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Superman: The Animated Series

Season 1

Many thanks to Peter T. McDermott who took over where Andrew Gould left off in writing up each summary for this Superman: The Animated Series Episode Guide! :)

Episode Guide

This guide does not list airdates for repeat showings, except for The Last Son of Krypton to tell the writing and directing credits for each of the 3 parts.

Cast

Superman/Clark Kent: Tim Daly Lois Lane: Dana Delany Lex Luthor: Clancy Brown Perry White: George Dzundza Jimmy Olsen: David Kaufman Angela Chen: Lauren Tom Ron Troupe: Dorian Harewood Martha Kent: Shelley Fabares Jonathan Kent: Mike Farrell Jor-El: Christopher McDonald Lara: Finola Hughes Sul-Van: Tony Jay Brainiac: Corey Burton Lana Lang (teenager): Kelly Schmidt Lana Lang: Joely Fisher Teenage Clark Kent: Jason Marsden Bibbo: Brad Garret Bruno Mannheim: Bruce Weitz John Corben: Malcolm McDowell The Toyman: Bud Cort

Mercy Graves: Lisa Edelstein Professor Hamilton: Victor Brandt Parasite/Rudy Jones: Brion James Commissioner Henderson: Mel Winkler Gnaww: Don Harvey Lobo (The Main Man): Brad Garrett Sqweek: David L. Lander Emperor Spooj: Richard Moll Serpent: Frank Welker Big Susan: Valri Bromfield Lizzie: Lauri Fraser Mr. Eelan: Larry Drake Al: Kevin W. Richardson Blaine: Phil Hayes Dan "Terrible" Turpin: Joseph Bologna Darkseid: Michael Ironside Kanto: Michael York Maggie Sawyer: Joanna Cassidy Dr. Earl Garver: Brian Cox

Credits

Produced by Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Bruce Timm
Associate Producer: Haven Alexander
Series Story Editors: Stan Berkowitz, Alan Burnett, Paul Dini
Series Writers: Hilary J. Bader, Stan Berkowwitz, Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Robert Goodman, Mark Evanier
Series Directors: Hiroyuki Aoyama, Curt Geda, Kenji Hachizaki, Toshiko Masuda, Dan Riba, Yuichiro Yano
Superman Theme by Shirley Walker
Voice Director: Andrea Romano
Casting Director: Leslie Lamers
Production Management: Joe Reily
Executive Producer: Jean MacCurdy
Character Design: Sharon Bridgeman, Shane Glines, Dexter Smith, Jim Stenstrum, Tommy Tejeda, Bruce Timm, James Tucker

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Episodes

1. The Last Son of Krypton (Part 1) - Summary
2. The Last Son of Krypton (Part 2)
3. The Last Son of Krypton (Part 3)
4. Fun and Games - Summary
5. A Little Piece of Home - Summary
6. Feeding Time - Summary
7. The Way of all Flesh - Summary
8. Stolen Memories - Summary
9. The Main Man (Part One) - Summary
10. The Main Man (Part Two) - Summary
11. My Girl - Summary
12. Tools of the Trade - Summary
13. Two's A Crowd - Summary

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Summaries

• The Last Son of Krypton (Premiere) [September 6, 1996]
  Written by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini
  Directed by Dan Riba, Scott Jeralds, Curt Geda, Bruce Timm
  Music by Lolita Ritmanis, Michael McCuiston, Harvey R. Cohen

  Jor-El's tests confirm Krypton is doomed to explode, but the ruling council disbelieves him, because the Brainiac computer - built to study and monitor Krypton - disagrees. Jor-El finds Brainiac has lied so that it will have time to save itself by transferring itself and its' repository of kryptonian knowledge into a sattelite, instead of being ordered by the council to help the people. At Brainiac's orders, Jor-El is pursued by police. Jor-El makes it back to his home, where his father-in-law, Sul-Van, now believes him. Jor-El and his wife Lara prepare their son, Kal-El, to escape Krypton in a rocket, while Lara's father decoys the police. Brainiac leaves Krypton. Jor-El and Lara watch Kal-El's ship leave just before Krypton explodes.
  The ship takes Kal-El, and some meteoric remains of Krypton, through a space warp to Earth's solar system. The ship lands and is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent. Martha insists they keep the small child. That child grows up in Smallville as Clark Kent. In high school, Clark tells his friend Lana Lang that he is worried about how he is developing strange powers. Lana sees Clark rescue people from a truck accident without being harmed. Clark's parents show him the rocket he came in and a small device. The device has a message from Jor-El and Lara which tells Clark he is not human. Initially confused, Clark accepts his birthright and continues discovering his powers. Several years later in Metropolis, Clark gets a job at the Daily Planet. Lois Lane finds her story about dockside gun smuggling has been replaced by a story about a mysterious blue angel that saved a girl's life. Superman makes a public appearance at a Lexcorp Laboratory when a prototype battle suit is stolen, and saves Lois. He pursues the men who stole the battle suit, but is diverted by having to save a plane downed by a missile.
  At the Daily Planet, Lois dubs the new hero Superman. After talking with his parents, Clark as Superman gives Lois Lane a short interview to explain himself to the public. Clark meets Luthor and suggests Luthor can profit from the battlesuit's theft, then later shows Lois photos that link Luthor to the country of Kaznia. At dockside, Lois gets a tip from Bibbo about a Kaznian ship, and onboard meets John Corben. Corben kidnaps her when she spots the stolen suit. Tipped off by a photo from Jimmy Olsen, Clark as Superman saves Lois at the last moment and begins fighting Corben, who uses the suit. Ultimately the suit is destroyed and Corben captured. Later, Superman appears to Luthor who admits allowing the suit to be stolen, and Superman vows to keep watching him. Meanwhile, in space Brainiac is retrieved by aliens. Brainiac kills the aliens, and takes over their ship.
  The premiere is available on home video (64 minutes).

