Original subtitles

[♪♪♪]

NARRATOR: The Adventures of Superman!

Faster than a speeding bullet.

More powerful than a locomotive.

Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound.

MAN 1: Look! Up in the sky! MAN 2: It's a bird!

WOMAN: It's a plane! MAN 3: It's Superman!

NARRATOR: Yes, it's Superman,

strange visitor from another planet,

who came to Earth with powers and abilities

far beyond those of mortal men.

Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers,

bend steel in his bare hands,

and who, disguised as Clark Kent,

mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper,

fights a never-ending battle

for truth, justice and the American way.

[♪♪♪]

[RINGS]

Hello. Kent speaking.

I understand you plan to investigate

a certain munitions operation.

Never mind who this is.

Just take a little advice:

Lay off.

Unless you want the Daily Planet to suffer

one of the worst disasters in newspaper history.

Look, we've been threatened over a thousand times.

It's never stopped us before.

All right, Kent, if that's the way you want it.

He won't scare now, but he will later.

Provided your little brainchild works.

I told you it was purely experimental.

Take a look.

A balloon...

a radio directional receiver...

and a bottle of super-nitroglycerin.

Hm. sort of a junior guided missile, huh?

Not so junior.

When this thing goes off,

I wanna be a long way in some other direction.

[ALL LAUGH]

And the target for tonight

is the Daily Planet building, huh?

That's right.

[RINGS]

Hello.

Yes, ma...

Yes...

Yes, ma'am.

Yes, we'll most certainly look into it.

Brother, tonight certainly must be our night.

Another threat?

[LAUGHS] No.

No, not exactly.

That, uh, was a Mrs. Taylor.

She lives at 64 Hope Street.

And she claims she saw a weird iron monster

prowling around a house.

[LAUGHS] Come on, Jim.

Let's go down and take a look.

64 Hope Street?

That's a familiar-sounding address.

Come on.

Well, you two go if you want to.

I'm gonna stick with this.

You know, why doesn't anybody see anything believable anymore,

like a fire-eating dragon?

[LAUGHS] Come on, Jim.

[BUZZES]

I still have a feeling

this is a familiar- sounding address.

Well, maybe George Washington slept here.

[CHUCKLES] [BUZZES]

Well, Professor Pepperwinkle.

You remember us.

I do?

Sure.

This is Miss Lane. I'm Jimmy Olsen.

We're from the Daily Planet.

Oh. Of course, of course.

Well, come in, I suppose.

Uh, professor,

we had a tip at the newspaper today

about something that sounded pretty ridiculous.

[CLEARS THROAT] Oh, uh, y-you did?

Well, it concerns a... A weird iron monster.

Um...

A-A-A monster? One that mows lawns.

And somebody saw it

around your house tonight.

Uh... Mm.

Uh, uh, s-sit down, please.

I-I just can't stand it any longer.

The police were here earlier questioning me,

and I-I have to tell someone.

Then there is something to tell?

Uh, I-I can trust you, can't I?

Why, of course you can

trust us, professor.

Well, I-I just must have some advice.

I-I wouldn't ever want to alarm anyone.

Uh...

Mr. McTavish? Uh, come out, McTavish.

There's no need to be alarmed.

McTavish wouldn't hurt a flea.

Uh, McTavish, shake hands with Miss Lane and Mr. Olsen.

How do you do, Mr. McTavish.

I'm glad to meet you, Mr. McTavish. Uh...

Now, McTavish, uh, take your book

and, uh, go over by the piano.

You mean, he can read?

Oh, dear me, no.

He just looks at the pictures.

Professor, this is incredible.

Where did you find it?

I mean, uh,

where did you find Mr. McTavish?

PROFESSOR: Uh, he's a little sensitive.

But I-I didn't find him, Miss Lane.

You see, I'm a lonely old man,

and I built him to keep me company.

And he's really very good company.

He's... he's very helpful.

