Young Fears 19: Island of the Dinosoids

Each October I like to run a series of Halloween-themed posts on this blog. All this month, I'll be telling anecdotes about things which frightened me while growing up.

Perhaps my favourite cartoon while growing up was Super Friends, a program which featured most of DC Comics' major super heroes plus a few invented for the series. In my memories, it would appear and disappear from the scheduling erratically, but if I found it airing on a Saturday morning it would be my first pick. As the line of Super Powers action figures began to fill my toybox I grew especially fond of seeing the DC heroes in action.

However, one morning I bore witness to the episode "Island of the Dinosoids", in which members of the team were transformed into dinosaur-like creatures by a mad scientist. You who gaze upon the image above will find it hard to believe that the unmistakably goofy portrayal of dinosaur Batman could be frightening, yet I maintain it was. I didn't share many children's fascination with dinosaurs - to me, they were simply monsters and repulsed me. Seeing some of my favourite heroes (and Batman) turned into dinosaur men only served to chill me. Fortunately, this was the only time Super Friends delved into body horror.

Oh, except for the time they were all turned into trolls.

Or that time Steve Trevor became a neanderthal.

Or...