What do the Adventures of Superman episode “Panic in the Sky” (Season 2 Episode 12), The Adventures of Superboy episode “Superboy… Lost” (Season 3 Episode 11), and the Lois and Clark episode “All Shook Up” (Season 1 Episode 12) have in common.
All three of them have the plot of Superman (or Superboy) trying to stop an asteroid from hitting earth, and then getting amnesia immediately afterwards. Yep, three Superman shows decades apart, same episode (and episode 12 of two of the shows respected seasons and only one off on Superboy’s season which is probably a coincidence but an interesting one).
I actually remembered reading this when Superboy did it, Superboy did an episode with the same basic premise to pay homage to one of the original Superman shows most popular episodes, Lois and Clark clearly followed suit (likely in homage to the George Reeves episode also) and an odd tradition was born giving the first three Superman series an interesting link between each other.
While I have known about this since the Superboy episode aired I never had the chance to watch them back to back, but thanks to DCU I was able to and it was a unique viewing experience to see three different shows from different times (all three very much the product of their time) tackle the same premise like that.
Despite the basic outline the shows were very different (Superboy especially differed in the specifics beyond that one sentence description and even technically called it a meteroid… Lois and Clark was more in line with the original George Reeves episode, but given the longer format and more emphasis on Superman’s personal life got to give a more in depth look at Superman with amnesia).
I hoped when Smallville came out they would continue this tradition, and there was an episode where Clark lost his memory but given what a common trope that is and no other similarities I think that one might have been a coincidence.
But if you want to see the Adventures of Superman, Superboy and Lois and Clark episodes for yourself in a mini-marathon all three episodes are on DCU. And hey if you have Hulu why not watch Smallville which whether by design or not sort of continues the tradition. And to be fair, since as we all well know Clark never flew on Smallville minus the finale would have been hard to throw in the meteor gives him amnesia plot even if they wanted to.
I am a bit behind on Supergirl but as far as I know they have not done this plot, it would be a lot of fun if they at least did an amnesia episode if not adding the meteor to continue this “tradition”. Although in the 2010’s that might be a bit too overdone to pull off even for a super hero show. But would still be fun if they tried.
Just thought that was an interesting note that I am not sure many fans realize. Sort of a fun footnote in Superman’s history, and also a fun marathon for any other DCU members who want to give it a try.