World The Superman: TAS discussion thread.

[Kane52630]

Superman TAS
Episode - Target

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/115178573414/target-superman-the-animated-series

Trivia

• When Lex Luthor is testing out his weapon on cardboard targets, the last one he blasts away features an explosion that is reused footage from the gas canisters that Superman ignites in "The Way of All Flesh".
• Likewise, when the elevator bomb detonates, the ensuing explosion is reused footage from the scene in which Mr. Eelan blows a vat of hot lead off its support in "My Girl". This is used again later when Superman hits Lytener with an antenna.
• The scene when Lois is in the elevator and Superman says "I believe this is your floor" is a reference to Lois's rescue from the Eiffel Tower elevator in Superman II, released in 1980.
• This is one of few episodes in the DC Animated Universe to feature Lex Luthor as an ally rather than a foe.

 

[Kane52630]

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/115178836464/target-superman-the-animated-series

 

[Kane52630]

Superman TAS
Episode - Mxyzpixilated

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/115350645649/mxyzpixilated-superman-the-animated-series

Trivia

• Mr. Mxyzptlk calling McGurk is a tribute to the very first comic story of Mr. Mxyzptlk. His design was based on the character's Golden Age version.
• The strip "Mr. Mxyzptlk" is said to be written by Siegel and Shuster. This is a tribute to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman. All the other strips are homages as well:
  • Dini the Meanie, while named after and starring Paul Dini, is based on Dennis the Menace and Calvin and Hobbes. "Bill Wemissu" is a reference to Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, who retired in 1995 (hence the "We Miss You").
  • Gleen is based on Peanuts, starring Shane Glines and Glen Murakami.
  • Dan Danger is based on Dick Tracy, starring Dan Riba.
  • Zub Street is allegedly a piece of critique by Bruce Timm on the then-current drawing style of comics.
• Miks-il-plik is the pronunciation of "Mxyzptlk" used in Super Friends.
• This episode takes place over a period of one year and 2 days, the second longest time period of any episode of the series.
• This episode marks the first appearance of Streaky, who became Streaky the Supercat in the Golden Age comics and in the unconnected animated series Krypto the Superdog. However, he never gains powers in this show but Mxyzptlk uses his powers to make Streaky fly around the kitchen.
• According to the commentary on the DVD, this is the favorite episode of Paul Dini. Dini brings up the character in most of the DVD commentaries.
• Bruce Timm and Paul Dini revealed in their DVD commentary that they had hoped to bring Mr. Mxyzptlk back for an episode of Justice League but they never did because they could not conceive of a sufficiently good story for him.
• Jimmy turning into a turtle refers to an old alter ego of his in the comics, Turtle Boy.
• Clark is shaving during one of Mr. Mxyzptlk's appearances, indicating that his hair is not invulnerable to the same degree as the rest of him (similarly, in "Solar Power", he appears frustrated when he cuts himself shaving, something he is not normally used to).

• In the animal scene in the Daily Planet, it changes from day to night to day again between three shots.
• When Superman tricks Mxyzptlk for the third time with the proof-reading, the third word of the first line spells "CITRIMES", while its true spelling should be "CRIMES" (effectively "C(IT)RIMES"). However, Mxyzptlk apparently does not bother to correct this mistake all too thoroughly. For if he did, the resultant spelling of his name would have proven invalid to send him home, because his name does not contain the letter "I" from the "IT" that Superman inserted into the word.

 

[Kane52630]

Man I forgot how much fun that episode was. Paul Dini's writing and Gilbert Gottfried voicing Mr Mxyzptlk was just awesome.

 

[AnneFan]

Yeah, it's a great episode. It's breezy fun, and a perfect example of how Superman and his stories can be clever and varied.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

I like this show, but too many episodes revolved around Lois Lane getting in trouble or abducted. It's like if every other B:TAS episode had Alfred held for ransom.

 

[Kane52630]

Superman TAS
Episode - Action Figures

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/115534115489/action-figures-superman-the-animated-series

Trivia

• Sarita's name for Metallo, "Tin Man" is a reference to the Tin Woodsman from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
• The gas truck explosion features reused footage from "My Girl", specifically the scene in which Mr. Eelan blows a vat of hot lead off its support.
• This episodes features reused footage of the fight between Metallo and Superman in "The Way of All Flesh".

