There are twelve episodes this time around, split into two six-part stories.
In the first six episodes, an arms smuggler named Hans Holbein is shipping explosives inside of dolls. There's not a lot to say about this story, as it's classic formulaic Superman, something that's become very familiar by this point. But on thing I'm struck by is how often Superman beats up thugs for information. He's basically Vic Mackey from The Shield at this point.
The second story is about a girl who inherits Happyland, an amusement park built by her father. She is threatened by the owners of a rival park named Carnivaltown, further proving that you can never trust a carny. There's something charming about how small potatoes this story is. It's quite nice seeing Clark Kent/Superman helping someone out just because he likes them.
Showing posts with label Superman Radio Serial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Superman Radio Serial. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
June 1940: Superman Radio Show episodes 46-57
These twelve episodes comprise two story lines: "Alonzo Craig, Arctic Explorer" and "Horace Morton's Weather Machine". I listened to these some time ago, and to be honest they really aren't fresh in my mind. Allow me to refresh my memory, and I will come back with a semi-decent write-up.
Okay, I am back, with my brain fully refreshed!
In the first storyline, Clark Kent travels to the Arctic to find missing explorer Alonzo Craig. Which he does, in a manner of speaking: Craig has been captured by a tribe of "Indians" and drugged to believe that he is their medicine man. It's all played out as a mystery over the six episodes, and actually fairly well done. You just have to get past the geographically dubious Indians, not to mention their less than even-handed portrayal.
The second story sees Lois and Clark investigating Lois's uncle, who has invented a weather machine. Some crooks take over the machine, and use the resultant bad weather to cover for their robberies. This one is a lot more straightforward, and reminiscent of some of the lesser stories from the comic. It's just going through the motions.
Okay, I am back, with my brain fully refreshed!
In the first storyline, Clark Kent travels to the Arctic to find missing explorer Alonzo Craig. Which he does, in a manner of speaking: Craig has been captured by a tribe of "Indians" and drugged to believe that he is their medicine man. It's all played out as a mystery over the six episodes, and actually fairly well done. You just have to get past the geographically dubious Indians, not to mention their less than even-handed portrayal.
The second story sees Lois and Clark investigating Lois's uncle, who has invented a weather machine. Some crooks take over the machine, and use the resultant bad weather to cover for their robberies. This one is a lot more straightforward, and reminiscent of some of the lesser stories from the comic. It's just going through the motions.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
May 1940: Superman Radio Serial #34-45
These episodes encompass two storylines. The first is about a bad guy who is causing plane crashes with a special machine. He works in a circus, which gives Superman good cause to fight a gorilla and a strongman. But at this point I can sense the serial starting to fall into a rut. It's the same kinds of stories and the same kinds of villains. The second story is a little better; it's about a Mexican crook who is trying to kill a senator that is cracking down on crime. This one has some quite well realised characters, which makes it a little more memorable. But it still suffers a bit from the same rut I talked about before.
Monday, February 13, 2012
April 1940: Superman Radio Show #22-33
This run of episodes encompasses two six-part story-lines. The first involves Incan priests, and the second is about racketeers.
The Emerald of the Incas: Clark Kent is called in to investigate the secretive behaviour of an archaeologist called George Beecham, who has just returned from a dig in South America and is refusing to see his daughter. This one builds the suspense extremely well, even if the conclusion is a little too convenient. It turns out that Beecham has stolen a sacred Incan idol that he believes holds the secret to immortality, and a group of Incan priests are trying to get it back. I had all sorts of reservations about this story, but most of them were answered; Beecham stole the idol, but he intended to return it after he was done; the Incas didn't understand the secret of the idol anymore, so it's not like their source of immortality had been taken away. It's one of the better stories from the radio serial so far.
There are some dodgy racial issues, though. Superman fights Beecham's native servant, who just happens to be a large, monosyllabic black man. Later on the character is likened to an ape, which is seriously not on. But the character is a minor part of the story, and later on he does prove himself to be genuinely heroic, and the others characters are distraught by his death.
I also got to hear Superman beating up a pack of dogs, or rather a voice actor trying to sound like a pack of dogs. It's bizarre.
The Donelli Protection Racket: In this story, Superman must stop a gang of racketeers. This would all be dull and forgettable, except that it's the introduction of Jimmy Olsen. Jimmy's mother owns a candy store, and is one of the businesses being hit by the racketeers. Jimmy is much as you would expect, and comes across well as a character. I can see why they might want to use him again.
Lois Lane appears in this story, mostly as a hostage, but there are three episodes where she is talked about a lot but never seen. She even manages to get kidnapped and escape without ever being heard. I suspect that the producers of the show just didn't want to pay the voice actress for those episodes, but the plot gymnastics they go through to do it are a little odd.
