Episode Title: “The Arctic Giant”

Episode #: 4

Original Date: 02/27/42

Superman vs. Godzilla, or at least a Godzilla like creature anyway. That is who Superman takes on in this next short. This is the first time that Superman deals with an adversary that isn’t human. It also shows even more so than before little sparkles of Lois Lane and who she is when Superman repeatedly saves her and tells her to stay put, and she runs right back into the fire to get the story. No man, super powered or not, will get in the way of Lois Lane and her story. It’s just faintly there, but it’s fun to see a little of the Lois Lane of today.

After finding a frozen specimen (that happens to be three or four stories tall!), the Metropolis Museum is proud to display the creature on ice to the public. But when the freezer breaks and the ice melts, the creature goes on a rampage of the city, and Superman is the only one who can stop him.

This episode really shows of the background for the show. As with most superhero shows, Superman makes his home in the big city. Superman’s world is filled with high buildings, busy streets and more pedestrians than you can shake a stick at. As the monster makes his way through town, we get to see a lot of buildings and bridges. The monster is even beaten right in fount of a baseball stadium! So it is a typical kind of city. Of cores most shows start and end with our hero as Clark Kent inside the Daily Planet. As such, we see the insides of a busy news paper building. But while the main setting is the city, as is shown in later episodes, the show does take a few trips to more exotic locations.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Complete Superman Collection. Dir. Dave Fleischer. Bosko Video, 1991.