They keep making them, I’ll keep adding them to the list. Unless it’s just a lame title card. Sick of those.
Longtime readers know I’m not exactly holding back when it comes to My Adventures With Superman. Quality show with good animation? Sure is. Superman? Sure isn’t. Outside of Clark and his parents everyone is a namesake in some quasi-anime world, which is what they wanted. Pretty boy Deathstroke. Steel’s armor is more like a mini mobile suit. And you can see Lois and Jimmy up there. Would you know it was them if I didn’t tell you? I went over this in the last intro video.
Apparently the season 2 intro isn’t any different from the season 1 intro, or at least YouTube doesn’t have one special on it. If there was another one I suspect at least one person would have it. That’s not surprising. Both seasons were ready when Cartoon Network proper passed on it, part of whatever David Zaslav was doing with kids entertainment (or rather not doing) at the time. Williams Street Productions saved it and aired both seasons as separate seasons. Whatever failings it has as an adaptation, the show itself was good enough that Williams Street got themselves a third season and a Green Lantern spinoff. I think this is the first action show they’ve had that wasn’t co-produced by a Japanese studio and still didn’t look terrible.
I think I know enough about what’s coming and what’s already happened to get a good idea of how well this intro does or doesn’t work, but actual fans of the show are welcome to correct me. The new season isn’t out yet, but Adult Swim’s YouTube channels has the intro, and some changes were necessary.
The biggest change is clearly the addition of their take on Kara, which still isn’t quite accurate but I like her more than James Gunn/Tom King’s (mis)take on her. She’s now part of Team Superman, so they had to add her in, and her romance with Jimmy. (Yeah, like we never shipped more accurate versions of those two before. Given how Lucy Lane usually treats Jimmy, Supergirl is a step up.) Kind of disappointed she doesn’t get a supersuit, though. Maybe Frozone’s wife hid it?
The other addition besides refreshing the probable villain roster is a replacement. In the original intro Lois is looking at an image of an AI duplicate of Jor-El, then a flash shows Clark before Lois and Jimmy join him in the cornfield. This time both Lois and Clark are looking at Superboy sadly as he fades away, which means you probably shouldn’t get too attached to him given this is inspired by anime intros and their spoilers, with Kara taking her spot in coming in with Jimmy.
I do like the consistency. This is the same show, with changes only reflecting the current status of the cast going into the new season. Keeping enough of it to be recognizable while giving Kara, Superboy, and any new villains a chance to show they’ll be part of this season’s adventures was the right move. It makes it feel like the same show, but changing over time. Whatever I think of the show from my own perspectives, I do have to be honest in saying it looks like a good show. It just doesn’t look like Superman, which is why I can’t bring myself to fully watch it. Also, I wonder how kid-friendly the show will be now. Adult Swim bought a kids show already produced but now it’s an Adult Swim original, like the crappy season two of The Big O many years ago or something more recent like Lazarus that was always produced with Adult Swim in mind. The theme song matches the tone, but is one of the more lacking Superman theme songs even when comparing it to Filmation’s.
Overall I can’t complain about the intro whatever I might think of their version of Superman. It does the job even if it is rather short. Plus it’s an actual intro and not just a title card and stinger. It draws you into the fictional world to see more. I can understand why people like the show. It’s just not what I’m looking for.
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