Vol. 2 Season 2 Super Friends (1977) The All New Super Friends Hour Vol. 1 Super Friends (1977) The All New Super Friends Hour Vol. 2 Season 3 Super Friends (1978) Challenge of the Super Friends Vol 1 Super Friends (1978) Challenge of the Super Friends Vol 2 Season 4 Super Friends (1979) World's Greatest Super Friends Season 5 Super Friends (1980-81) A Dangerous Fate Season 6 Super Friends (1981-82) Legacy of Super Powers Season 7 Super Friends (1983) The Lost Episodes Season 8 Super Friends (1984) The Legendary Super Powers Show Season 9 Super Friends (1985) The Super Powers Team, Galactic Guardians

[TED KNIGHT NARRATION:] "In The Great Hall of The Justice League....." No, this first season does not hold up to anything now. Heck, it doesn't even hold up to its later seasons! LOL! But I don't care! This cartoon was made for a 5-year-old in 1973--ME (I'm 52!) ! Boy, just add "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" and "Schoolhouse Rock" (then only "Multiplication Rock") to the mix, and you have an early-70s TV time machine! I remembering LOVING the-now-correctly-maligned Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog (apparently there--and quite episode-dominant, actually--to emphasize kid-friendly aspect and to get the Scooby-Doo demo) and being sad when they were replaced by the Wonder Twins! I now see how foolish I was at 5! LOL! I was shocked with joy when Plastic Man showed up: ("There are MORE superheroes?!?"). Perfect not only for 5-year-olds because they can follow the story, but for those who want to go back to those early 1970s days!

for those of you completists out there, all that remains UNreleased now isreleased 1973-1974  Super Friends!: Season One, Vol. Two  (8x 46 minutes)released 1979-1980 WORLD'S GREATEST SUPERFRIENDS (8x 22 minutes) TARGET STORE EXCLUSIVE 4/23/131980-1981  SUPERFRIENDS HOUR SHORTS  (18x 7 minutes)1981-1982  SUPERFRIENDS HOUR SHORTS  (24x 7 minutes)i would expect to see the shorts in one release,since they are basically the same as 7x 45 minutesall together thats roughly 14 hours without commercialsedit: apparently, i had bad info or made a mistake about the '79 season being 1 hour episodes, so corrected that finally.'Mr.' has a better review listing everything, posted on the '73 vol 2 season set, just check his review for everything.its just the shorts arent on dvd now, but they are on amazon digital as seasons 4 & 5, represented as 6x 21minutes & 8x 21minutes.after that, id hope to see a release of the animated superboy episodes.

I like it from a nostalgia perspective and as a good non-violent superhero option for my 4 year old son. But I agree with those who point out a lot of the value is we remember sitting down on Saturday morning in the 70s and drinking this in like there was no tomorow. There wasn't much else you could turn to on telelvision back then if you were a superhero fan. George Reeves' Superman, Morgan Freeman's cameos as Spiderman on the Electric Company? That was about it. So this was great stuff, and still is if you look at it through that lens. In today's light, the stories are heavy on talk, light on action and get a touch repetitive. And the bad guys are boring as they are just regular people (not super villians). My 4 year old is kind of bored with the shows already, but it is still enjoyable for me to remember and was worth $10 to stroll down memory lane and take him with me. I am going to try Challenge of the SuperFriends and see if adding the more colorful villians helps the entertainment value a bit.

Get ready to have your mind melt as each episode tries to do 5000 things at once and with no violence (they weren't allowed). The Legion of Doom somehow has whatever device they need to trick/capture the SuperFriends. The SuperFriends are easily tricked/captured; forgetting their powers. The Legion of Doom wins until the last minute when the Superfriends remember their powers. Also, everyone can time travel and fly in space if they need to. Yes, even Aquaman.

Excellent sound and picture quality bought these to complete my seasons

lets face it, the cartoons of this era are a lost art form. What you didn't know is that the cartoons from the 70's dealt with environmental issues constantly. They aren't even being subtle about it. To watch them again as an adult and see that they were talking about the state of our earth 40 years ago is really spooky. On the fun side it is great to hear Casey Kasem as robin again and to see the glaring errors on background paintings is a laugh too. Get them and re-live your child hood and pay attention to the messages.

There's very little I can say in this review, as I purchased the DVD collections because I wanted to have something superhero related that my 5 year old daughter could watch. I did watch a couple of the episodes, and although to me the 45 minute length is just too long for my patience, I'm glad to report that my daughter loves watching them. Since that was ultimately the goal, then I can only rate the purchase as a complete success.

They are super. They are friends.

It's nostalgic (re)watching cartoons which I remember as a child. Thanks Amazon for carrying this!