He likes to putter around the yard, and, uh...

Oh dear, I'm... I'm afraid

that's what got us into trouble.

That's when Mrs. Taylor saw him. I'm afraid so.

You know what would happen if the news got out.

Oh, publicity and curiosity-seekers and...

And...

Well, uh, McTavish and I

a... Are really very happy alone.

Aren't we, McTavish?

Oh. He's really just a child.

Now I'm imagining you can actually talk to him.

Oh, yes. I have him tuned

to the exact wavelength of my voice frequency.

B-but anyone can talk with him, uh, through this.

Uh, try it, Miss Lane.

It converts your voice

to the same frequency as mine.

I don't know what to say to a robot.

Well, let's see. Let's see.

Why don't you ask him to take one of these

meteor specimens out of the case and crush it.

He... He's really very strong.

Hello, Mr., uh, McTavish.

Take a meteor out of the case and crush it.

Jeepers.

He must be as strong as Superman.

Uh...

Thank you, uh, Mr. McTavish.

Uh, why don't you go back where you were.

You... You must help me decide what to do.

[TELEPHONE RINGS]

Clark Kent speaking.

Oh, yes.

Yes, ma'am. Yes, Mrs. Taylor.

Now, I've already sent two reporters to investigate.

Mm-hm.

You want Superman to try and find a monster?

Well, Mrs. Taylor. I mean...

The air might do me good at that...

I mean, um, I'll, uh...

I'll just see what I can do,

Mrs. Taylor.

Yes, ma'am. Bye.

It's hard enough to keep a secret,

let alone a secret like Mr. McTavish.

If people weren't only so automatically

frightened by things they don't understand.

[♪♪♪]

Well, we'll just have to think about it, professor,

and let you know tomorrow.

Jeepers, what a story.

And we can't print it.

Superman. What are you doing here?

Please, Superman,

I really haven't done anything wrong.

So there really is a monster.

LOIS: Superman, what's the matter?

No. Help me out of here quickly.

Superman, please tell us what's wrong.

[SIGHS]

I... I don't know, Jimmy. I...

Oh, I have to get away from here.

Excuse me.

I guess it had to happen sometime.

Superman's losing his powers.

Unless I'm mistaken, Jim, there's only one explanation.

Come on.

Is he all right, Miss Lane?

That all depends, professor.

Have you ever heard of kryptonite?

Kryptonite? No, I don't believe so.

That's it, Miss Lane, kryptonite.

It's the only thing that could weaken Superman.

It's almost killed him a couple of times.

I-I don't understand.

Well, it's a special element from the planet Krypton.

That's where Superman comes from.

And there must be some of it here in this room.

Miss Lane...

did you notice that it happened to Superman

when he came near Mr. McTavish?

[LOIS SNAPS]

You're right, Jim.

Now, think carefully, professor.

What did you put inside Mr. McTavish?

Why, just about a little of everything,

Miss Lane.

What about those meteors?

Did you use anything like that?

Come to think of it, I did.

A tiny piece of meteor I found years ago.

It gave off such a strange reaction

on my Geiger counter,

I thought I'd try it in McTavish's power unit.

That must be it. It must be kryptonite.

Well, whatever it is,

it gave McTavish an extraordinary strength.

So I left it in.

Now, promise me you'll keep McTavish in the house.

We'll get Clark Kent to contact Superman

and see what he has to say.

Why, of course, Miss Lane.

I wouldn't dream of hurting anyone.

Good. Come on, Jim. Let's go.

[♪♪♪]

Well, that's it, Duke.

You mean, it's all set?

I mean, it's as far as I can go with it.

The balloon is zeroed in electronically

on Kent's office in the Planet building.

Okay. Hook it on the balloon, let it go up the skylight.

Oh, now, wait a minute, Duke.

This chassis has to go into the housing.

MAN: Duke! Duke...!

Shut up a minute, will you? Shut up!