  Read our review of Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this episode in the "STAS: Episode Reviews".

• Fun and Games [September 7, 1996]
  Written by Robert N. Skir, Marty Isenberg
  Directed by Kazuhide Tomonaga

  A stolen armored car is being chased through Metropolis when a smoke grenade explodes in front of the police who barely escape injury in the ensuing accident. Superman sees the trouble and finds out that the police last saw the thieves driving towards the warehouse district. The crooks are indeed holed up in a warehouse, when out of the shadows steps a child-sized man wearing a boy dolls head with a permanent leering grin on it! He calmly bounces a ball in his hand while he tells them in a sing-song little boy's voice to tell their boss, infamous crime lord Bruno Mannheim, that the Toyman says "Time out for Bruno!" He easily slips out a door after dropping the ball he had. Suddenly, the ball starts bouncing at near supersonic speeds wreaking destruction as it collides at wild angles everywhere! The men retreat inside the armored car, but the deadly toy ball is even tearing that apart! Superman flies into the room and immediately is struck several times. He then uses his super-senses to avoid and calculate the ball's path until he literally swats it in between his hands at super-speed, smashing it into harmless dust. Later on, Lois, Jimmy, and Clark are all at a new park that the same Bruno Mannheim is going to dedicate to Metropolis in a vain attempt to clean up his already dirty reputation. Suddenly, toy planes fly into the park with real machine guns blazing away, causing both Mannheim and the Daily Planet trio to run for their very lives!
  The toy planes are spewing deadly bullets everywhere and Bruno has just been cornered by them. As everyone's hiding behind some sort of cover, Clark slips his glasses down far enough to fire laser thin beams of his heat vision at the planes, exploding each deadly little toy. Lois writes up the article and includes a psychologist's view on the "twisted psyche" behind the attacks. The Toyman later reads this article and is not amused. Meanwhile Bruno is on his yacht and is now surrounded by bodyguards when a 100-foot tall rubber ducky looms out of the water over him! It starts bobbing it's head the second the goons open fire on it, and the huge toy begins to smash the boat to pieces with each giant fall of it's head. Superman arrives and stops the menace after a short struggle, but the Toyman has used that time to kidnap Mannheim. Back at Lois' apartment, she receives a package with a doll that sprays her with knockout gas. When she awakens, she is dressed as a life-size doll and is in a giant dollhouse!
  The Toyman appears and tells Lois that he is the son of a toymaker who years ago borrowed from Mannheim to get his toy factory built. When Mannheim's illegal activities got the toymaker sent to prison, the son spent his childhood in orphanages, and the old man later died in prison. The Toyman has had his childhood stolen by Mannheim, and he's "getting it back with a vengeance". At that, he has Bruno bought out to be shot by robotic toy soldiers and tells Lois she can tell the world his tale. Superman breaks in just in time to save Mannheim and Lois, but the Toyman throws a green glob at Superman that grows over him trying to kill him! Superman spins at super-speed, dislodging the deadly goop, but Toyman then drops thousands of toy bombs out of the ceiling with little ticking keys atop each! Toyman disappears as Superman grabs Lois and Mannheim, flying them to safety as the building explodes. Later on the police find the shattered remains of the Toyman's mask, but no body. It seems that the Toyman will return to "play" another day!

  Read our review of this episode in the "STAS: Episode Reviews".

• A Little Piece of Home [September 14, 1996]
  Written by Hilary J. Bader
  Directed by Toshiko Masuda

