We are about a month away from the release of the new live action Superman movie with the world about to reminded about how good the man of steel could possibly be. I thought that I would take a look back at another episode from a show that not only doesn't get talked about all that much but also I myself haven't talked about in a while and so then join me as I review the episode that introduces Superman's one true weakness to the DC Animated Universe with the episode in question being called simply just "A Little Piece Of Home" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when Lex accidentally discovers a rock that he bought actually contains Superman's one weakness it's up to the man of the steel to remove the rock from Lex's hand and get rid of it before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was on all honesty not that bad as while it was a rather simple plot that is something that does work well enough in this episodes favor as not every single plot needs to be a plot from Batman: The Animated Series and be this deep and dark plot as that isn't something that would well for Superman as this is a character who works best when the plots are simple and easy to follow and to this episodes credit that's exactly what this episodes plot was but at the same time tho this episodes plot was also a bit on the weak side which is fair enough as not every episode of any show can have great plots but at the same time tho given the fact that this show was made by the same team as Batman: The Animated Series you do expect the plots to a lot better then what they are in this episode as it was at times very hard to tell just what the main plot of this episode was even meant to be in the first place as that's just how thinly drawn out that this episodes plot really was with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Tim Daly as Clark Kent / Superman , Dana Delany as Lois Lane and Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor. Also starring in this episode is Lisa Edelstein as Mercy Graves , Victor Brandt as Prof. Emil Hamilton , Brad Garrett as Bibbo and 'Neato' Coralli , John Garry as Professor Hanes , Tress MacNeille as The Tour Guide , An Old Woman and A Waitress , Yuji Okumoto as The Security Guard , John Rubinstein as Professor Peterson , Scott Valentine as Sam Coralli and Back To The Future star Thomas F. Wilson as Joey.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With all of the actors that you expect a good performance from really giving us exactly that which given just how good that this episodes actors are in their own right isn't something that's all that surprising even more when you take into account that all of the acting from alot of the DC Animated Universe is always really good and while it would have been really obvious to say that either Tim Daly or Dana Delany are the episodes best actors as they do turn in some really good performances in their right the episodes best actor by a long country mile is quite easily Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor as he is just so menacing in this episode which is perfect given just who he's playing but then on top of that he goes from being quite menacing and threatening in one minuet to quite charming and someone that you genuinely do believe would have your best interest at heart the next with all of this coming through in his performance really well and hearing his scenes with both Tim and Dana who still knock it out of the park performance wise is not only sweet music to ears but it's also shocking as he acts circles around them as well with the acting that's in this very episode really being helped buy the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just the say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the greats that are currently over at TMS-Kyokuichi Corporation. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as this episodes animation is more then up to the high bat of animation not only set by this show but also by Batman: The Animated Series as well with the episode even sneaking in a few impressive shots that could only be done in animation and that even for a nineties animated TV show still look really good to this very day but at the same time tho there's very little that stands out about this episode from an animation point of few barring one or two shots and that's really it as the backgrounds don't look that interesting and the characters are given these really stiff looking movements to them that makes it feel weird whenever they move which is fine for villains like Lex ,Mercy and Joey but they also have them for Superman and Lois as well with those kinds of stiff looking movements not really being something that does work well for those characters as those are meant to be the heroes of the story and so there movements should be a little bit more fluid looking and look at lot less stiff then what they are in the final cut episode but with that being said the episodes animation quality overall was really good with the episode visually looking as good as can be expected for a kids animated TV show from the nineties.
To be frank the Lex Luthor that we see in this episode is a really creepy version of the character as this episode does go to great lengths into showing us just how far that he's willing to go. With him being shown manipulating several people all throughout the episode and it even being implied that he had a hand in killing off a character as well which is something that really hadn't been hinted it by any other version of the character at this point in time and that's a shame as Lex is by default meant to be the bad guy and so showing him doing these evil things would not only make sense but would also be fitting for his character as well and heck hen even offers Superman a deal that would give himself the upper hand by keeping the Kryptonite with him just incase the man of steel put a toe out of line but at the same time tho in showing him be this evil there really should have been a much more bigger pay off for it instead of Lex getting of with nothing done to him and I get it he's meant to be the series big bad and this is a kids show but at the same time if your going to spend alot of running time just showing him doing these evil things just to make sure that Superman doesn't know about a rock then come the episodes end there should be some big off where Superman gets Lex back for all of the pain and misery that Lex put him through in the episode even if it's just Superman punching him yes that would have been a weak pay off but it still would have been something and yet by playing it safe yes the makers of this show are pleasing alot of people behind the scenes but very little people watching the episode will be pleased as Lex gets nothing done to him interms of consequences outside of loosing the Kryptonite and that's really it.
