Category: Saturday Morning Ridiculousness

Saturday Morning Ridiculousness – Super Friends S1 Ep9

This is part of my weekly Saturday Morning installment dedicated to archiving and commenting on the wonderful “what else can we put in here to make it an hour” ridiculousness that is the cartoon series, Super Friends.

Season 1 – Episode 9: “The Balloon People”

Airdate was November 3, 1973.

Short Synopsis: There’s a spacecraft on the “space monitor” at headquarters. “The saucer is transporting a family of strange humanoids. They are The Balloon People – Krim, his wife Gloma, their daughter, Plinky, and a dog, Grunk.” – Narrator

I can only assume their last name is Zappa. These Balloon People can inflate and deflate to various sizes, like Robert De Niro and Tom Hanks. They can also move things telepathically. I’ll give you one guess as to why they are coming to Earth. And I’m not even going to tell you the answer because Godamnit if you don’t know by now that Earth’s awesome inhabitable atmosphere brings all the boys to the yard, then you’ll never learn.

I didn’t ask “let me see it, “ I asked “how”

I'm pretty sure this is the inspiration for the "Like A Prayer" video

Wendy asks them how they deflate and inflate. And the answer is: “like this.” No shit. Super Friends has never really been too worried about alien anatomy.

The World Herald – The World’s Local Newspaper
Here’s the day’s headline in The World Herald. The Super Friends are shitty secret-keepers, apparently.

Here’s some other recent headlines in The World Herald:


–
The Krim Family = The World’s In-Laws
Super Friends may not be the best show for demonstrating the amazing power and moral strength of super heroes. But, it is a good guide for how to handle out of town guests.

“The Super Friends arrive to pay a social call to the Krim Family.” – The Narrator

“We Super Friends would like to help you become acquainted with Earth. We’ll take you on sight-seeing trips on land, and in the sky, and undersea if you desire.” – Aquaman

Other suggested activities:
Take them fishing:

Have them help you clean up the backyard so it will look nice for Superman, who’s on his way to pick them up for sight-seeing:

Show them the countryside while flying them around in their tiny spaceship:

Show them the wonders of the Corral Reef. Watch out for “diabolical sea-suckers.”

Wonder Woman – Seriously, Super Friends?
This is what Wonder Woman can do – kick ass and take names later:

This is what they have her do in this episode:
Batman: I suggest we take turns acting as their personal body guards.
Wonder Woman: Good, I’ll draw up a schedule.

Anderson Cooper Reports the “News!”

“{The head of the EPA} has also invited the Krim Family to attend the meeting. The invitation includes Wonder Dog, who this evening will be taken to the pet shop for a hair trim and pedicure.”

In a world where living humanoids that are made of balloons exist, there’s one major concern weighing on Robin’s mind.

“Krim?! KRIM!? What are you doing in the neighbor’s yard!??”

If you would like to witness these shenanigans in all their glory, the first season of Super Friends is available on DVD.

Saturday Morning Ridiculousness – Super Friends S1 Ep8

This is part of my weekly Saturday Morning installment dedicated to archiving and commenting on the wonderful “what else can we put in here to make it an hour” ridiculousness that is the cartoon series, Super Friends.

Season 1 – Episode 8: “The Androids”

Airdate was October 27, 1973.

The Super Friends consist of Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Batman, and Robin. Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog are the “Junior Super Friends.” They haven’t made partner yet. They also have no super powers other than Wonder Dog’s ability to almost speak.
Short Synopsis: Some astronauts try to take off to the moon but fail and crash, mysteriously survive and leave the rocket, and Dr. Rebos has left a recorded message that this is a demonstration of his impressive skills (so, the standard nonsensical grandstanding). He demands that all space exploration end, because he thinks we have enough problems to focus on here on earth. Basically, the played out don’t-agree-with-space-travel-so-you-build-androids-to-look-like-other-people-and-sabatoge-the-space-program scheme. There were a lot more actual jokes in this episode than previous ones.

First Acknowledgement of an Alter-Ego

Clark Kent is assigned to cover the next space trip which is good because Superman can also keep tabs. Here he is invading everyone’s privacy while in the company of an awesomely 70s scientist.

