Super Friends Season 2, Episode 10 – “The Mind Maidens”

Super Friends Season 2, Episode 10, Storyline B – “Handicap”

Original Airdate – November 5th, 1977

Short Synopsis: Oh, you guys, this one’s a doozy.

“Deep within the heart of a tall, forbidding mountain is the hidden lair of the most brilliant, most dangerous woman on earth – Medula!” – Narrator

Super Friends Medula

All the single ladies! She’s using a “computerized will booster” to “control the mind of every woman on earth.”

“Soon, women everywhere will enable me to rule the world,” growls Medula. Then, she puts on a beautifully coordinated headset and begins taking over the minds of women. The women’s eyes turn bright, too, and then they start zapping away the men!

Super Friends No More Men

All the men are transported to Medula’s lair (via “matter reversing circuits”), and Medula gives them the what for: “You men are looking at the future ruler of Earth! With my will booster, I will force women all over the world to de-materialize all men, including your presidents, kings, and prime ministers! YOU WILL ALL BE STORED ON COMPUTER TAPE UNTIL I HAVE CONTROL OF THE WORLD!”

This is almost exactly what I imagine people who don’t like feminism imagine it to be.

“Medula’s computer transforms the men into microdots, storing them on computer tape.” – Narrator

Super Friends Man Tape

 

Superman did what, now?

Now, let me make sure I get this right. We’re shown The Wonder Twins and Superman at the Hall of Justice and they’re admiring a statue of Superman.

It is, according to Zan, “a statue of you from the people you saved at the Doomvile Flood!”

Super Friends Statue

So they sent Superman a statue, but later Superman says HE PAINTED IT. We’ll get to why he mentions it later, but can I just say: why would you paint a statue of yourself that a bunch of grateful people from a place with the unfortunate name of Doomville gave you? Why? YES IT HELPS LATER, but he wasn’t anticipating that. So, he was just like, “Oh, how nice, someone cast a beautiful statue of me. Hmmm, I don’t have anything else to do, I think I’ll paint it.”

Alright, alright, we’ll move on, but ONLY BECAUSE I GET TO TALK ABOUT IT LATER.

OMG Y’ALL

The Super Friends are alerted to the terrible mantastrophe – and, holy shit, you won’t believe this you guys – TODAY HAPPENS TO BE THE DAY OF THE “GOTHAM CITY PARADE OF WORLD LEADERS”

Can you believe it? I guess this episode was a real wake up call and they stopped having giant parades of nothing but world leaders around 1977.

Next we arrive at the Gotham City Parade of Wold Leaders and the completely thinkable happens: all the ladies start zapping away all the menfolk (but being very respectful of parade security and barriers).

Super Friends Leader Parade

Yeah, they’re of great concern, but I find the creepy blue shadow people more ominous and scary.

The Super Friends hold a conference to explain they don’t know anything.

Super Friends Call a Meeting

They gather the security details for the world’s most important (male) leaders and tell them:

“We don’t know what this woman Medula wants, or where she is, or when her followers will strike next. Until we find Medula, you must surround your leaders with extremely heavy security.”

Yeah, thanks Captain Obvious, I mean, Superman.

Then they actually have a decent idea and put tracking devices on all the men, so when the/a president goes missing, they then know where the lair is.

But they didn’t really think much beyond that.

They make it to Medula’s mountain (boob?) and she opens up the gates right away for them. Batman, ever the genius, says, “Careful, it may be a trap!”

You know I thought she was inviting everyone up for tea, but now that you mention it, Batman…

The entrance has an invisible shield. All hope is lost until Wonder Woman and Jayna notice some ladies wandering in and decide now’s their chance to enter the lair of the villain who can control the will of women. Makes complete sense, can’t see a thing that may go wrong with that plan.

Superman conveniently decides to go back to the Hall of Justice to see if the computer can bleep bloop up some answers while everyone else decides to wander around the mountain aimlessly.

WHAT!? I didn’t see that coming at all.

Super Friends Oh Look

Then, one by one, Zan, Batman, Robin, and Aquaman are all transported to Medula’s lair. I’ll give you a minute to catch your breath.

Now it’s all up to SuperMAN, get it? Man? In his name?

Superman sees all of this go down from the Justice Hall, and he feels that Wonder Woman and Jayna’s downfall “could be the break I’ve been looking for.” Way to cover, Superman.

Guess What…

I get to talk about the statue again!

I feel that this plot point/plan perfectly exemplifies how everyone must feel about Superman and his personality.

