In Superman (1978), Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill have cameos as the parents of Lois Lane, in a train that is being passed by a running, teenage Clark Kent. Their scene was essentially cut from the original theatrical release but restored in the subsequent extended edition.

Kirk Alyn was credited only as Clark Kent because the studio felt that no one should know who was playing the part of Superman. In fact, they spread the story that Superman was portraying himself in the serial.

Considered to be the most successful serial of all time.

Due to the crudity of special effects at the time (and the incredibly high cost of portraying it convincingly) all images of Superman in flight were animated in a manner similar to the way Superman flew in the Fleischer Studios cartoons of the early 1940s. Sometimes animated images were even superimposed onto live-action shots.

This serial marks the very first live-action portrayal of Superman.

Continuity

Lois is kidnapped and taken in a black vehicle with very noticeable twin antennas on the rear bumper to a cave. When the car arrives to stop in the cave the antennas are gone and remain gone as the car leaves the cave.

In episode 1, the voiceover states that Superman's foster parents die not long after he leaves home, but for the recap at the beginning of episode 2, the voiceover states Superman leaves the farm AFTER they pass away.

In Chapter 11, when a gangster discovers Jimmy hiding in a crate in the back of a truck, he calls his partner back and both men shoot into the crate. But in the recap in Chapter 12, he does not call his partner back, and he alone shoots into the crate.



Factual errors

In chapter 9, when the villains are preparing to blow up the reducer ray, the meter indicates "millimeters" not, at least, milliamps.



Revealing mistakes

In Chapter 13, as Superman dismounts from the roof of a car, it is clearly visible that the back of his pants have split open, something Superman's super-costume couldn't have done.

At the end of chapter 11 and the beginning of chapter 12, a faint "Columbia" sign is visible on the door of the villains' truck as it stops on the road.

In Chapter 14, Superman lands behind a car. His body should be visible through the windows, given his position, but it is not, until he pops back up again.

In Chapter Nine, Lois Lane arrives at the airport. Her shadow is visible on the rear-projection screen on which the image of the airport is projected.

Superman has what appear to be ruffled cuffs, indicating that his costume is actually a training suit with the hood cut off to accommodate the cape.



Boom mic visible

In chapter 14, a very clear boom mic shadow falls on the car just before Jimmy gets into it.



Character error

Superman uses his super-strength to pull a vault door off its hinges but earlier he used a wooden chair to smash the reducer-ray machine.

In chapter 9, Clark, using his x-ray vision, is able to see through the disguise of a man by viewing his image in a photograph. Photographs capture an image in visible light, so he shouldn't be able to see what's under the make-up.