Superman: The Animated Series

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Superman from the S:TAS opening sequence

Created by
Starring	Tim Daly Clancy Brown Dana Delany et al.
Genre
Run time	22 minutes
Original channel	The WB
Original run

No. of episodes
Origin Country	c4tdompa
Rating
Website

Superman: The Animated Series is the name of a Warner Bros.' American animated television series of the late 1990s. The official title of the series was simply Superman, and (as the title suggests) it starred the fictional character of Superman. Warner Bros. applied the same "more modern, more serious" animated treatment to DC Comics' flagship character in the same way they had successfully produced Batman: The Animated Series. The result was a cartoon praised by comic book and animation fans, and seen by some as one of the best adaptations of Superman ever.Template:Citeneeded

Airing ten years after the 1986 "reboot" of the Superman comic book character, the animated series paid tribute to both the classic Superman of old and the newer "modern" Superman. Elements of Superman from all eras of his history were included in the series, especially in a potrayal of the planet Krypton, the planet that Superman was born on, that fans praised as a "modernization" of Superman's origin that contrasted John Byrne's total remake, and some fans felt was superior to the "newer" comic book version. Template:Citeneeded Most notable was that the evil computer Brainiac, was not only now from Krypton, but was portrayed as responsible for preventing the knowledge of Krypton's imminent destruction from reaching its people. In a lesser innovation, the ship that carried the infant Kal-El to Earth was designed to land smoothly upon reaching its destination. As a result, the ship is still in perfect working condition during Superman's adulthood and is used as his mode of long range transportation in space.

On August 18, 1998, Warner Brothers released The Batman/Superman Movie on DVD and video. This movie was formed of three episodes from season 2 of Superman: The Animated Series, "World's Finest" parts 1, 2 and 3. Mark Hamill again provided the voice for The Joker.

Midway through the series' run, it was combined with episodes of The New Batman Adventures to become The New Batman/Superman Adventures. The characters of Superman and Batman were then spun off into a new animated series, Justice League, which also featured other popular DC characters, such as Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash.

[edit] Trivia

Some of the character designs are clearly patterned on real actors. The more obvious likenesses are Shirley Jones ("The Partridge Family") to Martha Kent and Telly Savalas ("Kojak") to Lex Luthor. The character, Dan "Terrible" Turpin was visually modeled after the character's creator, Jack Kirby. His first appearance in the episode "Tools of the Trade" also marks the first series appearance of "The Fourth World" characters and concepts that were Jack Kirby's major modern DC Comics creations.
Due to Lex Luthor's pronounced lips and tanned skin, several fans mistakingly thought he was African-American. This is due to the Telly Savalas inspiration for his look - the reason for which is that producer Bruce Timm thought of Clancy Brown's take on Luthor as a "cultured thug", the same way he saw Savalas' Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Timm's favorite Bond film). Sometimes, the animated Luthor is portrayed as being distinctly darker than the people around him, and sometimes (like the shot in "A Little Piece of Home" where Luthor literally puts his face right into Superman's) his skin color is exactly the same as everybody else. Timm is rumored to quip that his Lex Luthor must 'tan easily.'
Series producer 'Bruce Timm' personally story-boarded Superman's climatic, final fight with Darkseid in the series finale, "Legacy", to ensure it would be done right and have as much impact as possible.
The Prometheon rock creature, from the episode of the same name, actually made his first appearance in a Green Lantern comic as a servant of Gaia.
Real-life married couple Mike Farrell and Shelley Fabares voice Jonathan and Martha Kent.
Lex Luthor's henchwoman, Mercy Graves, is a character created for the show. She was eventually added as a member of the cast in the comics.
Also created for the series and eventually added into comics continuity is the supervillainess Livewire (DC Comics), who can control and turn into electrical energy.
A game was produced for the Nintendo 64 based upon the series which is considered one of the worst games ever. Template:Citeneeded A later game produced for the Playstation 2 and GameCube, is considered far superior, but still in need of improvement.Template:Citeneeded
The series was originally meant to have an opening montage similar to the one Batman had in his previous animated series, showcasing what Superman could do in an awe inspiring manner, but the animators were unable to finish it by the deadline, so a montage featuring clips of Superman in action alongside his supporting cast from the episodes was utilized instead. Part of the abandoned montage, which featured Superman flying in the night sky of Metropolis, made it into the opening. Another such shot was the final one in the opening; The classic visual of Clark Kent ripping open his shirt to reveal the big red "S."
Clancy Brown, who provided the voice of Lex Luthor, originally auditioned for the lead role of Superman/Clark Kent, but when Bruce Timm heard his audition, he immediately offered Brown the part of Luthor.
The episode Monkey Fun was actually a modernized remake of an episode from the 1960s animated Superman series. It was based on the 1930s film King Kong.

Image:Superman TTA.jpg

Superman makes a cameo appearance in the Tiny Toons movie.

In the comics, Maggie Sawyer is a lesbian and is in a longterm relationship with another woman, a subject that Lex Luthor once tried to blackmail her for. While it is never stated in the animated series, there is an episode where a wounded Sawyer is visited by a woman in the hospital; the same woman later is seen consoling Sawyer at Turpin's funeral. Commentary on the DVD version of the episode acknowledges the woman as being Toby Raines, Sawyer's long-time girlfriend from the comics, whose -- albeit tamed -- inclusion in the series was a nod to fans of the comics.
Four years prior to this series, Superman made a cameo appearance in the direct-to-video movie Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation. Somewhat annoyed at the imprompt appearance, Buster and Babs tell him to "get his own video" (perhaps as a bit of foreshadowing). Incidentally, immediately before the unexpected cameo, Buster and Babs have the dialogue exchange, "I gotcha!"/"But who's got you?", which is a direct reference to the first Superman movie.
In the episode "Heavy Metal", "Cousin Spunky" from the Batman animated series episode "Baby Doll" can be seen in the background along with the other men right after Steel's niece stops the car after running out of gas as well as when the crowd begins to gather around Metallo after he has been defeated. "Cousin Spunky" is also seen in JL series.
The episode "Obsession" opens with Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen covering a fashion show. Also clearly seen amongst the press is Billy Batson, who works for WHIZ-TV in the comics and is the alter ego of Captain Marvel (DC Comics).
In the episode "In Brightest Day...", Sinestro and Kyle Rayner briefly battle on an airstrip. One plane has the words "Col. Hal Jordan" on the side. Hal Jordan, of course, is the Silver Age Green Lantern.
In the episode New Kids in Town, which features a teenage Clark Kent in Smallville, Martha Kent recognizes that Clark and Lana need some time to talk alone. She tells Johnathan to come into the next room to watch The Dukes of Hazzard. Years later, in the show Smallville, which also features a teenage Clark Kent in Smallville, the role of Johnathan is portrayed by John Schneider, one of the stars of the Dukes of Hazzard.
The historical comedy series Histeria! depicted William Clark resembling the show's version of Superman (i.e. Clark Kent). He was voiced, however, similarly to Dean Martin, to contrast the fact that Meriwether Lewis was made more like Jerry Lewis.
Following the events of the two part episode Legacy, the story arc of the fourth season was meant to focus on Superman trying to regain the trust of the human race, but the series was discontinued after Legacy. When Superman is seen again at the beginning of Justice League, the human race appears to have forgiven him, but the events of Legacy would come back to haunt him in the second season.