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Superman
1988 · TV series · 30 min episodes · 1 season
AnimationActionAdventureKidsScience FictionFantasy
One of the greatest superheroes of all time, Superman, takes to the air in this action-packed animated series. Disguised as Clark Kent, Superman uses his powers to overcome the forces of evil in a tireless crusade against crime and injustice.
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4 comments on Hacker News
I remember when Ted Turner bought a scrappy Atlanta TV station, Channel 17.
The channels refer to specific radio frequency allocations. Anything below Channel 12 is "Very High Frequency", and anything above that is "Ultra High Frequency". The Channel number was basically arbitrary, but went up in frequency in numerical order, so Channel 5 had a higher frequency than Channel 17.
The higher the frequency, the shorter the wavelength, and in general the smaller the area of coverage. Fewer viewers. The big networks dominated VHF, megawatt transmitters that could reach the entire metro area and beyond. In the Atlanta area, we had all three major networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC on Channels 2, 5, and 11.
UHF was the domain of independent operators, who filled airtime with anything they could get. Mostly old TV shows and movies from syndicate distributors. Channel 17 was mostly old movies, while Channel 36 featured old TV shows. "Superman" and "The Lone Ranger". "Star Trek". Later in the evening, 1950s schlock horror or flying saucer films...
With an uneven format and transmission range that limited viewership and advertising revenue, it could be more challenging for the UHF stations to make ends meet. When Channel 17 ran into financial difficulties, Ted Turner pumped it up. UHF stations typically signed off at night, went off the air, but the Turner Superstation was 24 hours a day.
Apparently, Ted Turner was playing a long game.
(Also apparently, I watched a lot of television as a 1970s latchkey kid.)
Anime is not expensive to produce for what it is. It's amazing how much smaller the budgets for anime are compared to universally awful looking and poorly animated Western shows.
The main problem is that the amount of anime that can be produced at one time just isn't that much, because there's only so many studios to do it. And the best studio of all Kyoto Animation hasn't recovered from most of their staff literally being killed by a terrorist attack a few years ago.
(Sometimes Western animation tries to make fake anime; there's a Superman TV show that just started. They are somehow completely unable to do this. It's worse than what Japanese children could do.)
I didn't dare to assume that you were that old (like I also am, BTW).
Anyway it is actually documented, here is the prologue from the first episode of the "Superman (1940s cartoons)":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_(1941_film)#Prologue
“In the endless reaches of the universe, there once existed a planet known as Krypton; a planet that burned like a green star in the distant heavens. There, civilization was far advanced, and it brought forth a race of supermen, whose mental and physical powers were developed to the absolute peak of human perfection. But there came a day when giant quakes threatened to destroy Krypton forever. One of the planet’s leading scientists, sensing the approach of doom, placed his infant son in a small rocket ship and sent it hurtling in the direction of the Earth, just as Krypton exploded. The rocket sped through star-studded space, landing safely on Earth with its precious burden: Krypton’s sole survivor. A passing motorist found the uninjured child and took it to an orphanage. As the years went by and the child grew to maturity, he found himself possessed of amazing physical powers. Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, the infant of Krypton is now the Man of Steel: SUPERMAN! To best be in a position to use his amazing powers in a never-ending battle for truth and justice, Superman has assumed the disguise of Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper.”
I don't know if this is researchable but I think the animated Superman TV show shows a human infant going through space before arriving in Kansas. It sounds very close if not identical to what you have here.