Superman TAS: New Kids in Town

Superman: The Animated Series
Season 3, Episode 3
“New Kids in Town” (1998)
Written by Stan Berkowitz & Rich Fogel
Directed by Butch Lukic
Original release: October 31st 1998
Running time: 22 minutes
Air time: Saturday morning

This is the first proper appearance of the Legion of Super-Heroes in another media!
“Superman: The Animated Series” doesn’t have the same legendary status of the Batman show that shares the same universe, which is a pity because it’s VERY good.
This is a unique episode as it sort of acts like a prequel… you’ll see why.

The episode begins in 2979 AD, which is an interesting choice. If the Legion is 1,000 years further away from the present day, it means that the later scenes set in Smallville should be set in 1979: nineteen years before “present day”.

We then see Brainiac blast his way into a laboratory. While Superman’s animated series doesn’t have the same kind of impact on his comics that Batman had from HIS series, there’s one element that sticks.
Those three dots on Brainiac’s head will become THE symbol for Brainiac not just in the animated universe, but in the comics as well.

Of course it doesn’t come out of nowhere: it’s a simplified version of the electrodes that Brainiac had during the Silver Age. But in my opinion those made the original look a bit goofy, while the animated one makes it work.

Brainiac uses “the accelerator” located in this lab to create something that suspiciously looks A LOT like the way Boom Tubes are represented in the rest of the series.
It would make perfect sense for this version of Brainiac to have access to this technology: while he doesn’t interact with Darkseid in this series, the two are both enemies and allies in the Justice League cartoon. Which aired AFTER this one, but technically from Brainiac’s point of view has already happened.

Brainiac disappears into the new portal, and the scientist in charge of the place calls the Legion to help.

As you can see, the Legionnaires participating in this episode will be Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy and Chameleon Boy. I do wonder why they chose to replace Lightning Lad.
By this time in the comics, LL was going by the codename Live Wire… which admittedly might have been confusing, since the animated series had a (very entertaining!) villain with the same name completely unrelated to the Legionnaire.
But I’m guessing they preferred to have a more alien-looking Legionnaire.

There’s also a bit of stunt casting going on, because they are not voiced by regular voice actors.

Cosmic Boy is played by Chad Lowe, younger brother to fellow actor Robe Lowe, and at the time married to Hilary Swank.
As you’ll see they were definitely going for the teenage demographic with this casting, so perhaps his most relevant role for being hired was showing up on Melrose Place.
This won’t be his last voice acting role for a DC animated character, voicing Captain Marvel on Young Justice.
This is what he looked like in 1998. Well one of them is Hilary Swank, but I think you can distinguish them.

Saturn Girl is voiced by Melissa Joan Hart, best known at the time for starring in the TV series “Sabrina the Teenage Witch”.
She was 22 years old at the time, but she had experience playing a blonde teenager with powers.

That’s not her only voice acting for the DC Animated universe: she also voices the Dee Dee twins in 2000 animated movie “Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker”.
They’re the granddaughters of Harley Quinn… but could they also be ancestors of Saturn Girl?
(probably not)

Most surprising of all, Chameleon Boy is voiced by Jason Priestley of all people!
In 1998 he would probably have been known best for his role in “Beverly Hills, 90210” (which I just learned lasted until 2000, I thought that thing ended in like 1992).
So I think the idea might have been “let’s take the actor playing the heartthrob and make him voice the weird-looking alien”.

The three do a good enough job, but you can tell they’re not primarily voice actors. It’s a bit unfair because this series, like all DC Animated ones, is just stacked with enormously talented voice actors.

But back to the episode: Brainiac has left the time portal open.

It’s important to highlight that the DC Animated universe does NOT work on Silver Age rules: history CAN be changed here.

So the Legionnaires jump into the time portal, leading to one of the best quotes of the episodes.

The trio lands in Smallville. The animators must have forgotten it’s supposed to be in Kansas, because there are several shots where you can see hills.

As soon as they realize they’re in Smallville, they’re caught by a farmer that is so fed up with teenagers pulling pranks that he’s ready to shoot them!!!

I can’t decide whether Saturn Girl’s eyes are supposed to be a weird color to make her more alien, or if it’s just the stylization of this series.

Cosmic Boy easily takes care of the gun. From this shot you can see that the costumes are a good blend of the original look and the Reboot one, thanks to those belts.
Except for Chameleon Boy, his design doesn’t match any earlier costume.

Nice job avoiding changing history, Cosmic Boy. What if he needed that gun in the original timeline?

