That must be the one with the robot. I'll watch it, if it's not pre-empted by Community Auditions.
MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night
- Thread starter JD
- Start date
A quick browsing of plot synopses reveals that the episode with Kryptonite in a robot is actually from Season 6. Looks like the show used Kryptonite roughly once a season.
Which is rather more often than it was used on radio. In the radio series, Kryptonite was a rare substance. Its debut story (which was its debut anywhere, since the comics borrowed it from the radio) sadly only has one surviving episode, so all we know is that a Kryptonite meteorite fell to Earth, Clark/Superman found that it hurt him, and he convinced the scientist studying it (who was mistakenly called a "meteorologist") to lock it away for Superman's safety. That was in June 1943.
Then, in September '45, the Kryptonite piece was stolen by the archvillain the Scarlet Widow, who split it in four pieces and distributed it among Superman's archenemies, and the next four months were spent dealing with three of the four pieces in various storylines, most notably the extended conflict with the Kryptonite-powered Atom Man. (By the way, the continuity here was terrible. The start of the saga had Clark recapping Superman's origin story to Perry and Lois in order to explain why Kryptonite was a threat. Perry and Lois then totally betrayed his confidence and published the story, which was how the villains found out about Kryptonite in the first place. But a couple of months later, when Clark was trying to tell Perry and Lois about the mortal danger to Superman's life, they scoffed at him, unable to believe that anything could harm Superman.)
Finally, in May-June '47, the last of the four pieces of the Kryptonite meteorite finally showed up. A crooked political boss Superman had brought down turned it into a serum that caused him to lose his memory (I think it was meant to turn him into a mindless slave, but he escaped before it took full effect), leading to Superman becoming a record-breaking baseball player without anyone recognizing him as Superman. Bizarrely, when Lois and Jimmy encountered him without glasses, speaking in his Superman voice, and exhibiting feats of extraordinary strength, they immediately recognized him... as Clark Kent!!! How come they could never do that when he was in blue tights and a cape????
The series continued in various forms for four years after that, but I don't think they ever did another Kryptonite story. So "The Defeat of Superman" would be the first broadcast-medium Kryptonite story in over six years.
As I vaguely recall, the TV show did try to keep Kryptonite rare (compared to the Silver Age comics, in which they they practically sold it at the supermarket), and there was some continuity between appearances...a piece used and lost in one episode would be found and used by somebody else in a subsequent episode. It will be interesting to see if the first appearance has any implied radio tie-in. It's hard to tell from the synopsis.
Kryptonite was also used in the Kirk Alyn serials between the radio and TV shows, FWIW.
Kryptonite was also used in the Kirk Alyn serials between the radio and TV shows, FWIW.
I guess I have a long wait for the robot episode. 
The comics went totally nuts with Kryptonite in the 60s. I think most of Krypton made it to Earth. And, of course, they added red and gold Kryptonite. And white Kryptonite, which effected only plants. I think there might have been blue Kryptonite, but I have no idea what it did. I think there was even tie-dyed Kryptonite.
The comics went totally nuts with Kryptonite in the 60s. I think most of Krypton made it to Earth. And, of course, they added red and gold Kryptonite. And white Kryptonite, which effected only plants. I think there might have been blue Kryptonite, but I have no idea what it did. I think there was even tie-dyed Kryptonite.
I guess I have a long wait for the robot episode.
The comics went totally nuts with Kryptonite in the 60s. I think most of Krypton made it to Earth. And, of course, they added red and gold Kryptonite. And white Kryptonite, which effected only plants. I think there might have been blue Kryptonite, but I have no idea what it did. I think there was even tie-dyed Kryptonite.
Blue Kryptonite only affects Bizzaros.
This gives a pretty comprehensive list of the various forms of Kryptonite and what they do.
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Kryptonite
I didn't see this one on that list though.
Periwinkle Kryptonite
Debuted in Superman Family Adventures #9 (March 2013). A non-canon story, exposure causes Kryptonians to lose all inhibitions.
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Kryptonite
I didn't see this one on that list though.
Periwinkle Kryptonite
Debuted in Superman Family Adventures #9 (March 2013). A non-canon story, exposure causes Kryptonians to lose all inhibitions.
Merciful Mogg! Now I have this mental image of Supes flying while wearing only his cape and boots, basically "streaking"!
Sincerely,
Bill
Periwinkle Kryptonite needs its own series.
Ah, thanks. I should have remembered that.
That's pretty amazing. Especially pink Kryptonite.
So, are you still watching Supes, Christopher? I was planning to start watching more attentively, as they're getting into Season 2 tonight.
I'm watching season 2 right now. So far it seems they've stepped up the quality. They've got some familiar guest actors -- Dabbs Greer in "Five Minutes to Doom," Hugh Beaumont in "The Big Squeeze" -- and the acting feels more dramatic and effective. The writing seems stronger too. I liked Jimmy's salesman shtick in the former episode, and the way Hugh Beaumont kept his cool against the bad guys in the latter. It's pretty solid stuff so far.
