* As I did with the FleischerSuperman cartoons and Batman: The Animated Series, I want to take a serious and analytical look at the Superman cartoon of the 1990’s.
Superman: The Animated
Series began life as a tie-in idea for the planned but never produced Tim
Burton/Nicholas Cage Superman movie reboot. Once that film project started
languishing, Warner Bros. handed the reigns of the cartoon series over to the
producers and creative team from Batman. And why not? Batman: TAS remains the
most successful superhero show of all time.
Initially, Bruce Timm and
company, while being excited at the prospect of working on the biggest
superhero of all time, didn’t really know how to handle Superman. They weren’t
sure if they wanted to go retro with Superman, ala Fleischer, or just follow
the BTAS example. Ultimately, after many discussions and character sketches,
the team decided on a retro-futuristic style for Superman.
The designs for the
characters and their world were streamlined and more cartoony than even BTAS
had been. The look was bright and optimistic, while certain episodes still
harkened back to the pulp action/sci-fi tone of the best Superman comics.
This series leaned heavily
on the New Gods/Fourth World comics of Jack Kirby, introducing Darkseid and his
planet Apokolips as major players. This was done because Bruce Timm believed
that most of Superman’s enemies weren’t powerful enough to be any credible
threat. Also as a result of this, as John Byrne had done in his comics, the
producers felt it would be best to depower Superman from his all powerful
Silver Age levels. This was a wise decision indeed. It’s much easier to
appreciate and relate to a Superman who is less powerful than one who can blow
out a star like a birthday candle.
The other thing that this
show also pulled from the Byrne comics was keeping the Kents alive. John Byrne
had recognized the source of drama and the emotional anchorage that Jonathon
and Martha Kent would add to Superman stories. This was an ingenious insight
that the producers also accepted. It helped to make Clark more human and
provide more of a background for him in Smallville.
The score, once again the
brainchild of Shirley Walker, is wonderful. The main theme is very heroic and
optimistic. It feels like a Superman theme. Overall, this is a more modern
soundtrack than the BTAS score. It’s less operatic, less sprawling and
perhaps simpler. It helps the show feel much more like a
science-fiction/fantasy cartoon than a dramatic superhero series. It would be
impossible to hold this score up to the John Williams Superman theme. The two
are incomparable, but both are brilliant.
Many fans hold up this
animated version of Superman as the
best animated adaptation. While I agree that it's a fun show, I would have to give that honor to the
Fleischer cartoons. While the animation for this series is technically
near perfect for the clean, cartoony style that they went with, the stories
themselves are hit and miss for me. Of the fifty-four episodes produced over three seasons, I would argue only
about thirty-five of them, give or take a few, hit their mark. That said, this show still offers some of the best Superman media, outside of the comics.
I realize
there’s no such thing as a perfect show, and while some of the earliest
episodes are truly brilliant, there are quite a few duds. This series simply lacks the
pathos and more mature nature of the early BTAS episodes. The creators of this show also
didn’t seem to take Superman as sincerely as they did Batman either.
There’s
something about this show that just screams: missed opportunity. I can’t really
put my finger on why, as much as I love this series, it feels like something’s
lacking. Maybe it’s the fact that BTAS set such a high bar. Maybe, and
this is just speculation, the producers ultimately didn’t know what to do with
a Superman cartoon? Maybe it would have been better if the character designs and
animation style were less cartoony? I don’t know. Even though I don't think this Superman show offers everything it could have, relying too much on either humor or Jack Kirby's 4th World, it still is a must for Superman fans.
I still like a lot of what they did. Highlights
for me include:
SEASON ONE
Episodes 1–3: The Last Son of Krypton (the pilot)
Episode 7: The Way of All Flesh
Episode 13: Two’s A Crowd
SEASON TWO
Episode 3: The Prometheon
Episode 4: Speed Demons
Episode 6: Target
Episode 9: Action Figures
Episode 12: Brave New Metropolis
Episode 16-18: World’s Finest (3 part Batman crossover)
Episode 22: The Late Mr. Kent
SEASON THREE
Episode 2: Knight Time
Episode 8: Superman’s Pal
Episode 9: A Fish Story
Episode 10: Unity
The Finale: LEGACY
No comments:
Post a Comment