In the housing, once this goes in,

these points make contact through a mercury switch.

Theoretically, it goes off 10 minutes later.

What's theoretics got to do with it?

It means,

this is an entirely new experimental job.

Once those points make contact,

anything could happen.

In other words, it might go off immediately?

I'm afraid so.

This is a fine time to tell me that.

Well, take it or leave it!

You wanted something big enough

to demolish a building,

and this is it, if it works.

But somebody's got to put it together.

Oh, no, no, no. Don't look at me. Uh...

This is just great.

What do we do?

Let the bomb put itself together?

Boss. I got it. I got the answer.

I know just the guy to do it. Mr. McTavish.

McTavish? Who's he?

You know the place I live?

Mrs. Taylor's boarding house?

Yeah. Sure, sure, I know.

Well... tonight she seen something.

First she calls the police,

then she calls the Planet,

then she sends me out for a look.

That's how I happen to be peeking through

the window when Superman shows up.

Superman! Superman?

That's what I said.

Now, you know something funny?

When Superman gets near the professor's robot,

he practically passes out on the floor.

Now, let's take it slow. Right from the beginning.

Well... The professor got lonely, see?

So he made hisself a robot.

Uh... You won't believe this, Duke,

but that robot can do anything a human being can do.

Now, wait a minute, Lois.

You say when Superman came in,

he acted very strangely.

You should have seen him. If he'd gotten closer,

I don't know what would have happened.

We finally figured it out.

He put kryptonite in Mr. McTavish.

We thought you'd know what to do.

We'll hold down the office.

You'd better go meet McTavish for yourself.

I'd like to, Lois... I really would

but I-I can't very well.

I'm still working on this munition thing,

and, there's new thoughts that have just come to me...

Well, that's a fine thing.

After all Superman's done for you,

and you won't even try to protect him.

Now, wait a minute.

I don't want anything to happen to Superman,

believe me, but this story's important too, you know.

Clark, I think you're afraid of something.

Mr. McTavish won't hurt you, Mr. Kent.

I think you're both imagining things.

Let's get back to work, huh?

Well, I'm not gonna let Superman down, even if you are.

CLARK: Where do you think you're going?

Back to see the professor.

What good will that do?

I don't know.

But somehow that kryptonite has to be destroyed.

Ah, now, that's a good idea, Lois.

A very good idea indeed.

I'm sure Superman would be very grateful.

And I have a good mind to tell him how you've acted

about this whole thing.

[PLAYER PIANO PLAYING]

Oh, dear, dear, Miss Lane.

I do understand your request,

but, uh, if I take out the kryptonite,

I might kill him.

And if you don't, someday it might kill Superman.

Yes, that's true.

Oh, dear, dear.

Uh, do you understand, Mr. McTavish?

I'll try not to hurt you,

but... But maybe it won't matter anyway.

Uh, but i-i-if something goes wrong,

how can I explain, Miss Lane?

He trusts me.

I know, professor. I feel as bad as you do.

But people all over the world

depend on Superman for so many things.

Yes, I know they do, uh,

and I'm a selfish old man.

Uh, but, uh...

Can I let him finish the piece

before I, uh... I operate?

Of course.

Here's the microphone, Duke. Right on this table.

McTavish, don't let them...

You can't just break in here like this.

We already did, lady.

This is the girl from the Daily Planet, Duke.

[MUFFLED SCREAMING]

So this is Mr. McTavish.

Take three steps forward, McTavish.

See? See?

Oh, it's not that amazing.

Any scientific genius can build one.

Yeah. But nobody ever made one

that Superman couldn't bust even if he wanted to.

You know, boys...

I kind of hope Superman tries to

interfere with our little plan.

We could get rid of him and the Daily Planet all at once.

The Planet. Then you're the ones...

Yeah, we're the ones.

McTavish, do something, please.

Slade told me how he works, lady.

