Superman The Animated Series Season 1

This is Kevin Conway, and I am the goddamn Batman.

Hello and welcome to episode 78 of Tooncast Beyond

brought to you by the GeekCast Radio Network.

I am one of your hosts, T .O. Joe and Mike, and

joining me today is Dane Lamont from Punisher

Body Count. Hello, sir. Hey, Mike. Glad to be

here. So has Superman ever faced the Punisher?

That's a good question. No, but one time he merged

with Wonder Woman in that weird Amalgam universe,

so that was cool. That's a little creepy. Yeah.

Yeah, that's a little creepy. Mean we all know

Superman can be taken down by kryptonite and

Batman does that all the time, but that would

be an interesting fight to see Superman versus

the Punisher Yeah, though. He did take on that

not Superman guy. What was his name? He was blonde

and Dolph Lundgren? No, no, I'm talking about

in Marvel universe he fucked up and he was a

big deal for like ten minutes Uh, part of the

Dark Avengers and stuff. God, I fear his name,

but he's essentially one of those Marvel versions

of not Superman. Uh -huh. So today, folks, we're

gonna go back 21 years and talk about Superman

the Animated Series Season 1. And we're gonna

get to Mr. Just the Facts, and we'll be back

after this. After creating the seminal Batman

the Animated Series in 1992, the team of Alan

Burnett, Bruce Timm and Paul Dini turned their

creative talents towards bringing the other big

name in comic book superherodom to the small

screen. Who was the superhero they chose? It

was none other than the Big Blue Boy Scout, the

Metropolis Marvel, the Man of Steel, Superman.

Debuting on September 6, 1996 in prime time on

the WB in The Last Son of Krypton 3 -parter,

we are first introduced to scientist Jarrell,

Superman's father, as he discovers a growing

instability in the core of the planet Krypton.

Jarrell tries to get the planetary council to

evacuate, but his pleas fall on deaf ears thanks

to the computer intelligence Brainiac, who counsels

there is nothing to worry about. Jor -El then

breaks into the computer core of Brainiac and

discovers that he was right and that Brainiac

is uploading himself to an orbiting satellite

in order to save his programming rather than

saving the native populace of Krypton. Jor -El

desperately races home, electing to save his

son Kal -El by launching him into space towards

the planet Earth just barely before the planet

explodes. Landing in a Kansas cornfield, baby

Kal -El is discovered by farmer Jonathan Kent

and his wife Martha. They adopt and raise the

boy, who they name Clark, as best they can, instilling

in him the core values of honesty and hard work.

Eventually, Clark goes off into the world, becoming

a news reporter for a major newspaper, The Daily

Planet, in the great city of Metropolis, New

York. Alongside hard -nosed reporter Lois Lane

and photographer Jimmy Olsen, one of Clark's

first assignments is to cover the demonstration

of a new exosuit by Tech Bill - billionaire Lex

Luthor. The suit is stolen by mercenary John

Corbin and during the theft, the mercenaries

team shoot down an airplane passing overhead,

forcing Clark to reveal his presence as Superman

and saving the day. Lewis and Clark soon discover

Corbin was working for Luther, who was seeking

to profit from the theft in the first place.

After defeating Corbin and his men, Superman

confronts Luther, who coolly claims he is untouchable.

Defying the villains and treaties, Superman warns

him that he'll be watching before flying off

into the night. But all is not well, as in deep

space, a group of inquisitive aliens find the

Brainiac satellite, hinting at the danger yet

to come. Over the course of this first 13 -episode

season, we the viewers would be introduced to

Superman and his story in some refreshing and

exciting new ways. Tim and Dini worked their

particular magic on this series, not unlike the

way they crafted together the Batman animated

series. They blended design elements and character

concepts from all over Superman's history. The

oddball sci -fi of the Silver Age of comics,

the look of both Krypton and Luther from John

Byrne's 1986 Man of Steel reboot, and the classic

Jack Kirby created fourth world concept were

all sampled in the creation of this series. Classic

Superman villains such as Toyman and Parasite,

Metallo and Brainiac would all be updated for

this modern age. Lex Luthor would go on to become

the most redesigned of all the villains, with

the creative team blending his classic mad scientist

brilliance with John Byrne's sinister capitalist

billionaire. Superman's supporting cast was also

similarly updated. Characters such as Emile Hamilton,

Maggie Sawyer, and the lovably dim Bibo Bobowski

were borrowed from the then ongoing DC Comics

Superman titles in a reverse sort of way that

fan -favorite Harley Quinn was brought from Batman

the Animated series to the proper comics. Superman

the Animated series would become the second series

in the growing DC Animated universe, which would

go on to include series such as Batman Beyond,

Static Shock, Justice League and Justice League

Unlimited. And just like Batman, the voice cast

was also superb, being overseen by legendary

voice director Andrea Romano. The Man of Steel

was voiced by Tim Daly, who we know from the

sitcom Wings on NBC. Dana Delaney would voice

Lois Lane in arguably one of her most loved incarnations.

