What can else be said about the Man of Steel?

Superman is said to represent what is best about every person in the entire world:  despite his great powers that make him a God--and quite difficult to write for--he has the good sense to be brave enough to use those powers not for his own profit, but of other more loftier goals such as world peace and human rights and various other ideas that the time dictates as fair.   He has a comic book published weekly as well as being a household name since his introduction in 1941.  And since then, the Man of Steel, the Last Son of Krypton, has been well regarded as the ultimate of all superheroes.

But, with all fame, there are little things that are glossed over.   While the Man of Steel may seem like an original creation, he has his origins in the old Doc Savage pulps that began a few years earlier.   Doc Savage--better known as the Man of Bronze due to his oddly hued skin--was also a superman in his own right.   While he couldn't fly, naturally deflect bullets, or shoot rays of heat from his eyes, he was a very muscular man who was able to deal mano e mano with many of his foes, as well as being extraordinarily smart due to intense schooling since his birth.   And for further proof, one need look no further than the Doc Savage introductory story called Fortress of Solitude, which was written around 1938....a good four years before the Man of Steel made his debut in Action Comics #1.

Of course, in a fairly recent Action Comics Annual, the then-current writers of Superman acknowledged this by running Clark Kent and his supporting cast of characters through a Doc-like adventure that lead to them rescuing an all-too-familar group (check out the back of the Bantam reprints of Doc Savage for the joke) that only appears in shadow.   Man of Steel...Man of Bronze...get it?   Good.

Back on point:  ever since the 1980 Superman movie, the old George Reeves series has taken a backseat in the eyes of many, and since TVLand is airing it late nights on a constant basis as of May 2002, I figure it's about time we take a look at this forgotten series with the very first episode, "Superman on Earth."

Kind of a long way via the Doc Savage connection, but I've always enjoyed the scenic route.

The episode is essentially a retelling of the Superman mythos acted out with the best the 1950s special effects could muster.  On the planet of Krypton, scientist Jae-El is trying to convince his peers that the planet is falling into the sun and that the only method of escape is via an 'Ark,' a spaceship that could transport the entire populace to safety.   In fact, he's already built one as an example.  His peers, presumably the brightest Krypton has to muster, dismiss this with laughter that nearly bursts the costumes they have on loan from the Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon serials.  Angered, Jae-El rushes back to his lab/home and confronts his wife with his disappointment.

Suddenly--and it is sudden, because we've only got an half an hour here--Krypton's demise is hurried.  Damning himself for not building the actual Ark while he had the time, Jae-El the Eternal Monday Morning Quarterback decides to save his son by tossing him into the prototype Ark and letting himself die.   Unfortunately for the little baby Kal-El, the prototype is quite obviously cardboard and with no padding.   Hope re-entry is soft for you, kiddo.

So Krypton dies.  Big deal.

Meanwhile on Earth, the Kents are hauling ass back home when they see the capsule fall from the sky.   The husband pulls the car over--which, according to the speeded-up blue screen behind it, must have been going around seventy miles per hour!--to see what it is.   The capsule is on fire--once again, I hope re-entry was smooth--and Kent decides to save the crying infant within.   So, the actor playing Kent gets very close to an actual burning mock-up of the capsule and pulls something out and somehow keeps his eyebrows.

After a dissolve, the narrator telling us this epic story (his words) informs us that the Kents raise this kid as their own and name it Clark and while it grows they start noticing that he has special powers.    Of course, the narrator neglects to inform us if the Kents took his in stride or they spend most of Clark's infancy and early adolescence hiding in their root cellar when they forgot it was Christmas or when Clark didn't get his way and couldn't listen to Little Orphan Annie on the radio.   Then again, we are talking about two Kansas farm folks who drive seventy on dirt roads and pick up strange aliens they find by the side of the road.   At least their....well, stupidity, is a constant.   And as the years pass and the old-age makeup is caked onto the actors, we come to the day when the mother Kent realizes it's been twenty-some years since Clark was found in the capsule.   And shortly after, the father Kent realizes life is good and dies of a very quick and pantomimed heart attack.  Sadly, this is when George Reeves enters as young Kent and finds his adoptive mother holding the body of his adoptive father in the living room.   Clark tells her that he was a good man....apparently ignoring the fact he could be saved with a little superpower.   Apparently old Clark takes after his parents by being sweet but stupid folk.

