The All-New Super Friends Round Up S2 Ep4C – “Day of the Plant Creatures”

Season 2, Episode 4, Storyline C – “Day of the Plant Creatures”

Original Airdate: October 3, 1977

Short Synopsis: “Big Cypress Swamp, deep in the Florida Everglades, where all is peaceful and silent, except for the scattered cries of swamp creatures.” – Narrator

My guess is that the swamp creatures are crying because they know the Super Friends are going to visit.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a meteor falls into the swamp.

The radiation (I’m assuming it’s radiation since it’s glowing red stuff) causes the local fauna to become creatures straight out of Scooby Doo.

They then make their way to the closest town, Cypressville, and scare the shit out of two locals and a whole truckload of chickens. The chickens get loose, and, well, here, you’ll just have to see it:

Not only can they convert chickens to their Swamp-Monster-based-religion, they can turn humans, too:

“What is this strange contagious life force that turns people into zombie-like plant creatures?” – Narrator

In an obvious, heroic attempt to pad the episode, the Super Friends spend a bit of time trying to figure out where a radioed distress message came from because it cut off before he could tell them.

They all eventually end up in Cypressville, where Batman analyzed the plants left behind (don’t worry, he handled it with his “batgloves,” so that kept him safe), while Superman and Wonder Woman flew overhead to see if they could figure out what’s going on.

Yes! What’d I say?
“It appears to be some kind of growing, cosmic radiation” – Batman

“Something has given these leaves a strange form of life.” – Aquaman

I’m so glad we could get down to the true scientific explanation of the issue.

WTF Screenshots
Superman, Robin, and Batman pose for an early 90s hip-hop/R&B album.

Yet again, Zan and Jayna prove that they really haven’t thought about a consistent, solid travel plan. Zan turns into a rain cloud so they can go warn Florida City that the swamp things are coming. Jayna turns into a pigeon, where she’s eventually attacked by a hawk. Unfortunately, she gets away.

Somebody must have stepped on this poor man’s binoculars.

De-Coder Part II
Aquaman returns in his swimming pool to give us the second clue to the secret word. The second clue is the letter “e.” There’s also a third clue, because Aquaman just has to be special and different.

He’s rowing around in an inflatable boat and the clue is “The thing that’s helping me pick up speed. Sometimes this is called a paddle, but there’s another name for it. And, that name is the clue we’re looking for.” ALRIGHT, just shut.up!

I’m surprised he didn’t just flub the whole thing and say, “The clue is meteor. Oh, oops! That’s the word, not the clue.”

Oh, you thought none of the Super Friends would be contaminated by zombie plant radiation? You clearly haven’t been watching enough Super Friends.

Later, in Aquaman’s Under Sea Lab
They trap a plant creature and put him in a bell jar in the lab and try and develop an antidote for the plant-ing.

Aquaman and the Wonder Twins are, of course, completely stumped, so Aquaman contacts Professor Takamoto at Gotham University to bail him out.

Turns out they need florium, which is only found at the bottom of the Marianas Trench.  In case you were wondering, this is what florium looks like:

Good thing he brought that little crowbar.

You’re Not Doing That Right
I just moved, and they’re doing this all wrong. You need to protect them with furniture pads and really maximize the space of the van by stacking in rows, floor to ceiling. You don’t just toss them, they’ll get damaged that way.

This is Superman and Wonder Woman’s way of trying to clear the city of Plant Creatures. Notice they’re still infected, which is why they can touch the creatures – they have nothing to lose.

Oh, thank God, it’s over.
Aquaman shows up with the antidote and sprays all the infected Super Friends and the meteor with it, and all goes back to normal.

This is the third storyline, which is the longest, most cramped story in the hour-long episodes. In the end, when they’re screwing around at the Headquarters and letting us know what the lesson is, Gleek usually ends up doing something to make everyone laugh. This time he picked a fight with a plant and then got scared and ran away, and his tail spelled the same sentiment I often feel while watching the C storylines:

P.S. I’m posting Super Friends outtakes on the Cannibalistic Nerd Facebook page. So, if you need a mid-week Super Friends pick-me-up, that’s the place to get it.

If you would like to see these shenanigans for yourself, Season 2 is available on DVD.