Just so...so bad

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

____The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985-86)___ ---- TV Animated Show. " SuperFriends " Last Season.--- This season or show (how you like to see it) of the Superfriends had a superior quality in its drawings and animation by a mile. This last incarnation of the Justice League of the eighties had the most definite and precise drawings ever used to that date to depict heroic characters. Even today, we can notice how good work of art if was. Nevertheless, the improvement on the side of the story-lines is not as clear as on the side of the drawings...or maybe it is, it depends a lot on the episode you are referring to and your personal taste.During last season, Firestorm became a regular member of the team of super-powered heroes, same as Cyborg became a regular member in this one and both seasons had evil Darkseid, ruler of a planet named Apokolips that he already had under his boots, as the most powerful adversary of our team of heroes. While Firestorm and Cyborg didn´t seem in my opinion as characters interesting enough despite how powerful they were, mostly Firestorm, having Darkseid as a recurring villain, among other good elements, made the show worthy of its "Galactic Guardians" title.Two historically important Episodes:Episode 4: THE FEAR; it was the first time that the origin of the BATMAN was told in the screen media, that is, outside comics or graphic novels, after that, pretty much every version of the character mentions that origin, pretty much unaltered. Episode 8: THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN; Based on an "out of sequence" story by Jerry Siegel (the original creator of the Man of Steel), it tells the tale of Superman being apparently poisoned by an enormous dose of Kryptonite. In the early nineties, a series of comics and their respective Graphic Novel by the title of "Death of Superman" became among the greatest bestsellers in the field.Thanks for reading.David del Real. 2018.

I grew up watching the "Superfriends" on Saturday mornings, and I loved it. Yet after a while, the Wonder Twins idea began to tire me out. Despite I also loved the reruns on numerous cable networks, it remained dismal. I hoped that there was a way to have a real "Superfriends" cartoon show without the Wonder Twins.Finally, in 1985, I got my answer. "Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians" premiered on ABC. The show was a true to form version of the DC Comics characters I loved: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and so forth. And no Wonder Twins in sight. Hooray!The stories were often dramatic and emotional, such as "The Fear", an excellent toned down version of Batman's origin, with a few scary moments involving The Scarecrow, who was the guest villain in the episode, and a rare appearance of Batman and Robin in their secret identities of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, not to mention Alfred, their butler. Another episode, which was sadly the final one, "The Death Of Superman" really hit a bullseye with its theme. This was aired years before the "Doomsday/Death Of Superman" comic book storyline came out. But in this case, it wasn't Doomsday that killed Superman. You have to see this episode to find out."Super Powers Team" did have two very amusing episodes I found quite funny. "Case Of The Stolen Powers" was the first. In this one, The Penguin (Batman's foe, making his only appearance in "Superfriends") accidentally gets Superman's powers after a magic spell cast by Felix Faust, enemy of Wonder Woman. Then chaos erupts. The second one, "The Bizarro Super Powers Team", involved Bizarro creating Bizarro-clones of Firestorm, Cyborg, and Wonder Woman, who are so stupid, they're just impossible to not laugh at.However, what concerned me about this show is why it only lasted one year. It would've been great to see characters such as Green Arrow, Dr. Fate, or maybe Captain Marvel to appear in this show, had it lasted for another year or two. Perhaps they could've even introduced new villains, too. This show even gave The Joker his first and only "Superfriends" appearance ever in the episode "The Wild Cards". But it never happened. We had to wait until "Justice League Unlimited" on Cartoon Network in 2004 for that to happen. Hey, it was worth the wait.Now I hear "Super Powers Team" is coming to DVD this October. I can't wait for this one to hit shelves. I'm getting it! Why? This show remains true to the "Superfriends" like no other.

Now this is how you make an animated series based on superheroes. "Super Powers Team: The Galactic Gaurdians" aired in 1985-'86 and it was the last SuperFriends show based on the Justice League of America from the 1973-1986 run. In my opinion, this was also head and shoulders the best. The animation is greatly improved from any earlier SuperFriends show. The characters act like mature adults, and a few of them even have some distinct personalities that separate them from the rest of the JLA. There were also no stupid teenage tag along like Wendy & Marvin or Zan & Jayna on this show. And thankfully, no stupid animals like Wonder Dog or Gleek. A new character Cyborg is introduced, he is an African American teenager, but he is not a silly background extra that screws up and gets captured repeatedly so Superman and Green Lantern could come save the day the way the previous non-White heroes (Black Vulcan/Lightning, Samurai, and Apache Chief) did on the other shows. Cyborg is a great character that is not a cardboard cut out of Superman. Firestorm is back from the "Super Powers" series from the previous year, and he too is in top form. Wonder Woman acts, well like a woman and we see her life more fleshed out. Superman even behaves more adult like and does not have the ridiculous God-like powers he had in the 70s. The Batman in this show is more in line with the comic book character.Here Batman behaves like a very mature grown man, a man that is tormented over his compulsion to go out and fight crime. He is also a detective in this show like he should be, and not a blundering buffoon that pulls out all kinds of stupid gadgets from that little utility belt. 'The Fear' is a stand out episode that illustrates the difference in Batman in this show from the previous SuperFriends. It is ironic that this Batman is the most serious, since he is voiced by Adam West who played the idiot Batman in the 1960s TV series. Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, and Samurai don't get a whole lot of time devoted to them, but at least they don't do anything embarrassing. The JLA team primarily butts heads with the villainous Darkseid and his cronies Dessad and Kavlik, but the Joker and Scarecrow turn up in two episodes as well. I always get the feeling that the two "Super Powers Team" series from the mid 80s doesn't have the incredibly loyal Gen Xer following that 1978's "Challenge of the SuperFriends" enjoys because Darkseid and Dessad were too comic book heavy for mainstream viewers. The plots could be a bit comic book heavy as well. That and I think children were just burned out on SuperFriends by 1985, the whole thing had been around for 12 years at that point. "Challenge" was a great and memorable show no doubt, and DC comic book villains like Lex Luthor and Black Manta were there, but the Legion of Doom tended to formulate rather childish plans to knock off the SuperFriends and rule the planet. Nevertheless a kid today will probably look at this show and still laugh at it while finding a ton of problems with it (because there are problems). "The Super Powers Team" is not nearly as rounded out as the current Justice League animated series. But I remember being blown away by how far the whole SuperFriends deal had come since the stupid early years of the 70s when Wonder Dog or the annoying space monkey Gleek would hang around the Hall of Justice with those kids. A long way indeed. Watch this show, "SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Team", and "Challenge of the SuperFriends". They are the 3 best ones, with "The All-New SuperFriends Hour" and "The Worlds Greatest SuperFriends" being not all that bad and entertaining at times. The worst one remains the original "SuperFriends" from 1973-1977.

This was an even better season, with improved art and animation. With the introduction of Cyborg to the TV, the stories seemed to improve both in characterization and plot. For Batman, it became less about the utility belts and more about the man. For Wonder Woman, she finally got to flex her muscles (I think she did last season, too.).And some of the stories were risque for the time, most notably in "The Fear," which retold Batman's origin and the murder of his parents (The writer of this and the Fox/WB Batman series says he can't believe TPTB let him do it), and "The Death of Superman."Why they let this series end after one season is beyond me. I truly loved this show and I'm glad Cartoon Network has been rerunning them, even if they *are* on the thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning.