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This is by far the most ambitious comic analysis project I've ever attempted, and the truth is I'll probably never finish it. But I'm going to give it a try anyway. This is my favourite superhero show of all time and it saddens me how often people dismiss it without crediting its accuracy to the comics. I figured the only way to do the series justice would be to analyse every single episode individually. So that's what I'm going to do – all 87 episodes spanning four seasons. This is an insanely huge task, and like I say, I'll probably never finish it. But I thought I'd just add to it every now and then and see how it goes. Hopefully I'll at least be able to analyse the first two seasons. I actually started working on this two years ago, so this first instalment will be a fairly substantial one to get things moving.

Some episodes won't feature any comic references beyond the basic setup and recurring characters. Obviously I won't be able to comment on those. But the plots of most episodes – particularly in seasons one and two – usually have some basis in a story, character or concept adapted from the comics.

As always, if anyone else wants to add something I've missed then please do. But I would request that you only comment on the episodes I've already analysed, as I really want to do the whole thing in chronological order. I'd prefer not to leap ahead to later episodes or seasons until I work my way up to them.

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Many critics have noted that Lois and Clark is heavily indebted to the Post-Crisis Superman comics written by John Byrne. The first season in particular drew much of its inspiration from Byrne's 1986 miniseries Superman: The Man of Steel. Byrne visited the set of the series during its early seasons and gave his thoughts on the show during an interview in 1995:

Quote"I have seen only a couple of episodes of "L&C" this [second] season, but I enjoyed the fidelity the program showed in its first year -- especially where it picked up on specific points I had introduced, like Ma and Pa Kent still being alive, and Smallville being in Kansas."

http://www.supermanhomepage.com/comics/interviews/interviews-intro.php?topic=john-byrne

Comic writer Elliot S! Maggin commented on the show during an interview with supermanthrutheages.com:

Quote"I know the people who put together the show did a lot of reference to my two novels.  Other than the characterization of Luthor and of Clark as the "real" person rather than Superman -- which, I understand, the folks at DC specified -- the series was pretty consistent with my ideas of the character.  I thought Dean Cain was terrific -- to my surprise and to that of the people who first cast him as a last resort."

http://site.supermanthrutheages.com/Maggin/kc-maggin-interview.php

Maggin also wrote a script for the show titled 'The Ghost of Superman-Future'. But although the story editor liked it, the script didn't fit in with the ongoing story arc at the time and was thus never produced. You can read the script here:
http://supermanthrutheages.com/esm/lnc/

Superman comic editor Mike Carlin has said that scripts for the show were sent to DC for approval and that they were usually "80% on the mark".
http://www.supermanhomepage.com/comics/interviews/interviews-intro.php?topic=mike-carlin

In 1994 a special tie-in book was produced featuring an image of Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher on the cover and titled simply Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. This book compiled reprints of several comics that had supposedly influenced the show's writers. These comics included:

•   'The Story of the Century' (Superman: The Man of Steel miniseries #2, October 1986)
•   'Tears for Titano' (Superman Annual #1, August 1987)
•   'Metropolis, 900 mi' (Superman #9, September 1987)
•   'The Name of the Game' (Superman #11, November 1987)
•   'True Love' (Action Comics #600, May 1988)
•   'Headhunter' (Adventures of Superman #445, October 1988)
•   'Homeless for the Holidays' (Adventures of Superman #462, January 1990)
•   'The Limits of Power' (Adventures of Superman #466, May 1990)
•   'Survival' (Action Comics #655, July 1990)

I don't own a copy of this collection myself, but apparently it also features an introduction by John Byrne where he discusses the relationship between the comics and the TV series.

Hopefully this should all illustrate that the makers of the TV definitely did do their research. So without further delay, let's get on with the analysis.

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As I mentioned earlier, the story arcs in the first season were largely derived from John Byrne's Post-Crisis reinvention of the character. In the beginning, Clark is ignorant of his Kryptonian heritage. He gradually uncovers the truth behind his alien lineage over the course of the first season. Other story arcs include Superman's ongoing war against Lex Luthor and Lois and Clark's burgeoning friendship/romance.

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The first major character we meet in the show is Lois Lane, played here by Teri Hatcher. As in the comics, she's depicted as a headstrong investigative reporter with a competitive streak a mile long.


Lois is also portrayed as a moderately skilled fighter in this series, at least for the first two seasons. This was meant to emphasize a more contemporary slant on the character, one that would set her apart from the damsel in distress stereotype of the early comics. The Post-Crisis Lois was equally capable of handling herself in a fight.


She works at the Daily Planet under the supervision of newspaper editor Perry White, played by Lane Smith. Perry's 'southern gent' personality in this series is very much consistent with the comics. But Deborah Joy LeVine also gave him an Elvis fixation to make him more interesting. Throughout the series he's heard to say "great shades of Elvis" instead of his "great Cesar's ghost" catchphrase from the comics. Perry's Elvis catchphrase was referenced in the comics once the show became a hit, as seen in this example from The Return of Superman (1993).


Perry's wife Alice is mentioned frequently throughout the series. A running gag is that we never actually get a clear look at her, even when she appears on screen in certain episodes. We do eventually get to see what Alice looks and sounds like, but not until the final season.

And of course there's also Jimmy Olsen. In the first season Jimmy was played by Michael Landes, but in seasons 2, 3 and 4 he was played by Justin Whalin.


Also working at the Planet is Cat Grant, played by Tracy Scoggins. Cat was a regular character in the comics at the time, and she's a regular character throughout the first season of the TV show. She first appeared in 'Man O'War' (Adventures of Superman #424, January 1987). In both the comic and the TV show she first meets Clark in the Daily Planet building and is instantly attracted to him.


Lois making insinuations about Cat's journalistic methods is typical of the comics.


The Daily Planet building itself differs from the comic version insofar as the famous globe is located above the main entrance, as opposed to the roof.


Having said that, some comics – including the Superman: The Man of Steel miniseries – have also shown the Daily Planet building to have a globe suspended over the main entrance.

Metropolis in the series is on the whole very similar to the version on the printed page, with many of the individual buildings, corporations and districts being based on locations from the comics. I'll go into more detail about that with specific episodes.

Dean Cain was viewed by some as an unconventional choice for the part of Superman. He had boyish features and his eyes were brown instead of blue like the Superman in the comics. Personally I think Cain bore a strong resemblance to the Superman from the Golden Age era.


He also had a muscular build similar to the one Byrne had drawn Clark as having in the Post-Crisis comics.


One of the central ideas in the TV series is that Clark is the real person and Superman the affected persona. This contrasts against earlier screen versions, where Superman had always been the real person and Clark merely the pretence. The TV show's approach to the character is more in line with John Byrne's Post-Crisis reimagining of the Clark/Superman dynamic. Cain has said that he modelled his performance as Superman on Christopher Reeve, while he drew inspiration for his less-bumbling take on Clark from George Reeves' portrayal.

In the first episode of the series Clark goes to the Daily Planet for a job interview. But Perry turns him down the first time, only hiring him later on after he's proved his skills as a writer. The same thing happened when Clark applied for a job at the Planet in the Pre-Crisis comics. Perry initially turned him down on the basis of his lack of experience. But in both stories, Perry eventually relents and hires Clark for the post.


Jonathan and Martha Kent (played by Eddie Jones and K Callan respectively) are both recurring characters in the show. This reflected the Post-Crisis idea of having them both still alive when Clark becomes Superman. They live on the Kent Farm back in Smallville, but often travel to Metropolis to visit their boy.


Lois is shown to live in an apartment with her younger sister Lucy. Lucy was a recurring character in the first half of season 1. She disappeared during the second half of the season but reappeared in season 2 played by a different actress. In the comics Lucy was an air stewardess, but there's no reference to her being one in the TV show.


Not long after they meet, Lois and Clark accompany one another to a shindig at Lex Luthor's penthouse. Luthor is portrayed by Emmy Award-winning actor John Shea. The series presents him as a charming billionaire who is perceived by the public as a legitimate businessman and philanthropist. But in reality he is a thoroughly evil criminal mastermind who controls almost every other villain throughout the first season. This take on the character is consistent with the John Byrne Post-Crisis version, as is the notion of him having a full head of hair (though he loses that in season 2). He is shown to have a collection of weapons belonging to Alexander the Great, though his interest in this historical figure is seldom referenced beyond the pilot episode. The Luthor in the comics is also an admirer of Alexander the Great.


John Byrne has credited Marv Wolfman with coming up with the idea of Lois and Lex being romantically linked:

QuoteMarv called me to discuss something he had in mind for Luthor, a "fix" he had been working on in his head for several years [...] Then he told me his version of Luthor in exactly these words: "Outside Metropolis, on a high mountain, in his palatial Xanadu-like estate, lives Lex Luthor, the world's richest man, and his mistress, Lois Lane." He paused, for dramatic effect, I suppose, then said "See, she's drawn to power!"

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/FAQ/listing.asp?ID=2&T1=Questions+about+Comic+Book+Projects

Even though Byrne rejected the idea, he still hinted at Lex having a romantic interest in Lois in Superman: The Man of Steel. Lois's preference for Superman would give Lex even more of a reason to hate his arch nemesis; an idea that was explored in greater depth in both Lois and Clark and several later issues of the comics.


Another supporting character in this episode is Inspect Bill Henderson, played here by Mel Winkler. Winkler would later go on to voice Henderson in Superman: The Animated Series. Henderson is a recurring character in Lois and Clark, although after the pilot he is portrayed by two different actors. He first appeared in the comics in Action Comics #440 (October 1974), having originally debuted in The Adventures of Superman radio series.


Jimmy mentions S.T.A.R. Labs for the first time in this episode. S.T.A.R. Labs would be referenced several times throughout season 1. It features more prominently in the later seasons, with Superman regularly consulting the experts there for advice on all matters scientific.

As in the comics, it is Martha who makes Clark's costume for him.


The suit is a faithful and straightforward translation of the suit from the comics.


This isn't a comic influence, but it's worth mentioning there's a montage where Clark tries on several different costumes before settling on the classic suit. One of these costumes looks like a fusion of the Superman suit and Marvel Comics' Captain America costume. It bears a strong resemblance to the Super-Soldier costume worn by Clark Kent in the Amalgam Universe, as first showcased in Marvel Versus DC (1996).


There's a humorous scene in the pilot that alludes to the way Clark in the comics often changes into his Superman costume using the storage closet in the Daily Planet offices. Clark attempts something similar in the pilot but is caught loitering in the storage room by Perry, who then asks Clark when he intends to "come out of the closet".


The first time Superman appears in costume he rescues a space shuttle. This sequence was probably inspired by Clark's first public rescue in book one of Superman: The Man of Steel, which also sees him saving an experimental spacecraft.


In both stories Lois Lane is a passenger aboard the spaceship. This is where she first meets Superman.


When Superman shows up to save the shuttle, a crowd of people spot him flying overhead and call out:

Quote"Is that a bird?"
"Is it a plane?"
"No, just a guy in a pair of tights and a cape."

This is obviously a subversive reference to the classic lines spoken in the intro to the Adventures of Superman radio series.

After Superman saves Lois's life for the first time he scoops her up in his arms and flies her over the city.


There is a memorable scene towards the end of the pilot where Superman confronts Lex Luthor at his penthouse office overlooking Metropolis. This is where war is declared between them. And although the scene is not based on any specific comic, it has been recreated in later Superman stories: most notably the third episode of Superman: The Animated Series (1996) and in the 'Fall' chapter of Superman For All Seasons (1998).



And that pretty much covers the pilot episode.

One episode down, only 86 more left to go.

The villain in this episode is a paranoid government agent named Jason Trask. He is the head of a secret bureau that believes Superman is the vanguard of an alien invasion force. For this reason he is obsessed with uncovering Superman's past and destroying him once and for all. Trask was an original character created for the show, but he shares the obsessive paranoia of the Post-Crisis Emmett Vale. Like Vale, Trask is convinced there are other aliens like Superman just waiting for the signal to invade the Earth. The following comparison is from 'From Out the Green Dawn' (Man of Steel #1, October 1986).


Vale and Trask both discovered Superman's spaceship and traced its point of origin to Kansas.


In the Post-Crisis canon, Vale is the one who discovers kryptonite and is the first person to try and use it to kill Superman. Likewise Trask is the first to discover and use kryptonite in the TV series (see 'The Green, Green Glow of Home' (s1e8)).

This is the first episode to reference the name of Clark's homeworld as Krypton.

There is a scene adapted from John Byrne's Superman: The Man of Steel miniseries in this episode, where Jonathan tells Clark about the spaceship he arrived on Earth in and takes him to where he buried it near the Kent farm.


In the TV episode Clark attempts to exhume the buried ship only to discover that somebody else has already removed it. This reflects another scene from the Superman: The Man of Steel miniseries where Clark returns to Smallville after establishing himself as Superman and finds the spaceship is missing from where Jonathan had hidden it.


Another scene adapted from Superman: The Man of Steel is where Superman grants Lois her first interview. During the interview she asks him what his name is, and he replies that he's happy with the name she's already given him: Superman.


At the end of the interview, Lois says, "This is a job for Superman, right?" This is a reference to the famous line spoken many times in the comics.

The only other thing to mention about this episode is that Jimmy asks Lucy Lane out on a date. These two characters have been romantically linked in the comics for many years, but following this episode their relationship in the TV show is quickly forgotten.

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It's in this episode that Clark moves into his new apartment. The address is 344 Clinton Street, which is the same address as Clark's apartment in the comics. In both the comics and in the TV show, Clark continues to live in this apartment until his eventual marriage to Lois.


This is the first episode to reference the Lexor Hotel. I'm not sure where this building originated, but the Lexor Hotel has certainly featured in a number of subsequent Superman stories such as the videogame DC Universe Online.


It may have originated in Lois and Clark and then been adapted into other mediums, but I'm not certain about that. In the Silver Age comics Lexor was the name of an alien planet where Luthor was revered as a hero.

There's a comical subplot in this episode where Lois and Clark are constantly trying to scoop one another's stories. Similar contests have taken place between them in the comics over the years. The following example is from the Superman: The Man of Steel miniseries.


Inspector Henderson appears for the second time in this episode, this time played by Brent Jennings. In all subsequent appearances he is played by Richard Belzer.

Lex Luthor references the famous lines spoken in the introduction to the Adventures of Superman radio series.

Quote•   "Is he, for example, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound?"
•   "Yes, but how powerful? I mean, more powerful than an avalanche? More powerful than a locomotive?"
•   "Hmm. Faster than a speeding bullet."

One last thing to mention about this episode is that it marks the first appearance of Lex Luthor's right-hand man, Nigel St John, played by Tony Jay. Jay would later voice Sul-Van, Kal-El's grandfather, in Superman: The Animated Series.

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In the opening sequence of this episode several pieces of Superman comic book art can be seen on display at a street festival. Several comic creators also make cameos in this scene, including editor Mike Carlin, writer Louise Simonson and artist Jon Bogdanove.

Superman is overwhelmed by the attention he receives from the public. The scene where the mob swarms around him is yet another scene adapted from Byrne's Superman: The Man of Steel miniseries.


As in the comic, Clark then retreats back to the Kent Farm and tells his parents what happened. He is concerned over the attention he is receiving and is frightened people will try to market him for their own personal gain. The whole experience leaves him feeling overwhelmed, and it's up to Jonathan and Martha to talk him around.


There is a subplot in this episode about a talent agent named Murray Brown who is desperate to represent Superman. Brown may have been inspired by Nick Williams from 'Superman's Phony Manager' (Action Comics #6, November 1938), a dodgy talent agent who also tried to make money off Superman's actions. The main difference between the two characters is that Williams only pretended to represent Superman as a way of making money, whereas Brown genuinely wants to represent the Man of Steel.


In both stories Clark is continually annoyed by the talent agent's persistence.


In the comic Superman sends Williams to jail, but in the TV show he allows Brown to represent him on the condition that all profits go to charity.

This episode is the first to show Superman bouncing bullets off his chest...


...crushing a criminal's gun with his bare hands...


...and smashing through a wall.

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This episode sees Superman fighting boxers who've been augmented with cybernetic enhancements. Superman has fought numerous cyborgs in the comics over the years, the most famous example being Metallo.


The most fearsome of these fighters in the TV episode is a boxer named Tommy Garrison. Garrison has a fair amount in common with the Post-Crisis John Corben/Metallo that debuted in 'From Out the Green Dawn' (Man of Steel #1, October 1986). The most obvious similarity is that they're both cyborgs. They also look vaguely alike and share the same obnoxious, boastful macho personality. Both Garrison and Corben set out to prove their superior strength by defeating Superman in combat.


It should be noted that the real John Corben/Metallo does show up in season 2, but Garrison is essentially a season 1 variation on the Metallo concept.

Another villain appearing in this episode is a corrupt promoter named Max Menkin. This isn't a comic reference, but Max Menkin was the villain in the Broadway musical It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman! (1966).

Lois's father, Sam Lane, makes his first appearance in this episode. In the comics Sam is a high-ranking officer in the army, but in Lois and Clark he's a physician specialising in cybernetics. He would go on to become a recurring character in seasons 3 and 4, where he would be played by a different actor. This is the only time he appears in the first two seasons.


The episode climaxes with a one-on-one fight between Superman and Tommy Garrison. Clark had been humiliated by Garrison when he'd sparred against him earlier in the episode; a scene that reflects a similar moment from 'The Man in the Public Eye!' (Superman #267, September 1973) where Clark spars against champion Jim Fawcett.


The second time he enters the ring is as Superman, and this time it's the final showdown. The climactic nature of this boxing match invites obvious comparisons with the famous Superman vs. Muhammad Ali comic from 1978.


Superman wins the fight by knocking out Garrison with an understated flick of his finger. He's done this in the comics far too many times to list. Here's an example from the Superman: The Man of Steel miniseries.

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Most of this episode takes place on the West River waterfront. West River is one of the three main waterways running through Metropolis in the comics.

The plot concerns Lois and Clark going undercover to work at a nightclub run by a criminal organisation. Lois has gone undercover in many professions over the years, including nightclub performer, as seen here in Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane #56 (April 1965).


Clark goes undercover using the alias Charles King. The Superman in the comics has used the similar-sounding alias of Charles Kendall. Both names share the initials C.K. (the same as Clark Kent) and the first name Charles.

Another plot in this episode sees West River being terrorised by a series of arson attacks. This may have been inspired by 'Steel' (Superman: Man of Steel #22, June 1993). Both stories revolve around street gangs armed with super weapons tearing apart areas of Metropolis and setting fire to buildings. In the comic the super weapons are called 'Toastmasters', while in Lois and Clark they are simply called 'Toasters'. This comic was written and illustrated by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove respectively, both of whom made cameos in the Lois and Clark episode 'I'm Looking Through You' (s1e4).


Much of the action in this episode takes place in the Metro Club. This isn't a comic reference, but there was a deleted sequence from the feature film Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987) which took place in the Metro Club. In the movie it was more of an eighties disco, whereas in the TV show it's an upscale nightspot showcasing live entertainment.

I don't have any specific references for this one. But I will make one brief comment on it. This episode is largely comedic in tone, but there's a fairly unsettling scene where Lex Luthor force-feeds a scientist drugs to deliberately cause brain damage and reduce him to the state of a vegetable. Lex then cheerfully conducts a one-sided conversation with his victim, laughing and making fun of him in a manner similar to the Joker and Rotelli in the 1989 Batman film.


This, combined with Luthor's plan to murder and dissect a group of children, demonstrates just how ruthless the character was in this show. Lois and Clark is often described as being a lighter, more comedic take on the Superman myth, but it wasn't without its moments of darkness. And John Shea's Lex Luthor was no less sadistic than his counterpart on the printed page.

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This episode marks the first appearance of green kryptonite. It is found in Smallville near where Clark's spaceship first crash landed. As this is Clark's first exposure to kryptonite, the effects are slightly different than usual. It hurts him as it ordinarily would, but it also leaves him depowered and vulnerable for a period of about 24 hours after the initial exposure. Superman is exposed to green kryptonite on one further occasion in season 1 ('The House of Luthor' (s1e21)) where it has a similar effect of leaving him powerless for a short span of time. From season 2 onwards, Clark would no longer suffer these after effects following green kryptonite exposure.


This episode marks the last appearance of Agent Trask. In the section on 'Strange Visitor (From Another Planet)' (s1e2) I compared Trask to the Post-Crisis Emmett Vale. In keeping with that analogy, Trask is the first villain to discover kryptonite and to try to use it to kill Superman.


This episode features a supporting character called Sheriff Rachel Harris. Rachel is Clark's redheaded childhood friend from Smallville. She was also his prom date and is shown to harbour romantic feelings towards him. Basically she's Lana Lang under a different name.


The real Lana Lang would eventually show up in Season 3. But this is the closest Season 1 ever got to referencing her existence.

There's a longstanding rumour that this episode was originally meant to feature a subplot about Lana Lang's wedding in Smallville, but since the rights to the character were retained by the makers of the recently cancelled Superboy (1988-92) show, the makers of Lois and Clark were unable to use her. However this rumour has never been officially confirmed

Jimmy's signal watch makes its debut in this episode.

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Mayor Berkowitz makes an appearance in this episode, played by Sonny Bono of all people. Berkowitz first appeared in book four of the Superman: The Man of Steel (1986) miniseries and was the mayor of Metropolis in the comics at the time this show was made.


The storyline of this episode sees Superman going to jail after Lex Luthor makes it appear as though his powers are the cause of a dangerous heat wave. This is similar to the plot of 'Endings' (Action Comics #556, June 1984), in which Vandal Savage turns public opinion against Superman by making it seem like he's responsible for unleashing prehistoric spores over Metropolis.


In both stories the police have no choice but to reluctantly arrest the Man of Steel, and Superman willingly submits himself to their custody.


He is taken before a judge to answer the charges against him. Bail is waived and Superman is released following a short period of incarceration.


Both stories end with Superman clearing his name and having the charges against him dropped. In the comic, Vandal Savage's part in the affair is made public and he is forced to flee the police. But Luthor's machinations in the TV episode remain secret.

At one point Clark pretends that he's been offered a job as editor of the Smallville Post. This newspaper exists in the comics too.

The finale of this episode takes place at a LexCorp nuclear power plant located in Hob's Bay. Hob's Bay is also an area of Metropolis in the comics and is featured many times throughout the TV show. This episode is also the first to make reference to Hob's River, which is one of the three main waterways running through Metropolis in the comics.

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I haven't got any references for this one.

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I can't think of any significant comic influences on this episode either. The only thing I would say is that the scene towards the end where Superman stops a tidal wave is similar to a scene from Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man: The Battle of the Century (1976).


It's unlikely this was a deliberate reference, but I thought the two scenes were close enough that it was worth remarking upon the similarity.

Most of the episode takes place at the Lexor Hotel (see 'Neverending Battle' (s1e3)). The storyline about Lois and Clark staying at a hotel and pretending to be newlyweds was possibly inspired by the movie Superman II (1980).

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The plotline of this episode has been used in several Superman TV shows, including the Adventures of Superman episode 'Panic in the Skies' and the Superboy episode 'Superboy...Lost'. But since I'm examining comic influences, I'm going to compare it against 'The Menace from the Stars!' (World's Finest #68, January 1954) rather than the earlier screen versions.

The story begins with an ominous asteroid appearing in the sky above Metropolis.


Astronomers predict the asteroid will soon collide with the Earth. They request Superman's help, and so the Man of Steel goes to the Metropolis observatory to discuss the matter with them in person.


They decide on a course of action that involves Superman flying into space and manually destroying the asteroid before it can reach the Earth. In the Lois and Clark episode Superman is equipped with an extra supply of oxygen in case he is unable to hold his breath throughout the duration of his time in space. This exemplifies how the Dean Cain Superman was not as powerful as the earlier screen versions; a change which has its basis in the Post-Crisis reinvention of the character. While the Pre-Crisis Superman could seemingly hold his breath indefinitely when he went into space, the Post-Crisis version would require an additional supply of oxygen for when he could no longer hold his breath.


Returning to World's Finest #68, Superman flies into space and hurls himself at the asteroid at full speed. In the comic he succeeds in knocking it into a harmless orbit around the Earth. In the TV episode he partially damages it, but there is enough space rock remaining to threaten the Earth. And it's still heading on a collision course.


The impact of the collision sends Superman hurtling back to Earth.


In the comic he crash lands in a park, while in the TV episode he crash lands in Suicide Slum near Hob's Bay. Long time Superman readers will be familiar with these locations, as they're both areas of Metropolis in the comics.

Clark is disoriented and suffering from amnesia. He doesn't even remember that he is Superman.


His friends at the Daily Planet fill him in on his life as Clark, but he remains oblivious of his superpowered alter ego.


Eventually he recovers his memory and realises that he is Superman. In the comic he comes to this realisation on his own, while in the TV episode it is Martha and Jonathan who remind him. He then flies up into space to finish what he started. In the comic he destroys the asteroid completely, while in the TV episode he simply shoves it back into space.


One last thing to mention about this episode is that it features another reference to the famous "faster than a speeding bullet" line.


Well, that covers the first half of season one. So I'll leave it there for now.

