Nice kids, crazy scientists, flooded cities, and a shocking twist highlight the two episodes of Adventures of Superman we’re talking about today. Up, up, and away!
1. A historically significant invention
With many of the zany scientists on this show, including Professor Pepperwinkle, a recurring mad scientist, their inventions are often things that have little, if any application to actual life. But Pepperwinkle, in “The Phony Alibi,” invented, essentially, teleportation. He uses telephone wires to send people between two far flung locations. The explanation is hilariously bad (“I need to remove all the air between your cells!”), but leaving that alone for a second, the professor has invented something that could change the world forever.
Now, because this is Adventures of Superman, of course a crook uses it, but it is only the crooks that seem to see any value in the invention. They don’t talk about how you could transfer hospital patients to the best trauma centers, or even how much it would cut down on the cost of a family’s vacation. And, to cap it all off, at the end of the episode the Professor destroys it because his long distance bill is too high. Come on, dude, we need teleportation.
2. Sometimes this show tries too hard, other times, not at all
There are aspects of this series that are almost hilariously ignored, and today has a few of them. The most blatant one is when the first crook goes into the machine and winds up in Kansas City, he’s just come into the room from being out. Presumably he doesn’t have a credit card in 1957, when they were still relatively rare, so are we to believe that he was carrying around enough money to hop a flight with no worry at all?
But then on the other hand, this episode goes to great lengths to let the three crooks all live at the Professor’s house. Now, one of them already rents a room there, but the other two want to move in there, so they have access to the machine. They have a 2 hour window when the professor naps every day, so why do they need to live there? Can’t their buddy just let them in? But nope, we get an elaborate lie about them being brothers and need to rent the room next to their buddy. It’s so odd.
3. Superman does nothing until it’s about him
“The Prince Albert Coat” is kicked off by news of a flood leading to clothing drives. Now, the flood is at least a 5 hour drive away from Metropolis, but we see Superman doing absolutely nothing to help these people. However, when the flood may take out an area that he happens to be visiting, all of a sudden Superman swoops into action. As I’ve said in the past, this is the only Superman portrayal that I can recall where, if given the choice, he would much rather be Clark Kent than Superman.
4. A whole lot of trusting shitheads
So, this episode hinges on a little boy collecting old clothes for a drive for the victims of this massive flood. It’s a genuinely sweet idea, and shows how a little boy can be more compassionate than a superhero. Well, he accidentally donates his great-grandfather’s old coat, not knowing that there were $10,000 stuffed into the lining because he didn’t like banks. This moment represents the only time in the episode that someone is anything less than 100% trusting. Let’s run down this parade of foolishness:
– the boy lets these two strangers into his house to take the donations, instead of bringing them out to their car, or at least to the porch.
– great grand-dad lets Lois and Jimmy, strangers he just met for the first time, take his kid on an overnight car trip to attempt to find his coat.
– Lois and Jimmy let the two drivers who originally picked up the donations (who are also crooks) drive their car with them and the kid sleeping in the back.
It is insane how many wrong choices they make in such short time.
5. Uhhhh
So, through a shitty actor and after stopping a worse flood, Superman gets the coat back, and brings it to the rightful owner. He opens up the coat, and pulls out his ten grand. But wait, it’s not standard US currency. It is Confederate currency. He thought that one day it would be worth something; does that mean that he thought the South would rise again? It is just a very weird twist at the end of the episode, and one that, in 2020, is quite different.
