Superman
Also known as: The Mad Scientist
- Studio
- Fleischer Studios
- Distributor
- Paramount Studios
Synopsis
In this, the first Superman cartoon, we see how The Man Of Steel first came to Earth. After Krypton's tragic destruction, he was found by the side of the road in rural Kansas and spent most of his childhood in an orphanage. An adult Clark Kent becomes a reporter for The Daily Planet. Perry White assigns Clark and Lois Lane to get information about a mad scientist who is threatening to destroy the city with a new super ray gun. But Lois wants to cover the story alone. Lois flies to the mad scientist's lab and is captured by the renegade inventor. Watching helplessly, Lois witnesses the super ray gun destroying many of the city's landmarks, including the Daily Planet building. Clark Kent changes into Superman and flies to the scientist mountaintop lab where he destroys the ray gun, saves Lois and brings the mad inventor to justice.
Characters
Clark Kent/Superman, Lois Lane, Perry White, Mad Scientist
Credits
Directing
- Director
- Dave Fleischer
Producing
- Producer
- Max Fleischer
- Presented By
- Adolph Zukor
Writing
- Writer
- Jay Morton
- Story
- Seymour Kneitel, I. (Isadore) Sparber
Animation
- Animator
- Steve Muffatti, Frank Endres
Voices
- Voice
- Clayton "Bud" Collyer (Superman/Clark Kent), Joan Alexander (Lois Lane), Julian Noa (Perry White), Jack Mercer (Mad Scientist)
Music
- Music
- Sammy Timberg
Crew
- Music Arrangement
- Sammy Timberg
- Sound Effects
- Milton Lustig, Maurice Manne
- Superman Created By
- Jerome Siegel, Joe Shuster
Production notes
This series originated the classic signature Superman lines, "Faster than a speeding bullet,...", and "Look, up in the sky, etc..."
The Fleischers were reluctant to adapt the Superman comics to the screen because they felt it would require much more realistic and detailed designs and animation than they usually produced. Dave Fleischer tried to discourage Paramount by projecting a budget of $100,000 per short, four times the budget of an average Walt Disney cartoon. To their shock, Paramount executives agreed to at least half the amount, which made the Superman series- in adjusted dollars- the biggest-budgeted animation series in film history.
The Fleischers were reluctant to adapt the Superman comics to the screen because they felt it would require much more realistic and detailed designs and animation than they usually produced. Dave Fleischer tried to discourage Paramount by projecting a budget of $100,000 per short, four times the budget of an average Walt Disney cartoon. To their shock, Paramount executives agreed to at least half the amount, which made the Superman series- in adjusted dollars- the biggest-budgeted animation series in film history.
Awards
Academy Award Nominee, Best Short Subject (Cartoon), 1942
Reviews
Superman
This episode introduced the origin of a perennial fictitious American hero. Superman was somewhat vulnerable in these early cartoons, as though he was still discovering his superhuman qualities.
While you wouldn't know it in this cartoon, the Max Fleischer SUPERMAN series should go down in history as one of the best animated series in film history.
Superman
This is one of the greatest cartoon series ever. The series did improve as it went on. This is the first entry in the series. It is good, but it does not compare with the later entries in the series. This particular cartoon does make many lists of the greatest cartoons. That is most probably because, as the first entry in the series, it is made to represent the series as a whole. If you like it, you'll love the later entries. If you don't like it, try the later cartoons, they'll be worth the effort.