The Production/FX of 'SUPERBOY'
'Superboy' was shot on a fairly small budget, much smaller than it's later adversary 'Lois and Clark', but often looked high-profile, if not, lavish. Top industry names always appeared in the credits, like Jackie Cooper (who directed several of the 1st season episodes; watch "Kryptonite Kills"). The Superboy production team consisted of several other veterans from the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. The Producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind. The Line Producer Bob Simmonds (who served as production executive on Superman I, II, and III). And third, the FX pro Bob Harmon who "flew" Superman in the movies, and repeated that task on the 'Superboy' TV series.

The 'Superboy' writing team consisted of top DC comic book writers like Cary Bates, the Executive Story Consultant on the series, and Andrew Helfer. The FX crews did a multitude of creative flying effects during it's four year run, not to mention some impressive animation (all done on video; via, video-compositing), make-up/prosthetics, wardrobe and set design. Shooting started August 15th to meet the October 4 week series premiere in 1988. Bob Harmon's flying team did incorporate slightly different techniques for the flying and animation (the effects didn't have to be as elaborate as a feature film projected on a 70-foot screen, but thanks to video-paint-box-technology, the methods were easier, faster, and cheaper), so the effects were distinctly tailored to the size of a TV screen.

The fact that all this was being done on television didn't hinder the show at all--it was clear by the 3rd and 4th seasons that the 'Superboy' team was doing television better than anybody. If Alexander and Ilya Salkind were going out of their way to make audiences forget the painful memories of their 'Superman III' and 'Supergirl' (not to mention the non-Salkind-produced 'Superman IV: The Quest For Peace') then watching 'Superboy' sure did make up for it!

There was no guarantee 'Superboy' would make it beyond the original 13 episodes ordered for the 1st season. The budgets were held down for the first half of season 1 and this is why the FX work really couldn't be exploited like they had been during the following seasons. This is very apparent as those first episodes appear to have a 'real world' documentary feel to them rather than an adaptation of a comic-book character. High-end video cameras were often used for some of the first location shooting. Those first episodes were rough around the edges, but they were natural and captured the tone of the first year of college exactly.

Instead of focusing on Superboy and his extraordinary powers, the Producers decided to lean on simple stories that would develop the three central characters of season 1: Clark, T.J. White (Perry White's son), and Lana Lang. In the episode "The Foreign Exchange Student" (one of the original 13 episodes), we learn of T.J. White's first love, Natasha, who is from Russia. A simple story, not necessarily intriguing, but nevertheless it developed the T.J. White character into a likeable counterpart for young Clark kent. We really got the feeling of close friendship between these three, even more so than in season two (in which T.J White had left to work for his father's paper, and Andy McCallister became Clark's new roomate). That natural feel was something that got lost as the series became more professional and established.

By mid-season 1, Superboy was starting to gain good ratings and one can really notice this budget change in the FX, and the apparently more complex scenes that make use of multiple-camera set-ups, as the money started to roll in.



John Haymes Newton, the Superboy star of the 1st season.


Production was primarily centered at the brand new Disney-MGM Studios facility at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. All the interiors were shot at soundstages there. Disney World amusement areas and other surrounding properties were used for the exteriors (with other locations, when needed, to take place around the Orlando area). Superboy was the first TV series as well as the first non-Disney project of any kind to be filmed at Disney-MGM. You have to hand it to the Producers on this one, they really made use of all the MGM locations. We often saw adventures taking place in the big city, Capital City, which was a metropolitian location (basically, the 'Superboy' TV show's version of Metropolis). But if you go only 10 miles from the Capital City location, just outside of the studio lot and facilities, we can see the location for the corn fields of Smallville!

The Disney-MGM lot provided many different looks to choose from--the big city look, the small-town look (for the town of Smallville), University of Central Florida (Clark's college, Shuster University), the beaches in Orlando, and bogs and swamps (for some of the more mysterious episodes, like "The Lair"). These locations were basically the "world" of the show, and often times we'd see the same alleys, buildings and landscapes appear in subsequent episodes, but dressed (disguised) differently to pose as an alternate location. This was hardly noticable, however, because each episode was only a half-hour long. And the action would usually engage a viewer from any deep or dire inspection.

