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Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries "Super Friends" (including a list of interviewees).

How did you get the job to write for Super Friends?

When I got out of college, I was friends with a writer named Michael Reaves. I started writing The Twilight Zone Companion with the goal to get into television. Michael and I collaborated on Space Ghost and Smurfs. By then I was able to write my own episodes. We were writing for most of the animation shows. Michael became the first client of Candy Monteiro and I became the second.

How already fans of these characters before you got the job?

I grew up reading them. I read lots of comics in the 1960s. I think I’d seen Super Friends but not regularly.

Did you create any of the original characters such as the Wonder Twins, Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, Samurai, or El Dorado? If not, what do you know about who created them and what the process was?

I don’t know specifics but I do know that during that period there was a move to integrate. And certainly, we were all in our twenties and liberal politically. We were wholeheartedly behind [the characters]. I didn’t even see the drawings of the characters before I wrote them. The main thing we were trying to do is come up with storylines that hadn’t been done before.

I did one early on and then a couple seasons later I did more. The first one was “The Lava Men.” Until you contacted me I didn’t remember writing the later ones. I was writing multiple shows in a given week. “Lava Men” was really fun—let’s do something really goofy and cool. The 1950s movies were influencing me.

Did you come up with the stories on your own or did producers guide you in any way (i.e. “we want a story with dinosaurs,” etc.)?

They’d say what they were looking for. They’d always give us sample scripts. The main thing was to say how does it differ from the comics? It was certainly more shallow than the comics.

Not much room for characterization?

That time (the early ‘80s) was just before the writing [in animation] got deeper. For about 20 years I never used to tell people I wrote for animation. My main goal was to get into live action. So animation was w

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries “Super Friends” (including list of interviewees).


How did you get the job to write for Super Friends?

First off, keep in mind, please, that all this took place a long time ago. I think I was still typing on a typewriter then. I barely remember any of this—and there were so many shows I wrote for in the ‘80s and early ‘90s that I’ve forgotten entire series I helped create and shape. (I’m not bragging; this is said with a kind of “I can’t believe I did that” air of wonderment.) With that caveat, then, I’ll plunge ahead. As I said, I got the assignment to write the first script in 1981. It wasn’t an on-staff position; it was three separate work-for-hire agreements.

How familiar with the characters were you before you got the job?

The characters that made up the Justice League—Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, et. al., I was very familiar with, of course. Characters like El Dorado—not so much.

Which episodes did you write?

Oh god…”The Evil from Krypton,” “Scorpio,” and “Palette’s Perils.”

Did you come up with the stories on your own or did producers guide you in any way (i.e. “we want a story with dinosaurs,” etc.)?

Don’t recall any producer input. I dealt almost exclusively with the story editor, whose name was David Villaire. Nice guy; very easygoing. I just came up with a bunch of ideas and arenas (i.e., “giant mutated insects,” “Middle Eastern desert”) and he’d pick from Column A, Column B, etc.

What, besides the obvious given that it was aimed at children, was off-limits for a script?

As long as we kept the stories simple and had good triumph, we could do pretty much what we wanted. Our only restrictions were budgetary, which were pretty draconian—no more than four or five characters in a shot, of which only or two were actually allowed to move; the rest were part of the background. That sort of thing.

How long did it take you to write one episode?

About a week. (I was faster then.)

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries "Super Friends" (including list of interviewees).


How did you get the job to write for Super Friends?

My then-writing-partner Dick Robbins and I were on staff as writers and producers. We’d just finished some live-action series for Sid and Marty Krofft and Hanna-Barbera hired us back on staff. I say “back” because working at H-B was my first job in Hollywood. I’d been writing and performing in a children’s series in Seattle, hoping to eventually make it as a film and theatre writer. One of my stage musicals was seen by Harvey Bullock and Ray Allen at H-B. A musical update of Alice in Wonderland. They thought it had a certain charm and asked me to come to California and try animation. Long story short, I did…I met Dick Robbins at the studio and we teamed up and were pretty successful for a few years.

How familiar with the characters were you before you got the job?

I grew up on comics. So I knew the characters inside and out, just from being the most rabid of fans.

Did you come up with the stories on your own or did producers guide you in any way (i.e. “we want a story with dinosaurs,” etc.)?

We came up with our own stories. The producers on these shows were always busy enough shepherding things through the elaborate pipeline that is the animation process. Having produced a number of those series myself, I can say the best plan is to work with writers you trust to deliver. Takes so much pressure off. Sure, there are the occasional misfires and the need for redirecting a storyline or character, but the stories themselves are usually put into work from a pitch session—from the writer(s) to the producer(s).

How long did it take you to write one episode?

Don’t go by me because I’ve always been a fast writer. When I came to H-B as a newbie, I was writing a half-hour animation script every day...until a group of writers showed up at my door, took me to lunch, and explained the studio was taking advantage of me. I was on a flat salary at that time of something like $300 a week, yet submitting five scripts a week. They suggested I go freelance. And slow down.

What challenges were involved in writing SF?

It’s always a challenge to write a heavily-populated show and still service each character, give each character something to do and say. Yo

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries “Super Friends” (including list of interviewees).

Fun fact:

Villaire created El Dorado.

How did you get the job to write for Super Friends?

I was a theatre producer and writer in New York. When I came to Los Angeles with a few screenplays, I was able to make some money writing for Hanna-Barbera and Filmation. One was Super Friends but I must’ve done twelve different shows. I was story editor on three, including Super Friends. Around 1981-82, I did several scripts and the next year I became story editor. I think we had an order for twelve or so scripts. I did about half and assigned Michael Reaves to do others. He was a pretty solid writer. When I was story editor, I also created a new character named El Dorado. They were getting a growing Latino audience and there was no Latino Super Friend.

What was the genesis of El Dorado?

One of the producers said we’re thinking about adding a Latino character—can you come up with ideas? I said sure. I thought of the name right away. I put together his super powers. I threw some premises together. They bought the whole thing.

What do you think about the affirmative action label some people have given those created-for-TV Super Friends?

I thought a lot about that. That’s why I created a character that went deep into the history of Spain and Mexico, the mythology of the past. He wasn’t the stereotypical Mexican. It was kind of the combination of a lot of Spanish cultures. I remember giving this character a lot of power and he was admired by the others. I’d already written a screenplay on the Incas. That was never produced [at least in part due to the expense of period pieces], but it served its purpose and I got a very good agent through it.

Do you get royalties on El Dorado?

You sign off on any rights. You get paid per script and you get a salary if you’re a story editor. I must’ve written over 50 stories and they were all produced and I have no right to any of them.

How familiar with the DC characters were you before you got the job?

I had at least 100 comics growing up and many were Superman but I’d have to admit that I wasn’t a real comic book enthusiast. Neither was I someone who could draw. I had quite a bit of experience as a writer in theatre in New York, translating original plays from Germany and France. I have a PhD i