The Kryptonite Kid throws a wave of kryptonite-force on Superboy's body.

The process and effect of Gerard Christopher turning green when exposed to green kryptonite was not in use until the second season, when the episode "Bizarro, the thing of steel" premiered. At last, for the first time a live-action Superman character on television, or film turned green from kryptonite exposure! This was how it should have been done in the Christopher Reeve movies, actually. It's a part of the lore. In the comics, Superman turns green when exposed to green K. It was only in the Superboy cartoon (which precursed the Superboy TV series) that Superboy did indeed turn green. It may surprise some why Richard Donner did not use the green-effect in the Superman films. Especially STM. By the time Luthor was ready to dump Supes into the pool, his skin should have been a pale green tone. Perhaps it may have been too time consuming to be done on film.

The frames of Gerard Christopher doubling over from exposure to green K were indeed painted, but by video-compositing. The end results were much faster and easier to accomplish, and it was at a higher resolution than could have been done on film at that time (which used the process of optical-compositing). Many a Superman fan for years had dreamed of seeing the Man Of Steel (or Boy, in this case) turn green. It was a more primitive FX than would be done by today's standards, to be sure, but not so primitive by the early 90(s) standards. However, it appeared that in order to make Superboy look like he was gradually turning green was not so easy. Superboy/Gerard Christopher doesn't gradually turn green (as should be the case with kryptonite exposure). The video-compositing effect meant it was all or nothing. Suddenly his skin is totally green.


As was mentioned earlier, the FX work really couldn't be exploited until after the first season. Superboy was SERIOUSLY under budget and under staff during the first season. As simple as most of the FX was to create back then, it's even simpler and cheaper to not do it at all, which was the case of Superboy's 1st season, and maybe even the reason why they didn't have Superboy turn green. Because there was no guarantee that 'Superboy' would make it beyond the first 13 episodes ordered (for the 1st season), budgets were held down. Yet the creativity increased and a very animated feel emerged into the second season, which was, I dare say, much like a dead-on interpretation of reading a comic book. The series suddenly felt like it was intuned to the true "spirit of Superman", whatever that may mean to a Superman fan. The clothing of the villians became more out-landish and bright colors filled the sets. Even the make-up and prosthetics being created for the show were sometimes quite amazing. Far beyond what one would expect of a syndicted TV series. Bizarro, the imperfect duplicate of Superboy, was made to look very life-like. Even creepy. But what a pleasure it was to see a character straight from the comic books protrayed so vividly.



Bizarro dressed up as Kent-Clark.

If one took away the actors and replaced them with digital characters, the episodes of the second season could have easily been mistaken for a cartoon. We did get a glimpse of these changes during the first season, I have to add. "Alien Solution" and "Revenge of the Alien" felt very much like a second season episode...yet, I argue that something was still missing. Much to the producer's delight, Gerard Christopher was willing to do anything and everything they wanted. Gerard Christopher was enthusiastic, very physically animated and was willing to play Clark nerdy. Some say he went too far on the nerd-act. Unlike Newton who felt that Clark Kent should be vunerable instead of clumsy, he was not as physically fit and sometimes difficult to work with, according to accounts by the Salkinds. So when it was Gerard Christopher's turn to step up to the plate, he decided to play Clark Kent to the extreme. Very nerdy, and very goofy. And sometimes, very funny. Gerard Christopher did all kinds of crazy stunts to make himself look foolish, even jump on top of a slightly moving car while wearing a heavy sweater and heavy shoes in 90 degree Florida heat. He wanted to make an impression. This was his chance to be remembered for being the definitive Superboy (not unlike what Kirk Alyn was to George Reeves; the first but not the last, and not the most remembered).

The innocent feel of Richard Donner's 'Superman: The Movie' was lost well into the second picture. Likewise with the Superboy series. By the 3rd and 4th seasons, the title was changed to 'The Adventures of Superboy' and a dark and mysterious feel emerged called film noir. You'd never guess what a low budget Superboy had to judge from the results. You've got to give the devil his due. The Salkinds did a great job with the series even if they rarely spent time on the actual set. To sum up, the production work on the series was one that intended to capture the lore of the comics, and then some. There was a little bit of Batman in there, and Tales From The Crypt too. Visually, to television standards, it was years ahead of it's time. You have to appreciate how the show progressed over a 4-year period. WB's Smallville series has the luxury of computers with fast processors, and I have yet to see an episode that flows so genuinely in sync with the spirit of Superman.






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