And the man himself, Clancy Brown, voiced Lex

Luthor in a performance that has become as synonymous

with the character as Mark Hamill has with the

Clown Prince of Crime. The voice cast of the

first season also included the legendary Corey

Burton as Brainiac, Sir Malcolm McDowell as Metallo,

and Brad Garrett from Everybody Loves Raymond

as the main man himself, Lobo the Bounty Hunter

in a fan -favorite two -part episode. Aside from

Batman the Animated Series, which we all know

is the single best animated superhero cartoon

of all time, Superman the Animated Series is

one of my all -time favorites. Superman has always

been a character I gravitated towards both as

a kid and as an adult. There's just something

about a guy sailing out of the blue to save the

day with a wink and a smile before he flies away

again to do battle with some psychotic toy collector

or some alien iPod gone wrong. The show was bright

and colorful in all the ways the Dark Knight's

adventures were dark and dangerous. This show

still stands up in my honest opinion and is a

must -see for any Superman fan. This has been

Just the Facts for Superman The Animated Series

Season 1. I'm JT from Saskatoon. Back to you,

Mike. Thank you so much, Mr. Just the Facts.

Dane, what is your history with the show? Did

you watch this back in the 90s? I watched just

about anything on the Kids WB channel when I

was younger. There were certain shows. I definitely

tuned out of especially as soon as they said

okay. It's time to teach you something educational

as per Government regulations, that's when I

tuned out, but pretty much anything on there

like I love Pokemon I love the Batman and Superman

shows I even liked it when they Combined into

that one hour show you know what I mean the new

Batman Superman adventures. Yep. Yeah, I I enjoyed

the whole Kids WB universe even the Zeta project

because I thought was kind of the weakest continuity

But I was still flying and that's actually kind

of what I will be my opinion on Superman during

this whole thing, especially this first season.

It's fine. It's okay Yeah Zeta project was a

really really bad spin -off idea. Oh Yeah, I

don't know Want to see how that I mean, yeah

Yeah, it did have that Batman Beyond connection,

but I have no idea how that kind of show got

off the ground It's like okay. Imagine this it's

a really cool robot with tons of gadgets But

he doesn't want to hurt anyone and he's constantly

running away like it's a fugitive story Jesus

Except he has both his arms so he can't be a

one -armed bandit Exactly Lord, but yes, we're

here to talk about the DC animated universe Bruce

Tim verse Superman the animated series When was

the last time you actually saw this? this series

That's that's a really good question Because

with Batman the animated series I will I'll come

back to a few of those episodes at least once

a year That I feel like those shows have a really

good evergreen replayability like they're all

there's plenty of those shows that that I can

watch and enjoy even if I've seen them so many

times with Superman I remember I watched the

whole series when it was on kids WB and then

I watched the second half of the series sometime

in college because we had one of those torrent

networks that everyone just shared everything

with and I remember just realizing, wow, that

Dark Side saga was pretty hardcore. And then

the last time I watched it was when I got a message

on Facebook from Mike going, do you want to talk

about Superman? I'm like, shit, I better watch

that first season again. So two days ago, I said.

There you go. Yeah, I mean, for me, I've watched

it off and on over the years. Like you said,

I pretty much seek out different episodes of

the series. This is my first full season watch

through in probably five or six years at this

point. But yeah, it's one of those things where

it's funny because even though I haven't seen

it a lot, like I haven't gone back to it a lot,

I remember almost everything from this first

season. Really? Yeah, pretty much. I mean, the

only thing I was surprised at was how it kind

of ended with the 13th episode. Oh, I'm so glad

you brought that up, man. I feel like they must

have screwed up that order. They must have. Yeah.

They for people that don't know they ended it

on The season on this guy named parasite who

God is one of the worst characters in this whole

show I mean I'll talk about that in a sec But

it's literally like the second appearance of

this terrible villain in a 13 episode run of

the first season meanwhile the episode right

before it actually shows this this mob boss manheim

who runs intergame literally goes to apocalypse

and meets dark side for the first time it's like

holy shit they're going they're going this deep

in the new gods lore and it's like oh now here's

here's a guy that set up a bomb on metropolis

like they went from there to bomb threat it was

a real real weird uh sense of pacing when everything

else pacing wise was pretty good absolutely yeah

it's one of those things for me where it's like

These two should be reversed of each other. You

know, Tools of the Trade should be the season

finale and Two's a Crouch should be the penultimate,

which really isn't even a penultimate because,

like you said, it's just almost a one -off episode

with Parasite and somebody else, Earl Garver,

who wants to try to take over Parasite's body

and yadda yadda yadda. It almost reminds me of

the... The Justice League two -parter only a

dream where it's this this no -name criminal

guy John D or whatever it is and he gets a hold

of this machine and he turns into dr. Destiny

and everything else and yeah, you know, he's

trying to attack everybody in there He's basically

Freddy Krueger for the DC animated universe and

it's like no don't do that and You know Those

episodes that you're talking about and I think

this applies to Superman a lot Well is if you

have a nobody villain with no real pathos or

no real emotional arc then boy the gimmick better

be cool and at least dr. Destiny seemed like

a pre There were some nice visuals they really

tried in the animation It was a very good even

had some surreal imagery that was pretty neat

But yeah that you just don't have that with these

two episodes in Superman And that's a good chunk

of that season. Unfortunately. Yeah, it really

really is Had you ever been how much of a Superman

fan were you or Just a fan in general of this

show going into the prep work for the record

today. Oh before going in the show as The longer

I've been into comics the more I've made my piece

and started unironically enjoying Superman I

feel like there's a big like especially if you're

just getting into comics you want to show that

you're not The Simpsons comic book guy and that

you are not a lame person you like the cool comics

like spawn And the Punisher, at least that's

how I was when I first got into comics. I thought

Superman is dumb and overpowered and there's

not anything exciting to him. And then when I

just started take a chill pill and actually read

Superman comics, especially the ones that are,

you know, that have stood the test of time and

been held in high regard, I'm like, oh, wow.

