MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night

[The Old Mixer]

Wow, I guess he went bad after he left Howard Stark's employ.

Darnit, I'd forgotten that I was going to make a Jarvis crack....

"Test of the Warrior"

...

stock "Indian" stereotypes

Good lord, were they going for Indians from, I don't know, the early 1800s? I'd have loved it if the medicine man had interrupted Jimmy with "Yeah, I know what a camera is!"

redface acting

I wasn't buying the guy who enlisted Perry's help at all. Took me right out of the episode very early.

Also, despite the makeup, I recognized the medicine man as one of the actors who'd played Doc Burrage on The Rifleman. Checking IMDb, it appears that Ralph Moody played him the most times (12)...and I'd known that there was more than one...but good lord, no less than five different actors played the same character (and who knows, I may have missed some one-timers down at the bottom...)!

(Or maybe it was just a family practice....)

Superman committed breaking and entering and straight-up stole that dynamite! Not even a token line about how he'd pay for it later. That seems out of character.

Well, the entire episode was based on the premise of Superman helping somebody cheat on his test....

Anyway, I wonder what Perry might've conjured up if he'd used one of his common exclamations on radio, "Great Godfrey!"

I couldn't help but think that it was a little too early for him to switch to "Great Shades of Elvis"!

 

[RJDiogenes]

Might have been interesting if he used the phrase "What in Sam Hill?" On the other hand, it's a good thing he's not like a real-life editor, who would be far more likely to say "Holy shit."

 

[Christopher]

Then there's Robin from the Superman radio series, whose preferred oath was "Christopher Columbus!"

I can imagine God/Christ hovering overhead when people say things like that and going, "Umm, guys, I know you're talking about me, no matter how many extra syllables you add!"

 

[Christopher]

"Olsen's Millions" was silly and not very good, although that kitten who got locked in the safe was utterly adorable.

Would burning paper money really constitute losing it? If Jimmy had explained the circumstances of the money's destruction, couldn't he have gotten it replaced? I mean, it's only a symbol of value rather than being valuable in itself. Granted, burning money is illegal, but under the circumstances, he'd probably be shown leniency. So really, Jimmy should still have been rich after this, I think.


"Clark Kent, Outlaw" was more effective, though it was kind of silly the way Clark and Perry just casually drove into the line of fire in the middle of a shootout. Also a bit silly that Henderson couldn't see a way that the hood couldn't have snuck the money into the glove compartment of a car he'd been standing right next to for several minutes. Still, it was kind of fun to see Clark going rogue.

Just once, I'd like to see a hood who knows going in that firing his gun at Superman is a waste of bullets, and just doesn't try.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Yeah, I keep thinking of a story in the Byrne era of Superman (though it may have been guest-scripted) where Superman is pursuing some hoods in a car who are firing at him. He thinks, "They must be from out town....Local thugs would never bother shooting at me." (They were from Gotham.)

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, I keep thinking of a story in the Byrne era of Superman (though it may have been guest-scripted) where Superman is pursuing some hoods in a car who are firing at him. He thinks, "They must be from out town....Local thugs would never bother shooting at me." (They were from Gotham.)

Which doesn't really make any more sense, given that Superman would be world-famous.

 

[The Old Mixer]

World-famous, yes, but figuratively speaking, they were from a different world. To them, hailing as they did from grim, gritty, grounded Gotham, Superman was an "I'll believe it when I see it...any maybe not even then" phenomenon.

The writer may have even thrown in the obligatory "He must have a weak spot!", but I honestly can't recall offhand.

 

[The Old Mixer]

"Olsen's Millions" was silly and not very good

Jimmy looked pretty spiffy in his suit, though.

"Clark Kent, Outlaw" was more effective, though it was kind of silly the way Clark and Perry just casually drove into the line of fire in the middle of a shootout.

Now that you mention it....

Not much else to say about his one, except that maybe Lois and Jimmy should have been a little more sore about Clark leaving them to die, even if he did arrange for them to be saved.

So...the second episode takes us across the summer (odd seasons for this show) into September of '55. While the kids were home watching the Man of Steel, their older siblings might have been cruising or hanging out at the malt shop while listening to something like this....

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfmFqodPhhk[/yt]

 

[Mudd]

On Adventures Of Superman, criminals empty their revolvers at Supes and when that fails - they throw their guns at him. Huh?

 

[The Old Mixer]

At least he stopped ducking.

 

[Christopher]

Not much else to say about his one, except that maybe Lois and Jimmy should have been a little more sore about Clark leaving them to die, even if he did arrange for them to be saved.

Well, as he explained, the chair was fireproof, so they were never in any real danger.

 

[The Old Mixer]

"The Magic Necklace"

I'd say I wanted a half-hour of my life back, but I wasn't watching that closely anyway.

Clark taking down that support beam reminded me of a comment that I'd meant to make about "The Lucky Cat". When he went down to the basement to fix the support beam, why did he bother changing to Superman? He was going to be the only one down there and it was a quick job.

Sure, he might be afraid that somebody would walk in on him, but that could also happen either time that he's changing his clothes, since he doesn't seem to do it at super-speed on the show. And if he can change his clothes that fast, he should be able to fix the beam that fast as well.

*******

ETA: "The Bully of Dry Gulch" in progress

Jimmy's Western outfit looks about as silly as Marty McFly's.

"I want you to keep this a secret between us." Is that why you knocked a Superman-shaped hole in the wall...?

To pick up something discussed in another thread...I was peeking ahead on IMDb, and it appears that Seasons 3 through 6 were each 13 episodes. So effectively the show has four full seasons' worth of episodes.

And Chuck Connors's guest appearance as Superman is in the very next episode!

