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Panic in the Sky is the thirty-eighth episode of the hit 1950s juvenile adventure show Adventures of Superman, based upon the DC Comics character Superman. It is considered to be the best episode of the entire series.
Plot Outline
A giant asteroid is headed towards Earth, and the military is unable to blow it away. Superman and Lois Lane go to an observatory outside Metropolis, where a Professor Roberts frankly explains the situation. It should be no match for Superman to destroy, but this particular one could possibly contain kryptonite or some unknown element that could hurt or fatally wound the Man of Steel. Upon considering the consequences, a resolute Superman grimly bids farewell to Roberts and a fearful Lois and soars upward into the sky. He rams head-on with the asteroid, breaking it up and causing a big chunk of it to remain in orbit around the planet. While the world celebrates the riddance of the threat, Superman returns to Metropolis and changes back into his Clark Kent persona instinctively. However, he does not realize that the collision has impaired his memory, causing amnesia. Things do not get any better, as the still-relieved citizens come to learn that the orbiting chunk of asteroid has upset the climate and gravitational balance, thus causing havoc and unnatural disasters like tsunamis, earthquakes, etc. The only one who can stop this is Superman...but he is nowhere to be found.
Meanwhile, Clark struggles to learn who he is, often coming too close to inadvertently reveal his secret identity to Lois, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White, who are all confused as to his strange memory loss. As the asteroid rock comes closer to breaking through the atmosphere, he slams his fist in frustration on a table, completely destroying it. Upon removing his spectacles, he instantly relives the events of the whole day and realizes he is the Superman everybody has been looking for. "Professor Roberts...the observatory!" he exclaims, flying off back to speak with the professor. Upon arrival, he confers with the professor on how to destroy the asteroid for good. Roberts explains that he has constructed a small yet powerful atom bomb that he had designed for "the war", but no guided missile can launch that far into space. Knowing the risk that he could become infected again, Superman flies towards the asteroid and sets the bomb, remarking "Well, no matter who I am, here goes." The planetoid explodes completely, and Superman returns, with his full memory intact, to his adopted home planet in triumph.
Influence
Panic in the Sky was remade in an episode of the 1980s Superboy, as well as an episode of the 1990s ABC Network soapy Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. In that episode, titled All Shook Up, Superman (Dean Cain) saves Metropolis from a similar disaster scenario, only to lose his memory in the process. He spends the episode trying to rediscover who he is, with help from Jonathan and Martha Kent who push him out a window, leading him to realize that if he is indestructible, he must be Superman. The title was derived from the hit Elvis song All Shook Up, which ironically was a favorite song of that series' Perry White (Lane Smith) who was a big Elvis fan.
It also influenced the movies Armageddon and Deep Impact. Bryan Singer, an avid George Reeves fan, adapted some elements of Panic in the Sky for a climatic scene in his 2006 blockbuster Superman Returns. In addition, it is supposedly Jerry Seinfeld's favorite episode of the original series, a fact that Noel Neill, who played Lois, and Jack Larson, the series' Jimmy Olsen, mention on the DVD commentary for the episode. True to this statement, Jerry does, in fact, mention this particular episode (as well as Superman-related things) on a number of episodes of the hit sitcom Seinfeld.
Trivia
- This episode is regarded by some as the moment the show jumped the shark. However, many fans always attribute the show's decline in quality and popularity due to the transition from black and white to Technicolour.
- The episode features the only time in the series that Superman is shown wearing his costume and his black horn-rimmed glasses.
- Panic in the Sky was coincidentally the name of a DC Comics crossover event in Superman comics and a name of the twenty-fourth Justice League Animated episode.