Superfriends:
The Power Pirate
In 1973 kids everywhere were overjoyed that their
favorite superheroes were coming to Saturday morning cartoons, produced by the
giants of televised animation Hanna-Barbera comic fans were finally able to see
the likes of Batman and Superman battling the forces of evil…well to be honest
they mainly inconvenienced the forces of evil and by evil I mean inept villains
who should really concentrate on crimes along the lines of taking candy from
babies, and it would be best if said babies were asleep. The first season of Superfriends the DC heroes weren’t battling Lex Luthor or Sinestro
but mainly villains that had some dangerous goal that the Justice League could somehow
talk them down from. Due to Standards
and Practices at the time violence on television, particularly kid’s shows, was
heavily monitored and things like people punching each other was not
allowed. As one must realize this kind
of hampers characters like Batman who tend to rely on actually fighting his
enemies. To make the show more kid
friendly three non-superhero characters were added; Marvin, Wendy and Wonder
Dog. This was a clear case of trying to
bring in fans of the Scooby Gang.
The first episode entitled The Power Pirate begins with an older gentleman skiing while, unknown
to him, he is being followed by a UFO, he hits a rock and takes a nasty
spill. He asks help from a stranger who
approaches him but that the stranger is a pointy-eared alien doesn’t seem to faze
him at all is the real mystery here. The
alien then proceeds to zap him with a ray from a pendant hanging from his neck.
Cut to Superman arm-wrestling with an opponent who we can’t
see. He calls for the rest of the
Justice League to come to his aid.
Aquaman votes to not get involved because the combined mite of the JLA
may not be able to handle Superman’s fantastic adversary (Aquaman showing his
true colors right out of the gate). Of
course this is just the set-up for the lame reveal Superman is getting beaten
by Marvin the teen-age idiot.The group
finally decide to aid Superman and thus causes Marvin to make a break for it
and he hovers in the air out of reach of the Superfriends. It is never explained how this is possible, because
even though Marvin is wearing a cape it is established throughout the series
that he and Wendy are just two average teens.
Suddenly the TroubAlert goes off and the team is informed
of the latest danger. The UFO from earlier
is draining the power from a locomotive as it tries to climb a hill, it loses
power and starts to roll back to where it will crash with a passenger train. “I’ll get this one, friends. Stopping trains is my speciality.” Superman responds
and flies of to save the day.
Trivia Note: The train is trying to climb Donner Pass
when it runs into trouble and must be saved by Superman, a few years later
Richard Donner will make the best Superman movie to date.
The TroubAlert goes off again notifying the Superfriends
that the ocean liner Queen Victoria is in danger as she has lost all power and
is in rough seas. This looks like a job
for Aquaman. *snicker* Batman offers to give Aquaman a ride to the
coast in his Batmobile but Wonder Woman suggests that her “transparent plane” would be faster. Aquaman may be guardian of the world’s oceans
that make up three quarters of the Earth’s surface but he still has to catch a
ride to get there. *sigh*
Super Power Note:
Wonder Woman’s transparent plane is thought powered. Aquaman comments, “I still marvel at your
transparent plane Wonder Woman, a robot plane that you fly by using your brain
waves.”
Aquaman dives out of Wonder Woman’s plane and fails almost
immediately. While swimming towards the
Queen Victoria he is seized by a “renegade giant anemone.” So the king of the sea then has to send out
an urgent call to all octopi in the area.
After they rescue Aquaman enlists their help in saving the ship. He also calls on a great whale because there
is no problem that Aquaman cannot solve by calling a whale. I’m pretty sure he calls them when he runs
out of toilet paper or can’t find the TV remote. It seems a “Power Pirate” has been
victimizing British ships and he’d like the help of the Justice League. Robin brings up that Superman just dealt with
a train that lost its power Sir Cedric Cedric rules that out as probably a
coincidence.
After saving the Queen Victoria the Superfriends are approached
by Sir Cedric Cedric, Special Inspector, Scotland Yard.
Just as Batman begins to wonder if someone is trying to
steal power the TroubAlert informs them that a dam has lost power and cannot
close its flood gates.
Superman gives Batman and Robin a lift. Aquaman tags along because, why not.
Wonder Woman makes a temporary earthen dam that buys them
time to split up and seal the three floodgates. Wonder Woman fails but Superman and Aquaman
close the gates while Batman saves Wonder Woman.
Back at the Hall of Justice the gang has come to the
conclusion that a “Power Pirate” is responsible and is trying to create and
energy shortage. Batman declares that “We
must drop our defense posture and take on a preventive one.” No one bothers to tell Batman that those are
one and the same. Going on the offense
is something the Superfriends just can’t do as that could lead to punching.
Upon seeing a UFO hovering over a power plant Wendy
observes, “Hmm, that’s pretty far out.” Marvin asks what is “far out” Wendy
says “Uh, oh nothing, Marvin. Something
puzzled me for a moment but I guess it’s not important.” So while investigating a mysterious force
that is somehow draining power Wendy doesn’t think a UFO is important. She needs to go sit in the corner with
Aquaman.
Wendy eventually earns some points by figuring out Sir
Cedric Cedric might not be on the up and up and Batman confirms this with the
use of the Bat Computer that a UFO has been seen at every instance of a power
theft, but when checks the “Good Guys International File” to see if there is Sir
Cedric Cedric of Scotland Yard. Turns
out there is. “Holy wipeouts, Batman!” But what’s this the computer then states that
Sir Cedric Cedric is a patient at Central Valley Hospital in Ski Valley!
Super Power Note:
Batman is the world’s greatest detective but in the Superfriends he is
relegated to being the guy in charge of turning on the Bat Computer.
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| Standard reversed Bat Symbol that plagues the series. |
So the big twist at the end is that the aliens impersonated
Sir Cedric Cedric to help cover-up their power stealing shenagins. The ray the alien used on Sir Cedric Cedric
scanned his mind so they could do a proper impersonation. His newly created twin then carried Sir
Cedric Cedric to the local hospital where Cedric then chocked the whole thing
up to delirium due to the accident thus never mentioning the UFO incident to
anyone.
The gang race to the grand opening a nuclear reactor
knowing that it is too good a target for the fake Sir Cedric Cedric to pass up
and Wonder Woman wraps things up nicely.
The alien reveals himself to be, “Anthro from the planet of Traum in a
far distant galaxy.”
He was stealing
Earth’s energies because his own people failed to heed the warnings of their conservationists
and used up the energy resources of their planet.
Without the stolen energy his planet is
doomed.
Superman comes up with a the
solution by using his super powers to polish the surface moon of Traum to be as
smooth as glass so that it becomes a reflective solar power plant.
There is the key problem with the first season of
Superfriends; most of the villains turn
out to be just misguided individuals who just need help.
All this is of course to make it easier for
our heroes to avoid having to get physical with their opponents, and a nice way to
throw in a preachy life lesson for the kiddies.
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| Who is driving? |
