Superman on Television

Superman: The Animated Series - Episode Reviews

Season 2 - Episode 11: "Solar Power"

Original Air Date: September 26, 1997

Reviewed by: Jeffrey Taylor

"This episode just makes me angry." - Me

Luminus Sometimes a concept seems like a good idea and falls short in the execution.

1Rating - 1 (out of 5): And once in a while the concept to script to execution just fails miserably.

Why would a series that takes X number of months to produce an episode just phone in an entire story?

This episode failed to deliver on every level.

Edward Lytener first appeared in "Target," just three episodes ago (or seven days for those following along in real time). He was an original character who tried to kill Lois. His return was unlikely or at least unexpected. He wasn't a very "meaty" villain to begin with, but Timm and the gang decided to up him from murder mystery status to a full-blown supervillain with the most unlikely of abilities, including a self-created device that could make him invisible, which he invented whilst behind bars.

Nearly every moment was flawed and unrealistic. For instance in the opening moments it appears that Lytener, while in prison, created a device that could make him invisible, which he used to escape. In fact, that device was powerful enough to make his escape vehicle, which was a helicopter, invisible too.

Dumb.

After Lytener's escape, he somehow managed to highjack a series of satellites to create a force field around the entire Earth that only allowed red wavelengths of light through the atmosphere, which effectively turned the Sun red, canceling out Superman's powers.

When Lytener was trying to kill Lois (again), Superman arrived to save her and ran into Lytener (again). This time Lytener claimed to be called "Luminus" and wore the most ridiculous costume this side of the Silver Age. No one else called him Luminus, he just named himself that.

Really dumb.

Luminus could also create a series of solid holograms of himself, which he could use to hurt Superman, or anyone else he wanted to affect, and control those holograms with such precision that he could make each one act in a different way and even speak as one, then another, and another, and so on. While it made for a tangible effect, it completely took away from any conceivable believability, even for the show's intended younger audience.

Later, six holographic Luminus's shot six holographic lasers at Superman, all of which hurt him.

Really really dumb.

And that's just the villain.

Meanwhile, to showcase that Superman's abilities were waning, we cut to the Daily Planet where Clark Kent was working on a story and dropped his pencil. Any normal person would simply stoop down and pick it up, as Clark should have in order to continue concealing his identity. Instead Clark scoped around to make sure no one was looking in his direction and proceeded to lift the several hundred pound desk above his head to find the lost pencil. The only purpose for this scene was to show that the desk felt heavier to him than normal because the red sunlight was slowly removing his powers, but the implausibility still stands that he risked his identity just to pick up a pencil.

Really really really dumb.

Later, Lois and Jimmy discovered Luminus's invisible hideout. That was when the only remotely redeemable moment in the episode happened. A bird was perched on the invisible roof, but with nothing apparently under it. Lois said, "Look, up in the sky!" and Jimmy replied, "It's a bird."

It was an amusing moment, but not enough to elevate the episode from "travesty" status.

Although the building was invisible, Lois quickly found the handle to the door, AND IT WAS UNLOCKED?!?! Sure it was invisible, but come on! Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman spent almost half an episode showing that Jimmy could pick locks. Yet Superman: The Animated Series can't spend four seconds just to make the episode less dumb than it already was?

Really really really really dumb.

After Lois and Jimmy were captured, Superman tried to rescue them and was met with more Luminus holograms and put through a gamut of unappealingly stylized traps including a cowboy saloon, trains almost running him over, and pirates on ships with laser cutlasses trying to push him "into the briny" where he would be eaten by holographic sharks.

I'm officially running out of effective superlatives to explain how dumb this was. I would forgive the stylization if the story or villain merited it and it didn't take even more away from what was left of verisimilitude.

In the end, Superman found Luminus's control room where Lois and Jimmy were actually being held and turned the villain's laser against the machines that were creating the red-sunlight force field. Supes regained his strength and finished Luminus in a matter of seconds.

Do I even need to get into the cliché about Superman turning the villain's weapon against himself?

I can only assume that the purpose of this episode was to further the exploits of Lytener/Luminus so he could become a supervillain for future stories. Fortunately, that would never happen in this series. The entire plot, characterization and basis of antagonism were flawed before the script was even started. So it begs the question: why would an episode that takes a bare minimum of nine months to complete be completely phoned in?

I'll forgive implausibility, and even impossibility, when it serves the story and creates a cohesive narrative. If I didn't, I wouldn't still be a fan of Superman and comics in general.

This was a really really really dumb episode and it never redeemed itself. I couldn't even watch the episode a second time for the review, which I normally do.

Some of the second season of Superman: The Animated Series was clearly rushed in order to finish 26 episodes in the season and air them at break-neck speed. I reserve my "1 out of 5" ratings for the most atrocious attempts, but this one grabbed a hold of my "1" and never let go.

Stay tuned for much better story telling.



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