Aquaman has Friends, and Don’t You Forget it.
“Aquaman sends out telepathic waves to his undersea world. A school of fish, ALL OF WHOM ARE HIS FRIENDS, stop foraging for food, and, following Aquaman’s instructions, begin gathering seaweed.” – Narrator

WTF Screenshots:
Even sea creatures couldn’t get away from macramé in the 1970s. This is a swordfish weaving with seaweed:

Ok, see if you can follow – this is a screenshot of the villain, pretending to be a reporter, getting a picture taken with Wonder Dog, to whom he has bestowed the fake and prestigious “Dog of the Year” award, but receives a “Cat of the Year” plaque, because that’s all the store had:

Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog, who, you may want to sit down for this, ended up stuck with the villain, are “held prisoner” in the villain’s PLAYROOM:

“Slides and swings? That Rebos must think we’re six years old.” – Marvin

Shut Up, Batman

“Is the chicken soup fresh?” – Batman, ordering a snack from the disguised villains.

Superman Never Has Thin Eyelashes at Home

“I’ve got to glue on these eyelashes real tight, that trip to Mars is a long way.” – Dr. Rebos, while gluing fake eyelashes onto Android Superman. Because, after all your hard work building an entire life-like android of Superman, you don’t want this to happen:

“Are you kidding? That thing wasn’t Superman. Did you SEE his eyelashes? There was no volume, and we all know Superman is the king of butterfly kisses. More like Schmuperman.”

No Comment.
“I think I’ll just hold on to you, double, until you run out of juice.” – Superman, to himself.

Last week, a reader sent me this great link. It’s a defense of Aquaman in song form. Pretty great: Aquaman’s Lament.

If you would like to witness these shenanigans in all their glory, the first season of Super Friends is available on DVD.

Saturday Morning Ridiculousness: Super Friends S1 Ep7

This is part of my weekly Saturday Morning installment dedicated to archiving and commenting on the wonderful “what else can we put in here to make it an hour” ridiculousness that is the cartoon series, Super Friends.

Season 1 – Episode 7: “Too Hot to Handle”

Airdate was October 20, 1973.

The Super Friends consist of Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Batman, and Robin. Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog are the “Junior Super Friends.” They haven’t made partner yet. They also have no super powers other than Wonder Dog’s ability to almost speak.

Short Synopsis: The Gotham City Museum is under attack by, “an enormous undulating ivy plant.” The wax figures in The Justice League Hall of Fame and Photo Exhibit (yes.) are melting! And, the glaciers are melting – again. In summary, there’s a heat wave. For some reason (I wasn’t paying attention), the Super Friends have to figure out how to stop the “drift of the earth” toward the sun. This is all happening because yet again, an alien race has decided to move to Earth.

Uh, ok, will do.
“You must preserve your body moisture until I get back” – Wonder Woman

It’s the 7th episode, and the writers are already this lazy.
“I’d like you to meet Professor Von Know-a-lot”

Yeah, I used to go there, but now it’s just a big tourist trap.
I made a brochure for the latest, greatest way to learn about Super Friends’ adventures and have fun all at once:

WTF Screenshots
To save the museum, Batman and Robin “turn the ivy in on itself,” which somehow makes it completely separate from the museum and creates giant chia-pet-like ball:

Here’s the entrance to The Pendulum Room at the local observatory:


Superman is Big on Details
Narrarator: Returning to Justice League Headquarters, Superman tells of his encounter with the Solar Robot.
Superman: It was some kind of remotely controlled Solar Robot.

I don’t wanna do it. Let’s call Flash.
The Super Friends recruit The Flash to do all the work, help. Here he is putting back together the Taj Mahal all by himself:

And here he is, uh, ok, I’m not really sure what this is, but whatever it is, The Flash thinks it’s fabulous:

If you would like to witness these shenanigans in all their glory, the first season of Super Friends is available on DVD.

Saturday Morning Ridiculous: A Cheat-y Shut Up, Batman Compilation

Due to being at Disney World this week, which takes up all day and then causes an instant coma as soon as you get back to the hotel room, I didn’t have time to do the next installment of Super Friends.

So, since it cannot be over-stressed that Batman needs to shut up, I’ve compiled his most shutty uppy-est moments so far:

Shut Up, Batman
Superman (double checking that the money they have been tasked with protecting is still in fact, there): The money is gone!
Batman: I suggest we investigate.

“Learning is something only Marvin can do for Marvin – right, Superman?” – Batman

Batman chiding Robin for not keeping off the grass.

My husband doodled this at work last week. Unrelated, but eerily appropriate:

Shut Up, Batman
“We can guess why you’re here Mr. Huggins – weird things are happening.” – Batman, ever astute.

