When I was a kid, Superfriends was the greatest show in the universe.
Really, all Saturday morning cartoons were pretty great. But Superfriends stood out.
Every Saturday morning, we’d gather around the TV with bowls of cereal the size of our heads, waiting for that unmistakable theme song to kick in. The opening narration alone gave us goosebumps — “In the great hall of the Justice League…” — followed by a booming, brass-heavy fanfare that made it feel like we were about to witness something epic. And we were.
This wasn’t just a cartoon. This was Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman — together. In one show. Teaming up to fight evil and save the world, one slightly bizarre plot at a time. As the opening theme told us, “The World’s four greatest heroes!”
Cheesy? Yeah, a little — but only looking back on it now. When we were kids, this was gospel. These were the greatest superheroes of all time! With that music, we’d have believed anything.
It didn’t matter that Aquaman mostly just talked to fish,[1] or that the Wendy and Marvin replacements in the second season — the Wonder Twins — had wildly uneven powers (“Form of… an eagle!” / “Shape of… a bucket of water!”). We loved it. The animation might’ve been stiff, and the voice acting melodramatic, but that just added to its charm. For us, Superfriends wasn’t cheesy — it was heroic.
So it’s been both hilarious and kind of incredible to see a recent trend: people using AI tools to create “live action” versions of Superfriends. I stumbled across three of these videos on YouTube — each tackling one of the first two seasons and the Challenge of the Superfriends season — and I have to admit… they’re a little goofy. But they’re also a kind of great.
The AI manages to bring those old Hanna-Barbera frames to life with enough detail and drama to feel like an actual show. The costumes are spot-on. The narrator’s voice and music is kept the same to try to sell it, and it works!. The poses, the posturing — it’s all there, just slicked up with modern tech. And somehow, it doesn’t ruin the retro feel. Kind of. I’d still pick the original cartoon openings. But these AI ones are kind of fun.
Here’s the first one, for Season 1:
You can see they tried to use Christopher Reeve for the Superman model, Lynda Carter for Wonder Woman, and Adam West for Batman. Not sure who they were going for with Aquaman. The models don’t quite stick throughout the animation, but you’ve got to applaud the effort.
Here’s Season 2:
And here’s Challenge of the Superfriends:
Yeah, these AI recreations are kind of odd — but they’re also a weird kind of love letter. You can feel the affection behind every frame. It’s like someone said: Yeah, I remember being a kid on the floor in front of the TV too. Let’s bring that back for a minute.
What do you think? Cool, meh, or AI sludge!? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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Jokes aside, when you think of it, that would actually be a pretty powerful power. Imagine commanding all ocean life. He’d kind of be unstopable. ↩
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Posted using CineTV