Superman on Television

Adventures of Superman: Episode Reviews

Season 3 - Episode 1: "Through The Time Barrier"

Reviewed by: James Lantz

Original Broadcast Date: April 23, 1955

Writer: David Chantler

Director: Harry Gerstad

Guest Cast:
Sterling Holloway as Professor Twiddle
James Hyland as Turk Jackson
Florence Lake as Lona the Cave Woman
Ed Hinton as the Cave Man

"Through The Time Barrier"

Daily Planet reporters Lois Lane, Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen are with editor Perry White awaiting the arrival of Metropolis crime boss Turk Jackson. He is to sign a confession for Clark in order to turn himself over to the authorities. As Jimmy guards the chief's office door, eccentric inventor Professor Twiddle wants to see Kent about his important discovery. Jimmy tells Twiddle to return later. After Twiddle leaves, Turk arrives. He writes his name on the paper before leaving with the Planet staff to go to police headquarters. The group then meets Professor Twiddle in the elevator, where he plans to demonstrate his new time machine. Thinking it's merely a joke, both Clark and Turk suggest to set its controls for the prehistoric period. The device then suddenly brings everyone to the year 50,000 B.C. Now, Clark, Lois, Jimmy, Perry, Turk and Professor Twiddle find themselves in the past. Unfortunately, the unusual scientist has not figured out a way to get everyone back to the present. It looks like Superman and his friends are stranded in an age gone by forever.

Having traded his watch to a cave man and woman for prehistoric clothing, Turk seems to be making the most of his time in the year 50,000 B.C. The world of the past seems his to command as he makes Jimmy the head of the cave newspaper. Turk even goes as far as to take Professor Twiddle's time machine before the inventor can find the mysterious metal he needs to make it function again. Clark tries to stop him, but Lois witnesses Turk hitting him, forcing the mild mannered reporter to pretend to be injured. Lois decides that she has to look after Clark. Superman may not be able to get Professor Twiddle's device from Turk without revealing his secret identity to Lois and the others.

Everyone is desperate to get back to present day Metropolis. Jimmy is chiseling news into some rock. Turk has brought animal skins to wear for everyone except Clark. The cave woman named Lona seems to have eyes for Perry. Meanwhile, it is still unknown where Turk has hidden the time machine. The gangster refuses to let Clark and the others have it. He intends to put a bullet in anyone that tries to take Professor Twiddle's creation. Turk Jackson has made himself the boss of all that is in 50,000 B.C. Superman will need to work fast if he's to stop the power hungry criminal.

As a sign of strength, Turk has fired his gun in the cave. The vibration from the shot causes an avalanche that traps the group from the future. Thinking that he's out of options, Clark is about to reveal that he is Superman when coal gas fumes overcome Lois, Perry, Jimmy, Turk and Professor Twiddle. It's possible that the Man of Steel's secret identity will be safe while he rescues Lois and the others.

Lois, Perry, Jimmy, Turk and Professor Twiddle are unconscious while Superman smashes though the rocks barricading the cave's entrance. The primitive man and woman see him do this before he returns to his guise of Clark Kent to pretend to be knocked out by the gas. The Stone Age people use sign language and draw an S on the ground to tell them of the caped hero's arrival. Clark, Lois, Jimmy and Turk go on a search for Superman while Perry begs Professor Twiddle to not leave him alone with the amorous Lona. Turk Jackson may have to watch himself now that he knows that Superman is in the year 50,000 B.C.

Turk Jackson, in an attempt to control the primitive people of 50,000 B.C., has drawn an S on his pelts and has called himself Stoneman. Jimmy Olsen is watching his antics from behind some trees. Turk makes fire with his lighter and chips away a piece of rock with a bullet fired from his gun. The Metropolis crime lord could very well be considered a god to these cave men and women of the past.

Lois Lane and Clark Kent are on a search for Superman. While Lois rests, Clark moves on so he can don the familiar red and blue suit of our caped hero. Lois asks Superman to return to Metropolis to get Professor Twiddle's laboratory notes. Only they can help the eccentric scientist repair his machine. Unfortunately, no matter how much he tries, Superman cannot break through the time barrier. With even the Last Son of Krypton unable to assist them, Lois, Perry, Jimmy, Professor Twiddle and Turk Jackson could be stranded in the year 50,000 B.C. forever.

Superman has leaped onto the scene to confront Turk. Thanks to Jimmy, the Man of Tomorrow knows of the gangster's attempts at dominating the cave people. Superman's powerful eyes even burn the wood on which Turk had used his lighter. He then punches through solid rock. Tired of Superman's interference, Turk fires his gun at the Caped Wonder. The bullets are merely wasted. However, Superman will not do anything against Turk for the moment. Until Professor Twiddle can find and fix his time machine, the group that came to the year 50,000 B.C. will have to learn to live together somehow.

Professor Twiddle has had a revelation. In order for his device to work again, he will need some Carborium X, a metal that is only found on meteors. Superman can fly into space to find some, but there is still one problem. Only Turk knows where Twiddle's time machine is hidden, and he has no intention of leaving the prehistoric period. Superman and his friends may never return to present day Metropolis.

