One of my favorite episodes of that show and the entire DCAU was when Clark was believed to have died in a car explosion but he solves this mystery as Superman. The culprit, before his execution, figured out Clark's identity. It's a cleverly written episode.
This series did a Mxyzptlk episode so good that they couldn't even follow it up (self-admitted by the writers in reference to his second appearance). Like, seriously, I cannot imagine a better Mxyzptlk story, and that single episode has been one of my top choices for something to watch with people.
There are a lot of other things that this show absolutely nailed. The ongoing Darkseid plot was an excellent condensation of the character's place. Could have used a Forever People appearance, but that would have been a bonus. Luthor was perfect. Brainiac was an excellent example of taking the important parts of a character and playing them up well, regardless of changes to the backstory and appearance. Toyman is a great example of how presentation and character design can carry a bad idea really, really far, and they also used him to cleverly establish Intergang early.
I also admire the restraint with some elements. Like, I'm pretty sure you can count up the individual rocks of Kryptonite in this show on one hand, they do such a good job managing the use of it and keeping it from being ubiquitous.
For stuff they didn't get right? Well. For better or worse, this show is mostly married to the aesthetics of post-Crisis Superman, and that's reflected in the fact that Jimmy Olsen is so boring as a character, to where he feels like he's there just out of obligation. Lana Lang is done a bit weirdly, but she's not around enough for that to be bad, per se. (Positively, though, they improve on post-Crisis Superman in most ways that matter.) The general use of vaguely high amounts of electricity as a way to take out Superman is...actually bizarrely accurate to old Golden Age stuff, but sometimes feels cheap.
I think I'd describe it as a thoroughly and meticulously competent adaptation of Superman. It does just about everything well, but I rarely feel like there's a passion for Superman as a property the way BTAS feels like a love letter to Batman, which means I've developed the joke that it's a Superman cartoon that sure was made by people who got that position by doing Batman really well. But that joke does a disservice to just how good Superman: The Animated Series is.
In the greater world of completed Superman adaptations, the only one I put on the same level is Lois and Clark. (Still need to see Superman and Lois, though.) And the two shows are doing very different things: STAS is the best-yet adaptation of the wild, delightful, adventurous side of Superman; Lois and Clark is the best adaptation of the core cast.
Edited by TheEvilDrBolty on Aug 1st 2023 at 8:49:35 AM
I tried rewatching the show a little bit ago and kind of petered off. It's not a bad show by any means but it's a little routine with many of its' stories. The Parasite episode had a delightfully creepy horror-like scene where he drained a police officer and then spoke in their voice, but the rest of the episode was a general "How will Superman beat him?" plot. Similarly, the episode where Mala and Jax-Ur are released from the phantom zone has Superman go from "We should release a known criminal" to "She's not acclimating, time to put her back" really fast. Things like the creation of the Fortress of Solitude just sort of happen rather than really looking into why he is collecting all these things and needs some alone time.
But there are some exemplary episodes that really stand out and remain classics. "The Late Mr. Kent" is one of them for putting a spotlight on the Clark/Superman dynamic, and Marthas' dry reaction to police telling her he was dead. "Mxyzpixilated" is another, being almost Groundhogs Day level of creative on the ways of repeating their encounters.
Comics are just words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures.Mxy has a really hot girlfriend...and he instead prefers to defeat Superman rather than spending time with her. What Does She See in Him??
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I actually didn't know much about Dr. Light at the time, so I never caught that implication at the time, but I did feel like he was an Expy of an actual DC villain. I kept thinking Mirror Master for some reason, but him being their version of Dr. Light works.
One Strip! One Strip!This might be a bit off-topic, but I do wish Gsptlsnz showed up in more DC properties. She could've been a good foe for Supergirl (like her husband Mxy is to Superman) in Lauren Faust's DC Super Hero Girls if that show got a third season (perhaps being voiced by Christy Carlson Romano as the villain to Nicole Sullivan's hero in an amusing reversal to their dynamic in Kim Possible). Heck, I think she and Mxy should both appear in My Adventures with Superman.
Which other characters that appeared in this series do you think should've appeared in more DC Comics adaptations?
Edited by IvanovTroping97 on Aug 3rd 2023 at 8:26:54 PM
I had the same feeling. It's weird how much he just gives off Expy energy.
As a kid, I had assumed he was an adaptation or Expy of The Prankster, of all characters - because I'd misheard his name as Lumis, and I'd remembered Oswald Loomis from Lois and Clark, where he had a camera that could freeze people with light-based pseudoscience. Given that version was Lois's stalker, and Luminus started out wanting to kill Lois, I could see him coming out of a creative process that started with "the best version of Prankster was the Lois and Clark version" and ended with "We've created a new character."
Edited by TheEvilDrBolty on Aug 3rd 2023 at 1:44:51 PM
The Prankster from Lois and Clark wasn’t named Loomis. His name was Griffin, iirc.
The Prankster from the comics was named Loomis, though. I think he gets name dropped in Lois and Clark as a Mythology Gag but then turns out to not be the guy.
Edited by KnownUnknown on Aug 3rd 2023 at 10:46:26 AM

So this show,I remember watching it along with Batman series that was also airing around the same time.I remember this show for mainly two reasons,first there's Toyman as a creepy doll and secondly,Metallo's creation
Oh and thirdly
This is the show that introduced Livewire
have a listen and have a link to my discord server