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Monday, October 25, 2010

Super Friends: The Lost Episodes, Pt. 2

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More Super Friends: The Lost Episodes!

Since it was only a two-disc set, I thought I'd finish up the remaining "lost" Super Friends episodes. Mostly just to enjoy them of course, but also to see how much Aquaman shows up.

The answer is, regarding these final three episodes: not much. The fifth and sixth episodes feature the segments "Warpland" (Superman and Batman), "Two Gleeks Are Deadlier Than One" (Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and The Wonder Twins), "Bulgor The Behemoth" (Superman and Apache Chief), "Prisoners of Sleep" (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman), "An Unexpected Treasure" (Hawkman, Hawkgirl(!), and The Wonder Twins), and "The Malusian Blob" (Batman, Robin, and Black Vulcan). Aquaman is not in these at all, except for a cameo in "Two Gleeks" which features a meeting of the entire team:
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(Incidentally, this episode features a fun bit of dialogue, where Green Lantern--who kinda seems like the team leader here--explains that this rare meeting of all the Super Friends must be held in secret, lest the Legion of Doom find out. Scaredy-cats!)

Aquaman does get a solo spot in the seventh episode, after "Return of the Phantoms" (Superman, Green Lantern, and...Superboy), and "Bully For You" (Batman, Robin, and the Wonder Twins), the Sea King and El Dorado star in "Super Clones":
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This episode opens with a shark about to attack a random surfer. Just before he is swallowed into the shark's gaping maw, Aquaman arrives to fight the killer beast off:
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In the battle, the shark scratches Aquaman, actually drawing blood. Aquaman doesn't think much of it after the shark departs. Strangely, the same thing happens to El Dorado, when he saves some mountain climbers from being attacked by a hawk.

We follow the shark and hawk to a small cave, which is the headquarters of...Brainiac (oh, how the mighty have fallen)!. Turns out this was the plan all along, and with the tissue samples his henchanimals have brought back, Brainiac creates clones of Aquaman and El Dorado!

The clones head out and attack their originals, bringing them back to Brainiac for safekeeping. Then they head for a nearby cargo ship, and rob it. Or at least they try to--the ship's captain gets the drop on them, and has them arrested.

The evil doppelgangers are put on trial, which some of the Justice League attend:
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...I feel bad for the spectators who had to sit behind Hawkman.

Anyway, back in the cave, Aquaman and El Dorado attempt to escape, and even Brainiac's cave full of futuristic weapons can't stop them, including a giant robot who looks kinda familiar:
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Aquaman and El Dorado escape, make their way to the courtroom, and reveal the clones for what they are, just pawns of Brainiac. Case dismissed!

Aquaman makes no appearance in the eighth, and final, lost episode, which feature the stories "Attack of the Cats" (Batman, Robin, and El Dorado), "One Small Step For Superman" (Superman, Batman, and the Wonder of Twins), and "Video Victims" (
Superman, Wonder Woman, and Samurai).


All in all, these are generally dull segments, with Superman and Batman getting the lion's share of screentime, although that's hardly a surprise. Super Friends' plots were always on the fast-and-loose side (this amazing, unbelievable thing happens because it can) but when the segments are this short that only becomes more apparent.

That said, some of these shows do have some nice touches. Its cool to see El Dorado so much, "Video Victims" opens up on the Bizarro World, and I was thrilled to see Hawkgirl make an appearance. Unfortunately, the segment featuring her was seemingly colored by crackheads--worse still, crackheads that only read Marvel comics:
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"If only we had some way of knowing how to color Hawkgirl. But where would we get the proper reference?"

F.O.A.M.er Brian Heiler pointed out in the first Lost Episodes post that these shows weren't exactly "lost"--they ran in syndication
, specifically on the USA Network. But I never saw them, so even with their scanty Aqua-content it was still a lot of fun seeing, for me at least, brand-new adventures of the Super Friends!

4 comments:

Wings1295 said...

Never saw these, either, so these posts are quite cool. Love that pic of Aquaman with the shark. Looks like he is gonna pull some karate move!

Russell said...

When did Aquaman's leggings go from "green" to dark, dark green? Compare his legs to Hawkman's and Green Lantern's uniform. What the hell, man?!

And...what happened to the clones? Did they get killed, or are they still out there!?!

JasonMotesBowles said...

I don't know what's up with Hawkgirl's costume! She's colored correctly in the other segments she appeared in. THIS coloration makes NO sense!

Aaron said...

I also recently rented the "lost" episodes, I'd rather watch it than Lost, but that's just me!

I do love all the various "tributes" to Star Wars during those years of SF, like the one where they go into a fairy tale land and basically encounter Jawas.