Chameleon Boy demonstrates his powers by turning into a monster to scare off the farmer’s dog.

This won’t be the last adaptation where the Legionnaires go back in time to meet Clark Kent before he becomes Superman (it happens in the comics as well).
The specific Legionnaires change, but there seems to be one constant: Saturn Girl is always among them. Definitely because she’s WAY too useful to limit changes to history, as she uses her telepathy to mindwipe civilians A LOT.

The trio then flies off, adding one detail that won’t be picked up by any other adaptation: the Flight Rings get so energized when they’re activated that they look like they’re on fire!

That concludes the setup, and the episode then moves to Clark Kent’s part of the story.
This is DEFINITELY the late 70s.

We are now introduced to the teenage Clark Kent. It’s important to know that in the Animated continuity he was never Superboy and only debuted as Superman as an adult.
The teenage Clark is not voiced by Superman’s regular voice actor (Tim Daly), but instead by Jason Marsden.

Similarly, Lana Lang is not voiced by Joely Fisher like her adult counterpart, but by Kelly Schmidt instead. I never noticed, since Teenage Lana shows up only in this episode and in the pilot, and Adult Lana has only three appearances in the show.
If your first exposure to Smallville is this series, you wouldn’t think Lana is a major character in Clark’s life… but then again, in 1998 she wasn’t particularly important in the comics either.

Teenage Clark is quite different from what you’d expect.
Apparently he’s quite a chick magnet!

If this setup sounds a little too much Spider-Man to you, Clark has his own Flash Thompson here!
He ends up antagonizing another student, who is a reference to a character from the comics: this is supposed to be Kenneth Braverman, who will grow up as the supervillain Conduit (just in the comics, this is his only animated appearance).
He’s voiced by Scott Menville, who is mostly known for voicing Robin in Teen Titans. Once you know that, it’s impossible not to hear hints of his Robin voice in this performance.

The two end up playing basketball, with Clark really showing off.
There’s a scene where Clark first uses super-speed to prevent the other player from touching the ball and then super-strength to hold on to it that plays EXACTLY like the same scenario in the Amazing Spider-Man movie. So I wonder if this episode was an inspiration.

But Clark goes even more overboard than Peter Parker, because as they play he shoves the non-powered player across the room.
Since it’s a cartoon you might not notice it right away, but it’s CLEARLY a superhuman feat.

This episode is set before the part of the pilot where Clark was a teen, but it’s still reasonable to think Lana knows Clark has powers. The rest of the school shouldn’t though!

After getting dumped by Lana and kicking a can into orbit out of frustration, Clark’s day is interrupted by SUDDEN BRAINIAC!!!

After a commercial break, Clark is now chased by Brainiac in the surprisingly deserted streets of Smallville. Not sure why Brainiac doesn’t just keep blasting him, or where is everybody!
There’s a high school party going on right now, so it can’t be THAT late during the night… surely SOMEONE would show up after so many explosions?

Only AFTER he’s chased him, Brainiac decides he’s just going to keep blasting. I could understand if Clark ran away at super-speed, but he was running at regular speed!

Then the Legionnaires finally get back into the story, with Chameleon Boy turning into some beast to knock Brainiac out of the way.

Brainiac knows the Legionnaires personally. I wish we saw a fight between this version of Brainiac and the Legion… although the Legion’s own animated series will get VERY near it.

Chameleon Boy keeps getting the best lines.

A small detail that I really appreciate is that Cosmic Boy doesn’t explain that he’s using magnetism: it’s left to the viewer to deduce, since he’s just lifting metal from a nearby scrapyard.

Cosmic Boy seems ready to destroy Brainiac on his own (!!!), until the villain vanishes thanks to his own personal teleportation device.

This means that Brainiac could strike at any time, so Cosmic Boy has the incredible decision to pick up some glasses someone threw in the garbage!

Yeah… Clark’s got a point this time, doesn’t he? Brainiac knows he’s Clark Kent, meaning he knows what he looks like with glasses!

Yet for some reason Saturn Girl still thinks it’s a good idea.

The Legion has figured out Brainiac’s plan, and surprisingly they don’t hesitate telling him everything.

Chameleon Boy even turns into a copy of Superman, and Clark is not impressed by his future fashion sense.

Considering he’s never encountered anything superhuman so far, Clark has been REMARKABLY accepting of his first exposure to robots, time travel, shapeshifters, magnetic powers, teleportation and time travel!!!

