The TV Series History

The Fourth and final season

The fourth season made its debut with "A Change of Heart" part one in 1991. The fourth season was yet another memorable one. A couple of clip shows came around that weren't all that great, but the rest of the season made up for that. The darker stories continued throughout the season and some interesting enemies were introduced.

The kryptonite kid, who made his first appearances in issues of the original "Superboy" comic book series, appeared in the show in the episode "The Kryptonite Kid". Played by Jay Underwood, the kid was Mike Walker, a young genius working at a research base trying to find a cure for kryptonite poisoning. An explosion occurred, resulting in melted kryptonite getting into his bloodstream. Superboy eventually employed the help of a look-alike to stop the kid, who was cured.

Two Superman legends appeared in a later episode, "Paranoia". Noel Neill, who starred as Lois Lane in the original 50s series "The Adventures of Superman", and Jack Larson, who played Jimmy Olsen in that same series, appeared as agents of the Bureau in this episode. Some nice references to the old series were thrown into this episode. When Superboy saves a woman who has jumped from the Bureau window, Larson's character (Lou Lamont) exclaims "Jeepers!" like the Jimmy Olsen of the old days. Later in the episode a reference is made to Lou stealing office supplies when he used to work at the newspaper. The Daily Planet perhaps?

Tracy Roberts makes her final appearance as Darla in "Know Thine Enemy". In the episode, Superboy lives through Luthor's tortured childhood and escapes the "memory loop" just in time to stop Luthor's armageddon bomb. Darla shot Luthor earlier, hoping to stop him, but didn't succeed. She called for Superboy's help, but it was Lana who eventually saved the day. Darla was never seen again after this episode.

In "Threesome", Lex Luthor joined Metallo and a new character Odessa Vexma, and the three worked together to try to kill Superboy. Fortunately the three were easily turned against each other and defeated themselves. Luthor made his final appearance in "Obituary for A Super-Hero" which featured the death of Superboy. Or at least everyone thought so. It turned out Superboy had faked his death and stayed hidden long enough for Luthor to confess to the attempted murder. Though this wasn't the way this episode should have ended. More on that later.

The series ended with Superboy learning a little more about his heritage. In "Rites of Passage", Superboy's powers go out of control and the ship that brought him to earth starts to act up. Upon touching the ship, a hologram of a Kryptonian elder appears telling Superboy that he must go through the rite of passage that all of his people have to go through. But the crystal required to complete the rite is missing. It fell off the ship when it landed. Superboy's powers are removed and he goes on a search for the missing crystal, eventually finding it. He activates it and completes the rite, regaining his powers. Throughout the episode Lana is trying to prove that Clark is Superboy. His loss of powers and then their restoration throws her off the trail. But the end of the episode suggests that Lana knows Clark's true identity, as it shows her preparing to thrust a needle into Clark's, um, rear. Another episode "Who Is Superboy?" suggests that Lana knows the secret as well. At the end of that episode, Lana gives Clark quite a passionate kiss as he starts to run out to answer an alarm. He says "I have to go." and Lana says "I wouldn't dream of stopping you." This strongly suggests that Lana does indeed know Clark is Superboy.

After "Rites of Passage", the series comes to a close with a total of 100 episodes. But the series was at the peak of its popularity in the 4th season. Why should it end so soon when it could've gone on for at least one, possibly two more seasons? Well, I am not the one to answer that question. But I know someone who can. Go to LanaBizarro's Superboy The Boy of Steel TV site to read all about the reasons behind the show's untimely demise.

Even though the series ended before it really should have, it still is one of the best TV series ever produced featuring Kal-el of krypton. No other Superman-related series even comes close to this series in my opinion. And there will probably never be another that will equal Superboy. "Superboy" the series will live on in the hearts of fans for years and years to come.

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