YouTube Tuesday returns!
After giving it some thought I decided to bring back this segment because I thought YouTube Tuesday sounded a heck of a lot better than Fun Time Friday at the Fortress.
This blog…always a work in progress.
Today I present an episode of the New Adventures of Superman series produced by Filmation in the sixties. I like this show. I really do. I think it captures the Superman of the Silver Age to near perfection. The thing is that as much fun as that material is it can also be goofy as hell. Case in point; The Pernicious Parasite. Watch it and then join me below the cut for some commentary.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngev0vzxdF8&feature=related
Not quite the Parasite of the comics but it works for this particular series.
As I stated above I have a lot of fondness for this series, especially since Bud Collyer is voicing Clark and Superman . There’s something about this story that bugs me though. No, it’s not the fact that the researchers of the Nuclear Science Institute left an obviously unstable compound just sitting around in a jar, though that is goofy. It’s also not the fact that Icy Harris is apparently a specialist in stealing radioactive isotopes but has no real regard for his own personal safety because he just waltzes into place looking into random containers without a protective suit or even a pair of work gloves. It seems to me that if that was your career of choice was stealing stuff that was, you know, radioactive, it would be short lived if preventative measures weren’t taken. It’s not that Clark Kent is randomly in Washington, DC and it is random because Beck doesn’t say, “Meanwhile, Clark Kent, on assignment in Washington, DC,” or something like that. I can accept all of that but there is one aspect of this story that just bugs the heck out of me.
Superman killed Icy Harris or at the very least let the man die.
Towards the end of this story Superman gets the bright idea that a human couldn’t contain the powers of a Kryptonian. He knows this. He admits it at the end of the episode. Superman has a clear idea what was going to happen and he lets the Parasite absorb all of his powers anyway, which results in Harris going all explodey.
Superman is responsible for Harris’ death and he doesn’t even seem to care. At the end he’s all like, “Guess he couldn’t take it. Oh well, back to Metropolis.”
That’s all kinds of messed up. It really is.
It is also funny, especially if you start thinking that Superman let him die because Harris discovered his secret identity.
Superman: vindictive bastard.
Sure it doesn’t have the pop of, “Superman: Man of Steel” but it makes me smile just the same.
Well that’s it for today. Come back tomorrow for some cover scans of my recent Superman related acquisitions.
More to follow…