Back to Oblivion is the third episode of the first season of Superboy from 1988 featuring John Haymes Newton as Clark Kent / Superboy, Stacy Haiduk as Lana Lang, and Jim Calvert as T.J.White.  The investigative talents of T.J.White gets both himself, and Lana, into the kind of trouble that only Superboy can save them from.

After hearing reports of a strange man at a nearby scrapyard, T.J. and Clark investigate. Unfortunately, headstrong T.J. wants to get the scoop and he goes solo. He’s warned away by a creepy voice.

Meanwhile, Lana wants to go swimming but she can’t find anyone to go with her. Everyone turns her down. Now, look, I can quite believe in alien men wearing red/blue, flying about the sky with x-ray vision and super strength – but they want us to believe that no guy wants to go swimming with Lana? What is this – fantasy?

With a miraculous display of self-restraint, Clark insists that he doesn’t want to go swimming with Lana. No, right, I believe you Clark! Lana insists.

At first Lana strips off but that isn’t enough to entice Clark. He becomes more interested when she steals his hot dog.

At the scrapyard, T.J.’s persistence is rewarded with being trapped by empty tin cans and the onslaught of a remote-controlled monstrosity. He does what every sane man would do – he screams for help.

Lana pushes Clark into the pool and he hears T.J.’s cry for help…

…Lana jumps in, Superboy soars out.

At the junkyard, Superboy rescues T.J. but then says he has something more important on his mind. Ah, reality returns!

In the pool, Lana looks for Clark. Following a big splash, Clark bobs up looking for his glasses.

Outside, T.J. returns and tells them of his encounter. He’s going to fetch the police but Lana believes the man at the junkyard is just misunderstood.

Lana takes some food to the old man, but he calls her “Lena”.

At the gym, T.J. tells Clark where Lana has gone. Clark wants to fly to rescue her (not so reluctant now, huh?) but T.J. insists that they go in his car.

At the scrapyard, the old man tells “Lena” terrible tales of Gestapo brainwashing techniques. Lana starts searching for his lost marbles.

Clark tells T.J. to wait in the car, and then runs into one of the old man’s traps.

Lana watches Clark on the monitor and the old man sees T.J. run out of patience.

T.J. walks into a minefield and Lana tries to escape.

Superboy gives the crusher a piece of his mind (no, you’re not watching Superman III).

He breaks free just in time to prevent T.J. from stepping on a mine.

Lana finds an old newspaper to convince the old man that the war ended years ago.

Superboy breaks down the old man’s defences.

The old man has one final trap for Superboy. If he breaks down the door, dynamite will blow the place up – including Lana and himself.

Superboy overhears the old man and seeks another way in.

The old man shoots Superboy but the bullet bounces back. The old man collapses.

Outside all is well again. It’s all in a day’s work for Clark, Lana, T.J., and Superboy…

The story here is relatively simple – creepy old man traps pretty girl in scrapyard until white knight saves her.  As is the case with all Superboy episodes, there’s more to it than that.  Time is taken to explain why the old man isn’t quite right in the head, although we’re told precious little about how he rigged up remote-controlled diggers, a personal minefield, and a stash of explosives.

SPECIAL EFFECTS

There are some fairly good effects shots here.  They may not impress much in these days of CGI but, back in the day when CGI was a pipe dream, these effects had to be done in front of the camera.  Certain shots include Stacy Haiduk diving into the pool at the same time that Superboy takes off.  If you slow down the footage, you see Clark’s shirt falling off Superboy – that’s why the “costume change” in mid-flight works so well.  Later we see Superboy return to the water and up pops Clark in his shirt again.

Other shots include the rescuing of T.J. at the beginning in which Superboy (with T.J.) lands outside the scrapyard and then Superboy takes off – all in the same shot (no cuts or edits).  It happens again later.  This is something that the earlier George Reeves TV series couldn’t do.  He was either jumping out of shot, or leaping back into it.  Doing both at the same time just wasn’t feasible in the 50s.

This is a good episode which combines glamour (Stacy Haiduk’s swimsuit) and creepiness (the old man).  This won’t be the only time in which this combination occurs.  Everyone gets something to do here with the possible exception of “Clark” (justified on the grounds of Superboy appearing so many times).  T.J. shows his headstrong inquisitiveness and desire to help, while Lana demonstrates her sense of fun and compassion.