One of the most enduring memories of my childhood, which is odd as it only happened four times, was watching the ‘Superman Festival’ on local station WWOR Channel 9, based out of Seacaucus, NJ and serving the New York metropolitan area. The festival, hosted by Adventures of Superman‘s Jimmy Olsen, Jack Larson, featured a number of Adventures episodes aired on Thanksgiving Day after the end of the Macy’s parade. You can watch some of Larson’s bits on YouTube.
Carrying on that tradition, we will be posting three of our Adventures of Superman double shots today, acting as a ‘Superman Festival’ of our own. For all those celebrating, Happy Thanksgiving.
1. Super pseudoscience, son
This show is no stranger to weird pseudoscience, but these two episodes take it to an entirely new level. Both episodes feature a new character, Professor LaSerne, an ‘old friend’ of Superman’s, who appears to be an expert on molecular science. In “Divide and Conquer,” Superman needs to be two places at once (more on that later), and the Prof, flown down to Latin America, suggests that he concentrate really hard and split himself in two. In “The Mysterious Cube,” Superman encounters an alloy too strong for him to see, burn, or smash through. The professor doesn’t use the word ‘phase’ through, but he suggests, essentially, that he phase through the wall.
Now, I’m all for giving Superman more interesting things to do with his powers, but this show has been so stingy with powers in the past that it seems really out of place. This show has really taken a weird turn from ‘stopping gangsters by barely using his powers’ to ‘splitting himself in two’ in just a few years.
2. So, why exactly did he split himself in two?
So, Superman “has to” stay in jail, so that he can’t be framed for trying to kill the president again, but he “has to” escape to protect him. Here’s the thing: he stays in jail and is still framed, and he escapes and still can’t stop the next attempt on his life. It is only after he comes back together that he can fix everything. So, if he had just stayed together in jail, he could’ve escaped at the proper time and done everything exactly the same, except that he would have not been able to have late 50s special effects at their finest capture his splitting.
3. Legally dead
In “The Mysterious Cube,” there is a criminal that has been hiding out in an unbreakable cube for nearly 7 years. We come into this story 6 years and 364 days in, and the police are still trying to get into this cube, and the clock is ticking. Why? Well, because after 7 years, this crook will be declared legally dead, and therefore can’t be charged with any crimes.
Now, I’m not lawyer, but I would think that if someone is declared legally dead because they’ve gone missing, but then show up, there is a procedure for that. The judge doesn’t then shoot the dude in the forehead because “YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD, NOW GET DEAD!” So, they should be able to prove who he is, and still convict him.
What is so frustrating about this plot point is that they could’ve just used the statute of limitations and done the exact same gag, and it makes 100x more sense. That said, it’s goofy and I love it.
4. Best line of dialogue in the series?
So, Jimmy and Lois find themselves kidnapped (again), but the way they are kidnapped is a top 5 line of dialogue in the six seasons. They are walking out of the Daily Planet building, and are stopped by a crook, who delivers this beauty: “My friend here will introduce us. His name is gun.” God DAMN I want to become a criminal, buy a gun, and then pull this exact stunt.
5. Why did it take six seasons for the show to reflect the comics?
More than anything else, these two episodes feel firmly like the comic books of the era. These are exactly the sorts of things you’d see on the cover of “Action Comics” – ‘Two Supermen?!’ ‘The Impenetrable Cube!’ And so, even if these make for less than logical episodes, they fit nicely into the overarching Superman narrative. And while I understand that budgets and special effects were a concern in this era, neither of these episodes did anything TOO nuts. They simply embraced the tone of the comics, and it led to two really fun, weird episodes. Let’s hope the rest of the season follows suit.
We’ve got two more episodes as part of our Superman Festival – be back in a jiffy!