  Lex Luthor is opening a new museum and has invited the press to a sneak preview. While giving a speech for the media outside, two small time crooks break in and Clark's super-hearing picks up their antics. Slipping away and changing to Superman, he confronts the pair inside the museum. Suddenly, Superman grows faint and collapses allowing the crooked duo to escape! Staggering out the front door, Superman slowly recovers while Lex rebukes him for "letting the thieves go free". Later, Lex reviews his security tapes and discovers that Superman grew weak when standing in front of a green glowing rock on display. The next day, Clark returns to the museum where he hears a lecture concerning poisoning from ancient cultures using lead in their drinking cups. But the display has been changed and the rock is now gone. Lex's scientists have found the rock is alien in origin and emits high power radiation. One of his scientists informs Lois of the discovery they have made. Meanwhile, Lex has found a thug named Joey to run a little "test" with the rock that involves Superman!
  The next day, Lois meets Clark at a local diner with a sample of the mysterious rock the informant scientist has provided her. Upon Lois producing it, Clark immediately grows ill! Telling Clark to watch his health, Lois rushes off to have Professor Hamilton examine the strange alien element. On Lex's orders, Joey and his gang are robbing the Metropolis Mint of currency plates and making sure that they set off alarms to attract Superman. As he gives chase, the crooks take off with rocket-packs, but Superman makes short work of them. Joey is cornered on the upper floors of a building under construction that Lex has set his trap in. Joey leads Superman under the weird rock and sure enough, Superman falls ill again! But Joey's ego gets the best of him, and while pushing a now sickened Superman around, he's tricked by Superman grabbing him and falling away from the deadly rock's effects. Per Lois's informant about Lex having the rock, Superman later confronts Lex and is told that if he interferes with any of Luthor's plans, he'll be destroyed with this new deadly substance!
  Professor Hamilton's analysis of the sample shows it is an actual piece of Superman's home planet Krypton that has absorbed the radiation released in the planet's destruction! Naming it Kryptonite, he exlains it lethal properties can be blocked by lead. Lois' informant has been discovered and is coerced into luring her and Superman into a trap at Lex's museum. Locking the pair inside, a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex on display turns out to be a robot that spits out the Kryptonite causing Superman to collapse. Then Lois has to scramble for her life as the robot attacks her! Superman remembers the lecture he heard and Professor Hamilton's discovery that lead will block the fatal radiation. He tells Lois so, and she eludes the robot long enough to throw the rock into a lead goblet which blocks it deadly effects! Superman recovers and destroys the robot T-Rex. Then he throws the rock far into space where it can't be recovered. Superman thanks Lois with an exclusive interview in promise of no mention of the Kryptonite. And Lex Luthor immediately starts his employees all over the world on a hunt for more of this newfound weapon he can use against his mortal enemy. Only time will tell if his search will be successful!

  Read our review of this episode in the "STAS: Episode Reviews".

• Feeding Time [September 21, 1996]
  Written by Robert Goodman
  Directed by Curt Geda

  Professor Hamilton is demonstrating a suit he's designed for Superman to wear made from lead alloys which will allow him to safely handle Kryptonite. Elsewhere in Star Labs at that moment, a janitor named Rudy Jones is loading a pickup truck with valuable chemicals he's helping to steal so he can have his partner in crime, Martin Lebeau, pay off his gambling debts. But guards confront the pair and Martin pulls a gun and shooting wildly, he starts a dangerous chemical fire trapping the guards. Martin flees in the truck with Rudy jumping into the truck bed with the barrels of chemicals. Back at Star Labs, Superman flies in and extinguishes the fire, saving the guards. But Martin, meanwhile, is driving wildly and the barrels of chemicals break open bathing the hapless Rudy in them! As Martin swerves to avoid a bridge abutment, Rudy is knocked out of the truck and falls far below to the riverbed. Later that night, a Policewoman driving down the same road sees Rudy hunched over in the middle of the road. When she confronts him, he jumps her and somehow drains her of energy. When her dispatcher calls the Policewoman on her car radio, Rudy answers in the woman's voice and drives away in the squad car!
  Martin Lebeau is identified from the security cams at Star Labs, and Clark learns from Commissioner Henderson that Lebeau lives in Hobs Bay. As Martin is returning to his apartment there, he's confronted by a very changed Rudy Jones. Rudy is now tall, muscular, and purple from head to toe! He explains to Martin that he now can absorb people's energy and thoughts through physical contact with them. He then grows stronger and stronger and he now intends to make Martin pay for abandoning him during the robbery. He grabs Martin and as sparks fly between then, he drains Martin until he collapses. Just then Superman flies in and confronts Rudy who immediately jumps Superman, draining him of his super-powers! He flies away and goes on a crime spree that a now powerless Superman is helpless to stop. But as time passes Rudy notices his powers are fading. With the knowledge he drained from Superman, Rudy knows Superman is secretly Clark Kent. Breaking into Clark's apartment, he kidnaps Clark and secrets him away to use as a living battery to recharge from whenever his powers fade!
  A week passes as Rudy, now named the Parasite by the media, steals whatever he wants with no one to oppose him. Jimmy Olsen follows a hunch that takes him to Star Labs where he discovers Superman held captive in the basement. Breaking a link of Superman's chains, Jimmy must hide when the Parasite suddenly returns to steal more power from Superman. As he starts to drain Superman, the Parasite realizes Jimmy is there and chases him. Just as the Parasite catches Jimmy, Superman breaks free with his returning power and grabs Jimmy and flees upstairs into Star Labs. He lures the Parasite into the room where the new Kryptonite-proof suit is and donning it, he fights the Parasite in it. Just before the Parasite can drain him, Superman tricks him into touching the Kryptonite Professor Hamilton used to test the suit with. Rudy collapses in pain from the contact as his powers are kryptonian-based, stolen from Superman. Later, in a cell in Star Labs, we see the Parasite just sitting there too drained now to even move, the powers and knowledge that he stole from Superman now gone. But after all leave, we see him drain a bug in his cell for energy. And with a wry smile, the Parasite lets us know we haven't seen the last of him!

  Read our review of this episode in the "STAS: Episode Reviews".

