YMMV / Superman Theatrical Cartoons

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • One of the earliest examples of the "assertive" Clark Kent that became the mainstream interpretation in Post-Crisis stories.
  • Some of the cartoons showcase Superman's timing in stopping whatever threat is in play as oddly lax, usually waiting until either Lois gets involved or until Clark is directly affected. Case in point, the titular villains in "The Bulleteers" manage to destroy Police Headquarters and demolish the City Power Plant, causing a citywide blackout, before Clark ever gets involved. This can be a little jarring for people who see Superman as a proactive force for good.
• Award Snub: The first short was nominated but lost to the rather average Mickey Mouse and Pluto short, "Lend a Paw".
• Awesome Art: The background settings and objects, especially during the Fleischer era, are so realistic and well-drawn that you'd expect this to be something from Disney, but bear in mind this is from the same people that brought us the Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons.
• Broken Base: There is division over the Famous Studios cartoons of the series. While some find them to be just as visually impressive as the Fleischer-directed shorts, others disliked the relative cheapness of the cartoons and forced science fiction undertones within the plots.
• Fair for Its Day: Lois is presented with as much agency and competency as any of her modern counterparts if not even more so.
• Heartwarming Moments: The final short ends with Superman flying past the American flag and giving a salute.
• Memetic Badass: Lois Lane thanks to the famous sequence of her in “Billion Dollar Limited” casually picking up a Tommy gun and firing at the train robbers.
• Memetic Mutation: The opening narration, especially "Faster than a speeding bullet", and also "Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane!" The fact that the cartoons were repeated all over the world as pre-film features for years after they were first made ensured that they became catchphrases for multiple generations.
• Older Than They Think:
  • DC once stated in print that the earliest occurrence of the classic "Phone Booth Costume Change" happened in 1948. In the comics, perhaps — but the Fleishers were there first by seven years in "The Mechanical Monsters" (1941).
  • "Terror on the Midway" features Superman doing battle with a Killer Gorilla called Gigantic seventeen years before the debut of Titano.
  • The giant dinosaur in "The Arctic Giant" predates Godzilla by 12 years and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms by 11 years.
• Only the Creator Does It Right: The quality declined after Famous Studios took over production of the series.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Or rather, DC has wasted a perfectly good character. The Arctic Giant can never be called a Notzilla, because it predates Godzilla. In other words, there is precedence this creature to appear in the DC universe, free of any legal issues with Toho. Yet... it hasn't reappeared since its debut in the 40s.
• Values Dissonance:
  • The prologue or the first few shorts presents Superman's original origin. His powers don't come from Earth's yellow sun but are genetic since Krypton is home to a "race of supermen". The horrors of World War II put an end to eugenics.
  • In a surprising lack of this for a WW2-era propaganda cartoon, the Native American villain from Electric Earthquake is portrayed non-stereotypically and with some sympathy; but the African tribe from Jungle Drums... has about the level of racial stereotype you can imagine from this kind of media. As does Japoteurs, which features some outright racist, stereotypical Japanese villains.
  • Even Electric Earthquake, while certainly Fair for Its Day, is still based on a strawman of Native American rights activists, probably based on (completely unfounded) white anxieties around the Indian Reorganization Act.
  • At the end of The Arctic Giant, we see the titular dinosaur has been sent to the zoo... with all its limbs chained down to a concrete pit barely larger than itself curled up. Could you tell this series was produced before major animal rights and conservational movements had gotten rolling?
    • Even for the time, this was clearly inadequate, and just as clearly intended as temporary holding. Still jarring, though.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The rotoscoping looks amazing, and the animation still holds up well to this day. The special effects work is also particularly notable, such as the battle and subsequent meltdown of the giant laser cannon from "The Mad Scientist". Some people actually don't believe that these were made in the forties due to this trope.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: "Jungle Drums," which is loaded with Nightmare Fuel, introducing images such as barbaric natives attempting to burn Lois alive. (Amusingly, this cartoon made its way onto a "Parent Approved" home video VHS tape of Public Domain cartoons.) The poisoned needle and giant Egyptian tomb guardians in "The Mummy Strikes" are also unpleasant bedtime contemplation for nervous children.
  • The intro to “Destruction Inc” has a dead body dropped into a lake.

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