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After a couple years on the air, the character development has been honed a little, but we find eery similarities as Clark Kent does battle with familiar foes, and in some crimes that resemble each other.
In Kenos Landslide, episode 3 from 02-16-1940 the characters include:
- Keno. A Southwest bad guy, and henchman of the Wolf.
- The Wolf. Out to wreak havoc byy sabotaging a train, the Limited. He obeys orders from an even higher and unnamed mastermind.
- Superman. His voice isn’t quite so developed and deep. Spots the danger of dynamite, and gets rid of it… or does he? Boards the train as Clark Kent.
- Clark Kent. Overly mild mannered. Points out the danger of the rock slide to the train conductor, and gets him to slow the train. Leaves as mysteriously as he arrived.
Other story events:
As Superman, he sweeps up the rock slide.
Keno saew Clark exiting the train, and reports the successful explosion, but failed train damage to the Wolf. Both are surprised when the train is able to pull out, despite the rail blockage. Who is this Clark Kent? We gotta get him.
In The Wolf, ep331, 09-07-1942:
Audio is a little worse, but the opening more developed.
Watch out for the wartime propaganda to motivate kids to do their part in preserving the Amrerican way of life. War bonds to provide ammo and gear for the military to fight Japs and Nazi’s. War stamps are as low as a mere 10 cents, so buy as many as tyou can.
The characters:
- The Wolf. Trying to sabotage railroads. He has made 50 foot sections of track go missing.
- Clark Kent is being driven by Keno, but the henchman isn’t immediately recognized by Kent.
- Keno is the henchman of the Wolf. Can Clark appeal to Keno’s conscience to tell where the Wolf is hiding out?
The Clipper, a troop train races near.
Superman. Knocking Keno out, Superman with deeper voice, flies to meet the train to stop it.The events:
The Clipper, a troop train races towards danger. Clark knocks Keno out, to switch to Superman and save the train. Later, back at the car Superman questions the confused Keno. A chemical has been put on the rails, making them dissolve. Still no word on where the Wolf is hiding, so Keno is flown high into the sky.
Clark leads the police to a room where a gunshot hits him in the chest. He assures the cops he’s OK, and dismisses himself for a change to Superman.
The Wolf empties his gun into the man of steel, and is knocked out, waiting for the cops to break in. Clark phones in the story to the Daily Planet, giving them all the credit, and making no mention of Superman. Perry has a new assignment that will affect the lives of millions of people.
The show wraps up with another dose of more war propaganda.
My summary of the comparing of the changes in the stories, seperated by a coupple years, and over 300 episodes:
There’s noticeable differences in the voice characterization between Clark and Superman. Good improvements. In the first situation Clark stops the train by his wits, while Superman does it by brute force in the later one. Clark and Superman are rougher with the bbad guys in the later show, but in both, they keep Superman’s identity a secret, and out of the public eye., even being sure to give credit to the authorities for saving the day.