• The Last Son of Krypton (Part I) [September 28, 1996]
  Written by Alan Burnett, Paul Dini Directed by Dan Riba

• The Last Son of Krypton (Part II) [October 5, 1996]
  Written by Alan Burnett, Paul Dini Directed by Scott Jeralds, Curt Geda

• The Last Son of Krypton (Part III) [October 12, 1996]
  Written by Alan Burnett, Paul Dini Directed by Dan Riba, Bruce Timm

• The Way of All Flesh [October 19, 1996]
  Directed By: Kenji Hachizaki

  John Corben, who we last saw fight Superman using the Lexo-Skel armor in the very first episode: Last Son of Krypton, is serving his time on Stryker's Island in a plush cell with fancy meals and TV courtesy of his unknown benefactor Luthor. But all isn't well for Corben as he contracts a rare but fatal disease. The prison physician, Dr. Vale, tells Corben that he also works for Luthor and he can propose an "alternative" treatment for his critical condition and that Corben should merely wait for the time being. It doesn't take long, as we see Clark Kent cycling across the bay in sight of Stryker's infamous prison and suddenly a missile attack breaks down the prison walls! While he's gathering up the inmates from the mass escape, Superman doesn't notice Corben escaping to a secret lab where Luthor tells him he's rewarding his loyalty by supplying him with a robotic body that runs on a Kryptonite heart. And he expects Corben's first act in this new body to be the murder of Superman!
  Corben is now in his new body, which Luthor explains, has a frame and human-like skin made from a substance called Metallo, a new high-tech metal. Corben tries out his new body, reveling in the Superman-like strength and invulnerability he now has. But he cannot feel anything with this robotic shell, and Luthor tells him that adjustments will be made later. Next we see Corben jumping onto a train track in Metropolis causing a tremendous wreck with his new strength, using this to draw Superman into a fight. And fight they do, with Superman showing he's a bit stronger then Corben until Corben opens his chest, exposing Superman to the lethal Kryptonite! But Lois rams Corben with her car knocking him to a passing truck on a ramp far below taking him away. He returns to confront a Doctor at Luthor's lab explaining the lack of sensation is driving him mad, but he's shocked when the Doctor tells him his condition is permanent. The news drives him over the edge of sanity as he tears half his fake skin off giving himself a macabre appearance which prompts him to proclaim himself the being named Metallo!
  Lois and Clark have discovered it was Dr. Vale who purposely gave Corben the rare disease so Luthor could make a metallic assassin out of him. Corben goes to Luthor's yacht to kill Luthor for his loss of humanity due to becoming Metallo. But Luthor tells him that he's got scientists working to modify his body, and he'll never get the help if Luthor's harmed. Luthor sets sail for a lab out at sea he has, but Superman shows up to confront him. But Metallo attacks Superman using his Kryptonite to weaken him to the point of death! But Superman tells Metallo about his being poisoned on Luthor's orders, and Metallo grabs Luthor confronting him with this new knowledge. Superman uses his heat-vision to ignite fuel spilled in the battle, and the yacht blows sky-high blasting Luthor and Metallo into the ocean. But Metallo is dragged down to the ocean's depths by his heavy metal body. Superman returns Luthor to land telling him that he has more to fear from Metallo if he should ever return. And he is right, for now we see Metallo far out to sea, walking back to land on the ocean floor. His glowing Kryptonite heart lighting his path back to vengeance!

  Read our review of this episode in the "STAS: Episode Reviews".

• Stolen Memories [November 2, 1996]
  Written by Rich Fogel
  Directed by Curt Geda

  Lois and Jimmy trace Lex Luthor to a distant mountain installation where he's rumored to be meeting someone important. Suddenly, through stormy skies appears a huge spacecraft overhead! It halts and projects a holographic image of a robotic creature with a triangular pattern on its forehead. It says its name is "Brainiac" and at that Lex offers it a CD with basic information about our planet. The CD and image vanish and then the giant craft sends down a floating chair. Lex boards it and vanishes into the craft. Later the military is grilling Lex at a meeting where Superman is present. Lex claims exclusivity on any benefits Brainiac may grant in exchange for information about Earth. He also tells the committee that Brainiac wants to meet with Superman. When Superman later flies into Brainiacs massive ship for the meeting, he is surprised to see a plaque written in Kryptonese. But he's given no time to ponder this mystery, as suddenly triangular shaped flying robots burst from the ceiling and attack him!
  With pulsing beam weapons and huge arms, the robots beat Superman to the ships deck. But he then rises and dispatches them in a flurry of super strength and heat vision. Then Brainiac appears and tells Superman it was just a test of his powers and his interest is that, like Superman, he too is from Krypton! Brainiac takes Superman to a vast chamber on the ship filled with thousands of floating, glowing, softball-sized orbs. He explains that each orb contains all the recorded information from distant planets, and one of the orbs is from Krypton! Superman touches the orb for only an instant, but in that moment he sees his Father! Brainiac tells Superman his father Jor-El helped him escape Krypton's destruction. And he should now leave Earth and roam the galaxy with him and in exchange Superman can use the orb to learn about his native planet. But that night, as a residual effect from touching the Kryptonian orb, Superman has a vivid dream where he sees his father Jor-El warning the council on Krypton against trusting Brainiac about Krypton's imminent destruction. He then sees Brainiac proven distrustful as the robotic computer flees Krypton leaving it's people to their dooms!
  Lexcorp is busy getting ready to download information from Brainiacs ships computers when Superman arrives to warn Lex to be cautious. Lex explains he has missiles targeting Brainiacs ship should he try anything. Superman returns to Brainiacs ship as Lex begins downloading. He returns to the orb room where he touches several more globes. Each tells of horrific attacks and eventual destruction by none other then Brainiac himself! Brainiac denies nothing when Superman confronts him, claiming that knowledge is only valuable when fewer possess it. He also attacks Lex's computers, taking them over. The missiles won't fire as Brainiac now controls them too. But Superman attacks Brainiac and causes systems on the ship to lose power. When Lex's missiles are freed from Brainiacs control, he immediately fires them, causing the giant craft to crash to Earth. But Superman has escaped the blast with one orb, the one from Krypton. He takes the orb for safekeeping to a vast underwater cave he's found in the Antarctic. Later, Lex's technicians tell him they've found a strange bit of alien code in the systems. Lex tells them he's had enough of aliens for one day. But we see on the screen that it's triangular shaped, so we know that one day Brainiac will return!