Professor can't talk.

Whoever has this microphone is the boss.

Well, what are we gonna do

with the professor and Miss Lane?

Well, the professor, we leave here.

So he tells the police

about three men snatching a robot named McTavish.

Who's gonna believe that?

What about the girl?

Oh, she's another story.

She could back him up.

I'm afraid you'll have to

come with us, Miss Lane.

McTavish. Follow me.

[DOOR CLOSES]

Well, she should have been back by now.

Who is it of whom you're speaking, Mr...?

Lois, of course.

Jeepers, that's right.

I mean...

you do have a point for conjecture.

Still, there's no sense in worrying, I suppose.

If one needn't worry about Superman,

I suppose one needn't worry about Miss Lane.

Needn't one?

Uh.

Operator! Operator!

[RINGS]

Hello. It's Clark Kent.

Oh. Oh, yes, he is. Just a moment.

It's for you, Jimmy.

Hello. Jim Olsen speaking.

Hi, Professor Pepperwinkle.

Jeepers, that's terrible.

You stay right there. I-I'll do something.

You might like to know, Mr. Kent,

that Miss Lane and Mr. McTavish have been stolen.

Wh...? What are you talking about?

No, no. Never you mind. You're too busy.

I'll do something. Now, just a minute.

No matter what you may be thinking,

I haven't ignored this thing.

In fact, I already arranged to contact Superman myself.

Oh, jeepers, I'll come with you.

Oh, no, you won't.

You're gonna stay right here, and that's an order.

Stick by that phone in case anybody calls.

Yes, sir.

[♪♪♪]

Boys, I hope McTavish can last the night.

With him in our organization,

there's nothing we can't do.

Make a right turn

at the next intersection, McTavish.

And what's more,

we don't even have to

cut him in on the profits.

[BOTH CHUCKLE]

Your dirty racket isn't bad enough,

now you're turning Mr. McTavish into a criminal.

[BOTH LAUGH]

Easy, professor. Easy.

Uh... Superman. Superman.

They... They took Miss Lane and Mr. McTavish.

I know. But where?

Did they say anything? Anything you could remember?

It was all too confused. Uh, nothing made any sense.

We've got to find them.

Whoever they are, we've got to find them.

Well, they were masked.

I don't even know what they look like.

Now, think, professor. Think hard.

Anything they said, anything they did.

Uh, I can't remember anything.

Besides, if you get too near McTavish again...

I know, I know. He's loaded with kryptonite.

I-it could kill you.

Yeah, we'll worry about that when the time comes.

Right now we have to find Miss Lane.

I'm terribly worried about her.

How can we find her?

Oh, dear, dear...

There's just one possibility.

Yes, professor?

Uh, before I knew it what it was,

it gave off a very peculiar and odd sound

on my Geiger counter.

That's worth a try. You get that counter,

and I'll fly it all over the city if I have to.

No, no. I'm afraid that wouldn't work.

You'd be flying too fast for it to register.

Oh, de...

Well, we... We could cruise around in my car.

Yeah, that might take days. But let's hope it doesn't.

Uh, I'll... I'll get my Geiger counter.

Do that. Mm-hm.

This remote television camera

will show us everything that's going on here.

Good. We can control the whole operation

from my apartment in town.

So just in case anything happens...

What do you mean, "happens"?

Well, we simply don't trust that bomb, Miss Lane.

It's liable to go off the minute it's assembled.

So that's why you needed McTavish.

To assemble a bomb.

What happens if it doesn't go off when he gets it together?

We hope it won't.

We have other plans for that bomb.

We can always come back for you if we have to.

You and McTavish.

And no matter what happens,

you're watching history in the making, Miss Lane.

Walk over to that desk and stay there.

Goodbye, Miss Lane.

[SIGHS]

I almost hope it does go off here, McTavish.

I don't stand a chance anyway.

And with you in their power, nothing can stop them.

