Western Animation / The New Adventures of Superman

The New Adventures of Superman was a series of six-minute animated Superman adventures produced by Filmation between 1966 and 1970. The 68 segments appeared as part of three different programs during that time (by itself, then as part of The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure (which paired it with Aquaman and featured this show's version of Superman as part of the Justice League of America) and finally The Batman/Superman Hour, which paired it with The Adventures of Batman).

The first TV series produced by Filmation Associates, The New Adventures of Superman was extremely popular in its Saturday morning time slot and, despite having obviously been developed for young children, employed the services of several DC comic book writers including George Kashdan. Many of the character designs (later based upon the artwork of Superman artist Curt Swan in the show's third season) stayed true to their comic book counterparts; iconic shirt-rip shots and related transformations from Clark Kent into Superman were incorporated into almost every episode, and such lines as "Up, up, and away!" and "This is a job for Superman!" were also borrowed from comics and the original Superman radio show. Due to a limited production budget, stock animation was often re-used for certain shots of Superman flying (or switching identities from Clark Kent into the Man of Steel), while character movement was often kept at a minimum.

Producer Lou Scheimer also recruited Bud Collyer and Joan Alexander, veterans from the Superman radio show and the Superman Theatrical Cartoons, for the voices of Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane respectively. Jackson Beck, who had been the narrator and the voice of Perry White on the radio show, reprised those same roles for the cartoon version, while Jack Grimes, who had played Jimmy Olsen in its later years, took that part here as well. For this series, Collyer returned to the same vocal technique he'd perfected on the radio show to play the Man of Steel. While in the identity of Clark Kent, Collyer would keep his voice lighter while projecting a sense of weakness. But when the mild-mannered reporter would change into his true identity of Superman, Collyer's voice would deepen dramatically into a heroic baritone. Alexander departed after the first season and was replaced by Julie Bennett in later seasons.

Not directly related to the live action television series Lois & Clark, billed as The New Adventures of Superman outside the USA.

---

The New Adventures of Superman contains examples of:

• All Webbed Up: Jimmy Olsen gets wrapped up in a cocoon when he is kidnapped by the leader of the Insect Raiders in "The Insect Raiders". Superman later borrows the cocooning gun to wrap up the villains.
• Amusement Park of Doom: In "Luthor's Loco Looking Glass", Luthor sets up his base of operation in an abandoned amusement pier. For some reason, the Tunnel of Love has horror figures in it.
• The Ark: In "Superman Meets Brainiac", Brainiac raids Earth to gather creatures to repopulate a planet devastated by atomic wars.
• Artistic License – Biology: An Artistic License – Paleontology example - The title creatures in "Prehistoric Pterodactyls". Where to begin...

• Artistic License – Space: "Rain of Iron". A villain bounces iron balls off an asteroid and back to specific targets on Earth.
• Aside Glance: Superman and Superboy turned and looked at the camera (usually winking as well) at the end of almost every episode. In one episode, Jimmy asks Clark who he's winking at.
• Asteroids Monster: In "Lava Men", Superman discovers that punching the Lava Man causes it to split into a bunch of blobs that grow into identical Lava Men.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Titano in "The Chimp Who Made It Big".
• Attack the Mouth: In "The Robot of Riga", Superman flies into the mouth of the Humongous Mecha to sabotage it from the inside.
• Baby Carriage: In "The Prankster", the Prankster shoves a baby carriage down a hill into a busy intersection as a practical joke.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: The title creatures in "Prehistoric Pterodactyls" and Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane in "The Robot of Riga".
• Batman Gambit: When Superman finds him after his first couple "jokes", the Prankster points out that Superman can't arrest him because he has no proof. Superman plays a couple of jokes of his own on Prankster. This gets Prankster angry enough to admit to his own "practical jokes" while ranting about how lame Superman's are. Superman then reveals he caught the whole exchange on a tape recorder.