 

[Young Superman]

Found on DeviantArt.

http://alexbadass.deviantart.com/art/JLU-Superman-Dawn-of-Justice-524814357

 

[Kane52630]

Superman TAS
Episode - Double Dose

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/117371083864/double-dose-superman-the-animated-series

Trivia

• Parasite seems to be watching the same TV show (a parody of a famous David Letterman episode) that Joker was watching at the beginning of the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Joker's Wild".
• Parasite seems to be watching the same TV show (a parody of a famous David Letterman episode) that Joker was watching at the beginning of the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Joker's Wild".

 

[Kane52630]

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/117384736274/double-dose-superman-the-animated-series

 

[Kane52630]

Superman TAS
Episode - Solar Power

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/118251767814/solar-power-superman-the-animated-series

Trivia

• As Luminus, Lytener seems very much like other characters from the DC Universe such as Mirror Master, and Dr. Light.
• When Lois and Jimmy discover the invisible building by seeing a bird perched in midair, Lois says, "Look up in the sky" to which Jimmy replies, "It's a bird"; an obvious homage to the beginning of the classic Superman introduction.
• The background music in the saloon hologram is used again in the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Once and Future Thing Part One: Weird Western Tales".
• The trainyard hologram

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

That was a TMS episode, correct?

I always enjoyed this one... a fun little villian for the Man of Steel to face.

 

[Kane52630]

Superman TAS
Episode - Brave New Metropolis

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/118645648619/brave-new-metropolis-superman-the-animated-series

Trivia

• The title of the episode is inspired by Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
• This episode's theme would later echo in the Justice League two-parter "A Better World", with a much greater scale of Superman's fascist oppression.
• First time Lois kisses Superman, albeit an alternate dimension's version of him.
• The "S" worn by alternate Superman is based on the SS logo. This "S" logo was also used by Overman, a version of Superman who landed in Nazi Germany just before the start of World War II, becoming the successor of the original Superman of his Earth, and helped put an end to the Final Crisis along with many other Supermen from many different Earths.
• Luthor's tactic of weakening Superman with a chunk of Kryptonite, fleeing in an airship when confronted by reinforcements and having an accident would later be repeated in the Justice League episode "Injustice For All, Part I", the only differences being that Luthor had a heart attack and was narrowly saved from crashing in the latter.
• In Teen Titans (Vol. 3) #17, the Teen Titans end up in a future where many of them have taken the names of their given mentors (such as Robin as Batman, and Superboy as Superman). In the Tomorrow Titans tower, their "Hall Of Mentors" features a statue of Superman and Lex Luthor back to back representing their parts in who Superboy is like the one in this episode does for what the "Brave New Metropolis" is.
• The van that Superman blows up features reused footage from "My Girl", specifically the scene in which Mr. Eelan blows a vat of hot lead off its support.
• Likewise, when the motor of Luthor's jets catches fire, the ensuing explosion features reused footage from the gas canisters that Superman ignites in "The Way of All Flesh".

 

[Kane52630]

Superman TAS
Episode - Monkey Fun

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/120391777699/monkey-fun-superman-the-animated-series

Trivia

• The name "Beppo" (the toy monkey's name) is the name of the Super Monkey from the early Silver Age Superman comics.
• The space station threatened by the meteor shower resembles the first Justice League satellite.
• The episode features Pat Musick and her daughter, Mae Whitman, who would often accompany her to work and became a voice actress herself at a young age.
• Two of the kids in the zoo threatened by the lions resemble Bobby and Sarita Felix.
• In the scene where a family is watching the monkeys in the Metropolis zoo, the father's eyes are out of alignment - one pupil is looking up, the other looking down, giving him an awkward expression.
• Why did it take Superman so long to find Titano at the docks considering all the screaming and commotion going on there?
• When Titano starts to rip the Ferris wheel off, none of the people are seen on the carriers.
• The carriers that the people exit out of look way too big then previously shown.

 

[Young Superman]

I wish DC Collectibles would make a Superman TAS action figure line.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

I wish DC Collectibles would make a Superman TAS action figure line.

They probably will. After all, it will be the show's 20th anniversary next year.

