John Haymes Newton interview - Comics Scene Magazine #6, 1989

Interview with John Haymes Newton, by Edward Gross. Comics Scene Magazine #6, 1989.

John Haymes Newton BOY OF STEEL



"I feel that with a 50-year-old dynasty behind me, I have a responsibility when I put on this costume and play this character," explains actor John Haymes Newton, better known as TV's Superboy. "Superman was one of the the helpful diversions during the Depression and World War II, and I think that everyone has had their own helpful diversions. There was Elvis in the '50s, and the Beatles during the '60s. Entertainment has always flourished during hard times, and Superman has been one of the things that have helped to carry our country. It's an American icon we're extremely proud of. That's why I would never do anything to damage the character."

Newton's flight as the Kryptonian continues. Superboy has been renewed for the remainder of the season. "Generally, I'm pleased with the first 13 shows," he says. "We're still learning some of the special effects, and so far, they haven't been the best. Most of the flying mattes and the blue screen shots are a little frustrating because we know we can do them better. We're getting more money for the next 13 and stronger writers. It's getting there, but like anything, it's a learning process, and the only way tolearn is to experience. The ratings keep going up and up. Superboy's as close to being a hit show as it can be."



Even before Superboy began production, the cast and crew were faced with two distinct concerns: continuity within the Superman universe, and Newton's approach to the dual roles of Superboy and Clark Kent.
,br> "As you know," says Newton, "Superman has been written for 51 years and there were continuity problems. Many people have come in and straightened it out and said, 'This happened, but that didn't.' We've also done a little bit of that on the show. The Superboy comics had Clark being 13 or 14 and we're doing Superboy at 19 and attending Shuster College with Lana Lang and T.J. White. Essentially, we're setting the format for how Superman got to be the way he was. This is before the Fortress of Solitutde, so I don't really understand everything, but my powers are surfacing as I need them. It's just like an infant who reacts when he touches something that's hot. If one of my super powers is needed, it surfaces and I learn how to use it to the best of my abilities. I'm also learning how to set up the differences between Clark and Superboy. I'm going away from the bumbling and nerdy side of Clark. He's more of a real guy with real feelings, and he hasn't developed the nerdy facade, which could get very boring on a long-running series. People saw that in four films, and I don't think they want to see it again."

However, that doesn't mean that the behind-the-scenes pressure to follow that version of Clark kent has lessened.

"DC started getting surveys from kids who were saying that Clark was supposed to be nerdy, because they were so used to the films, and they wanted me to play nerdy. I said, 'Well, then you're going to have to fire me, because I'm not going to do what Chris Reeve did in the films.' I just wouldn't do it because that's not Superboy, that's Chris Reeve's Superman," Newton elaborates.

"I wanted Superboy to be a real human being that people could get pulled into watching. I had to find other ways of establishing the two characters as far as my acting when approaching the part. Clark is definitely more real. He likes to have fun with his friends, he likes to goof around, but he can't really lower his guard all the way and be himself in front of them, or have a normal relationship with girls. It's important for Clark to keep one foot on the ground and one in the air, and this is to keep him separate from a society that would otherwise treat him like a circus freak."

"With Superboy, the comic's writers got ridiculous and it became super power of the week. It got to the point in the films, too, where he was invulnerable to everything. I wanted to make him more vulnerable in many ways and at the same time come up with a balance of powers he can use."

Proof of this comes from watching any number of spisodes, where the Boy of Steel struggles to lift heavy objects.

"Fifteen tons is a lot of weight, even if you're 10 times stronger than a human being," Newton notes. "To have someone pretend that they can lift it with hteir finger is, to me, spitting at the audience, and that bothered me. I went back to the Fleischer cartoons. They're the most incredible cartoons I've ever seen. I noticed that ine ver single instance, Superman would have to struggle there, and it wasn't this attitude of 'Watch this, as I lift up this train with one hand.' It was fascination to me. It was like a smaller conflict within the bigger conflict, and I felt it was very necessary."

Newton also found it necessary to follow acting as a career, beginning at age four when he started re-enacting the Apollo space missions. He landed additional "stage" work in elementary school and high school.

"I was always the class clown," he confesses. "I was always drawn to the idea of making people laugh, and the need to perform, but I didn't really think about it as a career until I was a senior in high school. Neighbors and friends kept telling me that I should move to New York and follow my dreams. I guess I was there about three years before I was signed on to do the series."

Helping Newton to "become" Superboy is his longtime interest in Eastern philosophy, as well as the martial arts. Thant and the fact that at one time he served as a bodyguard for celebrities.

"It helped a lot," Newton enthuses. " I try to implant a great deal of Eastern philosophy into the character and westernize it. Because I can't meditate on the show, I try to bring some of that peace and clam to Superboy, and that awareness of power, without alllowing the ego to enter the picture. He doesn't have that sense of power-ego, because he's learning about himself. As far as Chris Reeve was concerned, Superman was the real person and Clark Kent was the acting role. In other words, the actor was playing someone acting a part, so he was always acting. I like to feel that Clark is the real character, and Superboy is a product of the costume and what happens when someone is aware of his powers, abilities and that sense of knowledge."

While discussing his beliefs, Newton admits that he trusts in a variety of things which middle America doesn't readily accept, and he only reluctantly shares his views on these subjects, to further explain why he feels it's appropriate that he is protraying this visitor from another star. "I really should sit down and decide what I do and don't want to tell people, because most of the audiences is middle-of-the-road America, and I would hate to blow the reality for them by painting a picture of me as someone who believes in all this weird stuff that doesn't coincide with everyone else's point-of-view, so I don't want to get off on that tangent," he says sincerely. "But experiences I've had during meditation have helped me with a show, given me a sense of that character and a sense of coming from another planet or area. There are times when I really do feel out of place here though not in a bad way. Just slightly...apart."

Signed to a four-year contract, Newton reveals that after the resulting 104 episodes, he'll be hanging up his cape forever.

"One hundred and four episodes will definitely be enough," he musus, "and that's where I'll draw the line, because I'll be moving on no matter how much money they offer me. Then again, I can't say what the future holds, but now I don't intend on staying beyond that."

Considering the future of Superboy, the actor provides some tantalizing hints to what viewers will see during the balance of the first season.

"We're going to be doing a lot of science fiction," Newton promises, "which will be interesting. There have been some boring scripts compared to what we could do--for instance, there's one episode ("The Fixer") about fixing the points of a basketball game--but it's a balance."

He points to the 13th episode, "The Alien Factor," scripted by DC writer/editors Mike Carlin and Andy Helfer, as proof of changes in the air.

"An alien comes down to Earth in the form of a gas, and he has a trophy collection in his ship of all the great warriors throughout history. Now, he wants to add Superboy to that collection, so he takes the form of a samurai warrior and I have to fight it out with him. It's a very exciting episode, although I was slightly disappointed because I wanted to utilize my martial arts skills against him but DC wanted it to be more of a John Wayne-fisticuffs style of fighting. I tried to phrase it any way I could, but they were pretty adamant on what they wanted. I can't really blame them, but I hope we'll get it in a future episode. I guess they have their reasons. I think DC got a little paranoid after the Superman movies became a situation where they didn't have enough control, which I agree with. The first and second films were solid, but then they started getting weird, and I think DC has a fear of that. They're trying to protect their characters."

"The strengths of the first 13 episodes were the guest stars, the villainy and the acting," he reflects. "I don't think the actors were playing it too campy. They're playing it very real. The weaknesses were that the special FX can be improved upon, which is happening, and some of the scripts could have been better. We're getting in new writers and directors with fresher ideas, so that should be nice, too. There are many things I would like to put into the show which we don't have time to do in 22 minutes, although we're learning how to do it without making it look like we're just throwing in all of these elements. Sometimes, when your best friends are kidnapped and they're dying, and it's up to you to save their lives, you don't have time for humor or to develop another character line."

"As I said, the second [group of 13 episodes] is definitely going in more of a science-fiction direction, although the scripts haven't solidified yet. We're also hoping to get more into the character's lore, and there has been talk of using Red Kryponite, which could be really interesting. The only problem with that is that the average viewer doesn't know that there are many forms of Kryponite, so they might not believe it. In any case, we'll have to wait and see what happens. Talk is cheap, but I do know that these are going to be more powerful and stronger 13 episodes of Superboy."

Interview with Tracy Roberts (Darla), Florida Newspaper (1989).

INTERVIEW WITH TRACY ROBERTS BY A FLORIDA NEWSPAPER, 1989.

Tampa Actress is a villain on 'Superboy'

By Walt Belcher



TAMPA - When the "Superboy" episode lands on TV this weekend, a sexy female villain - played by a Tampa actress - will make trouble for the boy of steel.

Tracy Roberts, a 26 year-old professional actress who has appeared in numerous Florida-based films, will play the wicked Darla, a buxom master of disguise and sneaky sidekick to Superboy's arch enemy, Lex Luthor.

She makes her debut Sunday at 5:30 p.m. on WTOG, Channel 44, in the second installment of a two part season opener.

"It was a real challenge, but it was a lot of fun, too," says Roberts, who will be in at least five episodes of the syndicated series this season.

"Superboy" is produced at the new Universal Studios Florida near Orlando.

The half-hour action series returned for its second season last week with many changes: A new actor, Gerard Christopher, has put on the blue and red tights. He replaces John Haymes Newton, who flew off after a contract dispute. He reportedly wanted more money, and he also had off-camera troubles with numerous traffic violations.

