In 1978, CBS was the #2 network on Saturday mornings, behind ABC, which had surged to the top after acquiring Scooby-Doo and reviving Super Friends. CBS sought to expand on its adventure line beyond The New Adventures of Batman (in perpetual rerun) and Tarzan, Lord of The Jungle. Unfortunately, the network and Filmation misfired. Badly.
Tarzan & The Super 7, by design, should've been a 90 minute block, leaving the two older series intact, and rotating the other five segments. Nope. CBS opted instead to extend The Bugs Bunny-Road Runner Hour to 90 minutes because the Looney Tunes legends were considered a bigger ratings draw, especially considering the frequent primetime specials spinning out of the anthology block.
So you had 7 adventure segments crammed into an hour-long block. Bad idea. Batman & Tarzan were edited down in size in order to make room for:
Jason of Star Command: The final live-action entry from Filmation replaced Space Academy, from which it was supposedly spun-off, but, in truth, certain sets and props were retained. Relative newcomer Craig Littler top-lined what was the first of three serials Filmation experimented with over a 2 year period. Flash Gordon (NBC) and Mighty Mouse's "Great Space Chase", both bowing the next year, were the others. James Doohan co-starred, but left after the season to begin work on the first Star Trek movie. Sid Haig (ex-Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman) was the villainous Dragos. Jason was renewed for a 2nd season, and was left behind when the Super 7 moved to NBC in 1980.
Web Woman: Scientist-turned-farmer Kelly Webster (Linda Gary, making her debut for Filmation) gains the powers of the entire insect world, but the very code name alone suggested a knock-off of Marvel's Spider-Woman, who'd make her TV debut the next year over on ABC. 10 episodes were produced, including one we presented yesterday. The origin of Web Woman, as explained online, borrows from DC's Green Lantern in the Silver Age as well. Producer Lou Scheimer is heard as Scarab, Spinner, and various other characters.
The Freedom Force: With Secrets of Isis cancelled after three years on the air (2 1st run seasons), Filmation thought highly enough of the heroine to have her transition to animated form and front her own team. Newcomer Diane Pershing takes over for Joanna Cameron as Isis, but with no dual identity this time. Sources have confirmed that Bob Denison, not George DiCenzo, voiced Hercules, whom DiCenzo portrayed a year earlier in Space Sentinels for NBC. Michael Bell, in his only work for Filmation of note, voiced Sinbad, Merlin, & Super Samurai, as well as the latter's human alter-ego, Toshi. Yeah, more than a decade in, Filmation was still too cheap to actually go all out for a voice cast, a condition that would change as time progressed. Only 5 episodes were produced, but if any of the animated newcomers merited being spun off, this was it.
Manta & Moray: DC, I'm sure, would've had a problem with this segment, too, as it was presumed to be a knockoff of Aquaman, since Manta (Joe Stern) could not stay away from the water for very long. Joan Van Ark voiced Moray, and would work on Spider-Woman & Knots Landing the next year. It could be construed that Moray was an analogue for another DC character, Dolphin, who has had an on-again, off-again relationship with Aquaman in the books in recent years.
Superstretch & Microwoman: African-American husband & wife amateur detectives/superheroes whose powers were, again, derived from established heroes. Chris Cross, aka Superstretch (Ty Henderson, fresh from Space Academy) was a knockoff of Plastic Man and Reed Richards, the latter of whom was back on the air with The Fantastic Four that same season over on NBC. Wife Christie, aka Microwoman, was a female Atom. No costumes, though, which might also have been a mistake. Howard Morris returned to Filmation, voicing their police contact.
By all rights, this should've been the 90 minute, maybe even 2 hour, block on CBS, but the network's short-sighted thinking doomed the series.
Here's an intro that showcases the four animated newbies, leaving out Batman, Tarzan, & Jason. Narrated by Lou Scheimer:
It got even worse when the anthology block moved to NBC, with Tarzan remaining at CBS. The show was retitled, Batman & The Super 7, which was a misnomer, and buried in the lunch hour death slot.
Rating: B--.
2 comments:
Speaking of Batman, Diane Pershing would later turn up as the voice of Poison Ivy on WB's Batman: The Animated Series on FOX, later Kids' WB!.
Yep, but Freedom Force is where she got her start.
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