The New Adventures of Superman
The New Adventures of Superman was an animated series that premiered on September 10, 1966. The series was produced by Filmation Associates and ran for three seasons. It was based on the popular Superman comics created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series focuses on the adventures of Superman an incredibly powerful superhero from the planet Krypton who defends Earth from all sorts of dangers. Superman's secret identity is Clark Kent a mild-mannered reporter for the newspaper "The Daily Planet". There Superman worked under newspaper editor Perry White with fellow reporter Louis Lane and photographer Jimmy Olsen. The first season of the series ran from 1966 to 1967 under the title The New Adventures of Superman and featured two six minute Superman cartoons with one six minute Superboy cartoon played between them. Thirty-six Superman shorts and eighteen Superboy shorts were produced for the series. This guide features only the Superman cartoons featured in the series. For a complete listing of the Superboy cartoon featured in the series, see The Adventures of Superboy (1966). In the 1967-1968 season sixteen new episodes of The New Adventures of Superman ran as part of The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure. This hour long animated show featured episodes from a number of other cartoon series. In addition new Superman episodes, the show also featured eight new episode of The Adventures of Superboy (1966), thirty-six episodes of Aquaman, three episodes of The Green Lantern, three episodes of Hawkman, three episodes of The Justice League of America, three episodes of The Atom, three episodes of The Flash, and three episodes of The Teen Titans. In the 1968-1969 season was the third and final season of new episodes of The New Adventures of Superman. The artwork of the series changed to imitate that of Superman comic book artist Curt Swan. It also featured longer two-part episodes. The final sequence of sixteen shorts ran as part of The Batman/Superman Hour. This show also featured eight new episodes of The Adventures of Superboy (1966) and thirty-two animated episodes of Batman. The New Adventures of Superman was cancelled partly due to protests over violent content by Action For Children's Television. First Telecast: September 10, 1966 Last Telecast: September 6, 1969 Episodes: 68 Color Episodes (68 six minute episodes, 8 two-part episodes)
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Bud Collyer | Clark Kent |
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Joan Alexander | Lois Lane |
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Jackson Beck | Narrator |
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Jack Grimes | Jimmy Olsen |
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Ray Owens | Lex Luthor |
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Bob Hastings | Clark Kent |
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Ted Knight | Narrator |
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Janet Waldo | Lana Lang |
Director | Hal Sutherland |
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Writer | Oscar Bensol, George Kashdan, J.W. Doctor, Ross Braddock, Arnold Drake, Joe Shuster, Jerry Siegel | |
Producer | Allen Ducovny, Norm Prescott, Lou Scheimer | |
Musician | John Gart |
Lex Luthor, the Warlock, and Brainiac reunite as the Allied Perpetrators of Evil in order to destroy the Trouble Televisor which is a machine that can signal Superman whenever a crime is being committed. Superman must stop the villians before they can get to the machine.
When lightning strikes a swamp, a monsterous lightning bug is created that threatens to ruin a nearby space launch. Superman goes to investigate the bug and discovers that it re-energizes itself by going back to the swamp. Superman uses this knowledge to stop the bug before it interferes with the space launch.
The Prankster annoys Superman when a paper safe drops harmlessly on Clark Kent. Superman wants to send him to jail, but is unable to since he cannot prove that the Prankster is behind any of the pranks . Superman decides to get back at the Prankster by playing pranks on him. The Prankster becomes so annoyed that he confesses to his crimes. Superman gets the confession on tape and the Prankster is taken away.
A group of saboteurs plan to dump atomic waste into Metropolis harbor. When the city is evacuated, they plan to rob the city blind. Superman learns of the plan when Lois and Clark are kidnapped aboard a ship carrying atomic waste. Superman foils the plan and brings the saboteurs to justice.