• Bee Afraid: In "War of the Bee Battalion", criminals force a scientist who has created a growth ray for honeybees to use the device to attack Metropolis
• Beneath the Earth: In "The Neolithic Nightmare", Jimmy Olsen falls into an underground pocket populated by malevolent creatures, including dragons, rocs, and giant spiders.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: In "The Lethal Lightning Bug", the eponymous creature is a gigantic lightning bug created when lightning strike a swamp.
• Big Dam Plot: In "The Tree Man of Arbora", the tree man destroys a dam in his insatiable thirst for water, forcing Superman to find a way of stopping the flood before it reaches the town below the dam.
• Bird People: In "The Birdmen of Lost Valley", avian beings must raid outside farmlands for survival because a gold raider named Trask and his henchmen hold their populace hostage.
• Bond One-Liner: In "Can a Luthor Change His Spots?", Perry declares that Superman will come to bring the Daily Planet back to Earth. Luthor, who left Superman splashed with Kryptonite-infused ink on the Planet's paper preparation belt, sneers that the hero is "pressed for time."
• Botanical Abomination: Although starting off as a Plant Person, the eponymous creature in "The Tree Man of Arbora" turns into one as it grows to gigantic proportions as it consumes water.
• Bound and Gagged: Lois Lane twice, Jimmy Olsen once.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Clark Kent winked at the audience at the end of every episode.
• Breath Weapon: In "The Atomic Superman", Superman starts breathing fire as an unintended side-effect of an Eat the Bomb scenario.
• Bridal Carry: Superman lifts Lois and Jimmy under the knees and back when rescuing them.
• Brown Note: In "The Toys of Doom", the Toyman uses a calliope that plays music capable of crumbling a skyscraper.
• Bus Full of Innocents: In "The Wisp of Wickedness", the possessed hat causes a crane driver to attempt to drop a school bus into a metal crusher.
• Came from the Sky: The title creature in "The Iron Eater".
• Captain Obvious: The narrator, who will solemnly intone that Superman is punching the monster as the screen shows Superman punching the monster. No one can do anything without the narrator informing you that they are doing it while you are watching them do it.
• Chained to a Railway: In "Luminians on the Loose", Luthor leaves Jimmy Olsen on the tracks where the express is scheduled to come shortly.
• Chekhov's Gun: In "Can a Luthor Change His Spots?", Jimmy grimaces at the taste of the water in the water coolers that the supposedly reformed Luthor set up. Later, when Superman is looking for the rockets that Luthor set up to launch the Daily Planet building into space, he remembers what Jimmy said about the water tasting odd. Sure enough, that's where the rockets are.
• Clothes Make the Maniac: In "The Wisp Of Wickedness", a possessed hat causes anyone who dons it to commit evil acts.
• Convection, Schmonvection: In "The Wisp of Wickedness", a man possessed by the wisp attempts to dump molten iron on Superman and two civilians. Superman protects the civilians by covering them with his cape so they are not splattered with the iron. However, the heat from the molten iron should have been enough to kill them.
• Conveniently Close Planet: In "Rain of Iron" an asteroid is (a) close enough to Earth for a villain to bounce iron balls off of it and (b) stands still in space instead of orbiting around the Sun.
• Conveyor Belt o' Doom:
  • In "The Mysterious Mr. Mist", Mr. Mist attempts to feed Perry White into a buzz saw on his farm.
  • In "Can a Luthor Change His Spots?", Luthor splashes Superman with Kryptonite-laced ink and puts him and Jimmy (who he's tied up) on the Planet's newspaper preparation belt, intending for the machinery to dice and/or crush them. It fails because Jimmy manages to cut his bonds, allowing him to escape and save Superman.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Perry White actually makes Luthor the Daily Planet's science editor in "Can a Luthor Change his Spots?", providing him with a steady salary and his own lab. Luthor even manages to get the bank to let him test a device intended to open vault doors, which could have been immensely useful as a safety mechanism. He throws it all away to kill Superman and launch the Daily Planet building into space.
• Deadly Gas: In "Luthor's Lethal Laser", Luthor and Brainiac attempt to kill a shrunken Superman by fumigating him with kryptonite gas.
