The Superfriends, part 5: The Legendary Super Powers Show

When the Superfriends returned for the 1984-85 season, a few changes were made. The name, for one. Now it was "Superfriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show."

Around this time, Kenner had put out a line of toys based on the DC Comics heroes - the Super Power Collection. Still highly sought by collectors, these action figures featured most of the heroes who appeared on the show.

One of the bigger changes involved a voice. The creators replaced Olan Soule, who had done the voice for Batman for more than a decade at that time, with actor Adam West, who had of course played Batman on the classic 1960s TV show.

Less publicized was the switch for Wonder Woman's voice. Most of the information sites, including the Internet Movie Database, show that Shannon Farnon was replaced by B.J. Ward for the final two seasons. However, if you listen to the two voices, they sound very different.

Rob Gordon, who has a great Superfriends site (check out the links page), has a book that says that Mary McDonald Lewis was the mystery Wonder Woman voice. B.J. Ward voiced the Amazing Amazon for the show's final season. Thanks to Rob for saving what's left of my sanity.

There were also some new characters. Firestorm was added to the Superfriends roster. Firestorm could alter the molecular structure of inanimate objects. He also was a little unusual in the fact that he had not one, but two secret identities. Professor Martin Stein and student Ronald Raymond shared the Firestorm persona. On the show, it was explained that one of Stein's experiments went haywire while Raymond was in the lab, and the two merged to become Firestorm. This is altered a little from the comics, but not drastically.

There was a neat animation sequence the creators used to show Stein and Raymond merging into Firestorm. It got a little old after the eighty kajillionth time, but no more so than Aquaman's "Great Neptune!"

Incidentally, Stein was voiced by Olan Soule that season. I always wondered if that confused anyone who was used to Soule's Batman.

This season also featured some new villains. Lex Luthor and Brainiac made appearances, though their costumes were updated to match what was current in the comics at the time. Luthor gained a green suit of armor with various gizmos. Brainiac was completely different. He didn't look like a bald, green guy with a polo shirt and swimtrunks. He looked like a robotic skeleton of sorts - a lot more intimidating.

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