In what described as the "never ending battle of good versus evil", the 'SuperFriends' were regarded "the most powerful force of good ever assembled." When it was first shown, one network programmer confessed, "There is nothing inherently wrong with animation, if it is done well. (However) I’m troubled by super persons who have powers beyond realism. There is a message in super heroes that makes me uncomfortable. I have no trouble with 'Flash Gordon' or 'Tarzan', because they are heroes within the realm of human power."
On reflection in 2011, Darrell McNeil made the comment, "We had just gone through a roughly 4-year period (1969-1973) where, after the (Martin Luther King) and (Robert F. Kennedy) assassinations and the rising outcry against violence on TV in general and in kids’ cartoons in particular, we weren’t doing superhero cartoons at all...The trick was: could we do violent superheroes without said violence and get kids to watch? The answer, judging by the 'SuperFriends' ratings was yes! One of the compromises we as toon producers had to make was to add pro-social teaching messages to our shows, as well as to do actions that weren’t seen as 'imitable' by our audience."
Of children's television in 1974, "It is arguable that television is the strongest educational influence in a child’s life. By the time he graduates from high school, he will have spent 15,000 hours in front of the television set, and a little more than 10,000 in a classroom."
Of comic books, Ric Estrada remarked, "The styles of the '40s and '50s were a little more, I would say, primitive. And by the '60s and '70s, we were a little more refined, not in drawing structure, but in line-handling...I do remember that, once in a while, DC Comics would give me a script and say, 'We don't know what to do with it. There's a good story but it's not well-written. Would you rewrite it?' I would rewrite it, but there was always a script...Even though my art is very stylized, I believe in the realism of the story."
On reflection in 2011, Darrell McNeil made the comment, "We had just gone through a roughly 4-year period (1969-1973) where, after the (Martin Luther King) and (Robert F. Kennedy) assassinations and the rising outcry against violence on TV in general and in kids’ cartoons in particular, we weren’t doing superhero cartoons at all...The trick was: could we do violent superheroes without said violence and get kids to watch? The answer, judging by the 'SuperFriends' ratings was yes! One of the compromises we as toon producers had to make was to add pro-social teaching messages to our shows, as well as to do actions that weren’t seen as 'imitable' by our audience."
Of children's television in 1974, "It is arguable that television is the strongest educational influence in a child’s life. By the time he graduates from high school, he will have spent 15,000 hours in front of the television set, and a little more than 10,000 in a classroom."
Of comic books, Ric Estrada remarked, "The styles of the '40s and '50s were a little more, I would say, primitive. And by the '60s and '70s, we were a little more refined, not in drawing structure, but in line-handling...I do remember that, once in a while, DC Comics would give me a script and say, 'We don't know what to do with it. There's a good story but it's not well-written. Would you rewrite it?' I would rewrite it, but there was always a script...Even though my art is very stylized, I believe in the realism of the story."