(Sylvester J. Superman, that is.)

ETA: Hah! I wasn't sure I caught it right, but did he just use "dude" in the old-style context discussed in the Agent Carter thread?

The bit with Clark showing up the bully was fun. The rest was pretty meh.

That's the nice thing about Reeves's portrayal of Clark...he doesn't tend to act like a spineless milksop as had always been customary in the comics at that point. That informed Byrne when he made Clark the "real person" in his reboot.

 

[Christopher]

"The Magic Necklace": So I guess the necklace was Made in Taiwan, huh? Well, I guess Americans still probably knew the island as Formosa back then, hence the oddness of "the Taiwan Necklace" being found in Tibet. And speaking of dodgy geography -- the bad guy's plane refuelled in "Africa?" Where in Africa? It's a whole continent!

But then, this was pretty clearly written down to the presumed ignorance of the young viewers, given that they found it necessary to explain what an antidote was.

I love it how when Superman started the cave-in, a couple of the fake boulders landed right on the knocked-out archaeologist and his henchman. Not very careful of Supes, was it?

Trek guest alert: John Harmon, the ill-fated "Rodent" from "The City on the Edge of Forever," played one of the henchmen.


"The Bully of Dry Gulch": Mediocre, but Clark's poker game with the bully was pretty fun. Mixer, I see what you've been saying about George Reeves's charisma. The episode only really came alive in that sequence. Otherwise, not much to say.

And yes, they did use "dude" in the old sense, of a city person or Easterner coming to the West and sticking out like a sore thumb.

By the way, I like that promo MeTV has been showing for this series, the one cutting together scenes from the pilot. It's pretty dramatic.


On to Batman: "Zelda the Great"/"A Death Worse than Fate" is interesting -- the first time that the villain's identity has been a mystery, and the first time it's been a villain Batman and Robin haven't faced before. It's also sort of the first time the show featured a newly created villain. True, Mr. Freeze's name was new, but he was based on a comics character named Mr. Zero. Similarly, this story was based on a tale from the comics, but they changed Eivol Ekdal's male accomplice into Zelda the Great.

We also get the debut of the Batsignal -- although it's contrived that Gordon just happens to order its use on the same day that Bruce, Dick, and Alfred just happen to be unable to hear the Batphone. And the first time we see the Batmobile pull up in the rear police lot at night (and rudely blocked that police car in, from the looks of it) and don't see the usual driving montage under the credits. And it's the first time the cliffhanger peril has been for someone other than Batman or Robin. And it's the first episode without a Bat-fight or any superimposed written sound effects (although there was a "nonverbal" one in the teaser). A lot of unconventional stuff going on here.

Interesting, also, that the episode features the first mention of Catwoman before we've actually met her.

When Robin went down the Batpoles already in costume, did he get a second costume put on over his costume once he reached the bottom? I've always wondered what's supposed to be going on between the library and the cave.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Huh...they got Walter Koenig to do a MeTV promo...never mind that they're currently in Season 1....

"Watch me on Me...in a few months...."

Good lord, the sound effect of that metal fatigue device on Wonder Woman is annoying.

 

[cylkoth]

Somewhat ironic that WW wiped some of the kid's memory to protect Jared Martin 2, only to have him decide to emerge from down below at the end of the episode.
Maybe she goes back and undoes her mind wipe?

And I can't help but wonder...if Dukat got a good lawyer, could the case against him be thrown out? Forced into incriminating himself- and boss, via magic lasso! Are lasso coerced confessions admissible in court?

Member of the Over Thinkers Club since 1979.

 

[Christopher]

Next weekend, MeTV cycles back to the first regular Wonder Woman episode, but apparently they're skipping the pilot movie. Bummer.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Yeah, IIRC, when they started the show they put the pilot in a Friday night movie slot that was in their schedule at the time. I think they did the same thing with the second season pilot as well. I'm not sure where they'd fit those in now.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Ah, back to season one. I'll have to make an effort to watch. Or record it.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

AND Jared MArtin as the titular Phantom. Martin starred as Dr. Harrison Blackwood in War of the Worlds, which accompanied TNG's 1st 2 seasons, at least here in Chicago. Great show that got terrible writing the 2nd season.

It accompanied TNG in the sense of being part of the same syndication package from Paramount. I think that means they were sold as a set, so if a station wanted TNG, they'd need to pick up WOTW too. I'm not sure, though. It actually premiered a year after TNG (starting in 1988, 35 years after the George Pal movie to which it was a sequel) and was syndicated alongside TNG's second and third seasons.

I had a generally positive recollection of season 1 of WOTW, but when I rewatched it a few years back, I discovered it was much, much worse than I remembered. It had terrible, cheap production values, and apparently it was largely written during the '88 writers' strike by non-Writers' Guild talent, so a lot of the scripts were a total mess. The main thing I'd remembered fondly was the rapport among the main cast, but most of them were weaker actors than I remembered. It was really a disillusioning experience and quite a slog to get through. Here are my reviews:

https://christopherlbennett.wordpress.com/tag/war-of-the-worlds/

You're not the only one that hates it; JMS hated it too, which is what provoked him into creating Babylon 5.

 

[Christopher]

You're not the only one that hates it; JMS hated it too, which is what provoked him into creating Babylon 5.

I don't recall hearing that before. Do you have a source? I do recall reading, back in the original Starlog article touting the upcoming B5 pilot movie, that JMS was pitching B5 for five years before he finally sold it (the number 5 is pretty easy to remember in this context), yet B5's pilot premiered only four years and four months after War of the Worlds: The Series premiered. Now, it's possible that Starlog (or my memory) was in error, but a quick web search for B5 and WOTW mentioned together turns up no results.