This is such an important character for superhero

comics. It's almost like the Sun in which everything

else rotates around It's everything superhero

comics can be and sometimes that can be a bit

bland But I'm glad superman's there just like

how Jonah hex is kind of the archetype for the

mean Western antihero I'm kind of glad Superman's

there and I'm enjoying the Superman comics right

now with Superman basically being a family guy

with Lois and he's got his son and there and

just the adventures of Superman being a dad and

a husband and Lois is in on it and is and he's

slowly turning his son To be the new superboy.

They're just really fun comics now so basically

what you're saying is because you like this you

were also a fan of lois and clark the new adventures

of superman from 1993 oh my god i have a lot

of memories of that show i used to watch that

show with my grandparents that was such a weird

show it was such a cool show oh i loved it it

was shockingly like And anytime they brought

in superhero stuff in the early 90s or whatever

it was in the cartoon boy It was kind of a shit

show, but that was actually like they brought

in metallo They brought in like a lot of Superman

stuff when all they really cared about was will

these two people have sex well Like how most

90 sitcoms were like back in the day? Yeah, still

up today to some level yeah the greatest uh...

the greatest cameo i think in that one was probably

george jefferson is toy man will his wins low

shot uh... god that was so funny so yes it's

a man the animated series uh... going through

these first thirteen Don't have a lot of negatives

at all like I think the only negative and the

creators the producers and all those people have

already Agreed, you know, I guess I've seen all

the special features from the DVDs and things

like that They've already said they powered him

down to a point where By the end of this first

season. He was you know, he could be taken out

with one punch because there were a couple of

times in I think episodes 9 10 and 11 where A

robot hit Superman and he was down for the count

for a couple of minutes. You know, this is one

of those things I used to have a problem with

like, oh, Superman, like why didn't like there's

a lot of these episodes that if you turn into

like the push up your glasses and actually that

wouldn't happen because Superman could hear that

coming with his super hearing and he's his super

speed. He could actually just read the entire

library and figure out the crime. But like. there's

a good quote from Alfred Hitchcock that I just

heard about a week ago and essentially some reporter

was asking him like how come the main character

never calls the police or the police never helped

the main character when he or she is being stalked

by some crazy person and I've read Hitchcock

leaned back and he just said because that's fucking

boring That's super boring. Just, oh, I called

the cops and the stalker got caught. Cool. This

movie is going to end 40 minutes early, I guess.

And part of fiction is not only suspending your

disbelief, but also making sure that you have

a story like. Superman it kind of matches that

post -crisis like you said powered down stage

that they did when they kind of rebooted the

DC universe back when that was a new and neat

idea and I and so they matched that in the TV

show but I never the animated show I never felt

like Superman was like a pushover but yeah there

are scenes where like a freaking Tiny tiny Gundam

is beating the crap out of out of Superman and

you know what that's okay They need to fill up

22 minutes, but Superman still is super fast

He is super chill because he knows very few things

on this earth can even hurt him But there there's

plenty of scenes that I've learned just to let

go like you remember that last episode the parasite

one. Yep There was always a scene There's a scene

where Superman's gonna bend down and grab the

bomb, then Parasite comes out of the ground.

He literally just buried himself six inches in

the ground and grabbed Superman's wrists, and

all I could think of for one second before I

told myself to shut up was, uh, hey, couldn't

he hear Parasite's heartbeat or breathing or

anything like that? Like, you have to let that

stuff go. Otherwise you're not going to have

an entertaining show. And it's so funny you mention

that because there is one episode in this season

where one of the villains says, Oh, this entire

complex is lined with lead. Superman's not going

to be able to use his x -ray vision. Two seconds

later, he bursts in. I might not have been able

to see you, but my hearing is fine. Yes, exactly.

This is actually one of the things I really like

about the first season like it's not amazing

But I like how the first season is mostly an

escalation of the world adjusting to Superman

Because he's not just fighting a they don't even

talk about aliens for five or six episodes or

anything crazy There's no magic or anything like

Kryptonite comes in around episode four or five

and even then it's considered this rare thing

But really the first half and even into the second

half a lot of these things are Superman stopping

heists and people just trying to figure out how

do we deal with this? Maybe if we fire really

big bullets that will work or something It was

actually a very clever way to set up a season

things actually were built up over time Not just

people understanding what Superman's about how

to react to them because eventually villains

are like Okay, let's drop a building on some

people so Superman has to go deal with that We

can get away like they eventually figure that

stuff out and he builds up his fortress of solitude

over time Yeah, it's very well paced for a kid

show that's supposed to be shown in an episodic

format, but things carry over There's a real

continuity here. Yeah, absolutely For me they

okay, so Like I said this debuted in 1996 21

years ago If you go back to 1990, I'm currently,

sadly, at a point in our He -Man She -Ra podcast

going through the new adventures of He -Man.

