History YMMV / SupermanTheatricalCartoons

* NightmareFuel:
** One of the end sequences at the very end of one of the Direct to VHS tapes for this series starts playing "The Merry Go Round Broke Down", and halfway through, [[ScareChord a loud "DING!" sound is heard]] and the tape [[NothingIsScarier immediately cuts to black]].
** The first episode where Lois Lane is captured by "The Mad Scientist" the villain of the week. As soon as he lays his eyes on Lois, he manhandles her into his lair and we get this shot of their shadows against a wall, with the scientist overpowering Lois as she cries out in distress. While the rest of the episode was fairly light-hearted to the point of being goofy, this one moment was shockingly realistic.
** Lois Lane is being burned at the stake by a bunch of natives. While this is happening, the color palette switches to a hellish mix of red and black with strange silhouettes of the natives dancing and playing drums. It's not-too-subtle hell imagery at it's scariest.
** Then there's the short called "The Underground World" where Clark, Lois, and a professor journey through a mysterious cave to discover what happened to the latter's missing father who went down the same cave and disappeared years ago. Lois and the professor come upon a tribe of bird-like people who proceed to take them prisoner, and as they're brought into the tribe's home they discover that they possess a near perfect golden replica of the missing father. Moments later the two are tied to a stone slab and the bird-creatures start to lower them into a molten-liquid like substance. To her horror, Lois then realizes the truth: the tribe did the same thing to the professor's father which preserved him and they're now going to suffer the same fate. Sure Superman saves the two of them in the end, but knowing just how close they wound up dying in such a horrific way is more than enough to keep you awake for a good while.
** "Terror On the Midway", which features a horrific KillerGorilla named Gigantor. A tiny monkey accidentally releases Gigantor from his cage while innocently playing around with a rope, and even tries to warn everyone. Then a roar rips through the tent, and ''everyone'' freezes in their tracks, audience and performers alike, even the trapeeze acrobat above the ring. Cue Gigantors first on-screen appearance in the short, an enormous, monstrous gorilla, far bigger than any natural gorilla would be, tearing through the circus tent and going after the audience with a terrifying NightmareFace. Not only is he incredibly dangerous, he's so strong that a dozen men can't subdue him, and he even manages to give ''Superman'' a good run before he's finally brought down. Tellingly, two lions and a panther escapes in the panic, and while also dangerous, they're not portrayed as anywhere near the same level as Gigantor.
** "The Mummy Strikes" is set up like a legitimate horror flick. Beginning with the death of a doctor found at the foot of a recreated burial chamber, his assistant is framed for his murder. Only later to reveal he accidentally triggered a defense mechanism of a poisoned needle trap... but not before inoculating the mummies of the pharaoh’s Giant guards with the ElixirOfLife he’d copied... the scene in which they resurrect is bone chilling in and of itself... going from pale withered corpses to fully living beings with BlankWhiteEyes... They end up trying to ''burn Lois and the museum curator alive'' in the fire pit in the middle of the tomb, as punishment for opening the pharaoh's sarcophagus.
--> '''Curator''': *translating the text on the wall* All who disturbs the rest of King Tush must ''die...''

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Or rather, DC has wasted a perfectly good character. [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever The Arctic Giant]] can never be called a {{Notzilla}}, because it ''predates'' {{Franchise/Godzilla}}. As such, Superman can fight this potentially recurring giant dinosaur time and again, without fear of being sued by Toho, because it ''circumvents'' dreaded International Copyright Laws. Yet... it hasn't reappeared since its debut in the 40s.

** "The Mummy Strikes" is set up like a legitimate horror flick. Beginning with the death of a doctor found at the foot of a recreated burial chamber, his assistant is framed for his murder. Only later to reveal he accidentally triggered a defense mechanism of a poisoned needle trap... but not before inoculating the mummies of the pharaoh’s Giant guards with the ElixirOfLife he’d copied... the scene in which they resurrect is bone chilling in and of itself... going from pale withered corpses to fully living beings with BlankWhiteEyes... They end up trying to ''burn Lois and the museum curator alive'' in the fire pit in the middle of the tomb, as punishment for opening the pharao's sarcophagus.

** "The Mummy Strikes" is set up like a legitimate horror flick. Beginning with the death of a doctor found at the foot of a recreated burial chamber, his assistant is framed for his murder. Only later to reveal he accidentally triggered a defense mechanism of a poisoned needle trap... but not before inoculating the mummies of the pharaoh’s Giant guards with the ElixirOfLife he’d copied... the scene in which they resurrect is bone chilling in and of itself... going from pale withered corpses to fully living beings with BlankWhiteEyes...

* FairForItsDay:
** "The Electric Earthquake" has a Native American villain who is a [[AffablyEvil well spoken]] WellIntentionedExtremist MadScientist type who dressed in either a contemporary urban suit and tie or in laboratory gear, with only somewhat longer hair and his well-defined nose to mark his ethnic identity. For a 1940s American cartoon, that is a ''remarkably'' sophisticated subversion of a common racial stereotype of the time.
** Throughout the cartoons, Lois is portrayed as not just a competent reporter but completely fearless. Notable moments include “Billion Dollar Limited” where she holds the thieves at bay with a tommy gun and “Jungle Drums” where it’s all but stated that she’s participating in military intelligence missions for the war effort.

