Superman The Animated Series
We've reached the end of our coverage of "Superman: The Animated Series." This series was interesting. I don't think that this series ever hits the heights of "Batman: The Animated Series," but it definitely gives the Man of Steel some great moments. It has some truly great episodes. If you're still interested in some Superman animated fun, I'd definitely check out "My Adventures with Superman" on Max. Let's get to it.
Clark Kent: "The Tribal Arts exhibit should be right on time."
Lois Lane: "Even the mayor is here. Hard to believe all this commotion over a bunch of beads and blankets."
Professor Black Wing: "The heritage of my people is hardly that trivial, Ms. Lane."
Lois Lane: "Professor Black Wing! I didn't realize you were... I-I mean, I was just joking. Of course, it's such a wonderful thing, this whole thing. It's so wonderful, really. Have you met Clark Kent?"
Clark Kent: [shaking hands] "I hear the exhibition is stunning."
Professor Black Wing: "I've spent years putting it together. Many of the artifacts have never left our tribal lands before. They are irreplaceable."
The League of Assassins visits Metropolis when they, led by Talia Al Ghul, attack a train carrying a Tribal Arts exhibit. Talia gets away with a shaman's staff but Superman stops the train from crashing with some help from Batman. Talia disguises herself as Lois Lane and uses the staff to kidnap Superman where they plan to use it to restore Ra's al Ghul to youth and power since his Lazarus Pits stopped working.
 |
| Bane? No, it's Ra's al Ghul. |
I haven't talked much about Lois Lane in these recaps because it doesn't feel like the series cares much for her. We don't really see a ton of her doing any actual reporting. She spends most of her time being rescued by Superman and making sassy remarks. But the one in the quote that I highlighted at the beginning of this post really takes the cake. This isn't really a funny comment. It's pretty racist. And it is very uncharacteristic for Lois Lane to make comments like this. Like, I get that she maybe thinks that there are bigger story than this one that she could be covering but making offensive comments, is probably not the way to convey that. Lois is such a great character. One of the best female characters in comics, in my opinion, and it's unfortunate that we see her this way. Particularly when we've got two amazing portrayals right now with Bitsie Tulloch's live action version in "Superman & Lois" and the plucky animated version in "My Adventures with Superman."
That aside, this is a pretty great episode. It's always a treat when Batman visits Metropolis and this is no different. The Dark Knight and the Man of Steel are still at odds, but are working together a little bit better. The episode opens with a slam bang action sequence that is extremely cool. I love how Batman uses the Batmobile to switch the tracks so the train doesn't crash. It's a great way to highlight the differences between the two of them. Batman using his ingenuity and Superman using his brute strength to stop the train himself.
Ra's al Ghul is a great Bat villain to go against Superman. Superman is averse to magic and Ra's al Ghul uses mystical energy. Where Ra's goes his daughter Talia follows and it's a lot of fun to watch her match wits with the Man of Steel. I will say that I groaned a little bit that it looked like Lois was getting kidnapped yet again, but I should have known that Talia was smarter than that. She just wanted to steal Lois's clothes so she could lure Superman out into the open. Once she has Superman's attention she uses the shaman's staff to drain Superman's energy to be able to kidnap him.
I love how the episode pulls from Batman's previous appearances. We get a nice moment with Batman and Lois where we are reminded that they had a little fling. Lois is on the receiving end of one of Batman's patented disappearing tricks. We get Batman knocking heads which I definitely have missed. Some Batman detective work. And as we usually do when Ra's al Ghul is concerned we get an third act climax that takes place in the desert.
The final action set piece is pretty solid. I love that Superman never gives up. He gives Ra's's manservant Ubu a beatdown which I loved because I hate that guy. Ra's is basically Bane when he's hopped up on Superman's strength. Superman using his brains and using Ra's' love for his daughter to get out of the sticky situation. At the end of the episode, the al Ghul's are missing but it does seem like Batman and Superman have a grudging respect for one another and that is a win!
Grade: A-
Clark Kent: "Hey, knock it off, you greedy pig!"
Lois Lane: "What?"
Supergirl: [controlling a Clark robot] "Oops. I mean, sorry to be a pig..."
Clark Kent: "... but I've got to eat and run."
Lois Lane: [watching him leave] "Weird."
Superman has been missing for a month. Supergirl is using Clark and Superman robots to keep this information from the general public, but Lex Luthor is aware. Luthor has been working on a project with General Hardcastle of the American military to potentially take down Superman. This may happen sooner than expected because it turns out Superman has been brainwashed by Darkseid into believing he is Darkseid's son. Superman has been helping the Apokoliptian ruler conquer other planets and now Darkseid has decided to give Superman his own planet: Earth.
 |
| Worst orgy ever. |
How did I not know that Ed Asner was the voice of Granny Goodness? I knew that a male voiced Granny but I had no idea it was Lou Grant. That's pretty impressive. I love when unexpected actors like this do voice work in shows like these.
I love how this episode begins. It's a super action packed beginning. We get to see the armies of Apokolips overrunning this planet. They try to fight back but they are quickly overwhelmed. The armies of Apokolips are being led by a man in an armored suit. This man quickly takes down the planet's ruler. It's not a surprise that this mysterious man is Superman. It's pretty telegraphed but that doesn't mean that it's a great reveal. It is disconcerting to see Superman rubbing elbows with Darkseid's minions. It seems like he is maybe sleeping with Lashina? It is extremely unsettling which is the point.
If I have one gripe about this episode, its that I kind of wish we would have seen more of Superman on Apokolips and interacting with its denizens. We really only see Superman at the beginning and interacting with Granny Goodness when he has the dream that shows his past life. And then he was back in her chair for some fresh brainwashing. I did enjoy them showing the origin that Darkseid had concocted for Superman. It was cool to see the scenes from earlier in the series doctored to fit this new origin. I just wish we had had a bit more of what Superman's life was like on Apokolips before Darkseid sends him to conquer Earth.
