Since there are so many Superman related DVDs coming out this week (in time for the release of "Superman Returns" next week) I'm going to skip all the falderal about the Man of Steel that I usually start these reviews with. Instead, I'll cut right to the chase. I'm a longtime comic book fan, and Superman, Batman and Spider-Man were always my favorites. I thought I had seen all of the Superman related TV shows, serials and movies, but I was wrong. Somehow I missed the 80's and had no idea that there was ever a "Superboy" series. That's right… a "Superboy" series.

As a matter of fact, even more unbelievable to me was that I learned it ran for 4 seasons and yet it stayed off my radar (to use a corporate term) back then and all the way up until two weeks ago. Where I learned of its existence was in the receipt of a DVD set of the 1st season that happened to land at my doorstep. The series starred John Haymes Newton as the Boy of Steel and Stacey Haiduk as Lana Lang, well at least for a time… but more on that later.

When I popped in the first disc to watch the first episode, I have to admit… I cringed. I'm sure a lot of it had to do with it being a Pilot and everyone getting comfortable with their roles, blah blah blah… but it was terrible. Everything about it ringed cheap from the effects to the acting. It was so bad that I wasn't sure I should watch any more. But I did, and in some ways I'm glad I did. Over the course of the episodes actually seemed to get better. Not great mind you, but better. It was as if someone in charge finally decided that is the show was going it be cheesy, it should go for broke and be cheesy. It never quite went as far as the old "Batman" series, but it had its share of moments. And to be honest, Superman's tights are hard to fill (don’t go there…), so much in fact that Tom Welling only agreed to taking on the role in "Smallville" if he never had to wear them. Just as in the episodes themselves, Newton also improves as the season progresses, both as Clark and as Superboy.

What I noticed about the series though was that it at least tried to be true to the Superman comics in certain ways. Again just not enough to make it great. But where they did go right was in casting Michael J. Pollard as he mischievous imp, Mr. Mxyzptlk. In the comics Mxyzptlk came from another dimension and loved to mess with the caped guy. Pollard plays him with a fun malevolence, and the story remained fairly close to the tone of the stories he showed up in, even insofar as to have Superboy get rid of him the same way he would in the comics.

In doing a little research on the series, I learned that the 2nd season held many surprises. Most notably in the cast. It seems that the role of Clark / Superboy was taken over by Gerard Christopher, and Newton was dropped. Also in the 1st season Lex Luthor was played by Scott Wells, but was replaced by Sherman Howard. And when I read that name, it sounded familiar. So I did a little further checking and realized that he played 'Bub' in George Romero's "Day of the Dead." This in itself really makes me want to check out the 2nd season when it is released.

The DVD set for the 1st season of "Superboy" offers up 26 episodes on four discs, most of which look pretty good. The colors are very garish at times and they really stand out, but the sound doesn’t fare as well. The volume levels seem to be off so you have to keep the sound up most of the time. Warner Brothers did include a handful of special features though. Most of these you'll find on the 4th disc and include a fairly thorough 'making of…' featurette, as well as the original screen test for Newton. There's also commentary on two episodes ("Revenge of the Alien, part 2" and "Meet Mr. Mxyzptlk') by Newton and producer Ilya Salkind.

"Superboy" was without a doubt, a very cheesy show. But it was cheesy fun as far as I could tell… once you got past the first few episodes. Now I'm interested in seeing the 2nd season, with a different cast to see how it affected the overall tone of the series.

Starring: John Haymes Newton, Stacey Haiduk
Extras: 'Superboy: Getting off the Ground', Commentaries on Two Episodes by John Haymes Newton and Executive Producer Ilya Salkind, John Haymes Newton Screen Test, "Look, Up in the Sky" Documentary Excerpts
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Sound
Studio: Warner Brothers
Release Date: 6/20/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
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We'll give Superboy: Season 1 a C.