Superman TAS S03E03 Review: Smallville

Superman: The Animated Series, Season 3, Episode 3: New Kids in Town

So a good chunk of season three is just having episodes that co-star another DC superhero. In this case, it's a group of superheroes that's very near and dear to Superman lore... the Legion of SUper-Heroes. Which, I must honestly say, is a group that I didn't really care much about despite being a big DC fan. I'm not sure what it is about them that I don't particularly find exciting. It could be their rather insipid names (which isn't exactly fair, but the Legion has the biggest ratio of X-boy and Y-girl names ever) or their relative detachment from most present-day DC material considering they're set in the 30th Century, but I dunno. I see the Legion every now and then when DC does a crossover issue or whatever, but I've never personally sought out Legion stories.

And this episode really doesn't increase any desire to see the Legion in action, I'm sorry to say. The episode itself is fantastic, but if anything it increased my desire to watch Smallville, or read any Superman stories set in that era. A period where Clark Kent is not Superman yet, where he's still struggling with his personal issues of school and prom and puberty and superpowers and how he should use them. Here, we see a young Clark Kent use his powers to show off at a basketball game at school to show up the resident jock, have a fun relationship with Lana Lang, and is absolutely confused when an alien robot from the future shows up to murder him, and young Clark doesn't actually understand what's going on but knows that he has to fight the evil robot terrorizing Smallville.

The Legion themselves isn't uninteresting, but they're very bland, and other than some snide snarking on Chameleon Boy's part, they are more of a set of powers than actual characters. Coming from the same team that would eventually go and build the rich cast of Justice League Unlimited which juggled an impressive cast far more than just introducing three new characters, it's a bit surprising. I genuinely cannot pinpoint any personality for Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy beyond "heroic". Saturn Girl in particular is more plot device to give everyone amnesia than an actual character.

I lied about last episode being Brainiac's final appearance in Superman: TAS before Justice League, by the way... but this episode doesn't exactly count, considering it takes place in the past, in a memory that Superman himself forgot. Brainiac is always a fun villain, even if this episode does feature him having an extending fist-punch which I found more hilarious than threatening.

Lana, Pa and Ma Kent get the best lines in this episode, Lana in particular. She's just so sassy and I'm kinda sad we don't actually see a lot of Lana in the show proper. Pa and Ma Kent get to shoot Brainiac with shotguns!

Overall, it's actually a pretty fun episode after I got over the fact that it works better as a 'young Superman' story than a Legion of Super-Heroes story. The fight scenes are fantastic, especially with Clark fighting against the tractors, and we do get a fair look at the Legion's powers which at least is visually impressive. Cosmic Boy launching steel rods to stab Brainiac is amazing. Brainiac being sent into the sun and melting is also an unexpectedly gruesome yet awesome sight. I did feel that the episode dragged on a little with Brainiac assaulting Clark's bully, but it's otherwise a pretty enjoyable episode, bland Legion guest stars aside.


DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• We talked about the Legion of Super-Heroes here back when I was reviewing Justice League Unlimited. I don't think I know enough (or care enough) about Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl and Chameleon Boy to google their origin stories, although I do know that Saturn Girl's one of the Legion founders. 
• One of the Legion's most famous members, of course, is a time-travelling Superboy, a young Clark Kent.
• During the brief flashback to the Legion's headquarters, we get to see Legionnaires Lightning Lad, Brainiac 5, Bouncing Boy, Andromeda, Dream Girl, Kid Quantum, Light Lass, Phantom Girl, Ultra Boy and Triplicate Girl.
• Chameleon Boy stands in for Lightning Lad as one of the three founding Legion members that first met Superboy. 
• Kenny Braverman, the resident bully, is based on the real name of Superman villain Conduit, who had a rivalry with Clark Kent ever since being his classmate in his Smallville years.
• Chameleon Boy's line "up, up and away!" is a reference to Superman's catchphrase in his old radio shows. 
• Brainiac's line "the Son of Jor-El kneels before me" is apparently a reference to the "kneel before me" line uttered by General Zod in Superman II.