80s Live Action Superboy Series

I've got those first season DVD's. Overall, it's a mixed bag. I mean, yeah, it's an 80's half-hour adventure show for kids and so it exhibits many of those trappings. On the other hand, I think some of the best parts of a given episode is the main trio (Clark, TJ and Lana) having ethical discussions with each other. That was never a main (or even constant) element of the show but I still kinda dig the interplay they had.

The effects are what they are. Considering the budget and vintage of the series, I was expecting a lot worse but -- as it's Superman... kind of -- I'd hoped for more. What I will say is that the wire effects in the show kick the stuffings out of almost anything you saw in L&C, despite the fact that L&C is much newer show with a much higher budget! I guess the Salkinds were able to adapt a lot of the movie effects into the show.

I haven't seen any non-season 1 episodes in years but my recollection of them is that season 2 made with the cheese in a big bad way while the third and fourth seasons might've been better (I lost interest in the show around then).

Still, the show is worth checking out, if for no other reason than it has a Lana who doesn't make you want to claw your eyes out and dive out a window.

^ Colorsblend

Being the lifelong fan of all-things Superman related, I loved the Superboy series growing up, even though it went through several stages of cheesiness.

Reading the history on the background of the whos and whys is interesting.

Obviously the show wanted to capitalize on the Reeve films without calling it Superman (the Salkinds lost the rights and went in this direction -- essentially copying the Superman formula and repackaging it as Superboy with Lana as Lois and TJ as Jimmy).

In any case, I picked up the entire series on VHS about 10 years ago from a collector, and I remember watching them over again about 8 years ago and thinking to myself "wow... this had so much potential and they let it slip away." The younger Salkind admitted he was too busy on autopilot to realize the gem he had, and he let it slip away. Every season there was some very noticeable shift in tone and direction for the character and the show. After Newton (the season 1 actor) left, the show became much more childish and much less serious in tone (for instance, the drug episode where Superboy saves TJ from an inflicted drug overdose). Over time (by season 3 and 4), the character was doing probably the WORST possible Reeve interpretation of the Clark/Superwhatever duality -- overly exaggerated and cartoonish. You thought Singerman was bad for the Reeve impersonations... I refer you to pretty much any episode of Season 4 of Superboy. That's not a knock at Gerard -- he, like Brandon, was being guided by a set of directors and producers who were looking for carbon copies of Reeve in terms of mise en scene and performance. Gerard definitely could have pulled off being a Superman/boy in his own right had he not been forced to be a carbon copy.

The series is pretty much an alternate-universe for what should appropriately be called Salkindverse (as opposed to Donnerverse) if Superman had his powers when he was a teenager. The series even had a guest appearance by Superman from the future... which of course they couldn't say that his name was Superman (because they didn't have the rights to do so), only that he was "the man Superboy would become." They also referred to the trials that he had to go through (as the series finale) before "getting to the next stage" of his development (hint hint, becoming Superman).

Whatever your nostalgia may be (for anyone reading this) or lacktherof -- I agree with Colors... pick up the Season 1 DVD and give it a look.

^ Fenice,

Keep in mind all I have are hazy recollections of maybe a handful of post-season 2 episodes from when I was 10 or 11. If you say they got progressively worse, I'll take your word for it. :)

I watched Season 1 again last yr for the first time in about 13 yrs & I gotta say, I loved it more when I was a child. Watching it now I realise that the only audience it could possibly have pleased back then would have been children or young teenagers. I tried to like it but just saw how incrdibly pathetic that show was. The Lex characters was the worst interpritation of him to date & we thought Hackman was campy, lol. After watching this show again I realise how lucky we are to have Smallville. Sure Smallville in itself can get rediculous sometimes but not like the Superboy series, wow. The FX were the worst part. Looks like someone spent all up about 15 bucks on the entire season. Also the replacing of Haymes with gerard was a big mistake Haymes looked great as Supes, he was built, had a strong Christopher Reeve like jaw, but Gerard looked like Kirk Allen in the suit & couldn't act his way out of a paper bag.

Just my two cents,

Steve

I always thought people like Gerard more then the first guy i wont know i only seen a few episodes and i dont know which guy it was in the episodes but i have seen pics of them both.

