Jun 29, 2019
"Professor Goodfellow's GEEC"
Aired: September 23, 1973
Professor Goodfellow has developed the means to make humanity's life so much more simpler - the GEEC - a computer system that will run the world and handle all the tasks that occupy humanity and keep them from reaching their full potential. He offers it for free to the world when the US government passes on getting involved. At first, it all seems fine, until a malfunction causes worldwide havoc. While Superman and Aquaman race to rescue as many people as possible, Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman must infiltrate the GEEC complex and shut the computer down.
Sounds great, doesn't it? On paper, it is a great idea, but as John is joined by 13th Dimension webmaster Dan Greenfield to discuss this episode, they discover that being a Saturday morning cartoon in the thick of Congress's crackdown on violence, the story is simplified and so much is missing. They talk about the story ideas missing in the concept, the appearance of Plastic Man, and comment on the phenomenon of computers gone bad in the 60s and 70s.
John references The Ultimate Super Friends Companion by Will Rodgers. Check it out for yourself by purchasing a copy via Amazon.
Dan Greenfield is the editor and co-creator of 13thDimension.com, a website devoted primarily to comics and pop culture, past and present. To him, the basic food groups are Batman, Planet of the Apes, Star Trek (the Original Series), James Bond, the Beatles and the Stones. But if he had to he'd be able to subsist on Batman alone. Channel 11 in New York was his favorite syndicated channel as a kid -- you can guess why -- followed closely by Channel 5. Channel 9 didn't really enter into it unless he was home sick and there wasn't much else on. He's married to his remarkably patient wife Wendy and his best sidekick is his son, Sam. They have two cats,Lex and Zod.
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