I'm afraid it's hopeless, Superman.

We haven't gotten any kind of reaction.

We'll just have to keep driving till we do.

Oh, it's all my fault.

I-I never should have built McTavish.

Now, professor, everyone needs a friend.

You're no different.

[BUZZES]

Listen.

That's it. That's it.

Must be around here somewhere.

No, not necessarily.

It simply means McTavish has passed this way.

W-we'll have to follow it like a radio beam.

All right, McTavish. We're ready.

First, pick up the chassis, McTavish.

We're getting closer, Superman.

Closer isn't good enough. We have to be there.

Now, McTavish...

walk toward the balloon.

Now, McTavish,

put the chassis down by the square box.

That's the maximum reaction, Superman.

McTavish is very close.

Look, professor.

That warehouse right over there.

It's the only building around here.

That must be it. Thank you, professor.

But, Superman, the kryptonite!

Now, McTavish, open up the bomb housing.

Now, McTavish,

pick up the chassis.

LOIS: Superman!

Miss Lane.

How did he get there?

Look, this is perfect.

Look, he's weakening already.

Superman, get back.

It might explode any second.

I have to g-get you loose.

Superman, no!

[LAUGHS]

Go ahead, Superman, rescue the fair lady.

[ALL LAUGH]

McTavish, quick,

put the chassis in the box.

Close the box, McTavish.

Connect the box to the balloon

and let it go up through the skylight.

There goes the end of the Planet, Miss Lane,

and the end of Superman.

McTavish, walk toward Superman.

No, McTavish. It's me.

Uh... Uh, move away, move away.

I didn't count on him.

McTavish, walk toward Superman.

No! Listen to me.

Move away. Away.

Toward him, McTavish. Toward him.

Uh, back, McTavish! Back!

Forward, you junk pile. Forward.

No, no, McTavish, uh, back.

You must listen to me.

To me. Forward.

Back, back, back!

Back. Back, McTavish, back!

You'll be all right now, Superman.

[GROANS]

Thank goodness it's not too late.

Isn't it, Miss Lane?

What about the Planet building?

We're guiding the bomb to it right now.

Jeepers. What won't these advertising people

think of next?

What a crazy publicity stunt.

Give me that, Jimmy!

Jeepers. Now I know I'm dreaming!

[♪♪♪]

How will we know when it happens?

Uh, you'll know, gentlemen.

I assure you, you'll know.

The bomb!

Get it... Get it out of here! It'll go off any second!

I'll get rid of it

just as soon as I have your written and signed confessions.

Uh, yes, sir, Superman.

Give me that.

H-h-h-how did you find us?

I just followed your radio beam right back here.

See? I told you that modern junk would get us into trouble.

Give me that.

There, now, Superman.

Will you...? Will you take it out of here now, please?

Of course. Oh, one more thing:

Um, you boys won't leave here, will you?

We'll wait right here until you come to fetch us.

But get that out of here. Please!

[♪♪♪]

[ALL LAUGH]

Oh, my, my, my.

How I wish I could have seen their faces.

But what if the bomb had gone off, Clark?

Oh, I daresay, Superman

could have smothered it, Lois,

but he thought they deserved a good scare.

I'm sorry I was

angry at you, Mr. Kent.

Jeepers, if you hadn't contacted Superman...

Oh, forget it, Jimmy.

Everything turned out all right.

Yes, everything came out all right.

Even the kryptonite out of Mr. McTavish.

Uh, he's not strong anymore. He's just an ordinary robot.

But he's still kind and gentle, and my friend.

Well...

Jeepers. And what a cook.

You see, Clark, you have

no reason to fear Mr. McTavish.

Oh, I'm sure you're right, Lois.

After all, it was Superman who was in danger.

[♪♪♪]

NARRATOR: Don't miss the next thrill-packed episode

in the amazing Adventures of Superman.

Superman is based on the original character

appearing in Superman magazine.