When an evil alien is turned into a mist by an experiment, the mist arrives on Earth and settles into the hat of a Metropolis motorist. The hat influences the driver into trying to drive his car into a children's playground. Superman stops the car and grabs the motorist. When the hat blows away, the motorist cannot recall why he tried to drive through the playground. Superman lets him go, but when the hat finds another owner the same inexplicable crime almost happens again. Eventually Superman figures out that the hat is behind the problem. He notices the alien mist and freezes it. He then sends it into space where it can do no more harm.
A Kryptonite meteor falls to Earth and weakens Superman as its falls into the ocean. When the meteor hits the bottom of the ocean it breaks in two and releases a green creature that has the same powers as Superman. Superman cannot defeat the creature but manages to knock it out. He takes the unconscious creature into space and sends it far away from Earth.
An octopod machine comes out of a flying saucer and threatens a rocket base near Niagara Falls. Superman dumps the octopod into the water and destroys the space ship that brought it to Earth. Unfortunate, an electric eel re-activates the Octopod and it emerges from the water and attacks a nearby power station. Superman comes to the rescue again and dispatches the Octopod once and for all.
When a UFO comes to Metropolis, it releases a bubble which captures Lois Lane. Superman comes to the rescue, but he too is caught in a bubble. The bubbles are the work of Brainiac. He has been sent to Earth to capture Lois and take her to a planet. Superman, however, puts a stop to the plan. He escapes from the bubble and rescues Lois.
A growth ray is used on a swarm of bees and the bees grow to enormous size. They are sent to attack Metropolis and Superman must find some way to stop them.
The Toyman constructs an enormous remote control robot insect. He test flies it over a zoo and scares the animals. When Superman arrives to stop the insect, the Toyman purposely destroys it. He constructs another and gives it the capacity to produce Kryptonite rays out of its eyes. He sends the robot after Superman, but Superman successfully destroys it by using lead to sheild himself from the Kryptonite radiation.
Braniac shrinks the city of Metropolis to the size of an ant colony using a shrinking ray. He places a sheild around it that Superman cannot break through. Fortunately, Superman escapes through a ventilation tube. He defeats Braniac and returns Metropolis back to its normal size.
Superman drinks an explosive and discovers that it causes him to breathe fire. Superman heads to the planet Mercury where he begins to live with other fire breathing creatures. Eventually the explosive wears off and Superman returns home.
Lex Luthor develops a matter transfer machine that looks like a mirror. He sends it to the Daily Planet where Jimmy Olsen accidently falls into it. Jimmy is transported to an abandoned amusement park where he is soon surrounded by Lex Luthor's sharks. He alerts Superman using his signal watch. Superman arrives, rescues Jimmy, and captures Lex Luthor.
The Warlock gets out of prison when his sister uses a magic ruby on a broom. The Warlock takes the Ruby and decides to get revenge on Superman. He attacks Lois Lane and conjures a magic creature to defeat Superman. Superman, however, gets the best of the creature and captures the Warlock.
In Himalaya Mountains, a plane crash awakens a creature called the Halyah that has been asleep for a hundred years. The creature attacks a number of people before it is stopped by Superman.
Lex Luthor kidnaps Jimmy Olsen and puts him in a hot-air balloon. Luthor shoots fireworks at the balloon in an attempt to alert Superman. When Superman arrives, Lex Luthor shoots at him with fireworks laced with Kryptonite. Superman, however, out thinks Luthor and captures him in the end.
Lois and Jimmy are trapped in a rocket by Lex Luthor. They are sent to the moon where Lex Luthor has constructed a secret base. Lex aims an enormous laser at Earth and threatens the leaders of the world. He tells them that if he is not given control of the world, he will melt the ice caps and flood the world's coasts.
Superman heads to the moon to stop Luthor's plan to take over the world. He rescues Lois and Jimmy, but Luthor reveals that he is working with Brainiac. The two supervillians try to destroy Superman by shrinking him and exposing him to kryptonite gas. Fortunately, Superman escapes their trap and stops the villians.
