The Machine Rescue Secret of No Holds Barred Experiment

November 1952. Four episodes of The Adventures of Superman. More than 58 years ago. Good line up of episodes with only one questionable one.

The Mind Machine- A Senator is forming a committee in Metropolis to determine why there is so much crime being reported by The Daily Planet. He narrows it down to a criminal king pin, Cranek, and starts collecting witnesses, including Lois Lane who has done much of the research for the paper. In proper sci-fi fashion a scientist, Dr. Stanton, has invented a Hypno-Therapy Transmitter for use in treating minor nervous disorders and phobias and such by influencing the brain directly. Since this is public knowledge Cranek and his thugs break into the lab, steal the device, kidnap Dr. Stanton, and head out to his hunting lodge outside of Metropolis. Side note: for some reason Metropolis looks like New York City, but everything else around it looks like Southern California. The DC Universe map of America must be radically different from our own. Cranek uses the device to tamper with the minds of witnesses who die shortly after, thus hampering the committee. It is ridiculous on the surface but a good episode none-the-less. Superman gets in another good fight with thugs. My favorite moment: Clark Kent in an airplane (using RADAR to detect the power signature of the device) when they find it with minutes to spare before Lois Lane is killed; Clark sets the auto-pilot, knocks out the pilot, becomes Superman, saves the day, then helps the airplane land when it runs out of fuel (with the pilot still unconscious).

Rescue- Lois Lane is an idiot. I know she's supposed to be the head strong go-getter reporter type, but you just don't run into a collapsed mine to save someone if all the qualified personnel tell you it's unsafe. That they are right. She's in Pennsylvania to do a story on a mining town when an unstable mine collapses on an old miner who was also told not to go in there. I think that Lois has subconsciously figured out that if she's in peril Superman shows up no matter what. Maybe she went all suicidal knowing she'll be rescued. Or maybe she's just dumb. Clark is on assignment in Washington DC when all this happens. At least three times the mine disaster comes up as a news piece and he isn't paying enough attention to notice. I always thought Superman has a super awareness, like a Spidey-sense, bet he fails to see or hear any news. The worst is when he's fixing the car he borrowed from Lois. While he's fixing the distributor cap the news comes on the radio, but he doesn't here it over the noise. I thought super-hearing was a passive skill, not like X-Ray vision. Just before it's too late, Clark arrives on the scene, becomes superman, plows his way through a collapsed tunnel and saves Lois and the old miner. The parts with Clark/Superman are good, but Lois in the episode is annoyingly stupid. Watch as she needs a piece of wood as a lever and pulls out the wood column supporting the ceiling. Instant disaster, just add Lois. It's watchable but be warned.

The Secret of Superman- For some reason a Doctor wants to know if Superman is actually an employee of The Daily Planet. It appears that Clark's plan to report on Superman's activities to stay employed may have backfired. The Doctor has a special mind control drug left over from World War II, known as Amytal, that opens a victim up for suggestion, so he goes around dosing all the main characters. None of them of course know anything. But when he gets Lois she gives him enough details to point the finger at Clark. We never learn why he wanted to know this. Clark even fakes being hypnotized by the drug, but doesn't learn anything. The punchline of the episode is the Doctor getting gunned down by police before he can act on the secret of Superman. But Lois was also exposed to the secret, and when she is brought out of her trance, she doesn't remember anything and the credits roll. It's an okay episode without a clear cut explanation about things. Clark is "fired" to lure in the bad guys, but Jimmy Olsen doesn't know this and keeps interfering, eventually endangering everyone. This is the first episode I've seen where Superman flies without the tradition music. There is a good moment when Clark suggests their chief, Perry White, might be Superman and he immediately reacts with, "not in those tights". We do get to see Jimmy's mom, Clark appears to need to sleep, Jimmy likes to eat at Jerry's Diner, and Perry White keeps a file on Superman. He's probably trying to figure it out, too.

No Holds Barred- Now, this is an episode. A wrestler named Bad Luck Brannigan has been doing unconventional moves in no-holds-barred matches, which permanently cripples his opponents. Seven top wrestlers are put in the hospital and Perry White is tired of reporting on it. He smells trouble with the whole thing and sends Lois, Clark, and Wayne (a college wrestler and friend of Perry's) to investigate. As it turns out Brannigan is being trained in a gym whose manager is trying to get a piece of the action in Metropolis' top gym by crippling their best wrestlers. He also has a secret weapon, Ramm from India. Ramm has been teaching Vulcan Nerve Pinches to Brannigan. At a game where Brannigan wins again, Wayne can't take anymore and challenges him to a match the following week. Superman gets involved and learns that Ramm also has the healing touch power of Mr. Miyagi. Clark then spends a week training Wayne how to withstand it, much to anger of Lois who believes he will be crippled anyway. Lois is immediately attached to Wayne and thinks that Clark is trying to get him injured because he's jealous. Perry even accuses him of this, and it's strange to see Lois suddenly turn on Clark. The match goes without a hitch and Wayne defeats Brannigan. The bad guys realize Ramm must have tipped somebody off and go back to kill him. Superman arrives just in time and beats the crap out of the "evil" gym. Ramm goes out and heals all the crippled wrestlers. Amusingly, Ramm first thinks Superman is some kind of Genie. A great episode and the best of that month's.