Superman (TV series)

Superman is a 1988 American animated Saturday morning television series produced by Ruby-Spears Productions for Warner Bros. Television that aired on CBS featuring the DC Comics superhero of the same name (coinciding with the character's 50th anniversary, along with the live-action Superboy TV series that year). Veteran comic book writer Marv Wolfman was the head story editor, and noted comic book artist Gil Kane provided character designs.

Format
This series is the third animated Superman series (the second was the Filmation-produced The New Adventures of Superman). It is also notable for being the first appearance of the Superman mythos following John Byrne's major relaunch of the character (the series reflected the new conception with a measured fidelity, such as having his major recurring enemy, Lex Luthor, as a corrupt billionaire industrialist as in the comics). Like the comics, Luthor is fully aware that the large ring he wears is fastened with a kryptonite stone.

Other characters include Cybron (a pastiche of Brainiac whose Post-Crisis conception was still undecided at the time) and an appearance of Wonder Woman, which was her first non-print appearance since George Pérez's reworking of William Moulton Marston's superheroine for the post-Crisis era. Cyrene the Sorceress of Time was portrayed by voice actress B. J. Ward, who had previously provided her voice as Wonder Woman in the final season of the Super Friends, which was called The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians.

Classic characters included Jimmy Olsen, bow-tied in appearance, and Perry White's gruff exclamations of "Great Ceasar's Ghost" both fulfilling their classic concepts. Lois Lane maintained being an assertive woman with initiative, both in style and business attitude. A new character to the series, inspired by Miss Tessmacher of the live-action Superman movie from 1978, was Jessica Morganberry, who appeared to be the ditzy blonde live-in girlfriend of Lex Luthor, with whom he fully confided his schemes.

Superman/Clark Kent was voiced by Beau Weaver, who would later go on to voice Mister Fantastic in the 1994 Marvel animated series Fantastic Four.

The "Superman Family Album"
The final four minutes of each Superman episode were devoted to a brief snapshot from the "Superman Family Album". These biographical segments deviated from the contemporary comics to have Clark have his powers fully developed since infancy as opposed to developing as he matured, which causes problems as in the earlier episodes he uses his powers whenever it suits him, and in the later episodes as he gets older he lessens the use of his Kryptonian superpowers, preferring to use his mind to solve problems first. These stories depicted the Smallville misadventures of the young Kryptonian immigrant as he faces typical childhood trials with his first day at school, grocery shopping, an overnight scouting campout, getting a driver's license, his first date, graduation from high school, and ultimately his premiere as Superman.

Cast

 * Beau Weaver - Clark Kent/Superman
 * Ginny McSwain - Lois Lane, Ursa, Faora
 * Michael Bell - Lex Luthor
 * Tress MacNeille - Martha Kent
 * Alan Oppenheimer - Jonathan Kent
 * Stanley Ralph Ross - Perry White
 * Lynne Marie Stewart - Jessica Morganberry
 * Mark L. Taylor - James 'Jimmy' Olsen
 * William Woodson - Opening Narration

Additional voices

 * Jack Angel - General (in "Cybron Strikes")
 * René Auberjonois - General Zod
 * Brandon Bluhm -
 * Don Bovinglogh -
 * P.L. Brow -
 * William Callaway -
 * Joey Camen -
 * Darlene Carr -
 * Pat Carroll - Queen Hippolyta
 * Nancy Cartwright - Babysitter (in "At the Babysitter’s")
 * Cathy Cavadini -
 * Townsend Coleman - Teenage Clark Kent (in "First Date")
 * Christopher Collins -
 * Danny Cooksey - George (in "First Day of School")
 * Peter Cullen - The Hunter (in "The Hunter")
 * Keene Curtis -
 * Gabriel Damon -
 * Victor DiMattia -
 * Shawn Donahue -
 * Jeff Doucette -
 * Jeannie Elias -
 * Ron Feinberg -
 * Ben Ryan Ganger -
 * Linda Gary -
 * Liz Georges - Lana Lang
 * Ellen Gerstell -
 * Ed Gilbert -
 * Dan Gilvezan -
 * Barry Gordon -
 * Patrick Gorman -
 * Edan Gross -
 * Kenney Hartman -
 * Darryl Hickman -
 * Jerry Houser -
 * Dennis Howard -
 * Erv Immerman -
 * Danny Mann -
 * Kellie Martin -
 * Ron Masak -
 * Mary McDonald-Lewis - Wonder Woman (in "Superman and Wonder Woman vs. The Sorceress of Time")
 * Cindy McGee -
 * Howard Morris - Prankster
 * Ron Palillo -
 * Diane Pershing -
 * Patrick Pinney -
 * Henry Polic II -
 * Hal Rayle -
 * Kathy Ritter -
 * Jennifer Roach -
 * Stu Rosen -
 * Neil Ross -
 * Will Ryan -
 * Susan Silo -
 * John Stephenson -
 * Carl Stevens -
 * Andre Stojka -
 * Cree Summer -
 * Eric Suter -
 * Russi Taylor - Lana Lang (in "The First Day of School")
 * B.J. Ward - Cyrene (in "Superman and Wonder Woman vs. The Sorceress of Time")
 * Frank Welker - Cybron (in "Cybron Strikes")
 * Tom Williams -
 * Stan Wojno -
 * Patric Zimmerman -

Crew

 * Ginny McSwain - Voice Director

Ties to other Superman adaptations
The series is also of note due to its use of re-orchestrated versions of John Williams' classic themes   from 1978's Superman: The Movie, as well as an opening sequence that delivered the same narration as the 1950s Adventures of Superman television series.

DVD release
Warner Home Video and DC Comics released the series as a 2-disc set on November 3, 2009.