Also missing this fall is Clark Kent's sidekick, T.J. White (Jim Calvert). Scott Wells, who played Lex Luthor last season, has been replaced by Sherman Howard.

Howard and Christopher seem to have brought a new chemistry to the series. Back as Clark kent's female friend, Lana lang, is Stacy Haiduk.

"Sherman is wonderful as Lex Luthor," Roberts said. "He's having a lot of fun being a villain. In this week's episode, he finds my character in a topless bar and recruits her to work for him."

The bar scenes were filmed at a real topless bar - Orlando's Flashdance club.

"We kidnap Lana lang, and before it's over Lana and I get into a big fight," Roberts said. "My character is not a ditz like the blonde in the 'Superman film'. They wanted to make her more cunning."



(Above) Tracy Roberts and Sherman Howard on set of "Lex Luthor, Sentenced to Death", a second season episode of Superboy.

To help Luthor execute his evil plans, Darla dresses as a priest - to help him escape an execution.

From Stripper to a priest - now there's a range you don't see every day.



(Above) Tracy Roberts and Sherman Howard on set of "Lex Luthor, Sentenced to Death". This is an authentic continuity photo used on the set.

"In another episode that we're filming soon, I'm to dress as a nun and as an Elvira-type," she said.



(Above) Authentic continuity photo of Tracy Roberts dressed as a nurse in the second season episode, "Lex Luthor, Sentenced to Death."

Roberts was born in Connecticut, but grew up in the Bay area. She attended Pinellas park High School and appeared in numerous Clearwater Community Theater productions. "I started acting as a child," she said. "At age 16, I was Dorthy in 'The Wizard of Oz', and I was hooked."

She also has done some modeling work, appearing in numerous magazines and on the covers of Tampa Bay Monthly and the best-selling book "How To Make a Man Fall in Love With You."

Roberts appeared in numerous commercials for businesses such as Maas Brothers, Vision Works, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Adventure Island.

She also had minor parts in several Florida-based productions series such as "Miami Vice," the HBO moie "Long Gone"; Ron Howard's "Cocoon"; the NBC movie "FBI Murders"; and the John Candy comedy "Summer Rental."

The 5-foot-2-inch blonde with blue eyes is the mother of a 4-year old girl, Ashley.

"I'm very excited about all the production that could be coming to Florida with Universal and Disney in Orlando and Burt Reynolds in Palm Beach," Roberts said.

Critical reaction to the new Superboy character and the new Superboy character and the new Lex Luthor has been positive, and there's a good chance that Luthor and Darla will return before the season is over.

"I'm hoping for a full contract," Roberts said. Because the film of each episode takes about one week with the cast and crew working 12- to 14-hour days, Roberts plans to move to Orlando soon.

"I think there will be enough work for me over there," she said. "I do all my own stunts, too. In fact, they offered me a job as a stunt woman."

Interview with Barry Meyers who played Bizarro on the Superboy TV series.

INTERVIEW WITH ACTOR BARRY MEYERS

(BIZARRO ON THE SUPERBOY TV SERIES)

Barry Meyers was a stage name and he currently goes by the name Douglas B. Meyers. The interview was conducted by Sam J. Rizzo of the Superboy Homepage on May 7th, 2010. The interview has been transcribed by Rennie Cowan, the webmaster of Superboy Theater.



Sam Rizzo: Can you talk a little bit about your background before you got the role of Bizarro on Superboy?

Barry Meyers: It all started from a character I started doing in 1987 called Mr. Silver. But it goes back even further, from the first time when I saw Michael Jackson do the robotic moves of the moonwalk on Soul Train, in like 1973 or 1974. So I started doing the robot then, and after I was a Cruise Director I got off the ship looking for something really fun to do. I created a robotic character then changed it into a silver robotic character. I was in Miami and I became a very famous character there, so I think it was 1989 when they were looking into the second season, and wondering what other kinds of villains and nemesis could we bring into Superboy.



Barry (Douglas) Meyers as Mr. Silver.

Sam Rizzo: How long did it take you to get into make-up each day?

Barry Meyers: Make-up was about 2 and 1/2 hours, and just to put it on by Rob Burman. As a matter of fact, Rob Burman’s brother just won the Oscar for Star Trek, which Rob and his brother both worked on. His brother of course got all the credit.

Sam Rizzo: Star Trek was just unbelievable. The make-up that Rob did was fantastic, him and his brother.

Barry Meyers: They do good stuff; Oscar winning stuff. But it took about an hour and ½ just to get all the make-up off. The face was where the prosthetics were. There were six pieces of prosthetics on the face. The neck and the hands were a latex make-up that had rubberized stuff put in it so that it would flex with my hand.

Sam Rizzo: Did they put latex gloves on you, or were they just painted?

Barry Meyers: Latex paint is what they did.

Sam Rizzo: I see. You said it was six pieces, the mask. Did it get hot in the mask, or just hot in the suit?

Barry Meyers: You don’t get hot in the face because the mask is geared to your face. When you are wearing a Halloween mask, there is a gap between your skin and the mask. That’s where you get heat. So when you put the mask on it’s like your skin almost. So you would certainly sweat but not like you think you would, not like with a regular mask; not at all. The suit was more hot and I had to wear the cape and the cape was uncomfortable. So the suit was much hotter. And being in Florida and shooting in Orlando was much hotter outside.



Bizarro in full make-up.

Sam Rizzo: What was it like working with Gerard Christopher, Sherman Howard, Stacy Haiduk; well working on the set? Barry Meyers: Stacy was a blast…well everybody was great, as far as how it was to work with them. Sherman was kind of a big character actor at the time, so he hung out by himself a lot. But Stacy, I and Gerard, we used to go out and have dinners and we hung out once and awhile. Stacy was a fun, crazy girl and Gerard was a very dedicated writer, actor and producer. Sam Rizzo: Yes, he did write a couple of episodes. He was very committed to that role. Barry Meyers: Absolutely. He still would be a big part of it I guess (laughs)…. Sam Rizzo: Looking back, you were on there for three seasons. You did eight episodes. Looking back, what was your favorite scenes; or scene from a particular episode that you did? Barry Meyers: One of my favorite scenes was -- and I couldn’t tell you about the name of the episodes. I mean as an actor, we just do the part and then move on. So it’s you the fans that remember more than we do. But as we were talking about it the other day, when I was on top of that roof talking to Superboy and at the very end…I was watching a clip of it the other day that someone put up there, I think it was Rennie, and at the very end I go (GROWLS like Bizarro) “LUTHOR!” and I remember very distinctly in my heart and in my soul -- my whole body just went out, when I screamed into the night air that I wanted to go get Luthor (growls lower this time) “LUTHOR…” and that was a very cool moment.



Bizarro on wires with Kryptonite props.

Sam Rizzo: Like the “To Be Human” episode where you got to act out of the make-up. Did you feel better out of make-up, or did you want to be in make-up?

Barry Meyers: Well, you know what that is a very good question because when you are in make-up you can become the character and I remember especially towards the third season when Rob would be doing my make-up for two and ½ hours and I would have to be there at like 4:30 am 5:00 am in the morning so that we were ready and on time at 7:30 am to 8:00 am to shoot -- I’d fall asleep sometimes because I was just so used to it and I’d wake up as Bizarro. I’d wake up, look in the mirror and (growls like Bizarro) and I would feel it. It was crazy. But out of the make-up there was a difference because now all of a sudden I was Barry with black hair. It was fun trying to be a different character and to be somebody different and that was a question I put up today, or this morning, “What other characters did I play?”

Sam Rizzo: You were Caliban in the season 3 episode when they brought back IIan Mitchell-Smith.

Barry Meyers: That’s right.



Young Barry (Douglas) Meyers without a mask on.

Sam Rizzo: Did it take longer getting into make-up for Caliban than Bizarro I mean because you had all of these prosthetics. You had the garb, the robe you wore, and everything…you had the teeth. Did it take longer to get into that character than Bizarro?

Barry Meyers: I’m going to say no. Probably not; just because…well I mean, I’m not really sure. I want to say maybe two hours. It was close. Because actually after the prosthetics was on Rob had to go in and paint and do the details, you know the painting, the scars and the acid marks that were in the face. The teeth just popped on. They just went in within half a second, right over my teeth. And the garb was almost easier to get on because it was just a suit. As Bizarro I had a Dresser every day dressing me every day with the Superboy suit.

Sam Rizzo: Looking back do you wish the writers did anything different with Bizarro or is that how you wanted to portray him?

Barry Meyers: I guess I didn’t know any different, but the difference between Bizarro in the comic books and the Bizarro in the TV show was that the Bizarro comic books were from the fourth dimension. So that is where he got his angular face and body, and Bizarro world was like that too. It was a square world not round. In the TV show Bizarro was actually an imperfect duplicate of Superboy. So you know when somebody says ‘why isn’t the “S” backwards?’ it wasn’t the Bizarro from the comic books, it was the Bizarro that they created for the show. They just went with a loose adaptation, so some of this stuff people thought he was going to talk backwards. I mean I was noticing the other day when I was watching the first episode when I come and the little boy – or a guy and a girl come out of a dress shop right before I kick the cop car in. Oh, my other favorite part is when, right after that was coming through those double doors at the furniture store. When I had to smash through that and then turn over a cop car. Killer! All that kind of stuff was absolutely fun as hell. And all the stunts I did. I probably did about 95% of all my own stunts. I mean all of that kind of stuff was fun, being up there kicking Gerard’s ass was always kind of fun (growls like Bizarro).



