“The Mysterious Cube”: Does It Fit?
by Armand Vaquer
Michael Hayde’s book, Flights of Fantasy, on radio’s and television’s Adventures of Superman, described two 1957 episodes of the television series as “controversial” as they allegedly give the Man of Steel “new abilities beyond those established by his comic book persona.” Those episodes are “Divide and Conquer” and “The Mysterious Cube.”
In these episodes, Superman (George Reeves) is assisted by Professor Lucerne (Everett Glass, no relation to Carl). In both, Superman is perplexed by either a situation or substance that only the scientific advice by Lucerne can provide him with the solution to overcome each one.
In “Divide and Conquer,” Superman is jailed for suspicion (a phony charge by an evil and ambitious vice president in a fictional Latin American country) of being behind an attempt on the president’s life. Superman cannot not be in a jail cell and still preserve his Clark Kent identity at the same time, unless he can be at two places at the same time. He accomplishes this by the help of Lucerne who tells him that he can accomplish this if he expands his atomic structure by driving the molecules farther apart and then separate them. And then, as Lucerne says, “There might be two of you instead of one.”
Naturally, Superman purists would object to this on the grounds that this ability was never established in the comics.
The second episode, “The Mysterious Cube,” is about a criminal who is in a room-sized cube (for seven years) made of a strange alloy that Superman cannot penetrate so he can be declared legally dead and escape the charges against him. (It is interesting that Superman’s x-ray/heat vision or super-strength has no effect on the cube, but a jar of acid does.) This is the case until Superman discusses his problem with Lucerne (above).
Superman tells Lucerne that he can’t see though the cube or even smash through it. Lucerne comes up with the idea of having Superman rearrange his molecules to that they join with the cube’s molecules. If Superman can accomplish this, he might be able to pass through it. Superman gives it a try, and finds that, after much concentration, he can do it.
2 comments:
Yes, those abilities are about as ridiculous as Christopher Reeves "new" powers between Superman II and IV including being able to produce three holograms of himself, pulling a big plastic S out of his shield, and being able to repair the great wall of China with his "masonry vision". I personally prefer the way John Byrne reinvented the Man of Steel in 1986.
Dutch, you forgot about Superman's "kiss 'n forget" power in "Superman II." - A.
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