Superfriends: Rub Three Times For Disaster Talkback

[Mattashell]

I made a mistake tonight's episode was Rub Three Times For Disaster, Rest in Peace is tomorrow's episode. All this week (Mon-Thu) Cartoon Network is showing a "preview" of Boomerang including Hanna-Barbera's Superfriends at 1:30 AM and again at 5:30 AM. Tonight's episode was Rub Three Times For Disaster.

Kareem Haza, Theif of Zagdad, steels a magic lamp from a space sultin. While fighting the sultin he drops the lamp and it falls clear across space to Earth where it is found by The Wonder Twins and Gleek, and brought to the Hall of Justice. The baffled Superfriends have never seen a bad cartoon with a genie in it before, so they have no idea what to do with this curiosity. Haza overides the computers at a missile base and launches four missiles to distract the Superfriends, who leave Zan, Jayna and Gleek alone to decifer the mysterious lamp. Finally Gleek decides to try rubbing the lamp, which conjures a genie from within. At first the genie promises to fulfill his master's wishes, but because he has a degree in zoology, he eventually realizes that Gleek is a monkey which means that instead of granting wishes, he has to trash the Hall of Justice. This is when Haza shows up and steals the lamp, for which Zan gratefully thanks him. Then he kidnaps the twins and Gleek and imprisons them in the lamp which is filled with pirate ghosts. When the Superfriends get back from saving the world they think Zan has thrown a wild party, until they realize the twins amd Gleek are gone. The space sultan apears on the trouble alert and informs them of everything that has transpired. They travel to the planet Zagdad, where Superman is also captured and imprisoned with the Wonder Twins. This is when Superman says, "I'm just as lost as you. Follow me." Wonder Woman dresses up as a stripper and distracts Haza while Batman and Robin cloraphorm his guards, but when stupid Aquaman tries to grab the lamp, he screws up and gets Haza's attention. Curse you, stupid Aquaman. There is a fight which results in the Superfriends being buried up to their sholders and being fed to sandcrabs. Now Superman escapes from the lamp and declairs, "It's time I showed you who's really your master." He defeats the genie and before long the Superfriends are free and wooping Haza and his band of thieves.

I'm rating the ep on camp and humor content, but rate it however you please. Personally this is not as hysterical as the early Filmation DC shows or the infamous "Wendy and Marvin" season, but it's still pretty darned fun.

[Squall]

Someone call an ambulance! I've just seen a train wreck!

Oh, wait... That was just another episode of Superfriends. :p

I have to vote "Turkey" for every episode of Superfriends, because that's what they all are. They're terrible. They're horendous. Or, to quote Jay Sherman, "It STINKS!"

Where do I begin? That far-off kingdom in some corner of our Universe looked a heck of a lot like the Middle East. :rolleyes: Except with flying carpet-car vehicles and laser swords. Oh, and a genie with a magic lamp, of course.

It was a laugh riot when the villian of this episode exclaimed, "Look! That lamp is flying towards the solar system of Earth!" (He has REALLY good eyesight and REALLY good math skills.) But you know, Earth didn't seem very far away at all when he flew to Earth, or when the Superfriends flew to that Middle Eastern-but-techincally-alien kingdom. :confused:

And who knew the Batwing was so versitale? It can fly in space!

One thing creeped me out, though: The 'disarming the nuclear missiles' sequence seemed a LOT like the 'disarming the nuclear missiles' sequence in "The Brave and The Bold", Part II. :eek:

Oh, and Wonder Woman's diversion? Ahahahahaaahhh!
And Gleek's impersonation of Wonder Woman's diversion? AAAAH! (covers eyes with hands)

Why is Jana, as a freakin' elephant, stronger than SUPERMAN? What the heck?!?

And why is... oh, forget it. I could go on all day. The point is, this episode (like all Superfriends episodes), is SO bad that sometimes I wonder if they made them bad on purpose. What do you think?

Thank God we have Justice League! :D

[Mister Intensity]

I actually enjoyed this episode. Yeah, it did have the requisite bad science (a magic lamp getting blasted to Earth from Kareem's hands) and the Wonder Twins were dumber than usual (it didn't occur to them to use their powers against the skeleton) but the episode was fun. It was one of the more action packed episodes of Superfriends. It was one of the rare episodes where the Superfriends used their powers and devices without annoucing their actions. The rescue of the lamb sequence was nice, although marred by Wonder Woman not using her lasso to commend Kareem to give up the lamp, too bad Aquaman didn't contribute anything useful (what happened to the super strength he had during the first two seasons). I know the characters weren't allowed to hit anybody but he could have jumped, push them, shove something at them, or something. It was also nice that Superman was disposed of during a fight without Kryptonite or red sun radiation being the culprit.

All in all, the usual holes aside, it was a fun episode. I liked the Boomerang opening sequence as well, even though it would have been more appropriate to use the Mego action figures instead of the Super Powers ones. I do wish that the Cartoon Network and Boomerang would start airing unedited All-New Super Friends Hour, Superfriends 1978, Superfriends shorts, and Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show episodes. They would be a nice addition to the Saturday night Boomerang block.

Mister Intensity

[Toddman]

Poor Aquaman. Did anyone else notice that they showed how each of the other Superfriends disarmed their missile (which was a little reminiscent of "Brave & Bold") except for Aquaman? Maybe his actually hit its target and blew up Midway City or something.

And I raised an eyebrow about how "Star Trek" it was to have a planet that so closely resembled the Middle East, until I thought about it and realized how similar STAS's Kryptonian lifestyle resembled white middle class America. Oh well, some things never change.