Those are 22, without ads, they're 22 minute

episodes just like these are. those seem like

they take force one episode of that seems like

it's going on for six hours it is so bad these

i was done with these i was done with the first

eight in probably a day and a half whereas similar

yeah watches very very easy watches because the

writing is so well done uh... the character development

the stories just all of it Just so so well done.

Do you have a favorite episode or a favorite

set of episodes from season one? My all -time

favorite episode of this season. I actually really

liked the the first three part The three -part

pilot I guess last son of Krypton. Yeah. Yeah,

I Like looking at that I go Wow This is the this

series is more adult than I thought it was and

I don't just mean violence even though there

is some Strong level of violence literally genocides

going on in a couple of these episodes. Yeah,

but I really love the seventh episode the way

of all flesh with metallo John That one I felt

See, here's the problem with these Superman episodes

if the gimmick is kind of boring then the episode

kind of fails because with Batman you at least

have There's not a lot of internal struggle going

on with Superman Hmm. I mean at some point they

get around to it in the second and third seasons

but mostly Superman is just a guy that gets in

the way of What's going on and Superman has to

react to it Batman there's an investigative level.

He can have a close friendship level super like

her clan I just realize just doesn't have that

many friends. He doesn't have a much of a society

life No any of this. It's kind of sad Yeah, but

That also limits, I mean he's a reporter, he

gets along with his co -workers and stuff, he

hangs out with Jimmy, but there's not like, once

again there's not a lot for Clark Kent to do

if he's not doing reportering, or saying hi to

his mom. So if, so you can't put a lot of stuff

on Superman for an episode, and the Superman's

villains are like two steps up from Wonder Woman's

atrocious villains gallery. Superman, every time

there's a new Superman writer, I promise you

that there will be at least one or two villains

that that writer is gonna fix. Who's gonna turn

into a real threat or try and fix some weird

continuity. They're so interchangeable and they're

just thugs. They're worse than Spider -Man villains.

I mean, yeah, the only two. Yeah. Okay, three.

Three big ones. Essentially Superman's big three

are Lex brainiac and dark side. The rest are

kind of he three stoojers like and Sometimes

they make that work and sometimes they don't

one of the reasons I really liked The way of

all flesh is because they have this, you know

this slick basically the evil version of James

Bond What was his name was it John Connor? It's

John Corbin. Yeah Corbin. Thank you. I can't

be Connor It's Terminator. But anyway, this is

John Corbin. I wish was a guy that was in previous

episodes as a saboteur and Like mercenary kind

of figure and then he's in jail and he learns

he has a virus going on even though He's living

the high life in jail. He's gonna die. So some

scientists gives him an offer to Okay I'll get

the virus out of you and Luther is gonna help

you out Turns him into this horrible robot man

with a heart of kryptonite and he's super strong

and guess what? He still gets to keep his skin

and everything and it's awesome He is now on

Superman's level. But one of the things that

I really enjoyed about this is they actually

wanted that almost twilight zone level of a terrible

price to pay. He can't feel, he can't smell,

he can't taste anything. And they even, they

can't say it, but anytime he looks at a woman,

he goes like, I can't, I can't, and he throws

a car. He's just saying like, can't even have

sex anymore. Like, I don't have. I don't have

testicles I like and whether you like it or not

like our dicks like drive a lot of our actions

in our lives and this guy doesn't have that anymore

and Luther says us hey you know you'll adjust

to it and you are immortal and to me I just went

oh my god that's right this guy's immortal he's

gonna be like this forever he's gonna he's basically

a vampire but even vampires get to keep their

dicks this is terrible and just the way that

the the voice actor reacts to this And the way

they take their time with this guy to show the

nightmare of his situation, it was like Clayface

in Batman. It was on that level. Just realizing,

like, oh my god. Lost my humanity because a lot

of these other Superman villains. They're like,

oh my god. I've turned into a freak cool I guess

I'm just gonna rob a bank or kill my boss. It's

just this almost no reflection But that episode

was done so well, but I'm talking too much about

this. What was your favorite? Um, I love the

opening three -parter Last son of Krypton what

I love about this is We get to see Krypton because

normally it's like okay you go back to 1978 you

go back to superman the movie that opening krypton

scene might have been maybe the first five minutes

if that that's being generous of the film and

then you know you have them sending him off and

the rest of that opening sequence is him growing

and learning in the in the little space rocket

thing and whatever else this basically shows

you hey look this giant dumbass supercomputer

is going to kill us all and he's going to save

himself and no one's listening to uh... to cal's

dad jor -el at all and the planet ends up exploding

but we actually get to see a lot of krypton beforehand

and then as part two and part three come in we

see, you know, Cal's journey to Earth and we

see, you know, part three is great. Last Line

of Krypton part three is so good because you

have the first meeting of Lex and Superman and

just how annoyed Lex will get at Superman at

that end scene where he's like, Superman, come

on in, take a load off, and he's just... You

know floating there in midair just staring at

him. Well, aren't you gonna say anything? Yeah,

no, we're not saying anything I like that one.

