Developed by Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett, Superman: The Animated Series originally aired in 1996 on Kids’ WB. It was the second series in the DC Animated Universe after Batman: The Animated Series. The animated series based on Superman comics by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster received critical acclaim for its writing, voice-overs, modernization of Superman’s comic book mythos, and maturity.
Superman: The Animated Series pays tribute to both old and modern-day Superman which has been appreciated by the audience and the critics. The animated series adapted many villains from the comics, including Lex Luthor, Brainiac, and Darkseid. Bruce Timm remembers working on the series that debuted twenty-five years ago.
Bruce Timm recalls how working with Steven Spielberg on Freakzoid led to Superman: The Animated Series
With 2021 marking the 25th anniversary of Superman: The Animated Series’ debut, visionary animator and producer, Bruce Timm recalled working on the show and shared his thoughts on DC characters during his interview with CBR.
The executive producer was asked if Warner Bros. had approached him and Alan Burnett after their success with Batman: The Animated Series for Superman series to which he said that it was not an obvious follow-up right away. He explained,
“Steven Spielberg approached Jean MacCurdy, my boss, and said, ‘I really like that Batman show you guys are doing! I want to do an adventure show with that crew. I want to have a meeting with those guys.’”
Timm continued to share that he, along with Alan Burnett and Paul Dini, went over to Amblin and met Steven Spielberg, who then told them that he loved what they did on the Batman show. The animator mentioned that the filmmaker stated that he would like to work on something with them and was open to any ideas that would come from their end.
Timm shared that Spielberg picked Freakazoid, which became more of a comedy show with some adventure elements in it. The animator recalled walking away from the project with respect and later meeting Jean MacCurdy, who then gave him the idea for Superman: The Animated Series.
Bruce Timm credits redesigning and tying Brainiac close to Superman’s origin to Alan Burnett
The animator was asked about the adaptations of the villains from the comic books that led to the discussion of Brainiac’s scariest and coldest version shown in the series. He said during his conversation,
“That was all Alan Burnett’s idea. I give him all the props for that. At first, I was really not into the idea because I am such a purist…but when Alan explained to me that Brainiac is basically Siri—though he didn’t say Siri back then—for the entire planet, He knows that Jor-El is telling the truth about the end of the world. He’s got his escape plan and a bigger plan beyond that’s creepy and sinister; I was all-in.”
He added further that when they were doing voice auditions for the parts, Corey Burton came in to audition for every character, and Timm asked him to do a voiceover for Brainiac like he is a cold person. The executive producer noted that Corey Burton instantly knew the type of voiceover Timm was looking forward to, which was Vic Perrin from The Outer Limits!
The executive producer, in his conversation with CBR while honoring 25 years of Superman: The Animated Series, shared that Burton’s audition for Brainiac was the icing on the cake. Bruce Timm shared somewhere in the interview that the great thing about DC characters is that there are so many different ways one can take them.
He noted that he is constantly amazed at how flexible the characters are, to the point where he can watch a Batman and Superman movie done by someone else and never get tired of them.
Superman: The Animated Series is available to stream on HBO Max.
