Does anyone find the occurances of live action team-ups on Smallville weird?

[90'sCartoonMan]

What I mean is, is it weird that the only time we've ever seen a live action Superman team up with other heroes it's on Smallville (a show where he technically isn't even Superman?).

I understand why there wouldn't be any team-ups in movies, but what about other shows? There was nothing on Lois and Clark (because HG Wells doesn't count as another DC hero), and I'm assuming there weren't other heroes on Superboy or the George Reaves show.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there were guest-heroes on the Adam West Batman show or the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman show. I know the closest Flash got was teaming up with some guy named Nightshade...

Has it suddenly become okay to have other heroes guest-star on live action shows now or something? I mean, I'm sure fans have wanted it for years (everyone's still waiting for a live action Superman and Batman to team up), so what's the deal?

[Arrjay]

So what's the deal?

You hate freedom?

;)

[Trademark]

Superman teamed up with Batman and Robin during the Superman Radio Show.

[Rik Levins]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there were guest-heroes on the Adam West Batman show...

Batman teamed up with the Green Hornet (I believe it was a two-part episode, if I remember correctly).

Robin's fight with Kato ended in a tie, which outraged many martial-arts fans, since Kato was played by the legendary Bruce Lee, (who of course would have cleaned Burt Ward's clock had they ever tangled in real life.)

[rick]

At conventions Burt Ward tells a great story about that fight.

It seems that he had been taking Karate for a couple of years and had just started on his final tests for his black belt, and as such was feeling like something of a badass.

So when he met Lee on the set for the rehearsal before shooting, Ward jokingly told Lee that he would take it easy on him.

According to Ward, Lee smiled at him and told Ward that he appreciated it.

Then when the practice started, Lee apparently did this brief display of quick movements, not once actually touching Ward but coming within centimeters of his face, ending with a big grin on Lees face and his foot sitting gently on top of Wards nose.

[xionice]

Smallville is awesome (except for Lana) thats why! No, seriously, maybe they're just the first ones to think about? Or DC wants them building up the hype machine. Lois & Clark was more a romantic comedy than a superhero show, how much was Superman in it? 5 minutes an episode? Adventures of Superman, probably no budget to do it, or no want of doing it because of the time. Superman TAS had guest stars, but it's obviously not live action, and I never watched Superboy. And if you love the guest stars (which I do) the JUSTICE LEAGUE is coming:D

[sgt pepper]

I know you're talking DC, but Hulk teamed up with a ridiculously lame Thor on TV a few years back.

[filthysize]

I know you're talking DC, but Hulk teamed up with a ridiculously lame Thor on TV a few years back.

A black-clad Daredevil.

[filthysize]

At conventions Burt Ward tells a great story about that fight.

It seems that he had been taking Karate for a couple of years and had just started on his final tests for his black belt, and as such was feeling like something of a badass.

So when he met Lee on the set for the rehearsal before shooting, Ward jokingly told Lee that he would take it easy on him.

According to Ward, Lee smiled at him and told Ward that he appreciated it.

Then when the practice started, Lee apparently did this brief display of quick movements, not once actually touching Ward but coming within centimeters of his face, ending with a big grin on Lees face and his foot sitting gently on top of Wards nose.

That is the most awesome thing I've ever heard. Bruce Lee & Batman... is there anything better?

[90'sCartoonMan]

You hate freedom?

If "Freedom" is the name of the guy who played Aquaman on Smallville, then yes, I hate Freedom. I hate Freedom very much.

Batman teamed up with the Green Hornet (I believe it was a two-part episode, if I remember correctly).

That sounds cool, and possibly ahead of its time.

Lois & Clark was more a romantic comedy than a superhero show, how much was Superman in it? 5 minutes an episode?

Still technically 5 more minutes than Superman appears on Smallville.

Adventures of Superman, probably no budget to do it, or no want of doing it because of the time.

I doubt it takes that much more of a budget to do someone like Batman (or Wonder Woman if they were going to have her in an invisible plane, that'd be kinda funny), and you'd think that's the first person they'd consider. Was there a legal reason for Batman not to be present on any live action Superman show?

[Sean Whitmore]

Even Smallville didn't have a guest star until halfway through its fourth season. By the time Lois and Clark and Superboy got to that point, the producers likely knew those shows were goners.

Also, you gotta think of the spinoff value. Lois and Clark was a relationship show that happened to have Superman in it once in awhile. The only other super hero/couples show I could see spinning out of that is, maybe, Green Arrow and Black Canary, and even that's stretching it.

Smallville, on the other hand, follows the universal archetype of "angsty teenage outsider hero", so it's incredibly easy to bend other characters into it. Just make Flash, Aquaman, and Green Arrow angsty teens (whereas Cyborg was always an angsty teen :) ), and if enough people like them, maybe they'll get their own series.


SEAN

[malephoenix]

Robin's fight with Kato ended in a tie, which outraged many martial-arts fans, since Kato was played by the legendary Bruce Lee, (who of course would have cleaned Burt Ward's clock had they ever tangled in real life.)

Urban Legend has it (that I just made up) that Lee used to walk onto the set sometimes & walk up behind his ol' buddy Burt and would just slap him a couple times. Burt would try to counter, but then Bruce would just break an arm or knock him out, or sometimes just be alltogether gone by the time Burt whirled around to strike.

[Jeff O.]

In the seventies, there was a live-action commercial for Super-Keds sneakers (or SuperKeds). Superman is at a playground, talking to a young boy who's running and climbing while wearing his neat new pair of Super-Keds. Superman would like a pair himself, but the boy says that Super-Keds are only for kids. Superman really wants a pair, though, but the boy again says that they only come in kids' sizes. At the end, Batman shows up and admires the lad's new sneakers, too. Supes tells Bats that Super-Keds only come in kids' sizes, just as the boy had been telling Supes all along.

Unknown actors played Superman and Batman in live-action here. The first time I saw it one Saturday morning back in the day, it was maybe the coolest thing I had ever seen. I couldn't wait for the next commercial break, in hopes that it would be on again.

[Jeff O.]

When Superman turned 50, there was an authorized special on CBS, hosted by Dana Carvey. There were some clips which talked about Superman as a fictional character, but much of the show pretended as if he were a real person, with people giving testimonies about knowing him. It was largely a live-action comedy, and sometimes just an attempt at comedy. Anyway, at the end, there is a gala celebrating Superman's big night. The Flash and Green Lantern arrive on the red carpet as celebrities, and are played by actors in costume. When Superman finally shows up, however, he is an animated cartoon character, drawn like he is in the comics.

[Gernot]

In September of 1973, Superman appeared with Batman on a show most of you are too young to have seen. In the '60's and '70's, the three networks would air "previews" of their Saturday morning line-ups, and Superman and Batman appeared on ABC's preview the night before SuperFriends first aired.

Robin wasn't shown, but it was explained that he'd stayed in Gotham to help track down The Joker and Penguin.