Here's looking forward to Luthor and the other villians' disguises tonight during the opening scene of "Superfriends: R.I.P."

Toddman

[JohnStewart-GL]

this is as good as it got for superfriends. So i voted 3stars. Because it reminded me of simpler days.
And i forgot superman always said Great Scott.what a dumb catphrase. whos scott? JL Supes is way better.

[Mattashell]

Originally posted by JohnStewart-GL
this is as good as it got for superfriends. So i voted 3stars. Because it reminded me of simpler days.
And i forgot superman always said Great Scott.what a dumb catphrase. whos scott? JL Supes is way better.

Sometimes he said "Great Krypton" Batman's catchphrase was worse "Great Gotham" Wonder Woman's was "Great Hera" again somethings never change. ;)

[Mister Intensity]

Originally posted by Toddman
Poor Aquaman. Did anyone else notice that they showed how each of the other Superfriends disarmed their missile (which was a little reminiscent of "Brave & Bold") except for Aquaman? Maybe his actually hit its target and blew up Midway City or something.

Actually, Wonder Woman handled two missles.

Mister Intensity

[mbaker]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't that Middle East setting in Zagdad be considered Racist? I never thought I'd see Wonder Woman stoop so low as A heram. ("Why would women ware such garments?") Also, The Wonder Twins face A skeleton in A pirate hat while inside the lamp. (Oooooooh, I'm shaking) One more thing. Can the Bat Jet go that far in space? As usual, Aquaman was useless, and out of place in this episode.

[DarkLantern]

Originally posted by Squall
Oh, and Wonder Woman's diversion? Ahahahahaaahhh!


Wonder Woman's diversion worked a little too well. Why do you think Aquaman knocked over the lamp? He wasn't watching what he was doing.

As for the "Arabian Knights" motif, this was during the season where the writers pulled a lot of inspiration from classic literature. Other episodes resembled the stories of King Arthur, Blackbeard, Frankenstein (aired the night before), Dracula, 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea, and others.

It may be silly from today's standards, but you can't knock a television show for attempting to get kids interested in reading.

The Dark Lantern

[peterparker05]

I view Superfriends as comedy, pure and simple, and by that measure, it's hilarious!

[Mister Intensity]

Originally posted by mbaker
Can the Bat Jet go that far in space?

On Superfriends, Batman had two air vehicles, the Batjet for earthly flights and the Batrocket for space hopping jaunts. No explanation was ever given as to why both vehicles could go faster than any equivalent earthly vehicles of the same type, even by cartoon super science standards.

Mister Intensity

[JusticeLeagueLegion]

Originally posted by Squall
Someone call an ambulance! I've just seen a train wreck!

Oh, wait... That was just another episode of Superfriends. :p

I have to vote "Turkey" for every episode of Superfriends, because that's what they all are. They're terrible. They're horendous. Or, to quote Jay Sherman, "It STINKS!"

Where do I begin? That far-off kingdom in some corner of our Universe looked a heck of a lot like the Middle East. :rolleyes: Except with flying carpet-car vehicles and laser swords. Oh, and a genie with a magic lamp, of course.

It was a laugh riot when the villian of this episode exclaimed, "Look! That lamp is flying towards the solar system of Earth!" (He has REALLY good eyesight and REALLY good math skills.) But you know, Earth didn't seem very far away at all when he flew to Earth, or when the Superfriends flew to that Middle Eastern-but-techincally-alien kingdom. :confused:

And who knew the Batwing was so versitale? It can fly in space!

One thing creeped me out, though: The 'disarming the nuclear missiles' sequence seemed a LOT like the 'disarming the nuclear missiles' sequence in "The Brave and The Bold", Part II. :eek:

Oh, and Wonder Woman's diversion? Ahahahahaaahhh!
And Gleek's impersonation of Wonder Woman's diversion? AAAAH! (covers eyes with hands)

Why is Jana, as a freakin' elephant, stronger than SUPERMAN? What the heck?!?

And why is... oh, forget it. I could go on all day. The point is, this episode (like all Superfriends episodes), is SO bad that sometimes I wonder if they made them bad on purpose. What do you think?

Thank God we have Justice League! :D

You really shouldn't take anything Pre-Crisis too seriously, back in the 70s, TV was meant to be...how do I say this...well....retarded. That's what it was...but I still enjoy watching Superfriends...that alien shouldn't have been able to know where that lamp was drifting for though...plus, it would have to be drifting faster than the speed of light in order for it to have gotten there as fast as it did. But no, it's not suppose to be realistic...just more of a joke. Don't take it too seriously...I mean really...stupider things have happened...Batman was on "Scooby-Doo" and that was really retarded. But I don't consider that the "real" Batman. Just the "Scooby" Batman. Some of you are expecting WAAAYY too much from a low budget 70s series...even a high budget 70s series would have been silly.

[peterparker05]

Originally posted by JusticeLeagueLegion


You really shouldn't take anything Pre-Crisis too seriously, back in the 70s, TV was meant to be...how do I say this...well....retarded. That's what it was...but I still enjoy watching Superfriends...that alien shouldn't have been able to know where that lamp was drifting for though...plus, it would have to be drifting faster than the speed of light in order for it to have gotten there as fast as it did. But no, it's not suppose to be realistic...just more of a joke. Don't take it too seriously...I mean really...stupider things have happened...Batman was on "Scooby-Doo" and that was really retarded. But I don't consider that the "real" Batman. Just the "Scooby" Batman. Some of you are expecting WAAAYY too much from a low budget 70s series...even a high budget 70s series would have been silly.

EXACTLY!