Heh heh, NOW we're talking! This show takes an absolutely criminal amount of crapola from the fans. And I can somewhat understand but there's way too much good stuff here (in all seasons) to write the whole thing off.

I'll contribute when I can to "the comic's influences on the show" angle but in terms of "the show's influence on the comics", my view is that L&C launched the trend of Lois being the inspiration for Superman. It was a new thing at the time for Lois to play such a central role in defining Superman's character. A good example is 1.05- Requiem For A Superhero, where Lois, during a poker game, explains to the staffers that Superman wouldn't cheat at anything because he's above that so Clark, in spite of his frustrations, folds rather than giving in to the temptation to use x-ray vision to look at Perry's cards. Subsequent episodes would further develop the concept of Lois being an unwitting (and eventually a complicit) co-conspirator in shaping Superman. This reaches a zenith in a third (or fourth, tough to remember) episode where Lois travels to a parallel world where she single-handedly pushes that world's Clark into becoming Superman (which he hadn't done up to then). She created Superman from the ground up. It's clear that this isn't necessarily hardwired into Clark's psychology. He needs a push to openly become Superman rather than remaining an anonymous do-gooder. Lois would (however subconsciously) project her expectations onto Superman and Clark would in turn do all in his power to fulfill them.

Smallville took all of this to the next level by setting up the relationship with Lois as the purification Clark needed in his journey toward becoming Superman. Obviously Lois actively shaping the inception of Superman is Smallville's innovation but, as above, it is not without some level of precedent. And by the way, SV's Lana also eventually discovered Clark's secret (unbeknownst to Clark himself at first) and this ultimately proved to not be an altogether positive development for Clark.

By contrast, SV's Lois discovered his secret (also unbeknownst to him) and she served as one of the last pieces of the puzzle in Clark becoming Superman. She also helped SV's Clark develop the "Metropolis Clark" disguise as a klutz to serve as a mask for his true identity. So beyond Lois actively helping Clark fulfill his destiny, the showrunners intentionally set up a point/counterpoint to how Clark handled a relationship based on full disclosure with Lana vs. how he handled it with Lois (ie, one of those was positive for him, the other not so much). Lana held Clark back while Lois inspired him to new heights (at times literally so).

You could even throw in an analysis of the SV Clark's relationship (such as it was) with Alicia, which was different still from all of the above, but this thing is getting long enough as it is.

The comics would eventually run with this concept of Lois being what sustained Superman (and whose death would alternately either drive Superman into isolation in his fortress in Kingdom Come or to abandon Earth entirely in DC One Million). They obviously didn't have the luxury of L&C's influence earlier in their run but they certainly adapted it into their existing continuity as much as they could. Even Birthright showed Clark become Superman and feel at ease (in more ways than one) with his new identity after Lois accepts Superman as a friend rather than a potential threat to Earth. True, Waid somewhat downplays the moment but the significance is what it is.

As far as I know, The New 52 has pretty much wiped all or most of this stuff away but that doesn't and shouldn't diminish L&C's influence. There was a significant portion of Superman's history where Lois proved to be Superman's backbone and that all began, oddly enough, with Clark gambling in an episode of L&C.

The show's influence on the comics and other adaptations is definitely something I want to cover in this thread. I've already found several comic scenes that were adapted directly from episodes of Lois and Clark, and any deeper analysis of the ways the series affected the comics is very welcome. It all helps place the show in a wider context that might make people appreciate it more. Thanks for this first contribution, colors.

I know most people on this site won't be interested in this subject, but I'm going to continue with it anyway. If nothing else it'll make a nice companion piece for the Smallville analysis thread. And it's good to have all this information stored here for posterity, just in case someone does decide to revisit the show and is interested in reading about how it relates to the wider mythology.

Actually, Silver Nemesis, you've made me want to watch Lois And Clark!

I'm delighted to hear it! :) L&C may not have the best special effects or action scenes, but it's got some of the purest and most accurate portrayals of the Superman mythology ever committed to screen. It's a charming upbeat show that leaves you smiling at the end of every episode.

I'll try and post the analysis of the remaining episodes from season one soon. The events covered in those episodes include the destruction of Krypton, Superman vs. Bizarro, and the "death" of Lex Luthor. I'm also working on a comic analysis of The Flash (1990-91), though that one will be a lot smaller than this.