When Lex Luthor turns up at the Daily Planet, he claims to be reformed. He is made science editor by Perry White. Jimmy sneaks into Luthor's laboratory in the Daily Planet and discovers a lightning machine. Luthor claims he built it as a security system for the building. Jimmy, however, continues to distrust Luthor. He becomes even more convinced when he sees Luthor robbing a bank vault and endangering Perry White.
As Luthor appears to be robbing the bank vault, Superman arrives to stop him. He rescues Perry White, but leaves when Luthor claims he was only involved as part of a demonstration. Jimmy still is not convinced of Luthor's good intentions. He follows Luthor and discovers his real scheme. Luthor wants to launch the Daily Planet building into outer space. Unfortunately, Luthor captures Jimmy and ties him up. Superman must figure out a way of rescuing Jimmy and stopping Lex Luthor before he can launch the building.
An evil alien named Satana arrives on Earth from the planet Quanta. She attempts to steal energy from a nuclear power planet in order to use it to attack her home planet. Superman manages to stop her. Later Satana meets with the Warlock and the two decide to work together. She uses a substance called plasto to make his wand's magic ruby radiate kryptonite rays. The two villians decide to use the wand to destroy Superman.
The Warlock and Satana decide to trap Superman by capturing Lois and Jimmy. When Superman arrives to rescue them, the Warlock attacks Superman with Kryptonite rays. Superman, however, manages to stop the Warlock. He, then, turns his attention to Satana. Satana creates an army of monsters to attack him. Superman makes short work of the monsters and captures the evil Satana.
Lois meets a man named Vamore who is known to be a friend of the escaped criminal Professor Dujy. As Lois follows Vamore to a remote island, Superman must protect Metropolis from a wave of dangerous iron spheres that threaten to destroy the city.
Superman tracks the iron spheres to their source. They come from space, but are being bounced off an asteroid from a remote island in the Pacific. Professor Dujy and Vamore live on the island. When Superman comes to stop them, they try to take Lois hostage. Superman rescues Lois and sends Professor Dujy and Vamore to prison.
Clark Kent and Lois Lane head to Perry White's farm for a picnic. Unfortunately, a strange mist follows them to the farm. The mist is capable of transforming itself into a person when it inhabits clothing. It reveals that it is dangerous when it attacks Lois.
Superman saves Lois from the mysterious must. Unfortunately, it follows Lois back to Metropolis and tries to kidnap her. It wants Lois to be the queen of an underground kingdom. Eventually, the mist gets into the Superman museum and pretends to be Superboy. Superman captures the mist and seals it in the bottom of a very deep well.
Lex Luthor transports to Earth two aliens that are made of pure light. They are called Luminians and have the capacity to destroy anything they touch. Luthor wants them to destroy Superman but is disappointed to discover that they cannot effect the Man of Steel.
When the Luminians discover that they cannot injure Superman, they decide to turn against Lex Luthor. Superman saves Luthor and the two work together in trying to send the Luminians back to their home world.
Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen are in Scotland. As Clark heads off to sleep at a local inn, Lois and Jimmy head to the mysterious Kilbane Castle. There two twins try to scare the reporters off the property. The twins don't want them to discover that their clan stole the castle from another clan. Unfortunately, their scare tactics manage to awaken a ghost from the other clan.
The ghost of Kilbane Castle awakens and soon terrorizes Lois and Jimmy. The ghost is upset that another clan has taken over his castle. Superman arrives and rescues Lois and Jimmy. He arrests the twins that awakened the ghost and assures the ghost that the castle will soon be returned to its rightful owner.
Clark and Jimmy are in Japan covering a story about how a powerful industrialist is the victim of sabotage. The saboteur calls forth a mysterious Japanese Sandman that has the power of blowing sand that can cause magical sleep. The saboteur wants the Sandman to help him against the industrialist.
Superman must stop the Sandman and deal with a saboteur before they can cause any more damage. When they finally meet, Superman fights off the Sandman's powerful sleeping sand and rescues Jimmy from a trap set by the saboteur. In the end, Superman captures the saboteur and defeats the Sandman.