Super Friends (TV Series) Episode: Wanted: The Superfriends




 * "Without the use of my muscles, my super-strength is useless!"
 * --Superman

Series: The Challenge of the Super Friends Episode: Wanted: The Super Friends Airdate: September 9th 1978 Production Number: 128-01 Writer: Jeffrey Scott Director: Ray Patterson and Carl Urbano

Synopsis
Principal Characters:


 * Super Friends
 * Apache Chief
 * Aquaman
 * Black Vulcan
 * Batman
 * Flash
 * Green Lantern
 * Hawkman
 * Robin
 * Samurai
 * Superman
 * Wonder Woman

Main villain(s):
 * Legion of Doom
 * Bizarro No. 1
 * Black Manta
 * Brainiac
 * Captain Cold
 * Cheetah
 * Giganta
 * Gorilla Grodd
 * Lex Luthor
 * Riddler
 * Scarecrow
 * Sinestro
 * Solomon Grundy
 * Toyman

Other Characters:
 * Alfred Pennyworth (as a Bizarro)

Locations:
 * Hall of Doom
 * Hall of Justice
 * Washington DC
 * Egypt
 * Cairo


 * France
 * Paris
 * The Louvre Museum


 * Gotham City
 * Wayne Manor
 * Batcave


 * Kentucky
 * Fort Knox


 * Metropolis
 * Daily Planet


 * United States Mint

Items:
 * Batarang
 * Bat laser cutter
 * Batmobile
 * Duplicate Ray
 * Lasso of Truth
 * Lex Luthor's Dream Machine
 * Nth Metal
 * Qwardian Power Ring
 * Utility Belt

Summary: COMING SOON

Trivia

 * At the beginning of the episode, Lex Luthor introduces each member of the Legion of Doom. Several Legion members even take time to demonstrate their abilities. Captain Cold uses his freeze gun to destroy a ceiling lamp; the Riddler nearly starts a fire with an exploding deck of Super Friends playing cards; Grodd punches his fist through the conference table; Sinestro creates an animated yellow cobra and Cheetah rakes her claws across the table. Oddly enough, Luthor doesn't react to the arbitrary damage committed against his new headquarters.


 * The Cheetah's voice is patterned after the dialect used by Julie Newmar (and later by Eartha Kitt) as the character of Catwoman from the live-action Batman television series.
 * Bizarro has very little in common with his comic book counterpart. Whereas the comic Bizarro was more of a good-natured nuisance, the animated Bizarro is clearly a villain with evil intentions. The comic Bizarro also spoke with backwards grammar, lacking conjugated verbs. The animated Bizarro (while still speaking in the third person) simply uses a stilted pidgen dialect.


 * Aquaman does not have a single line of dialogue in this episode.


 * There are at least two references to the 1977 movie Star Wars featured in this episode. The Hall of Doom closely resembles the helmet worn by the film's antagonist, Darth Vader. Robin also uses a bat-laser cutter which closely resembles a lightsaber.


 * The alarm claxon at Fort Knox utilizes the same sound effect used for the red alert signal on the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise in the original Star Trek television series.


 * The Hall of Doom resides within a swamp in an undisclosed location. A crocodile can be seen lumbering past the half-submerged headquarters. This crocodile appears every single time the Hall of Doom rises from the swamp (the behind-the-scenes reasoning behind this is that the animators used the same stock footage over and over whenever they needed to show the Hall of Doom).


 * The actual quantity of gold held at Fort Knox is not particularly impressive. Superman manages to fit all of it onto a single piece of sheet metal.


 * In this episode, Green Lantern makes two constructs with his power ring: a giant green hand, and a baseball glove.

Bloopers & Inconsistencies
''Even in a fictitious reality that accepts the notion of super-powered individuals, this episode still demonstrates several logistical improbabilities. ''


 * The Legion of Doom manages to sneak inside of a jail cell and install rocket boosters beneath the floor of the cell without anyone ever noticing.


 * After Wonder Woman manages to sabotage the runaway jail cell, the force field surrounding the prison dissipates, allowing Superman the ability to fly out of it. However, the open vacuum of space does not seem to affect any of the other Super Friends.


 * Clark Kent apparently does very little work when he is in his office at the Daily Planet. He is seen lazing about, taking a nap with his feet propped up on his desk.


 * When introducing the Legion of Doom members, Lex Luthor introduces himself last. The comic book Luthor would insist on introducing himself first.


 * Lex Luthor uses his duplication technology to turn vast majorities of the world's populace into Bizarros and Cheetahs. While having an army of Bizarros at one's command is certainly advantageous, the episode fails to provide explanation as to the benefit of an army of women wearing Cheetah masks.


 * The Legion of Doom uses the Dream Machine against the Super Friends in an elaborate attempt to frame them for criminal acts – all so that they can have them arrested, baited into a trick rocket-powered cell, and launched into outer space. It would have been easier for Luthor to use his machine to subliminally manipulate the Super Friends into exiling themselves into outer space, without all of the extraneous theatrics (observation courtesy of a TV.com reviewer).

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