The more things change, the more they stay the same on Adventures of Superman. While these two episodes feature some of the best camerawork of the series thus far, they still fall into the same tropes that the prior 30+ episodes fell into. Let’s dig in.
1. Oh bother
There is a character in “The Machine That Could Plot Crimes” who is clearly a scientist. He builds a ‘machine’ that is essentially a computer that can compound complex schedules; there’s no doubt he’s a learned man. And yet, his character is “Uncle Oscar.” No reason is given for why that is the case, but that’s the only name he’s referred to as in the whole episode, including by people who met him 10 seconds earlier. It’s weird, and it is compounded by Uncle Oscar being played by someone who insists on chewing scenery wherever he goes. He pulls on and off two different sets of glasses, seemingly only for dramatic effect; he’s disgustingly in your face.
I thought that was why something abut him was familiar (because even a minute of screentime feels like a day’s worth), but I did some digging and, holy shitballs, he’s the original voice of Winnie the Pooh! He doesn’t exactly do a Pooh impression, unless there was a cartoon I missed where Pooh did meth for a few weeks and really settled into a manic state.
A similar thing happened in “Jungle Devil,” with an actress seeming very familiar. It turns out she was a regular on I Love Lucy, (Doris Singleton, who played Carolyn Appleby) a show I never really actively watched, but have absorbed through osmosis from years of reruns being played just about everywhere you go. I’m consistently surprised by how many actors did guest spots on Adventures, despite having pretty terrible characters to play.
2. Dr. Mr. Kelso
The machine, you know, the one that can plot crimes!, is called Mr. Kelso, for reasons that aren’t really ever articulated. But hey, it’s got a name, so let’s use it. This is a rare instance of a television series, then or now, accurately describing something a computer could do. I’m not joking, this has a way better sense of what a computer can do than Hackers or The Net did 30 years later. While the system of how a computer would take in/understand these questions is insane, it gives the machine actual tasks.
Essentially, it is asked ‘how to rob X bank?,’ and the computer runs information, like police patrol routes, deliveries, and traffic lights, into an equation. Like I said, a computer could do something like this. I’m honestly shocked.
3. “Jungle Devil” hates all non-white men
As soon as I saw the name of this episode, I knew I was in for some racist shit. Well, strap in, because we’ve got some misogyny too!
First of all, Lois is all but forbidden by Clark to go on a trip with him to the jungle because, and I quote, “the jungle is no place for a woman!” Add to that one of the folks marooned in the jungle, again, the only woman, being the Eve of this situation, by angering the natives by doing something. Oh, what is that something? Well, it’s something only a dame would do, and that’s attempt to inspect a giant diamond! Women be SHOPPING!
But that pales to all the weirdly jumbled racism. We’re never really told where this jungle is, but the natives apparently speak Spanish, but dance/chant like Africans, and are drawn as broadly as possible. Loin cloths? We’ve got ’em! Faux-Native American headdressses? Fuck yes! Witch doctors? De rigueur!
I know that the 50s were a long time ago, and it’s especially embarrassing to see how some television shows were doing this as recently as 20ish years ago. But still, oof, this episode is rough.
4. Jimmy must hate himself
Every fourth episode or so, Jimmy does something so monumentally stupid that you expect this is what will kill him. This week, it’s stowing away in the cargo hold of an airplane without a seat belt or even a coat. And yet, he doesn’t freeze to death, get concussed, or any other ailment that you’d expect to befall him. Instead, he just gets hungry and blows his cover.
Continued below5. Superman is SO LAZY
This entire episode could’ve been solved very, very easily. Superman hears about people stranded in the jungle, flies there himself, and rescues them. Instead, Clark gets three other folks involved, is coy about his Superman shenanigans, and takes 10x as long to actually help the people involved.
I really don’t know if the show realizes this but has to kill 25 minutes, or if they really just don’t think about this stuff. It’s super frustrating to watch these episodes that just meander for no real reason.
Bonus Thought!
We get a hint at something that Superman does again in Superman III, which is crush a piece of coal into a diamond. Of course, here, Clark has to play it off in a way where he’s a hero, instead of in Superman III, when it’s done for a gift.