** Throughout the cartoons, Lois is portrayed is not just a competent reporter but completely fearless. Notable moments include “Billion Dollar Limited” where she holds the thieves at bay with a tommy gun and “Jungle Drums” where it’s all but stated that she’s participating in military intelligence missions for the war effort.

** And the portrayal of the Japanese spies in "Japoteurs" is... well, hardly ''fair'', but the short was also produced in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and released nine months into American involvement in [=WW2=]. A more nuanced portrayal of "the enemy" would've been politically ''difficult'' at that time, and there was government pressure on basically every animation and movie studio to produce material in support of the war effort and to portray the Japanese as negatively as possible.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: One of the earliest examples of the "assertive" Clark Kent that became the mainstream interpretation in Post-Crisis stories.

* FairForItsDay: "The Electric Earthquake" has a Native American villain who is a [[AffablyEvil well spoken]] WellIntentionedExtremist MadScientist type who dressed in either a contemporary urban suit and tie or in laboratory gear, with only somewhat longer hair and his well-defined nose to mark his ethnic identity. For a 1940s American cartoon, that is a ''remarkably'' sophisticated subversion of a common racial stereotype of the time.

* NightmareFuel: One of the end sequences at the very end of one of the Direct to VHS tapes for this series starts playing "The Merry Go Round Broke Down", and halfway through, [[ScareChord a loud "DING!" sound is heard]] and the tape [[NothingIsScarier immediately cuts to black]].

* OlderThanTheyThink: DC once stated in print that the earliest occurrence of the classic "Phone Booth Costume Change" happened in 1948. In the comics, perhaps -- but the Fleishers were there first by seven years in "The Mechanical Monsters" (1941).

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The rotoscoping looks amazing, and the animation still holds up well to this day. The special effects work is also particularly notable, such as the battle and subsequent meltdown of the giant laser cannon from "The Mad Scientist".
** Some people actually don't believe that these were made in the ''forties'' due to this trope.

** Then there's the short called "The Underground World" where Clark, Lois, and a professor journey through a mysterious cave to discover what happened to the latter's missing father who went down the same cave and disappeared years ago. Lois and the professor come upon a tribe of bird-like people who proceed to take them prisoner, and as they're brought into the tribe's home they discover that they possess a statue of the missing father. Moments later the two are tied to a stone slab and the bird-creatures start to lower them into a molten-liquid like substance. To her horror, Lois then realizes the truth: the tribe did the same thing to the professor's father which preserved him and they're now going to suffer the same fate. Sure Superman saves the two of them in the end, but knowing just how close they wound up dying in such a horrific way is more than enough to keep you awake for a good while.

** Lois and the resident scientist are captured in "The Underground World" by BirdPeople and brought to their throne room/altar. They see a near perfect golden replica of the scientist's father who went missing in the caves where bird people live years ago. Then they get tied to a stone, the floor under them splits open revealing a pool of boiling gold liquid and they realize [[TakenForGranite it's not a replica...]]
* "Jungle Drums" has such imagery as a barbaric tribe attempting to burn Lois alive.

** The first episode where Lois Lane is captured by the villain of the week. As soon as he lays his eyes on Lois, he manhandles her into his lair and we get this shot of their shadows against a wall, with the scientist overpowering Lois as she cries out in distress. While the rest of the episode was fairly light-hearted to the point of being goofy, this one moment was shockingly realistic.
** In "The Underground World" Lois and the resident scientist are captured by BirdPeople and brought to their throne room/altar. They see a near perfect golden replica of the scientist's father who went missing in the caves where bird people live years ago. Then they get tied to a stone, the floor under them splits open revealing a pool of boiling gold liquid and they realize [[TakenForGranite it's not a replica...]]

** At the end of ''The Arctic Giant'', we see the titular dinosaur has been sent to the zoo... with all its limbs chained down to a concrete pit barely larger than itself curled up. Could you tell this series was produced before major animal rights and conservational movements had gotten rolling? In all fairness though... how COULD you contain something that massive and destructive?! The tyrannosaurus is specifically called a “monster” and not an animal so this can mostly be forgiven.

** The giant dinosaur in "The Arctic Giant" predates Godzilla by 12 years and ''Film/TheBeastFrom20000Fathoms'' by 11 years.

** At the end of ''The Arctic Giant'', we see the titular dinosaur has been sent to the zoo... with all its limbs chained down to a concrete pit barely larger than itself curled up. Could you tell this series was produced before major animal rights and conservational movements had gotten rolling? In all fairness though... how COULD you contain something that massive and destructive?!

** At the end of ''The Arctic Giant'', we see the titular dinosaur has been sent to the zoo... with all its limbs chained down to a concrete pit barely larger than itself curled up. Could you tell this series was produced before major animal rights and conservational movements had gotten rolling?

* EarWorm: Superman's theme song/{{leitmotif}}, especially if you try to sing Superman's name along to it.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: "Jungle Drums," which is loaded with NightmareFuel, introducing images such as barbaric natives attempting to burn Lois alive. (Amusingly, this cartoon made its way onto a "Parent Approved" home video VHS tape of Public Domain cartoons.) The poisoned needle and giant Egyptian tomb guardians in "The Mummy Strikes" are also unpleasant bedtime contemplation for nervous children.