Superman: the Animated Series, Season 1, Episodes 1-3: The Last Son of Krypton
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| Truth & Justice. |
That said, though, this first review is probably going to be a bit longer thanks to it being three episodes forming a mini-movie. Plotline wise, it's basically any Superman origin story, just done in the DCAU format, but thanks to the relatively long running time we get adequate pit-stops on every important point in Superman's origin story. There's Jor-El and Lara in Krypton, there's him discovering his powers in the town of Smallville, there's the brief conversation with the hologram of Jor-El, there's him as an adult arriving at the Daily Planet as we're quickly introduced to the Daily Planet supporting cast, there's the Superman-saves-a-plane, there's the interview with Lois Lane, there's the fight with the first villain. I'm pretty sure that anyone that's going to read these reviews know in full detail what Superman's origin story is, so I don't really have to say much about that beyond the fact that it's amazingly done, it's paced fast enough so that I don't get bored (unlike certain live-action adaptations) yet slow enough to let you absorb the journey from Clark Kent to Superman.
However, even this early on there are a fair amount of signs that Superman: TAS is going to take a different stance compared to its predecessor, Batman: TAS. Working off the same model that Batman Beyond worked on, there's some seeds of buildup for main villains being done in the pilot -- two, in fact. Brainiac and Luthor both get a relatively large amount of buildup in the episode, hinting at their larger role later down the series and then through to Justice League and JLU, and despite being behind the Kaznian attack and being John Corben's employer, Luthor doesn't really get caught, merely inconvenienced. Brainiac, likewise, gets away scot-free and gets a brand-new backstory for being the very supercomputer that deluded the rest of Krypton, one of the most awesome backstories I've ever seen being done for the classic Superman villain.
Speaking of which, I'm a big fan of how the first part (the first episode of the three-parter, if you treat this as a three-parter episode instead of a TV movie) actually gave Jor-El a relatively large role. Jor-El has been elevated from just a figure in Superman's backstory since the iconic live-action portrayal of Jor-El by Marlon Brando in 1978, being portrayed post-humously as this super-advanced AI that gives Kal some advice that his human parents cannot. This version of Jor-El also gets a pretty cool plot point where he tries to prove his theories that Krypton is, in fact, doomed, and in one fall swoop quickly gives us a backstory about the Phantom Zone and Argo, the Kryptonian society and also has a nice little sub-plot where even Jor-El's wife and father-in-law start doubting him.
It turns out, though, that in the world of Superman: TAS things went a little more conspiratorial than normal. See, in this continuity, Krypton has its own Skynet, a supercomputer network that overviews everything and basically acts to confirm opinions. Like Google, but sentient, has a creepy monotone voice, and pretty much intent on covering up any mention of Krypton blowing up so that he can focus his efforts on uploading himself into a satellite and escape its destruction.
The first part is probably the part of the pilot that dragged on a little, and both the encounter with the Shoggoth (actually identified as such!) and the Brainiac security guards are obvious padding, but at the same time it actually builds Jor-El up into a character we relatively care about, and gives us enough information about Krypton so that it's not an abstract place that we're told where Superman comes from.
The other scenes after baby Kal-El lands on that farm in Smallville and the fateful encounter with a young Jonathan and Martha, and later him being confused as he discovers his powers in school (also a brief role by Lana Lang) and the amazing moments when he discovers his alien heritage and that he can fly... it's amazing stuff, going through the origin story of the Man of Steel once more. Being a longtime DC fan it has been one of the most unchanged constants of the lore, yet the way it's presented here is still exciting enough to hold my attention throughout it all.
