COMICS-Superman : Can a Luthor Change His Spots?
Intro/What the Heck??!!
A few weeks ago, Cartoon Network began airing late night showings of
the old "Superman/Batman Adventures" from the late 60's, under the name "Boomeraction".
These things air at 3am MST on Saturday nights/Sunday mornings, which means only two types of people
are watching them- the strippers who just got off work and
comic book geeks. I've never had a anyone slip a dollar bill into my
g-string (umm, at least while I was conscious), so you decide which one I am.
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In case you're not familiar, the "Superman/Batman Adventures" feature
slightly edited versions of the original 1960's cartoons, along with
a few "SuperFriends" episodes mixed in. The 60's cartoons were
DC Comics' first venture into daily animation and the "SuperFriends"
episodes came a decade later. The 60's episodes were done
by Filmation while the "Supefriends" episodes were done by
Hanna-Barbera. In 1995, somebody decided to gather up all these
bits and pieces and slap them into this format. Every half hour show features
either at least one Batman or Superman cartoon, and the other two (or three) slots rotate
among "Aquaman", "Superfriends", "Superboy" or even the seldom seen
"Hawkman", "Flash", "JLA", "Atom" or "Green Lantern" cartoons. The last six
were all backup features that originally ran with "Superman" in the late 60's.
If you like cheesy superhero cartoons, this show is terrific. Several
plotlines are lifted from actual comics and the variety in animation styles
is prevalent.
I'm not sure why these shows are being relabeled as "Boomeraction", but the
packaging is kinda cool. Commercial bumpers feature distorted closeups of
old action figures and have a modern slant. The actual cartoons still have the
cheesy music and "sliding window panes"
effect intros that were added in 1995.
Would you Please Shut The Hell Up and Get Things Started?!!
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| Perry gives Lex a lil' sugar
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With that out of the way, we can finally get to
"Can a Luthor Change His Spots?" Surprisingly, this episode
features... Lex Luthor and his latest dastardly scheme to
get one over on Superman. The show opens at the Daily Planet, where
Jimmy Olsen craps his pants upon seeing Lex Luthor in the building.
He whines to Clark Kent, who quickly runs into his trusty broom closet, lowers his voice
and becomes Superman. Superman and Jimmy are shocked when Perry White introuduces
Luthor as the "science editor". White believes Luthor's reformed and
will now cover all things sciencey for the Planet.
Jimmy is suspicious and tries to catch Luthor in the act of something rotten.
Evidently, Luthor's job as "science editor" involves absolutley NO
editting, managing, proofing, reporting, or typing. He's given carte blanche to
screw around in a lab and make all sorts of corny devices. He creates a lightning
rod thingie and a special door opener do-hickey. Superman steals Luthor's
lightning rod, which Luthor claims is a new security device. The door opener do-hickey
is then put to work at the local bank. Jimmy believes Luthor's robbing the bank and
turns on his signal watch to alert Superman. Superman is suddenly called away by
Lois Lane- she's in the arctic, trapped on a sinking submarine. Superman flies
away to rescue the sub while Jimmy smashes Luthor's door opener doo-hickey.
Luthor reveals that Perry White and the Police Chief are now locked in the bank vault.
They agreed to help test Luthor's new doohickey and allowed themselves to be trapped.
Superman arrives to save them, and he's informed that Luthor was doing nothing wrong.
The boys all return to the Daily Planet, admiring the new water coolers.
Everyone goes back to work until Jimmy catches Luthor sabotaging the Planet's
printing presses. Jimmy then activates his own superpower - he shits his pants again and
signals Superman. Luthor's henchman "Kinky" thumps Jimmy and throws him onto
the presses. I thought Luthor's flunky was named "Kiki"... but it's really
Kinky. Yes, Kinky. Superman flies in again, but this time Luthor has kryptonite ink waiting
for him. Superman is tossed aside and Luthor reveals his master plan- he's planning to
send the Daily Planet building into orbit!
Through the use of hidden "teleporters", the Daily Planet building lifts off the ground and
flies into the air. Now, I always thought teleporters were supposed to
transport something between two places. This was even covered in painstaking detail
in the 50's flick "The Fly". Luthor, being a genius and all, tells us that teleporters
are used to lift things into the air. Hey, you're bald, a genius and evil... I ain't arguing.
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| "..more powerful than a Deep Rock water cooler"
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| "Kinky, assume the position"
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Jimmy is able to free Superman and the two notice that those spiffy new water coolers
are rather suspicious. Superman knocks one over and they find one of Luthor's "Teleporters".
Superman rounds up and destroys the others while Luthor and Kinky escape
in a helicopter. Conveinently, Luthor and Kinky land in the old basement of
the Daily Planet. Superman frees the building and lowers it right back on top of the
two bad guys, trapping them in the basement. Clark Kent returns for
his obligatory lame joke and everyone's happy as the show ends.
Overview/Dumb Comments
Yes, comic books and their cartoon adaptations usually have some stupidity attached
to them, but DAMN! Everyone in this episode is completely worthless. Lois Lane suddenly
appears out of nowhere with an off-the-wall submarine problem. Perry White is
a complete imbecile and agrees with Luthor too easily. "Want me in the bank vault?
Okay! Want me to rub your nutsack? Okay!" - I hear that was a deleted scene that will
be added when this episode finally arrives on DVD.
Luthor's scheme is hilarious. "Teleporters"! Usually he'd hook up with aliens or create a mutant watermelon, but
this time his master plan is to lift a building into orbit. Why? I'm assuming
because he's EVIL and he hates Superman. But wait, he never knew that
Superman worked at the Daily Planet as Clark Kent. Hmm...or maybe he did and
this was some inctricate subplot that the writers were to expound upon in
future episode?!! Umm... get a life, ES.
Finally, how does Superman, the most powerful superhero EVER save the day? By knocking
over a water cooler. Even Superman is worthless.
Superman was later replaced by Murray, the Bumbling Office Intern
as Metropolis's #1 crimefighter.
Man, this is perhaps the most insane comic book cartoon I've ever taped. It makes
episodes of "Superfriends" seem like logarithms. Believe it or not, but I'm pretty sure
this story was copped from an actual Superman comic. If you've never seen
any of these cartoons, this is a good example of how corny they are. Still, I recommend
catching this stuff if you're a comic nerd (or stripper). It's brainless fun and
a good reminder of a time when comics weren't "mature" or "adult-themed".
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