"Five Minutes to Doom" seems to be a loose remake of a radio story called "One Minute to Death." I remember the climactic bit with the governor and the early bit with Clark feeling the guy's pulse, although I don't recall if the rest was in the original.
I was intrigued to see in the credits that the story editor was Mort Weisinger, who was the editor of the Superman comics at the time and played a key role in shaping the character in the Silver Age. It's a reminder of how closely linked the various incarnations of Superman were at the time, with some of the same people working on the comics and the shows. That's a kind of interconnection that was lost in later decades but has now been regained with people like Geoff Johns and Brian Michael Bendis having key roles in film and TV adaptations of comics.
Of course, this season also features the return of Noel Neill to the role of Lois Lane. I have mixed feelings about that. Neill feels more "right" as Lois because she played the role so much longer, but darn it, Phyllis Coates was prettier. And I think she had more of an edge that suited the character.
"Five Minutes to Doom" seems to be a loose remake of a radio story called "One Minute to Death." I remember the climactic bit with the governor and the early bit with Clark feeling the guy's pulse, although I don't recall if the rest was in the original.
I was intrigued to see in the credits that the story editor was Mort Weisinger, who was the editor of the Superman comics at the time and played a key role in shaping the character in the Silver Age. It's a reminder of how closely linked the various incarnations of Superman were at the time, with some of the same people working on the comics and the shows. That's a kind of interconnection that was lost in later decades but has now been regained with people like Geoff Johns and Brian Michael Bendis having key roles in film and TV adaptations of comics.
Of course, this season also features the return of Noel Neill to the role of Lois Lane. I have mixed feelings about that. Neill feels more "right" as Lois because she played the role so much longer, but darn it, Phyllis Coates was prettier. And I think she had more of an edge that suited the character.
And either story would also be something of a callback (intended or not) to the very first published Superman story, in which he saves a woman from the chair, including dramatically (and a bit more violently) bursting in on the governor.
(Fun fact: The man she's supposed to have murdered was named Jack Kennedy.)
And as far as the TV version goes, I'm sure I was informed by having seen the episode years and years ago, but who could have gone into a story about Superman trying to stop an electrocution and not expected that it would literally come down to Superman stopping the current at the last second?
Also, surprised you didn't make any comments about how fast and loose Clark was playing things with his secret identity in the first half of the episode...guess it happens too often to even take note of it at this point. But on top of directly explaining to Lois something that he'd done with his super-powers, he winds up not just surviving a bomb blast but coming out of it without his glasses....
Didn't catch that...interesting.
Hear, hear. Neill always struck me as the type who should have been playing a housewife on a sitcom, not a feisty reporter/potential love interest.
Regarding the second story...the message was a little heavy-handed (right down to Clark practically breaking the fourth wall by lecturing us via a TV screen within our TV screen), and I can't help but think that things could have gone smoother if the guy had done what Clark was telling him to do...but OTOH, why was Superman too late for the robbery anyway? You'd think he would have been casing the joint. I was expecting him to impersonate the guard...maybe he did that in another episode.
Also, it might have made more sense if the guy been chosen as citizen of the year specifically because they knew he was an ex-con who'd reformed so well that he was doing all these great things. As presented, it all seemed a little too random and coincidental.
ETA: They'll let the Batmobile drive itself, but they won't let Robin drive it....
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I wondered why Clark even bothered to dive out of the car with the bomb. Why not just toss it out? It would've been just as effective and wouldn't have raised any prickly secret-identity questions.
I caught the last ten minutes or so of Wonder Woman last night. I have no idea where that female baddie got that magical Mission: Impossible-style mask, but it was very effective-- it came complete with a nice package.
It's amazing how much Washington, D.C., in the WW TV universe looks like Beverly Hills down at ground level....
Yeah, if you went by old TV shows like WW, you'd think the whole world looked like that.
I really enjoyed both episodes of Superman.
I had the same thought about Clark jumping out with the bomb on the second Supes episode.
It's really fun watching these old superhero shows at the same time as I'm watching new shows like Arrow, The Flash, and Gotham. It's interesting to compare how they've changed and how they're still the same.
I really enjoyed both episodes of Superman.
I had the same thought about Clark jumping out with the bomb on the second Supes episode.
It's really fun watching these old superhero shows at the same time as I'm watching new shows like Arrow, The Flash, and Gotham. It's interesting to compare how they've changed and how they're still the same.
I love how Batgirl rides her cycle through L.A. and they don't even hide the palm trees....
It just all stands out to me more since I've visited there. Oh look, there's Rodeo Drive....
It just all stands out to me more since I've visited there. Oh look, there's Rodeo Drive....
Whereas all the stock establishing shots of Gotham City are clearly New York City.
Please...no third season references.
Batgirl was such a terrible character.
Batgirl was a wonderful character! She was the best thing about the otherwise disappointing third season, and she became an enduring character in the comics whose popularity has continued to the present day. She was one of the strongest female characters in '60s TV, up there with Mrs. Peel and Agent 99. She was a smart, independent, heroic woman who could do everything Batman could but without the benefit of a multimillionaire's resources. She was utterly fearless and didn't feel she had to leave the fighting to the menfolk. She was a terrific role model for the young girls watching the show.
