Superman - The Animated Series, Volume Three (1996)

Definitely worth seeing, but not par with Batman

I've liked Superman ever since Doomsday walked into the scene. I loved the Batman cartoons as a kid, but never saw the Superman episodes. Since I knew they were done by the same team, I decided to give them a try. My final reaction after watching all 3 seasons: it was okay. I'd give it three and a half if I could, but oh well.
DC could have done things much better with Superman. Some of the voices of the villains were downright annoying, particularly Livewire and Volcana. The animation is at least a step down from the Batman series, at one point toward the end of this season I thought I was watching an old Scooby Doo episode (Superman's Pal). And I hated the way the show ended. The episodes were good, yes, but it made earth and us humans look like a bunch of racist, small-minded goombas.
Superman's weaknesses get VERY old. No kidding, Superman gets electocuted in 8 straight episodes. The writers got so tired of thinking of ways to hurt him, they just started shocking the heck out of him and playing the same sound byte over and over again. I almost got to the point during all this where I gave up on the show. Superman shows no will or grit like Batman does. He comes across as a wuss. He hardly ever uses his super-speed, he hardly ever uses his heat vision or super breath, it's pathetic how these writers just couldn't come up with better storylines to give him full use of his powers. He gets baled out time after time, and you'll start to wonder, is Superman even that strong? But then he'll go and stop a space ship from getting sucked into a black hole or saving a giant airplane from crashing. It's VERY inconsistent with his powers.
It was very disappointing that the writers never gave a full season to the Doomsday arc, instead they passed the story off to a lame-brained, crappy plotted movie that I don't recommend. After seeing Spider-man do full season arcs, DC should have taken a leaf from them. Many missed opportunites in this show.
Funny as it is, the best episodes are the ones that bring in Batman. They do a wonderful job with the Superman/Batman relationship. The episode where Supes dons the cowl is hands down the best of the whole series. If you love Superman, buy it, if you just want to see more Batman, check it out from your library or download the episode. However, if you plan to watch Justice League, you'll need to know the storyline of the third season. July 20, 2008

Superman - The Animated Series, Volume Three (DC Comics Classic Collection)

not as good as batman the orginal series but def the best incarnation and closest version of a post crisis superman that anyone will ever see. damn you richard donner for making everyone think clark kent is a nerd! August 16, 2007

An extremely well written cartoon series

Sadly this is the last season of this great cartoon series. This is by far the darkest of all of the Superman seasons. The finale ("Legacy") is done brilliantly, ending the season on a rather bleak note. Additionally the last episode leads straight into the first episode of Justice League season 2. The JL episode does a fantastic job of continuing the dark tone set in the "Legacy". Highly recommended. May 19, 2007

Excellent adventures!

Great chapters of this series. There is nothing like seeing your favourite superheroe in a nice series, and nicely made. Great item for your collection. May 14, 2007

Superman vol 3

"Lois, help! It's worse than kryptonite. My legs can't support this obscenely large hulking torso, when they draw me like this. It was so much easier in the Filmation days, when I had an even build."
"I know, Clark. They draw me like a stick insect midget. You look like the Hulk by comparison."
The only other disappointment in this series is that kryptonite needn't exist. Just about everything else affects Superman to some extent as well. In a commentary in Vol 1 or 2, the producer said, "you got no show, if you don't do that." (Superfriends writers Hanna-Barbera got half hour stories out of a fully invulnerable Supes).
BUT APART FROM THAT, IT'S AN ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT SHOW.
This set may confuse collectors who didn't buy vol 2. The DVD set releases are not grouped as seasons 1-3.
Vol 1 gives you the shorter season 1 and the first few episodes of Season 2.
Vol 2 gives you most of season 2.
Vol 3 (this one) gives you the last few eps of season 2 and the whole of season 3.
I particularly enjoyed the premier appearances of other DC characters not on tv before. Rather than take a chance on giving them their own shows, Warner came up with a brainstorm. Almost every second episode of Superman in this DVD set teams Superman up (in the comic book style of DC Comics Presents...) with another Super Hero, including 2 more Batman appearances (one with Tim Drake Robin), the New Gods, Aquaman (drawn much better than his half naked long haired nose ringed appearance in Justice League), Legion of Super Heroes, and the first tv appearance of the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern (all but ignoring Hal Jordan, but it's good to see Kyle).
The Legion story is set in Clark Kent's college years, before he became Superman, and adapts the premise for Legion of Super Heroes: They go into the past from the 30th Century to young Clark's time, and team with him. A great prototype for the Legion series that aired last year.
Also, if you're wondering what happened to Batman's enemies Ras Al Gul and Bane in his own series, you'll get your answers here in two team-ups with Superman. "Knight Time" adapts the long running Knightfall Batman plotline of the early 1990s, using Superman as Batman's stand-in, rather than Jean-Paul. "Demon Reborn" pits Ras against Superman and Batman, whose Worlds Finest relationship is developing at just the right pace to continue in Justice League season one.
Buy this one for sure,
Peter March 22, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...