^ Colors

My hazy recollection is what caused me to pounce on the series when I came across it (it sounds like you and I were in the same boat -- hazy recollections as a kid). The series changed time slots so many times, and stopped randomly to pick up later that it was hard to follow.

Let me give you perspective (even though I still recommend getting the series if you can just for nostalgia and seeing what characters have been done in live-action, like Bizarro and mxyzptlk): In season 4 Clark and Gang, I shit you not, worked for the Bureau of Paranormal Affairs (or something like that). They were chasing ghosts and weird paranormal crap -- but the job he had was supposed to be like him working for the daily planet. Very bad idea.

The other commenter, about Gerard vs. John -- I think that John was more SuperBOY than SuperMAN, which was the point. Gerard was way too mature looking and sounding to play SuperBOY. Even the costume changed from a small "S" to a huge "S".

I think Gerard was heavily considered at one point for Superman V after Reeve essentially turned down that ill-fated 'return to kandor' and Braniac script for Superman V. Hmmm... come to think of it... Superboy on tv being tipped for Superman on the bigscreen... sounds awfully familiar...

The other commenter, about Gerard vs. John -- I think that John was more SuperBOY than SuperMAN, which was the point. Gerard was way too mature looking and sounding to play SuperBOY. Even the costume changed from a small "S" to a huge "S".

I remember that much for sure. I think Haymes-Newton was definitely the guy for the role, both in terms of physicality and in terms of acting. He played the part more reserved, which I think gives it a feeling of uncertainty, like he was still trying to find the right approach for everything.

What I remember about Gerard Christopher is that he played Clark like an absolute clod. People say that GC only gave the performance he was told to give but Haymes-Newton played Clark a lot straighter and more serious and he had to have been working with a lot of the same directors. I really do think this was individual interpretation.

I could see Christopher working out on the big screen in Superman V. He had the look and I think he could've nailed it. Didn't he audition for L&C and get pretty far in the process before someone checked out his resume?

I remember that much for sure. I think Haymes-Newton was definitely the guy for the role, both in terms of physicality and in terms of acting. He played the part more reserved, which I think gives it a feeling of uncertainty, like he was still trying to find the right approach for everything.

What I remember about Gerard Christopher is that he played Clark like an absolute clod. People say that GC only gave the performance he was told to give but Haymes-Newton played Clark a lot straighter and more serious and he had to have been working with a lot of the same directors. I really do think this was individual interpretation.

I agree. JHN was definitely more serious, which translated into more of a "trying" and "uncertainty" to be what he was. Which I think was good. Then he got high off his own popularity and broke the morality clause of his contract, asked for more $, then got canned.

I think you're right about the interpretation aspect -- I didn't even think about the fact that JHN didn't do a Reeve impersonation. It was a different take on the duality of the character. GC, however, was waaaaayy too bi-polar with the changes. So was the second guy to play Lex -- he was like Hackman on speed, crack, AND meth without having had any acting classes. The first guy played the character as a much more (though he could have used acting classes) sociopathic and serious rich guy bent on crime and killing/outwitting Superboy.

I could see Christopher working out on the big screen in Superman V. He had the look and I think he could've nailed it. Didn't he audition for L&C and get pretty far in the process before someone checked out his resume?

Yeah, he could have probably done the movie and not gotten too much flak for it.
About L&C -- I never heard that story. What I had read somewhere (not making this true or what you heard less true) was that the GC Superman movie got canned because WB were pumped about doing this new take on Superman via L&C. It was their first chance to move away from the Donner/Salkind version and revive the character in live action without the baggage, so they took it.

Just watched some first season episodes. You can make a sort of interesting thought experiment out of this. Essentially an alternate Donnerverse reality where Clark never found the crystal hidden in the Kent's barn. In STM, he essentially arrived in Metropolis after being remade by Jor-El. However, the Superboy we see in this show exhibits a similar social conscience, he just has trouble developing it and finding a balance without Jor-El's instruction. As a result, he finds himself in situations where an alter ego is required but he doesn't always have the philosophical capacity to deal with every single threat he faces.

He's not ready for the responsibility.

If he'd had the benefit of Jor-El's guidance, things might've gone differently but as it stands he has to struggle and find these things all on his own.

The end game, if you play this out, is that the character we see in the Superboy show will some day grow in to the same basic STM character but he'll have to take a much longer road to get there.

Boy I read too much into this stuff...