Superman TAS S03E05 Review: Life am Good

Superman: The Animated Series, Season 3, Episode 5: Little Big Head Man

Mr. Mxyzptlk is a character whose concept and status as a Superman enemy is just so ludicrous that I've never failed to enjoy him. In particular, I've always loved TAS's voice for him, even if it's not what I would pick as a first choice... but Gilbert Gottfried certainly does sound like a crazy conman genie from the fifth dimension who has way too many free time on his hands. So this episode pairs him with another kooky character -- Bizarro. I do really wished that the episode didn't spend half its runtime just having Bizarro and Superman throw down, and actually explore more of the strange stipulation given to Mxyzptlk halfway through the episode -- that his powers are suspended by the godlike council that governs the fifth dimension. 

Instead, we just establish what Bizarro's been up to, have Mxyzptlk fool him into attacking Superman... and then just a whole lot of confused BIzarro and laughing Mxy until that scene which IMO should've happened a lot earlier. And then it's just shake-hands and all is forgiven, with Mxy being forced to atone for his community service by helping Bizarro set up all the fake-humans that he saves in Bizzaro World

It's a pretty fantastic and a fun riot of an episode, from the sheer silliness of seeing how Bizarro spends his spare time, how Mxy interacts with Bizarro (complete with a fake news that features a rare appearance of Supergirl in season 3) and Bizarro's general dundering around. I just wished that they actually do more with the Bizarro-vs-Superman rematch. Overall, it's a pretty fun episode, just relatively poorly paced and I really think that we could've done more with the concept of a powerless Mxy other than just rushing it through the episode's last act. 

Not really much to talk about here beyond the fact that it's pretty damn fun. Lois gets some neat lines here as she tries her best to not freak out in front of Bizarro, too. And the remix of the opening theme as we see Bizarro-World? It's amazing. 

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• The fifth dimension's name is revealed to be Zrff, as it is in the comics. I'm not 100% sure that the Council exists in the comics, but I kinda wanna say they do? Don't quote me on that, though there certainly are rules as to how fifth-dimensional imps are allowed to act. 
• Action Comics #80, a comic that features Mr. Mxyzptlk, is seen as one of the pieces of evidence that Gspy presents to the tribunal. 
• Among Bizarro's items in his planet, one is a cube-shaped model of Earth, which was how Htrae/Bizarro-World looks in the comics. 
• The episode marks Mr. Mxyzptlk and Krypto's last appearances in the DCAU. Bizarro himself will reappear in Justice League Unlimited, and there were apparently plans for Mxy to wreak havoc in the JLU era, his episode ended up never getting written.