• Defiant Captive: Jimmy doesn't show any fear towards the Sorcerer after being kidnapped in "The Invisible Raiders" and uses the first time he's alone to reach his signal watch and alert Superman, despite the Sorcerer having threatened to kill him if the Man of Steel followed them.
• Domed Hometown: In "The Cage of Glass", Brainiac shrinks Metropolis itself to minuscule size and imprisons the city in glass for return to Doctor Heckla's homeworld.
• Dug Too Deep: In "The Fire Phantom", a living flame from Earth's core makes its way to the surface through an old abandoned coal-mine near Metropolis and sets off a mammoth forest fire.
• Eat the Bomb: In "The Atomic Superman", Superman tests a new explosive by swallowing it. It has the side-effect of causing him to breathe atomic fire.
• Enemy Mine: "Luminians on the Loose". Superman and Lex Luthor team up to stop the title creatures.
• Energy Absorption: "The Pernicious Parasite" provides a classic example of Phlebotinum Overload: Superman deals with the Parasite by letting him absorb his nigh-infinite powers until he simply explodes, fatally. Deliberately arranging for an enemy's death was seriously Out of Character for the Man of Steel.
• Energy Being: In "The Wisp Of Wickedness", a demon becomes a small ball of energy due to a lab accident.
• Engineered Public Confession: "The Prankster". Superman tricks the title character into a Caught on Tape confession.
• Evil Knockoff: Toyman constructs an evil Superman robot to frame Superman in "The Two Faces of Superman".
• Evil Living Flames: In "The Fire Phantom", a living flame from Earth's core appears and sets off a mammoth forest fire. The living flame is a giant version of the classic "living candle flame mote", and has no intelligence or personality except for causing fire and destruction wherever it goes.
• Evil Sorcerer: Warlock is a male witch, who derives his black-magic power from a ruby on the end of his cane.
• Falling into Jail: In "Return of Warlock", Superman first makes Warlock think his car is about to crash into the wall of the penitentiary, before lifting the car over wall and dumping him out in the prison yard.
• Falsely Reformed Villain: Lex Luthor in "Can a Luthor Change his Spots?" To the disbelief of Jimmy Olsen, Lex Luthor has convinced Perry White that he has gone straight, and has thus become the Daily Planet's science editor with a huge experimental lab in the Planet building. Jimmy's disbelief leads him to try and catch Luthor in a deception, but his efforts lead to disasters. But ultimately Jimmy is proved right, and this is a scam of Luthor's to transform the Planet building into a gigantic rocket.
• Fatal Fireworks: In "Luthor's Fatal Fireworks", Lex Luthor captures Jimmy Olsen to lure Superman to the West Coast where he unleashes a bombardment of fireworks laced with kryptonite.
• Fed to the Beast:
  • In "The Mermen of Emor", the mermen attempt to do this to Jimmy Olsen and two other captured scuba divers as part of their annual games: first with lion sharks, and then a killer whale.
  • In "Luthor's Loco Looking Glass", Luthor sends a matter transfer machine disguised as a mirror to the Daily Planet, hoping to trap Clark Kent. He accidentally nabs Jimmy instead. His plot du jour consists of putting the hostage on a retracting floor over a Shark Pool, seemingly for no reason other than to upset Superman by killing one of his friends.
• Floating in a Bubble: In "Brainiac's Bubbles", Superman and Lois Lois Lane find themselves trapped and floating inside, well, Brainiac's giant bubbles.
• Flying Broomstick: The Warlock's sister has a flying broomstick. The Warlock steals it from her to embark on his scheme of revenge.
• Forced Sleep: The episode "The Japanese Sandman" has the eponymous evil figure, who can put people to sleep in seconds with magic sleep sand. Even Superman can't No-Sell it. However, he does manage to fight off the effects long enough to spin the sand out of his eyes.
