Superman Theatrical Cartoons: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Fleischer_Superman_1510.jpg|frame|"[[Catch Phrase|This looks like a job]] ''[[Power Makes Your Voice Deep|for Superman!]]''"]]
 
{{quote|''"[[Super Speed|Faster than a speeding bullet!]]''<br />
''[[Super Strength|More powerful than a locomotive!]]''<br />
''Able to leap tall buildings [[In a Single Bound|in a single bound!]]<ref>alternately, "Able to soar higher than any plane!"</ref>''<br />
''This amazing stranger from the planet Krypton!''<br />
''The man of steel! (gong ring) SUPERMAN!"''|The iconic opening of the shorts.}}
|The iconic opening of the shorts.}}
 
From the studio that brought you such classics as [[Betty Boop]] and [[Popeye the Sailor]], [[Fleischer Studios]] played a major role in cementing [[Superman|the Man of Steel]] as a pop culture icon by means of these lavishly animated, massive high-budget short subjects which served to bring Superman to the big screen, from [[The Golden Age of Animation]]. These cartoons were a HUGE''huge'' deal back in the '40s -- the first short, "[[The Mad Scientist]]", nearly won the 1942 [[Academy Award]] (losing to a [[Classic Disney Shorts|Disney]] [[Pluto the Pup|Pluto short]], "Lend A Paw") and has placed No. 33 on [[The 50 Greatest Cartoons]] list. These cartoons were among the first cartoons that were made for genuine action and drama, rather than crude comedy, which was part of what contributed to their success, and they became so popular, they even had '''trailers''' made for them -- that's right, trailers for ''short cartoons.'' Try to wrap your head around that.
{{quote|''"[[Super Speed|Faster than a speeding bullet!]]''<br />
''[[Super Strength|More powerful than a locomotive!]]''<br />
''Able to leap tall buildings [[In a Single Bound|in a single bound!]]<ref>alternately, "Able to soar higher than any plane!"</ref>''<br />
''This amazing stranger from the planet Krypton!''<br />
''The man of steel! (gong ring) SUPERMAN!"''|The iconic opening of the shorts.}}
 
The Fleischer Brothers had to make similar mental gymnastics themselves at the beginning when they were approached by Paramount to make this series. Already stretched from [[Max FleischersFleischer's GulliversGulliver's Travels|their ill-fated]] [[Mr. Bug Goes to Town|feature film projects]], they were in no mood to take on this project, which presented considerable demands for a more realistic style. So, they tried to scare off the studio execs by saying they would need around $100,000 per short, an astronomical figure considering the typical [[Walt Disney Pictures]] short, the biggest averaged budgeted company in animation was around $25,000. To their shock, Paramount compromised at $50,000 per short and the Fleischers just could not turn down money like that, making the ''Superman'' cartoons the biggest budgeted (adjust for inflation) animation short series in Hollywood history. And boy, [[Eye Candy|does it show in the art]].
From the studio that brought you such classics as [[Betty Boop]] and [[Popeye the Sailor]], [[Fleischer Studios]] played a major role in cementing [[Superman|the Man of Steel]] as a pop culture icon by means of these lavishly animated, massive budget short subjects which served to bring Superman to the big screen, from [[The Golden Age of Animation]]. These cartoons were a HUGE deal back in the '40s -- the first short, "[[The Mad Scientist]]", nearly won the 1942 [[Academy Award]] (losing to a [[Classic Disney Shorts|Disney]] [[Pluto the Pup|Pluto short]], "Lend A Paw") and has placed No. 33 on [[The 50 Greatest Cartoons]] list. These cartoons were among the first cartoons that were made for genuine action and drama, rather than crude comedy, which was part of what contributed to their success, and they became so popular, they even had '''trailers''' made for them -- that's right, trailers for ''short cartoons.'' Try to wrap your head around that.
 