The face she makes when Clark calls them “freaky” is just hilarious!
She’s probably thinking “let it go Imra, he doesn’t mean anything offensive”.

She then shows him a telepathic vision of the 30th century, including the GIGANTIC statue of Superman in Metropolis.

Superman’s inspiration on the Legion is less about him being a superhero and more about demonstrating aliens helping each other.
The same exact dynamic will be used for other adaptations as well.
Also, it is kind of hilarious that the Green Lantern Corps has existed in this universe for thousands or millions of years, and yet that didn’t help unity among races AT ALL.

This is the occasion for a non-speaking cameo from the rest of the Legion; it’s even a non-moving cameo, as it’s just a static image that the episode pans through.

So let’s take a look at those Legionnaires, who are CLEARLY inspired by the Reboot.

Well, up to a point: the episode shows a blonde who is CLEARLY supposed to be Dream Girl, but she won’t officially join the Reboot Legion until later.
She’s in the same shot with the Reboot versions of the lightning twins.

Most of those Legionnaires will barely have a cameo in the rest of the Animated continuity.
Brainiac 5 will have a prominent role in his appearance on Justice League Unlimited, but with a design way closer to the pre-Crisis version.
Even connection to the Reboot is flimsy for him, aside from the uniform… the Reboot version doesn’t have the symbol on his chest and for the most part has shorter hair.
He’s next to a spot-on Triad, the Reboot Triplicate Girl.

Bouncing Boy is NOT part of the Reboot Legion, but shows up anyway.
The last two remaining Reboot characters are Kid Quantum and Andromeda (the Supergirl equivalent); we’ll see both of them earlier, as they debut in Volume 4.

Saturn Girl also explains who Brainiac is, and that Superman eventually stops him… only for Brainiac to rebuild himself in the 30th century.
Which is QUITE impressive, because in the Animated continuity he died in the Justice League in an explosion that took out Darkseid!!!

After Chameleon Boy turns into a wall (!!!) to prevent Brainiac’s drones from spotting them, Clark makes a run for it.

Brainiac is also doing his own investigation.

All he had to do was ask nicely, and the kid from the previous basketball scene tells him where Clark lives. I’m guessing that’s lost information in the 30th century, unlike in the Silver Age.

Brainiac is surprisingly nice: he thanks the kid AND doesn’t kill him!
Although considering he throws him straight into the diner’s sign, maybe he DID want to kill him.

Next we have a few scenes where Clark meets up with Lana, as she’s waiting for him at his house.

It’s hilarious that Ma Kent decides to use THIS excuse to get Pa Kent out of the room… because Jonathan Kent will be played in Smallville by John Schneider, of “The Dukes of Hazzard” fame.
That’s a coincidence, as Smallville wouldn’t start airing until 2001.

As Clark discusses things with Lana, Brainiac’s drones cut the power to the Kent house.
There’s a shot of Clark near a lamp that keeps turning on and off… is it a stretch to think it’s a reference to how Superman used to be called by the police by a lamp doing the same thing?
Probably, but I like to think it is.

The episode has a couple of great scenes that I can’t quite capture in a static review: everyone is in the basement, so we have the drones and Brainiac moving around the empty house with just atmospheric sounds.

Clark decides to get upstairs to draw them away from his parents and from Lana.

Hearing Clark smash one of the drones, Pa Kent decides to investigate.

I’m guessing Cosmic Boy damaged Braniac more than we thought, because instead of blasting Clark he decides to use his drones to control Pa’s farming equipment.
It’s also a bit ridiculous that Clark seems to be hurt by this: he’s not fully invulnerable yet, but the pilot showed him survive a huge explosion at point blank without feeling anything!

And then BOTH Pa and Ma Kent shoots Brainiac in the back!!!

Be honest: you never thought you’d ever see Martha with a shotgun.

Seeing his parents in danger seems to make Clark remember he has super-strength. Why was this supposed to be a problem for him, Brainiac?

Yeah I think Brainiac might have been missing a few chips when he thought of this plan.

Now the Legion decides to show up.

Once again Cosmic Boy acts as the powerhouse, throwing anything he can find at Brainiac.

Yeah I’m sure history will be juuuuust fine even if Brainiac just blew up the Kent toolshed.

No time being worried about this, because it’s time for the first AND last showdown of Clark versus Brainiac.

Brainiac zaps Clark with a lot of electricity… which is consistent with the rest of the series, since Superman seemed to have a bit of problem to handle lightning.
The definitive confirmation that Brainiac has a few screws loose from all the damage: this isn’t supposed to be HIS catchphrase!