• For the Evulz: In "The Wisp of Wickedness", the wisp is a ball of vapor consisting of pure concentrated evil. It possesses a hat and forces anyone who dons the hat to commit acts of pure evil, such as trying to run down children in a playground or dump a school bus into a smelter.
• Fossil Revival: The Warlock uses magic to bring a dinosaur skeleton to life to attack Jimmy Olsen in "Return of Warlock". Unusually, it appears to be an apatosaurus rather than a T. rex or something similarly intimidating.
• Fountain of Youth: In "Merlin's Magical Marbles", Lex Luthor and his henchman use the aforementioned marbles to transform themselves into children to allow them to escape undetected from the scenes of their crimes.

• Funny Terrain Cross Section: In one episode of The Adventures of Superboy, Superboy travels underground and the audience sees dinosaur skeletons in cross section.
• Giant Spider: Jimmy is menaced by an oversized spider in one episode.
• Hair-Trigger Explosive:
  • In "The Insect Raiders", a group of crooks using insectoid suits to commit robberies kidnap Jimmy, leaving him in a cavern full of explosive "eggs", which the leader warns Superman are very delicate.
  • In "The Japanese Sandman", the two villains enclose the snooping cub reporter in a case of explosive bricks, which they put on a conveyor belt. Superman has to figure out how to stop the thing from falling and get Jimmy out without causing a shock that could blow up the bricks.
• Hard Truth Aesop: A subverted regular Aesop from "Can a Luthor Change His Spots?". You shouldn't be suspicious and people can change...except sometimes they don't and suspicion can be a good thing.
• Harmless Freezing: Two pterodactyls in "Prehistoric Pterodactyls".
• The Hat Makes the Man: See Clothes Make the Maniac above.
• I Have Your Wife: In "The Invisible Raiders", the Sorcerer and his men kidnap Jimmy to manipulate Superman.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: In "The Electro-Magnetic Monster", Superman uses the Deimosians' own electromagnetic device against their ship to defeat them.
• Hypno Trinket: In "The Wisp of Wickedness", the wisp possesses a hat, allowing it to brainwash anyone who is wearing it into attacking innocent people, especially children.
• An Ice Person: In "The Abominable Iceman", the eponymous beast uses his ice powers to freeze Hawaii, including freezing a volcano solid.
• Incredible Shrinking Man: In "The Return of Brainiac", Superman, Lois and Jimmy are shrunk down to insect size by Brainiac's shrink ray.
• Inescapable Net: In "The Men from A.P.E.", Superman dumps the villains in the ocean and then scoops them up in a fishing net. Apparently, Lex Luthor has nothing on him capable of dealing with a net.
• Instant Sedation: In "The Japanese Sandman", the sleep sand used by the Sandman cause people to fall asleep instantly when it is blown in their face.
• Jet Pack: In the Superboy episode "The Revolt of Robotville", the robots that capture Clark Kent and Lana Lang and later rob a steel foundry use jet packs to fly.
• Just Between You and Me: "The Saboteurs". The villain tells Lois Lane and Clark Kent his plan after he captures them.
• Killer Gorilla: "Ape Army of the Amazon". In South America, an exiled military officer named Colonel Vasta and a disgraced scientist named Dr. Rucas control apes, with the transmitter on Dr. Rucas's back, in a plot to rob an underground treasure.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: In "The Warlock's Revenge", the Warlock wants to borrow his sister's magical ruby to use its powers to exact revenge on Superman but she refuses because she's sure that the Warlock will fail again and Superman will destroy the ruby. The Warlock just takes the ruby by force and it leads to Superman eventually proving her right.
• Latin Land: In "The Ape Army of the Amazon", the mayor of a Brazilian river village appears to be a Mexican peon.
• Lava Is Boiling Kool-Aid: In "The Atomic Superman", an alien on a fire planet falls into a river of lava. Although immune to heat, the alien has to be rescued by Superman as he is in danger of drowning.
• Legion of Doom: A.P.E. (Allied Perpetrators of Evil); consisting of Lex Luthor, the Warlock, Toyman and the Prankster who united in an attempt to take down Superman. A later incarnation consisted of Luthor, Warlock and Brainiac.
