The Adventures Of
Superboy – The Complete Third Season (1990 – 1991/Warner
Archive DVD Set)
Picture: C Sound: C Extras: D Episodes: B
PLEASE NOTE: Superboy is only available from
Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the
link below.
Warner Archives has just released the Third Season of Superboy.
The short lived, live action series ran for four seasons with Season 3 starting to take on a darker
feel than the previous two seasons.
For whatever reason, in Season
3 the creators changed the name to The
Adventures of Superboy; presumably in hopes of drawing in a stronger
audience. The Third Season took on more of an X-Files feel (though not nearly as dark/well done); as the series
shifted focus to Capitol City. In
Capitol City Clark and Lana work for The Bureau of Extra Normal Matters; a
government agency that investigate (obviously) Extra-Normal happenings. As previously mentioned, the series went to
the ‘dark side’ as stories began to focus on darker, more mature topics. Suddenly, audiences were watching Clark deal
with Satan worshipping, questions of morality, Alternate Earths, nightmares,
rape, accidental death, and even giving up his heroics all together. In the end, this change was abrupt but a
fruitful risk as the show was more detailed and engaging than ever before. The Alternate Earths angle was heavily
utilized this season and gave wonderful perspective on what Clark/Superman
‘could have been;’ ranging from murder, even to ruler of earth.
This season was definitely an upgrade from the previous season, as it
took more risks and borrowed aspects from a variety of comics. I would think the shift in tone had something
to do with the success of Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman, but I can’t be sure.
What is for sure, is that by the mid to late 1980’s audiences, had
enough of campy, bright colored, perfect superheroes and were ready for
something deeper, darker, and gritty. Superboy delivers that (to a degree)
here in Season 3.
The technical features remain subpar for this DVR
release. The picture is again a 1.33 X 1 Full Screen presentation
that has dull colors and black levels; which might be a slight upgrade from Season 2 but overall continue to appear
dingy and under restored. The sound once again is a lossy Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo that comes mostly from the front without much
life. As the episodes got more intense I was hoping the sound would
as well, but sadly that is not so. Though
dialogue remains clear throughout, I still wanted more out of this superhero
series.
No extras are available on this set.
To order Superboy, go to
this link for it and many more great web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.warnerarchive.com/
- Michael P. Dougherty II
