‘Look Up In The Sky: The Forgotten Superboy Show’ (review)

Written by Mark Edlitz

I have an entire bookcase in my personal library dedicated solely to books about television series. Many of them are quite thorough, giving all sorts of behind-the-scenes details as well as nostalgic pleasure. I’ve even co-written a couple so I think I can tell the difference between a good TV show book and a quick cash-grab.

Author Mark Edlitz has delivered a particularly good one in his new Look Up in the Sky—The Forgotten Superboy Series.

Superboy, initially produced by the Salkinds, who had been behind the Christopher Reeve Superman films, ran from 1988 to 1992.

Over the course of its run, it starred two different actors as the Boy of Steel and by its final episodes was barely recognizable as the same series it had started out as.

Originally high school students, by the final seasons, both Clark Kent and Lana Lang were working for an X-Files type organization investigating strange phenomena. Despite its relatively low budget, many creative solutions were consistently found to make the show look more expensive than it was.

The episodes were clearly set in the then-present, not the past, so this was not, as in the comics, Superman as a boy. In fact, he was hardly a boy at all. In an odd bit of trivia, the second Superboy of the series, Gerard Christopher, was older when he first started than Christopher Reeve was in 1978’s Superman!

Look Up in the Sky consists of two parts, both in this one volume. The first part is the traditional introductory section dealing with everything that led up to the series and then, one by one, with each of its individual seasons, episode by episode. Lots of trivia and quotes from people who worked on the series at every level are interspersed with plot summaries and the author’s thoughts on the episodes.

John Haymes Newton and later Gerard Christopher starred as Clark Kent/Superboy. Actress Stacy Haiduk as Lana Lang was the heart of the series. A lot of recognizable names and faces appeared in recurring roles or guest spots. These include George Chakiris, Sybil Danning, former Tarzan Ron Ely, former James Bond George Lazenby, Stuart Whitman, Britt Ekland, Michael J, Pollard (as Mr. Mxyzptlk), Gilbert Gottfried (who went on to write an issue of the tie-in comic book!), Roddy Piper, Richard Kiel, and Gregg Allman. In one season four episode, we even get the 1950s Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, Noel Neill and Jack Larson!

In between seasons two and three, the series became a lot more comic-booky, adding science-fiction elements and plots and even getting a number of actual DC writers involved. All of these changes are covered at the appropriate spot in the book. Comic book vets Cary Bates, Mike Carlin, Andy Helfer, Denny O’Neil, J.M. DeMatteis, and even Mark Evanier wrote episodes. Star Trek and Land of the Lost writer David Gerrold is in there, as well.

The series ended after 100 episodes and then we get some coverage of what happened to both Superman and Superboy in various media after that. Part two of the book then presents us with about 200 pages of endlessly interesting interviews with actors, writers, and even a makeup artist.

Then we get a couple of appendices, one a detailed episode guide with credits, the other a listing of all the issues of the Superboy comic book that came out during that period. Add to all this a whole bunch of choice black and white and color publicity stills, ads, and set photos and Look Up in the Sky—The Forgotten Superboy Series is a first class look at its subject and it comes at a time when SuperMAN is once again in the news. Best of all, the book makes certain that going forward, the Superboy series won’t be forgotten any longer.

Booksteve recommends.