Hanna–Barbera's World of Super Adventure

Hanna–Barbera's World of Super Adventure
Directed by	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Theme music composer	Hoyt Curtin
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	129
Production
Executive producers	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Hanna-Barbera Productions
Original release
Network	First-run syndication
Release	1978 (1978) – 1984 (1984)

Hanna–Barbera's World of Super Adventure is a 30-minute animated anthology wheel series produced by Hanna-Barbera which was broadcast in first-run syndication from 1978 to 1984.

Overview

The series was similar in scope to Hanna-Barbera's 1977–78 syndicated rerun anthology, Fred Flintstone and Friends. It was packaged together by Hanna-Barbera and featured a combination of the following seven Hanna-Barbera action-adventure Saturday morning cartoons that were originally broadcast by various networks:

• Birdman and the Galaxy Trio (1967–1969)
• Fantastic Four (1967–1970)
• Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles (1966–1968)
• The Herculoids (1967–1968)
• Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor (1967–1968)
• Shazzan (1967–1969)
• Space Ghost and Dino Boy (1966–1968)

Revivals

Space Stars was a new updated version of this packaged series that ran on NBC from 1981–1982 which showcased new episodes of Space Ghost and The Herculoids, as well as the new shows Teen Force and Astro and the Space Mutts. It never reached the level of popularity as Super Adventures and was canceled after only one season.

The series was again repackaged in October 1992 as Super Adventures, when it was included in the debut schedule of the newly launched Cartoon Network, and featured an updated with a new intro and modified lineup. It contained the additional episodes featured in Space Stars. Finally, it added the thirteen The Thing segments from Fred and Barney Meet the Thing, the first seven episodes of Space Ace, Jonny Quest, Valley of the Dinosaurs, The Centurions, Mighty Man and Yukk, Godzilla, Thundarr the Barbarian and G-Force: Guardians of Space. It ran half-hour and two-hour shows on weekdays and weekends from October 1992 to July 1997. Spinoffs of the Super Adventures block included Power Zone (January 1995 as a weekend block, March 1996 as a weekday block) and Afternoon Adventures (September 1995).

Eventually, the Super Adventures franchise would be replaced with the legendary action block Toonami, which showed Space Ghost, Birdman, and Mighty Mightor as part of the Cartoon Roulette in their early years.

In the spring of 2000, Cartoon Network transferred the series to its sister channel Boomerang, now renamed "Boomeraction." The format was retooled yet again, this time as a varied hour show (it could run all day, for example.) It also added Arabian Knights, The New Adventures of Huck Finn, Super Friends, The Super Globetrotters, The Three Musketeers, and Rickety Rocket.

Opening narration

The opening title narration for the original 1978 broadcast was provided by Stanley Jones and consisted of the following message:

Hanna–Barbera's World of Super Adventure featuring the most fantastic collection of spectacular super heroic stars ever assembled! They will take you on adventures in space, meeting strange creatures, to exotic lands and fantastic flights of fancy, to jungle planets and mysterious invaders, to prehistoric times and super forces, to honored and winged avengers, to giant, terrifying creatures against primitive power. In space, land, sea and air, it's a variety of stars – mighty, musical, athletic, extraordinary – from funtastic to the fantastic where amazing weapons, men and robots meet in combat in the far-out reaches of the universe. Dedicated to protecting the peace, these fantastic heroes defend the weak, right the wrong and battle against the forces of evil everywhere. And now it's take-off time for the gathering of the greatest...Hanna–Barbera's World of Super Adventure!

See also

• Fred Flintstone and Friends, another syndicated rerun anthology from Hanna-Barbera
• USA Cartoon Express, a cartoon block featuring many of these series

External links

• Hanna-Barbera's World of Super Adventure at The Big Cartoon DataBase