I do Really enjoy stolen memories because again,

it's it's continuing the brainiac part of the

story And then the main man parts one and two

Superman and Lobo that is just so hilarious I

was kind of surprised that this was in this was

in season one Yeah, I thought this came in later

seasons, but that's where I just felt they just

said okay instead of setting stuff up Let's take

a two episode break and just have fun and have

someone Superman can punch for a while And that

was an incredibly entertaining episode and it's

very funny to see how they get around Like standards

and practices with certain things with Lobo Yeah,

it's almost like okay. I can't shoot any of these

guys in the bar But I am going to shoot at a

shelf with a bunch of barrels and it's gonna

land on these guys and it's like oh geez Like

that's a very much like a Teenage Mint Ninja

Turtles solution to something and then he walks

away from the bar and he drives off He just blows

up the bar. Anyway, it's almost like Bruce You

could see the frustration of Bruce Tim going

no Forget it. Like the people are gonna die one

way or another scene So be it that was the most

fun episode I felt Was those two episodes which

once again surprised me. There's two of these

yeah Just um, but it works though. Yes, it's

a it's a bet to me. It's a back -and -forth we

we have the introduction of Lobo and He eventually

gets to earth and we have him and Superman fighting

and whatever else and then you know as it kinda

ends you know part two is more so how are they

gonna get away from the preserver um in i believe

it's uh... part one when yeah it is part one

when lobo he and his his bike there get red lasers

zapped into the preserver ship i uh... posted

a screen cap of this on on Facebook and I am

friends with the director Dan Reba on there and

I said, hey, you know, 21 years later, cause

Dan Reba directed Paul Dini wrote it. So I tagged

them both and I'm like, any thoughts on this

gentleman? Dan replies, this show was a blast

to work on. The alien Cantina sequence had the

craziest alien ideas we could think of. The designers

got in a room and just started sketching, competing

for the strangest design. He says, I don't remember

if James Tucker or Glenn Murakami came up with

the alien. with the talking eyeball, but that

one made us laugh, so it went in. Tom Nelson

left in the middle of the show for a feature

gig, and Dan had to board a chunk himself. He

did the space stuff with Superman in the spacesuit

until the end of the show, and his Superman punch

ended up in the titles. That's really cool. This

is what I'm saying. I felt like this episode,

just because of all the different designs of

the animals and the space creatures in general,

Feel like they had the most fun with these two

episodes instead of drawing more guys with jetpacks

Yeah, absolutely I you know and like I said You

know tools of the trade episode 12 which in my

personal in our personal opinion should have

been episode 13 But I like that because you have

the looming threat of dark side without ever

really needing to Like show him right away kind

of a cliffhanger -y thing. It's so hard going

through favorite characters for this by season

because I do like a lot of them. Obviously Clark

Kent Superman. I love Lois in this series mainly

because of Dana Delaney's voice acting. Jimmy's

cool. Jimmy... He's Jimmy. In this season, he's

not so pally with Superman because he's just

kind of a background character here. Lex is great.

I mean, Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor. Honestly,

outside of Gene Hackman in the live -action film,

there is no other voice for Lex in my mind, other

than maybe John Shay from Lewis and Clark. So

I'm here so yours. I'm just glad they included

Bibo That's such a classic Superman. This is

what like Bruce Tim and his crew are so good

at doing they Excuse me. They they're so good

at getting the characters from decades long content

continuity almost a hundred years of Superman

continuity and just shaving them down into something

that works for a tv show but then they'll also

just include oh and bibbo's here too like who

cares about this sailor guy that's shown up like

10 times in a superman comic i do and i'm so

glad they included this guy uh this this fatter

version of Popeye thank god that he's there um

but other favorite character i just have to say

i feel like uh clancy brown's voice Practically

carried this show. I'm not that every anyone

there was any truly bad voice actors. Like you

said Dana was great Daley who Tim Daley Tim Daley

that voice but these are all very solid voice

acting but Clancy Brown actually had a sense

of Cleverness and foreboding with everything.

He talked about Where everything sounded smooth

yet threatening it was so well done So I guess

I'd have to as a serious answer just say Luther

because even here where he's just a businessman

where they try to Follow up with that retcon

of a not retcon, but eventually just turn him

into respectable businessman Luther I I thought

well, how can this work for a kids show and they

do it works very well works very well and honestly

While these were kids shows at the time As an

adult I don't see him as kid shows I see him

as a show for me or whatever like you know like

these were the shows that okay, so I'm Yeah,

you know so I'm 37 and a half or whatever the

hell it is now and whatever else but like in

my lifetime in the 80s when I started watching

stuff. Okay, sure the old 70s super friend stuff.