  Read our review of this episode in the "STAS: Episode Reviews".

• The Main Man (Part One) [November 9, 1996]
  Directed by: Dan Riba

  Faster then a speeding bullet, a sleek spacecraft that is seen to be the very one that brought Superman here to Earth, screams across the desert floor as scientists nearby attempt to gauge it's speed. It tears through the air, whipping up it's own contrail of air and dirt as it rips by us. We see that Professor Hamilton is leading the team of scientists as they try to measure it's speed. After Superman gives the scientists a few close fly-bys, Professor Hamilton tells Superman it was his and his team's privilege to work on the Kryptonian technology within the ship to ready it for Superman's test flight. And as the episode tells, the ship will indeed become integral very soon as Lobo, an intergalactic bounty hunter, and general tough guy, is hired by an interstellar collector called The Preserver, to capture Superman for his private zoo. This zoo is inhabited by creatures who are the last of their kind. Superman, being the last son of Krypton, qualifies admirably. Lobo, being a mercenary type, has no qualms about getting Superman no matter how much he tears up Metropolis in the process. He blows into town and gets Superman's attention by shooting up Police headquarters. Clark's super-hearing tells him all about it, and over to headquarters he goes. Not knowing Lobo's eh, anti-social tendencies, he tries reason at first. Two seconds after Lobo knocks him a block or two, he realizes reason won't work, and the fight is on! After a good old fashioned Super-fight, which was refreshing to see in a cartoon, Lobo takes off into space. Determined to prevent Lobo from returning to Metropolis and causing more damage, Lobo *loves* a good fight, Superman dons his Neutron Suit Armor(TM) and goes into space seeking Lobo. Find Lobo he does, and after a little more physical discussion, the two eventually come into range of the Preserver's ship, and Superman is fired upon by the Preserver's weapons which prove to be too powerful for Superman. When Superman awakens, he's in a Kryptonian room, dressed in Kryptonian clothing! Once the Preserver appears and explains that he collects beings who are the last of their kind, Superman tries to punch his way out of the cage and finds he's powerless! The Preserver explains that there's a special "Red Sun" lamp in the top of the cage which removes his powers, and thereby maintains the authenticity of the Kryptonian display and keeps Superman from escaping.
  Lobo tells the Preserver to pay him as he has to get back to his last job to turn in that particular prey, and he'll now take the Preserver's payment for capturing Superman. The Preserver pays Lobo by gassing him into unconsciousness and imprisoning him as he's the Last Czarnian by dint of him having killed everyone on his planet as a graduation assignment! Lobo had foolishly bragged of this to The Preserver and also told him he gave himself an "A" for the swell job he did. So now the Main Man, Lobo's nickname for himself, and Superman are both prisoners of this intergalactic collector. Episode ends with the infamous, "To be continued...".

  Read our review of this episode in the "STAS: Episode Reviews".