• Lightning Can Do Anything: A giant lightning bug that can discharge lethal charges of electricity is created when lighting strikes a swamp in "The Lethal Lightning Bug".
• Living Dinosaurs:
  • In "The Prehistoric Pterodactyls", two giant flying monsters are freed from frozen suspension.
  • In "The Neolithic Nightmare", Jimmy Olsen falls into an underground pocket populated by malevolent creatures, including dinosaurs.
• Living Lava: In "Lava Men", a volcano in Mexico creates living beings of lava. When Superman fights the first one, he discovers it is an Asteroids Monster that splits into identical beings every time it's struck.
• Living Statue: The Warlock brings a Civil War statue to life to attack an armoured car in "The Wicked Warlock".
• Lumber Mill Mayhem: In "The Mysterious Mr. Mist", Mr. Mist uses a Conveyor Belt o' Doom to attempt to feed Perry White into a buzz saw on his farm.
• Made of Evil: In "The Wisp of Wickedness", the body of an alien warlord is destroyed by an explosion. All that is left is a wisp consisting of his concentrated evilness. The wisp travels to Earth where it inhabits a hat and compels anyone who dons it to commit evil acts. Superman eventually traps the wisp and flings it into the sun.
• Mars Needs Women: In "The Mysterious Mr. Mist", the disembodied Mr. Mist is obsessed with capturing Lois Lane and dragging her back to his underground realm to make her his queen.
• Meaningful Name: In "The Team of Terror" the villainess is named Satana.
• Metal Muncher: In "The Iron Eater", Superman battles a shape-shifting alien creature that emerged from a fallen meteorite and devours iron structures.
• Misplaced Wildlife: In "Night of the Octopod", the inactive Octopod is shocked back to life by an electric eel. At the base of Niagara Falls.
• Monster in the Ice: In "Prehistoric Pterodactyls", after millions of years frozen in Arctic ice, two pterodactyls are freed and immediately go on a rampage.
• Monster Is a Mommy: The Superboy segments used this twice:
  • "The Deep Sea Dragon". A diver exploring a shipwreck finds a pearl in a chest. After he removes it and takes it to his ship on the surface, the ship is attacked by a seagoing dragon. It turns out that the dragon was genetically engineered, and she left her egg in the wreck for safe keeping.
  • "Visitor From The Earth's Core". While Superboy and Krypto the Superdog are on an expedition to the Earth's core, Krypto finds a glowing black rock and Superboy takes it back to the surface to be analyzed. Later a giant crystalline snake comes out of the hole that Superboy dug and starts rampaging around. Krypto figures out that the rock is the creature's egg and alerts Superboy. They hatch the egg with their heat vision and return the baby creature to its mother.
• Mummy: Superman battles the mummy of an evil ancient Egyptian sorcerer in "The Malevolent Mummy."
• Murder by Remote Control Vehicle: In "The Deadly Dish", Luthor attempts to run Perry White over with a remote control steamroller. By implication, the pile driver and wrecking ball he uses to try and kill Jimmy and Lois must also be remote controlled.
• Murderous Mannequin: "The Mysterious Mr. Mist". A disembodied spirit possesses a mannequin and tries to drag Lois Lane back to his kingdom Beneath the Earth.
• Musical Assassin: In "The Toys of Doom", the Toyman uses a calliope that plays music capable of crumbling a skyscraper.
• Nautical Knockout: In "Rain of Iron", Lois Lane is knocked out by the boom when she attempts to maneuver her sailboat to avoid a torpedo.
