The Deserted Stolen Treasure of Trouble Experiment

I think it's fun looking at 50's Sci-Fi TV shows and movies to see what science they get wrong. Sometimes they do good, but most of the time not. It is an interesting choice, then, that during the open for The Adventures of Superman Superman is seeing kind of standing in space with the Earth, the Moon, and possibly another planet of some sort. I don't know what it is but the makers of the show must have thought it looked good. These four episodes below come from December, 1952.

The Deserted Village- I don't know why I'm surprised to see a really good episode of this series but here is another one. There's a mystery and it seems odd, but all is explained by the end. Without giving away too much Lois has a friend in a town, Cliffton by the Sea, north of Metropolis, that won't answer her phone. After trying every number in town she learns no one is picking up. Lois and Clark head there and discover everyone is gone. After investigating, they find a dead dog and an unconscious person who claims there are only four people left in a town of over 500. Clark investigates, Lois gets in trouble, and the truth is handled by the end. One of the best scenes in the episode is Clark demanding Lois leave for her own safety and she refuses to believe him, even though the remaining four people of Cliffton carry guns and gas masks. The cave set first seen in The Haunted Lighthouse gets reused for at least a third time, and a stock footage shot from that same episode of Superman running along some sand and rock. Way to save money. This is a strong episode to watch.

The Stolen Costume- An episode that starts out a little slow turns around by the end to be one of the best they made. Someone known as Teaball (aka The Rope Burglar 'cause he uses a rope to break into high-rise apartments) breaks into the Standish Arms Apartments, which turns out to be where Clark Kent lives. While evading the cops he gets into Clark's bedroom and finds a hidden closet with Superman's costume. He steals it and runs away, only to be shot. I think this is the first time we see blood in this show. He staggers to a mobster's place, where they take the costume and interrogate him as to where he was. After Teaball dies the mobster, Ace, and his girl, Connie, hatch a plan to blackmail Clark Kent whom they determine must be Superman. They even learn his apartment number is 5H. Clark meanwhile calls on an old Detective friend, named Candy, to help with the leg work, but Ace and Connie think he's Clark Kent. Connie is the first one in the series to put together that Superman must have a dual life. With a little deductive reasoning she figures out it all out. Nobody working with Clark even suspects, but twice now in the series bad guys are hard at work figuring out anything to do with Superman. The conclusion is cold-blooded once Clark confronts Ace and Connie. Let's just say he takes them to a place very close to the Fortress of Solitude and leaves them there to die. Apparently based on a radio episode, this is also a must see for the series.

Treasure of the Incas- A mediocre episode about a hidden Inca treasure. Lois is tricked into getting an Incan tapestry for a professor from Peru, but when he's found dead Lois loses the tapestry at gun-point. Fortunately she had shown it to Clark and Jimmy Olsen, which propels the three to set off for Peru to learn what's so special about it. There is a second tapestry that when combined with the first point to the treasure. Through some double-crossing that is apparent to the audience, but not Lois and Jimmy, they get captured in the same cave set used in four other episodes. When threatened with dynamite Superman saves the day, finds the treasure, and captures the bad guys all at once. Not particularly brilliant but not a bad episode. We do learn Jimmy speaks Spanish at a first year high school level.

Double Trouble- This episode Jimmy Olsen gets to be the idiot. Someone is trying to sneak something through customs into Metropolis, but some other group is waiting for that person. So he dresses like a lady and bumps into Jimmy who is waiting for Lois to finish an interview with a Hollywood Actress. Jimmy is passed something to hand to a group of guys around an ambulance, who immediately kidnap him and realize they've been tricked. The dude dressed like a lady kept something from them. Without boring you with more details, Superman goes to Germany where some radium was stolen and puts two and two together quickly and saves Jimmy from a fate that is never explained. Another okay mystery, but initiated by very stupid Jimmy Olsen, so I have to rate this one the worst of the four I watched today.