The Adventures of Superboy

*The Adventures of Superboy*
The Adventures of Superboy
Created by	Whitney Ellsworth
Based on	Superboy; by Jerry Siegel; Joe Shuster; Don Cameron;
Starring	Johnny Rockwell; Bunny Henning
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	1
Production
Running time	25 minutes

The Adventures of Superboy is a proposed TV series that was put into production in 1961.^[1] It was meant to capitalize on the success of Adventures of Superman, which went out of production in 1958. Only a pilot episode ("Rajah's Ransom")^[2]^[3] was produced, although 12 additional scripts had been prepared, had the series been picked up.

It featured the first portrayals of Superboy and Lana Lang outside of comic books, and stands as a forerunner of later series based on Clark Kent's youth: Superboy, which lasted four seasons, and Smallville, which lasted ten seasons.

Cast

Johnny Rockwell as Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superboy^[4]
Bunny Henning as Lana Lang
Monty Margetts as Martha Kent

Guest cast

Ross Elliot as Fred Drake
Charles Maxwell as Gunner Ferde
Robert Williams as Chief Parker
Richard Reeves as Shorty Barnes
Yvonne White as Miss Gibbs
Stacy Harris as Jake Ferde
Jimmy Bates as Jimmie Drake
Ray Walker as Mr. Edlund
True Ellison as Donna

Home media

The only stand-alone releases so far for The Adventures of Superboy have been from specialty distributors, such as Video Rarities, which released it on VHS along with The Adventures of Superpup and screen test footage as Superboy and Superpup: The Lost Pilots.

This pilot episode has been included in the 62-disc DVD box set of Smallville: The Complete Series, released by Warner Home Video in November 2011, along with additional bonus features not included in the individual season releases of Smallville.^[5]

Other media

A book titled Superboy and Superpup: The Lost Videos, written by Chuck Harter, was published in 1993 by Cult Movies Press. It looked at both The Adventures of Superboy pilot and The Adventures of Superpup pilot, as well as the 12 additional Superboy scripts that were prepared had the Superboy pilot been picked up as a series.^[6] The book also claims that a story in issue #88 of the Superboy comic is based on the pilot script.^[2] In September 2022, BearmanorMedia.com republished "Superboy & Superpup The Lost Videos" by Chuck Harter, now with a full color cover. The new edition is available in hardback, paperback and e-book editions.

External links

The Adventures of Superboy at IMDb
Information from "Superman Through the Ages"
Look, Up In The Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman - a 2006 documentary containing a clip of the pilot.^[2]

References

^ Cronin, Brian (2011-12-02). "Comic Book Legends Revealed #343". CBR. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
^ ^a ^b ^c Scivally, Bruce (2008). "Chapter 6 - The Middle Years - Superpup and Superboy". Superman on film, television, radio, and Broadway. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0-7864-3166-3. OCLC 153579095.
^ Robb, Brian J. (2014). A brief history of superheroes. London. ISBN 978-1-4721-1055-8. OCLC 884547217. The second was a pilot for The Adventures of Superboy, made in 1961. Johnny Rockwell played a young Clark Kent/Superboy in a light-hearted drama set in Smallville. Bunny Henning played Laura Lang. Thirteen scripts were written, but only the twenty-five-minute pilot entitled 'Rajah's Ransom' was made, and it can also be seen on YouTube.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ "The Men Of Steel: 50 actors who played Superman". Empire. 28 June 2016. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
^ Smallville - Press Release for 'The Complete Series', archived from the original on 2014-01-13, retrieved 2014-01-13
^ "The Superman Super Site - August 25, 2011: SUPERBOY AND SUPERPUP: THE LOST VIDEOS - An interview with, and about, Chuck Harter". supermansupersite.com. Retrieved 2022-06-02.

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[1] Cronin, Brian (2011-12-02). "Comic Book Legends Revealed #343". CBR. Retrieved 2022-05-31.

[broadway-2] Scivally, Bruce (2008). "Chapter 6 - The Middle Years - Superpup and Superboy". Superman on film, television, radio, and Broadway. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0-7864-3166-3. OCLC 153579095.

[3] Robb, Brian J. (2014). A brief history of superheroes. London. ISBN 978-1-4721-1055-8. OCLC 884547217. The second was a pilot for The Adventures of Superboy, made in 1961. Johnny Rockwell played a young Clark Kent/Superboy in a light-hearted drama set in Smallville. Bunny Henning played Laura Lang. Thirteen scripts were written, but only the twenty-five-minute pilot entitled 'Rajah's Ransom' was made, and it can also be seen on YouTube.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[4] "The Men Of Steel: 50 actors who played Superman". Empire. 28 June 2016. Retrieved 2022-05-31.

[5] Smallville - Press Release for 'The Complete Series', archived from the original on 2014-01-13, retrieved 2014-01-13

[6] "The Superman Super Site - August 25, 2011: SUPERBOY AND SUPERPUP: THE LOST VIDEOS - An interview with, and about, Chuck Harter". supermansupersite.com. Retrieved 2022-06-02.

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