Up, up and away!

Filmation's "The New Adventures of Superman" was quite the animation workhorse. It worked fine on its own in 1966, and in the following years worked well with Aquaman (there's a phrase you don't hear much of) and worked even better with Batman.

How could any self-respecting kid-vid watcher not get sucked into watching something that started with the immortal "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!"

Then the viewer was treated to a jazzy if lyrically challenged song.

Superman, Superman, Man of Steel, Superman!

Well, you can't accuse them of beating around the bush. You know up front exactly what the cartoon is about. The new adventures of Superman.

The Last Son of Krypton faced many bad guys. Brainiac made an appearance, but aside from his looks (and the fact that he was an android), he didn't have much to do with his comic book counterpart. This Brainiac was a robot from the planet Mega, and he didn't seem to have anything to do with the shrinking of Krypton's first capitol, Kandor.

As with most of the villains in these cartoons, Brainiac was dispatched rather quickly and poorly.

Lex Luthor fared better, once even imprisoning Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane on the moon, but he still never even got close to beating Superman.

The animation, though somewhat limited, was a great showcase for the Metropolis Marvel. With a strong nose, squinty eyes and a granite jaw, Superman's appearance here looked more inspired by the comics drawn by Wayne Boring rather than the equally great (but more realistic) Curt Swan.

Clayton "Bud" Collyer had handled Superman's voice in the classic Fleisher cartoons of the 1940s and was more than able to supply the voice once again. Joan Alexander, who had likewise done Lois Lane's voice, returned as well.

Jackson Beck handled the announcing duties as well as Perry White's voice. Beck also had extensive voice acting experience - he was responsible for voicing Popeye's arch-enemy, Bluto.

In between the two Superman adventures was an adventure of Superboy. Along with his canine sidekick, Krypto, Superboy thwarted the plans of a number of small-time thugs and random aliens.

Superboy was voiced by Bob Hastings, who portrayed Lt. Elroy Carpenter on "McHale's Navy" and more recently voiced Commissioner James Gordon on "Batman: The Animated Series." A good voice never goes away, does it?

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