Barry (Douglas) Meyers done up as an Ice Man (a paid gig).

So it was fun being the villain; being the nemesis. But Bizarro is not the backward guy. I guess physically how we kind of described it was that he had a scrambled brain. That’s what it was. It wasn’t the backwards kind of Bizarro; the one we knew from the comic strips. And so when he was talking and that couple comes out I say, “hmm, neat dress. That am nice. Me like.” The Bizarro from the comic books would have actually said that in the opposite. So there were moments like that. But I mean you know when you are dealing with kids that were anywhere between 6 to 12 years old, which was kind of the target market, they’re more likely not to catch that.

Sam Rizzo: Yeah, they’re not going to get it. They are going to think straight. Play it as straight as you can.

Barry Meyers: Right. And they wouldn’t understand it. They would get confused.

Sam Rizzo: Have you kept up with any of the recent incarnations of Superman, like Superman Returns, Smallville…have you seen any of the newer stuff?

Barry Meyers: I don’t watch Smallville. I maybe watched one episode. And I saw the last movie, which was cool. I always thought they should, and they talked about it at one time, but I think they should bring Bizarro back for, you know, a movie.

Sam Rizzo: And that’s what a lot of the fans are griping about, is that Superman really hasn’t had another nemesis other than Lex Luthor. It would be perfect to see somebody on Superman’s level that you could fight, or you know, even on the Superboy series, have a brother, which would be really interesting.

Barry Meyers: And as a matter fact, I was in eight episodes but there is more because I was in all the flashbacks. My likeness has been in 13 episodes, either Bizarro or Caliban. Caliban also reappeared in another episode in a flashback, which is important for us because we get paid for every episode that we are in.



Gerard Christopher gave the Webmaster this authentic autograph B&W photo signed by himself and Barry Meyers.

Sam Rizzo: Exactly. I think you were in one of the episodes, towards the end, where there is a flashback and Lana is trying to figure out who Superboy is. I’ll tell you Douglas, it has really been 20 years since the Superboy series ran and it’s tough that it’s sitting in a vault somewhere and nobody is seeing it; other than the first season that came out. My next question is how do you feel about the fans’ efforts to try to get Warner Brothers to release the last three seasons?

Barry Meyers: I think they should, I mean it’s…this is the kind of show that also told a story and kids and fans would enjoy watching it again. This show doesn’t have a time. It doesn’t have a time element so it’s good for anytime and this show was a little campy, so I think it is good for a laugh. I think we could all use a show that has a point, a message and can help you laugh a little bit at some of the stuff. As parents now, I mean some of you guys might be, or just as adults you look back on it and think “Oh my God I actually laughed and thought that was funny.” And you go, yeah it was, because back then when I was six and eight years old it was funny. So yeah I think it would be an awesome thing if they brought it back and let the Superman saga continue.

Sam Rizzo: A lot of people look at the Superboy series as kind of the forgotten series because of everything that has been going on within the last twenty years. You know, like legal liens against the series. It being buried at Warner Brothers because nobody wants to touch it because it’s a Salkind production, you know, it’s just kind of disconcerting to the fans that it is just kind of sitting there.

Barry Meyers: Well maybe a petition to Warner Brothers would be a hand.

Sam Rizzo: We’ve started it, the Superboy Homepage has started it, and slowly we are getting people to sign it. The fans are working on it.

Barry Meyers: Well in the last few days I probably have more fans on my Barry Meyers fan page than I do than on my Douglas Facebook page. In just three or four days which is great.

Sam Rizzo: So looking back on the series what do you think the Superboy series legacy should be, or you want it to be in the future. If and when the Superboy series is released on DVD; I mean, would you be up to doing featurettes, you know, like behind-the-scenes stuff?

Barry Meyers: Oh sure, I mean I’m behind it 100%. I mean as an actor it was the show that gave me my Screen Actor Guild card and it gave me the opportunity to do everything else after that. So I’m 100% behind it. It was fun. It was great. The fans have been wonderful. I mean I’d love to do appearances. I’d love to bring Bizarro back to one of the conventions. If they brought it back out let’s do a six city tour with Gerard and Bizarro and Stacy, you know. What the hell.

Sam Rizzo: It would be cool just to get it back out there. That’s what we’re trying to do. There is a handful of people who remember and love the series and speaking as one of those fans you know I grew up with it that’s what got me hooked on the Superman mythology was the Superboy series. And like I told you, it’s just sitting somewhere and collecting dust. It’s ridiculous.

Barry Meyers: Right. I mean they put the money out there to produce the show and it’s a good show. I mean most of anything else is out there. Put it on Nick at Night, or Nick in the Morning, or you know, something. But put it back out there for the fans to see. I think they would be surprised as hell if they put it out and let it run for a little while. That’s how it would get picked up again.

Sam Rizzo: Well talking about the costume. Did you get to keep any of your – I mean like the mask or the boots, your costume at all; your Bizarro costume?

Barry Meyers: I had a pair of boots that were going to be thrown away because they were kind of trashed. They were the stunt boots. They just let me have them, so I said what the heck. So they gave me those. Which I actually kind of fixed up because I grew up in the shoe repair industry with my family believe or not, but I fixed them up and donated them to the Superman museum. I have a mask. I mean, every day was six new pieces. So every day we threw a mask away. Because it wasn’t – they are not good afterwards; and those kind of foam latex things they break down. Mine is in really sad shape. I think Rob has one in his home museum and it’s covered with glass and sealed so the air doesn’t get to it as bad. But yeah, I have scripts. And they actually gave us, I found not too long ago; I have, and I’m probably one of the few who still have it but it’s a Superboy gold medallion that goes on a chain. And they made those just for us.

Sam Rizzo: Oh wow….

Barry Meyers: Yeah I still have that. I have a T-shirt that was the Superboy T-shirt that came out. And I had most of the entire Cast and Crew sign it; so I have all of those signatures from everybody which is awesome. I look at it periodically. And what else do I have? Well that’s about it. I have scripts. Oh yeah and I have my Superboy and Bizarro comic books.

Sam Rizzo: Oh yeah, like you were telling me you signed it yourself. That was great (laughs).

Barry Meyers: I signed it myself (laughs). Bizarro signed them to Barry.

Sam Rizzo: Do you mind if I could ask you what are doing since the Superboy series? I know you are out of the acting business, but what have you done since?

Barry Meyers: Well from before 1987 up to just three years ago, for 21 years I have been Mr. Silver the Robotic Performer. And for the last three years I now do virtual tours and digital photography and I do video commercials for the internet and stuff. So I’m still in the business of media we’ll say. I’m still in the media business. But actually I just did two episodes of “One Tree Hill” this past year; when I got here. It’s not that I quit show business it’s just that it took a back seat for a little while because after twelve years in Los Angeles, we were actually trying to produce my own kids’ TV series called “Discovery Headquarters”. It’s a non-violent adventure show for kids. We showed it to ABC Family and we even showed it to LeVar Burton who played Geordi La Forge on Star Trek for his “Reading Rainbow”. He came and saw our pitch of our show and said, “This is the next Pee Wee’s Playhouse.” So, I mean, it’s an awesome show. And that was my goal at Los Angeles to do and a year and half before I left everything just went downhill with it.



Barry (Douglas) Meyers today.

I had two meetings with Nickelodeon. And the first meeting, two weeks before the meeting they flew out of New York the CEO quit. And then a year later, I got another meeting and a week before the meeting, the CEO got fired. So it was almost like, alright, that’s enough. And since 911 Mr. Silver took a back seat in the corporate world because nobody was doing corporate business. So in LA everything is business; it was just so hard to get stuff done and do stuff, you know, which was one reason why I moved out of LA three years ago. But now I live in Hollywood East which is Wilmington. Wilmington North Carolina. It has the second largest studio in the country here. “One Tree Hill” is done here; they got two Pilot shows that are coming up so my dream of doing my kids show is not over, it’s just where do I go from here? As a matter of fact, here they also have a TV show that I’ve started doing real estate for ABC.

Sam Rizzo: It sounds like you got a lot on your plate, wow….

Barry Meyers: Yeah I do. And I have three Patens too, so I have products that I try to get out there in the world.

Sam Rizzo: That’s great. That’s great, Douglas.

Barry Meyers: And I would love to do a little bit more Bizarro. It’s been such a wonderful thing. You’ll ask yourself, or I ask myself…it’s really funny now living here in Wilmington and people are meeting me here and saying, “what are you doing here? You’re a semi-star.” Well, actually, as Mr. Silver I was the gold Oscar at the Oscars. I was a live Gold Oscar. I’ve co-hosted the LA music awards two years in a row as Mr. Silver. I opened at the Olympics, and that’s 15 nights of openings for concerts at the 1996 Olympics. I opened for Sheryl Crowe, LL Cool J, Morris Day and The Time, Chicago…I’ve been the logo for seven companies worldwide.

I’ve performed everywhere from Dubai to every South American country. To Hawaii for McDonalds; I’ve been all over the world. My passports are filled up. So it’s interesting to be here and be back in, I guess, the real side of life. It’s funny that you say to yourself, somebody like Corey Haim -- how do you feel when you become an everyday person? And you’re no longer acting and stuff like that. It’s an interesting turn around. I mean I’ve been performing since I was 15. I’m 50 years old now. When Gerard and I did that we were playing 19 year olds, sort of, or especially he was. And we were both 30 (laughs). And so now I sit back and watch some of these clips that are on youtube and some of your websites and stuff, and Rennie; and now people are calling me. It’s like going, sweet, I’m not forgotten. I’m not just some dust in the wind. The stuff that I did made a difference.

