Talia_the_StoryMaker
If you're looking for a deep, expertly crafted, cutting-edge cartoon that's destined to be appreciated by many adults as well as kids, you won't find it here - that's not what this show is, nor what it's trying to be. Honestly, it's cheesy and doesn't exactly try to have super-tight writing. But if you look at this show for what it is - a 1980s kids cartoon about Superman - well, it actually does its job well. If you don't set your expectations too high, you might, like me, end up enjoying yourself quite a bit.This show's take on Superman and his mythology feels really reminiscent of the Christopher Reeve movies to me - the creators even admit in an interview that they directly took inspiration from them for Superman's character. There are even several direct allusions to the movies, such as Superman flying with Lois in a similar manner and calling himself a "friend" upon first meeting her as Superman. Despite not being as big a fan of that interpretation of Superman as most, it definitely has its charm and I think this cartoon captures it well, making Superman a somewhat unreal and cheesy yet immensely likable character, so if you actually ARE a fan of the movies, I have to recommend this cartoon all the more! Apart from the movies, this show also takes some cues from the post-Crisis Superman comics, such as making Lex Luthor an evil businessman - but he has a humorous personality like his movie counterpart, complete with a ditzy female sidekick. While the serious Luthor is cool too, I have to admit this version is really entertaining. Clark Kent is definitely NOT influenced much by the new take on him in the comics, as he's clearly based on the more traditional cowardly and clumsy Kent as opposed to the more assertive one the comics were "rolling out" at the time. He's certainly not as amazingly humorous, adorable, and generally well-done as Christopher Reeve's (not many are!), but he's still fun and endearing. His journalistic skills do come into play occasionally, which is always a treat.I REALLY appreciate this show having a pretty heavy emphasis on Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen (especially in contrast to the later and obviously better-known Superman: The Animated Series). They figure prominently in almost every episode and even do some helpful stuff sometimes, in addition to their regularly-scheduled rescue-needing. Their portrayals are pretty rockin' overall, nothing ground-breaking or special, but solid and true to the characters. Lois even gets some romantic scenes with Superman, nothing serious or emotional, just some cute fun you can't help but smile at. Perry White doesn't really do much, which is too bad, but I guess you can't cram everything into such a short run time.The artwork and animation in this show is pretty good. I'm not going to say it's mind-blowing, but it certainly has a reasonable level of quality, especially for the time. There are a few too many errors and inconsistencies for my liking, such as multiple instances where they reverse the colors on Superman's S-shield for a few frames (seriously, that should be pretty easy to catch!), but overall it's not that big a deal. The main characters are all quite well-drawn, especially Lois and Jimmy. Unfortunately, non-recurring characters frequently have pretty bad character designs, and that's kinda too bad, but oh well.The stories in this show aren't amazingly well-written, but they're usually inventive, entertaining and charming on some level. Overall, they're definitely geared towards kids, but there's still effort put into them. Some may be disappointed at the general lack of iconic supervillains, but I'm not sure I can share the sentiments - we do get a few of them at least (the Prankster and General Zod & co. get one episode each and Lex Luthor appears in a few), and honestly, I really feel like this keeps the show fresh and always doing something different, unique, and all its own. Superman: TAS felt a bit samey after a while, just having supervillain after supervillain. So, in all honesty, I prefer this style - unique plots with new characters most of the time with occasional appearances by iconic, comic-derived villains. The stories are usually very science-fictiony (with a few exceptions) and may be a bit goofy, but not depths-of-the-Silver-Age goofy. There's honestly a good deal to love, as long as you're the sort that can enjoy kiddy stuff like this that doesn't take itself very seriously.Another interesting and fun trait of the show is the "Superman's Family Album" sections, each only a couple of minutes long, detailing an episode from Clark's past - over the course of the series, we're taken from his adoption by the Kents all the way to him assuming the Superman mantle. These can be extremely endearing sometimes, and I LOVE the way younger Clark is drawn (aside from when he's a baby) - he has such a powerfully "Supermanny" look with a really pronounced spit-curl, and is just adorable! They're a little dull sometimes, and there's not much you can do in such a limited time-frame, but every now and again they'll just make me feel so happy.Needless to say, this show isn't going to appeal to everyone. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend this show to most - most people don't watch random 1980s kids cartoons for fun, after all. But if you happen to be a fan of Superman, I'd happily suggest you give it a go. I mean, at the end of the day, it does really succeed in, well, being a show about Superman. It's got Superman being Superman, it's got Clark being Clark, it's got Lois being Lois, it's got Jimmy being Jimmy, it's got Lex being Lex, it has Superman saving the day. If that sounds good to you like it does to me, chances are you might just find something to like here!