That's all well good and great I grew up on that

stuff, but this this specific the DC animated

universe shows Those are what define those are

definitive versions of all of the characters

for me and those are the most really You know

I am vengeance. I am the night. I am Batman everyone

says that I'm sure other people have said that

but Kevin Conroy did it first damn it and The

same thing here was Superman with Tim Bailey.

I mean Just the way his inflections are done

same thing with Lex and all the other voice cast.

It's it's just so so great So how the season

held up did the season keep our interest throughout?

pretty much for me it did like i wasn't ready

to there wasn't a moment where it's like you

know if you're watching the current w w e stuff

it's like at some point during one of those paper

one of those seven hour long paper use there's

going to be a point where okay this is a dud

match this is bathroom break time there was none

of that here for me like i said i went through

eight episodes of the thirteen in almost a day

and a half Yeah, I watched the other ones pretty

much like almost right before we started the

recording I do remember there were a few fights

that I just decided to skip through because I

just wanted to Get through them. I knew where

they were going with it like these they have

a very clear 3x structure and You know, I I just

wanted to get through them, but none of them

were None of them were especially terrible episodes.

Nothing like that Should we talk about is this

a good part for me to talk about the animation

and oh, yeah Yeah, yeah whoo. I said the voice

acting the voice acting in the music. I feel

really made this show okay to watch mostly because

I feel like the Do not They go with this nice

what they call like art deco Sea liner view like

a cruise ship for what? Metropolis looks like

and I look at I go. Yeah, that's metropolis,

but it also kind of looks like nothing For me,

it kind of looks like the Jetsons, but without

the balls. They're trying to make it modern,

but also we don't quite know what the internet

yet is in 1999, so people will still fax things

and our computers are built into the desks. It's

like what people in the 50s think the future

will be like, but they're lazy about it. Nothing

about Metropolis really sticks out for me, and

the animation can get pretty bad at certain times,

especially whenever water gets involved. The

frame rate just kind of tanks. Yeah now these

are fairly minor things and I do think the animation

gets a little bit more streamlined and slick

There's also some slight anime influences and

that sometimes means shortcuts in the show But

it's still it's still okay to watch it's just

when I think back to like the painted Gotham

cityscapes of Batman. I keep thinking I can't

really name any places in Metropolis that seems

interesting. Like the freaking farm looked more

interesting and lived in than anything in Metropolis.

Everything feels like a Barbie dream house in

Metropolis that hasn't been lived in. Even like

I don't know what Clark's apartment looks like.

Everything just feels interchangeable. It's time

to go to the docks. It's time to go downtown.

Whatever that means. There's just a lightness

of being. to the artwork in general. They intended

it to be light, bright, and more sprawling. They

wanted to do that to have a contrast to how dark

Batman was at the time. When you say you didn't

see Clark's apartment, you mean from the outside?

No, I mean, like, even his apartment seems kind

of barren and slick. Okay, yeah, it is. You're

right, it is. The reason why is Clark Kent Superman

is basically the reverse of Bruce Wayne Batman.

Okay? Bruce Wayne is the mask Batman is the man

Superman is the man Clark Kent is the mask so

like you were talking earlier, but it doesn't

seem like Clark has a lot of friends and That's

like some pseudo psychology. I've seen thrown

out an internet message board so many times and

it never really holds up to good scrutiny The

the nice thing about Superman he has three identities

and he's made peace with all of them. He's not

hiding And yeah, no, he's not you're right. He's

not but what I'm saying is because of Clark You

know you said earlier Clark doesn't doesn't seem

like he has friends doesn't seem like he has

much of a social life is Because he has that

super hearing and that x -ray vision and he has

to be Superman all the time when he's not being

a reporter So he really doesn't have time To

do the downtime stuff. He doesn't have time to

go out and go to raves and whatever else Yeah,

I mean It would be weird to see Clark Hinn at

raves or doing anything, but that's the thing.

He will actually know because I do remember in

season two or season three something like that.

