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Fleischer Superman cartoons

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  • Fleischer Superman cartoons

    Has anybody else ever seen any of these? They have really good animation; the characters look very realistic. Also cool is that Bud Collyer, who voiced Superman in the radio show, was the voice of Clark Kent/Superman in these cartoons. Joan Alexander, radio's Lois Lane, also reprised her role.

    The cartoons aren't very long, so it's easy to watch several cartoons in one sitting. Like all animated shorts from the time they were created, they tend to last no longer than 10 minutes. More often than not, though, the animators sure did manage to pack a lot of action within those 10 minutes.
    Last edited by Lois_Lane_Fan; 04-21-2015, 04:30 PM.

  • #2
    Yeah, the animation is great. My first introduction to these animated shorts were when I was a kid as a bonus intro to a Bugs Bunny VHS. Aside from Spider-Man TAS the Fleischer short was one of my first forays into superheroes. Couple of years ago I got the Fleischer DVD with all the animated shorts.

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    • #3
      Yes, I think I've seen all of them. I also think I own all of them. These were great and many of the current greats in animation have said that they draw inspiration from these.

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      • #4
        I also own the DVDs. I recall being surprised how good the animation was. Classic, to be sure.

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        • #5
          I love them really well made I checked them out from the library I love the mechanical monsters one.

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          • #6
            Decided to rewatch the first one, "The Mad Scientist". Thought it was fine. We're not given much backstory for the titular villain, but it's made clear that his motive is a vendetta against the world. I like that. His motive isn't money, but vengeance. Which helps, as, logically, he would need a lot of available resources just to build this Electrothanasia-Ray (which produces a physical threat to the city and Superman). He didn't spend a fortune to construct this thing, just to steal less than half of what it cost to make. We're never given a name for the character. Even the newspaper article, at the end, calls him "Mad Scientist". Might've been a fun detail to see him have a proper name.

            The opening origin story seems to scrap the Kents (presenting Superman as seemingly having grown up in an orphanage). In fact, the opening narration almost gave me the impression that "Clark Kent" was an identity assumed by Superman, after becoming an adult and Superman. Maybe I got hung up on the wording.

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            • #7
              "The Mechanical Monsters"

              Unnamed criminal: "So, you won't tell me?"

              Lois: "I would like to, but you gagged me, you idiot."

              Before Brainiac, there were... mechanical monsters!

              I like the mechanical monsters. Gives Superman multiple physical opponents, rather than him just fighting an energy beam. Their unnamed creator, on the other hand, no. He comes across as incredibly stupid. Not only do you have the above observation about him gagging Lois, while trying to make her talk. But this guy has constructed an army of (for the time) advanced robots (no doubt expensive), that he then uses to commit bank robberies and jewel heists. If he introduced his robots to the world, he could've made a fortune on them, by constructing and legally selling them. His response to a robot experiencing interference, is to push a button, that causes it to dump the jewels (and then he wants to know what Lois did with the jewels).

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              • #8
                "Billion Dollar Limited"

                Superman goes up against normal robbers, rather than an Electrothanasia-Ray or mechanical monsters, though he faces a minor challenge with protecting a train with one billion dollars in gold. I call it "minor", as one have just seen Superman deal with robots and energy beams. Now he gets to go up against regular people. You'd think that he'd be able to disable their car in seconds (rather than letting them drive around, beside the train). Clearly this Superman can be affected by gas. This was made in 1942. Superman had not yet become as powerful, as he would become after the war.

                While Superman has to save Lois, I like that she's portrayed as proactively trying to protect the train (even taking up a tommy gun, and starting to fire at the robbers).

                The events of this cartoon is referenced in the Smallville episode "Homecoming", where a Daily Planet newspaper (included with the complete season DVD set) recounts the events.

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                • #9
                  "The Arctic Giant"

                  Did Ishirō Honda ever see this cartoon by any chance? LOL. I could see one sequence as possible inspiring the damm part in Superman the Movie (1978). Though, I think that I prefer a giant creature, over an Earthquake.

                  Question if an American expedition would be given access to Siberia (not to mention, moving this creature out of the Soviet Union). The Arctic Giant does present Superman with another physical threat. Though, it's size is extremely inconsistent.

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                  • #10
                    "The Bulleteers"

                    Wait, the villains have a name all of a sudden? (They didn't before.) Superman comes across as a bit passive. He doesn't do anything, until after the villains have struck (despite them having already announced their target. He knows exactly where they'll be).

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                    • #11
                      "The Magnetic Telescope"

                      Bald scientists and Superman don't mix. Though, with the glasses, the scientist looks more like Dr. Sivana, than Lex Luthor. In an nice change of pace, the scientist isn't evil (and part of the problem emerges from the police trying to shut down his experiment, after he's already begun). Just obsessed with his experiment, that he has devoted decades to.

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                      • #12
                        "Terror on the Midway"

                        That gorilla cage was sure easy to open. Hard to believe that the circus doesn't have a contigency for Gigantic (or another animal) breaking free. Gigantic (the gorilla) pre-dates Superman's gigantic gorilla antagonist, Titanto, by 17 years. Perhaps Gigantic inspired Titano (with the writers adding Kryptonite vision to make him more dangerous). What's weird is that this giant gorilla is given a name, while most of the human antagonists, in the previous cartoons, are not.

                        This was the last of the Superman cartoons made by Fleischer Studios (which went under). The other eight were produced by Famous Studios.
                        Last edited by jon-el87; 01-06-2021, 02:16 PM.

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                        • #13
                          "Japoteurs"

                          An example of racist depictions of Japanese people (complete with caricatures and racial slurs) during world war II. With Japanese Americans placed in internment camp, in February 1942, I question the notion of multiple Japanese agents being able to move around so easily on U.S. soil. The main agent conceals the Japanese flag, behind a picture of the Statue of Liberty, to hide his true loyalties. Like he would not be regarded as a suspected Japanese agent (and put into an internment camp), simply for being of Japanese heritage. Of course, that's really an example of racism in the cartoon: you have a man of Japanese heritage, who appears to be a loyal American, but quickly reveals his true loyalty (Japan). Thus presenting people of Japanese heritage, living in the U.S., as automatically hostile aliens.

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                          • #14
                            "Showdown"

                            What exactly is the point of this guy dressing up as Superman? Especially as he just acts as a pickpocket, at the opera, sneaking around. It's not part of any kind of a con, where he'd trick someone into believing him to be Superman, to give him some money or something.

                            Wikipedia lists the unnamed Daily Planet employee, with the bowtie, as "Jimmy Olsen". However, that claim is unsourced.

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                            • #15
                              "Eleventh Hour"

                              And we're back to racist WWII era caricatures of Japanese people. We never learn what Lois Lane and Clark Kent were doing in Japan, in the first place. Through his acts of sabotage, Superman, no doubt, kills a lot of people.

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