Shut Up, Batman
“Here comes the twin to the other baby.” – Batman, referring to the second tidal wave.

Batman and the USGB, Like a Moth to a Flame
Batman and Robin end up at the United States Government Building again. They need to get from the 10th floor to the 60th, and, I swear to God, they decide to take the stairs because it would be good exercise (and because the elevator would be too “noisy”).

“Just enough to tone our muscles,” says Batman. Shut up, Batman.

Shut Up, Batman. For the love of God, shut up.
After Wonder Dog is giantized, he scares Shamon, who thinks he’s a Yeti, for some reason. Shamon runs back into the arms of Batman and Robin, who have somehow managed to get themselves stuck inside Shamon’s lab. Shamon then begs B&R to save him from the “Yeti,” who’s heading their way and B&R have this conversation:

Robin: What’ll we use, Batman, the laser gun?
Batman: Only as a last resort. If this IS a Yeti, it’s a rare creature. For the sake of science I’d like to capture it alive.
Robin: How? Its ten feet tall!
Batman: I’ll fashion my batline into a lasso. You man the laser gun just in case.

If you would like to witness these shenanigans in all their glory, the first season of Super Friends is available on DVD.

Saturday Morning Ridiculousness – Super Friends S1 Ep6

Season 1 Episode 6: The Shaman ‘U’

Airdate was October 13, 1973.

The Super Friends consist of Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Batman, and Robin. Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog are the “Junior Super Friends.” They haven’t made partner yet. They also have no super powers other than Wonder Dog’s ability to almost speak.

Short Synopsis: Shamon is alternating between zapping a “space cloud” with a laser gun, which fuses chunks of gold together, and then uses a giant U-shaped magnet to attract these “gold meteorites” to it. This process, uh, how do I put it…here’s what the narrator said:

“And, after this mighty fusion, a mysterious mist slowly drifts downward into the atmosphere. There, it becomes strangely affected by the earth’s oxygen, creating exotic gases, unknown to earth scientists, and, like our air, appears invisible to the human eye.”

So, basically, dad farts.

The Dad Farts, I Mean “Mists,” Do Some Crazy Shit
There are two kinds of mists – red, and green, even though people can’t see them.

The Green Mist creates giants:

The Red Mists creates littles:

Wonder Woman concludes, based on two minutes of looking at various animals and plants shrinking and growing on some monitors, that humans are immune.

Somebody Get Superman His Brain Pills
Wendy: It’s 30ft high, and really weird looking.
Batman: What does it look like?
Marvin: It, uh, it looks like a ‘u.’
Superman: It looks like Batman?

WTF Screenshots
An orange crushes a tractor:

This is what the REM song “Orange Crush” is about. True story.

Shamon has both a Hitler mustache and a Hitler mustache goatee:

This is Robin, talking to himself while hiding behind a giant ball of gold:

Wonder Dog + Red Mist = Wendy and Marvinmobile

You would see, the biggest orange would be from me, and the card attached would say “Thank you for being a Super Friend.”


“Say, might as well bring Wonder Woman a little gift. I mean, a big gift! Up, up and away!” – Superman, the biggest loser with the biggest orange.

It’s the Little Things that Make Me Happy
I like to proclaim it when I’m certain a sentence has never been spoken before. For example, I said to the dogs today: “You all haven’t even noticed the yard men yet because you like cat poop so much.” Super Friends is filled with these little bon mots and this one is my favorite so far:

“A giant lobster and a twelve inch whale? This must not be allowed to continue.” – Aquaman

Say what?
Batman, to Robin: You alright?
Robin: Never better, Batman! I’ve been having a ball, two of them, as a matter of fact!

Shut Up, Batman. For the love of God, shut up.
After Wonder Dog is giantized, he scares Shamon, who thinks he’s a Yeti, for some reason. Shamon runs back into the arms of Batman and Robin, who have somehow managed to get themselves stuck inside Shamon’s lab. Shamon then begs B&R to save him from the “Yeti,” who’s heading their way and B&R have this conversation:

Robin: What’ll we use, Batman, the laser gun?
Batman: Only as a last resort. If this IS a Yeti, it’s a rare creature. For the sake of science I’d like to capture it alive.
Robin: How? Its ten feet tall!
Batman: I’ll fashion my batline into a lasso. You man the laser gun just in case.

If you would like to witness these shenanigans in all their glory, the first season of Super Friends is available on DVD.