Making Sense of the Super Friends DVD Releases

The good news for fans of the Super Friends series is that they are now all out on DVD. However, wading through the various Super Friends can be a bit of a chore as not all the DVD release names make a lot of sense, and the show in its original airing kept changing its name. That being the case I'm listing the DVD sets in two orders: alphabetically and in proper viewing order to help you with this mess.

In all versions the core DC Comics characters are Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman. Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Atom, and Rima the Jungle Girl sometimes appeared, particular in the Challenge season. Firestorm becamse a regular with the second last season and Cyborg with the last. Most seasons were had multiple short stories per episodes. However, the first season was full length and the Legion of Doom part of the Challenge of the Super Friends season was half the episode.

ALPHABETICAL
 
All-New Super Friends Hour Volume One: This is the first half of the second season, which aired in 1977 (four years after the first season) which was also called All-New Super Friends Hour. In some ways Super Friends as most people know it began here, with the introduction of Jan, Zayna, Gleek, Apache Chief, Samurai, Black Vulcan. As the first season was also split in two, view this third.
 
All-New Super Friends Hour Volume Two: The second half of the above. View this fourth.

Challenge of the Super Friends: Attack of the Legion of the Doom: single disc release that was later replaced by the season set. Skip this one entirely in favour of the season set.

Challenge of the Super Friends: The First Season: The name notwithstanding, this was part of the third season overall, airing in 1978, the only season to use this name. This was actually half of the hour long Challenge of the Super Friends show, the portion of the show dealing with the heroes' fights with the Legion of Doom. No Jayna, Zan, or Wonder Twins. View this fifth.

Challenge of the Super Friends: United They Stand: Another single disc release that was later replaced by the season set. Skip this one entirely in favour of the season set.


Super Friends! Season One Volume One: The first half of the original 1973 series, with hour long (minus commercials) adventures. This was the only season to have Marvin, Wendy and Wonder Dog as regular characters. View this first.

Super Friends! Season One Volume  Two: The second half of the above. View this second.

Super Friends! The Complete Season Five: A Dangerous Fate: This was the fifth season, with episodes airing in 1980 under the title Super Friends. As some earlier seasons are split in half, view this eighth

Super Friends! The Complete Season Six: Legacy of Super Powers: This was the sixth season, with episodes airing in 1981 under the title Super Friends. This was the first season to feature El Dorado as a recurring character. As some earlier seasons are split in half, view this ninth.

Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show: This is the eighth season, which was also called Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, the name reflecting an attempt to tie the show into a toy line. Firestorm became a regular character with this season. This season aired in 1984. View this eleventh.

Super Friends: The Lost Episodes: This is considered the seventh season, intended for 1983 but airing later, some as part of the Superman/Batman Adventures in 1995. The series title in considered to be Super Friends. View this tenth.

Super Friends Volume Two: This collects the half of each episode of the hour long third season from 1979 (Challenge of the Super Friends) that features Jan, Zayna, and Gleek instead of the Legion of Doom. View this sixth.

Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians: This is the ninth and final season, which was also called Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, the name reflecting a further attempt to tie the show into a toy line. Cyborg became a regular character with this season. Despite the absence of the word "Friends" in the shows title, this is otherwise obviously a season of the Super Friends This season aired in 1985. View this twelfth.

World's Greatest Super Friends! The Complete Season Four: And Justice For All. This set collects the fourth season of Super Friends (World's Greatest Super Friends) from 1979. View this seventh.

VIEWING ORDER

1. Super Friends! Season One Volume One
2. Super Friends! Season One Volume Two
3. All-New Super Friends Hour Volume One
4. All-New Super Friends Hour Volume Two
5. Challenge of the Super Friends: The First Season
6. Super Friends Volume Two
7. World's Greatest Super Friends! The Complete Season Four: And Justice For All
8. Super Friends! The Complete Season Five: A Dangerous Fate
9. Super Friends! The Complete Season Six: A Legacy of Super Powers
10. Super Friends: The Lost Episodes
11. Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show
12. Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians

Movie Review: Isolated

I recently attended a screening of the documentary Isolated. Isolated is about surfers who visit West Papua in search of the perfect wave only to learn about the abuses of the West Papua people by the Indonesian government.

There is no question that the filmmakers’ experience in West Papua changed them in ways they could not have expected, and that the film is well intentioned. And indeed the movie does overall get stronger as it continues. But there are some serious problems with the beginning that it never quite recovers from.

Stylistically the movie borrows a fair bit from reality television, showing people engaged in some activity intercut with talking heads discussing the situation, plus a frequent voiceover. There’s less of the activity intercut with talking heads near the end but it never entirely goes away. Unlike actually reality shows there are no “coming up” bits nor do I think anything was staged for dramatic effect. Even so there is enough of a reality television aspect to it that it feels like things are being dumbed down a bit.