The Fleischer Brothers had to make similar mental gymnastics themselves at the beginning when they were approached by Paramount to make this series. Already stretched from [[Max Fleischers Gullivers Travels|their ill-fated]] [[Mr. Bug Goes to Town|feature film projects]], they were in no mood to take on this project, which presented considerable demands for a more realistic style. So, they tried to scare off the studio execs by saying they would need around $100,000 per short, an astronomical figure considering the typical [[Walt Disney Pictures]] short, the biggest averaged budgeted company in animation was around $25,000. To their shock, Paramount compromised at $50,000 per short and the Fleischers just could not turn down money like that, making the ''Superman'' cartoons the biggest budgeted (adjust for inflation) animation short series in Hollywood history. And boy, [[Eye Candy|does it show in the art]].
 
On top of that, this was the series that turned Superman into a [[Flying Brick]]. To elaborate, the Fleischers intended to just have him jump like in the comics of the time, but they couldn't animate it without it looking stupid and awkward, so they just copped out and gave him flight.
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To date, all 17 of the cartoons have fallen into the [[Public Domain]] and are all free to view on Youtube. For your convenience, links have been provided below in the filmography.
 
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== {{examples|Fleischer/Famous Superman Filmography ==}}
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAjCyN5ruFA Superman, AKA The Mad Scientist]: September 26, 1941
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb8iYqIVBzQ The Mechanical Monsters]: November 28, 1941
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{{tropelist}}
=== Tropes Employed In This Series Include: ===
* [[Affectionate Parody]]: The [[Bugs Bunny]] short "Super-Rabbit" by [[Chuck Jones]], as well as the [[Private Snafu]] short "Snafuperman."
* [[Animation Bump]]: The whole series held no punches when it came to flaunting its huge budget, and the action scenes really pushed the Fleischer animators to their limits.
* [[Art Evolution]]: Compare Lois' design in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAjCyN5ruFA#t=178s the first short] to her in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb8iYqIVBzQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=208s the second].
* [[Attack of the 50 -Foot Whatever]]: "The Arctic Giant."
* [[Beneath the Earth]]: "The Underground World."
* [[BFG]]: The superlaser cannon used in "The Mad Scientist".
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* [[The Cameo]]: Hitler himself makes a brief one at the end of "Jungle Drums," angrily switching his radio away from the newsflash of the destruction of his U-boats to a song ("Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" (!)) as he hangs his head in frustration.
* [[Catch Phrase]]: "This is a job for Superman!" and other variations of it.
* [[Clark Kenting]]: This version seemed to favor the idea that Clark was the "real" personality and Superman was a "mask" over forty years before ''[[The Man of Steel (Comic Book)|The Man of Steel]] reboot'' nailed it in place. One way of maintaining this "mask" involved Clark Kent speaking in a higher-pitched voice than Superman. (The voice actor, Bud Collyer, also starred in ''[[The Adventures of Superman (radio)|The Adventures of Superman]]'', where this voice change became the only way for listeners to tell Clark and Supes apart.)
** In "The Magnetic Telescope" Hehe even used Lois' confusion to steal a kiss as Clark.
* [[Clumsy Copyright Censorship]]: Apparently, Warner could only secure one clip featuring the Paramount logo. They ended up tacking this one clip onto the end of nearly every short on their DVD, creating an abrupt change in music.
* [[Collapsing Lair]]: The Mad Scientist's lair, after Superman overloads the cannon.
* [[Cool Car]]: The Flying car from "The Bulleteers."
* [[Damsel in Distress]]: If Lois isn't being [[Bound and Gagged]] at the hands of the villiansvillains, she's being put in a [[Death Trap]], menaced by a rampaging monster, or at the mercy of some natural disaster, all so Supes can swoop in and save her.
** [[Badass Damsel]]: And yet she always manages to seem self-possessed and/or defiant until the last moment, when it really looks (to her) like this time she's not going to make it. (Superman has a tendency to arrive [[Just in Time]].)
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Clark usually has a smart answer for each of Lois' jabs.
