DVD : Superboy - The Complete First Season

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- Superboy The TV Series...Never Forgotten
Back in 1988, before this show's premiere I remember flipping through the newspaper one Saturday morning to find a short blurb about a new Alexander and Ilya Salkind production called "Superboy, the TV Series"! Of course, I figured it'd be cheesy because the title of the show was "Superboy". But wrong again, Zod, to my surprise, I was delighted to find a spirited action-packed spin-off that had great 80s electronic music (all produced and performed by Kevin Kiner, who later did other big TV shows like the sci-fi channel's "Invisible Man"). I digged the show to a great degree, actually, and became a frequent viewer and one it's devotees later down the road. I was probably one of the few people who grew up in the 1980s who religiously recorded the TV shows on VHS every week. Being my weekly guilty pleasure - be it John Haymes Newton or Gerard Christopher - the show was simply a lot of fun. Though Gerard Christopher was amazing as the boy of the steel - Gerard had a great sense of humor and to anyone Superman fan, if you want to see the goofiest Clark Kent of all, Gerard stole the show - get into Season 2 of Superboy! Produced very much within the spirit of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, this time, it's about Superman when he was still in college! What a fantastic idea, and my own college years were coming right around the corner. Superboy is a winner, and the show has a lot of energy. Be prepared to be entertained.

Rating:

- The Adventures of Superboy to Finally Hit DVD in 2006 !!
After a long and very hard legal battle and campaigning on the Superboy Homepage for the last few years...Superboy will finally see the light of day on DVD come June 20th. Season One starred John Haymes Newton in the title role of the Boy of Steel in his college years. Some of the great episodes of the season include "Kryptonite Kills," which introduces the green rock that can kill Superboy. "Alien Solution" & "Revenge of the Alien, Part 1 & 2." Is about an alien that is the ultimate killing machine that invades bodies to add to his collection and now the Alien wants to add Superboy to his collection. Great series...hope to see Seasons 2-4 in the near future because Gerard Christopher was a great Superboy & Clark Kent.
Visit the Superboy Homepage @ www.superboyhomepage.com for more on this great Superman spinoff series.

Rating:

- Rocketed from a distant planet to a bold new destiny on earth...
FINALLY this series is seeing the light of day for the first time since its cancellation in 1992! The story is too long to print here but due to a legal battle between Warner Bros. and Alexander Salkynd/Lorimor Television, the show was cancelled and has not been shown on TV since.

So strangely enough, it is Warner Bros (who ordered Lorimor to cease production of the show) who is releasing this series on DVD all these years later!

While the special effects on this series are a little bland by today's standards, back in the late 1980s it was pretty dang cool! And the storylines are FAR better than the "Lois & Clark" soap opera that aired on ABC and that horrid "Smallville" series.

This series is based primarily on the silver-age comic books (pre-crisis, pre-John Byrne), where Superman fought crime as a teenager as "Superboy". The TV series does take a slight twist on the traditional origins however:

Just moments before the planet Krypton exploded, a scientist named Jor-El sent his infant son Kal-El in a rocket to Earth to save him. Kal-El's rocket landed on Earth in Smallville, Kansas and was discovered by a farm couple - Jonathan and Martha Kent. They adopted the baby as their own and named him Clark, and as the years went by they discovered that their child possessed powers and abilities far beyond those of normal humans. As he grew into manhood, Clark and his friend Lana Lang moved to Siegelville, Florida to attend Schuster University. It was at Schuster University that Clark Kent first uses his powers for good as Superboy!

Now granted, the plot of this series differs slightly from the silver-age comic books. However, I believe true Superman fans will find this show far more enjoyable than the soap opera drama of "Lois & Clark" and "Smallville". If you actually want to see some action instead of the same old "boy wins girl, boy loses girl, boy can't tell girl how he really feels" garbage, then you'll love this series!!!

My hope is that Warner Bros will release the entire series on DVD because it gets better after season 1. Season 1 starred John Haymes Newton as Clark Kent/Superboy, but he was replaced in Seasons 2 - 4 by Gerard Christopher, who in my opinion, did a better job in the role.

Rating:

- Kind of cheesy to look at now, but still a good show!
I was a teenager during the run of the Superboy TV show. I was at the time (and still am) a big fan of the Superman franchise so of course I was glad when this show started airing. I agree and disagree with the other reviewer as far as how good and bad the actors who played Superboy might have been. I do think that John Newton was a better Superboy then Gerard Christopher. However, I dont think that Gerard was a bad Superboy either. I just dont think he was not quite as good as John. I plan on purchasing season 1 when its released in June. Hopefully it will do well and seasons 2 through 4 will be released in the near future. June is going to be a good month for Superman fans as its the month when "Superman Returns" is released.

Rating:

- Superboy Season 1 not a flying start!
When this series came out in the late 80's I was only about 15 years old. At the time the very 80's look didnt bother me as it was the world we lived in, however this first series didnt age well. For a start John Haymes Newton was and in my opinion is the better of the two Superboy's who took the role on. He was replaced from the second season by Gerard Christopher who's acting ability left me cold. John Haymes Newton had a more natural element about him which helped support a very shakey beginning. The first episode isnt great. There is no lead in as to how he got there, Superboy has been on the scene for some time and we join the story as if we happened upon it! The acting from some of the supports is terrible, namely Lex Luthor who has this very strange accent and very wooden acting that from the word go you know we are in trouble. Considering when Superboy and Lex meet while Lex is attempting to steel an "mystic" jewel he greets Superboy with the line "Ah you must be the one they call Superboy"! His attempt at being "a man of the world" comes off as close to comedic. John Haymes Newton is a fine actor and has a very physical dominance to the role. He didnt make Clark Kent the nervous mishap character as he is normally known as and this I think helps make Superboy that more a real character. It is clear that this first episode was done on a shoe string budget but as the season moves on the stories and the cast improve a great deal, (which they seem to peddle back from with some bad casting in future seasons). If you are a fan of the entire Superman/Superboy theme you will like this. It has its own originality to it but it has its hands tied by the producers who didnt have much imagination when to came to seeing where the character and story were going, unlike Smallville today which could have allowed Superboy to become Superman.

Its a big shame they changed Haymes Newton regardless of the "difference" in opinion. Gerard Christopher did have the added help of more money but his acting is just down right boring. Thank God they brought a new Lex into the show who stole every scene he was in with Christopher.

Over all first episode isnt great, but as the season goes on it improves and the casting is excellant, even having an Oscar Winner performing as the professor from the University. 3 out of 5 stars for the Season the two stars are lost due to lack of production and terrible acting from some of the supporting cast. John Haymes Newton not only saves the day, I think he saved the show!

page 14 of 14