TMC
11-18-2001, 11:46 PM
I somehow feel the need to bring this subject up after watching the premiere of Justice League on the Cartoon Network a while back. Obviously with it carrying along the production team of the recent Batman & Superman animated series, Justice League isn't the cheesy old Superfriends that we've grown attacted to throughout the 1970s and more recently on Cartoon Network. I suppose that Superfriends was a show that you strongly sensed could do much better but in a strange way, it was what it was (especially in retrospect) because it was so tacky, corny, and shallow with it's animation, dialog, ("Great Scott!") and rather limp voice work. Take for instance, the non-comic based ethnic Superfriends who simply felt like window dressing to keep up with a required PC quota rather than actual individuals.
Another thing that can take some account for is that the Superfriends surprisingly (in the context of being based from action/fantasy minded comic books) didn't really incorporate a lot of forced action or violence. This sort of worked to and against its advantage since from one perpsective, the limitations handed down by the network censors meant that you had to put some more thought in the story-telling (if any since we're talking about Superfriends afterall). But from another side of things, it may have gave a watered down and even somewhat predictable type of outlook and feel.
Another thing that can take some account for is that the Superfriends surprisingly (in the context of being based from action/fantasy minded comic books) didn't really incorporate a lot of forced action or violence. This sort of worked to and against its advantage since from one perpsective, the limitations handed down by the network censors meant that you had to put some more thought in the story-telling (if any since we're talking about Superfriends afterall). But from another side of things, it may have gave a watered down and even somewhat predictable type of outlook and feel.