Sight and Sound: "Secret Origins of the Superfriends"

"Secret Origins of the Superfriends," another sensational installment of Hanna-Barbera's Challenge of the Superfriends featuring Jack Angel as the voice of the Flash, aired on the Saturday morning of 28 October 1978 on ABC. As usual, Stanley Ralph Ross and Don Messick are also on hand to voice Gorilla Grodd and Captain Cold respectively. This episode of the animated series presents a familiar yet fascinating alternate history dilemma which proves quite engaging--that is, if we are able to suspend disbelief in order to overlook a number of gaping plot holes. The Legion of Doom has conspired to erase Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern from history! Lex Luthor, of course, is rather biased in his selection. Fortunately, the tale's conclusion shows that time travel is apparently no problem at all for the likes of the Flash, Black Lightning, and Batman and Robin. Have the superheroes of the DC Universe ever possessed more power than during the average Superfriends adventure, when astonishing new abilities were established for each hero on a whim in order to resolve any and all dangling plot threads? Also, note how eagerly the fastest man alive volunteers for the assignment to travel to Paradise Island, a land populated entirely by beautiful women. I wonder what Iris Allen would have to say about all this?