History Series / TheAdventuresOfSuperboy

If it sounds like ''{{Smallville}}'', well, [[OlderThanTheyThink it is]]. At least in the first season. Clark and his future arch-foe LexLuthor attend the same journalism school, and Lana Lang appears in a supporting role. The series soon underwent a major retool, owing to a [[TheOtherDarrin recasting]] of Superboy; the college setting was dropped in favor of the [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction The Bureau for Extra-Normal Matters]], where Clark and Lana help investigate paranormal and alien activities.

** The real world explanation is that it was impractical to get Scott Wells to reprise his role. There is a brilliant in-universe explanation. [[spoiler: Alternate Lex was in an anti-Sovereign resistance. (The Sovereign was this world's version of Superboy who is a tyrannical dictator ruling the world.) Alternate Lana tells the Sovereign that she and Lex grew up with him. Alternate Lex had clear reason to change his appearance to that of Eckworth, as the Sovereign would not recognize him as his old childhood friend and thus retaliate against the Luthor family. This could be an example of FridgeBrilliance, intentional of otherwise]].

* MythologyGag: In "The Beast and Beauty", a crook dresses up as Superboy like in one of the [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons Fletcher Superman short]].
* OnTheNext: Every episode ends with a short preview of the next one, which usually ends with a narrator exclaiming "...on the next Adventures of Superboy!"

* Leitmotif: This show had leitmotifs for just about every character (Superboy, Lana, Luthor, Metallo, Neila, etc.) and place (the Bureau, Smallville, Krypton), and even Kryptonite had its own leitmotif.

* {{Sidekick}}: Leo was this to Lex Luthor [[spoiler: until Lex kills him in the premiere of the second season]].

* CaliforniaDoubling: Averted hard. The creators didn't bother trying to mask the fact that ''Superboy'' was filmed in Florida, instead having Clark attend the [[CreatorCameo Shuster]] University of Florida. Superboy continued to operate in Florida even as a government intern, working out of the fictional location of [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed Capitol City]].

** The real world explanation is that it was impractical to get Scott Wells to reprise his role. There is a brilliant in-universe explanation. [[spoiler: Alternate Lex was in an anti-Sovereign resistance. (The Sovereign was this world's version of Superboy who is a tyrannical dictator ruling the world.) Alternate Lana tells the Sovereign that she and Lex grew up with him. Alternate Lex had clear reason to change his appearance to that of Eckworth, as the Sovereign would not recognize him as his old childhood friend and thus retaliate against the Luthor family. This could be an example of FridgeBrilliance, intentional of otherwise]].

* ClipShow: There were three of them: "People Vs. Metallo", "Who Is Superboy?", and "Cat and Mouse".
* FakingTheDead - Superboy fakes his own death in "Obituary for a Superhero", expecting his would-be killer to appear and take credit for killing him. Sure enough, Lex Luthor admits to killing Superboy on live TV.
* IdentityAbsorption - The alien being in "The Basement", who steals the identities of others in order to survive, because it has no identity of its own.

* OnlyKnownbyTheirNickname: T.J. White, aka Trevor Jenkins White

* ClipShow: There were three of them: "People Vs. Metallo", "Who Is Superboy?", and "Cat and Mouse".
* FakingTheDead - Superboy fakes his own death in "Obituary for a Superhero", expecting his would-be killer to appear and take credit for killing him. Sure enough, Lex Luthor admits to killing Superboy on live TV.

* OpeningNarration: The 3rd and 4th season opening sequences started with an opening narration over images from past episodes flying through space. "Rocketed from a distant planet to a bold new destiny on Earth..."

* ActorAllusion: Jack Larson and Noel Neill (Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane from ''TheAdventuresOfSuperman'') appear in one episode as Clark and Lana's never before seen (and never seen again) co-workers at the Bureau for Extra-Normal Matters. Upon seeing Superboy rescue a woman who jumped out of a window to commit suicide, Jack Larson's character Lou exclaims "Jeepers!", an exclamation often used by Jimmy Olsen in ''TheAdventuresOfSuperman''. Later in the same episode, Lou confesses to stealing office supplies and says that used to do it all the time when he worked for the newspaper.

* ActorAllusion: Jack Larson and Noel Neill (Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane from ''TheAdventuresOfSuperman'') appear in one episode as Clark and Lana's never before seen (and never seen again) co-workers at the Bureau for Extra-Normal Matters. Upon seeing Superboy rescue a woman who jumped out of a window to commit suicide, Jack Larson's character Lou exclaims "Jeepers!", an exclamation often used by Jimmy Olsen in ''TheAdventuresOfSuperman''