Superman TAS S02E13 Review: King Kong

Superman: the Animated Series, Season 2, Episode 13: Monkey Fun

Ah, yes. The monkey episode. I actually reasonably enjoyed this episode! It's a retelling of a pretty weird Golden Age concept, Titano the Super-Ape, while incorporating Lois Lane into it. It's... okay? Titano, who befriended Lois when they were both children, gets discovered by Superman and brought back to Earth, where he apparently encountered some... space radiation, and became a giant. But he's not evil, and while Superman and the S.C.U. try to stop Titano, Lois has to use the power of friendship and a squeaky toy to calm down Titano.

Yeah, it's pretty tough concept, I'll admit, but what makes it different from other filler episodes is how unashamedly they make this episode fun. An episode like the Promethean is just so mind-numbingly boring as both the villain and the situation are just, well, pretty damn boring. Titano's also a big rampaging creature, but both his backstory kind of makes him a lot more... palatable as an antagonist.

Even if I really wished we spent more time seeing Titano go king kong as opposed to seeing him wreck Lois's apartment. That whole section in-between Superman finding Titano in space and Titano's rampage really didn't need to happen for that long, and honestly wasn't good for much beyond some Jimmy/Lois laffs... which didn't work quite that well.

It certainly could've been done a bit better in my opinion, but I'm not really going to complain all that much about an episode where Superman fights a giant ape. 

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Titano, otherwise known as Titano the Super-Ape, is an enemy of Superman introduced in the Silver Age. He went through more or less the same origin story as he did here, minus Lois Lane's involvement, and had the power to shoot kryptonite beams out of his eyes. The involvement with Lois Lane came from Titano's post-Crisis reboot origin, although this time around he's the product of experiments from the U.S. Government.
• Sam Lane & Lucy Lane, members of Lois's family, made their first appearances here. His role as a military general was made after Crisis on Infinite Earths, and while not overtly evil, he tends to portray a more antagonistic role against Superman and Lois. Lucy would first be introduced as a love interest to Jimmy Olsen in the Golden Age, but post-Crisis she would be a more independent character, eventually taking up the mantle of Superwoman.  
• Beppo, the name of Lois's toy monkey, is a reference to the alter-ego of Superman's pet in the Silver Comics, otherwise known as the Super-Monkey.