DC Superheroes- The Filmation Adventures

A review.

If you're older than 35, you probably remember Saturday morning cartoons. From usually 7am until noon, they populated our universe. Sadly, like much of what was good and fun, it's been taken away or diluted. If you were a comic lover, it was a great time. There was Spider-Man, and the Superman-Batman Adventures. Sure the animation wasn't Disney, but there were our heroes in all their technicolor glory having the fights and adventures with the bad guys we read in the comics.

This DVD is composed of those adventures with the "supporting cast" of the SBA crowd. I always look forward to these since they were a cool change of pace from Supes and Bats. The lineup consists of the Atom, Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkman, Justice League of America, and the Teen Titans. Their origins and even the titles are taken from the Silver Age, which fits since these were all created in 1967 or '68. There is 3 stories for each character or group, with no real underlying story thread tying them together. They were written by George Kashdan, except for one Flash cartoon.

I must raise my geek flag and nit pick a little. They introduce Aquaman in the JLA cartoon beginning but never use him. They use Superman, I guess for name recognition, but not Batman? Also, they use Aqualad in the Teen Titans but not Robin? Upon reflection, maybe it was because the live action show was on at the time. But back then there wasn't a term like "synergy", so I don't know why he wasn't there. I wasn't a big GL fan the way I am today, but the kid sidekick from Venus? What's up with that? Hawkman and Atom didn't have sidekicks (OK there was a bird for Hawkman, but he wasn't getting into trouble, so he doesn't count) in their toons.

In watching these, you remember that while you loved these, you were also somewhat frustrated at them. The use of stock footage over and over became a gag for shows like the Simpsons and Family Guy. The fast and easy resolution to these were sometimes (OK most of the time) hokey and headscratching. You wanted to see more action, more of your hero doing what he does best. The use of flashing lights and piercing sounds could give you a headache if watched for hours. Still, these are great peeks into the past. The voiceovers are a trip in the way back machine (anyone else remember and love Ted Knight from the Mary Tyler Moor Show? He does all the narration and some of the minor character voices.) and consistent. The actors who do the voices for Superman and Aqualad do them here. They strike a tone of who the character acted like in the comics back then. For Silver Age fans, these are a great look back at your heroes in their prime.

Fun? Yep. Mindlessness? You betcha. But also a nice remembrance of a time not that long ago that we may never see again.

Grade: B-/C+ (would it have killed Warner to clean these up just a little?)