Also, THIS version of Brainiac originates from Krypton (as an artificial intelligence), making the comparison to Zod even more blatant.

However Saturn Girl telepathically informs Clark on how to reprogram Brainiac’s teleportation device.

By which she means you just have to press the three convenient buttons on his belt!

This sucks Brainiac into a portal…

…STRAIGHT INTO THE SUN.

Yep. Considering this is the Brainiac from the 30th century, this is his canonical destruction in this continuity.

We have now reached the conclusion: the day after, everyone has forgotten about the homicidal robot.

Yeah, uhm, this is kind of ridiculous. I don’t doubt that Saturn Girl can make them think all the damages were caused by a tornado, but… won’t anyone find it odd that the news didn’t report ANY of this?

The Legion will now use Brainiac’s chair to get back to the future.

And obviously, Clark won’t be allowed to remember anything because Saturn Girl wipes his memories too.

Ah, so THAT’s why you didn’t bring Lightning Lad with you… to avoid making him jealous!

Sorry Chameleon Boy, you’ll have to wait a couple decades before being in the same team. And you will suck in that cartoon.

Superman doesn’t even use that catchphrase in the Animated universe, so I wonder where Chameleon Boy picked it up.

And with the Legion gone, we close with a last scene between Clark and Lana.
When I first learned they were making Smallville as a series, I hoped we could get something like this episode… and we DEFINITELY didn’t.

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One last thing from the credits.
I’m not entirely surprised Jason Priestley gets first billing among the guest stars, as he was probably the most famous of the three at the time… but I am quite surprised to see Melissa Joan Hart to be listed below Chad Lowe.
To add insult to injury, she’s credited with voicing IRMA Ardeen instead of IMRA Ardeen.
Still, nice to use the civilian names in the credits, since they’re never said in the episode itself.

And a bit of a disappointment that, while we get a “Created By” for Superman, we don’t get one for the Legion.

And that’s a wrap on my first cartoon review!
This was fun, but it took A LOT more work than reviewing a comic (then again, I’ve been doing that for almost five years).
Don’t expect the next media reviews to proceed as rapidly as the comic ones.

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Animated significance: 6/10
As far as the Animated Universe goes, it’s slightly significant since the Legion will be eventually picked up. But no reference to this episode is made, since only the Legionnaires remember it.
Still, it’s technically the death of this version Brainiac.

Does any of this show up in regular continuity?
As mentioned, the Brainiac symbol will stick to Brainiac 5.
You can also kind of see shades of this episode towards the end of the Reboot, where the Legionnaires reset Teenage Clark to the 20th century after he had been kidnapped.

Silver Age-ness: 5/10
It was relatively low, considering that in a cartoon they wouldn’t have let Brainiac be too violent (even though this show wasn’t above showing death: one of my favorite episodes ends with the criminal in a gas chamber, and also RIP Dan Turpin).
But then the Legionnaires have to pick up some glasses from the trash? WHY???

Does it stand the test of time? 9/10
This series might not be a cultural juggernaut like the Batman one, and probably it has less impact on general viewers than Justice League.
I think it can proudly stand in the same crowd of those two; it’s one of my favorite interpretations of Superman and his world.
This is a solid episode, even if the resolution is a bit too convenient and Brainiac is not as terrifying as he typically is in this incarnation. The series had a very human Superman, and his teenage version feels appropriate for the character (even if at points they do pivot a bit too much towards Spider-Man tropes).
It’s also not a bad introduction to the Legion. When I saw this episode I had read just the Great Darkness Saga and less than a dozen other Legion stories, but I was instantly hooked.
Saturn Girl is the most interesting member we see (what else is new), even if there are some points where you can tell Melissa Joan Hart is new to voice acting.
Chameleon Boy gets the best lines, but he’s not particularly impressive. It’s also kind of weird that they show him struggling whenever he’s transforming.
Cosmic Boy plays the no-nonsense leader (not the last time he’ll be stuck in that role in cartoon adaptations), and as such comes off as a bit too aloof. But he does have some great power demonstrations.

We are Legion
13 active members
-Saturn Girl
-Cosmic Boy
-Chameleon Boy
-Ultra Boy
-Apparition (the Reboot Phantom Girl)
-Dream Girl
-Live Wire (the Reboot Lightning Lad)
-Sparks (the Reboot Lightning Lass)
-Brainiac 5
-Triad (the Reboot Triplicate Girl)
-Bouncing Boy
-Kid Quantum
-Andromeda