 

[Kane52630]

I'd love to get one.

 

[Kane52630]

Superman TAS
Episode - Ghost in the Machine

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/120900166194/ghost-in-the-machine-superman-the-animated-series

Trivia

• This is the only episode to have such focus on Mercy Graves.
• At the very beginning, during the title screen, the music sounds almost exactly like the theme for Krypton from Superman: The Movie.
• The beginning grossly exaggerates the dimensions of the Sidewinder missile, which is actually closer in size to the missile Brainiac fires through Clark Kent's apartment window.
• Two missiles exploding under the surface would create two distinct (though overlapping) water funnels rather than one big funnel.
• Similarly, three pieces of bridge dropped in the water would leave three distinct waves.
• While flying away with the missile aimed at his apartment, Clark is wearing a shirt with rolled up sleeves and nothing underneath. However, when it detonates, the shirt is blasted away, revealing Superman's costume with full length sleeves.
• While fight Superman, Brainiac is seen smirking when restraining Superman. This contradict the fact that he's a living computer and should show no emotion.

 

[Kane52630]

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/120928205794/ghost-in-the-machine-superman-the-animated-series

 

[Kane52630]

Superman TAS
Episode - Father's Day

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/121787343099/fathers-day-superman-the-animated-series

Trivia

• First meeting of Superman and Darkseid.
• First appearance of Desaad and Kalibak in this series.
• The maître d' at Minerva closely resembles G. Carl Francis from the Batman: The Animated Series episode "The Laughing Fish". Conspicuously, both are voiced by George Dzundza.
• This episode expands on events from "Tools of the Trade" where Darkseid's minion introduced Apokoliptian weapons to Earth.
• The war between Superman and Darkseid grew into a major saga within the DCAU. This episode leads to the two-part episode "Apokolips... Now!" which leads to the two-part series finale, which leads to both the Justice League episode "Twilight" and the Cadmus story arc that plays out during Justice League Unlimited. Ultimately, everything came to a head in the Justice League Unlimited series finale "Alive!" and "Destroyer".

 

[Kane52630]

Superman TAS
Episode - World's Finest, Part I

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/122398962774/worlds-finest-part-i-superman-the-animated

Trivia (part 1-3)

