| Reviews & Columns |
|
Reviews DVD TV on DVD Blu-ray 4K UHD International DVDs In Theaters Reviews by Studio Video Games Features Collector Series DVDs Easter Egg Database Interviews DVD Talk Radio Feature Articles Columns Anime Talk DVD Savant Horror DVDs The M.O.D. Squad Art House HD Talk Silent DVD
|
 DVD Talk Forum |
|
|
| Resources |
|
DVD Price Search Customer Service #'s RCE Info Links |
|
Columns
  
 
|
|
|
Superboy - The Complete First Season
Warner Bros. // Unrated // June 20, 2006
List Price: $39.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
I knew a couple of people who enjoyed the Superboy TV show (later re-named the Adventures of Superboy) when it was airing in the late 80's and early 90's. Running for four seasons in syndication, the program had a fair following though I never had the chance to catch it, either being in grad school or starting my first job, both of which took up most of my time. Being a comic geek from way back, I was excited when I discovered that this series was coming to DVD. It was produced by Iyla & Alexander Salkind who were behind the 80's Superman films, and it lasted a while, so it probably wasn't all bad. Unfortunately this first season isn't very good either. It starts off slow and only raises to the level of mediocre on a few episodes, and those are pretty rare.
Clark (Superboy)
Though the show has a lot of promise, and it does get better as it goes on, there's a lot wrong with this series. It was a mistake to move this to a college setting, having him go to high school and living at home would have given the creators the opportunity to mine some of the continuity from the comics, but that's not the reason the show fails. It the horrible plots, terrible acting, weak effects, and inane dialog that make this set so weak.
Being a show aimed at younger audiences the episodes are fairly formulaic. The only problem is that the formula doesn't leave a lot of room for Superboy. He appears in costume twice an episode, and those appearances are brief. Hey, we want to see the superhero, not his alterego being meek and mild.
A majority of the villains are your run-of-the-mill crooks too. Though there are some aliens who cause some trouble, but the majority of the foes are just ordinary people, and that doesn't make for an exciting program.
A typical episode from this first season is Troubled Waters. In this epic, a slimy businessman is trying to buy up all of the farmland in Smallville. Pa Kent (Stuart Whitman) thinks that something's up and convinces his neighbors not to sell until he can go to the state capital and talk with the geologists there to see if there are valuable resources under their land. Pre-dating The Straight Story by over a decade, bright and early the next day Pa jumps on his tractor to drive to the capital. Unfortunately, the tractor has been tampered with, something goes wrong and Pa drives into a ditch where he falls onto some grass and sod and ends up in the hospital.
Hearing that his father is hurt,
Nearly half way through the program,
After his idiotic henchmen make another attempt on Pa Kent's life, Mr.
The acting is really bad too. I mean cringe worthy. Though all of the main actors went on to bigger and better things, this show gives a new meaning to the term wooden. It is comical how poorly some of the lines are delivered and how ludicrous the gestures are. In one episode Superboy flies off from his parent's house and his mother raises her fist in the air which not only makes no sense, but looks incredibly stupid.
The worst acting job award goes to Michael J. Pollard who played the 5th dimensional magical imp Mr. Mxyzptlk. This nemesis, taken straight from the comics and appearing in an episode written by comic legend Denny O'Neil would have been a lot better if Pollard had ever read one of the comics or even had a basic understanding of the character. He plays the mischievous menace without any of the humor or light-heartedness that makes his comic appearances so memorable. All of the imp's lines are delivered in a flat monotone and the actor never gets in the spirit of the character.
You have to give the cast some leeway though, they didn't have a lot to work with. The scripts are generally poor and some of the dialog is laughable. The fact that they were able to deliver some of these lines without laughing is very admirable. Saying something like "Pain never hurt anyone" is hard enough, but it actually gets worse than that. At one point Superboy is flying a hood to the local marina. They fly over a large bay with many docks that have boats tied to them. "Is that the marina?" asks Superboy. What else could it be???
Technically the show was pretty poor also. Some outside scenes are too bright, and others are too dark. At one point Clark and Lana walk under an overhang and into a shadow where they stand and talk. Their features are totally obscured and only two dark outlines appear on the screen. That would have been a great candidate for reshooting.
The show does improve over the course of the season, and a couple were fun to watch. The Beast and Beauty where a someone dresses up as Superboy and robs stores was good, and the final episode in the season, Luthor Unleashed, was arguably the best. In this show a young Luthor steals a secret weapon and agrees to sell it to the person who can kill Superboy. They also adapt Luthor's origin from the comics which worked very well. If the whole series was as good as this episode it would have been very enjoyable.
The DVD:
Audio:
The stereo soundtrack was about average. There was a bit of light distortion in a couple of areas, and the levels are low overall, but there weren't any major problems. The dialog was distinct and the music, though not very dynamic, was sounded adequate.
Video:
The full frame color video was less than average for a show this old. I was pretty disappointed in the way it looked. There was a good amount of aliasing in the background, color bleed was prevalent, and the image was very soft. While it was still watchable, viewers won't be overly pleased.
Extras:
This set includes two commentaries, to the episodes Revenge of the Alien Part 2 and Meet Mr. Mxyzptlk, with star John Haymes Newton and producer Ilya Salkind. Ilya was the more serious of the two, but I enjoyed
John Haymes Newton's screen test is also included, as well as a making-of featurette Superboy: Getting Off the Ground. Finally there is an except from Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman which is basically a commercial for the new Bryan Singer Superman film.
Final Thoughts:
This wasn't the best series every. I understand that it gets better after this season, and I'm sure that's true. The show does improve as it goes along, but there are too many stupid plots and too much inane dialog to recommend this set. If you're a fan of the comic character, this is worth a rental, but only if you are curious.
|
| Popular Reviews |
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Release List | Reviews | Shop | Newsletter | Forum | DVD Giveaways | Blu-Ray | Advertise |
|
Copyright 2024 DVDTalk.com All Rights Reserved. Legal Info, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use,
Manage Preferences,
Your Privacy Choices 
| |||||||