ROCKS 3C: Superman The Animated Series - Mxyzpixilated-Brave New Metropolis-The Late Mr. Kent

[LiamABC]

WELCOME EVERYBODY TO THE THIRD DISCUSSION IN THE THIRD STRAND OF THE NEW CLUB “R.O.C.K.S.” - REWATCHING OLD CLASSIC KIDS SHOWS!
A big thanks to everyone that are joining us through all of this. It’s going to be an enjoyable ride!

This set of ROCKS discussions will focus on Superman: The Animated Series, and specifically this week, we’re discussing the following episodes:

• Mxyzpixilated
• Brave New Metropolis
• The Late Mr. Kent

This show has been picked for us by Wilycub.

Just a friendly reminder to everyone that, whilst fans are obviously welcome to passionately discuss and give their views on these episodes, please remember to keep things on a friendly footing and respect your fellow posters.
Also, please do not post where or how to find the full episode online. And do not post asking others to PM it to you. You are however allowed to watch the show in whatever manner you want.

[Wilycub]

Mxyzpixilated
This is a very intelligently written episode by none other than the genius known as Paul Dini (Oh, how I wish he had gotten a chance to write at least one ThunderCats episode!). Supes is pitted against Mr. M (his name is too difficult to type over and over again!), an imp with incredible magical powers. What I like about Mr. M is that he is not inherently evil, but rather more of a bored mischievous man-child.

I had mentioned that one of the reasons why I really like S:TAS is because unlike certain sword wielding superheroes, he doesn’t always rely entirely on his powers to fix everything. This Superman is always shown to use more brain than brawn and this episode epitomizes that aspect of the series.

It is great to see Supes match wit with Mr. M and how he always manages to come up with new ways to win against the little guy. Writing such an episode requires a lot more skill and imagination than simply having Superman beat a villain to a pulp and save the day. Hats off to Mr. Dini!

Brave New Metropolis
Honestly, I have never been a fan of movies or series dealing with “alternate dimensions” or “alternate realities” or “alternate timelines”. I have always thought of those as gimmicks used by writers to go crazy and not have to worry about disturbing the continuity of the “main storyline”.

Nevertheless I still chose this episode as it has been done quite well and explores the horrifying idea of Superman turning into a dictator. The question of what would happen if Superman ever did turn evil has been touched upon many times in the character’s history. In this episode however, we see the full effect of this transformation. The man who always stood for justice, hope and freedom is now doing the opposite.

The dystopian alternate reality is a grim sight. The sad thing is that there are many countries where this is a reality and not an alternate reality.

We also get to see the real depth of Superman’s love for Lois. How her loss completely destroys him, and the world as a consequence.

Anyone notice the similarity between the black superman’s chest insignia and the SS party symbol? Nice little touch by the writers and animators.

The Late Mr. Kent
Another very interesting episode in that it deals more with Clark and the “human” side of Superman rather than his alien powers. The episode plays out more like a mystery/crime drama.

It is always said that Clark Kent is the alter ego/disguise adopted by Superman, but after watching this episode, I think it is the other way around. Kal-El is more like Clark than Superman. He reveals the importance of his Clark persona and how he would go crazy if he had to be Superman 24/7.

I think this is a huge revelation, but at the same time quite a logical one too. As Clark, Superman can be “normal”, which is how he most likely would have been had Krypton not exploded. He would have been just like the other inhabitants of that planet. He wouldn’t have been flying around rescuing people all day long. So Kal-El really is more like Clark than Superman.

It was also great to see Clark doing actual investigative work. Despite the importance of Clark in his life, Kal-El was willing to reveal his identity in order to save the life of an innocent man. Even though the audience would know that that cannot happen, the episode is so riveting that we forget about that.

The episode was also quite dark especially the execution part. You don’t see that in many animated series.

[Mark_M]

@Wilycub

I had mentioned that one of the reasons why I really like S:TAS is because unlike certain sword wielding superheroes, he doesn’t always rely entirely on his powers to fix everything. This Superman is always shown to use more brain than brawn and this episode epitomizes that aspect of the series.

It is great to see Supes match wit with Mr. M and how he always manages to come up with new ways to win against the little guy. Writing such an episode requires a lot more skill and imagination than simply having Superman beat a villain to a pulp and save the day. Hats off to Mr. Dini!

Yes. I agree 100%. I would have loved Paul Dini along with an assortment of other great animation writers like Larry DiTillio, Michael Reeves, J. Michael Stracyncski and Buzz Dixon to have worked on Thundercats.

[Mark_M]

I really enjoyed these three episodes.
They were very different focussing more on Kal-El/Clark’s thinking to win instead of his powers and an episode in which Louis is the star.
I found two of them to tackle some pretty interesting and adult subjects, ‘The Late Mr Kent’ especially. The dramatic ending was really good.
Of course the dictator superhero is something that would be explored again in some episodes of Justice League.
‘Brave New Metropolis’ was surprisingly good and it was odd how they had the Superman S look like the Nazi SS. I noticed the uniforms were also a bit Nazi/Star Wars Imperial officer looking. I thought Freedom Fighter Jimmy looked a bit like the guy from the first Terminator movie.
I really liked the voice casting of Mr. M and found him a very comical and interesting character. It made me think I wish we had gotten a full Shazam/Captain Marvel cartoon series done in the same style.

[Wilycub]

Glad you enjoyed the episodes, Mark! I put a lot of thought into picking them as there were so many good ones to choose from.

@Mark M

I really liked the voice casting of Mr. M and found him a very comical and interesting character. It made me think I wish we had gotten a full Shazam/Captain Marvel cartoon series done in the same style.