I'm also impressed by the vocal talents of Bud Collyer, who plays Superman. He has two very distinct voices for Clark Kent and Superman, and switches between them effortlessly, sometimes in the space of a single word. He's very good.
The Emerald of the Incas: Clark Kent is called in to investigate the secretive behaviour of an archaeologist called George Beecham, who has just returned from a dig in South America and is refusing to see his daughter. This one builds the suspense extremely well, even if the conclusion is a little too convenient. It turns out that Beecham has stolen a sacred Incan idol that he believes holds the secret to immortality, and a group of Incan priests are trying to get it back. I had all sorts of reservations about this story, but most of them were answered; Beecham stole the idol, but he intended to return it after he was done; the Incas didn't understand the secret of the idol anymore, so it's not like their source of immortality had been taken away. It's one of the better stories from the radio serial so far.
There are some dodgy racial issues, though. Superman fights Beecham's native servant, who just happens to be a large, monosyllabic black man. Later on the character is likened to an ape, which is seriously not on. But the character is a minor part of the story, and later on he does prove himself to be genuinely heroic, and the others characters are distraught by his death.
I also got to hear Superman beating up a pack of dogs, or rather a voice actor trying to sound like a pack of dogs. It's bizarre.
The Donelli Protection Racket: In this story, Superman must stop a gang of racketeers. This would all be dull and forgettable, except that it's the introduction of Jimmy Olsen. Jimmy's mother owns a candy store, and is one of the businesses being hit by the racketeers. Jimmy is much as you would expect, and comes across well as a character. I can see why they might want to use him again.
Lois Lane appears in this story, mostly as a hostage, but there are three episodes where she is talked about a lot but never seen. She even manages to get kidnapped and escape without ever being heard. I suspect that the producers of the show just didn't want to pay the voice actress for those episodes, but the plot gymnastics they go through to do it are a little odd.
I'm also impressed by the vocal talents of Bud Collyer, who plays Superman. He has two very distinct voices for Clark Kent and Superman, and switches between them effortlessly, sometimes in the space of a single word. He's very good.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
March 1940: Superman Daily Strip #289-354, Superman Radio Serial #9-21
SUPERMAN DAILY STRIP #289-354 (by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster):
This long-running story mashes up a lot of elements from previous Superman stories. It begins with the machinations of a group of foreign spies that is trying to manipulate the US into supporting their own country in a war. Clark Kent ends up entangled in their schemes, and pretends to go along with them, something he has done a few times before. Eventually he goes to Europe as Superman, and ends up kidnapping the two leaders of the warring nations and making them fight each other face to face, which is very reminiscent of one of his earliest stories. There's nothing particularly bad about this story, it's just a little too familiar to be enjoyable.
SUPERMAN RADIO SERIAL #9-21:
The Superman "transcription feature" covers a lot of ground in March of 1940. Episode 9 is the wrap-up to the Yellow Mask storyline, which sees the master criminal trying to destroy the Daily Planet building with a disintegrator ray. Following that is a six-part story in which two crooked businessmen are trying to cover up their involvement in selling worthless shares by murdering their secretary. After that is a two-parter in which the Wolf and Keno (the villains from the radio serial's opening story) stage a prison break and escape. Finally, there's a four-part story involving the Yellow Mask and his efforts to destroy the town of Dyerville. It's all mildly enjoyable, and a fairly accurate adaptation of the comics. The limitations of the form get a bit irritating; Superman talks to himself a lot about what he's doing, for instance. And the vacuum cleaner sound effect used to simulate Superman's flight gets a bit grating after a while.
This long-running story mashes up a lot of elements from previous Superman stories. It begins with the machinations of a group of foreign spies that is trying to manipulate the US into supporting their own country in a war. Clark Kent ends up entangled in their schemes, and pretends to go along with them, something he has done a few times before. Eventually he goes to Europe as Superman, and ends up kidnapping the two leaders of the warring nations and making them fight each other face to face, which is very reminiscent of one of his earliest stories. There's nothing particularly bad about this story, it's just a little too familiar to be enjoyable.
SUPERMAN RADIO SERIAL #9-21:
The Superman "transcription feature" covers a lot of ground in March of 1940. Episode 9 is the wrap-up to the Yellow Mask storyline, which sees the master criminal trying to destroy the Daily Planet building with a disintegrator ray. Following that is a six-part story in which two crooked businessmen are trying to cover up their involvement in selling worthless shares by murdering their secretary. After that is a two-parter in which the Wolf and Keno (the villains from the radio serial's opening story) stage a prison break and escape. Finally, there's a four-part story involving the Yellow Mask and his efforts to destroy the town of Dyerville. It's all mildly enjoyable, and a fairly accurate adaptation of the comics. The limitations of the form get a bit irritating; Superman talks to himself a lot about what he's doing, for instance. And the vacuum cleaner sound effect used to simulate Superman's flight gets a bit grating after a while.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
February 1940: Superman Radio Serial Episodes 1-8
Superman's radio serial started in February 1940, and I have listened to the first eight episodes. The types of stories told hew quite closely to the comics, but there are some significant deviations that I'll mention later.
