Superman: The Last Son of Krypton

• Directed by Curt Geda, Scott Jeralds, Dan Riba, and Bruce Timm
• September 6, 1996 (US)
• Based on Superman created by Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (artist)

Voice Cast

• Superman/Clark Kent-Tim Daly
• Lois Lane-Dana Delany
• Lex Luthor-Clancy Brown
• John Corben-Malcolm McDowell
• Jor-El-Christopher McDonald
• Lara-Finola Hughes
• Jonathan Kent-Mike Farrell
• Martha Kent-Shelley Fabares
• Sul-Van-Tony Jay
• Brainiac, Councilman, Cop-Corey Burton
• Perry White-George Dzundza
• Jimmy Olsen-David Kaufman
• Angela Chen-Lauren Tom
• Baby Kal-El-Jesse Batten
• Bibbo-Brad Garrett
• Councilman-Brian George
• Ron Troupe-Dorian Harewood
• Whirly Pilot, Hans-Terrorist Guard-Charles Howerton
• Ms. Stevenson, Annie’s Mother, LexCorp Presenter-Tress MacNeille
• Teenage Clark Kent-Jason Marsden
• Driver Cop, Councilman-Roger Rose
• Attorney-Nicholas Savalas
• Lana Lang-Kelly Schmidt
• Danitra Evans, Annie-Miracle Vincent
• Female Worker, Councilwoman-Vernee Watson

The last known survivor of Krypton uses his powers to defend people of his adopted world Earth.

I dare say the 80s to the 90s were a high point in television animation. Some shows were simply the creation of iconic characters while others were high points in the presentation of classic characters such as Batman or in this case Superman.

Superman: The Last Son of Krypton is the pilot episode to the classic Superman: The Animated Series. It originally aired as a film before being broken up into multiple parts for re-broadcast. Not only this film but the series was stacked with talent as so much animation in general was during the 90s. These were not just known actors but people able to perform well in animation. They could craft characters with their voices.

The animation and character designs are a little iffy in comparison to later episodes. Then again, this is the pilot and they hadn’t quite cemented everything they were going to do. A forgivable sin considering everything else is so well done. Much like Batman: TAS, this uses the classic Max Fleischer cartoons as inspiration for the series’ look.

For something ostensibly aimed at children (it was originally part of the WB’s Saturday morning programming before moving to the weekday) Superman: The Last Son of Krypton takes on aspects of politics and just a downbeat feel when it opens on Krypton. Yes the planet explodes but it is not some society caught off-guard but rather a culture being purposely misled by their massive machine intelligence with the dissenting voice being crushed by Brainiac seeking to preserve itself.

The story starts with a sense of desperation before ultimately giving way to hope that is the key to the character of Superman. No matter how dark things get Superman is a beacon of what can be and how things can be better. He is a moral ideal.

There are tweaks to the Superman mythos along with subtle acknowledgements. Some of it is of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it variety. The puppy we see in the opener on Krypton is a clear reference to Krypto the Superdog. Though it’s been a long time since I’ve seen them, the finding of young Kal-El/Clark by the Kents is very reminiscent of the movie serials.

What’s impressive is that Clark isn’t perfect with his powers from the start. He tries to do super things but makes mistakes such as when he tries to pull on the airplane that’s crashing but yanks its tail off. He knows he has superpowers but doesn’t know enough to do what works with them. It’s a level of intelligence that would be showcased throughout this series. 

Though not some grand world endangering idea, the story feels big. It’s a pretty basic plot by Lex Luthor that would’ve gone rather smoothly if Superman hadn’t interfered. The goal of this story was to set up the world in which these characters existed. Luthor is shown as a person who’s been able to manipulate things for quite some time and now has something he can’t control which probably feeds into his villainy. 

Lois Lane is a dynamic female character who is a bit stuck on herself to the point she misses the clearly capable obvious capabilities of the new hire at the Daily Planet Clark Kent. In her mind he’s a small-town hick. Clark repeatedly subverts her expectations forcing her to reassess her views but not so much that she praises him by the credits.

That bias on her part allows Clark to easily slip into his role. He keeps his head down as he learns how to handle his powers and the position he has decided to take on as protector of Metropolis. His adoptive parents are a grounding and guiding force and he’s given a bit of internal conflict about his place in the world and what he should do. 

It’s an exciting and thrilling little better than an hour worth that sets up the series and tells the origin with a narrative that uses a better economy of story than some other productions. If this were the only thing they did you got a good beginning, middle, and end with enough background of all the characters to understand them.

Superman: The Last Son of Krypton is not only a great self-contained film but a great pilot episode for the classic series. It sets up the situation and introduces all the important characters. It will actually make you want to watch the show which now I’ve got to squeeze some time in to do.