Superman has taken the Carborium X. However, Professor Twiddle's time machine must be found soon before its radioactive elements go dead. Otherwise, Lois, Perry, Jimmy, Turk, Professor Twiddle and even Clark Kent and Superman will be cave people for the rest of their natural lives.

The cave man that Jimmy had asked to search for metal for Professor Twiddle's time machine has found some diamonds. Turk has traded them his lighter. Now, Turk Jackson believes that the precious stones will make him the most powerful man in the year 50,000 B.C. Can even Superman stop the crime lord who would be king before it's too late?

Because he believes the diamonds he has can buy his freedom, Turk has decided to give back the time machine. Clark Kent has also returned to the group saying Superman's exposure to the Carborium X will help the hero beak through the time barrier. Professor Twiddle places the space metal inside his device. The result of its activation is a success. Professor Twiddle, Turk Jackson and the Daily Planet staff are back in the elevator in which their adventure had started. Turk, however, is surprised to learn that his diamonds are actually quartz. The biggest crime boss in Metropolis will not escape his fate after all, especially since Clark Kent still has his signed confession. In spite of Professor Twiddle's strange experiment, truth and justice have won the day once again thanks to Superman and his friends.

Everyone leaves the Planet Building's elevator while they are still clothed in the primitive pelts. Perry is even wearing red thermal underwear beneath his animal skins. People are staring at the unusually dressed group.

"Well, what's the trouble? Didn't you ever see a cave man before?" Perry asks a surprised couple.

3Rating - 3 (out of 5): Though this is Sterling Holloway's final episode in The Adventures of Superman, he would continue to act and do voice work until 1991. He passed away one year later, but the street where he lived in Hollywood was renamed Sterling Holloway Place to honor his contributions to the entertainment industry.

James Hyland primarily played bit parts throughout his career. He even has an uncredited role in A Star is Born starring Judy Garland.

Florence Lake played Florence Kennedy in the Edgar Kennedy short films. This former vaudeville performer could also be spotted in Lassie and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Ed Hinton has had some uncredited roles in such classics as Samson and Delilah and The Red Badge of Courage. He'll return to The Adventures of Superman for season four's "The Phantom Ring".

There is a continuity error dealing with Superman's dialogue and actions in the episode. He says that he dug the Carborium X out of a meteor. However, George Reeves merely picked it up from where it was sitting.

While Jimmy Olsen's comment that Superman's X-ray vision burned the wood might be considered a blooper, this was essentially correct in the Man of Tomorrow's original continuity. Heat vision became a separately distinct ability over time. Jimmy and others will often speak of Superman's X-ray vision setting things on fire throughout the series.

Professor Twiddle is a character that originally appeared in The Adventures of Superman radio serial "The Radar Rocket" from 1946.

This episode is adapted from the story "The Challenge of Stoneman" that appeared in Action Comics #201, cover dated February 1955.

By the time it reached its third year, The Adventures of Superman went through some major changes. First, it was filmed in color and was the second series to do so, the first being the popular western The Cisco Kid. The second difference in the show from previous years is perhaps the biggest one. After the United States government's crusade against comic books, the Comics Code Authority was created. Their job was to oversee any comics or media material based upon them. Should anything not meet their standards and guidelines, it had to be censored. The Adventures of Superman was no exception to this rule. Gone were the days of "The Haunted Lighthouse" and "Panic in the Sky". Scripts were forced to be more youth oriented. Villains like Madame Selena and the Wrecker were replaced by, for the most part, more comedic and bumbling adversaries.

This isn't as bad as I had anticipated, but as far as season openers go, it's not as good as "Superman On Earth" and "Five Minutes to Doom". Had this episode been placed elsewhere in the broadcast order, I probably would have given it a higher rating.

David Chantler's writing style seems better suited for the color episodes' atmosphere than it did for season two's types of tales. At least it felt to me like he had improved a bit since "The Whistling Bird". Let's hope Chantler continues on this slight winning streak as his run on the series progresses.

Perhaps it's because of the series' different direction, but Turk Jackson seems more like a schoolyard bully than a dangerous gang leader. Maybe I just have to get used to the changes in the show. Whatever the case may be, James Hyland gives the audience a good performance as Turk.

I mentioned the different direction of The Adventures of Superman beginning with its third year. The transition from season one to two was very slight. However, when you watch one episode per week, as I have, for the most part, for the show's reviews, the atmosphere of years two and three is so diverse that it can possibly be a bit jarring. In addition to the eyes adjusting to color after seeing fifty-two black and white episodes, it takes some time to adapt to the more "youth oriented" storytelling. It's neither good nor bad. I merely felt that things took a three hundred and sixty degree turn. I just have to adjust to it.

All the actors involved delivered stupendous performances, and the story itself was not as bad as I had expected it to be. "Through the Time Barrier" just isn't up to caliber enough to be a great season premiere or finale. It feels like it should have been in the middle of year three. Still, it was better than anticipated, and I find myself look forward to the remainder of the third season of The Adventures of Superman.



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