The first episode is set on Krypton, and tells the familiar story of Jor-L and Lara trying to save their people from the imminent destruction of their planet. It's very similar to the version of the story that appeared in the newspaper strip. It probably has the worst voice acting of the episodes I have listened to, but that's understandable, because these characters aren't going to appear again. There's a lot of bellowing, and declaiming, and it's all rather stilted and lacking in emotion. But for all that, it's quite striking to hear it dramatised. I don't think I ever realised exactly how grim Superman's origin story is until I listened to this.
Episode two is where the story deviates significantly from the comics. Little Kal-L makes his rocket trip to Earth, but instead of landing as a baby and being found by a passing motorist, he is fully grown by the time he reaches our planet. Ma and Pa Kent are nowhere to be seen. Superman saves a man and his son from a car crash, and they help him decide how to acclimate to Earth. They give him the name Clark Kent and suggest that he get a job as a newspaper reporter. I'm guessing here that the creators of the show wanted to get into the action quicker, and so dispensed with Superman's childhood, but I feel like a vital part of the story is missing here. Superman's desire to do good is just there, rather than being the product of a good upbringing.
When the newly named Kent goes to get a job as a reporter, he goes to the Daily Planet, and the editor there is not George Taylor from the comics but the much more recognisable Perry White (at least to modern audiences). Both of them are cut from the same "gruff editor" template, so I'm not sure why there was a change. I guess someone just disliked the original name.
The rest of the episodes deal with a villain known as the Wolf, who is making trains disappear under the orders of a mastermind known as the Yellow Mask. I didn't find it particularly enthralling. The most enjoyment I got was from the tidbits of Superman lore that kept cropping up. The opening, with the "It's a bird! It's a plane!" lines was an obvious one that sent a chill up my spine to hear it in its original appearance. Another unexpected one came in episode 6 or so, when Superman shouted "Up! Up! And away!" just before taking off. And that reminds me of something else: Superman seems to be flying here. In the comics at this time he still jumps everywhere, but although the radio show hasn't explicitly stated it yet, it has Superman doing things in the sky that sound a lot more like flight.
If you want to listen to these they can be found here: http://www.archive.org/details/superman_otr. They're an enjoyable bit of historical curiosity.
The first episode is set on Krypton, and tells the familiar story of Jor-L and Lara trying to save their people from the imminent destruction of their planet. It's very similar to the version of the story that appeared in the newspaper strip. It probably has the worst voice acting of the episodes I have listened to, but that's understandable, because these characters aren't going to appear again. There's a lot of bellowing, and declaiming, and it's all rather stilted and lacking in emotion. But for all that, it's quite striking to hear it dramatised. I don't think I ever realised exactly how grim Superman's origin story is until I listened to this.
Episode two is where the story deviates significantly from the comics. Little Kal-L makes his rocket trip to Earth, but instead of landing as a baby and being found by a passing motorist, he is fully grown by the time he reaches our planet. Ma and Pa Kent are nowhere to be seen. Superman saves a man and his son from a car crash, and they help him decide how to acclimate to Earth. They give him the name Clark Kent and suggest that he get a job as a newspaper reporter. I'm guessing here that the creators of the show wanted to get into the action quicker, and so dispensed with Superman's childhood, but I feel like a vital part of the story is missing here. Superman's desire to do good is just there, rather than being the product of a good upbringing.
When the newly named Kent goes to get a job as a reporter, he goes to the Daily Planet, and the editor there is not George Taylor from the comics but the much more recognisable Perry White (at least to modern audiences). Both of them are cut from the same "gruff editor" template, so I'm not sure why there was a change. I guess someone just disliked the original name.
The rest of the episodes deal with a villain known as the Wolf, who is making trains disappear under the orders of a mastermind known as the Yellow Mask. I didn't find it particularly enthralling. The most enjoyment I got was from the tidbits of Superman lore that kept cropping up. The opening, with the "It's a bird! It's a plane!" lines was an obvious one that sent a chill up my spine to hear it in its original appearance. Another unexpected one came in episode 6 or so, when Superman shouted "Up! Up! And away!" just before taking off. And that reminds me of something else: Superman seems to be flying here. In the comics at this time he still jumps everywhere, but although the radio show hasn't explicitly stated it yet, it has Superman doing things in the sky that sound a lot more like flight.
If you want to listen to these they can be found here: http://www.archive.org/details/superman_otr. They're an enjoyable bit of historical curiosity.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)