• The Main Man (Part Two) [November 16, 1996]
  Directed by: Dan Riba

  The episode opens with a happy recap of last episode. For those who came in late: The most infamous bounty hunter in the galaxy is Lobo. His latest contract is to bring back gold and the thief who stole it to the Emperor Spooj who's very upset with the thief named Sqweek. Lobo gets his man, er alien, and then while heading back with his prize, is contracted by a creature called the Preserver. The Preserver has a zoo wherein reside various creatures who are the last of their worlds. Lobo's new target is the last son of Krypton, namely Superman. After a heck of a good couple of fights, Superman is captured. As Lobo is the last Czarnian, he killed his planet for his high school science project and gave himself an A, he's immediately captured by the Preserver too! Jeez, you just can't take your eye off those intergalactic zookeepers for a minute, can ya'? And now, "The Main Man" Part 2.
  We open on an angry red planet, and zoom in on the Emperor Spooj's throne room. Spooj, a Jabba the Hut type who spits leeches at his audience, is being lied to by Gnaww, the brother of the hapless thief Sqweek whom Lobo caught in the first episode of our story. Gnaww is blaming Lobo for Sqweek not yet being returned for punishment. As Lobo's not around to defend himself, and gee can he do that, Spooj gives Gnaww permission to go get Lobo and Sqweek for the Emperor to thrash soundly. Gnaww tells Spooj that if anybody's going to bring Sqweek in for the bounty, "it's gonna' be family."
  Meanwhile, we see Superman getting back into his costume aboard the Preserver's ship, while the Preserver explains to Superman that he normally doesn't take sentients, but as Superman and Lobo *are* the last of their kinds, he'll make the exception in their case. Lobo wakes up to find two alien party women in his cell with him. This looks like a party to Lobo until he bumps into his enclosure walls and starts to freak out declaiming the Preserver all the while. Suddenly Lobo's party women spout gas nozzles out of their mouths and gas Lobo back into a more tractable state. They're nothing more then security droids with a pretty facade to placate the main man, Lobo.
  Superman seeing all this, decides to escape using a crystal sculpture in his cell by using it to reflect the Red Sun lamp's rays keeping him powerless into a neighboring creatures eyes to irritate the animal into stampeding through the cell's walls. It works, and Superman escapes and heads out to stop the Preserver. Before he can go, Lobo begs for help escaping, and ices the deal by claiming he'll nuke the Earth if he ever gets out. Superman extracts a promise of non-interference from Lobo concerning himself and the Earth, and then breaks Lobo out of his cell. Lobo thanks Superman, and punches him across the room so Superman "won't think he's goin' soft."
  Suddenly, the pair are confronted by security probes who tell them to return to their cells. Lobo barks out, "Who's gonna' make us?" The probes respond by blasting the two with withering power beams! As their powers aren't up to snuff yet, this unlikely team-up of the brave and the bold realize they've got to work toether. Unfortunately, for Lobo this consists of shoving Superman into the line of fire as an instant decoy. But once the probes concentrate on Superman, Lobo sneaks behind them and lobo-tomizes them. Now Superman suggests it's time to head for their ships, and Lobo says he's staying long enough for some payback with the Preserver. The Preserver, who's watching all this on his monitors, rankles at this statement, and drops the two into a deep pit that comes with it's own sand serpent who's all fangs and appetite. He thrashes Lobo and turns on Superman, getting the upper hand. Lobo saves Superman by the "skin" of the snake's teeth, causing the Preserver to ponder actually taking a personal hand in all this, despite the viewers wondering at this. You see, the Preserver looks like nothing so much as a four foot tall floating inverted egg with a mouth and a jacket on. Not what I'd consider a threat at least. But we're given no time to ponder it, as suddenly Gnaww shows up with his fellow bounty hunters demanding Lobo and Sqweek. The Preserver knowlingly smiles and tells Gnaww, "Better yet. Come and get him."
  Now we see Lobo re-capturing his quarry Sqweek, and then all three fugitives head for the docking bay. Just then Gnaww and the guys show up with blasters blazing at the still powered-down Superman and Lobo. Superman tells Lobo to make a run for it with Sqweek while he holds them off. After taking out a member of Gnaww's gang, Superman runs to the next zoo environment's door and hammers it down just as the bounty hunters show up and blast him in the back. They hear a wild howling from within the enclosure, and figure Superman was mounting a desperate last ditch attempt at beating them using the creature. They throw him into the pen, and wait for him to fall victim to the animal. But all they see is a small bird once known on Earth as a Dodo, thought extinct, which the Preserver had picked up in earlier galactic wanderings. And that means an Earth environment! Superman stands and raises his arms wide as he gladly drinks in the power-giving rays of this cell's yellow sun lamp. The bounty hunters see all this and start to back away and run for it. But a now fully powered, (my *that* was a little quick), Superman flys through them sending them sprawling.
  Now we see Lobo reaching the spacedock just as the Prserver arrives there also. He tells Lobo one last time to return to his cell, and Lobo again cracks back, "Who's gonna' make me?" The Preserver in answer suddenly hunkers down as if he's trying to pump himself up, and suddenly starts to tear out of his own little previous egg style alien skin , into a drop dead bonafide monster with giant claws!
  (Author's Note: Unless I'm mistaken, this monstrous form is an homage to Jack "The King" Kirby. Bless and rest his soul. Mr Kirby was drawing this kinda' mondo cool monster back when I was a kid before his Fantastic Four days. But this is merely a surmise of mine. He sure *looked* Kirbyesque.)
  The now huge and bugged Preserver is about to make things harsh for the Main Man, but like the calvary comes Superman crashing into the Preserver and Ladies and Gentlemen, the Main Event is on! Now, as Superman and the Preserver go at it, Lobo tells Sqweek he's about to see his "good deed of the century." He throws his hook-end chain into the airlock door controls, causing instant, violent, explosive decompression! Now all H-E-double hockeysticks breaks loose, as everything loose is flung into the deadly vacumn of space! Alarms are screaming, Lobo's hanging on by his chain, the Preserver's being dragged towards certain death hanging by his claws as they tear great ruts in the deck as the inexorable pull continues. And Superman's tearing ruts across the floor with his fingers, as he tries to hold on too!
  Then, we see the Preserver lose his race for life, as he makes a last stand at the airlock door, but a small random piece of debris knocks him loose to his doom. As we watch him fade into a speck in the vastness of space, the scene fades to Lobo sipping a cold drink in the Emperor Spooj's palace, telling Spooj that all he's just told him is the reason he was late getting Sqweek there. We see Sqweek mopping around Spooj's great green slime bath along with the hapless Gnaww and his cohorts who're getting copiously splashed with slime by Spooj with great delight. But what, Spooj asks, happened to Superman and the many creatures in the Preserver's mighty zoo? Lobo tells him that Superman said "he had a placed all picked out for them."
  Now, the scene fades to a vast arctic wilderness of ice. Then Superman streaks down in front of us into a deep azure-blue pool of ice cold water. He swims a ways underwater and flies up out of another pool, one submerged under tons of arctic ice. Now he walks from the pool to steps carved out of the very ice. He mounts the stairs and walks up to another level with large rooms, one we see already equipped with a bank of computer equipment. Superman walks on, through what is now obviously nothing less, then the Fortress of Solitude!
  Long exactingly carved walls raising up to great heights we see. Now we see a hall with the containers of the creatures once held by the whims of an insane hoarder. Now kept in safety and respect, as only Superman could do. He walks past the Dodo bird's pen, and then down the great hall lined to the iced ceilings with plexiglass walls. And as the episode ends, we see another important part of the Superman mythos firmly established in this serie's tales.