The most notable example is the sole female surfer in the group. It is unfortunate that there are no other women in the surfing group because she comes across as the least intelligent of the group and more than once I nearly walked out when she did one of her talking heads bits. In the early part of the movie there is considerable gratuitous footage of her in a bikini doing stuff. Being a straight male this experience was not entirely unpleasant but more than once I found myself thinking that I’m supposed to be thinking of the plight of the West Papua people but am instead consuming a large dosage of eye candy.  It is telling that later in the movie, when things get a bit more serious she is largely absent despite the amount of screen time devoted to her in the first half (in fairness she does take an injury and this may have contributed to her reduced role as well).

Which brings me to another problem: too much time with the surfers, not enough time with the West Papuan people. I learned a lot more about each of the surfers than I did for any one of the natives. This is particularly a shame because some of the early footage is supposed to pay off later on and to a degree it does, but the effect is more muted than it should have because the earlier focus was more on the surfers than the villagers. The movie may have originally been intended to be your typical surf movie, but once the director, Justin Le Pera realized that the topic had changed, a lot of the surfing scenes, particularly ones without the natives should have been left on the cutting room floor or included as deleted scenes on the DVD/blu-ray. The apartheid movie Cry Freedom (which I liked a lot more) got criticism for focussing more on the white man than the black man. I think a similar criticism could be made for Isolated. In terms of shifting gears, I point to the documentary 9/11, which was supposed to be a documentary on a rookie fireman, but which was able to make the transition once the more interesting movie unexpectedly dropped in the filmmakers’ laps. I don’t think Le Para was entirely able to give up his original vision and the movie suffers as a result.

At around the one hour fifteen minute mark the movie does become a lot more interesting. I won’t spoil the specifics for people who are interested but suffice it to say the movie gets the “perfect wave” subplot out of the way and the participants are compelled to try to learn more. At that point the movie finally starts to fire on most cylinders and for most of the rest of the movie things are a lot more engaging. There are a few snags here and there but overall things are more concrete and the movie finally starts to paint a real picture of things. It’s just a shame it took seventy-five minutes to reach that point.

Le Para was present for a Q&A at the screening and someone asked about the process by which something was done to the villagers (I’m being vague for the benefit of people who may want to see this). Le Para explained he decided not to include that part in the movie and then described how that aspect was done, and wow, that really should have been in the movie. Had the movie focussed more on the villagers seen early on, downplayed the surfing bits (except where they relate to the villagers), shown that the villagers had been screwed over (this aspect was in fact done in the movvie), and then gone into detail on exactly how the villagers got screwed over, you would have had something really profound. Instead the movie is a tug-of-war between its surfing and political aspects which never quite gell together. I was more interested in the political aspects but I can also see a lot of other people being really engaged by the surfing aspects and wanting the political parts excised. Some movies can get away with shifting tones. From Dusk Till Dawn does this brilliantly. This felt more like two movies mashed together.

I think a lot of my problem with the movie is one of editing. In some ways this movie is more frustrating than a completely bad movie because I can see the stronger documentary underneath. Had there not been something I would not have been inspired to write this review. And again, if you make it to the one hour fifteen minute mark, things do pick up. But while I can forgive a slow start, the real meat should have been apparent even before the half hour mark. Therefore, while respecting its intentions and its efforts to raise awareness of West Papua issues, I cannot in good conscience recommend this movie. At the same time the situation in West Papua does deserve attention. Therefore my recommendation instead is to go to YouTube and delve into some of the West Papua related videos posted there.

The Numbers of the Franchise Blockbuster Videos

With all the non-franchise Blockbuster Videos closed down is the US, that leaves 51 franchises left, which are listed here:
http://www.blockbuster.com/franchise.html

Here are how the states break down, from most to least (note: most states no longer have a Blockbuster Video):

1. Texas, 14 franchises (27.46%)
2. Alaska, 13 franchises (25.49%)

3. Oregon, 7 franchises (13.73%)
4. Indiana, 6 franchises (11.76%)
5. Kentucky, 3 franchises (5.88%)
6. South Dakota, 2 franchises (3.92%)
7. Florida, 1 franchise (1.96%)
7. Louisiana, 1 franchise (1.96%)
7. Minnesota, 1 franchise (1.96%)
7. Mississippi, 1 franchise (1.96%)
7. North Dakota, 1 franchise (1.96%)
7. Tennessee, 1 franchise (1.96%)

And the cities (cities with only one franchise not noted; please refer to the link above for those)

1. El Paso, TX, 7 franchises (13.73%)
2, Anchorage, AK, 4 franchises (7.84%)
3. Bend, OR, 3 franchises (5.88%)
4. Fairbanks, AK, 2 franchises (3.92%)
4. Somerset, KY, 2 franchises (3.92%)
4. Rapid City, SD, 2 franchises (3.92%)