Source: The Adventures of Superboy, 1st season (1988-1989)
Type: Television
A year after John Byrne wiped Superboy from continuity, the producers of the first three Superman films (and Supergirl) came up with a tv series starring John Newton as Superboy. I didn't see any episodes when it first went out, but You-Tube is helping me justify my missing it. Shot on video, and with video effects that are put to shame even by Doctor Who's 80s output, the series had the look of bad 80s porn (is there GOOD 80s porn though?). Watch in horror as Lex Luthor defeats Superboy with pink kryptonite:
Harrowing.
This version of Superboy goes to college at Shuster University in Siegelville, Florida (it was filmed - I mean, taped - in Orlando) where Clark worked on the student paper. In effect, the series took place in the "lost years" between Smallville and Metropolis. Seaquest and soap star Stacy Haiduk played Lana Lang. Clark's roommate T.J. (Jim Calvert) was Perry White's nephew. And the Kents were Stuart Whitman and Salome "Founder Leader" Jens. Lex is abominably played by Scott James Wells.
The second season would change a lot of things, from production values to casting to tone, but most importantly, it would change its star. For whatever reason, John Newton was asked to leave after a single season. But the question remains, would John Haymes Newton have grown up to be a good Superman?
Yeah, I could see it.
Next Sunday, we'll look at Newton's replacement, but for now, if you have an opinion about that first season of Superboy, tell us about it!
Type: Television
A year after John Byrne wiped Superboy from continuity, the producers of the first three Superman films (and Supergirl) came up with a tv series starring John Newton as Superboy. I didn't see any episodes when it first went out, but You-Tube is helping me justify my missing it. Shot on video, and with video effects that are put to shame even by Doctor Who's 80s output, the series had the look of bad 80s porn (is there GOOD 80s porn though?). Watch in horror as Lex Luthor defeats Superboy with pink kryptonite:Harrowing.
This version of Superboy goes to college at Shuster University in Siegelville, Florida (it was filmed - I mean, taped - in Orlando) where Clark worked on the student paper. In effect, the series took place in the "lost years" between Smallville and Metropolis. Seaquest and soap star Stacy Haiduk played Lana Lang. Clark's roommate T.J. (Jim Calvert) was Perry White's nephew. And the Kents were Stuart Whitman and Salome "Founder Leader" Jens. Lex is abominably played by Scott James Wells.
The second season would change a lot of things, from production values to casting to tone, but most importantly, it would change its star. For whatever reason, John Newton was asked to leave after a single season. But the question remains, would John Haymes Newton have grown up to be a good Superman?
Yeah, I could see it.Next Sunday, we'll look at Newton's replacement, but for now, if you have an opinion about that first season of Superboy, tell us about it!
Comments
But there's also something to be said about Superboy in a Superman-less environment. We can call a younger version of Superman, like Conner, Superboy. Or if we know someone is Superman, then it makes sense to call him Superboy, Supertot, Superbaby in his youth (comic book sense). But you're right that it's unlikely someone would start their career as "Superboy".
I like how you see Salome Jens and think "female shapeshifter". I do the same, though I also think of her from "Terror from the Year 5000":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iGrN0YXdYo
The smokin' hot nurse is Salome Jens.
And, to go back to that hoary old line, I think Marvel were 100% correct when they had their schoolboy character start his career as "Spider-MAN". Bit of a shame it took them ages to upgrade Invisible Girl, but one step at a time.
Of course, that would make "The Flash" a poor choice for Jay Garrick or Barry Allen as well. Not that I see a whole lot of room for confusion: "a flash of _____" tends to conjure a limited number of images, but they're all of fast things (lightning, Zorro's sword, a camera).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2WVlmNqMMs
It's a bit brief to really be certain, but his Clark Kent seems to have improved tremendously.
It was much worse than I remembered. It took me 6 months to make it through all 26 episodes. I couldn't believe how bad the acting was.
Still, I thought the stories did get a bit better in the second half of the season, after Cary Bates joined the writing staff.
(a) the producers had licensed all the Superfamily characters from Warner Bros, then parent company of DC but at this point, after the financial failure of Superman III, they had sub-licensed the rights to "Superman" to Cannon, which is how we got the final Chris Reeve film. So this show had no choice but to be called "SUPER BOY." Personally, I don't have the issues that some do but I'm coming to this from the perspective of being a long time, older comic book reader, and all those LoSH names (like LAD this and BOY that) stuck with me as not problematic and I've never viewed BOY generally with the trauma some here seem to as some sort of derogatory or diminished term. Fun Fact (Flash Fact?): Smallville couldn't use the name 'superboy' due to the Siegel/Shuster lawsuit pending at the time it was in pre-production and they made the choice not to change that or use 'superman,' which is why we got things like the "red/blue blur."
(b) the show was syndicated and in the 70s/80s, syndication meant very low budgets; it wasn't until Star TNG proved that syndication could be a money maker for the stations and the production studios, that this changed. The producers themselves acknowledge that the first 13 episodes were lower budgeted because they didn't expect it to succeed; thus you had all those awful 'stunt men' type villains, who were mostly bit players from Disney World, essentially gloried burly extras since they weren't even trained as stuntmen. And Newton was hired essentially out of trade acting, it was his first job.
I personally would have preferred him to stick around for all four seasons, especially since the actor they cast the following season, after the salary dispute, was seven years older, so thus far older than the C-List Jimmy and C-List Lana that was in the first season.