• The title is a reference to World's Finest Comics, an anthology comic which often featured the team of Superman and Batman after their first meeting in Superman #76. Prior to that, the comic had simply printed Batman and Superman in separate, unrelated stories.
• When Lex Luthor tells The Joker that he can't be connected to Superman's death, he responds "Oh, you'll be Mr. Clean." Mr. Clean is a soap brand that features a bald man in its logo.
• The Joker offers Lois a scoop he calls "The Death Of Superman"; this was a major storyline in the comics about Superman's supposed death at the hands of Doomsday.
• Batman and Joker's involvement in this episode bear strong similarities to the movie Batman: Mask of the Phantasm: Joker is supposed to be paid to stop the show's hero (though his position on the deal is reversed), Bruce's love interest (both played by Dana Delany) is used to get to the show's hero and discovers he is Batman, and Joker is nearly killed in a giant explosion caused by what he was using to fight the hero(es) at the end.
• On the Batman: The Brave And The Bold episode "The Super-Batman of Planet X!" Kevin Conroy, Dana Delany, and Clancy Brown all voice Zur-En-Arrh counterparts of their characters here; The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, Vilsi Valar (a reporter), and Rohtul (Luthor spelled backwards), respectively.
• Tim Daly narrowly beat Kevin Conroy for the role of Joe Hackett on the TV series Wings, before Conroy was cast in Batman: The Animated Series. This is the first time that Daly and Conroy have worked together since then.
• Daly and Conroy later reprised their roles together in the later episodes, "Knight Time" and "The Demon Reborn", and the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (with Clancy Brown and CCH Pounder), Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (with Susan Eisenberg and Ed Asner), and Justice League: Doom (with many other DCAU reprisals).
• Batman taking out the second round of Joker's goons in the Lexcorp warehouse strongly resembles the Batman: The Animated Series intro in that Batman dodges the bullets the same way and disarms both goons with a single batarang.
• Batman's confrontation with Lex Luthor in Batman #573 strongly resembles their first face to mask meeting in Part II in that Lex wakes up frightened by the "fright mask" in front of him and realizes that Batman will have to be dealt with and tells Mercy to contact Bane, who was working for them at the time. In the comic, however, Batman renders Mercy unconscious before waking Lex and tells Luthor that she shouldn't bother attacking him from behind.
• The Joker's line about Superman being "more powerful than a locomotive" is taken from to the Fleischer cartoons of the 1940s.
• Joker's comments Lex's limo has "rich Corinthian leather"; a reference to Ricardo Montalban's 1975 commercial for the Chrysler Cordoba.
• Harley Quinn's disguise as Mercy Graves is similar to her chauffeur disguise in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Joker's Favor".
• Harley Quinn calls Lex "Mr. L", which is an alias Luthor often used in Superman's early Post-Crisis comics, the first time being in The Man of Steel #2.
• Bruce asking Lois if there's some "special signal" to call Superman and her responding that he's not like Batman is likely a reference to the Bat-signal, which was actually imitated by Luminus in "Solar Power" to signal Superman. Superman's signature signalling device appears later in "Superman's Pal" when he gives a signal watch to Jimmy Olsen.
• This is the first time Batman's "Jet-wing" is seen and seems to be a new sight for the Joker. Its first chronological appearance, however, is in the flashbacks of the The New Batman Adventures episode "Old Wounds" where Joker was the present villain.
• When Superman breaks into LexCorp's chemical plant to confront the Joker for the first time, the last ceiling he crashes through already has a hole in it before he enters.
• In the audio commentary, Bruce Timm says that it was Glen Murakami's suggestion not to put red lips on the Joker. Glen justifies it on grounds of "simplification", and Bruce admits it was a mistake.
• The tune played by the Joker's balloon in Part II is first heard in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Robin's Reckoning", during a fight on a carousel. It was also previously heard at the carnival in "Baby-Doll".
• In part three, when the larger Wayne/Lex T-7 hits Superman with the Gatling gun, there's an explosion that is reused footage from a scene of "My Girl", in which Mr. Eelan blows a vat of hot lead off its support.
• In part three, when Joker drops his bag of marble grenades, the rolling marbles is reused footage from the marble grenade scene in part two.
• Because the Laughing Dragon was carved (approximately) thirty years before the events of this episode, it can be deduced that Superman/Clark Kent is at least 30 and possibly older.
• Wayne Enterprises' brief partnership with LexCorp is later found, in the episode "Knight Time", to have allowed Brainiac to infect Wayne's computers, after having done so to LexCorp's in "Stolen Memories" (see also "Ghost in the Machine").
• Joker's next appearance is in The New Batman Adventures, "Joker's Millions". His survival of the Lexwing crash is left unexplained, but his money problems and encounter with Bruce Wayne in the restaurant are referenced in said episode.
• The long term effects of Kryptonite radiation on humans is further explored in Justice League episode "Injustice For All", when Luthor is diagnosed with an incurable form of blood cancer as a result of carrying Kryptonite around with him for years. Luthor also tells Joker that he wants nothing to do with him, when Joker reappears in that episode.
• It is revealed in Justice League, "Tabula Rasa," that Batman carries a piece of kryptonite in his utility belt at all times, as "insurance." Since he does not contract kryptonite poisoning, it can be presumed that, after learning about the deaths of the Laughing Dragon's previous owners, he knows enough to keep it sealed in a lead-lined container that blocks its radiation.
• Lois and Bruce have a brief reunion in "The Demon Reborn", where Lois reveals to Bruce she was having second thoughts about her relationship with him and there were several times that she had almost picked up the phone. Unfortunately, she was talking to herself, because, as usual, Batman had already disappeared.
• Superman claims he heard Batman was "crazy". In "The Last Son of Krypton", Martha Kent previously referred to Batman as "that nut in Gotham City".

 

[Kane52630]

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/123584669309/worlds-finest-part-i-superman-the-animated

 

[Kane52630]

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/123581275924/worlds-finest-part-i-superman-the-animated

 

[Kane52630]

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/124362948004/worlds-finest-part-i-superman-the-animated

 

[Kane52630]

http://kane52630.tumblr.com/post/124278797964/worlds-finest-part-i-superman-the-animated