Superman on Television
Superman: The Animated Series - Episode Reviews
Season 1 - Episode 2: "The Last Son of Krypton - Part 2 of 3"
Original Air Date: September 6, 1996Reviewed by: Jeffrey Taylor
"It's a Smallville after all"
Rating - 4 (out of 5): Why a 4, you may ask. Honestly, I would give the entire 90 minute pilot a 5, but this middle child just doesn't stand alone as well as its older or younger sibling episodes. Part 1, chronicling the last days and destruction of Krypton had a clear beginning middle and end while this one struggles to give all the pertinent information about young Clark Kent's life in Smallville, then rushes him off to Metropolis so audiences can see him don the blue tights and end on a cliffhanger. It's exactly what they should have done, but it keeps this installment from feeling like a complete episode instead of the middle section of a grander story. By itself it's two-thirds back story with a third of setup for part 3 ... Oh, and a full 60 seconds in the beginning spent recapping the previous episode. Am I being nitpicky? Entirely possible, but the sum is not always equal to its parts.
Before getting into specifics, as part of the pilot review I'd like to talk about the music for a moment. How can anyone, regardless of talent, ever top John Williams's theme from 1978's Superman: The Movie? It's one of the most recognizable themes out there, probably topping even The Godfather. How can it be improved upon? The answer is that it can't. Shirley Walker took Williams's structure: crescendo to hero theme with trumpets taking the melody and lower brass in background, followed by a cooling off with strings and woodwinds, then return to the hero theme and end with a bang. Oh, and if you can get the trumpets to almost sound like it they're saying "Superman," (buh Buh BUUUUH) you've got your title music theme. The middle strings section is associated with Lois Lane (they even show her at that moment in the opening credits of The Animated Series and in Lester's cut of Superman II using Williams's score). Even Williams drew from the Radio Series and the George Reeves's Adventures of Superman theme. This is not to say that the music from The Animated Series is bad, it's quite good in fact, just formulaic. It grabs your attention and you can have it stuck in your head for a good half hour before going mad.
Part 2 opens with Kal-El's shampoo bottle-shaped rocket landing in Smallville, Kansas where Jonathon and Martha Kent (real life married couple Mike Farrel of TV's M*A*S*H and Shelly Fabares of Brian's Song and TV's Coach) find and claim him as their own. You can't alter that any more than you could add anchovies as an ingredient for apple pie. Why Jonathon can't watch a rocket go by and not crash his truck in any incarnation of this story is up for grabs. The same actors play the Kents in the rest of this series as well as guest spots on later series like Justice League and JLU. Clark was also named after Martha's maiden name - Clark, which has been the case for many versions of the story. Much like the comics of the time and Lois & Clark showing on ABC Television, Pa Kent is alive for Clark's adulthood.
Fast forward 15 or so years where teenagers Clark Kent and his sweetheart Lana Lang are played by Jason Marsden (White Squall) and Kelly Schmidt respectively. Young Clark has been experiencing strange bouts of super-hearing, x-ray vision (complete with a question as to whether or not he's used it on the girls' locker room). Pete Ross also makes a guest appearance for about 2 seconds, so try not to blink.
Lana Lang first appeared in the late 1940's and became Superboy's love interest, replacing Lois Lane. Obviously the writers had the foresight and understanding that Lois would and should never have been in Smallville before meeting Clark in Metropolis around the time that Superman started saving the city. Take that Al and Miles (I actually enjoy Smallville). Over time she turned into the love interest that was never meant to be, since Superman was always destined for Lois. In the comics she became like a sister to Clark during adulthood, while she continued to have strong marital feelings for him. Like most incarnations of the story, Lana understood nothing of his lineage and powers during his Superboy years, but knew of his dual identity later as Superman. Of course with a basis in the post-crisis comics, there was no Superboy in The Animated Series and Clark's powers manifested themselves in his late teens, thus no Superboy.
Superboy ... er, Clark quickly shows off some of his superpowers in front of Lana, effectively giving away his secret. Back on the homestead, Ma and Pa decide to tell Clark how they found him in a rocket in a field and offer him an inconspicuous box that will reveal his Kryptonian heritage to him. The only problem I had with Byrne's Man of Steel #1 way back in 1986 was that Clark and Jonathon designed Superman's "S" symbol as a flight of fancy, which stripped a lot of meaning from it. The Animated Series rectified that by showing with this Eradicator-like box the "S" symbol is in fact related to his Krytonian roots. Clark doesn't take well to learning of his alien heritage and runs off... a cliff. He learns that he can fly, and promptly soars across the town.
Flash forward again to Metropolis where Clark has found a job at the Daily Planet and we're introduced to reporter Lois Lane, editor Perry White, and a four foot tall photographer Jimmy Olson (watch that scene, he's eye-level with Clark's belly button). Also in Metropolis are Angela Chen, who I believe is an Animated Series exclusive character (somebody correct me if I'm wrong), John Corben who will later become the villain Metallo and of course the big baldy himself, Lex Luthor who promotes his new "Lexo-suit" which is surprisingly similar to the Kryptonian battle suit he stole from Superman in the comics back in 1993. Once Corben and his comrades steal the suit, Superman leaps into action to save Lois from a falling steel beam and retrieve the stolen goods. Big Blue shows off his bulletproof hide and then evades a rocket just in time for it to hit a passenger plane. END.
I wish there had been more time for this episode. Everything flashes by so quickly that it feels as though the episode is over in just a few minutes. A whole episode was devoted to Krypton and our main character had no real role to play. But this time it's: Boom - the ship lands on earth, Boom - Clark's a teenager and has powers, Boom - Clark's in Metropolis. This is not to say that it necessarily should have been done differently, it just affects how the episode plays by itself.
Metropolis and all the main characters are shown very quickly at the end of the episode. So for more on the regular actors and character design, the look of Metropolis and the finale of the "Last Son of Krypton" pilot, tune in next week. Same Super time. Same Super channel.
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