Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Superman Related Fleischer Superman cartoons

Has anybody else ever seen any of these? I think they were all pretty well done, although I do prefer the non-war cartoons to the ones focusing on the war.

I really enjoyed the voice work done in the cartoons. I like the way Bud Collyer transitioned his voice from Clark to Superman.

The animation is also really good. It's among the most beautiful I've seen in any cartoon. I like the way that the characters look so realistic.

Also, the music is very good, too. I know that a lot of people think that the music from the movies is the quintessential Superman theme, but I think that the music in these cartoons, in the "Adventures of Superman" TV show, and on "Lois and Clark" proves that you can have a good Superman theme song that isn't the movie version.

I also enjoyed the way the characters were portrayed in the cartoons. There were quite a few scenes of Lois that reminded me of Teri Hatcher's Lois.

Yes, I love these! I bought them on DVD (sadly the second DVD never worked properly), but they are available on Netflix's instant list (twice actually, once as episodes and once as a group).

The portrayal of Lois Lane as a no-nonsense woman in the 1940's who does what she thinks best, or whatever it takes to get the story, has been a great role model for generations of women and much more believable than the stereotypical screaming for help victim we usually see in action cartoons and movies. <Actually women were protrayed in a more positive light, intelligence and bravery wise, in the films of 1920s-1930s than they were after WW2, IMO.>

The Clark Kent of these cartoons is definitely more milded mannered than any of the live action Clark Kents I've seen. I believe in one episode, he actually claims to have fainted (okay, so he's probably closer to Chris Reeves's Clark.)

I like the very, very slow way he switches from CK to SM. It's been a while since I've watched these, so I don't recall if this improves in time. Lois has just been carried away by some mechnical monster, and Clark is changing his suit so he doesn't get a wrinkle, one leg at a time. How come he's faster than speeding bullet, but it takes him that long to change? Or the time Lois kissed CK thinking it was SM. Or the time she realized that the guard she was trying to save was actually CK in disguse (I believe it gave her more respect for CK for tackling a story she did). Or the time where Lois told Clark that she "lost" his press pass and he had to go get another one, while she went to get the story <<that was the exploding volcano one>>. There's an episode where there's a female character who LOOKS like Lois, sounds like Lois, but she isn't named, so I'm not sure.

The give and take between Lois and Superman in these cartoons is priceless. I even have a seen in Wrong Clark, where Clark tells Lois to "stay" and in a huff she does the opposite. This scene was inspired by the Lois of these Fleisher cartoons. It shows how important Lois has been to Superman since the very beginning.

ASIDE: I'd love to read anything about how Lois Lane inspired the women's right movement of the 50-60s, because if she's absent from any such discussion, it would be as great of a hole as forgetting the inspiration Princess Leia was on my generation (those of us born in the 70s and 80s).

The Fleischer shorts were among my earliest forays into Superman! My grandma had a VHS tape of them at her and grandpa's summer cabin. It was a common rainy day activity to either watch them or read the comics (mostly 80s to 90s) in a cardboard box there.

The Clark reminds me most of the early and Bronze age Clark. He's mild-mannered but not a complete pushover (with the way he says he "Lost his pass" in "Volcano!" when Lois had it the whole time reminded me of Clark's growl in L&C from time to time.)

As an adult I do have to remind myself that the cartoons contain an aweful lot of rather horrid stereotypes when it comes to the villains (the "mis-directed natives" anyone? The Japanese characters? etc.) The earlier ones were a little better on that (probably because they were primarily sci-fi oriented) but if I can move past those stereotypes (as I often do) then I can enjoy them for what they are.

I always enjoyed the subtle by-play of Lois and Clark. They often were on "dates" both for work purposes and for simple enjoyment (never really shown but always implied.)

Yes, I've got the first DVD - great fun, enjoyed them rather more than the 1950s live action version. Interesting how some aspects of the animation seem to be reflected in the modern Batman animated series, e.g. Mask of the Phantasm, much more so than the recent Superman.