• Never Say "Die": Played Straight in several episodes, but averted in "The Invisible Raiders", the Sorcerer tells Superman not to trail them "or you will never see the boy [Jimmy] alive again." Also averted in "The Black Knight", where the evil Black Knight threatens to kill people several times.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In "Can a Luthor Change his Spots?", Jimmy Olsen was so sure the answer was "no" he followed Luthor until he arrived at a bank, where Luthor was using a device to easily open a vault door. Jumping to the conclusion Luthor was trying to rob the bank, Jimmy snatched the device, broke it and closed the door before Luthor had the chance to explain there were two people inside the vault and, unless the invention is fixed (or Superman returns from a far away rescue) on time, they'll suffocate to death.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • In "The Team of Terror", the Warlock has Superman at his mercy and is killing him with a kryptonite beam. His ally Satana sends a giant snake made out of plasto to crush the Man of Steel. The plastic blocks the kryptonite beam and allows Superman to recover and escape.
  • In "Luminians on the Loose", Luthor leaves Jimmy Olsen on the tracks where the express is scheduled to come shortly, a bomb under his shoulder (which will detonate if he takes the pressure off the button). His plan is that when Superman (of course) tries to rescue his young friend, the bomb will explode, destroying the bridge. Unfortunately, Superman's keen hearing picks up Luthor gloating about it, and he finds another option.
• Nobody Here but Us Statues:
  • In "The Imp-Practical Joker", Mister Mxyzptlk hides among statues of gnomes on the roof of a carnival fun house.
  • In "Luthor's Loco Looking Glass", Superman hides among the statues in the Tunnel of Love to wait for his escaping nemesis. He scares Luthor when he suddenly reveals himself.
• Non-Malicious Monster: The series has several, such an extraterrestrial creature that devours iron and steel ("The Iron Eater"), and the Fire Phantom, which Superman himself describes as "just a fire that wouldn't go out."
• Not My Driver: In "Luthor Strikes Again". After Jimmy Olsen gets into a cab, steel plates slide up covering the windows, trapping him inside. It turns out to be a trap set by Lex Luthor.
• Officer O'Hara: One appears in the episode "The Cage of Glass".
• Only the Chosen May Wield: In the Superboy episode "The Black Knight", Superboy and his friend Timmy time travel and meet King Arthur and his court. Arthur sticks Excalibur in an anvil and says whoever can pull it out will be worthy of being his successor. Superboy pulls it out with ease, but the evil Black Knight steals it and attacks them. Superboy defeats him by tricking him into sticking it back in the anvil. He is unable to pull it out and is easily captured.
• Opening Narration
• People Zoo: In "The Robot of Riga" the Rigans kidnap Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane to put them in one.
• Phlebotinum Overload: In "The Pernicious Parasite" , Superman deals with the Parasite by letting him absorb his nigh-infinite powers until he simply explodes, fatally.
• Properly Paranoid: In "Can a Luthor Change His Spots?", everyone else thinks the answer could be "yes." Jimmy Olsen thinks it's "no." He's right.
• Put Their Heads Together: Superman uses this on thugs in "The Deadly Super-Doll" and "The Deadly Icebergs".
• Real After All: In "The Ghost of Castle Kilbane", two brothers stage a "Scooby-Doo" Hoax and pretend to be ghosts in order to drive Jimmy and Lois away from the castle. In doing so, they accidentally summon up a real ghost.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: In the episodes "The Team of Terror" and "The Japanese Sandman". In "The Japanese Sandman", the titular monster (who commits evil acts in return for a black pearl) has red eyes.
• Reverse Polarity: Reversing the polarity of an electric charge transfers the powers of the episode's villain (and some other guy) back to Superman... after they got them from him through an electric shock. Also an example of Now Do It Again, Backwards.
• Road-Sign Reversal: In "The Prankster", Superman switches a pair of signs to cause the Prankster to drive his scooter into a river.
• Rod And Reel Repurposed: In "Luminians on the Loose", Superman uses a fishing rod to snatch a krypronite necklace off Lex Luthor from a safe distance.
• Rope Bridge: In "The Halyah of the Himalayas", Superman defeats the Halyah by luring it on to a rope bridge, then cutting the ropes to dump the monster into a deep chasm where he can cover it in snow and put it back to sleep.
• Saw Blades of Death: In "The Mysterious Mr. Mist", Mr. Mist attempts to feed Perry White into a buzz saw on his farm.