travybaby
In my mind, this remains one of the very best depictions of Superman on TV, as well as one of the most faithful to a particular comics period.This series paid homage to both the Superman films of the '70s/'80s and the Superman comics series "reboot" of 1986-onward ("Man of Steel," "Superman Vol 2," "Action Comics," "Adventures of Superman," etc). The opening score and titles were stirring, based on the John Williams score from the films, updated for a Saturday morning action series. Marv Wolfman, one of the main contributors to the comics reboot (writer of "Adventures of Superman") was a perfect choice to be involved in this animated series. Overall, the series had a more mature feel while continuing to be very kid-friendly.Superman was presented as believable, strong, and iconic. His recurring nemesis was Lex Luthor in his megalomaniac/CEO incarnation. The Daily Planet characters Lois, Jimmy, and Perry were portrayed well. One of my favorite appearances was by Wonder Woman, and the story revolved around her home island of Themyscira ("Paradise Island"). Both her design and that of her mother Hippolyte were in keeping with the similarly rebooted Wonder Woman comic book series of the era, and it seemed like an equally well-done animated series could have been developed for her if handled the same.The one thing that is hard to believe is that this has not been released on DVD/Blu-ray! It deserves to be.
voicemaster71
After the SuperFriends and Scooby Doo left the Saturday morning airwaves in the fall of 1986, I pretty much stopped watching Saturday morning cartoons at that point since those were the only two that kept me tuning in. And since neither the Real Ghostbusters nor the Flintstone Kids seemed very promising to me, I "retired" and started sleeping in on Saturday mornings. I only returned to Saturday morning TV in 1988 for that one year only for one and only one animated show. A new animated show of Superman was something I was not going to pass up. I was 17 and in high school at the time, but so what! I loved this show. From what I can recall, this series was a gift to fans I suppose in celebration of Superman's 50th birthday that particular year. It had the theme music and the music style reminiscent of John Williams movie score from the Richard Donner/Christopher Reeve Superman movies. I honestly felt that the animation style Ruby Spears did was reminiscent of the Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians series by Hanna Barbera a few years before. Sadly, Danny Dark was not back as Superman, but I felt Beau Weaver did a very impressive job as the voice of Superman and his Clark Kent was nerdy like the Chris Reeve version. After hearing him as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic on the 90's Fantastic Four, I could still see this version of Superman in my mind. Ginny McSwain as Lois Lane. LOL! What a rhyme. She was a voice director for Hanna Barbera and Ruby Spears and I guess she took it upon herself to do Lois. Memories of the SuperFriends lingered in this series when it came to the voice over cast. Jimmy Olsen is Mark Taylor, who on the SuperFriends was formerly Firestorm. Perry White is none other than former Batman TV writer Stanley Ralph Ross, who on SuperFriends was Gorilla Grodd and Brainiac in the Super Powers shows. And Lex Luthor, now a wise cracking billionaire tycoon is none other than SuperFriends voice alum, Michael Bell, whom I know best as Zan and the Riddler as well as many other characters on many other series. I felt this series was a combination of the movie Superman along with the post crisis John Byrne re envision of Superman, with Lex Luthor as a billionaire tycoon, Jonathan and Martha Kent being alive to see Clark as Superman. The Bruce Timm series and Lois and Clark would also do this. Unfortunately, we never saw Brainiac, Bizarro, Toyman, Metallo, or Darkseid. Other than Luthor, we saw only the Prankster and we did see General Zod. I especially enjoyed that one episode with Wonder Woman, who was voiced over by BJ Ward who played her on the Super Powers Team as well. The episodes were smashing and I also enjoyed Clark's growing and development stories from infancy to childhood to adolescence to an adult moving to Metropolis in the short little segment, Superman's Family Album. The only two things I didn't like. It only lasted one season. And after Wonder Woman's guest spot, I was hoping Batman would turn up voiced over by Adam West (Still thinking about the Super Powers Team episodes I guess). I also hoped for it because on the Prankster episode, the Metropolis baseball team was pitted against the Gotham Goliaths. Every popular Super Hero has one cartoon series that is ultra rare. For SpiderMan, I feel it's the 1981 solo series that aired the same time as Amazing Friends. For the Incredible Hulk, it's the 1982 cartoon. For the Fantastic Four, it's the 1978 series with HERBIE the Robot. For Batman, it's the New Adventures of Batman 1977 by Filmation featuring BatMite. But for Superman, the rarest series is this one. Superman books and documentaries never cover or mention it. This is another series that WB should consider for DVD release. All in all, this 1988 version of Superman is well....Super!!