Sam Rizzo: Well like I told you Douglas, your portrayal of Bizarro is the only live action out there. In the last twenty years, there’s never really been another Bizarro. Well, they’ve done Bizarro on “Smallville” but it’s Tom Welling. But really your portrayal has been the closest to the comic books.

Barry Meyers: Oh, I never saw that one. Well I don’t watch “Smallville”.

Sam Rizzo: Yeah, they did it like three seasons ago and all they did was put on a CGI mask; like they CGI masked his movements so that when he was in the light he was Bizarro. But really it wasn’t Bizarro in my book.

Barry Meyers: Right. Well if you ever can, or you will if you can find a clip of that or something or just tell me what episode and how I can get it I’d love just to see that. Just for the hell of it.

Sam Rizzo: Oh sure, definitely.

Barry Meyers: So far I’ve been the only Bizarro (laughs).

Sam Rizzo: Oh yeah I’m shocked that no filmmaker has thought, you know, to put Bizarro as a villain. Or even as a minor villain. It’s just ridiculous.

Barry Meyers: It’s funny though too they have referred to Bizarro on many TV shows. Everything from “Seinfeld” to “Saturday Night Live” to “Frasier”, you know, a lot of shows have even referred to “oh that Bizarro” kind of stuff. That is kind of funny. But you know if I didn’t have that kind of luck I would have no luck at all. I don’t know; what the hell.

Sam Rizzo: Like I told you Douglas, the Superboy series for me and I know for a lot of other people, really got me into the Superman character. You’re portrayal of Bizarro was spot-on. And you know, we are going to try everything we can to get the rest of it out.

Barry Meyers: I’m behind you 100%. It was funny when you asked me about that the other day and I saw Ilya’s page. And actually just today he agreed to let me be a friend on his Facebook. That was sweet. But I remember the first day. We started shooting on Monday and I had to be there Sunday and in Orlando and so I asked…it was Sunday…I had no idea what was going on. I got there in the afternoon and then they brought me over into the studio and said, “you know your script but Ilya wants to see how you are going to portray it." And man I was almost 30 -- well I would actually turn 30 the last day of our shoot (laughs) in my first season. And I had to go into Ilya’s office and do different voices for him, show him how I was going to walk and how I saw the character. That was a big boy moment.

Sam Rizzo: The voice for Bizarro; was that done on the spot or did they go back and you dub your voice?

Barry Meyers: On the spot. But what they did do – they actually won, I’m not very sure; most of the voice was really me. But they won an award for tweaking my voice. But all they did was tweak it afterwards. (Barry speaks like Bizarro) “Me am Bizarro. That am my name.” So that was all. That was the way I did it. They just went in and tweaked it a little bit.

Sam Rizzo: Just in post production, they just went back and…I see.

Barry Meyers: I guess the people who were saying how cool the voice was didn’t realize that 90% of that voice and its’ inflections and everything was me. I mean when I heard they had won an award for it I went, “Well great. For what?” (laughs) I didn’t understand what they won the award for. But ok, that’s cool. I’m not going to argue with success.

Sam Rizzo: Well that’s all the questions I have for you Douglas. It’s been awesome to talk to Bizarro. Like I told you; your episode was the first episode I ever saw. I was like 6 or 7 when I first saw it and it got me hooked on Superman. Well, the Superboy character.

Barry Meyers: I’m glad somebody enjoyed my work and what I’ve done and I continue to support the show. And the fans, and I would be happy to be a part of whatever can be created out of this.

Sam Rizzo: Yeah I mean, if we do conventions…maybe even a Superboy reunion at a convention. Who knows?

Barry Meyers: I know Gerard would do it. He’s happy to, he’s all about his fans.

Sam Rizzo: He told me, at least I have one or two fans out there (laughs) -- that’s what he said. And I go, “I think you have more than that.”

Barry Meyers: I think so.

Sam Rizzo: But thank you Douglas so much, I appreciate you doing this interview for the Superboy Homepage. If there is anything you want me to plug on the site I would be more than happy to, you know, put it up there for you.

Barry Meyers: Well I mean right now I don’t have much of anything to promote. Yeah but I mean maybe within the next two weeks maybe I’ll shoot you off some stuff. I’ll even give you my password to go into my website and tweak my Mr. Silver thing that would be cool. Make it look like Mr. Silver and Bizarro together. It’s actually funny, we actually thought about doing that. I’ll never forget the time Rob and I were sitting there talking about make-up and the Superboy series and horror kind of crap one night and the next thing I know I said, “You know what, they should bring on Mr. Silver to be a nemesis." Then I said, "I could become liquefied and that kind of good stuff. And it would be very hard for him to beat the liquid silver dude." And I swear to God, three months later or more, I don’t exactly remember, Terminator 2 was announced.

Sam Rizzo: Yep. Yep.

Barry Meyers: And I went, no way….

Sam Rizzo: Damn, they stole my idea (laughs).

Barry Meyers: And if I had been living in Los Angeles at the time, I could have at least guaranteed you that I would have been up for the part. They got Patrick…I forgot his last name. The guy who played him; and he’s a good actor. But I can guarantee I would have at least been called for it, and at least talked about. And another thing about Mr. Silver is that I own the rights to being silver. I mean I trademarked myself in like 1989 as Mr. Silver and I have won lawsuits from 7up, Fox TV, you can’t do a silver dude on TV unless you get permission or I’m the person. I’ve taken the character I have created and made him secure. Whereas the Superboy/Bizarro is just like you said up in an attic or in a vault somewhere.

Sam Rizzo: It’s all up to Warner Brothers because WB owns the distribution rights. They put that first season out back in 2006 and they didn’t do any promotion for it whatsoever. They just figured it would sell on its own. Besides my site and Ilya Salkind, you know, just trying to promote that first season it really didn’t do much. And since then Warner Brothers has just said you know “we’re not going to do anything – we haven’t made any money off the first season, so why should we put out the last three years?”

Barry Meyers: And I’ll tell you one damn good reason why is because nobody knows and nobody cares about the first season. Duh… That was Ilya’s first whole problem about wanting to bring this back out into syndication was he only wanted to bring out the last three seasons, not the first season. Because of John…did you know why he got fired?

Sam Rizzo: Yeah, he had a DUI and he wanted a raise.

Barry Meyers: Oh, did Ilya tell you that?

Sam Rizzo: I kind of put two and two together. But I heard from John himself. He said, “I kinda asked for a little more money, they didn’t want to do it. So I said forget it, I’m not coming back.”

Barry Meyers: What’s he doing now?

Sam Rizzo: He’s still acting, actually. He did a movie called “Yesterday was a Lie” with Chase Masterson from the Star Trek TV show, I think “Deep Space Nine”. And he was pretty good in it. He was really good.

Barry Meyers: I don’t think I ever saw one episode of that season.

Sam Rizzo: Oh really (laughs)….

Barry Meyers: Yeah.

Sam Rizzo: That first season you can really tell was the testing ground. And toward the end of that season, they got the wheels going. And in season 2 they just hit the ground running. That’s how I look at season 2 is that they found their tone, you know, and with season 3 and 4 it got really dark; the stories just got so rich, almost like a comic book coming to life. And it was just fantastic the last two years and then for them to just end the way they did with setting Gerard up to be Superman and not being able to come full circle and end it the right way, it was just devastating. But it was all Warner Brothers smashing Superboy to start “Lois and Clark”.

Barry Meyers: Right. Right…. Well I mean if they are willing to look at it for what it is, the second, third and fourth seasons are the ones to put out, not the first season. So if you guys are doing any diligent work, well, I know you are, we should be explaining to them that what everyone is interested in is seasons 2, 3 and 4. That’s where the characters were; that’s where the life was of the show. That’s where the blood was.

Sam Rizzo: We’re trying, Douglas, we’re trying whatever we can. I mean I’ve talked to Ilya, I’ve talked to Gerard, and their behind us 100%.

Barry Meyers: You got 300% between the 3 of us.

Sam Rizzo: Exactly. We just got to get Stacy now. But I’m sure she knows what's going on. Just recently she was at one of her soap opera conventions and she did a shout out to all the Superboy fans. She said, “Thank you guys for sticking in and supporting me for the last 20 years, it’s been great.”

Barry Meyers: She shot me off a little email. I got to get back to her, call her and see how she’s been doing for the past 20 years.

Sam Rizzo: Very nice; very nice…. Well, thank you so much Douglas, I appreciate it. It’s been a blast, to meet you, to meet Ilya, to meet Gerard…it’s been a blast. Thank you so much.

Barry Meyers: My pleasure. You have a good one, talk to you later Sam.

Sam Rizzo: You too.

Interview with IIan Mitchell-Smith - PEOPLE magazine, December 4th, 2000.

PEOPLE magazine, December 4th, 2000. By Julie K.L Dam



Weird Science Graduate Ilan Mitchell-Smith Takes Up Studying the Medieval Era.

For Ilan Mitchell-Smith, the best part about his fantasy and medieval role-playing pursuits may well be wearing a helmet. Without the face cover, Mitchell-Smith, a Ph.D. student in medieval English literature at Texas A&M University, still gets recognized as Wyatt, the nerdy, squeaky-voiced teen who in the 1985 hit movie Weird Science creates the perfect woman on his computer. "My first instinct is to deny it," says Mitchell-Smith, 31. "People say, 'You look like that guy, and you sound like him too,' and I always say, 'Yeah, everybody tells me that.' "

These days he'd much rather be known as the future Prof. Ilan Mitchell-Smith. While teaching English classes and preparing to write his dissertation on chivalry, Mitchell-Smith leaves his unlikely history in acting largely unrevealed. His friends are often the last to know. "Other people suspected," says his pal Rebecca Stout, 27, a fellow graduate student. "He finally admitted it, and I said, 'No, you're not!' "

Even when he was onscreen regularly, Mitchell-Smith could hardly believe it either. Once, Kelly LeBrock, Weird Science's dream woman, invited him to a big party. As he was leaving, he marvels, LeBrock "grabbed me by the lapel and laid a huge, warm, movie-style kiss on me" before speeding off in her limo.

That proved to be his most memorable brush with the Hollywood high life, which in any case was never his dream. Growing up in Amherst, Mass. (where his parents, who divorced in 1970, shared custody of him and his sister), he trained to be a dancer. When he was discovered at ballet school at age 11 by a casting agent for the film Daniel, he couldn't turn down the chance to make money. Most of the earnings from his six movies went to pay for his schooling and career-related expenses. (His mother, Clary Mitchell-Smith, is a psychotherapist now living in Hawaii; his dad, Larry Smith, 63, teaches art history at a Massachusetts community college; and his sister Natania, 33, is an artist in England.)

At 15, Mitchell-Smith snagged the Weird Science role, his biggest. "I kind of laughed my way through the audition, and somehow I got it," he says. "It's probably just because I looked geeky." Though he shared the screen with future stars Anthony Michael Hall, Bill Paxton and Robert Downey Jr., he still stood out. "All the other boys on the set were extremely wild and carefree and crazy," says Judie Aronson, who played Wyatt's girlfriend. "Ilan was very well-bred, well-mannered."

After finishing a decade in acting with two seasons of Superboy, a kids' TV series, he decided to quit. "The feeling I had," he says, "was I don't like this very much; it's getting in the way of what I really want to do, which is to be in academia." And specifically, studying the medieval era, which had always fascinated him. "From my first memory of looking at a little mounted knight by my dad's bed," he says, "I thought, 'That's it, that's the thing that I love.' "

Armed with a high school equivalency degree he earned at 17, Mitchell-Smith enrolled at Santa Monica Junior College, where he met Susannah Demaree. She didn't find out that he had been an actor until after they started dating, when she told a mutual friend that one of her favorite movies was 1988's The Chocolate War, in which he had starred. "He laughed and he laughed," she says. "It all came together then." They wed in 1995.
,br> After earning a B.A. in medieval studies from the University of California at Davis and an M.A. from New York City's Fordham University, Mitchell-Smith moved to Texas in 1998 to pursue his Ph.D. while Demaree, 34, a former special education assistant instructor, cares for their 19-month-old daughter Eloise and 2-month-old son Asher at their rented home near campus. Though Mitchell-Smith made more money acting than he does now, he doesn't regret leaving Hollywood for a different kind of fantasy. "Choosing to do something I love, even if it's about knights and chivalry, is a valid choice," he says. "I'm happy doing what I'm doing."

SUPERBOY ARTICLE BY TEEN THROBS MAGAZINE, 1989.

Entertainment Weekly blurb about Gerard Christopher as a writer - 1991

Entertainment Weekly article by Ken Tucker, April 26th, 1991.

CAN SUPERBOY BEAT THE DEVIL?



Gerard Christopher adds scriptwriting to his resumé -- Superboy enters the realm of monks, Satan, terrorist attacks, and Armageddon.

Things are getting heavy over at The Adventures of Superboy. These amusing tales of Superman when he was a hunky teenager have proven a syndication success story; now in its third season, the show stars Gerard Christopher, who this week has flexed his creative muscles by writing the script. It's a mind-blowing doozy: Superboy meets an advocate for the homeless (Robert Miano) and agrees to sign his petition, which includes the assertion that ''all homeless people have the right to food, shelter, and legal assistance'' (hmmm — The Adventures of Supersocialist?). But it's a dastardly hoax: The advocate is actually an evil medieval monk whose soul is owned by Satan, and he has tricked Superboy into signing a contract with the Devil — the same one, the villain remarks, that ''Hitler, Lee Harvey Oswald, and John Wilkes Booth...all signed'' (though presumably not in that order). Superboy is bound by this contract to plant a bomb in the hotel room of the unnamed Soviet president visiting the U.S. The idea is that, when the Soviet leader is assassinated, ''it'll be Armageddon'' and ''it will all be over'' — ''it'' being the world, if not the series run of Superboy. I don't even have room to tell you about the psychic who works as a roofer or Superboy's meeting with the unnamed American President, who's a JFK look-alike.

Satan? Armageddon? Roofers? Remember when the worst thing Superboy had to worry about was kryptonite?

SUPERBOY ARTICLE IN TEEN BEAT MAGAZINE, 1989.

21-Year Old Gerard Christopher (Jerry Dinome) stops a Jewel Thief in New York (1980) according to one article.

Sarasota Herald Tribune, August 8th, 1980.

GERARD CHRISTOPHER - AN AMERICAN HERO BEFORE SUPERBOY!



NEW YORK (AP) - The bravery of young actor who stopped a thief from stealing a woman's gold necklace was recognized Thursday as he was honored by the New York Visitor's Bureau.

But Jerry DiNome, 21, of Manhattan, says what he did last Monday was simply his "obligation, not a heroic feat."

DiNome, who scheduled to debut in the soap opera "One Life to Live" when the actor's strike ends, was presented with a $200 savings bond, a pictorial book about New York and a "Big Apple" lapel pin for what city officials called his "bravery and civic responsibility."

Preston Robert Tisch, chairman of the New York Convention & Visitors Bureau, said DiNome was "the epitome of the Big Apple spirit." DiNome, the ninth of twelve children, was more modest.

"It was an automoble response," he said. "I knew a crime was occuring and my instincts said just to get him."
,br> DiNome was passing the Rosevelt Hotel on Madison Avenue during rush hour when he saw a man snatch a gold chain from a woman. DiNome chased the thief, tackled him and returned the necklace.

Below is an alternate article:

John Newton Saves!

Faster than a speeding bullet, TV’s Superboy fearlessly cornered a real-life mugger in New York City and quickly recovered the victim’s $100.

Actor John Haymes Newton wasn’t wearing his character’s cape, but he didn’t hesitate when he saw a man grab the money Barry’s [real identity of the Victim kept secret] pocket on a busy Manhattan street. He took off and chased the fleeing mugger on foot.

Newton, who starred in Levi’s jeans commercials before he was chosen to play the Boy of Steel in a new syndicated series, is a muscular six foot former bodyguard for such celebrities as Equalizer Edward Woodward and actress Melanie Griffith. The Victim [name kept secret] and an executive director of a medical research firm in Atlanta, Georgia, didn’t even realize he was being mugged before Newton was in hot pursuit of the assailant.

The Victim told the GLOBE: “I was waiting to cross the street when somebody clipped me behind the knees. I thought it was an old New York buddy playing a trick.” The mugger grabbed $100 from his pocket and ran.

“I was on my knees and I turned and saw this young guy with a knapsack, running after the mugger, so I joined in,” he explains.

“It seemed like we ran for miles, but this young man had powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. He was stronger than a locomotive.”

“Finally I turned a corner and the guy with the knapsack was standing in front of a construction site. He said: “I got him cornered in a building.”

“The frightened mugger emerged and returned the money before he dashed off and disappeared into a crowd of curious onlookers. I guess he’d gotten his wind back,” the Victim says. “No cops were around, and couldn’t just hold him.”

Then the young hero revealed his identity. “I play Superboy on television.” He confessed. The Victim, who had watched one episode on television with his six-year –old daughter, was dubious until he noticed the telltale curl of black hair in the middle of Newton’s forehead.



That’s what gave it away and made me think it was really him,” the Victim says. “He was very shy; very unimposing. In fact he was just like you’d think the young Clark would be. I was completely taken aback by his quiet personal charm. He wouldn’t even accept a cup of coffee as a thank you.”

- VALARIE JONES

Rob Burman - Special FX Make-Up Artist on Superboy the TV Series.

Article by Rennie Cowan

The Superboy TV Series had a great special effects make-up/animatronics artist on the series, and his name is Rob Burman. Even if you have never heard of him before, more than likely you have seen his handy work either on TV or Film. He has done work on some classic horror movies such as "The Fly" and "The Thing". His special FX make-up department finally achieved an Academy award in 2009 for their work on the latest "Star Trek" incarnation, which was, according to Burman, the franchise's first Academy Award! Most of the monster work and make-up you see in the Superboy series (if not all of the best of it) was done by Burman. He did not work on season one, but jumped in for the ride on seasons 2, 3 and 4.



Above, Rob Burman at Mono Lake doing FX make-up for a commercial of C3PO's cereal (1983).

The Bizarro white face six piece mask was done by the hands of Rob Burman on Superboy the TV Series. In fact, by season 3 Burman was doing some pretty incredible make-up FX and animatronics work. He did the werewolf animatronics FX and make-up for the third season episode "Werewolf" (which fit in nicely with the Film Noir feeling of the 3rd and 4th seasons), and it was very much in tune with the classic Universal Monsters that we would see in any Universal monster film. He even did a homage to the classic movie he had worked on years earlier: "The Fly".

In the episode "Special Effects", this began with conversations that Burman had with the writers. Burman stated: "Since my family is involved in monster-making and things of that nature, it gave them conceptual ideas. The next season was when they came to me with the script." And we all know this season is season 3; in "Special Effects" we see a female-like Fly character who is actually Stacy Haiduk's stunt double. And so it is no coincidence that the remaining three seasons of Superboy were shot on the Universal lot in Florida. The "Werewolf" episode was shot back to back with "Neila and the Beast". Concerning this, Rob Burman stated: "We managed to do both of the werewolves and the bigfoot alien in about 3 weeks. Small crews, long hours."



Bizzaro (left) and a photo of a flying Bizarro that Burman took with his camera during a Superboy shoot (by use of a fog-lens), which he stated made the wires look like they weren't there.

As if building the monsters weren't enough, Burman was able to get his SAG card when he played the character of the beast Ajax in the third season episode "Special Effects". The costume was of Burman's own design; a full body suit with an RC overhead (an animatronic head). No make-up necessary! But the only difference, he got to wear it and play the part because he designed it to fit only his body. He said, "One of the perks of having a monster suit that fits only you...". Rob also had a funny story to tell about the Ajax episode ("Special Effects"). I mentioned to him that Ajax was just as strong as Superboy and Superboy had a hard time getting him down. Rob thought otherwise as there were some delicate pieces inside of the Ajax costume. Gerard was advised to aim for the body rather than the head. Rob goes on to explain: "During the fight with Superboy, I told Gerard that the animatronic head was held in place with a fiberglass helmet that sat right over my nose. I told him, "Please don't hit the head in the fight - it is very delicate and it could break - especially my nose." So, "Take one: Action!" Gerard comes out and the first punch lands square on the chin of the animatronic. Pain instantly shoots through my face, my eyes tear up and I can't see. I stop and hold up my hands waving "time out!" We reset to do it again. Take two "Bam!" right in my face again - so I wasn't so invincible."



Above, Rob Burman enjoys his cameo as Ajax on The Adventures of Superboy season 3 episode "Special Effects" (Gerard Christopher is on the left).

Rob Burman chatted on facebook about his monster-costume wearing experience on the Superboy TV series: "It isn't all that often that a guy gets to have a fight with Superboy." Indeed, Ajax got to fight Superboy. Sadly, he didn't win the fight. In fact, he died in that episode but Ajax was almost as strong as Superboy. The suit must have been hot but Burman didn't seem to care. He adds with: "Three days of sweating is nothing when you get a SAG card out of it."

You can watch the episode "Special Effects" on youtube (just click these links, Part 1 and 2). Only by watching this particular episode can you truly appreciate Burman's work on the Superboy TV Series. The costumes themselves look very expensive, especially Ajax. However, according to Rob Burman the Ajax costume was used in a different film entirely and only re-worked for the "Special Effects" episode: "If you ask the Producers, the work was expensive. If you ask us Artists, we say it was done on a shoestring budget. I was luckly enough to have made the suit (Ajax) initially for another film. I had to do was re-make it from the molds. Managed to get it done in a few weeks. At the same time, we had to make the other characters which turned out to be the Caliban make-up, the snake-man mask and "The Fly" homage mask."



Between scenes, Gerard Christopher takes a break with the Werewolf.

Burman also goes on to explain his work as a whole on the Superboy TV series: "I did quite a few episodes over the last three seasons. A sickly, diseased guy in an episode with Phillip Michael Thomas; a radiation mutant living in a swamp; a couple of werewolves, and a Bigfoot alien. There was the episode called "Special Effects" with several characters in it, including Barry (Meyers) as "Caliban" and myself as the creature "Ajax". The show kind of gave me carte blanc over designs and such. They'd call and say, "Well, what can we do for this epeisode?" and we'd figure something out. Next thing I knew, it was time to make something and head off to Florida for the shoot. I felt like a special guest star as any of the ACTUAL guest stars!" For a series that was not shot on film, this is some incredible work for a professional high-quality video-produced syndicated series as Burman expresses: "I do not believe we shot on film."

Aside from Superboy, Rob also worked on several episodes of "Lois and Clark". Initially he and his FX make-up comrades had approached the "Lois and Clark" team but they stated that it wasn't that kind of show because "Lois and Clark" was more of soap opera, not a science fiction show. However, a year later they called him back to do specialty stuff and he did a few prop molds and disguise prosthetics for an episode (Jimmy Olsen was even cast for an episode). As Rob Burman told me: "Apparently, the mail that came in about the show wanted them to ramp it up a bit and make it a little less boring and soap-opera-like."

Burman also states that he has been involved in quite a bit over the years, namely as a mold-maker on the Penguin suit in "Batman Returns" and then patching and repair work on the Batman and Catwoman costume for the same film.

Life without a heritage - the intent of the Superboy TV show was to have a fully developed Superboy.

Article by Rennie Cowan

We all know about the #1 rule in the "Smallville" TV Series: no flight, no tights. Quite the contrary to the Superboy TV Series. The intent of the show was to depict a fully-developed Superboy character that mirrored the one seen in the pre-crisis DC line. So by the premiere of the series it was evident that Clark Kent had already discovered most of his powers (if not ALL of them). In fact, he knew he could fly, use heat and x-ray vision, and that bullets could bounce off of him (the bullets bouncing was discovered in the show's tie-in comic book, issue #2). Nevertheless, this didn't eliminate discoveries. Superboy learned that he could be affected by magic, vampirism, alien forces, other super-powered beings and Green Kryptonite (which was introduced in the first season). Red Kryptonite and Bizarro Kryptonite was introduced in the second season.

These random discoveries and phenomenons inspired Superboy to write a journal. In this journal, he would place his thoughts, facts, theories, and many doubts about his powers. However, he was still a fish out of water! He had no inkling of his true heritage--where he was from or why he was here. The rocketship that had sent him to Earth was safely stored in the basement of the Kents' house; the rocketship alone was evidence for the theory that he could have come from another planet. And in issue #1 of 'Superboy: The Comic Book' which told the tale of Superboy's first appearance to the world, Superboy came into contact with an alien life-form that lived inside a meteorite. This alien clued him into the idea that he was in fact an alien.

The waiting was soon over. Well, almost. Only two episodes ever mention Krypton and Kal-El's past, a second season two-part tale titled "Abandon Earth"/"Escape to Earth" (actually, in the episode "Metallo", the planet Krypton and the origin of Kryponite was briefly mentioned as being from a planet Astronomers theorized once existed). In this two-part story, Superboy finally learned about his true heritage, and the aweful fate of Krypton. However, this new-found knowledge turned sour when Superboy found out Jor-El and Lara were really two imposters posing as his parents (Vorok and Mir). They actually ran an unethical cosmic zoo and needed Superboy for their Kryptonian habitat. In the end, Superboy had to make a difficult choice between the knowledge of his true heritage or the life of his college roomate, Andy McCallister. I suppose it's obvious what choice he made. Superboy changed the past in order to salvage the present. Surely, the absence of this heritage brought an element of sympathy to the Superboy character.

Is the Superboy TV Series contemporary?

Article by Rennie Cowan

Did the show take place in a contempary setting, starting with 1988, the year of the series debut? This is a good question and remains a mystery to Colin Chivlers, the director of several first season episodes of Superboy. There was never really any hard-core references to a particular time-frame in the show itself and it is just assumed to be contemporay. I mean, you can notice the cars, the Kevin Kiner synthesizer music and Lana Lang's hair styles (and choice of clothing) that it's the 1980's (and I still like Lana Lang's choice of clothing to this day!). Colin Chivlers stated online in an interview, "Superboy is set in a nowhere time."

If this is accurate, then it was probably done for one good reason: a specific, established time could make the show look 'dated'. If you specifically say in an episode..."it's 1988"...then viewers watching the season 1 DVDs today can say, "Oh, this is old." So it's not exactly about looking at the 1980's hair styles in first two seasons, but looking at what it doesn't say. In terms of when the production was shot, this gives it away indeed. However, by using your imagination, Superboy could take place during any contemporary setting, even today (minus the cell phones, of course).

I think a 'nowhere time' setting is far more accurate in the latter "The Adventure of Superboy" seasons 3 and 4. Indeed, looking "dated" is not good for the future of a new syndicated series, so it was wise of the Salkinds to never pay attention to dates during shooting. But the promotional commercials for the first season eluded otherwise, labeling our hero as "The Superhero of the 90's" when it was still being shot in the late 1980's. So the Salkinds were indeed thinking in advance. Back in 1988, the 90's looked far into the distance. Now, of course, it's in the past.

So, although elusive, this was exciting to hear! Setting Superboy up for the future gave the series the impression of Superboy being somewhat futuristic, or taking place in some kind of 'nowhere time' like Colin Chivlers describes it. If one were to sit back and watch an episode today, it would be easy to determine that seasons 1 and 2 may have been shot in the 1980's,but the time-setting of the show itself is not going to give this away. In fact, you'll have to look at the date on the box to know for sure.

The exception to the 'nowhere time' that Colin Chivlers mentioned is at least one episode of Superboy the TV Series that could be considered a time-piece. It takes place during the roaring twenties. Superboy went back in time in the episode "Hollywood". Not only was the production and costume design dead-on in that episode, but it really had a 1920's feel to it. The music by Kevin Kiner was adjusted likewise.

The production value and scenery with seasons 3 and 4 can definitely be called 'nowhere time' because it was mostly shot at night, with that "Dark Knight" film-noirish shooting-style and seemingly timeless look of the wardrobe and set design. The music became far less of a 1980's pop-synth backdrop to a musical score more cinematic. This 'nowhere time' is most definitely in season 3 and 4 (which stepped away from appeasing to the young audiences and became dark and gothic in nature).

Regardless, an entire Superman TV Series like Superboy is sure to leave a fresh take on the Superman mythos for new generations to come which was far more daring than the later television incarnation "Smallville". Don't get me wrong, "Smallville" is a great show. But the Superboy TV show innocently said yes to flight, and yes to tights and wouldn't have had it otherwise.

Superman V - The development hell of the Cannon/Salkind Universe sequel.

Article by Rennie Cowan

Article by Rennie Cowan

Like many other Superman movie ideas that ended up in development hell, SUPERMAN V was being planned as early as 1988 by Cannon Films. They once again would have been responsible for the story, production values and a possible release date for the summer of 1989. A screenplay was never written for this idea by Canon, but Superman V would have taken advantage of much of the 45 minutes stripped from Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Yes, Superman IV is a shorter movie than it would have been if it was not for a screen test that happened in Orange County, California prior to its' release. You can watch a good majority of this cut footage on the released Superman IV Deluxe DVD available for purchase on amazom.com.

The original cut of Superman IV was well over 2 hours, so for quite some time never-before-seen footage could have been recycled and inserted into a new cut of a Superman V - at least this was what Cannon was hoping for. This would have made Superman IV look like the better movie of course; Cannon Films appeared to have no respect for the previous Salkind produced Superman films in terms of the flying effects. For those who were familiar with Cannon's reputation this was no surprise. Cannon was prone to cutting corners and cheapening production values in any way possible to save money. Christiopher Reeve's sole reason for doing Superman IV was because Cannon promised him involvement with writing the story and to star in another unrelated movie called Street Smart. Oddly enough, to this day, Street Smart has the better reputation in terms of quality. Ilya Salkind actually told me once that this poor Mr. Reeve went into this movie with this high expectation but only Street Smart appeared to have any recognition as it started Morgan Freeman's acting career.

Of the 45-40 minutes of footage that was cut from Superman IV only about 30 minutes of it was placed onto the latest Superman IV release known as The Deluxe Edition as extra material. For years fans believed the footage was completely destroyed, and they blamed the Superman IV Editor for that one, but apparently a work print was found. Splicing pen marks could be seen on the footage added with campy temp music and unfinished FX. But - all the footage was found according to an official press release by Warner Brothers preceding the Deluxe Edition release. Fans of this film, or rather, fans of Reeve's Superman incarnation are still hoping for an extended cut by WB, one that will re-incorporate all the extra footage.

One scene from Superman IV in particular would definitely have been used by Cannon for their Superman V sequel - it was a battle scene between Superman and Nuclear Man #1 (not Mark Pillow) which had been reported as costing Cannon $4-6 million dollars to shoot. The high price tag is a rumor, but more than likely all the extra money went to Golan-Globus Productions' 1987 release of Masters of the Universe. And what a let down that was.

When one watches the car-crushing scene on the Superman IV Deluxe Edition DVD, it is exciting how Superman and Nuclear Man #1 get into a pushing war. Literally. The scene doesn't look cheap by any measure, as they continue to smash the cars against one another. This scene gave Reeve hope, but one of the most expensive scenes of this movie was unfortunately scratched, and then, almost lost forever. The campy temp music lessons the value on the Deluxe Edition. And if you are not a big, big fan you might actually believe that was the real music used in Superman IV.



Just above is the box for the 'Superman IV' Deluxe Edition which contains the extra 30 minutes of the cut footage from 'Superman IV'.

Below, watch one deleted scene from 'Superman IV' - Superman's fight with Nuclear Man #1.

Above, more interesting shots from the cut footage of Superman IV.

Be careful not to confuse Superman V with Superman Reborn which was the sequel Ilya Salkind wanted to produce with Christopher Reeve. If interested, you only need to do a google search to find and read the full script to Superman Reborn. The script was written by comic book verterans Mark Jones and Cary Bates with story by Ilya Salkind. Cannon Films wanted to do Superman V first, with the bastardized left over footage from Superman IV. Later, the Salkinds made a move to do their own sequel to Superman IV. Reeve would have done it according to Ilya Salkind. For Reeve, doing another Superman film with the Salkinds would have been the "saving grace" for his character's plight on the defunct world peace negotiations. However, due to the results of the test screening for Superman IV, Cannon's plans for Superman V would have been very different.

Superman IV's test screening was conducted in Orange County, California, completely uncut. Reviews from that audience caused some major editing changes. Many believe those changes left important sequences on the cutting room floor. For example, what happened to Jeremy after he met Superman at the World Leader's Summit? The Editor of Superman IV, John Shirley, was told to destroy the master print of the 134 minute complete cut of 'Superman IV' (with all that extra footage). So that was the story and for a very long time, 45 minutes of the movie was believed to be NON-EXISTENT. As in GONE. FOREVER. There are still scenes that the fans have not seen from the cut footage, like the Metro Club scene (where Clark and Lacy are inside the club). It is up to Warner Brothers when these additional scenes will be released.

It is believed that the 45 minutes stripped from the picture was indeed destroyed until theSuperman IV Deluxe Edition was released by WB. There are a few fans today who believe the cut footage, if used in Superman IV, could have made the film better (even into an epic piece perhaps), one that would have matched Donner's Superman: The Movie. Donner, don't move over yet. Superman IV has grown a small fan-base of followers over the years because of the alternate style and edgy story/characters in the picture, despite the controversy over the FX problems. To these loyal fans, only a few of FX shots were messy.

Nevertheless, Superman IV was a failure at the box-office. Was it because the Salkinds didn't produce it? Many blame the editing for the failure; many blame the strikingly different and inferior FX work. Cannon certainly didn't have the budget to market this film properly, and if they did they used the money for their marketing on other films, not on Superman. Christopher Reeve eventually chose not to do a Superman V with Cannon. He felt it would not capture the spirit of the original as a blockbuster epic. And despite what he felt was wrong in Superman III, the Salkinds now were the far better choice.

And if we thought Cannon was bold back then, they went even further. A replacement was necessary for the reluctant and increasingly expensive Christopher Reeve. Cannon Films thought of using a different actor to continue the series, but eventually the idea was ditched all together and Cannon moved on from the project (and their company was eventually dissolved). And that left the Superman franchise once again into the hands of some old friends...Alexander and Ilya Salkind.

The Salkinds gained back the rights to the Man of Steel; Cannon had an option for a limited time only and this gave the Salkinds some extra money but with a sour taste in their mouths. In their wisdom, Ilya Salkind wanted to bring Superman back with Christopher Reeve who was always the first choice, above all other actors. It was like Reeve was only glove that ever fit. Ilya Salkind actually had a lunch meeting with Christopher Reeve around 1991. To his memory, it was a wonderful lunch and Reeve took the idea seriously. According to Ilya Salkind in the interview On The Pool Patio With Ilya Salkind: "Reeve would have done it.". This was, according to Ilya Salkind, the last time he ever saw Reeve walking. And so what was left - Superboy, the TV Series. Ilya Salkind was already working in television with Superboy. He thought of his new and ever increasingly successful Superboy series which premiered in Northern America on October of 1988. But, according to Ilya in the documentary On The Pool Patio With Ilya Salkind Warner Brothers sabotaged both the Superboy series andSuperman Reborn. Leaving a scar on the Superman franchise. And this left the Salkinds out - for good.

Of course, the idea and rumor began to abound that a new Superman movie could be made from Gerard Christopher's portrayal as Superboy to Superman. The idea had been thrown around, according to Ilya Salkind from the same Pool Patio documentary Directed and Produced by myself. According to comic book movie sources, the film would have been calledSUPERMAN: THE NEW MOVIE. Though Ilya Salkind denies that Gerard Christopher was in the list of guys to play Superman (Gerard was too short, only 6 foot, according to Ilya), the rumor was that the new movie would star none other than Gerard Christopher, the star of theSuperboy franchise. The media and the hype, or what not to believe, Gerard would be an all new Superman, but not such an unfamiliar face. News on the development of this picture was sparse. It appeared to drag more feet than Lex Luthor had kryptonite to throw at Superman. One thing was intriguing--if the rumors had any truth to it then it would have finally married two popular, traditional Superman DC mythos and characters--Superboy and Superman! Much like the Silver Age of DC Comics, Superboy and Superman would be in the same universe.

The Superboy TV Series ended the popular era of the Salkind Universe. The lack of script approvals for Superboy episodes by DC Comics made it difficult to continue. And as a result, Superboy was killed off faster than Lex Luthor ever could have done it. In 1993, WB completely regained the rights back to the Superman franchise, plus their lot of characters with only a new war over rights issues with the Shusters and heirs of the original Superman creators. The Salkinds were out for the long run. But WB spent over $50 million on the development costs to finally release Superman Returns. And 12 years later without a sequel. The character of course will live on forever, as do all powerful myths of the imagination.

Judging by the production value in the car-crushing scene and the storyboards of this particular sequence, this car battle was, by all means, the best scene of any of the cut footage of Superman IV besides the last car scene with Clark and Lacy (no action in that one, just good intimacy). If the car crushing sequence had been kept in the final cut of Superman IV, it could well have been the most stunning battle of the movie. It might have even challenged the super-fight seen in Superman II.

Below are some photos from a portion of the 45 minutes that were cut in Superman IV.



Above, Superman catches a car that was thrown at him by Nuclear Man 1.



Above, Superman lifts a Lynch garbage disposal.

Above, more interesting shots from the cut footage of Superman IV.

Be careful not to confuse Superman V with Superman Reborn which was the sequel Ilya Salkind wanted to produce with Christopher Reeve. If interested, you only need to do a google search to find and read the full script to Superman Reborn. The script was written by comic book verterans Mark Jones and Cary Bates with story by Ilya Salkind. Cannon Films wanted to do Superman V first, with the bastardized left over footage from Superman IV. Later, the Salkinds made a move to do their own sequel to Superman IV. Reeve would have done it according to Ilya Salkind. For Reeve, doing another Superman film with the Salkinds would have been the "saving grace" for his character's plight on the defunct world peace negotiations. However, due to the results of the test screening for Superman IV, Cannon's plans for Superman V would have been very different.

Superman IV's test screening was conducted in Orange County, California, completely uncut. Reviews from that audience caused some major editing changes. Many believe those changes left important sequences on the cutting room floor. For example, what happened to Jeremy after he met Superman at the World Leader's Summit? The Editor of Superman IV, John Shirley, was told to destroy the master print of the 134 minute complete cut of 'Superman IV' (with all that extra footage). So that was the story and for a very long time, 45 minutes of the movie was believed to be NON-EXISTENT. As in GONE. FOREVER. There are still scenes that the fans have not seen from the cut footage, like the Metro Club scene (where Clark and Lacy are inside the club). It is up to Warner Brothers when these additional scenes will be released.

It is believed that the 45 minutes stripped from the picture was indeed destroyed until the Superman IV Deluxe Edition was released by WB. There are a few fans today who believe the cut footage, if used in Superman IV, could have made the film better (even into an epic piece perhaps), one that would have matched Donner's Superman: The Movie. Donner, don't move over yet. Superman IV has grown a small fan-base of followers over the years because of the alternate style and edgy story/characters in the picture, despite the controversy over the FX problems. To these loyal fans, only a few of FX shots were messy.

Nevertheless, Superman IV was a failure at the box-office. Was it because the Salkinds didn't produce it? Many blame the editing for the failure; many blame the strikingly different and inferior FX work. Cannon certainly didn't have the budget to market this film properly, and if they did they used the money for their marketing on other films, not on Superman. Christopher Reeve eventually chose not to do a Superman V with Cannon. He felt it would not capture the spirit of the original as a blockbuster epic. And despite what he felt was wrong in Superman III, the Salkinds now were the far better choice.

And if we thought Cannon was bold back then, they went even further. A replacement was necessary for the reluctant and increasingly expensive Christopher Reeve. Cannon Films thought of using a different actor to continue the series, but eventually the idea was ditched all together and Cannon moved on from the project (and their company was eventually dissolved). And that left the Superman franchise once again into the hands of some old friends...Alexander and Ilya Salkind.

The Salkinds gained back the rights to the Man of Steel; Cannon had an option for a limited time only and this gave the Salkinds some extra money but with a sour taste in their mouths. In their wisdom, Ilya Salkind wanted to bring Superman back with Christopher Reeve who was always the first choice, above all other actors. It was like Reeve was only glove that ever fit. Ilya Salkind actually had a lunch meeting with Christopher Reeve around 1991. To his memory, it was a wonderful lunch and Reeve took the idea seriously. According to Ilya Salkind in the interview On The Pool Patio With Ilya Salkind: "Reeve would have done it.". This was, according to Ilya Salkind, the last time he ever saw Reeve walking. And so what was left - Superboy, the TV Series. Ilya Salkind was already working in television with Superboy. He thought of his new and ever increasingly successful Superboy series which premiered in Northern America on October of 1988. But, according to Ilya in the documentary On The Pool Patio With Ilya Salkind Warner Brothers sabotaged both the Superboy series and Superman Reborn. Leaving a scar on the Superman franchise. And this left the Salkinds out - for good.

Of course, the idea and rumor began to abound that a new Superman movie could be made from Gerard Christopher's portrayal as Superboy to Superman. The idea had been thrown around, according to Ilya Salkind from the same Pool Patio documentary Directed and Produced by myself. According to comic book movie sources, the film would have been called SUPERMAN: THE NEW MOVIE. Though Ilya Salkind denies that Gerard Christopher was in the list of guys to play Superman (Gerard was too short, only 6 foot, according to Ilya), the rumor was that the new movie would star none other than Gerard Christopher, the star of the Superboy franchise. The media and the hype, or what not to believe, Gerard would be an all new Superman, but not such an unfamiliar face. News on the development of this picture was sparse. It appeared to drag more feet than Lex Luthor had kryptonite to throw at Superman. One thing was intriguing--if the rumors had any truth to it then it would have finally married two popular, traditional Superman DC mythos and characters--Superboy and Superman! Much like the Silver Age of DC Comics, Superboy and Superman would be in the same universe.

The Superboy TV Series ended the popular era of the Salkind Universe. The lack of script approvals for Superboy episodes by DC Comics made it difficult to continue. And as a result, Superboy was killed off faster than Lex Luthor ever could have done it. In 1993, WB completely regained the rights back to the Superman franchise, plus their lot of characters with only a new war over rights issues with the Shusters and heirs of the original Superman creators. The Salkinds were out for the long run. But WB spent over $50 million on the development costs to finally release Superman Returns. And 12 years later without a sequel. The character of course will live on forever, as do all powerful myths of the imagination.

Joaquin Pheonix on Superboy: The TV Series as "Little Hercules".

Article by Rennie Cowan

Before the hit Hollywood epic known as "Gladiator", Joaquin Pheonix started his acting career in television guest roles, most notably, on Superboy: The TV Series (season 1). At that time, Joaquin was known as Leaf Pheonix because his parents named their children after "nature" names, like his brother was named River Pheonix. Leaf Pheonix eventually changed his stage name to Joaquin when he got older.

In the episode titled "Little Hercules" in Superboy season one, Joaquin plays an awkard character, a small freshman who is in love with an attractive girl at his High School. "Billy Hercules" is a computer genius and teams up with Superboy when he accidently starts a countdown for a nuclear holocaust on his home computer. He and Superboy have to stop this mistake from destroying the entire world from nuclear weapons.

This episode alone proves the genuis being Ilya Salkind and his early casting instincts. Though Joaquin has disappeared from acting, he can still be found on the season one DVD set distributed by Warner Brothers. So be sure to purchase Superboy, season one on DVD (now available on amazon.com).



Joaquin Pheonix with Ilya Salkind (1988).

I actually found a clip of the openning dream sequence on youtube (click here). Joaquin "Billy Hercules" uses heat vision like Superboy.

Gilbert Gottfried -- Nick Knack on Superboy the TV Series (Season 2).

Article by Rennie Cowan

The comedian Gilbert Gottfried played the villain Nick Knack in two episodes of season 2 of Superboy, the TV Series. You can visit his official website at this link.Toys are for kids, or so Superboy thought. Nick Knack used toys as weapons in the episode "Nick Knack" and more advanced toys as mind machines in the episode "The Secrets of Superboy". Though he disappeared after the second season, Nick Knack was funny and sometimes even made Superboy look foolish. Below, watch the trailer for the episode "Nick Knack":

Nick appeared harmless with his toys, but don't let that fool you! He was able to chain superboy to a power-zapping machine and drained all of Superboy's powers and transferred that to...his robotic super-suit! Nick Knack also appeared in Superboy, The Comic Book, an on-going DC comics line based on the TV series. Today, Gilbert Gottfried is doing stand-up comedy in various locations in the world, like in Chicago most recently. Below, watch a clip from the episode "Nick Knack":

Skye Aubrey - Tiger Eye

Article by Rennie Cowan

Certain actors would reappear on the Superboy TV Series for several reasons, and sometimes as different characters. An actor would dress differently, change the hair perhaps, Not too many people noticed. Smallville has also done this trick before. In this case, Skye Aubrey played two different characters in two guest-starring roles. Skye Aubrey is an American actress who is the daughter of a former MGM President, James T. Aubrey (now deceased) and Phyllis Thaxter who played Ma Kent in Superman: The Movie. Skye Aubrey appeared in season one and two of Superboy the TV Series.

In season one, Skye was a woman from the future who lived in a world full of mutant humans. In season two, she was a villain of dark magic called Tiger Eye.

In the photo above is Ilya Salkind and Skye Aubrey on the set of Superboy, the TV Series (season one). This is from the episode "Mutant".

Superboy is highly vunerable to two things: Kryptonite and Magic.Tiger Eye did what any other villain in the Superboy TV Series universe would do, and that is kidnap Lana Lang to get to Superboy. While using magic, she convinced Superboy to do her bidding. Below watch the trailer for the second season episode "A Woman Called Tiger Eye".

For some trivia, Skye Aubrey was also married to Ilya Salkind for eight years, the Executive Producer of the Superboy TV Series (seasons 1-4). They have two children, Sebastian and Anastasia. Sebastian Salkind is a graduate of Florida's Full Sail film school, and is a filmmaker, actor and muscian.