Superman on Television
Superman: The Animated Series - Episode Reviews
Season 1 - Episode 5: "A Little Piece of Home"
Original Air Date: September 14, 1996Reviewed by: Jeffrey Taylor
Every Achilles must have his heel
Rating - 5 (out of 5): Superman's primary weakness is Kryptonite, a green, glowing, radioactive piece of rock from his home planet. Even the most casual Superman fan knows about it. More people in the world today are familiar with Kryptonite than Achilles' fabled weak heel. The origin of Kryptonite dates back to the 1940's radio series. The radio episodes aired frequently and Bud Collyer, the actor who portrayed the voice of Superman, eventually accrued enough vacation time that producers were forced to temporarily replace him. Anyone who had heard Collyer's interpretation knows his tenor had no rival and any replacement would have been distinguishably different. So the radio series' writers created a reason why his voice was altered: a weakening by way of Kryptonite, unnamed at the time but described as a green glowing rock that robbed Superman of his strength. Over the decades, Superman also developed sensitivity to red sunlight and magic since writers couldn't put Kryptonite in every Superman story, but this little piece of home would always remain his most famous weakness.
Through an excellent twist, Lex Luthor discovered in this episode that he owned a chunk of meteorite that could weaken his new nemesis. He proceeded to test and use it to stop Superman in his tracks. Pay attention to the excellent scene at the end of act two where Luthor offered Superman the chance to avoid death by Kryptonite by simply leaving Luthor and his operations alone. As the audience, we expect Big Blue to turn him down flat, and we're not disappointed. What's interesting is that if you watch Luthor's attitude and mannerisms closely, it's clear that he knew Superman would say no and continue to fight. As mentioned in previous reviews, Luthor's greatest strengths and weaknesses are his hubris and his ego. He knew his offer would be rejected, but wished to see Superman squirm. This was a perfectly subtle team effort on behalf of Clancy Brown (Lex Luthor) and the animators, and it worked incredibly well.
The animation for this episode vastly exceeds both the pilot and the first episode. While much effort was expended to keep every installment relatively uniform in style and art, this one clearly had more work put in. Watch the chase sequence involving Luthor's hired goon and his first real test involving Kryptonite. It's visually, audibly and musically near-perfect. The concepts and execution of the whole two minute sequence had great writing and although it comes off somewhat tame compared to action sequences in part 3 of the pilot or even the climax of this episode with the robotic dinosaur attacks, it serves as the centerpiece of the episode.
The double jeopardy climax with the Tyrannosaurus Rex robot and Kryptonite at the museum does not top the middle chase sequence in terms of quality, but still holds its own as an action piece. Superman recalled the voice of the tour guide played by guest star Tress MacNeille (Voice of many characters on TV's Simpsons and Futurama) stating that the metal in the cups on display at the museum caused their historical drinkers to fall into madness. Obviously they're made out of lead which can block out the radiation given off by Kryptonite. Lois made a three-point shot and lobbed the rock safely into a secure cup. So here's another example I'll be adding to my list whenever naysayers tell me Superman's not smart. If the Kryptonite wasn't going to kill him, it would have weakened him enough for Lex's remote controlled T-Rex robot to finish him off. This battle was a major step up from last episode's fight with the giant rubber ducky and there was a much clearer possibility this time that Superman could have been killed. Superman should have given what was left of the robot to "that nut in Gotham" for his cave.
Several new characters were introduced in this episode, including Professor Hamilton played by Victor Brandt (The Cat in the Hat, TV's Star Trek). Hamilton came to the show straight out of the comics where he first appeared in 1987. He fills the role of resident scientist by both providing Superman with advanced technology and explaining scientific phenomena. He explained that the green glowing rock that weakened Superman must be from his home planet Krypton and then named it (Krypton + Meteorite = Kryptonite).
Lex Luthor found his own resident Lexcorp scientist in Professor Peterson played by John Rubenstein (TV's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, TV's 24) who was the first to analyze the Kryptonite after Luthor discovered its effects on the Man of Steel. Rubenstein also portrayed Emmet Vale, the inventor of Metallo in the second season of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
This installment also marks the first ever appearance of Mercy Graves voiced by Lisa Edelstein (As Good as it Gets, TV's House). Mercy is Lex's attractive, intelligent female bodyguard/chauffeur/confidant/yes woman/partner in evil. Much like Harley Quinn of Batman: The Animated Series, fans enjoyed Mercy's character so much that she was later inducted into the comics. Her appeal comes from being much more than a person Lex can share his evil thoughts with - thus letting the audience know. She has a personality as strong as Lois Lane's, which probably explains why Lex appreciates her as much as he does.
Kryptonite should not have to be in many, or even most of Superman's stories. The comics of the mid-90's almost completely wrote it off to avoid the crutch of having to weaken Superman in the most obvious way. However it had to make an early appearance in The Animated Series because of the hanging Metallo plot-thread from the pilot. Metallo of course has the brain of the human John Corben, but the body of a near-indestructible robot and the heart (power source) of Kryptonite. His return is assured but more on that soon.
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