Season One
Title: Last Son of Krypton, Parts I-III
(Episodes 1-3)
Baby Kal-El is orphaned when his home planet, Krypton, is destroyed by a massive global earthquake. His parents, Jor-El and Lara, send him to Earth, where he is adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent and given the name Clark. As a teenager, Clark discovers he has strange powers - the ability to fly, x-ray vision, incredible speed, superhuman strength, an indestructable body - and his parents reveal his true origins to him. Clark decides he wants to use his powers to help people in distress, and so moves to the troubled city of Metropolis, where he masquerades as Superman to rescue small children and plummeting aircraft. To earn a living Clark takes a job as a reporter for the Daily Planet, Metropolis' largest newspaper. He meets such allies as the sassy Lois Lane and young Jimmy Olsen, but Metropolis also has its share of ne'er-do-wells - such as Lex Luthor, a ruthless businessman who reveals a superpowered weapon known as the Lexosuit 5000 not long after Clark's arrival in the city. The suit is stolen by terrorists during its unveiling...or at least, that's what Luthor wants the public to believe. Lois and Clark have other ideas, however, and when Lois puts her life on the line to get to the bottom of things, it's up to Superman to rescue her and stop the terrorists from using the Lexosuit.
Jimmy Quotient: 4. He appears in about three scenes, but those first impressions are ever so valuable.
Title: Fun and Games
(Episode 4)
Clark, Lois and Jimmy are attending the dedication of Mannheim Park - named for Bruno Mannheim, an upstanding citizen from all outward appearances who actually heads up Intergang, a powerful mob-like organisation of criminals. During the ceremony, a squadron of toy airplanes dive-bomb the park, apparantly targeting Mannheim. Clark uses his laser eyesight to destroy the planes before they do any real damage, and Lois, working with a police psychologist, writes up a less-than-favourable story about the villian responsible for the attack, a fellow who calls himself Toyman. Meanwhile, Clark and Jimmy discover that years ago, Mannheim used a toy shop owned by Toyman's father as a front for a numbers racket; while Mannheim came away from the deal scott free, the cops busted the elderly toymaker, leaving his son to be bounced around from foster home to foster home, "like a little lost toy nobody wanted." Now Toyman not only plans to exact his revenge on Mannheim, he's got his sights on Lois as well. Can Superman stop the demented toymaker?
Jimmy Quotient: 4. Jimmy gets to flaunt the fact that he is apparantly the only one at the Planet who knows how to use the computer system for doing research. Bonus point for that cute little confused face he makes just before the scene in the park.
Title: A Little Piece of Home
(Episode 5)
What for Superman should have been a simple job stopping a couple of petty crooks in a museum heist results in the hero's exposure to a strange, glowing green rock which has strange effects on him. When he comes in contact with the mineral dubbed "Kryptonite", Supes grows weak, feverish and generally ineffective in his crimefighting duties. This, of course, is of great interest to Luthor, who plans to do away with the big blue boyscout - and pesky reporter Lois Lane - by luring them into a trap involving Kryptonite and a giant mechanical dinosaur.
Jimmy Quotient: 0. But the big dinobot helps make up for it. A little.
Title: Feeding Time
(Episode 6)
Rudy Jones, STAR Labs janitor and societal doormat, helps thug Martin LeBeau steal some kegs of purple ooze from STAR Labs; during their flight from the scene of the crime, some of the gunk spills on Rudy, turning him into Parasite, a being who can rob people of their energy - as well as memories and knowledge - just by touching them. After getting a taste of Superman's power and learning of his secret identity, he bursts into Clark's apartment one evening, weakens him and drags him off to his secret lair in the basement of STAR. With Superman mysteriously absent and Clark Kent supposedly out sick, the Planet staff are working overtime to solve the mystery of Parasite's whereabouts. Following a hunch, Jimmy goes to the Lab to get to the bottom of things.
