Bloopers that aren't

I know, I'm a nerd for even looking at Glass House's The Adventures of Superman Bloopers. I guess, then, that I'm at least a semi-uber-nerd, because I noticed some of them aren't really mistakes.

There's a reference to Superman making a crook's gun too hot to hold with his "x-ray" vision, rather than heat vision. That's correct. At that time, in the comics, Superman had no "heat vision": It was a side-effect of his x-ray vision. Later, when it was discovered just how harmful prolonged exposure to x-rays could be, the creators established heat vision as a power in its own right, rather than suggest he was microwaving his closest friends.

It seems to me that Mr Glass is generous with the definition of "blooper", using it to identify anything that betrays the miniscule budget with which these shows were produced. Re-use of locations and re-dressed sets were and are common in television production: Star Trek's Enterprise set only had one corridor, for example.

Now, pointing out that Perry White is clearly reading his lines from the script in his hand in many of the later episodes...that's a blooper. Disappearing and reappearing hats, ties, and glasses abound. (Clark's glasses in particular change shape: Later seasons used different prop frames from those worn in earlier seasons, stock footage from which was still being used.)

The End of the League?

Scripps Howard News Service | No Justice for the League

Take a brilliant show like "Justice League Unlimited" (10:30 p.m. EST Saturdays, Cartoon Network). It's the best series on Cartoon Network, and it certainly is as worthy of praise as anything "Adult Swim" offers. But the audience just isn't there. And that's too bad.

Not having cable, I had no idea that Cartoon Network buries this series at 10:30 pm Saturday nights. I'm at the mercy of home video releases and torrents to see this spectacularly good show. For years I didn't care, because the lackluster 90-minute pilot did nothing to convince me that the show would be worth the trouble.

But not only do they know who Vandal Savage and the Ultra-Humanite are, but they managed to make them sympathetic characters--without contradicting their histories as depicted in the comics.

Ah, well. It's had a five-year run, 84 91 episodes: That's an eternity in animated-series years.

Not on my wish list

Presenting Hydro-Man with pump 'n squirt action.

Yeah, pump 'n squirt action. You want to make something of it? Goodness knows I am...

If I could only get a set of this guy, Zan (you know, the Wonder Twin with water powers?) and Fluid-Man (from "Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles"). Couldn't you just see that? The "Humiditrio"?

The "Wet Wonders"?

Eh. "The Losers."