I was lucky enough to receive a copy of the Ruby-Spears Superman collection that came out last week. It originally aired for only one season in 1988, for a grand total of thirteen episodes. This DVD collects the entire series.

This show is sort of a blend between the Richard Donner Superman movies (Including the theme song.) and every cartoon that came out in the 80’s. By that I mean, the animation is comparable to Transformers or G.I. Joe. As with the voice acting, script writing, and overall cheese of the show. It seems like the 80’s had an unwritten rule book, ad  this show adheres to it by the letter. I don’t know how I missed this when it was originally aired, as I would have loved it as a kid.

Not that it doesn’t hold up, I just find that I’m not huge on watching these 80’s cartoon shows in my adult life. (Besides Robotech.) Although it’s still great to watch with kids. And it’s not that I’m above watching cartoons. I’m a huge fan of all the cartoons Marvel, and DC have put out in the last 15 years or so.

But the only way I can enjoy myself watching these shows is to be as cynical as possible. Which is easy with the way  these shows were written. The 80’s puns make me laugh a lot. I mean it was almost the 90’s when this came out, and they were still using words like, “Jeepers” or my personal favorite from the show, “great krypton!”. Another thing I found awesome about this show, was how Superman used his cape. For example did you know his cape had pockets?

At the end of the episodes they have a separate short episode called “Family album”, where Clark Kent is pretty much Dennis the menace with superpowers, and he’s giving his parents a hard time. Apparently Clark Kent was a pretty mischievous kid. It’s pretty hilarious.

If you’re the type of person that went out and bought Thundercats, and Transformers and  will actually watch them again, this is definitely worth buying. This show is just as defectively  awesome, and is completely collected in this one cheap set, and Wonder Woman even makes a cameo appearance!

To be honest, if you want to watch a cheesy show this might be the cheesiest you can get for the money. For example, one of the episodes has a villain named Cyron that comes from the future, turns Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, and a fair share or the military into cyborgs in an attempt to take over the future. Did I mention that Cyron travels through telephone power cords, and Superman has to use his heat vision to create special helmets for Jimmy and Lois to block Cyron’s transmissions after they become what Superman dubs Cyroids?

Cyron: No one can stop me!

Superman: Maybe not, but I will!

Well that’s about it, I managed to watch the whole set in a single sitting,  and it was pretty hilarious. It’s not like the comic books,  it’s not exactly like the movie, and it’s not the new animated series. so if you are looking for a different take on Superman, check this series out.

You can buy the whole series on amazon.com by clicking on this link!