Jimmy Quotient: 10! Jimmy gets to be all heroic, tryin' to save Superman, and in the process gets smacked around and zapped by Parasite. With its high J.Q., introduction of a great villain and creepy ending, this is one of my fave episodes.
Title: The Way of All Flesh
(Episode 7)
John Corbin - the suave thug involved in the theft of the Lexosuit 5000, introduced in "Last Son of Krypton, Pt. II" - comes down with a rare and deadly virus while in prison; Lex Luthor suggests an experimental remedy that involves replacing Corbin's natural skeleton with one made of metal. Corbin agrees to the procedure, but soon finds that it's not all it's cracked up to be: he has incredible strength and endurance, but he cannot eat, drink, or feel anything, and he discovers that the situation is permanent. In a rage he begins trashing Metropolis and gets into a scrap with Superman, whom he fends off with his Kryptonite heart before bounding off to get revenge on Luthor. Can the Man of Steel stand up to the Kryptonite-fueled menace and save his arch-enemy?
Jimmy Quotient: 0. Perhaps he was out sick that day.
Title: Stolen Memories
(Episode 8)
Luthor has made contact with an alien life form - one which turns out to be Brainiac, the AI whose duty it once was to chronicle and guard the cultural memories of Krypton. He wishes for Superman, the only other Kryptonian survivor, to be his ally, but Supes is suspicious of the newcomer...particularly when a disturbing dream leads him to believe that Brainiac may have been implicated in his homeworld's destruction.
Jimmy Quotient: 1. He and Lois skulk around the site of Lex and Brainiac's first meeting in the beginning of the episode, then take a hiatus while Supes deals with his issues.
Title: The Main Man, Parts I-II
(Episodes 9-10)
An intergalactic bounty hunter known as Lobo comes to Earth lookin' to catch the Last Son of Krypton for a weird alien collector with a zooful of rare creatures - the last of their species. Lobo succeeds in turning Superman in to the collector, but he doesn't count on a doublecross from the slimy little cretin. Now hunter and prey must work together to escape their captor.
Jimmy Quotient: 0. Still, a fun couple of episodes; Lobo is a crass, obnoxious, sadistic, and overall enjoyable villain.
Title: My Girl
(Episode 11)
Clark's old flame Lana Lang is in town, and hooked up with none other than Lex Luthor! Clark isn't too thrilled with her choice of friends, but this association turns out to be pretty handy when Superman gets wind of a weapons-smuggling operation that may be connected to Luthor. Will Supes and Lana be able to put a stop to Lex's evil scheme?
Jimmy Quotient: 0. However, Lana makes this a fairly satisfying episode (even if she and Barbara Gordon were separated at birth).
Title: Tools of the Trade
(Episode 12)
Intergang is up to its old tricks again, and hitting Metropolis hard with some powerful new weapons provided by a fellow called Kanto. Metropolis' Special Crimes Unit - led by Maggie Sawyer and Dan "Terrible" Turpin - tries its darnedest to end the attacks, but finds the new weaponry to be out of their league; they must rely on Superman to help them out. Infuriated by allegations that the SCU is incapable of handling things on its own, Turpin embarks on a dangerous solo mission to figure out just where Intergang is getting its new toys. Before things are over, he and Supes will learn to respect each other...or die trying.
Jimmy Quotient: 0. Le sigh.
Title: Two's A Crowd
(Episode 13)
Uh-oh, disgruntled employee alert! In this case, it's Earl Garver, a former STAR Labs employee who's threatening to blow Metropolis sky-high unless he's paid a pretty penny. When he's knocked into a coma before disclosing the location of his hidden bomb, Supes and the SCU must call upon an unlikely ally: Parasite. Draining Garver's memories, Parasite also downloads his personality, and the two personas join forces to rid Metropolis of the Man of Steel once and for all.
Jimmy Quotient: 0. This ep has the dubious distinction of having the absolute worst line in all of STAS history: "Sorry, you're cooking with Earl now!" I dunno, that just makes me cringe and laugh at the same time.
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