- Title: Superman: The Animated Series – Solar Power
- wiki: link
Today’s Throwback Thursday takes us back to the animated streets of Metropolis and a hero who can leap tall buildings in a single bound. “Solar Power” opens with a prison break as Edward Lytener (Robert Hays) escapes Stryker’s Prison with new tech and a new plan to take down Superman (Tim Daly). Now calling himself Luminus, Lytener uses satellites around Metropolis to filter the sun’s rays making the sun appear red. Part of the genius of the plan is that the villain instigates it during a period of stormy weather with dark gray skies leading to Superman unknowingly slowly weakening without the yellow sun’s rays to replenishing him. Once the clouds part, it becomes obvious what the villain has done.
The episode features some beautifully animated scenes which hearken back to classic sci-fi designs with Metropolis bathed in the glow of a red sun for much of the episode. While “Solar Power” isn’t my favorite episode of the series, it is one of my favorite looking episodes of Superman: The Animated Series. The episode’s storyline feels like classic Superman as well. Along with a new suit, seemingly inspired by New God design, Luminus becomes another super-villain to bend light to his advantage creating lasers, invisibility, and duplicates of himself all to slowly weaken the Man of Steel until he is vulnerable enough for Luminus to take down. The episode is also notable for Lois (Dana Delany) and Jimmy‘s (David Kaufman) cornball remark about a bird in the sky while tracking down Luminus’ secret lair.
