Plot
An asteroid 5 miles wide is headed toward Earth, and humanity is powerless to stop it. At an observatory near Metropolis, Professor Roberts explains the situation to Superman, but warns him the asteroid may contain Kryptonite or some unknown element which could harm him. Grimly saying goodbye to the Professor, Superman flies into space and collides with the big rock, deflecting it into an orbit around the Earth. While the relieved world celebrates, Superman manages to fly back to Earth and instinctively change into his Clark Kent business suit. The collision has given him a severe concussion and amnesia. To make matters worse, the now-orbiting asteroid has upset Earth's climate and gravitational balance, wreaking worldwide havoc. It must be completely destroyed somehow but Superman is nowhere to be found.
The rest of the episode has Clark/Superman trying to figure out who he is, several times coming perilously close to inadvertently revealing his secret identity to his friends and colleagues (who are baffled by Clark's strange memory loss). At a critical point in the show, and for the only time in the series, the superhero is seen wearing his Superman costume as well as Clark's horn-rimmed glasses, appearing very vulnerable. In a moment of frustration, he bangs his fist on an end table and shatters it. As he removes his glasses, he realizes that he must, in fact, be this "Superman" everyone has been talking about. "Professor Roberts!" he exclaims. "The observatory!" Again acting on instinct, he leaps out of the window and flies to the observatory. The Professor has a small but powerful atomic bomb which might utterly destroy the asteroid, but no guided missile can reach that far into space. Knowing the risks, Superman flies to the asteroid again and sets the device. "Well, no matter who I am," he says to himself, "here goes." The dangerous planetoid explodes into countless small pieces, and Superman, with his memory intact, returns to his adopted planet in triumph.
Read more about this topic: Panic In The Sky (Adventures Of Superman Episode)
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“Trade and the streets ensnare us,
Our bodies are weak and worn;
We plot and corrupt each other,
And we despoil the unborn.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“After I discovered the real life of mothers bore little resemblance to the plot outlined in most of the books and articles I’d read, I started relying on the expert advice of other mothers—especially those with sons a few years older than mine. This great body of knowledge is essentially an oral history, because anyone engaged in motherhood on a daily basis has no time to write an advice book about it.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“The westward march has stopped, upon the final plains of the Pacific; and now the plot thickens ... with the change, the pause, the settlement, our people draw into closer groups, stand face to face, to know each other and be known.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)