The flying shots for 'Superboy' were one of the most accomplished aspects of the production. The flying was generally done a couple of ways. Like in the Chris Reeve pictures, the Superboy actor was suspended by a large crane with small wires that he would wear on a harness. A crane would pull or move the actor to give the illusion of flight. A wire-shot could also be performed in front of a blue screen and matte that has a background of cars or buildings. The gracefullness of flying had a lot to do with the actor. Gerard Christopher was in great shape (physically), so he had the ability to keep his back, arms and legs straight and to arc his body in a believable manner in different motions. The previous actor, John Newton, wasn't as physically fit as Gerard, and sometimes lost balance. Gerard, being a tri-athelete in real life, made it look easy, which it certainly was far from.

Generally, the dead-lines were tight and screen time was limited because 'Superboy' was a half-hour syndicated show. Six-and-a-half minutes of commercial time was carved into each segment, so that left us with a 24-minute episode to tell a single story and make it believable. Anywhere from 6-10 script pages were shot a day, which would consume anywhere from 4-6 full days of shooting for a single episode. Yet 'Superboy' did have the benefit of the easier to use, faster technology (very basic video/computer software) for all the animation, which was responsible for the wire-removal on all the flying shots. In this regard, many brave and sometimes very dangerous flying could be attempted.



Gerard Christopher is suspended at least 20 feet above the ground for this "wire-shot" in progress. A blue-screen was often used in conjunction with wires.


Comparing this method to the earlier Christopher Reeve films where Bob Harmon and his team had to be very inventive about hiding wires, and doing time-consuming and complicated optical/composite shots, you will rarely see wires in Superboy. Once wire-removal had been completed on video, via simple computer/video software, the flying shots were put back onto film without the worry of matching the color and tone of the live action footage. For the Reeve films, many wire shots had to rely on time consuming, frame by frame delicate wire paint-outs that an animator would hand-paint directly onto the celluloid. For 'Superboy', this long and involved frame by frame technique wasn't necessary.

All wire removal was spotless in 'Superboy' compared to the Reeve pictures, because of the high resolution compositing that video offers. So, in that regard, did Bob Harmon's flying team make audiences believe a boy could fly? Believing is an understatment! In fact, the flying shots were the best part of the show. Because wire-removal was cheaper and faster, the flying in 'Superboy' often pushed the envelope. One of longest flying shots in Superman History is said to be in the 'Superboy' episode "The Bride of Bizarro, Part II". In this particular episode, we see Superboy fly through Lex Luthor's lair (which was a very wide warehouse) for a rather lengthy amount of time (roughly ten seconds).



One of the best flying shots of the 'Superboy' series. Superboy takes a narrow flight 20-30 feet upward inbetween a winding flight of stairs. This flying shot appeared in the episode "Rebirth" Part I.


Other magnificent flying shots are seen in the episodes "Carnival" and "Werewolf". In "Carnival", Superboy is suspended about 10 feet above the ground, smoothly and gracefully gliding past several carnival-atmosphere-settings. In "Werewolf", we see Superboy glide down through a stretched and narrow hallway of an office building. During the 3rd and 4th seasons, the flying shots became pretty daring, probably because night-time shooting had become predominate and more creative use of wires could be done, eventhough the wires were hardly (to never) noticeable. Removing the wires by video-compositing was faster and cheaper to do, yet, why not save more time and money? It is interesting to reflect on 'Lois and Clark', a show that premiered a year after the legal lien was placed on 'Superboy' by Warner Brothers (read the article about the lien here: The Death of Superboy ) and had the bigger budget, yet incorporated "cape-out", an inferior effect that opted not to show Superman flying, only flapping his cape in front of the camera! 'Superboy' aired several years earlier, yet all Bob Harmon's flying team did was very simple and cheap video-compositing on very basic video/computer software. By the 3rd and 4th seasons, the flying shots were looking very cool; enough for critics to say it rivaled the flying seen in the earlier Christopher Reeve 'Superman' pictures.



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