1966 WEEK! A 60th anniversary tribute to a charming series… — UPDATED 9/10/26: It’s 1966 WEEK! Filmation’s The New Adventures of Superman debuted 60 years ago, on Sept. 10, 1966. Perfect time to reprint this piece from September 2020! For more 1966 WEEK festivities, click here. Right on! — Dan — — Welcome to THE FILMATION FILES, a recurring series that takes a deep dive into some of the most entertaining cartoons ever – the DC Comics segments first broadcast in the ’60s but which were also a staple of ’70s syndication. Click here for the complete index of features, as well as links to our podcast with John S. Drew. — If you love Superman and cartoons, you’re pretty lucky. The Man of Steel has been animated since his earliest days and can still be found in DC’s direct-to-video films. The quality has always varied, but for sheer goofy charm, you can’t do any better than The New Adventures of Superman, Filmation’s 1960s take on the Man of Tomorrow. The show ran Saturdays on CBS for three seasons in various permutations, starting Sept. 10, 1966 — 60 years ago. I first encountered the cartoons in syndication in the ’70s and have long had a soft spot for them, even though I prefer Filmation’s 1968 Batman series. (Because of course.) But in anticipation of the program’s anniversary, my son Sam and I spent a good part of the summer binging the whole run and we came up with THE TOP 13 FILMATION SUPERMAN CARTOONS — RANKED. Two things to be aware of: The first two seasons featured shorts while the third season contained two-parters, but we felt it was fair to judge them all equally. On the other hand, we left out the Superboy shorts because that felt like comparing red apples to green apples. So let’s go… up, up and away! — 13. The Men from A.P.E. (Season 1). Who doesn’t love a good villain team-up? Lex Luthor, the Toyman, the Prankster and the Warlock – who would have made a great villain in the comics – combine forces to create Allied Perpetrators of Evil. Naturally, it doesn’t work out. — 12. Luthor’s Lethal Laser (Season 3). Moon madness reaches Filmation Superman as Luthor builds a gigantic laser cannon to attack Earth from the lunar surface. And Brainiac...