Wonder Woman and Jayna show up at the Justice Hall. and without a second thought, with no conversation, they take what they think is Superman – but it’s not! It’s the painted statue! “They’ve fallen right into my trap, disintegrating the statue I painted to look just like me,” gloats Superman. Yeah…

Super Friends Ha Ha

And again, I have to point out that he got a statue from people who love him for saving them and he decided to paint it because it didn’t look exactly like him enough.

Everyone heads back to Medula’s.

I think we can all agree

that this is the silliest looking thing ever:

Super Man Spies

Why does he have his butt in the air like that? He’s gonna be seen – that is a big red super butt, you can’t not see that!

Once Medula thinks she has all the Super Friends, she and all the ladies leave to “finish” taking over the world – yep, we all go to that together just like when we go use the bathroom!

Now Superman and Gleek have the place to themselves – time to put on some smooth jams and partay.

Super Friends Superman Tape Collection

 

It’s Button Pushin’ Time!

“One mistake, and I could erase them forever! It’s no use, this computer’s too complex!” – Superman

Superman has to enlist the help of some other dude in the military who hasn’t been taken yet, and between the two of them, they push a lot of buttons figure out the reversal process.

When a button comes along...you must push it. Before the good men are all gone...you must push it.
When a button comes along…you must push it. Before the good men are all gone…you must push it.

Did it work? Yes, EXCEPT FOR THE STATUE. Let’s just hope the good people of Doomville don’t visit Superman’s place and are like, “Where’s that statue we made you? We people of Doomsville have so little, it was the only way we could thank you for everything you’ve done…” and then Superman will awkwardly explain that it got some paint on it and he sent it off to be cleaned.

Anyway, Batman thinks they can use Medula’s fierce headphones to undo the mind control, but nope! It only works if a woman is using it. Whomp whomp.

All this talk about headphones…

Let me just take a moment to declare Medula the most fabulous villain so far as far as fashion goes. Here she is in those previously mentioned headphones.

Super Friends Medula and her headphones

Instantly, the Super Friends streak into action.” – Narrator

Now come on, Super Friends, if you streak into action they’re gonna instantly know you’re men!

Batman and Robin hunt down Wonder Woman and Jayna, and using “Bat Mirrors,”

Super Friends Bat Mirror

They “neutralize” the white zappy stuff and break the two women from their trances.

And using this technique (Superman rips a “gold dome from the Federal Building”), they neutralize all the women, except for Medula. Wonder Woman then dons the headphones and Medula has no power to resist the command to turn herself in.

What did we learn?

What do we take away from this sensitive topic? Here’s what Wonder Woman has to say:

“Medula’s method of controlling women and putting them in power was wrong. Only gradually, a step at a time, can social customs change – no matter what they may be.”

“Perhaps now she realizes her method of controlling women for her own personal power was wrong,” adds Superman.

Indeed. Indeed. Anything else?

Super Friends Gleek Nanners

 

If you would like to see these shenanigans for yourself, Season 2 is available on DVD.

17 thoughts on “Super Friends Season 2, Episode 10 – “The Mind Maidens””

  1. There are so many things here I loved I don’t even know where to start. Superman’s ass all up in the air. The tape-filing system (I like that there are only six categories of people in the world.) The (ahem) “feminist” message at the end. “Nanners.” Superman painting the statue of him. (Did he think people wouldn’t know it was him if he didn’t paint it? Only one person in the world looks that douchebaggy, painted or not.) The very polite women toeing the line, but also silver-eyeing the men at the parade. “I can talk to seaweed.”

    This totally wins the internet today. TOTALLY wins.

  2. Best. episode. ever.

    1) I’m stealing Doomville Flood for a band name or something in my next book. In fact, I’m ashamed of myself for not naming my high school punk band this.

    2) This was written by one of Gloria Steinhem spurned lovers. Wonder Woman should have been the lead here. Her speech at the end was nice, but come on, good girl taking down the bad girl – that’s feminism.

    3) Superman was the worst Superfriend. The worst.

    4) The files? Where were suburban men? bohemian men? musician men? This was 1979. No one was living on farms anymore.

    Doomville Flood will be playing The Earl next week in East Atlanta. It’s going to be epic.

    1. Doomville Flood WOULD be a great name for a band. I’d name it my Rock Band band name, but that’s already called Increase Mathers (Troy’s Bucket (from The Goonies) was already taken). So, yeah, you need to start a band and name it that.

  3. Really it was rude of the Doomsville-ians not to paint the statue themselves. I mean, come on, who wants a dramatic monument when you can have an oversized Warhammer figure?

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