He Clark Kent quote -unquote dies Yeah, and he

even tells his mom if I have to be Superman all

the time. I'm gonna be not I'm gonna go nuts

Yeah, he needs his downtime. He needs to have

a routine and a regular job See that was where

things got interesting because they got more

into Superman balancing his identity here It's

just he's Clark Kent to do to do reporter ring

And that's cool, but there's nothing else to

his character, at least with Batman. Well, I

hate even making that comparison, man. I'm talking

literally about the way these shows are structured,

and how these characters act. They have their

role, and then there's not much else to it, except

when Lois talks to Clark. Then I feel like there's

some camaraderie, there's some kind of friendly

rivalry, and that's a nice addition to the show

itself. I'm just saying that like if the gimmick

isn't good in the episode There's not much else

to really interest you to me Like the backgrounds

are kind of even as bright and like say it looks

like metropolis It looks like how I'd imagine

metropolis to be but it still feels kind of Barren

and lacking character. So if there's nothing

interesting going on in the forefront the background

won't save you Yeah, and the other thing to remember

about this show this specific season is They

were doing both, this and the new adventures

of Batman at the time. So they were running themselves

pretty ragged. That's why this season has 13

episodes. And it's basically character introduction,

plot, you know, almost not necessarily villain

of the week, but there are a couple of these

episodes where it's like, hey, this is... you

know superman stopping bank heists or whatever

because they were running themselves ragged and

everything else and you're right season two and

season three are much more in depth and explore

more because by that time btis was completely

done oh that's interesting i didn't know they

were working uh overlap like that that oh yeah

that does explain a lot and like i said for what

they did it was a very well -paid show and it's

a lot more adults Then I gave it credit for what

I mean by adult is even in your favorite episode

the the three -part man of tomorrow one or sorry

the Did you like Only as an adult could I understand

what Lex Luthor was really doing there He was

essentially running a geopolitical shell game

where he made a big robot suits and then he had

third party people steal the robot suit so he

could sell it to Kazakhstan who the United States

has an embark trade embargo on and then sell

it to them for a billion dollars and then have

the government make a new contract for a multi

-billion dollar contract and explain all this

to people in a in a superman show and it's like

well he's playing a cold war shell game the feed

into the military industrial complex like jesus

christ i i wasn't expecting that level of tom

clancy shit in a suit in a superman show This

is what I mean by adult and they do this a lot

where they just assume you understand how the

law works and how corporations work and we're

just going to We're just and if you're eight

years old just tune it out Superman's gonna punch

something real soon, man. Don't you worry? Yep

Absolutely, and at least they're not you know

trying to you know Create Lexburg or Otisville

or something. At least they're not, you know,

on the San Andreas fault. Yeah, that would be

bad. That would be very bad. So we have a universal

rating system. I just gave you the link in Skype.

Once you get a look at that, let me know what

you would rate season one of Superman, the animated

series. Oh, OK. Let's see. Oh, the rating scale.

Wasn't this like out of 10? No, it's zero to

five with half points. So technically it is ten

But we use zero to five with like four point

five or three point five or whatever Okay, I'd

say it's a solid three point five. I did I did

not regret Watching this first step season, but

I can't imagine another time. I'll be watching

it Again, unless there's a reason I said everything

was lined up very well and they were very respectful

to Superman But boy a lot of it is Superman stopping

a heist and there might be a twist Sometimes

there is not though and every now and then he

fights a cool white alien dude and boy that's

pretty neat That'll fill up a solid 44 minutes

of your day and you won't regret that Sometimes

a janitor gets some purple goo on him and that

all that dude can think of is to chain Superman

in his basement like a psycho and throw some

trucks around you get those episodes too yeah

that's very very true we do get those episodes

um for me i gotta give it a four because like

i said i haven't actually gone back and watched

this in a very long time um and i you're right

it does need improvements But overall, for a

first season of 13 episodes, based on the fact

that it was released in 1996, I think it really

has stood up the test of time. I really do. And

I really, really dug it. You're right. Bibbo

coming in. And the cool thing is, Bibbo is also

Brad Garrett. That was hilarious, getting him

to do that. and uh... in lobo as well uh... but

yes in the animated series season one i will

give a four to uh... days near three -and -a

-half uh... we're gonna take a quick break or

come back with promotions and a bunch of other

stuff after this this is a these actions station

podcast I produce called Punisher Body Count.

It's the Net's best Punisher podcast, but don't

take my word for it. Listen to the hosts. Punisher

Body Count is a work in progress. To listen to

this great show, you can find this on iTunes.

Just search Punisher Body Count or come to our

website, PunisherBodyCount .com. For action,

comedy, mayhem, and more, read it now at dacean

.com. D -A -S -I -E -N dot com. Ah, brave new

world that has such patsas in it. You know, kids,

a lot has changed while your old uncle Joe has

been away. New Gotham, new rules, even a new

Batman. It isn't 65 years in the future, but

Legends of the Dark Knight has gone beyond. Batman

Beyond, that is. Ah, the new boy. Ears are too

long, and I missed the cape. But not too shabby.

Not too shabby at all. Join Steve and Mike as

they delve into the remaining episodes of the

podcast, where they'll cover Batman Beyond, products,

games, and more. Check it out only on keycastradio

.com. We are back here on Tooncast Beyond episode

78. I'm of course TF2 and Mike joined with Dane

Lamont It is time to close out the show. So Dane

what's going on over at Punisher body count?

Tell us all about it. Well We are, of course,

going to be covering the Netflix show that's

coming out in a few weeks here in November. We

have a lot of new members in our Facebook fan

page that you can find on Facebook. That's the

best way to keep up with not just Punisher News,

but our own show, Punisher Body Count. So the

two places I'll recommend you to go, if you're

interested in The Punisher, or just two guys

that can't stop making dick jokes, you can...

Well, my other co -host is of course Jake Williams,

a guy that's slowly driving me insane, but...

He's also a really good friend of mine that shows

you the state my life is in so There's punish

your body count calm. That's the main podcast

site and then on Facebook You can just put in

punish your body count into the Facebook search

engine and after they've done tabulating all

your data They're gonna send you to our page

and we'll invite you in it's real easy Some awesome.

