In another episode that pushes the boundaries of Superbooy further away from its original “High School” premise, Meet Mr. Mxyzptlk takes a leaf out of the comic books to introduce one of Superman’s colourful enemies. A remarkably accurate piece of casting sees Michael J Pollard as the eponymous mischievous imp in the first of two episodes to feature Mr Mxyzptlk.
Lana and T.J. are reporting on an ancient wooden totem pole, one that’s so firmly fixed into the ground that they need a digger and a chain to act as a crane.
The totem doesn’t budge, and the professor needs an irresistible force to shift this immovable object. Superboy arrives!
Superboy puts his shoulder to the totem … but he can’t move it.
Superboy tries again, and this time he puts his back into it. This time he succeeds.
Just as the totem comes free from the ground, a magical effect fills the air. The totem vanishes …
… replaced by a strange imp-like creature in a funny hat. He introduces himself as a dimension-hopper called Mxyzptlk.
The little man keeps leaping in and out, popping all over the place, in the same magical effect.
Mxyzptlk wants to talk with Superboy, but away from his friends. He expects to see Superboy on top of the biology building within 28 seconds.
The professor is concerned about the disappearing totem, while the others try to comprehend the disappearing man. When Superboy runs out of time, Mxyzptlk sends him a message.
Superboy keeps his appointment. He asks who the strange man is.
Mxyzptlk magics his name into the sky, before the letters fall to the ground.
He tells Superboy that he comes from the 5th Dimension, where magic is commonplace. What isn’t commonplace is someone with the super-powers of Superboy. He wants Superboy to go back with him, so that they can study him and everyone can have super-powers.
Superboy refuses, so Mxyzptlk gives him a demonstration of his magic.
Mxyzptlk tells Superboy that, if he plays hard to get, similar such accidents will happen all over town. Something else they’re keen on in the 5th Dimension is wagers. He wagers Superboy that he can get Lana to fall in love with him within 24 hours and, if he succeeds, Superboy must go with him.
Mxyzptlk catches up to Lana while jogging, and he charms her with a bad joke before stealing a kiss. Needless to say, his school of romance doesn’t cut much ice with Lana so he adopts a different tactic.
When out walking with Clark, Lana is attacked by two escaped convicts – magically arrived as if from nowhere. Mxyzptlk rushes in to save her.
Lana ignores the “toad” and looks after Clark instead. Mxyzptlk needs a third tactic.
When Clark next comes out of college, he sees Lana talking to … Clark?
“Clark” and Lana go to the pool, with “Clark” impishly knocking everyone in the water.
Surprisingly, “Clark’s” clutzy ways seem to be winning Lana over.
Superboy arrives in an effort to warn Lana, but he’s not as convincing as he could be.
“Clark” leaves, and Lana goes after him. Superboy visits the professor who, by now, has T.J.’s photos of the totem pole. They seek answers to the magical imp’s secrets.
The professor discovers that the imps used to appear often, until the tribe’s Shaman designed the totem to lock the gate from our world to theirs.
The professor can only guess for the most part, but he believes that sending Mxyzptlk back has something to do with the way the totem’s design has a mirrored part that reflects one image against the other, and the name of the imp. Superboy has a puzzle, but no solution.
In Lana’s room, “Clark” lays the romance on thick – turning out the lights, and waiting expectantly on her bed. Lana reminds him that they’re there to study.
When “Clark” gets too heavy, Lana rejects him, and he turns back into Mxyzptlk.
Mxyzptlk plays his dirtiest trick yet. He uses magic to brainwash Lana into falling for him and agreeing to go with him back to the 5th Dimension.
In a second and final meeting on top of the biology block, Mxyzptlk tells Superboy about Lana’s devotion and that they’re going away together, so the bet is off. Superboy finds Mxyzptlk’s name in letters on the ground.
He picks them up and sees their reflection, and he gets a sudden idea.
At the archaeological site, Superboy sets his plan in motion.
T.J. gives a leaving note to Lana that they want her to read into T.J.’s camera so that they can send it to her father and friends. Mxyzptlk gives her permission to read it.
Lana has trouble with one of the words. Superboy offers to help her read it, but Mxyzptlk doesn’t want Superboy to help Lana ever again. Mxyzptlk will read it instead.
Mxyzptlk is tricked into saying Kltpzyxm – his own name backwards. Realising that he’s been tricked, Mxyzptlk is forced to return to his own dimension. As soon as the imp vanishes, Lana becomes her old self again.
Lana explains Superboy’s plan to the real Clark. Clark stumbles over his feet, “accidentally” stopping Lana from walking into the path of two bikers. Lana is forced to admit that “one Clark in a girl’s life is enough”.
Aliens one moment, beings from another dimension the next. Superboy is now straddling fences that few other superhero TV series dare to straddle
I count myself fortunate that, in the relatively few number of Superman comics I read in my youth, one of them involved the imp from the 5th Dimension known as Mxyzptlk. I can confidently state, therefore, that here is arguably the first televised example of a proper comic book “villain”. While Mxyzptlk is more naive troublemaker than actual villain, he still came from the comic books. Michael J Pollard plays the character in a way that captures the nature of the imp. He’s playful, unthinking, slightly arrogant, and bored, all in equal measure.
And that’s the thing about this story, really, it has the hidden message of “arrogance vs arrogance”. Without Superboy’s own arrogance at lifting the totem with scant regard to the consequences, Mxyzptlk would never have been able to do what he did. And, without his own arrogance in not letting anyone else help Lana, Mxyzptlk is hoist with his own petard. It’s a subtle message, but it’s a message just the same.
Also worthy of mention here is John Haymes Newton, who plays the Mxyzptlk version of Clark Kent. Newton carefully constructs an OTT Clark, and this is a clever part of the episode. We know that Clark is merely a character that Superboy (Kal-El) plays in order to disguise his real identity. All of that bumbling clutz stuff is necessary to keep everyone from suspecting the truth. Here we have Mxyzptlk playing an even more clutzy and bumbling version of Clark, because that’s all the imp sees in the character. Even though he knows that Superboy and Clark are one and the same, he can’t see deep enough beneath the Clark veneer to understand the character that Superboy plays each time he puts on the specs. John Haymes Newton plays the different Clark excellently here.
Incidentally, this episode is available with added commentary (by John Haymes Newton) on the DVD.
In conclusion, this is not a powerful episode, but it is a fun episode and it has (from what I can see) a faithful representation of a real “foe” with comic book origins.
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