CREDITS: Written by Hilary Bader; directed by Yuichiro Yano.
REVIEW: People's main complaint about the Superman animated series is its villain of the week syndrome, but usually there are enough personal moments between Superman and his supporting cast to alleviate th problem. At least for me. Double Dose, with its TWO villains of the week, is, however, a mere set-up for action, with little to no opportunities for anything but a whole lot of zapping. Livewire and Parasite are even too similar - both are energy vampires of a kind - to create much contrast. They break into and out of places, they fight Superman, maybe kiss Jack Kirby avatar Dan Turpin... (Ok, just Livewire. THIS time.) But that's it, really.
I'm not saying it's a total dud. The Parasite is pretty smart during the boat chase/fight, and who doesn't love his taking on a shark's abilities? Security was pretty lax in Livewire's ward though. And Lois' only function is to wear a plastic poncho to give Superman the idea for a full-body condom. Where it comes from, no one tells us. Professor Hamilton, one images. A condom, Siskoid?! Hey, I'm not the one who immediately makes a protection joke!
There's almost something to the villains' relationship, something that's almost about consent, but the theme doesn't really materialize. She's always withholding consent and reminding him that "no means no", so when he finally decides she's said no for the last time, it's a violation. But that all feels incidental, and I know I'm reading too much into it. And what I'm reading isn't very pleasant. So better not to think about the subtext too much.
SOUNDS LIKE: Danny the Janitor is played by impressionist, comedian, actor Jim Meskimen. You might remember him from Whose Line Is It Anyway?, but he's mostly known for voice work on tv, film and video games.
REWATCHABILITY: Medium-Low - Just a pretext for action, but there's no real plot beyond those combat encounters.
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