Alas, Superboy. I knew thee only too briefly. I have to say that overall the series was a letdown. Without Krypto, The Adventures of Superboy is pretty comparable to the lower tier of the New Superman Adventures episodes. The Superdog elevated the series a notch or two, but the series really suffered from a lack of villains. Sure, there were invading aliens a plenty, but hardly any characters I would classify as supervillains, and no recurring baddies. I did notice that even though Lana herself wasn't a great character, the episodes in which she appeared tended to be the better ones. So even if we never got to see the Insect Queen, at least LL worked out as a good luck charm.
Essential Five:
1. Finger of Doom - Aside from the rogue star nonsense, this episode was great because it actually had a supervillain and some action.
2. A Devil of a Time - I admit, I may be giving this one a bit of a boost just because of how outrageous the idea was of Superboy pretending to be the devil. Really, this was not too different than the stinker The Terrible Trio, but in this episode at least Superboy was tormenting criminals rather than kids.
3. The Great Kryptonite Caper - There was just something charming about this episode. Once again, my affinity for Smallville, especially the early seasons, may be causing me to give this idea extra credit, but I still insist this is one of the essential segments of the series.
4. The Beast that Went Berzerk - Lots of plots were really out there and this episode is a good representation of the zaniness present throughout the series. And at least in this outing the zaniness was balanced with some, albeit far fetched, explanation of events.
5. Krypto, Super Seeing-Eye Dog - By now I hope its clear that I found Krypto to be the series one saving grace. Well, this episode gave the alien canine the spotlight, even if he was the cause of Superboy's temporary disability.
2. A Devil of a Time - I admit, I may be giving this one a bit of a boost just because of how outrageous the idea was of Superboy pretending to be the devil. Really, this was not too different than the stinker The Terrible Trio, but in this episode at least Superboy was tormenting criminals rather than kids.
3. The Great Kryptonite Caper - There was just something charming about this episode. Once again, my affinity for Smallville, especially the early seasons, may be causing me to give this idea extra credit, but I still insist this is one of the essential segments of the series.
4. The Beast that Went Berzerk - Lots of plots were really out there and this episode is a good representation of the zaniness present throughout the series. And at least in this outing the zaniness was balanced with some, albeit far fetched, explanation of events.
5. Krypto, Super Seeing-Eye Dog - By now I hope its clear that I found Krypto to be the series one saving grace. Well, this episode gave the alien canine the spotlight, even if he was the cause of Superboy's temporary disability.
Series Stinker: Superboy's Strangest Foe - Did we really need space babies?
The Terrible Trio - Watching Superboy torment kids, even if they were doing a little bullying, just lacks entertainment value. Its almost as if he was saying, "Who's the bully now, punks!"
This series hasn't been released on DVD so I'm hoping to find out how you watched the episodes. Because I actually enjoyed this show growing up, and it's currently the only of the old classic DC cartoons I don't own. And I'd love to be able to watch this series again.
ReplyDeleteAny help would be greatly appreciated.
I found most on YouTube, but many have since been taken down.
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