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Superman: The Animated Series is the unofficial title of a Warner Bros.' American animated television series that ran from 1996 to 2000. The official title of the series was simply Superman and starred the fictional character of the same name. Warner Bros. applied the same "more modern, more serious" animated treatment to DC Comics's flagship character in the same way they had successfully produced Batman: The Animated Series. Both shows had no logo. Slightly edited reruns were seen weekday evenings at 7:00PM Eastern/6:00PM Central on Toon Disney.
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Quotations
:Joker: to an incapacitated Superman Feel free to expire at any time!
Darkseid:
I am many things, Kal-El - but here, I am God.
Darkseid:
If you won't be my knight, you will be my pawn.
Joker:
to Luthor I sense we are kindred spirits, you and I. Although there are differences, to be sure... like hair.
Superman:
Trying to save a plane, the tail he's holding rips off Nice one, Clark.
:Joker: Batman. It's always Batman!
Encyclopedia
Superman: The Animated Series is the unofficial title of a Warner Bros.' American animated television series that ran from 1996 to 2000. The official title of the series was simply Superman and starred the fictional character of the same name. Warner Bros. applied the same "more modern, more serious" animated treatment to DC Comics's flagship character in the same way they had successfully produced Batman: The Animated Series. Both shows had no logo. Slightly edited reruns were seen weekday evenings at 7:00PM Eastern/6:00PM Central on Toon Disney. The show is currently on the new Disney XD.
Overview
Airing ten years after the 1986 reboot of the Superman comic book character, the animated series paid tribute to both the classic Superman of old and the newer "modern" Superman. Perhaps most significantly, Clark Kent displays the more aggressive personality used by John Byrne in his reboot of the comic book continuity. Elements of Superman from all eras of his history were included in the series.
Notably, the evil computer Brainiac was not only now from Krypton, but was portrayed as responsible for preventing the knowledge of Krypton's imminent destruction from reaching its people so as to save himself rather than be committed in the presumably futile task of saving the population of the planet. In a lesser innovation, the ship that carried the infant Kal-El to Earth was designed to have a pilot and the autopilot used instead was programmed to land smoothly upon reaching its destination. This means that ship is in perfect working condition during Superman's adulthood and is used as his mode of long range transportation in space.
The "new" Lex Luthor featured prominently in the series as well, voiced by actor Clancy Brown. Superman was voiced by Tim Daly. The only villains not featured in the series are General Zod, Ursa and Non from the films Superman and Superman II.
While the series featured fresh re-creations of much of Superman's rogues gallery, the series' writers supplemented the supply of enemies by paying tribute to Jack Kirby's Fourth World creations which also introduced the villain Darkseid to the series as one of Superman's greatest enemies. Darkseid had been portrayed as a villain in Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians in the 1980s, but in the new Superman series, he was closer to the enormously powerful, evil cosmic emperor originally envisioned by Kirby. The tribute event extends to the supporting character, Dan "Terrible" Turpin, who is visually modelled on Jack Kirby himself.
On August 18, 1998, Warner Brothers released The Batman / Superman Movie on DVD and video. This movie was formed of three episodes from season 2 of Superman, "World's Finest" parts 1, 2 and 3. Mark Hamill again provided the voice for The Joker.
Midway through the series' run, it was combined with episodes of The New Batman Adventures to become The New Batman/Superman Adventures. The title for episodes airing under the title The New Batman Superman Adventures is The New Superman Adventures, as acknowledged by WB. The characters of Superman and Batman were then spun off into a new animated series, Justice League, which also featured other popular DC characters, such as Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the Flash.
The show was met with high praise and success from critics and Superman fans claiming it to be the most faithful adaption of Superman to date. The show was also nominated (though it didn't win) for an emmy.
Episode list
Cast
Behind The Scenes
- The character Dan "Terrible" Turpin was visually modeled after the character's creator, Jack Kirby. His first appearance in the episode "Tools of the Trade" also marks the first series appearance of "The Fourth World" characters and concepts that were Jack Kirby's major modern DC Comics creations.
- Series producer Bruce Timm personally story-boarded Superman's climatic, final fight with Darkseid in the series finale, "Legacy", to ensure it would be done right and have as much impact as possible.
- Lex Luthor's henchwoman, Mercy Graves, is a character created for the show. She was eventually added as a member of the cast in the comics.
- Also created for the series and eventually added into comics continuity is the supervillainess Livewire, who can control and turn into electrical energy.
- Clancy Brown, who provided the voice of Lex Luthor, originally auditioned for the lead role of Superman / Clark Kent, but when Bruce Timm heard his audition, he immediately offered Brown the part of Luthor.