A Shazam cartoon series would indeed have been great. It was discussed and Alex Ross even did some promo sketches, but sadly it never got made. But at least Shazam did appear in an episode of Justice League.

[Mark_M]

@Wilycub

Glad you enjoyed the episodes, Mark! I put a lot of thought into picking them as there were so many good ones to choose from.

A Shazam cartoon series would indeed have been great. It was discussed and Alex Ross even did some promo sketches, but sadly it never got made. But at least Shazam did appear in an episode of Justice League.

Yes I seen some of those sketches I think it would have been a great cartoon. That was an awesome Justice League episode. One of my favourites.

[LiamABC]

Having just watched these three episodes, I’m on the whole impressed.

Mxyzpixilated - I’ve never been a fan of “silly” episodes in serious shows. “The Trouble With Tribbles” in Star Trek being the most obvious example. I know it’s a hugely popular episode but I’ve never much cared for it. Blasphemy, I know, but there you have it. This episode broadly falls into the same category. The villain here is a comical pest, with a wife (or whatever their relationship is) very clearly influenced by Jessica Rabbit. I suppose Mxyzpltnk does have a few moments where he poses a legitimate danger to Superman, the missile with the kryptonite warhead at the end being a good example, but overall the episode doesn’t do anything for me. Maybe if I saw it as part of the whole series rather than as a hand-picked example, I might think differently, but I doubt it.

Brave New Metropolis - alternate reality episodes can be something of a cliche, but this was beautifully handled. This episode was all about Lois, and we hardly saw “the real Superman” at all. The concept of him having a breaking point, and how much he loves Lois, is explored well, although his choice of Luthor as a partner for this venture is a little hard to swallow. Although of course I can believe that this is how Metropolis would turn out with Luthor in charge! Still, that quibble aside, I really liked this episode.

The Late Mr Kent - this is a good one for understanding the relationship between Superman and Clark. He has to juggle both lives on a daily basis, and Clark is the persona he prefers being. If he was Superman the whole time doing nothing but flying around saving lives, he’d go out of his mind - interesting idea, even superheroes need time off! There’s a very Chandleresque narrative from Clark here (and when I say Chandler I mean Raymond, not the guy from Friends!). His dedication to proving the man innocent is convincing. The way he turns up to prevent the execution is again well done. And then when the real guilty party is executed afterwards, and suddenly figures out Clark is Superman, but far too late to make use of the information . . .

Also, all through the episode, I was thinking, “I’m sure that guy was Peter Renaday!” - so I paid very close attention to the voice credits at the end, and was gratified to see I was right.

All in all, yes, good stuff. Two I liked, one I didn’t, but the one I didn’t was possibly due to my dislike of that particular episode format than anything else. And as Meat Loaf famously sang, two out of three ain’t bad! The good episodes were really good. Looking forward to the feature-length adventure next time round!

[Wilycub]

@LiamABC

All in all, yes, good stuff. Two I liked, one I didn’t, but the one I didn’t was possibly due to my dislike of that particular episode format than anything else. And as Meat Loaf famously sang, two out of three ain’t bad! The good episodes were really good. Looking forward to the feature-length adventure next time round!

I can understand your dislike for that particular type of storylines, and you are not alone. A lot of people feel the same way too. But I purposely included this episode in the list because firstly I wanted the list to be varied. There are other great episodes which I could have put instead of “Mxyzpixelated” but they were of a similar nature to the ones we’ve already seen. Secondly, I wanted an episode in which Superman relies almost exclusively on his intelligence rather than his strength.

But as you said, two out of three ain’t bad at all! And your line about Ryamond Chandler and not the guy from “Friends” really made me laugh! :laugh

[LiamABC]

@Wilycub

I can understand your dislike for that particular type of storylines, and you are not alone. A lot of people feel the same way too. But I purposely included this episode in the list because firstly I wanted the list to be varied. There are other great episodes which I could have put instead of “Mxyzpixelated” but they were of a similar nature to the ones we’ve already seen. Secondly, I wanted an episode in which Superman relies almost exclusively on his intelligence rather than his strength.

Fair enough. I know how limiting it can be when you have to narrow down the picks to high points and important episodes. I was exactly the same with Defenders Of The Earth (have you watched any of the other episodes of that?). There were two or three other episodes that were in the running for quite some time but got edged out for one reason or another. I thought of including “Diamonds Are A Ming’s Best Friend” because it’s a good ensemble episode, and “Return Of The Skyband” because it’s a Phantom episode that doesn’t completely sideline the other adult characters (unlike most of his stories), and still feel a little guilty about including two episodes each for Flash and Kshin, but hey, they were good episodes so I’m not that guilty . . .

But as you said, two out of three ain’t bad at all! And your line about Ryamond Chandler and not the guy from “Friends” really made me laugh! :laugh
[/QUOTE]

Funny because I’ve never been a big fan of Friends. Cheers & Frasier for me - my best friend got me the box set of the former for my birthday this year, and he’s got me the latter for christmas. Funnily enough, after I showed him some episodes of Cheers when he was over in august, he decided he wanted me to get him that same box set for christmas!

[Mark_M]

@LiamABC

Brave New Metropolis - alternate reality episodes can be something of a cliche, but this was beautifully handled. This episode was all about Lois, and we hardly saw “the real Superman” at all. The concept of him having a breaking point, and how much he loves Lois, is explored well, although his choice of Luthor as a partner for this venture is a little hard to swallow. Although of course I can believe that this is how Metropolis would turn out with Luthor in charge! Still, that quibble aside, I really liked this episode.

You really should watch the Justice League episode ‘‘A Better World’’.