hobbyfan
12-12-2006, 10:53 PM
About a week ago, I walked into a Save-A-Lot and bought a copy of Challenge of the Super Friends: Attack of the Legion of Doom on DVD for just $7 plus tax. They've got a whole tray full of discount DVDs, including Superman: Last Son of Krypton and the Batman-Superman Movie and Justice League: Secret Origins.
Anyway, I finally got around to playing the Challenge DVD tonight. Ah, the memories. Looking back now, yeah, it is a little flimsy in terms of plotting, but because each episode is 20-22 minutes in length, there wasn't much room for real plot development.
The four eps on the DVD:
Wanted: The Super Friends (listed as Wanted: 10 Super Friends on the back cover). 1st episode of the series.
Invasion of the Fearians. 3-headed menace from Venus (!!) recruits the Legion of Doom to reconfigure Earth. Wouldn't be the last time aliens would call upon the Legion.
The Time Trap: The Legion uses a time warp device to steal artifacts from the past. Apache Chief & Aquaman are stuck in prehistoric times, Batman & Robin in ancient Rome, etc.. A pity they didn't try to redo this on JLU.
The Most Dangerous Game: Hawkman, Wonder Woman, & Black Vulcan are lured to a black hole, where a artificial planet of toys awaits.
The single disc DVD also includes comments from writer Jeffrey Scott and video features & fact files on all 13 Legion members. Luthor is in his classic 70's costume, but looking back I've wondered why Captain Cold's face was colored blue, when in the comics he has normal skin tone. I think someone at HB got him confused with Mr. Freeze.
What was lacking? Plot development. All the episodes followed a basic formula, and never deviated. Would it have hurt a little to do something daring once in a while? Like, for example, having Wonder Woman go undercover, posing as Cheetah. They never thought of those things back then, but if the series were produced today, you can bet your bottom dollar they'd try something like that. Problem is, the Cheetah character has changed quite a bit since 1978, and in doing the show today, you could use Zatanna casting a spell, either on Diana or herself, to masquerade as Cheetah.
I think now I realize why they changed formats again after the one season of Challenge. Viewers were bored seeing the same thing over and over, and wanted variety. Of the LOD team, only Lex Luthor would return the following season.
Grade: B.
Anyway, I finally got around to playing the Challenge DVD tonight. Ah, the memories. Looking back now, yeah, it is a little flimsy in terms of plotting, but because each episode is 20-22 minutes in length, there wasn't much room for real plot development.
The four eps on the DVD:
Wanted: The Super Friends (listed as Wanted: 10 Super Friends on the back cover). 1st episode of the series.
Invasion of the Fearians. 3-headed menace from Venus (!!) recruits the Legion of Doom to reconfigure Earth. Wouldn't be the last time aliens would call upon the Legion.
The Time Trap: The Legion uses a time warp device to steal artifacts from the past. Apache Chief & Aquaman are stuck in prehistoric times, Batman & Robin in ancient Rome, etc.. A pity they didn't try to redo this on JLU.
The Most Dangerous Game: Hawkman, Wonder Woman, & Black Vulcan are lured to a black hole, where a artificial planet of toys awaits.
The single disc DVD also includes comments from writer Jeffrey Scott and video features & fact files on all 13 Legion members. Luthor is in his classic 70's costume, but looking back I've wondered why Captain Cold's face was colored blue, when in the comics he has normal skin tone. I think someone at HB got him confused with Mr. Freeze.
What was lacking? Plot development. All the episodes followed a basic formula, and never deviated. Would it have hurt a little to do something daring once in a while? Like, for example, having Wonder Woman go undercover, posing as Cheetah. They never thought of those things back then, but if the series were produced today, you can bet your bottom dollar they'd try something like that. Problem is, the Cheetah character has changed quite a bit since 1978, and in doing the show today, you could use Zatanna casting a spell, either on Diana or herself, to masquerade as Cheetah.
I think now I realize why they changed formats again after the one season of Challenge. Viewers were bored seeing the same thing over and over, and wanted variety. Of the LOD team, only Lex Luthor would return the following season.
Grade: B.