And then comes the adult stuff, where Clark Kent end up showing up at the Daily Planet, meeting with the loud boss Perry White, the nebbish cameraman Jimmy Olsen (who actually doesn't do jack-all in this pilot) and the second lead of this show, Lois Lane. And while Tim Daly is an amazing pick for Superman, Dana Delany is even better for Lois Lane. While Lois still has to do double duty as a damsel in distress -- this is still a Superman show, after all -- she's also portrayed not as the dumb bimbo of the Golden Age comics but a far more shrewd and cunning reporter, but also a pleasant human being to be around. She and Clark quickly puts together some things about the reason Luthor would want his LexoSkel-5000 (really, Luthor? Lexo-Skel?) suit to be stolen, she's smart enough to have a contingency plan and the only reason it goes south is because Bibbo is too thirsty at that time, and while she does need rescuing, she has her share of fighting, including swinging a crane to whack one of Corben's mooks in the head. Lois also gets a warmer scene of bonding with both Clark and Superman, which is nice.
The big action sequences here are Superman fighting the Kaznian terrorists stealing Luthor's LexoSkel suit and the subsequent rescue of the airplane, and later the longer action sequence against John Corben riding said LexoSkel suit. Which are fine, I guess -- the huge explosions really sell that it's going to involve higher stakes compared to its brother show, Batman: TAS, and it displays the scale of what they're trying to accomplish, though the fact that it's still the first episodes of the show is relatively evident in the rather iffy action scenes.
Nothing is quite as awesome as Luthor, who we saw as nothing but unflappable from when we first saw him (Clancy Brown fits into that role like a fucking glove even this early on) and then he starts talking down to Superman, this man flying outside his window, being derisive, then putting out his businessman bargain charm, then trying intimidation tactics... and Superman is just this unflappable, arm-crossed mass of alien muscle that refuses to budge. To an egomaniac and control freak like Luthor, it's quite literally the biggest insult you could do to the man, and seeing Luthor completely lose it and lob things at Superman, who calmly crushes it, says a couple of simple lines: "I'll be watching", before flying off and ignoring Luthor's angry rants... yeah, badass.
So yeah, definitely an enjoyable opening set of episodes. Superman: The Animated Series hasn't been as fondly remembered as the goodness of Batman: The Animated Series or the epic scale of the Justice League cartoons, and the subject material might be to blame (Superman is just isn't as terribly interesting as Batman, and recent live-action attempts being relative flops don't help much either) but at the same time I find myself more interested than ever to really see a series revolving around the Man of Steel. The animation is great and crisp, the soundtrack is uplifting and dramatic (if a little repetitive around action scenes) and the scripting is great. Points for the best line in the episodes go to Pa Kent as he tries to explain that his son is an adopted alien. "You know some babies arrive in storks..."
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- I'm not going to go through the origin stories of our heroes and villains one by one, that'd take too much work, but most of the characters introduced here all hail from the Golden Age of Superman's comics, except for Bibbo Bibbowski who came in the 80's and 90's comics. As mentioned in my review, Brainiac's origins differs the most from the rest of the characters.
- Note that the El family on Krypton has a little white puppy. I'm not sure if Krypto the Superdog ever makes it into Superman: TAS, but this is definitely him.
- The Phantom Zone and a planet called Argo are mentioned by the Kryptonians, which will both be important later on in the series. Also note the green rocks formed when Krypton explodes, which obviously is Kryptonite.
- Martha briefly mentions a caped freak in Gotham City, which, of course, is a reference to Batman, putting the adventures of Batman's earlier seasons earlier in the timeline compared to Superman: TAS. No worries, though, since they'll eventually meet and the rest would be history.
- Having watched Justice League relatively recently, I'm surprised that the fictional nation of Kaznia actually originates from Superman: The Animated Series.
- Jor-El identifies the green blob-tentacle monster that attacked him as a shoggoth, a reference to the works of H.P. Lovecraft -- the Cthulhu mythos. Fittingly, the shoggoth was first introduced in the story "At the Mountains of Madness", a story starring a group of explorers digging in the icy tundra and stumbling upon an unearthly civilization.
- The 'Nice S' pun is actually cut out of some broadcasts. Considering the things they snuck into later seasons of Justice League and Batman: TAS, I'm actually surprised that this, of all things, got cut.
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