Look, In the Sky!
Okay, so I've finally had the chance to rent the George Reeves Superman DVDs. Yay for an actual paycheck!
Anyway, tonight I've watched the very first episode! It was pretty interesting to see the Earth-2 Superman in action! It makes me want to reread Infinite Crisis (which on a whole, I liked a lot).
He is Kal-L right? I never quite can remember where one cuts off into the other.
As much as I love the movies, this version of Superman, like Dean Cain's in Lois and Clark, feels a lot more like the comic book Superman I'm familiar with. I was surprised actually. I'd somehow gotten the idea that defining the Superman character as Clark Kent first, with the blue suit just a convenience for superheroing, was a relatively new approach. But in this first episode, it was all Clark. Superman only made a very brief appearance to save someone.
I wonder if that's an Earth-2 versus Earth-1 thing. I've always avoided the Silver Age Superman stories because in the ones I've read, Superman always felt...off, to me. Maybe it's just the dickery, but I always felt like he was too detatched. The Golden Age stories always felt a bit "earthier" if that makes sense.
It seems like the earthy human quality in our Clark Kent is more inspired by the Golden Age than the Silver Age, in my opinion.
Anyway, the show is a lot of fun. I like Phyllis Coates's Lois Lane a lot. She's got that sharp, low voice and quick staccato speaking style that really seems to suit the character. I loved the bit where Perry couldn't get the bottle open, but she could with some well placed taps.
The only part that rang false was when she told Jimmy to go faster, he said he was afraid of a ticket, and she agreed. Come on now.
It was weird to see that the Kents had different names in this tv show. I got so used to Jonathan and Martha that hearing "Eben" and "Sarah" gave me pause. Yet another incarnation where Jonathan Kent dies of a heart attack. :-( I much prefer having him alive. But I liked that Jonathan/Eben's death seemed much less of a motivating factor in Clark's heroism in this version. Here it's Sarah/Martha gently pushing him to use his powers for good, which feels more right than the movie version's constant fatherhood themes.
And finally, George Reeves on the farm, in the denim and leather...very hot. :-)
Anyway, tonight I've watched the very first episode! It was pretty interesting to see the Earth-2 Superman in action! It makes me want to reread Infinite Crisis (which on a whole, I liked a lot).
He is Kal-L right? I never quite can remember where one cuts off into the other.
As much as I love the movies, this version of Superman, like Dean Cain's in Lois and Clark, feels a lot more like the comic book Superman I'm familiar with. I was surprised actually. I'd somehow gotten the idea that defining the Superman character as Clark Kent first, with the blue suit just a convenience for superheroing, was a relatively new approach. But in this first episode, it was all Clark. Superman only made a very brief appearance to save someone.
I wonder if that's an Earth-2 versus Earth-1 thing. I've always avoided the Silver Age Superman stories because in the ones I've read, Superman always felt...off, to me. Maybe it's just the dickery, but I always felt like he was too detatched. The Golden Age stories always felt a bit "earthier" if that makes sense.
It seems like the earthy human quality in our Clark Kent is more inspired by the Golden Age than the Silver Age, in my opinion.
Anyway, the show is a lot of fun. I like Phyllis Coates's Lois Lane a lot. She's got that sharp, low voice and quick staccato speaking style that really seems to suit the character. I loved the bit where Perry couldn't get the bottle open, but she could with some well placed taps.
The only part that rang false was when she told Jimmy to go faster, he said he was afraid of a ticket, and she agreed. Come on now.
It was weird to see that the Kents had different names in this tv show. I got so used to Jonathan and Martha that hearing "Eben" and "Sarah" gave me pause. Yet another incarnation where Jonathan Kent dies of a heart attack. :-( I much prefer having him alive. But I liked that Jonathan/Eben's death seemed much less of a motivating factor in Clark's heroism in this version. Here it's Sarah/Martha gently pushing him to use his powers for good, which feels more right than the movie version's constant fatherhood themes.
And finally, George Reeves on the farm, in the denim and leather...very hot. :-)
posted by kalinara @ 2:38 AM
5 Comments:
At August 26, 2006 3:20 AM,
Anonymous said…
As for Kal-L vs. Kal-El: I think it's a blend. Perry White as head of the Daily Planet was later declared to be Earth-1 (though it happened only a few years in in the comics), and I don't know if there was ever an Earth-2 Jimmy Olsen. But the tone overall was very Golden Age, and I think those names were Earth-2. Plus, Golden Age Lois was much more awesome than Silver Age Lois.
At August 26, 2006 3:54 AM,
kalinara said…
:-) I can see it. It definitely has more of an Earth 2 tone though. And his characterization (and definitely Lois's :-)) really do seem more Golden Age to me.
Jor-El, Lara and the envisioning of Krypton were interesting as well. :-)
At August 26, 2006 8:37 AM,
Doc Hall said…
To be honest I think it's a little unfair to have the earth-1/earth-2 debate here. I seem to remember that the George Reeves Superman was man long before the idea of Earth 2 Superman was introduced.
To my mind it's impossible for him to fit in either simply because the decision that there needed to be this classification, and how each earth was defined, was made without any reguard to anything other than the original comics.
Which is really just a long way of saying that I agree with Ununnilium.
At August 26, 2006 9:56 AM,
kalinara said…
I disagree. Because while he predates the idea of "Earth 2", the Earth 2 Superman is the Golden Age Superman. Reeves can't predate the original version.
Now, he does predate the divide. Which is why one can't really use the presence of Jimmy, Perry or the Planet to judge which is the dominant characterization here I think.
However, there are very clear differences in the characterizations of the Golden Age and Silver Age Superman. The Multiverse made it more obvious, but even before then, there's an eventual point where the early characterization faded into the later characterization. I think it's fair to use that to evaluate this version of Clark Kent. He's the closest thing to watching Kal-L on the silver screen, I think.
At August 26, 2006 10:48 AM,
Anonymous said…
I LOVE the George Reeves Superman. Hokey, yes. But, I agree with you that this is more like Superman than other versions. Not only do you have the heroic Superman, but you have an actual "mild-mannered" Clark Kent. The one thing I disliked about the Christopher Reeve Superman movies is that he played Clark too dopey. Clark was never supposed to be an idiot or a klutz.
But, yeah...one of the after effects of Crisis on Infinite Earths was that the characters became more about their missions as Superheroes and less about who they are as people. I, for one, am so glad to see DC return their heroes to a place where they're all rediscovering their humanity and why they are heroes.
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