The Spotlight 6.23.07: Superman: The Animated Series
Posted by Scotty Flamingo on 06.23.2007
The forgotten stepchild of DC/Warner animation.
Hello and welcome to another fine column from your old pal Scotty Flamingo. I'd like to give a shout out to Ben Piper. I totally screwed up his big Sopranos finale column last week when my father passed away. Ben was more than understanding about the situation. So check out his column. He's a good egg.
Speaking of the Sopranos, I liked the finale. I never expected the show to go out Godfather style with a reign of hits on the five families. That was never what the show was about. Phil got whacked in glorious fashion and life went on for Tony with new problems in his personal and professional life. As Journey says "the movie never ends it just goes on and on and on and on…"
This week, I'm shining the Spotlight on an animated series that I've been watching again on DVD. I've been slowly going through the DC animated series that began in the 90's with Batman: The Animated Series. That series was a huge success and still has an enormous following. Later producers Bruce Timm and Paul Dini would go on to create other successful series such as Batman Beyond and the two Justice League series. However, while all those series have an enormous fanbase, I think one of those series is too often forgotten. I'm talking about Superman: The Animated Series.
Superman has always been a lot more polarizing for fans than Batman. Everyone loves Batman, but not everyone is the biggest fan of the Big Blue Boyscout. I think a lot of that has to do with the convoluted history of Superman. I love Superman. I think that he is a great example of 20th century mythology. He's part Moses and part Hercules. His story is epic. The last son of a dying planet, come to Earth to save us. However, once you get past his iconic origin, things get messy.
Superman doesn't have the cool Rogue's Gallery that Batman or even the Flash has. Any schmoe on the street can rattle off eight or nine Batman villains, but Superman villains? Well, there's Lex Luthor, and um…that guy with the backwards S, and did I say Lex Luthor?? On top of that, Superman himself has not been consistent through his history. He has ranged from having godlike powers during the Silver Age, to being much more vulnerable during John Byrne's revamp of the character. There's even TWO Superman's, or Supermen. You have the Golden Age Superman, or Earth 2 Superman and the modern or Earth 1 Superman. If you aren't a comic geek, this paragraph probably might as well be in German to you.
The first thing that Superman TAS does right is to streamline 50 plus years of Superman continuity. In many cases, these revamps are a vast improvement over the DC comic's storylines. The best example of this is the character of Brainiac. Brainiac is easily Superman's number two villain. Unfortunately, he is another example of a convoluted back-story. In the comics he was an alien scientist who transferred his mind to his computer. There have been numerous versions of Brainiac and rewrites of his origin. In the animated series, it is simpler and much more tied into Superman's history. Brainiac was the computer system on Krypton. He opted to not warm the Kryptonians about the end of their planet because it was more important to preserve himself and Krypton's data than it was trying to save the planet from certain doom.
The rest of the series is handled just as well. The opening theme is a great musical number. While not quite as good as the Batman theme or even the Superman theme from the movies, it still fulfils the rule that all good Superman themes must have Superman in them. Think about it. Hum the John Williams score…Duh dah DAH! The animated series employs the three syllable rule as well and it's a good little opener.
The animation is simple, but good. It is like watching a comic strip come to life. It is not overly detailed, but it doesn't need to be. Then there is the voice work. Timm and Dini have wrangled together a great collection of voice talent. You have Tim Daly from Wings as the voice of Superman. He does a great job of making Superman sound friendly, but a little bit of a stiff. Dana Delany is a great Lois Lane and I always thought she would have made a fine live action version. However, the icing on the cake is Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor. You may know Brown as the guard from The Shawshank Redemption. He's also appeared on Lost. He absolutely nails Luthor with a combination of sophistication and menace. There are also some excellent guest star's providing voices including Malcolm McDowell as Metallo and Gilbert Gottfried as Mr. Mxyzptlk.
Finally, you have the stories. The show ran for three seasons and all of Superman's villains are represented. You've got Bizarro, Metallo, and a downright creepy new version of Toyman. There are also some new villains created specifically for the show including Livewire, who have gone on to become fixtures in the comics. You also get some appearances from other members of the DC universe. The is a two-part story with Lobo that is hysterical as well a World's Finest team-up with Batman and later an appearance by the Legion of Superheroes.
All three seasons are available on DVD and are only about $20 bucks per season. It is a great pick up for anyone who is a fan of the Man of Steel, or even those of you that have been on the fence when it comes to Superman.