Speaking of Earth, we have some fun scenes of Supergirl trying to keep Clark's life in Metropolis going. Robots masquerading as missing heroes is always entertaining see also the Buffybot in season six. It's nice to have this little bit of levity since so much of this two-parter is extremely serious. I laughed throughout the sequence where the Superman robot is careening throughout the city of Metropolis bursting through skyscrapers. I'd be concerned with how Superman is going to explain this, but he'll soon have bigger issues with the denizens of Metropolis. It was great to see Supergirl have a confrontation with Lex, who of course knew immediately that Superman was missing. I loved her using her heat vision to destroy the remote in Lex's hand and the bandage he was wearing on the hand later in the episode. I love the continuity.
I was glad that they brought Lex into these episodes. Lex Luthor should be part of the series finale. We need his Machiavellian motivations one last time. It's no surprise that Lex has been working with the American military on a plan to take down Superman. Countries, particularly ours, being concerned about what will happen if Superman decides he doesn't want to be a hero anymore has been a plotline in a lot of Superman stories. It makes sense that it would be brought up here and it feels organic to what is happening in the rest of the episode.
The Superman attack sequence is kind of chilling. It's never great seeing Superman, this beacon of hope and virtue, doing the exact opposite of what we are used to seeing from him. Superman makes mincemeat of the troops that are attacking him. Supergirl shows up to try and reason with her cousin but he's not having it. I hate seeing them fight and Superman is ruthless. He punches her through multiple fighter jets and into a building that falls down on her. He is going to kill her until Lois arrives and tries to stop him. Lois's intervention allows the military to fire their Kryptonite missiles at Superman, Supergirl and Lois. Superman saves Lois, but it seems like the cousins might be deceased.
Grade: A
Lois Lane: "Don't listen to them."
Superman: "No, they're right. I did lose control, and it scares me. If I can't trust myself, how can I win back the trust of an entire planet?"
Lois Lane: [kissing him] "One person at a time."
Superman and Supergirl barely survive Project Achilles attack. They are taken into custody by the military and the general public is told that they didn't survive. Lois uses her father's military connections to rescue them. Superman is back to himself, but it seems like the damage is done. Enraged, Superman heads to Apokolips to settle things with Darkseid once and for all.
 |
| Just make out already. |
This is the final episode of "Superman: The Animated Series" and I definitely wasn't expecting such a downbeat, maudlin way to end this series. It seems like the exact opposite way that you'd expect a series about Superman to end. It's not that it's devoid of hope. You get the feeling that Superman will win back the hearts of the world. We finally get a kiss between Lois and Superman, but you definitely don't expect it to be so downbeat. Superman standing on the roof of the Daily Planet listening to people talk about how they don't trust him anymore. He hears people he worked closely with who implicitly trust him doubt that now like Emil Hamilton. It's definitely rough to watch Superman deal with all of that. But you know that he will overcome this because that is what Superman does and that idea definitely comes through in this final scene.
The rest of the episode is divided up into two main sections. There is the escape from the military base and then Superman's fight with Darkseid on Apokolips. I know I was just complaining about Lois's portrayal in this same post, but she is pretty great in this episode. This is the Lois Lane I wish we had seen more of in this episode. She's plucky and resourceful. She uses her father to get on to the base where Superman is being held and frees him and helps him free Supergirl. I love that she is right in the thick of it when Superman is struggling with Hardcastle and Luthor. She tases both of them. It's awesome. And she's there at the end encouraging Superman. I guess it's better late than never.
I love how even when Superman seems to be at the mercy of others he never gives up. When he's being led around by those cocky soldiers, he tries to escape and knocks them on their ass before they are able to subdue him again. He doesn't kowtow to either Hardcastle or Luthor. He sees his opportunity to destroy the red sun lamp and try to get away and he takes it. It's great to see Superman unbowed even after all this stuff has happened to him.
The episode takes an extremely intense turn when Superman heads to Apokolips. This is a Superman that we don't see very often. He's determined and if I didn't know better, I'd be concerned that he was going to kill Darkseid. Superman is relentless when he gets to Apokolips. He takes down Granny first. He is unmoved by her pleas for mercy. The Furies are next. He dispatches them easily. Kalibak is next. I did chuckle when Darkseid said that he wasn't convinced that Kalibak was blood relation.
The fight between Darkseid is one of the most brutal of the entire series. Superman isn't holding back and neither is Darkseid. He hits Superman with his omega beams over and over again. It's definitely jarring to see Superman with his torn uniform and bleeding. I was happy to hear Superman bring up the murder of Dan Turpin to Darkseid. Turpin's murder was one of the defining moments of the series so I appreciated that it wasn't forgotten and the reminder that it still weighed heavily on Superman. Superman finally defeats Darkseid and tosses him to the people letting them know that they can do with him what they want. Superman is surprised when they start tending to his wounds. Darkseid reminds Superman that on Apokolips, he's a god. This is a sobering thing to see and just kind of adds to the non happy ending ending of this episode. Supergirl shows up and convinces Superman to leave Apokolips and return home.
Overall, "Superman: The Animated Series" wavered wildly in consistency and quality. If you wanted an animated series that would do for Superman what "Batman: The Animated Series" did for Batman, then you would probably be left wanting. But, its worth a watch and there are a handful of really great episodes.
Grade: A
Series Grade: B-
Next up, we head to the future as we begin "Batman Beyond."
What did you all think of these final three episodes? How about "Superman: The Animated Series" as a whole? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Let me know in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment