Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
For the history of Superman, check out the post here.
When Fred Silverman
was appointed the head of CBS’ daytime
programming in 1964, he immediately set about figuring out counter programming
to pull the network ahead of their competitors. In particular, he wanted to
breathe some life into the network’s neglected Saturday morning schedule by
doing something rarely done before: creating programming specifically
for that schedule. Up until that point, the network’s Saturday morning
programming was largely comprised of prime-time reruns, served as the 6th
day in a program’s daily schedule, or were full of programs produced by advertisers
with little involvement from the network. Noticing that the live-action The
Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves was getting
excellent ratings in syndicated reruns, Silverman decided that an all-new
Superman show could be popular if done animated. He contacted National
Periodicals (the precursor to DC Comics)
and licensed the character for television.
Filmation founders Lou Scheimer, Hal Sutherland and Norm Prescott.
In the meantime, Filmation
Associates was a struggling studio. Founded by radio announcer Norm Prescott, Larry Harmon animation team
member Lou Scheimer, and Disney animator Hal Sutherland in 1962, the
studio had largely been doing television commercial work. Their most ambitious
project, a sequel to The Wizard of Oz called Journey Back to Oz,
had just lost its funding. Their closing was imminent until they received a
phone call from Superman story editor Mort Weisinger.
Weisinger had known Prescott from the latter’s work on the film Pinocchio in
Space, since Prescott had approached Weisinger for some help on the story. Now
it was Prescott’s turn to help Weisinger with information on how to get the new
Superman cartoon animated overseas.
Superman takes flight.
Seeing an opportunity for Filmation, Prescott offered their services.
Unfortunately, there was a catch: Weisinger wanted artist and editor Whitney
Ellsworth to check out their studio first. Lacking any projects—let alone
employees—the Filmation founders scheduled a time for Ellsworth to visit and
packed the studio with as many of their friends and colleagues from other
studios as possible and had them pretend to be working on various productions. The
ruse worked, and Filmation secured their first television show. Because of the
paltry $36,000 per episode the series was budgeted for, many of the standard
practices that Filmation would employ over its 24-year existence were developed.
In order to save time and money, characters had limited animation and each
episode utilized a cache of stock footage; particularly when Superman flew or
changed from his alter-ego, Clark Kent. But, even with these limitations, the
artwork was faithfully (though inconsistently) adapted straight from the comic
pages, eventually resembling artist Curt
Swan’s style by the third season.
Perry White, Lois Lane and Clark Kent at the Daily Planet.
National was heavily involved in the production of the show. They appointed
their then-press agent Allan “Duke” Ducovny, who had developed The Adventures of Superman
radio serial in 1940, as their contact with Filmation. Harkening back to the
radio show, the cartoon’s voice cast came from there as well. Reprising the
role of Superman was Bud Collyer, who had also played him in the Fleischer/Famous Studios theatrical
shorts. Collyer’s performance was heralded for his ability to shift the tone of
his voice in mid-sentence from the meek and timid Clark Kent to the powerful
and heroic Superman; particularly during the sentence “This looks like a
job…for Superman.” Doing the show was a labor of love for Collyer as it meant
working for a significantly smaller paycheck than what he was receiving as a
notable television personality at the time. Joining him from the radio show was
Joan Alexander as intrepid reporter and loveinterest Lois Lane (who was also in
the Fleischer shorts), Jack Grimes as young photographer Jimmy Olsen, and Jackson
Beck as copyboy Beany Martin, in addition to assuming the roles of arch-villain
Lex Luthor, Daily
Planet editor-in-chief Perry White, and the show’s narrator. After the
first season, Perry was taken over by Ted Knight for the rest of the show’s run.
Julie Bennett, who had subbed for Alexander for several episodes, assumed the
Lois role in season 2 until Alexander returned for the next season.
"This looks like a job...for Superman!"
The series marked the animation debuts of Jimmy and Lex, as well as Brainiac (Cliff Owens), who was altered
from his comic counterpart and made the creation of the alien Professor Hecla and given a
shrink ray for a “cosmic Noah’s
Ark”; Toyman,
son of the original version from the comics that used lethal toys in his
crimes; Prankster, a pranking
villain given a different look than the comics; Titano, a giant ape created from a
collision with a Kryptonite
meteor; and the all-powerful fifth-dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk (Gilbert Mack), amongst others.
New villains were created for the show as well, including the magical beings The Wicked Warlock (Owens)
and The Sorcerer.
A Superboy and his dog.
Acknowledging the live-action show, the series was called The New Adventures of Superman and used
a similar introductory
narration by Beck.National provided the series’
writers, which included George
Kashdan, Leo Dorfman,
Bob Haney, William Woolfolk and Batman co-creator Bill Finger, was well as
Weisinger himself. Other writers included Oscar Bensol, Ross Braddock and J.W. Doctor from Filmation’s
writing stable. It was National’s decision to craft each episode with three
short story segments rather than one full half-hour adventure. In between two
Superman stories would be The Adventures
of Superboy, one focusing
on his formative years in his hometown of Smallville, Kansas as Superboy.
The early days of Superboy.
Superboy was the creation of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel with Don Cameron. Siegel had
originally pitched the concept to National twice, but they didn’t find any worth
in the idea until the success of later teenaged superheroes revealed an appeal
for such characters in the marketplace. National reversed its decision in 1944
in an effort to expand the Superman franchise with a character relatable to
younger audiences. He made his debut in the anthology More Fun Comicswith
issue #101 in
1945, written by Cameron and drawn by Superman co-creator Joe Shuster. Siegel was
off serving in WWII
at the time and had no input or approval, although he did contribute stories
during Superboy’s run. After seven issues, Superboy moved to be a feature in
anthology series Adventure Comicsfor three years before becoming the sixth National superhero to
receive his own comic book series. While the earlier stories were more
grounded, Superboy gradually evolved into a junior version of Superman complete
with the costume and supervillains.
The Adventures of Superboy largely
embodied the kind of storytelling found in the Silver Age of
Comics, which was the era underway in the books at the time. Superboy (Bob
Hastings) would often be pitted against extreme natural disasters, aliens of
various types and temperaments, or science gone wrong. Along for his adventures
was often his trusty sidekick, Krypto the Superdog (Knight). Krypto hailed from
Krypton and was used by Superboy’s father Jor-El to test the
rocket that sent Superboy to Earth; getting lost along the way and not landing
until Superboy was already a teen (a somewhat similar origin to that of Supergirl). As a
result of Earth’s yellow sun, Krypto shared Superboy’s powers. Also
participating in some adventures was Superboy’s love interest and classmate,
Lana Lang (Janet Waldo). Both characters
made their debuts during Superboy’s stories before working their way into the
regular Superman mythos. It was the first successful attempt to bring Superboy
to television following an aborted live-action attempt in 1961 that didn’t get
beyond a pilot episode.
Young Clark Kent and Lana Lang.
The New Adventures of Superman
debuted on September 10th, 1966 and underwent a few transformations
during its run. For the second season, it was combined with Filmation’s next DC
program, Aquaman, to from The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure. The Superman/Superboy series continued as it was, but Superman also appeared
in the three Justice
League segments that aired as part of Aquaman’s
half of the block. For the third season, Aquaman
was broken off into its own separate program comprised of reruns while Superman was paired up with The Adventures of Batmanfor The
Batman/Superman Hour. For this
incarnation, a single Superman story was told in two parts around the Superboy
segment. The series’ theme was composed by John Gart (as John Marion). Gordon Zahler composed the rest
of the series’ music.
Fisticuffs are hurting the children!
Superman proved a hit, as did the rest of CBS’ action-oriented
line-up that included Frankenstein
Jr. and the Impossibles, Space
Ghost and Dino Boy, The Lone Ranger (1966), Underdog and Mighty
Mouse and the Mighty Heroes. The other networks were quick to imitate by
refocusing efforts on their own Saturday morning schedules, as well as ordering
up as many action shows as they could. By 1968, roughly half of the available programs
were action-oriented. Unfortunately, 1968 ended up being a
turbulent year that would end up leading to the dramatic reshaping of
Saturday morning programming. Media coverage of the Vietnam War and the
assassination of Martin Luther
King Jr. gave rise to moral crusades worried about the effect violence had
on children. It all came to a head following the assassination of Senator Robert F.
Kennedy on June 5th, which kicked off a “moral panic”.
Civic groups such as the National Parent
Teacher Association and grassroots organizations such as Action
for Children’s Television refocused their efforts against violence in
cartoons. McCall’s,
a popular magazine for women, published methods their readers could use to pressure
the networks to abandon violent programming. A widely-circulated Christian Science Monitor report commissioned
that July counted 162 acts of violence or threats of violence on a single
Saturday morning. Feeling the pressure, the networks decided
to pivot away from the action-adventure and science-fiction genres into
safer ones, like comedy. CBS would use the success of another Filmation program,
The
Archie Show, to create more programs centered around teenagers—particularly
of the mystery-solving variety. As a result, Superman was cancelled at
the end of its third season despite still being a ratings success for the
network. It remained for an additional season of reruns before being taken off
the schedule entirely.
Despite Superman apparently being bad for children, that didn’t stop him
from appearing on two episodes of Sesame Street. In the first of its five
pilot episodes, they reused footage from the episode “The Chimp Who Made it
Big” and worked in a line teaching “D for ‘door’.” In 1971, Filmation’s
Superman made another appearance in a new segment describing words that began
with “S.” This segment was voiced by Lennie Weinrib. In 1973,
Superman would join his fellow Justice Leaguers on Hanna-Barbera’s
long-running Super Friendsfranchise. Although Superboy did appear in two Super Friends flashback episodes, it
would be another decade before he would return to a starring role. Ilya and Alexander Salkind, the producers
behind the Superman
movie franchise starring Christopher
Reeve, finally brought the character to live-action in Superboy(later renaming
it with a revived The Adventures of Superboytitle),which aired from 1988-92.
The DVD cover.
In 1985, Warner
Home Video released seven episodes of both Supermanand Superboyon VHS as part of the “Super
Powers” video collection that were rereleased in 1996. In 2007, they
released the complete
first season to DVD, with the remaining episodes on another
volume in 2014. The first season was re-released
in 2018 as part of a double feature with the complete series of The
New Adventures of Batman. However, none of these releases
contained the Superboy portions of
the program; however, streaming services have begun featuring episodes from seasons
2 and 3. Beginning in 1969, Siegel and Shuster entered
into a legal dispute with DC Comics to regain the rights to Superman and
Superboy. The contention continued after the creators’ deaths through their
families. In 2007, the legal troubles forced DC to devise creative ways
to address or represent any of their Superboy characters in their media until
2008; such as calling the character Superman in the animated series Legion
of Super Heroes despite the original press
release calling him Superboy. After numerous rulings and appeals in regards
to the case, the 9th Circuit Court ultimately
ruled in DC’s favor in February of 2016.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“The Force Phantom / The Spy From Outer Space (Part 1) / The Mermen of
Emor” (9/10/66) – An alien ship unleashes an energy creature on Earth. / Superboy
is told of a pending alien invasion as he’s captured on another world. / Scuba
divers become the prey for malevolent fish beings.
“The Prehistoric Pterodactyls / The Spy From Outer Space (Part 2) Merlin’s
Magic Marbles” (9/17/66) – Pterodactyls are freed from their frozen prison by
an earthquake. / Krypto rescues Superboy and returns to Earth to stop the
invasion. / Lex Luthor gains magical powers.
“The Threat of the Thrutans / Krypto’s Calamitous Capers / The Wicked
Warlock” (9/24/66) – Alien astronauts threaten a rocket base if not provided a
rocket home. / Superboy’s attempts to stop three villains are constantly
thwarted by Krypto. / The Warlock seeks a gem that contains powerful magic.
“The Chimp Who Made it Big / The Man Who Knew Superboy’s Secret / The
Deadly Icebergs” (10/1/66) – A chimp sent into space is irradiated by space
debris and returns to Earth as the giant Titano. / An alien claiming to be Kryptonian
knows Superboy’s identity. / Thieves use giant icebergs to rob a luxury liner.
“The Robot of Riga / The Deep Sea Dragon / The Invisible Raiders” (10/8/66)
– Lois and Jimmy are kidnapped by aliens and held by a fire-breathing robot. / Superboy
has to rescue a deep sea expedition and the dragon threatening them. / The
Sorcerer renders his henchmen invisible to commit their crimes.
“The Neolithic Nightmare / Super Clown of Smallville / The Return of
Brainiac” (10/15/66) – Jimmy ends up in a creature-filled underground world. / Superboy
accepts a challenge to make an old man laugh. / Brainiac returns to Earth and
shrinks Jimmy, Lois and Superman.
“The Magnetic Monster / The Visitor from the Earth Core / The Toys of
Doom” (10/22/66) – Aliens try to conquer Earth with a magnetic weapon. / A
crystalline creature from below follows Superboy back to retrieve the egg he
mistakenly took. / Toyman unleashes deadly toys on Metropolis.
“The Iron Eater / The Beast that Went Berzerk / The Ape Army of the
Amazon” (10/29/66) – An alien metal-eating monster causes chaos. / A solution
turns a pygmy elephant into a rampaging mastodon. / A scientist uses apes to
rob an archaeological dig.
“The Fire Phantom / Superboy’s Strangest Foe / The Deadly Dish”
(11/5/66) – A fire creature emerges from a mining shaft. / Superboy stops two
trouble-making aliens until he learns they’re just children playing with toys.
/ Luthor plans to use Superman’s friends to lure him into a deadly trap.
“Insect Raiders / The Capricious Crony / Return of Warlock” (11/12/66)
– Flying insects steal around Metropolis. / Krypto babysits a trouble-causing
creature from an underwater volcano. / Warlock attacks the Daily Planet to get
revenge on Superman.
“The Abominable Ice-Man / Krypto, Super Seeing-Eye Dog / The Men from
A.P.E.” (11/19/66) – An ice-man threatens to begin a new Ice Age in Hawaii. / A
Kryptonian space probe accidentally blinds Superboy. / Luthor, Warlock, Toyman
and Prankster team-up for revenge on Superman.
“The Tree Man of Arbora / The Black Knight / The Image Maker”
(11/26/66) – An alien tree creature has an unquenchable thirst for water. / Clark’s
friend finds a magician’s mantle that sends him back in time to Camelot. / Prof.
Nula seeks revenge on Lois for imprisoning him.
“Superman’s Double Trouble / Operation Counter Invasion / The Deadly
Super-Doll” (12/3/66) – Superman must stop a giant lobster and alligator. / Superboy
tricks alien invaders into believing Earth is populated by metahumans. / A
sorcerer uses a clay doll of Superman to control and distract him.
“Lava Men / The Jinxed Circus / Luthor Strikes Again” (12/10/66) – Stopping
a lava flow leads to the formation of lava men. / Superboy must save a circus
from a disgruntled former employee. / Luthor kidnaps Jimmy to lure Superman
into a trap.
“Mission to Planet Peril / Hurricane Fighters / The Pernicious
Parasite” (12/17/66) – Superman helps aliens free their planet from an
overlord. / Superboy tries to stop a violent hurricane. / A man gains the
powers of a parasite and drains Superman’s powers.
“The Two Faces of Superman / Superboy’s Super-Dilemma / The
Imp-Practical Joker” (12/24/66) – Toyman builds a Superman robot. / Superboy is
accidentally given a super plant-growth formula. / Mr. Mxyzptlk won’t return to
his home dimension unless Superman can get him to say his name backwards.
“Superman Meets Brainiac / A Devil of a Time / Seeds of Disaster”
(12/31/66) – Brainiac comes to Earth to collect two of every animal to repopulate
a dying world. / Superboy plays Lucifer when he spots two crooks. / Alien pods
release seeds that turn into destructive plants.
“The Malevolent Mummy / The Revolt of Robotville / The Birdmen from
Lost Valley” (1/7/67) – Lois accidentally awakens a mummy in Egypt. / Superboy
has to stop a futuristic robot city set on a rampage by an evil programmer. / Birdmen
are blackmailed into robbing farms.
Season 2:
“A.P.E. Strikes Again / The
Beast with Two Faces / The Lethal Lightning Bug” (9/9/67) – Luthor, Warlock and
Brainiac team-up to destroy a crime warning system developed by Prof. Noble. / Criminals
kidnap an alien to get control of his pet. / A lightning storm creates a giant
lightning bug.
