The Final Episode #29: Superman: The Animated Series (1996 - 2000)

 

It's time again to talk about comic books made into cartoons and today we have some great shit to discuss with you! I like Superman as a character. I think he's a nice fella and I like him. He has a great set of weirdo villains to fight. I think they are really fun characters. I think my favorite is Bizarro. I also really like his supporting cast like Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane. That guy is incredibly fun every time he pops up in the comics and cartoons. Superman gets dumped on by dumb jerks who won't ever be correct and the few times they are correct you feel dirty that you agreed with them. Damn jerks.

Anyway the history of Superman goes back 83 years ago to 1938. First appearing in Action Comics #1 and lasting to this day. The history of Superman in Animation is pretty much just as old, seeing as he showed up in his first cartoon by Max Fleisher just three years after his introduction. The next stuff was done by Filmation from 1966 to 1970. They made 68 segments between several shows The Adventure of Superboy, The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, and The Batman/Superman Hour. Then our rascally friends at Hanna-Barbera created the Superfriends which had the Justice League on it. That series lasted for a decade plus pretty much. Then Ruby-Spears made a series in 1988. I haven't seen any of it but I'm sure I'll end up talking about it because why not?

Thanks to the success of Batman: The Animated Series, DC decided to get the guys who worked on that series to do a Superman series and they did a great job. This was a great series dedicated to the Man of Steel. They had the great writers from Batman: The Animated Series and possibly the greatest voice cast of all time. This show had Malcolm McDowell, Brion James, Gilbert Gottfried, Christopher McDonald, Brad Garret, CLANCY BROWN,  FLIP FLAPPIN' DEAN JONES of like every live action Disney movie of all time. BUD CORT. Who could say no to Bud Cort? Probably portnoyd but no one ever listens to him. MICHAEL IRONSIDE voiced Darkseid. He should have done that in the stupid shitty movies made by that damn jerk. ROBERT "AIRPLANE" HAYS! I don't care what you say about the show but if you are gonna tell me that they didnt pick a great group of people to voice these characters than you can eat my entire ass. All of it. Sideways. Which I doubt will be much fun for either of us.

One of my favorite things about this little ongoing column is finding out what exactly WAS the Final Episode. I always thought the Final Episode of this show was the one where Darkseid comes to earth and Dan Turpin ends up dying. I was ready to talk about how great Jack Kirby was because that character was pretty much based on him. I still get to talk about Jack Kirby because Darkseid and Apokolips were in this episode. As a comics fan I will mention how great Jack Kirby every single time I can. Jack Kirby ruled!

The Final Episode was called Legacy and appeared on February 5th and 12th. Yep it's another two parter! This is one hell of a two parter though! We start off with Apokolips ships taking over a bug country and everyone is totally fucked. The King Bug finally gives up to a Apokolips warrior. He goes back to Darkseid and takes off his mask....AND ITS SUPERMAN! Damn that's a way to open up an episode! Superman has been taken over by Darkseid with the help of Granny Goodness (voiced by ED ASNER! ED ASNER!)  and he plans to get Superman to take over the earth for him. While this is happening Supergirl is trying to make it look like Superman is still around by using his Superman Robots. Lex Luthor finds out that Superman is gone and ends up going to General Hardcastle (voiced by Charles Napier which is perfect casting) and they both want Superman gone. Superman and the Apokolips ships and those weird Bug creatures whos name I always forget come by. They try to stop Superman and Supergirl fight. Lex Luthor comes out with a Kryptonite gun and shoots them. Damn what a way to end part one!

In Part Two we find Superman and Supergirl in a military base. They have red-sun lamps installed to steal away Superman/Supergirl's power. Lois Lane breaks using a card I'm sure she got totally okay from her dad. Didn't just steal it or not. Lois Lane is a saucy dame and will do what she wants. I like her. I like saucy dames. I wish I could be a 1940s detective so I could say dame a lot more. She ends up helping the both of them get out of the military base before Lex Luthor and General Hardcastle can fucking kill them with Kryptonite. Fuckin jerks. They bring Supergirl who was hurt to Dr. Emil Hamilton who says he can't help her or he'd be put in prison for treason. Superman pretty much forces him too.

This gets Superman to go back to Apokolips and beat the everloving piss out of everyone there. I like how he takes out Kalibak in like one toss. Very funny. He kicks Darkseid's ass and even tells the people of Apokolips that they are free and they can do what they want. Since they are pretty much beaten into submission to love Darkseid so they pretty much help him up. Superman tries to go fight Darkseid again but Supergirl stops him telling him that someone will die if he plays by Darkseid's rules and it might not be him. The episode ends with a news cast of people talking about Superman. Some people can't trust him now but people like Jimmy Olsen stick up for him. I always liked that rascal. It's always a good time reading his comic from the 1960s. He was a nazi once. I really should review that comic.

FINAL VERDICT: This was yet another great Final Episode and should be watched by all. Even if you don't like Superman for the dumb reasons people don't like Superman. Great stuff.