Since Clark's dad is now dead, he decides to move to the big city and get a job to support his mother.   Her last scene in this episode has her at the train station with Clark, explaining she put 'the suit' in his briefcase.   Of course, if we had actually gotten to see how Clark decided to save the world, this would make sense.  But, considering that it was originally a children's show, I'll just leave it be.   Of course, ignoring the fact that all Clark would really need is a regular suit that he always seems to wear and a mask and be much more comfortable.

With the image of Clark/Superman superimposed over stock city shots of New York, the narrator informs us that Clark has decided to keep his secret identity of Superman a secret and take up the alter ego of Clark Kent, news reporter.   Was it such a smart idea to go to a strange city without a place to stay and just hope to get a reporter job?   Nevertheless, Clark shows a bit of ingenuity and sneaks past the secretary to meet Perry White, future boss and editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet and tries to weasel his way into getting a reporter job.  Perry White, seeing how being annoying and not having a sample story to show his work, decides to....tell him to get the hell out of his office.   Which is pretty much correct.   This isn't a Jennifer Love Hewitt spinoff here, you just can't haul your ass to New York/Metropolis and just ask for a job like that.   Come on, get real!  And kudos to the guy playing Perry White for being a complete hardass in this episode.  One gets the feeling he's a spit take away from knocking up some horrible alcoholic divorcee and giving the world J. Jonah Jameson.

Just then, as everything is looking down for Clark--despite the fact he could easily make a lot of money by just saying he's Superman and making a business out of it--Lois Lane and Jimmy "Squeaky Terminal Virgin" Olsen walk in and say there's a breaking story:  some idiot is hanging out of a zeppelin and about to fall!  This is really remarkable that in the '50s such a story would be caught live, as it's usually 'Man Falls From Zeppelin' instead of 'Man Falling Out of Zeppelin, Watch Your Picket Fences.'  Clark does some quick thinking--which is hard, considering his past history, being the last of a race too dumb to save itself, the son of a scientist who doesn't think too far ahead, and a pair of hicks for parents who would adopt a chipmunk if it fell out of a high enough tree--and tells White he'll get the story.   Taking the challenge, Lois runs out the room and into fifty years of competition with a man she's going to eventually fall in love with.  And maybe Jimmy, but he's such a pinhead nobody cares about his sex life.

Long story short:  Clark puts on his costume and jumps out a window, then cuts to Superman flying above Metropolis for the first time.  The idiot hanging from the Zeppelin finally lets go, breaking the world record for hanging on, and turns into a dummy as he falls.  Superman grabs the dummy, and a newspaper spins out of nowhere with the story on page one...with Clark Kent as the byline.  Clark gets the job, Lois asks how he did it, Clark gives some smart ass remark, and the viewer at home wonders how the hell Clark Kent lost his balls when Chris Reeves took the role.

But in all honesty, the effects for this episode were quite decent.   The 'falling from the zeppelin' sequence, sans the obvious dummy, were better than one would expect from a production of the era.  George Reeves, when unbound from the boring but necessary Kansas part, gives Clark Kent a much more macho and realistic portrayal that is quite refreshing than the movie version:  an actual man who may act innocent but is capable of a witty retort, instead of a bumbling idiot.  But, of course, Chris Reeve's Superman was a bit better and much more confident.

BOTTOM LINE:   Not a bad beginning, nice to see a gutsy Clark.   Now, if only he would stop beating up Jimmy for his dubious sexuality.    Three out of Four Stars.