Warner Home Video has released Hanna-Barbera's The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, a two-disc, ten episode compilation of the last incarnation of the wildly popular The Super Friends cartoon series that aired on ABC from 1973 to 1986. Featuring newly designed characters with an emphasis on outer space adventures, The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians should provide plenty of feel-good nostalgia for kids who grew up on the Justice League of America.

I wasn't watching too many (if any) Saturday morning cartoons in 1985, but I grew up on the earlier versions of The Super Friends, which were particular favorites of mine as a boy. Watching this later version, it seemed fairly faithful to the DC Comics versions of the Justice League heroes and villains that I remember. My understanding is that this particular series was produced solely to support a successful line of Kenner action figures marketed as the "Super Powers" collection (renamed "Super Powers" rather than "Super Friends" because the figures each had some sort of action mechanism to distinguish them from other similar toys), released from 1984 to 1986.

There's always a big discussion concerning animated TV series designed specifically to sell toys. It's never bothered me too much; after all, any mainstream movie, TV show, or cartoon you've ever watched wasn't produced as a free gift to mankind. It was created to make a profit. So what, then, if the cartoon didn't "organically" spring forth as a purely artistic endeavor? "Is it entertaining?" should be the main consideration. And with The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, it's a fairly entertaining show. I'm by no means an expert on the series, but when I was a kid, The Super Friends was a solid, go-to cartoon when you didn't want to screw around. If you needed some action with some cool super heroes (and the idea of watching The Smurfs made you nauseous), that was the show to turn on. After all, how could you go wrong with Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman working together to blast the bad guys?

According to the bonus featurette included on this disc, the original Super Friends designs of Alex Toth were jettisoned for the The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians series in favor of artist Jose Luis Garcia Lopez's more muscular, powerful interpretations of the famed DC warriors. While they certainly do look more impressive than earlier versions I remember, it's important to note that quite often, the actual animation of the characters can be sub-par here, with those new, improved designs occasionally coming off silly when features morph awkwardly with jerky movements (there's a great shot of Wonder Woman looking positively demented because the animators sloppily made her cross-eyed).

The scripts for The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians do have a nice, big-scale sweep to them, though, with an emphasis put on stories set in space, no doubt influenced by the continued success of the Star Wars franchise (and obviously, the phenomenal Star Wars merchandising). In addition to the occasional appearance of traditional DC villains (The Penguin, The Joker), Darkseid (who reminds me of a cross between Darth Vader and The Thing), along with his minions Desaad and Kalibak, are the main villains for this series. Evidently, this character was included specifically at the request of Kenner Toys (no doubt to give the toy line a strong Darth Vader-like villain), and his presence is indicative of other ideas and characters that seemed strangely familiar (the space shuttle capture in The Fear is similar to Moonraker, a big 80s space hit; Darkseid's golden robots look an awful lot like Maximillian from The Black Hole, the idea of the planting sanctuary and the robot farmers from The Ghost Ship seem very Silent Running-ish, and so on).

I suppose for camp value, I miss Wendy Harris, Marvin White and Wonderdog (and yes, The Wonder Twins, as well), but honestly, they were tack-ons, anyway. True DC Comics fans hated them, so they won't be mourned here. There's an admirable turn towards seriousness here in The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, particularly with episodes The Fear (where Batman's backstory is dramatized for the first time) and The Death of Superman (where Superman's funeral looks a lot like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). "Camp" is definitively out this time around, although comic relief is often provided by new addition Cyborg, a nicely shaded character who interacts well with Firestorm, another young addition to the team. And it was great to see the Bizarro Super Powers Team - too bad somebody didn't think of spinning them off into their own show.

Here are the 10 episodes of the two-disc set, The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians:

DISC ONE:

The Seeds of Doom

The Ghost Ship

The Bizarro Super Powers Team

The Darkseid Deception

The Fear

DISC TWO:

The Wild Cards

Brainchild

The Case of the Stolen Super Powers

The Death of Superman

Escape from Space City

The DVD:

The Video:
The full frame, 1.33: video image for The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians looks quite good, even though occasional screen anomalies like dirt specs and scratches do pop up (which could have been present from the very start, considering the hurried animation job these obviously underwent). Colors are bright, though.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English mono track accurately recreates the original broadcast presentation. English subtitles are available.

The Extras:
There's a nicely informative featurette, Super Friends Redux: Galactic Guardians, featuring Rich Fogel (writer), Michael Swanigan (storyboard artist), Dan Didio (Senior VP DC Comics), Paul Levitz (President and Publisher, DC Comics), Alan Burnett (writer), and Mark Waid (writer and historian) discussing the series' inception and execution. It runs 11:10.

Final Thoughts:
Although I was a fan of the original Super Friends series, I don't think I caught The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, the 1985 reboot of the franchise. Certainly more serious in tone, with more powerful, muscular superheroes on display, The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians moved at a snappy pace and delivered stories (quite a few of them sci-fi themed) with an admirable sweep and sense of scale. I recommend The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians.