The Arctic Giant (1942)

Director:

Dave Fleischer

Writers:

Jerry Siegel (characters) and
Joe Shuster (characters) ...

Release Date:

26 February 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Superman versus a thawed-out Tyrannosaurus.

Plot Keywords:

Tyrannosaurus | Superman | Monster | Crushed Car | Rampage

Cast

  (Cast)

Joan Alexander	...	Lois Lane (voice) (uncredited)
Jackson Beck	...	Perry White (voice) (uncredited)
Bud Collyer	...	Clark Kent / Superman (voice) (uncredited)
Julian Noa	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

Runtime:

9 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #3165) | Argentina:Atp

Company:

Fleischer Studios

Trivia:

In this short (as in some of the others) Superman leaps from place to place (like later Marvel's Incredible Hulk), rather than flying. This is from the original comics version, in which he didn't fly either. He was given the ability to fly, in the comics as well as the animated series when the creators realized that what looked good in heroic static drawings made him look like a red-and-blue kangaroo bouncing over buildings.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In reality, if a 160 foot dinosaur was encased in ice, it would take hours or possibly days for the ice to melt if exposed to heat. Not ten seconds.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Voices: Up in the sky, look! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!
Narrator: Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, this amazing stranger from the planet Krypton, The Man of Steel: Superman! Possessing remarkable physical strength, Superman fights a never-ending battle for truth and justice, disguised as a mild-mannered newspaper reporter, Clark Kent.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Dinosaur Movies (1993) (V)

Godzooky's Grandpa in an okay Cartoon

When an earlier poster commented that this cartoon exceeded Saturday morning cartoons, I had an immediate flashback of the old GODZILLA cartoon from NBC's Hanna Barbera connection...and in many ways, the tyrannosaurus found in this cartoon can be considered an ancestor to that cartoon--their composition color and total LACK of one standard size of the beast (I cringe when the beast changes size with EVERY scene!).

While the Fleischer SUPERMAN series is one of the most adventurous, ambitious and advanced statements in animation, this one ain't one of them. From its simplistic plot to Lois pausing to change her flashbulb while mere FEET from the tyrannosaur' jaws, it lacks the believability that was a vital part of the series. It's watchable, but not memorable.

Plus, my nine-year-old daughter (who is a SERIOUS dinosaur buff) is furious with the lack of realism with the dinosaur's design!