The animation style changed as well. The animators weren't working from the Alex Toth-style model sheets. It was more modern and sleek. Firestorm's flame-top, for example, looked more like fire than a strange, pointy hat, as it had the previous season. Sure, it still looked more like cornsilk than fire, but an improvement's an improvement.
New this season was the addition of the Teen Tian's Victor Stone -- Cyborg. Voiced by Ernie Hudson, Cyborg was half-man, half-machine, and ititially reluctant to become a superhero.
This season seemed more comic-inspired, as many other characters from the comic books appeared, some of them making their Superfriends debut. Joker, Penguin and Scarecrow hadn't been seen since the old Filmation series. The Royal Flush Gang, and even magician Felix Faust showed up. It was a treat to comics fans to see these characters on the small screen.
Missing from this incarnation were Zan and Jayna (and Gleek, of course), Black Vulcan and El Dorado. There were no guest star heroes, unless you count the near-cameo appearances made by Hawkman and Aquaman.
This was a pretty big change. Aquaman had been one of the big four since the beginning, and in the last two seasons, he was barely even visible.
Darkseid and all the denizens of Apokolips also looked more sinister. Darkseid's son, Kalibak, looked far more intimidating and beastly. These villains actually looked intimidating. Again, the style of the show is drastically different from previous seasons.
Aside from the Challenge of the Superfriends episodes, I find these to be some of the most entertaining. The episode, "The Fear," features the first on-screen origin for Batman, and is nicely done. Another highlight, "The Death of Superman," was another darker story that was handled well. Bizarro and Mr. Mxyzptlk get one more go-round in "The Bizarro Super Powers Team." This time, Bizarro is more of a nuisance than a menace (as he was in "Challenge").
It's a shame the series didn't go for at least another season. I think the creators had come up with some good things. Some changes kind of hurt.
The Hall of Justice was radically redesigned. Probably considered blasphemous by hardcore SF fans, the updated Hall of Justice fit with the series' more streamlined, modern look.
This was the last of the Superfriends shows to air. It would be years until Batman made a return to the small screen with "Batman: The Animated Series." Superman followed a few years after that, and this fall, a Justice League America cartoon is set to premiere on Cartoon Network. It is supposed to be different in tone than was the Superfriends, but still plenty of fun.
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