• Scary Scarecrows: A scarecrow is one of the forms inhabited by the eponymous villain in "The Mysterious Mr Mist".
• "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: In "The Ghost of Castle Kilbane", two brothers pretend to be ghosts in order to drive Jimmy and Lois away from the castle. In doing so, they accidentally summon up a real ghost.
• Sdrawkcab Alias: Lex Luthor in "Luthor Strikes Again". He sets up shop in the Rothul paint factory. Superman, looking for the factory where he's hiding, notices this.
• Security Cling: Lois Lane grabs onto Jimmy Olsen when Lex Luthor is aiming a laser at them.
• Sentenced Without Trial: Episode "Return of Warlock". At the end of the episode, Superman captures the Warlock, delivers him to the local prison without a trial and tells him "You will stay here for a long, long time".
• Shark Pool: "Luthor's Loco Looking Glass". Lex Luthor puts Jimmy Olsen in a Death Trap involving a sliding floor over a pool of sharks. Luckily, Superman turns up seconds after he's dumped into the water.
• Ship Tease: At the end of "The Robots of Riga", Clark asks Lois what she's doing that afternoon. She flirtily asks if he's asking her on a drive through the country.
• Shock and Awe: The antagonists of "The Lethal Lightning Bug" and "Night of the Octopod" have the ability to discharge deadly bolts of lightning.
• Shrink Ray: Brainiac uses one in multiple episodes, and his master Dr. Hekla does so in one episode.
• Solar-Powered Magnifying Glass: In "Seeds of Disaster", Super uses the lens from an observatory telescope to focus the sun's rays to incinerate the alien seed pods.
• South of the Border: Superman saves a very stereotypical Mexican village from the eponymous monsters in "Lava Men".
• Strapped to a Bomb: In "Rain of Iron", an evil scientists ties Lois Lane to a missile that he launches from his submarine in an attempt to detonate a volcano.
• Stripping the Scarecrow: In "The Mysterious Mr. Mist" a mist-like being creates human bodies for itself by inhabiting clothing. One of the first sets of clothing it occupies comes from a scarecrow.
• Stock Phrases
  • Follow That Car: In "Can a Luthor Change His Spots?", when Lex Luthor hops into a cab, Jimmy Olsen (who's following him) gets into another cab and tells the driver "Follow that cab!"
  • That's an Order!
• Subverted Suspicion Aesop: "Can a Luthor Change His Spots?" No, no matter how convincing it looks.
• Sudden Name Change: In several early episodes (e.g. "The Deadly Dish") Lex Luthor's henchman was named Blinky. In the first season 3 episode "Luthor's Lethal Laser" the henchman's name was changed to Kinky, with no explanation.
• Surprise Slide Staircase: In "The Warlock's Revenge", the Warlock magically transforms the stairs beneath Lois Lane's feet into a slide to dump her into a busy street.
• Three Shorts: Two Superman cartoons bookend the middle feature, The Adventures Of Superboy. Bob Hastings (Commissioner Gordon on Batman: The Animated Series) voices young Clark Kent/Superboy.
• Thunder Beetle: In "The Lethal Lightning Bug", the eponymous creature is a gigantic lightning bug created when lightning strike a swamp and imbued with the power tos discharge deadly bolts of lightning.
• Time Bomb: Lex Luthor uses one in "APE Strikes Again".
• Track Trouble:
  • In "The Iron Eater", Superman has to stop a train after the eponymous monster eats a section of track.
  • Luthor plans to damage a bridge in "Luminians on the Loose." He places Jimmy on the tracks with a pressure-sensitive bomb under him so that when Superman saves him, it will destroy the tracks. Superman hears Luthor gloating and holds a nearby, unused piece of track up over the spot while the train goes over.
• Trainstopping: In "The Iron Eater", Clark Kent is travelling on a train when the eponymous monster eats the tracks in front of the train. Clark has to do a fast train change to Superman and stop the train before it derails.
• Trampled Underfoot: Superman is trodden on, and driven into the ground by, the eponymous phantom in "The Force Phantom".