Yeah, we don't need any more dollar general hose

People from Great Britain visit America and immediately

go to Dollar General to like take pictures and

stuff Some kind of goddamn landmark like Jesus

dude go see the Statue of Liberty or something

Don't waste your time. Oh There's so many of

those jokes Now the main joke is I'm going to

have a stroke or heart attack any day now like

they've made memes about that It's pretty pretty

terrible Well, you know, yeah, I yeah, it's holy

crap. You're right. It's November already I forget

I didn't forget that Punisher was coming, but

I knew it was after obviously we saw defenders

and all that and everything else But it fingers

crossed is not more terrorism or shootings. Otherwise,

you know, who knows yeah Yeah, really ain't that

the truth? If anyone's looking for Superman the

animated series all three seasons are on DVD

also you can get the complete series which is

essentially just all three seasons in one package

as well uh... I will put links to Dane's uh...

I will put links to Punisher Body Count and the

website and the Facebook page and all that in

the post so everyone can click on those and head

on over there and listen to them talk about some

Punisher comics and other Punisher related stuff

What is the state of the Punisher comics nowadays?

I've looked in the group every now and then but

here's the thing Now now what's interesting about

the Punisher is we just had our first like long

-term Writer that was a woman named Becky clone

in most people say that her Run was about good

to average like what the run got amazing toward

the end, you know, like in a comic book series

You know a series is gonna end when they just

start doing a bunch of one -shot stories and

everything before it's been like six parters

or bigger and They're just kind of running out

the clock. What was weird is she did this giant

12 part epic about? The Punisher trying to destroy

this drug ring across the Northeastern party

United States and it was It was okay, but kind

of boring Steve Dillon's artwork carried it unfortunately

Steve Dillon died during this run and The art

got a little shaky then when they got to these

one these one shots where frank is literally

just like a concerned citizen like neighborhood

watch frank castle just helping the common man

out in brooklyn those were really entertaining

stories and it makes me really sad that they're

gone now what it's being replaced with is punisher

war machine because uh roadie got killed in what

he it was roadie's turn to die in one of the

latest like civil war tie -ins or actually he

died in the main civil war 2 story so now oh

man who gonna be war machine the clear answer

is a guy that had no connection to roadie Frank

Castle so now Frank Castle's a robot man it's

pretty cool dude it's more more cool stuff from

the house of ideas yeah I'm not so sure a Punisher

robot is gonna work man inside the robot what's

funny is we've made jokes about this but we said

so like Frank's taken on the role of like one

of the few original African -American characters

that Marvel actually had. But the thing is, Frank

has been a black man before. In the early 90s,

he took plastic surgery to hide from the Kingpin,

and the plastic surgeon turned him into a black

man. It was a fascinatingly bad story. Even the

writer, Mike Barron, has disowned it. Literally

him becoming a black man through plastic surgery

is a more interesting idea to me than making

him war machine However, I will say that a lot

of the listeners enjoy the writer who's currently

on whose name I can't remember So I'm gonna try

and go into it in a fair You know a try and fair

state of mind to me It's another it's kind of

another gimmick. Just when the Punisher was getting

good in the regular universe. Yeah, but Failing

all that Garth Innis is back. You can read more

Punisher Max comics with Punisher the platoon

It's it you can learn about Frank Castle during

his first tour of Vietnam before you ever turn

into a psychopath And it is wonderful comics

beautiful art by Goran parlav Alright, folks.

At some point, I don't know when, but maybe sometime

in 2018, I will have Dane back on for Superman

the Animated Series Season 2. Oh, that'd be wonderful.

Because that's not currently in the plans right

now. It was going to be, but... I'm sure you

got a big rotation. Yeah, pretty much. Coming

up next, we're gonna be talking more superheroes.

For now, though, that's gonna do it for this...

episode of Tooncast. I'd like to thank you for

joining us here on the show and of course we

invite you to get in contact with us and leave

feedback for the show. Visit the website geekcastradio

.com. You can email us feedback at geekcastradio

.com. Just put in Tooncast Beyond episode 78

feedback or whatever you want to do. Leave us

your feedback in iTunes. Please do this. Follow

us on Twitter. At Tooncast Beyond is the show

Twitter. I am at TF2 and Mike. What is the PBC

Twitter, Dane? Oh man, good question. I think

if you just type in Punish Your Body Count, you'll

see us, but we mostly just use that for updates.

I'm pretty bad with Twitter. Become a fan on

Facebook. Go to Facebook .com slash GeekCast,

Radio Network, and as Dane said earlier, you

can also check out Punish Your Body Count over

there as well. We hope you enjoyed this episode

of Tooncast Beyond, and wish you'll join us next

time when we will be giving you our thoughts

on X -Men The Animated Series Season 4. For now,

I am TFG1Mike with... Oh, Dan Lamont. Thank you

for listening, until next time. This is Bruce

Timm, and Bruce is one of the big people here

today. This is Little People's Day, so you're

just skating on thin ice just to even be here.

Bruce is the one who supported this kind of music

for his show. Most of the Warner animated stuff

has Carl Stalling type of stuff, and Bruce was

very definitely know he wanted dramatic underscoring

for his show. Plus, he's the one when Warner

Brothers said, well, now that we've recorded

30 -some -odd of those, can't we just track the

rest? And Bruce just made sure that that never

happened. And so, yeah. OK, folks. I think we

can make this.