- Corey Burton's voice for Brainiac was done in the same cold, low-affect style as HAL 9000 in the Space Odyssey films.
- Real-life married couple Mike Farrell and Shelley Fabares voice Jonathan and Martha Kent.
- Adam Baldwin was considered for the role of Superman/Clark Kent, but he ultimtely proved unavailable, so the part went to Tim Daly instead. Baldwin later voiced Superman/Clark Kent for Superman: Doomsday (2007).
Notable regular guests
"Superman" The Animated Series merchandise
Video Games
- Superman 64 was the first video game to be produced based upon the series, but is considered by many to be one of the worst games ever. A follow-up, Superman: Shadow of Apokolips was produced several years later for the Playstation 2 and GameCube consoles. Despite still receiving mediocre reviews this game was considered vastly superior to its prequel.
DVD
Much like Batman: The Animated Series and other Warner Brothers cartoons adapted from popular DC Comic books, Superman was released on DVD January 25, 2005, though it did not receive the same Disc Transfer as Batman did (Volume One's second disc was given the Side A/B treatment, as did Volume Two's and Volume Three's second disc). The DVDs present the series' episodes in their airing order along with special features. Volume Two was released on December 6, 2005 and Volume Three was released on June 20, 2006.
A Direct-To-DVD feature, Superman: Brainiac Attacks was also released on June 20, 2006.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date | Additional Information
|
|---|
| Superman The Animated Series: Volume 1 | 18 | January 25 2005 |
- Commentary on "The Last Son Of Krypton Part 1", "Stolen Memories", "The Main Man" and "Tools of the Trade"
- Superman: Learning to Fly Featurette
- Building the Mythology: Superman's Supporting Cast
- A Little Piece of Trivia - Pop up trivia over the "A Little Piece of Home" episode
| | Superman The Animated Series: Volume 2 | 18 | December 6 2005 | The Dark Side: Behind The Villains Of Superman: The Origins and Evolution of Superman's Adversaries. Video Commentary on "Brave New Metropolis" and "World's Finest Part 1" with Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Glen Murakami, James Tucker, Dan Riba and Moderator Jason Hillhouse | | Superman The Animated Series: Volume 3 | 18 | June 20 2006 | Superman: Behind the Cape: David Kaufman (the voice of Jimmy Olsen) takes you behind the scenes with the show's creative team Look, Up in the Sky!- the amazing story of Superman excerpts from the new documentary produced by Bryan Singer and Kevin Burns |
Deleted scene in DVD release
Apokolips...Now! Part II was later altered from its original airing on 7 February 1998. The funeral at the episode's end, in an homage to late New Gods creator Jack Kirby, featured several of his comic creations as attendees, including Nick Fury, Fantastic Four, Big Barda, Scott Free, Orion and others, alongside Kirby's friends and fans Mark Evanier, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Alex Ross and Stan Lee. These characters and persons were removed and the scene and soundtrack re-edited for subsequent airings and its release on DVD. The original sketches for this scene can be found at Michael Eury's book book published by TwoMorrow's Publishing (ISBN 1-893905-61-6).
The scene would released in its original form on Superman: The Animated Series Volume Three.
- The series was originally meant to have an opening montage similar to the one Batman had in his previous animated series, showcasing what Superman could do in an awe inspiring manner, but the animators were unable to finish it by the deadline, so a montage featuring clips of Superman in action alongside his supporting cast from the episodes was utilized instead. Part of the abandoned montage, which featured Superman flying in the night sky of Metropolis, made it into the opening. Another such shot was the final one in the opening; The classic visual of Clark Kent ripping open his shirt to reveal the big red "S."
Animated Superman post-Legacy
- When Superman is seen again at the beginning of Justice League, the human race appears to have forgiven him, but the events of Legacy would come back to haunt him in the second season of the series, as well as the first season of Justice League Unlimited (during the "Cadmus" storyline).
- One of the creatures Superman brings back to the Fortress of Solitude after his battle with the Collector is Starro. In the Batman Beyond two-parter episode entitled, "The Call", the creature escaped and was controlling Superman for some time until Terry McGinnis (the future Batman) helped him overcome it.
- In Static Shock episode Toys in the Hood, the story about Darcy the android and the Toyman comes to a conclusion.
- Two straight-to-DVD animated Superman movies have been produced since the series was discontinued - Superman: Brainiac Attacks and Superman: Doomsday. However, although both films were heavily inspired by the look of Superman: The Animated Series neither is set within the same continuity as the series.
External links
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