This is the episode that does introduce Kryptonite to the shows lore with the episode going into great detail just what this particular green coloured version of it can do. With it's main thing being that it makes Superman weak and in a sense more human then ever as he then can become able to be hurt by his enemies and those that would see to do him harm with the episode even going into great detail of just how the man of steel can hide from it's effects just by covering it in led or in the case of this episode an old cup that for some odd reason was made out of lead while going into how Superman gets effected by this rock and how he can shelter himself from it's effects does make sense as the episode does need to explain those things to the shows more kid friendly audience the scene where they do all of that just felt forced and like they were thrown in there at the last second where as if the episode both of these things without actually stopping the episode to do so then it would have worked just fine as we don't need to have a scene with Lex saying out loud that Superman is made weak because of the rock because we thee audience can quite clearly see that nor do we need a scene with an Earthbound scientist explaining how to he can shelter from it's effects as there's no way that he would know such a thing as there all you'd need is a scene with Jor-El telling him that in the Fortress Of Solitude something that Superman would have flown to after he was exposed to it as that is something that would have scared him into doing so while the scene at the end with Superman remembering what the tour guide said about the pots being made out of led was a great call back and a solid piece of storytelling it's also something that doesn't quite work as Lois was there so she could have very easily have found a way to get the rock away from Superman even if she was being chased by a giant robot dinosaur.
As well as debuting kryptonite in this episode this episode also sees the debut of Mercy Graves who much like Harley Quinn was created exclusively for this show before then making the transition over to the comics. With her character being someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to please her boss and is more then willing to get in a fight with anyone who disagrees with Lex over the smallest of matters which is a really interesting thing to include in the character and it's something that latter versions of her character have tones upon for no apparent reason and it makes no sense as to why as a character like Lex would have a body guard on him at all times and there for it would make sense that the bodyguard in question is also someone who is more then willing to get her hands dirty be it from fighting someone or to doing another one of Lex's dirty deeds and while her character might not be that well known to the mainstream audience those that either do know about her from the comic books or this show do know that she has the potential to be a really great character in her own right as while this episode rather rightfully doesn't delve into her backstory at all it also didn't need to as that would be nothing more the filler but it something that further episodes of this show could then delve into to develop her character now weather or not they did do that if they did it in the comic books is hard to say but what isn't all that hard to say is that the only thing that's stopping her character from really taking off is a creative team that's more then willing to come up with a good story for her that would not only make sense given her design but also her character as well as her design in this episode whilst it is simple is also something that does work really well for this show as well.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty one minuets and thirty one seconds. Which to be fair to this episode is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show to have and to this episodes credit it does have the ight amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time but the issues does stem from the fact that this episode really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as it doesn't take that it really did need to do in order to fully develop it's plot as the episode does drop it's plot alot of the time during this episode which is something that does make it hard to work out just what it is that the plot of this episode is meant to be with the episode not even taking the time to set up not only what kryptonite is but also why it effects Superman in a way that feels natural as it does all of that in one scene which is a solid way to do it but at the same time tho something that's this important should have been something that better shown and not seen as you very easily could have shown Superman getting more and more effected the long that the fight with the two robbers at the start goes on and then show it progress all throughout the episode as this is something that not only would have added drama to the episode but it also would have some urgency to the episode as well as now Superman has to not only get the rock away from Lex without making himself all the more weaker but also find a way to heel himself from it's effects as well with this being something that would have made the episode all the more stronger in the long run because of it as well but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really goo pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. As we do get to see some really creative looking action scenes in this episode be it from from Superman trying to stop a giant robotic dinosaur from eating both him and Lois to flinging a helicopter that's on fire out of the way there's alot of really creative fun filled action scenes in this episode which is something that des make alot of sense as with Superman you do kind of have that permission there to go and do these more extreme action scenes that you can't really do with Batman just due to the fact that Superman is an alien and therefor he can do things that us humans just can't and do with this being seen in all of this episodes action with the best action scene in the whole entire episode being the fight between Superman and the robot dinosaur just due to the fact that we have some great storytelling going on within that scene as we have both Superman and Lois as well as robot all trying to get to the kryptonite be it to use it against Superman or to get rid of it which is something that does add some small level of drama to that scene as even tho it's obvious who is going out on top it's still thrilling to see just how Superman wins the day which is something that really does set that action scene apart from all of the other action scenes that are in this very episode in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while only time well tell if the new James Gunn film will be any good what we can say is that while this episode isn't the best that this show every did that is something that does track as this show just wasn't as good as Batman: The Animated Series really was as this episode just felt like that the makers of this show were just playing things a bit to safe for their own good which really did effect the episode as a whole in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official DC Universe fandom wiki page , the official DC Animated Universe fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official DC Animated Universe fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with really alot of them being really better quality then what you'd really think of and really all of the images are really of course up and really on the official DC Animated Universe fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