“The Prankster / The Gorilla Gang / The Saboteurs” (9/16/67) –
Superman tries to out-prank the Prankster. / Superboy has to secretly rescue
himself and Lana from the clutches of the Gorilla Gang. / Lois and Clark are
captured on a government train carrying atomic waste.
“The Wisp of Wickedness / The Chameleon Creature / Superman Meets His
Match” (9/23/67) – An evil alien is turned into mist that falls on a man’s hat
and drives its wearers mad. / A shape-changing white ape kidnaps Lana on a
safari. / A Kryptonite meteor crashes to Earth and opens to reveal a creature
with Superman’s powers.
“Night of the Octopod / The Great Space Race / Brainiac’s Bubbles”
(9/30/67) – Superman has to save a rocket base from a flying saucer. / Superboy
and Krypto accidentally stop an alien cop from capturing his prey. / Dr.
Heckler kidnaps Lois for his queen to repopulate the planet Meiga.
“War of the Bee Battalion / Finger of Doom / The Toyman’s Super-Toy”
(10/7/67) – Crooks use a growth ray to create giant bees. / Cosmic rays alter
an astronomer to give him powers and make him evil. / Toyman uses giant robotic
insects in his latest crime spree.
“The Cage of Glass / Krypto, K-9 Detective / The Atomic Superman”
(10/14/67) – Brainiac shrinks Metropolis and puts it under glass. / Krypto goes
undercover to solve the theft of a circus dog. / A new explosive liquid leaves
Superman unable to speak without spitting fire.
“Luthor’s Loco Looking Glass / The Neanderthal Caveman Caper / The
Warlock’s Revenge” (10/21/67) – Jimmy ends up caught in a mirror trap set up by
Luthor for Clark Kent. / Crooks trick a thawed caveman into fighting Superboy
as a distraction. / The Warlock is freed by his sister and he sets out putting
Lois in peril.
“The Halyah of the Himalayas / The Terrible Trio / Luthor’s Fatal
Fireworks” (10/28/67) – A plane crash awakens an ancient beast. / Superboy
teaches three school bullies a lesson. / Luthor kidnaps Jimmy to lure Superman
into a trap full of Kryptonite fireworks.
Season 3:
“Luthor’s Lethal Laser / Forget Me Not, Superdog” (9/14/68) – Luthor
kidnaps Jimmy and Lois and holds the Earth hostage from the moon with a laser.
/ Superboy and Krypto are hit by a Kryptonite meteor causing Krypto to lose his
memory.
“Can a Luthor Change his Spots? / Superboy Meets Mighty Lad” (9/21/68)
– Luthor claims to have reformed and convinces Perry, who gives him a job in
the Daily Planet building. / Superboy meets the show-off Mighty Lad, who
appears to have the same powers and origin.
“The Team of Terror / King Superboy” (9/28/68) – Superman foils
Satana’s nuclear theft to attack her own planet, leading her to team-up with
the Warlock against him. / Superboy and Krypto save an alien planet who
believes him to be their god of legend.
“Rain of Iron / Double Trouble, Double Doom” (10/5/68) – Lois follows
Vamore to a remote island where he launches iron spheres at the Earth. /
Superboy and Krypto search for a trio of lost mountain explorers that were
captured by alien criminals on the run.
“The Mysterious Mr. Mist / The Trap of the Super Spacemen” (10/12/68)
– A mist being crashes the Daily Planet picnic and attempts to abduct Lois to
make her his Queen. / Superboy and Krypto rescue a space capsule, but the
astronaut inside is revealed to be an alien.
“Luminians of the Loose / The Space Refugees” (10/19/68) – Luthor
teams up with two light-based Luminians to cause havoc until they turn on him.
/ The last surviving members of an alien race seek refuge on Earth but are
harassed by three men.
“The Ghost of Killbane Castle / The Monster Molecule” (10/26/68) – In
trying to hide the secret of their Scottish castle, a pair of twins
accidentally unleash a ghost. / A scientist is accidentally exposed to a
malfunctioning device, necessitating Superboy’s traveling to the future to save
him.
“The Japanese Sandman / The Great Kryptonian Caper” (11/2/68) – A
Japanese businessman is harassed by a saboteur who summons a supernatural
sandman to aid him. / A crook plans to lure Superboy into a Kryptonite trap,
but Lana stumbles into it instead.
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