Which era of the "Super Friends" franchise do you prefer - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 11-25-2025, 05:39 AM

The "edutainment era" (1973-77) - This is of course, the very first era, which includes Super Friends (1973) and The All-New Super Friends Hour. The latter of which was technically, more of a variety show but I still consider it an pseudo educational show (just like how Season 1 you could say, subtlety wanted to teach children about environmental issues and problem solving without resorting to physical violence) since it still conducted "Knowing is Half the Battle-eque" public service announcements (such as with the Wonder Twins' segments) and "arts and crafts" segments as interstitials.
The "Challenge/World's Greatest era" (1978-79) - I really don't know any other way to call this particular era, which includes Challenge of the Superfriends and The World's Greatest Super Friends. This was of course, the era that introduced the Legion of Doom. It was really I think, the only time in the franchise where you could say that it had something of a continuous or on-going story arc.
The "three shorts era" (1980-83) - This was when the series went back to simply being titled Super Friends and like I said, went with a three short (approximately 7 minutes worth each) format. This era includes the "lost episodes" from 1983, which didn't initially air on ABC, but in Australia. This was because the network canceled Super Friends (even though that didn't stop Hanna Barbara from producing new episodes) so that they didn't have to compete with the show in daily syndication.
The "Super Powers era" (1984-85) - This was when ABC and Hanna-Barbara revived the show after about a two year hiatus and revamped the show once again, this time to align with Kenner's Super Powers toyline. This era was most notable for the addition of Firestorm and later Cyborg to team, as well as Darkseid become the new recurring "big bad", and Adam West in a reprisal of his live-action role, succeeding Olan Soule as the voice of Batman.

View Poll Results: Which particular era of "Super Friends" was the best?
1973-77	0	0%
1978-79	0	0%
1980-83	0	0%
1984-85	0	0%
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11-25-2025, 05:39 AM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 124,442	Which era of the "Super Friends" franchise do you prefer The "edutainment era" (1973-77) - This is of course, the very first era, which includes Super Friends (1973) and The All-New Super Friends Hour. The latter of which was technically, more of a variety show but I still consider it an pseudo educational show (just like how Season 1 you could say, subtlety wanted to teach children about environmental issues and problem solving without resorting to physical violence) since it still conducted "Knowing is Half the Battle-eque" public service announcements (such as with the Wonder Twins' segments) and "arts and crafts" segments as interstitials. The *"Challenge/World's Greatest* era"** (1978-79) - I really don't know any other way to call this particular era, which includes Challenge of the Superfriends and The World's Greatest Super Friends. This was of course, the era that introduced the Legion of Doom. It was really I think, the only time in the franchise where you could say that it had something of a continuous or on-going story arc. The "three shorts era" (1980-83) - This was when the series went back to simply being titled Super Friends and like I said, went with a three short (approximately 7 minutes worth each) format. This era includes the "lost episodes" from 1983, which didn't initially air on ABC, but in Australia. This was because the network canceled Super Friends (even though that didn't stop Hanna Barbara from producing new episodes) so that they didn't have to compete with the show in daily syndication. The "Super Powers era" (1984-85) - This was when ABC and Hanna-Barbara revived the show after about a two year hiatus and revamped the show once again, this time to align with Kenner's Super Powers toyline. This era was most notable for the addition of Firestorm and later Cyborg to team, as well as Darkseid become the new recurring "big bad", and Adam West in a reprisal of his live-action role, succeeding Olan Soule as the voice of Batman. See also: What is the best season/incarnation of "Super Friends"
	Last edited by TMC; 11-26-2025 at 03:28 AM.

11-29-2025, 04:05 AM	#2
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 124,442	Which “Super Friends” Era Tends to Appeal to Whom (and Why)

11-29-2025, 04:22 AM	#3
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 124,442	How would you compare each era of the Super Friends franchise based on animation, voice acting, or writing?