* [[Dead Unicorn Trope]]: The "cliche" of Clark turning into Superman in a phone booth is based almost entirely on TWO''two'' of these cartoons: "The Mechanical Monsters" and "Bulleteers". In the first cartoon, Clark is with Lois when he ducks into a phone booth to...[[Unbuilt Trope|call in the story to the Daily Planet.]] While he's on the phone, Lois sneaks away to investigate the story further. Clark finishes the call, steps out, sees Lois is missing, and only then goes back in the booth to change into Superman. In "Bulleteers", Clark changes in the phone booth for no apparent reason, helping to solidify in the public's mind that this is how he "always" changes into SupesSuperman. The earliest known comic where he does this was in a newspaper strip that came out later the same year as "Bulleteers". In that strip, Clark even [[Lampshade Hanging|thinks to himself]] [[Deconstruction|that this is a fairly uncomfortable place to change clothes in]] [[Justified Trope|and that he's doing it here only because he's in a hurry.]]
* [[Digital Destruction]]: Warner's DVD compilation includes some auditory changes, such as missing sound effects from the opening credits of "Electric Earthquake" and "The Magnetic Telescope", and a jump in the prologue of the first short.
* [[Earthquakes Cause Fissures]]: From the short "Electric Earthquake."
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* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]]: The mad scientist from the first short is known by everyone in Metropolis as... the mad scientist. [[No Name Given|He doesn't seem to have a name]].
* [[Evolving Credits]]: The opening speech quoted above underwent a revision after Superman developed flying powers.
{{quote| Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to soar higher than any plane! This amazing stranger from the planet Krypton...}}
* [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]: Pretty much all of the names of each short.
* [[Eyes Always Shut]]: Clark seems to have his eyes closed much of the time.
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* [[Lava Pit]]: Or rather, molten lead pit.
* [[Leitmotif]]
* [[Mickey Mousing]]: A Fleischer staple of course. For example, a laser shoots Supes along to the background music in one of the shorts.
* [[My Suit Is Also Super]]: Superman's cape can redirect the flow of molten lead without even getting singed.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!]]: In "The Magnetic Telescope," the police destroy the generator powering the eponymous telescope, just as it's pulling in a massive comet through the atmosphere.
* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: Lois bears more than a passing resemblance to Rosalind Russell's "Hildy Johnson" in ''[[His Girl Friday]]'' (1940).
* [[Oh Crap]]: When the boss from "Showdown" discovers that the Superman he's talking too isn't his mook in disguise, but the ''real'' one.
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* [[Shooting Superman]]: In "Billion Dollar Limited."
* [[Shout-Out]]: The ''Batman: The Animated Series'' episode "Christmas with the Joker" makes a subtle one to the first short of this series by recreating the superlaser bombardment of Metropolis, right down to a bridge being blown apart, except in that case it's the Joker using a giant cannon on Gotham.
** ''Superman: Doomsday'' makes two -- in The Fortress of Solitude, the flying car from "The Bulleteers" and one of the robots from "The Mechanical Monsters" make "blink and you'll miss 'em" cameos (although one must beg the question where he got them, since the bullet car was completely incinerated in its short, and Superman destroyed all of the robots from "Mechanical Monsters" -- or better yet, why he even has them laying around out in the open in his fortress in the first place).
** The [[Popeye]] cartoons which Famous was making at the time made some shout -outs to this series, with one of them, "She-Sick Sailors", having Bluto dress up as Superman to try and woo Olive. Incidentally, the theme when Clark changes to Superman is suspiciously similar to the "Spinach power up" jingle in the Popeye cartoons.
** There's another shout-out to the Fleischer Superman cartoons in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'': The robots in the episode "Deep Freeze" are basically a cross between the robots from "The Mechanical Monsters" and the robots from [[Hayao Miyazaki]]'s ''[[Laputa: Castle in the Sky]]''.
** Whether or not itsit's intentional, the scientist in "The Magnetic Telescope" resembles [[Shazam|Captain Marvel's]] nemesis Dr. Sivana.
*** Or another [[Lex Luthor|bald mad scientist that causes trouble for Metropolis]].
** ''[[Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow]]'' producers openly admit the giant robots were based on the Mechanical Monsters.
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[[Category:Superman Theatrical Cartoons]]
[[Category:Superman]]
[[Category:Western Animation of the 1940s]]