  Read our review of this episode in the "STAS: Episode Reviews".

• My Girl [November 23, 1996]
  Directed by: Yuichiro Yano

  In this episode Clark gets a blast from the past, when he sees his old friend Lana Lang from his Smallville days dating Lex Luthor! Lana's now a big time fashion designer in Metropolis at a fashion show that Lois and Clark are covering. He goes to speak with her, but Lana gets waylaid by two women looking to steal her high-priced jewelry. After changing to Superman and taking care of the crooks, Lana drops the bombshell on Clark that she knows he's Superman! Superman warns her about how dangerous Lex is, but Lana thinks she's going to become Superman's sidekick in fighting crime. She's been spying on Lex and an arms dealer who're setting up a sale of some deadly microwave guns. She tells Clark where the sale's setup for and he goes to stop it. Once there, he stops two would-be terrorist buyers, but Lex's man escapes by shooting out a nearby train trestle just as a train approaches. Superman saves the train, and meets Lana later to tell her that this deadly game must stop. What she and Superman don't know is that Lex and Mercy are already spying on them, and know she's a double agent helping Superman.
  While lunching with Lex the next day, Lana overhears that a second attempt at the arms deal is going through in Central City. That night while waiting for Lex's limo to pick her up for dinner, she calls Clark and tells him of the planned rendevous. Clark tries to stop Lana from this dangerous spying, but she hangs up on him. He smells trouble and takes off to help Lana. But Lana's just found out that Lex is on to her, as the arms dealer traps Lana in a Lexcorp foundry leaving her to death by molten lead! Just then, Superman arrives, and the arms dealer uses one of the microwave guns to turn the entire foundry into a seething lake of flaming hot lead.
  Lana climbs up on chairs, then tables, then finally she dangles from a ceiling lamp. The raging hot lead rises higher, higher. Then, the lamp cord starts to break away from the ceiling! Lana is seconds from death. She screams "CLARK!" And rising out of the molten torrent, comes Superman! He flashes to catch Lois just as the lamp cord finally gives way. He crashes through a shaft in the ceiling and then we see the foundry's exterior. Suddenly the foundry erupts in multiple explosions, it's internal damage from the battle has taken the final toll. It rocks with blast after blast, and then we see Superman come flying out of the maelstrom of destruction. With Lana safely tucked under his arm, and the arms dealer clutched firmly in his other steel fist. One being borne to safety, the other to justice.
  Later, at the Daily Planet, we see Clark and Lana finally admitting to each other that their just being friends is how it's going to be. Lana tells him to give her a call if he ever changes his mind. Clark allows himself a quiet sigh as he watches Lana go. But Lois shakes him from his reverie with a yell that Perry's calling. And Clark turns to follow the woman we all know will become that special someone for him.

  Read our review of this episode in the "STAS: Episode Reviews".