• Trauma Button Ending: Clark would often mischievously bring up something related to the plot for a final joke.
  • During "The Robots of Riga", Lois and Jimmy are almost kidnapped to be put into a People Zoo. After Superman rescues them, Clark asks Lois if she has anything to do that afternoon, suggesting he and she might take a trip to the zoo. Lois responds by throwing something at Clark.
  • During "The Warlock's Revenge", the Warlock brings a monster movie poster to life to menace Lois. After everything is wrapped up, Clark says she needs some down time and suggests they see the same movie.
  • The events of "Luthor's Loco Looking Glass" start when Luthor has a matter transfer machine disguised as a mirror sent to the Daily Planet and Jimmy falls into it. At the end, Clark offers him a hand mirror to see a smudge on his face more clearly, which Jimmy emphatically refuses.
  • At the end of "The Fire Phantom", Jimmy and Clark catch up with each other and compare notes on the evening, with Jimmy telling Clark how chilling it was. Clark suggests that he build a fire. Jimmy immediately says that he's had enough of fire for the evening.
  • In one episode, a Mad Scientist who is angry at Lois for sending him to jail kidnaps her and forces her into a film strip. When Clark says Lois is attractive enough to be a film star, she throws something at him, causing him to quip that sometimes she's more hazardous than a mad scientist.
  • Clark finds himself on the wrong end of this trope in "Superman's Double Trouble." After he's spent the entire episode dealing with a giant lobster and a humongous alligator, Perry offers to buy him dinner at a seafood restaurant. Clark declines, saying he's had enough lobster for the day.
• Treants: In "The Tree Man of Arbora", a tree-like being brought to life near a meteor crater grows arms and legs and begins wandering about, consuming enormous quantities of water. It displayed enormous physical strength, easily ripping the hood off of a car to get at the water in its motor and breaking a dam apart with its bare fingers. It at one point disguises itself in a forest by standing still and becoming indistinguishable from normal trees, until a boy carving letters into its trunk angers it back into motion. At the end of the episode, Superman takes the creature to the planet of Abora, which is entirely populated by tree men.
• Tunnel of Love: At the end of "Luthor's Loco Looking Glass", Luthor attempts to escape Superman by fleeing through the Amusement Park of Doom's Tunnel of Love (which looks more like a Chamber of Horrors).
• Unwilling Suspension: In "The Ghost of Kilbane Castle", Lois and Jimmy are left suspended above razor sharp blades.
• Voodoo Doll: The Sorcerer uses a dummy made of magic clay on Superman in "The Deadly Super-Doll". However, Supes is able to remain in control of himself by exerting Heroic Willpower and ultimately crushes the dummy.
• The Unpronouncable: Superman's first encounter with Mr. Mxyzptlk has the Man of Steel sputtering in utter confusion over the imp's name.
• The Walls Are Closing In: One of the death traps magically summoned by the Sorcerer in attempt to destroy Superman and Jimmy Olsen in "The Deadly Super-Doll".
• Weapons That Suck: In "The Mysterious Mr. Mist", Superman uses an ordinary vacuum cleaner to suck up Mr. Mist. However, Mist manages to escape while Superman is busy rescuing Lois.
• When Trees Attack: In "The Tree Man of Arbora", a tree being brought to life near a meteor crater consumes enormous quantities of water. It proves fairly aggressive, attacking people who anger it and Superman when he goes to investigate.
• Would Hurt a Child: In "The Wisp of Wickedness", the first person possessed by the wisp attempts to drive his car through a playground, and the second attempts to drop a school bus into a furnace.
• Wounded Hero, Weaker Helper: In "Can a Luthor Change His Spots?", Luthor drops Superman with a bucket of Kryptonite-laced ink and puts him on the Planet's newspaper preparation belt to be crushed by the presses. Luckily, Jimmy (who was tied up on the same belt), frees himself with some of the machinery and stops the belt. Then he uses some ink remover to get the poisoned ink off.

---