This episode had what many would consider to be a fairly solid premise of General Zod and company, still trapped in the Phantom Zone, creating an artificial creature called the Hunter to destroy Superman. And the Hunter's powers were pretty interesting, too - able to absorb and assimilate other substances, in addition to apparently having all or some of Superman's powers sans the Kryptonite weakness. But honestly, I think this episode moved too fast and didn't answer all the questions that needed answering soon enough, if at all. I'm pretty sure they never even explained why the Hunter was able to leave the Phantom Zone when the Kryptonians couldn't. And at first, I have no idea how the Kryptonians were even intending to get out of the Phantom Zone because they failed to mention anything about the Phantom Zone projector until much later. It actually seemed that they may have simply wanted to kill Superman for revenge, because all they focused on when they were talking about the creature's purpose was the fact that he was made to kill Superman, without actually specifying what came after that. The eventual way in which Superman was saved was also very much not explained, removing a lot of the impact.
Honestly, all those faults would potentially be much more forgivable - this show is not known for ultra-tight writing or anything - if not for a more serious problem: this episode doesn't contain much of the fun or charm that this series usually offers. It's a very by-the-numbers superhero story, and that's the biggest problem of all. This show usually has something to make me giggle or smile, or something goofy or charming or strange or unexpected, but this particular tome was way too straightforward to be interesting. Superman vs. The Bad Guys, whoop-de-doo. I thought there was something fun to be had in Clark's parents visiting Metropolis, and there probably would've been, if that part of the episode hadn't been completely crowded out by the rest of the storyline, meaning nothing interesting was actually done with it.
Oh, and one final complaint: General Zod's design is utterly laughable! Why is he wearing an outfit that looks almost exactly like something a general on Earth would wear? They couldn't even bother making it a funky color! It was just pathetic, really. Especially since the other imprisoned Kryptonians had slightly more alien-looking outfits.
Despite all my incessant whining, this episode wasn't bad, exactly. It was just a bit on the dull side, in my opinion. There were still a few nice moments and some pretty good super-battles. I'm sure there are other people who would enjoy it more than me. But for me, if you're going to do a really basic "superhero vs. supervillain" story like this, you gotta spice it up a bit or just do a really good job in general or I'm not going to be captivated.
Honestly, all those faults would potentially be much more forgivable - this show is not known for ultra-tight writing or anything - if not for a more serious problem: this episode doesn't contain much of the fun or charm that this series usually offers. It's a very by-the-numbers superhero story, and that's the biggest problem of all. This show usually has something to make me giggle or smile, or something goofy or charming or strange or unexpected, but this particular tome was way too straightforward to be interesting. Superman vs. The Bad Guys, whoop-de-doo. I thought there was something fun to be had in Clark's parents visiting Metropolis, and there probably would've been, if that part of the episode hadn't been completely crowded out by the rest of the storyline, meaning nothing interesting was actually done with it.
Oh, and one final complaint: General Zod's design is utterly laughable! Why is he wearing an outfit that looks almost exactly like something a general on Earth would wear? They couldn't even bother making it a funky color! It was just pathetic, really. Especially since the other imprisoned Kryptonians had slightly more alien-looking outfits.
Despite all my incessant whining, this episode wasn't bad, exactly. It was just a bit on the dull side, in my opinion. There were still a few nice moments and some pretty good super-battles. I'm sure there are other people who would enjoy it more than me. But for me, if you're going to do a really basic "superhero vs. supervillain" story like this, you gotta spice it up a bit or just do a really good job in general or I'm not going to be captivated.