• Tools of the Trade [February 1, 1997]
  Directed by: Curt Geda

  The Metropolis Gold Exchange is getting robbed by no less then a tank! This looks like a job for...the SCU, Special Crimes Unit! This elite police unit is lead by the intrepid Maggie Sawyer, and her right hand man Dan "Terrible" Turpin. As they pull up on the scene, the tank starts blasting away, and frankly it's winning! After a few tense minutes, Lois shows up for this hot story, and Superman's not far behind. The tank gets in a few good shots at Superman until he finally wrecks it's cannon muzzle and disables the tank. Afterwards the press takes a cheap shot at the SCU by accusing them of being dependent on Superman to take out the big problems. Turpin rankles at this, but Maggie's cooler head prevails. One thing's for sure, Intergang's up to it's old tricks again!
  Now we see the Leader of Intergang, Bruno Mannheim, ranting at his cronies about this latest setback. With Superman around, he needs tougher weaponry! Just as he's raving, Mannheim's approached by a fellow named Kanto who offers him just such weaponry, in the form of a pair of "energy gloves" which create giant hands that do whatever the wearer does. And they have strength enough for even Superman! Mannheim's curious about the source of all this, but Kanto tells him he has a "Master" who merely wishes to help him suceed. He wastes no time. The next day a team of men confront an approaching train that's carrying money. One is wearing the energy gloves and wrecks the train trestle causing a crash. As they loot the train, Superman arrives and is knocked away by the Intergang thug wearing the gloves. Then Superman is kept busy saving another approaching train. After he saves it, he turns to see the bandits have made their escape.
  Maggie and Dan get into a tiff as Maggie wants to bring Superman in on the case officially. He gives her his badge and storms out. But he then goes to spy on Mannheim. While spying, he's captured by Kanto, who's arriving to give Mannheim a gun he claims will destroy even Superman! As Turpin struggles to break his bonds, Superman arrives. While he's freeing Turpin, he's shot by Mannheim. The otherworldy weapon hurts Superman badly. And Mannheim's shooting at Superman relentlessly who dodges most blasts, but is finally hit again. He struggles to rise, but Mannheim then sets the weapon to full power to kill Superman once and for all! Just then, Dan Turpin jumps Mannheim, and as they struggle the powerful gun is blowing the warehouse to smithereens. Kanto flees all this mayhem, and as Turpin falls beneath wreckage, Mannheim follows him begging for more help. As Kanto flees into some sort of glowing tube, Mannheim jumps in to join him. Superman arrives from pulling Turpin from the wreckage a moment too late. The tube and both Kanto and Mannheim are gone.
  Later on, the press is needling Turpin about needing Superman to save them again. Superman tells the media that it was Dan who saved *him*, not the other way around. Now we fade to another world of firepits and great machinery. We see Mannheim following Kanto, desperate to know where they are, and who's his mysterious benefactor. Kanto points to a large hulking figure above them. The figure turns, and we see a creature with a face like a gravestone. The creature tells Manneim, "Welcome to Apokolips. I am your new master. I am Darkseid!"

  Read our review of this episode in the "STAS: Episode Reviews".

• Two's A Crowd [February 15, 1997]
  Directed by: Hiroyuki Aoyama

  A disgruntled ex-employee of Star Labs is holed up in his house and refuses to come out for the S.C.U., Special Crimes Unit, run by Maggie Sawyer. He's saying he's hidden a bomb with a four hour timer on it.The bomb is made of stolen Star Lab isotope which, in Professor Hamilton's words, "Could take out a square mile of Metropolis." Maggie orders her men in, but to their sudden surprise, the house is built of reinforced steel and resists all their efforts! Superman arrives and after running a gauntlet devised by Dr. Earl Garver, the would be extortionist is unexpectedly injured during Superman's struggles with one of the death traps. Now Garver's in a coma, and with only four hours even Superman admits he can't search all of Metropolis in time. And then Professor Hamilton suggests they seek help from an unexpected source, the Parasite!
  The Parasite tells them he'll go along with their plan as long as he gets one thing. Cable TV in his cell with premium channels. The sheer boredom of his captivity in Star Labs has gotten to him. As he's ushered into Garver's hospital room he starts to absorb the scientist's consciousness with surprise results. When the Parasite speaks, he's talking with Garver's voice and mind! The Parasite/Garver now tells them he stills wants his ransom money, but he's reminded that if the bomb goes off with him in the city, he dies too. Garver surrenders to fate, and tells Superman and Maggie that he's hidden it on a sunken ship. But when they go searching for it, he uses their absence to escape from the hospital and talks the Parasite/Rudy Jones side of their now shared mind to work with him as a "partner."
  Garver/Parasite contacts Maggie with only 20 minutes to go, demanding that Superman deliver $50 million in bearer bonds to him at a abandoned subway line. Superman arrives at the line deep under the earth which construction was stopped on when a bottomless pit was found in the line's path. As Superman puts the ransom down where Garver/Parasite's told him to, Parasite reaches out and grabs Superman draining some of his power! Now it's a game of cat and mouse between them as Superman and Garver/Parasite struggle. The Parasite trying to leech Superman's powers, and Superman forcing the Parasite to use up what power he's lost already to the Parasite. Then the Parasite up's the odds by reactivating the bomb with only two minutes to detonation!
  Superman appeals to the Rudy Jones side of the Parasite, telling him how Garver's going to sacrifice him while his body's safe upstate lying in the back of an ambulance. The two sides of the Parasite's mind now struggle, sending the Parasite into spasms of mental and physical pain as Superman tries to turn off the bomb. The Rudy Jones side loses to Garver who now attacks Superman just as he's hurled the bomb into the pit, praying it's deep enough to contain the blast. They both hang on the pit's side trying to claw their way back to the top. Then, the bomb blows deep in the pit's depth's and it's fiery blast comes racing up the pit threatening to incinerate them both!
  They both barely clear the top as the blast roars out of the pit, tearing the cavern to shreds. When the dust finally clears, Superman rises from under tons of debris. He's survived, and so has the Parasite, albeit a now Rudy Jones only Parasite, who's promptly taken back to his Star Labs cell. We see Garver waking in that ambulance where he'd hidden his body. But as he opens the doors, he see's he's miles in the air, and Superman's taking him to a cell of his own at Star Labs! As he's being escorted past the Parasite's cell, Garver hears the Parasite laughing as he's enjoying his newly installed cable TV, with all the premium channels, just as he'd been promised.

  Read our review of this episode in the "STAS: Episode Reviews".