Superman

If it wasn't for the success of Batman the animated series, it is likely that this series wouldn't have been made. It is a great series. The material from this series is taken largely from the comics and "Lois and Clark". It is undoubtedly along with Batman one of the finest adaptions ever done of these characters for television or the movies. It is far easier to make the characters believable animated than it is to do live action. While not nearly as good as the Batman material I personally lean towards Supes everytime. It is fine action adventure in the truest sense of the word. Excellent drama. Lots of fun to be had here.

So far for the most part any movie featuring the man of steel have missed the mark. If one were to gather their knowledge of Superman from these movies they will deduce that Superman's main villains were Lex Luther, Zod, Nuclear Man and Richard Pryor. One also gets the sense that he is kind of a dweeb and the type of guy who when he gets a female pregnant he bolts the planet. Well this animated series was great as it featured a vast assortment of villains, great voice work by Tim Daly, and had interesting stories. I enjoyed watching this incarnation of Superman as he was actually Superman without being indestructible unbeatable man like he has been portrayed at times. So what you are not going to see in this film is a lot of time spent back in Smallville growing up, a crusade to stop nuclear missiles, strange comedy, and yet another scheme by Lex involving real estate. No here you will see him lose a good friend to the cold Darkseid, help the Green Lantern take on the villainous Sinistro, and battle schemes by Lex involving him creating a cyborg man with kryptonite in his chest named Metallo. So suffice to say this series was a lot of fun and a lot better than nearly everything in the movies. The best thing the movies did was introducing Zod.

I enjoy a lot of the superheroes that are based on comic books. This show Superman: The Animated Series was one of them. Superman is based on a DC Comics comic book about a ageless human who is the last son of the planet Krypton and then gets sent to Earth and becomes the legendary protector of his adoptive home Earth. He is Superman! Superman is also alias Clark Kent who is a newspaper reporter. But when there's trouble you know who to call (and I know there are a lot of superheroes you can call but there's only one you can call in this series) SUPERMAN! This show premiered on Kids WB back in September 1996 and lasted for 3 seasons until February 2000. Superman was also in a few DC Comic superhero show spin-offs like "The Batman/Superman Adventures" and "Justice League". Which are also good shows!

User Rating: 7/10

BOTTOM LINE: SUPER!

After the success of "Batman: The Animated Series", Superman, who'd been out of the lime light for a while except for "Lois & Clark", finally got a shot at his own series again. This show recapped Superman's origin, established his relationships and pit him against a variety of characters - including a memorable brawl between him and Lobo, voiced by Brad Garrett (who also voiced another character, but I forget his name).

Superman was voiced by Tim Daly, and he did a damn fine job of it too. It's a shame that he wasn't available for "Justice League", as he was definitely superior to his successor, George Newbern (sorry George). Dana Delany was what Margot Kidder's Lois Lane SHOULD have been but never was. Same goes for Clancy Brown as Lex Luther. M*A*S*H alum Mike Farrell provided the voice of Superman's Earth dad.

Storylines were generally good and voice acting solid (as mentioned above), but the only thing that really marred this show was the animation. While not bad, the characters, particularly the male characters, were too blocky looking. Superman himself looked as though he'd been carved out of rock. This animation isn't bad but it's not on par with the animation in "Batman: The Animated Series". Sadly, this look has been retained for "Justice League".

Batman has made guest appearances on Superman from time to time, even did a "movie" with him, which brought their relationship up to date.

So all in all, a 9 1/2 out of 10.

...and also in one of the best adaptations of Superman, either in film or television. Maybe I'm biased, as I've always liked Superman and also that this was one of my favourite shows when I was a kid, but I still love this show. The animation is very handsome and detailed, with intriguing character designs(Clark/Superman's big jaw is quite unique). Perhaps it is not as atmospheric as Batman: The Animated Series, but that is enough of that still. The music is also wonderful, the incidental music has a hauntingly rousing undercurrent and the intro is very cool. The writing is tense and intelligent with nicely judged bits of humour as well, while the story lines are always compelling with a dark atmosphere without it being overly so. The characters are wonderful, Superman is a charismatic hero, Supergirl is a great addition, Lois avoids being stereotypical and Lex Luthor and Braniac are great villains. The voice acting is superb, Tim Daly is on par with George Newbern and voices with authority and intensity of lines. Dana Delaney is spot on as Lois, while Clancy Brown's Lex Luthor is wonderfully calculating and Corey Burton brings the right amount of menace to Braniac. All in all, the best cartoon of the Man of Steel. 10/10 Bethany Cox