Here is one for the end of the first season. The ending is different though. Lois had pretending to be in love with Lex to catch him for a crime. But most of the story appears to be about Lois and Lex's romance and Superman's dispair over it.

(https://www.batman-online.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv396%2FAvilos%2F14578_zpsa2bd9758.jpg&hash=c55a4bcef5695e1362b5972bcbf7c67566cfc745) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Avilos/media/14578_zpsa2bd9758.jpg.html)

Quote from: Avilos on Wed, 24 Apr  2013, 16:54
Here is one for the end of the first season. The ending is different though. Lois had pretending to be in love with Lex to catch him for a crime. But most of the story appears to be about Lois and Lex's romance and Superman's dispair over it.

(https://www.batman-online.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv396%2FAvilos%2F14578_zpsa2bd9758.jpg&hash=c55a4bcef5695e1362b5972bcbf7c67566cfc745) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Avilos/media/14578_zpsa2bd9758.jpg.html)

Cheers for that, Avilos! I've got a ton of references for the final two-parter of season one; probably more references than for any other single episode. But that Superman Family comic is new to me. I'll be certain to check it out before I post the references for the rest of the season.

This is going to be a fun project to follow. I'm also a huge fan of L&C. I'd like to pitch in but my knowledge of the comics isn't as encyclopedic as it used to be. Maybe this thread will help clear up the cobwebs.

So what is the status, when will we see more?

To those who are following this thread, sorry for the delay with the update. Here's the analysis for the second half of season one. Special thanks to thecolorsblend and Avilos for giving me some pointers on these episodes.

---

This episode contains the first of numerous references to the Batman mythology. The reference in question occurs when Superman is giving a talk at a school and two of the children suggest the police could summon him using a signal in the sky:

QuoteBOY #1
                     Maybe you could make a deal with
                     nine-one-one.

                                      BOY #2
                     Or you could have a signal in the
                     sky that they shine when you're
                     needed.

Not much else to say about this one, so I'll move on.

---

This is the first episode to explore Superman's vulnerability to magic. The villain, a female stage magician named Constance, is like an evil version of the comic hero Zatanna. Like Zatanna, Constance learned her magic skills from her father. And like Zatanna she is a skilled hypnotist. A major difference between the two characters is that Zatanna possesses genuine magical abilities, whereas Constance relies on hypnosis and trickery to pull off her feats.


Superman is susceptible to hypnotism in both the comics and the TV series. The following example is from 'The Master Mesmeriser of Metropolis!' (Superman #330, December 1978). Note that Superman is only pretending to be hypnotised in this panel, but he genuinely was hypnotised earlier in the issue.


Not much else to say about this one, so I'll move on.

---

I've got nothing on this one.

---

This episode is loosely adapted from books one and six of Byrne's Superman: The Man of Steel miniseries. It is the first episode of the series to depict the planet Krypton and reveal Superman's full origin story.

The episode begins with Clark waking up in the middle of the night and encountering a spectral vision of his late father, Jor-El.


This triggers the first of a series of visions depicting the destruction of Krypton. In the comic Clark resists and overcomes these haunting visions, but in the TV show he eagerly awaits them in order to learn his true heritage. The first thing he learns is his Kryptonian name: Kal-El.

In the flashback visions we see Jor-El, played by David Warner. Jor-El would appear again in season 3 played by a different actor.


We also see Lara, played by actress Eliza Roberts.


The TV show's depiction of the destruction of Krypton is a concise summary of the event as portrayed in the comics. Conscious of Krypton's impending destruction, Jor-El selects Kansas, Earth, as a suitable home for his infant son Kal-El. The dialogue during the scene where he explains this to Lara is similar in both the comic and TV episode.


Jor-El places his infant son in a spaceship so that he alone will escape the apocalypse. In both Byrne's comic and the TV episode, Jor-El installs "a hyper-light drive" to allow the ship to travel to Earth. The TV episode also recreates the panel showing Jor-El stroking the matrix orb with the baby Kal-El lying within. In the TV episode it is Lara who strokes the orb, but the shot is otherwise the same. Note the reflection in the glass as Kal-El's parents bid a sad farewell to their baby.


The image of Kal-El's ship flying away from Krypton as it explodes is also faithfully recreated in the TV episode.


There is a subplot in this episode that is indebted to an episode of The Flash (1990-91) television series, 'Child's Play' (s1e7). In both TV shows a teenager living on the streets steals something precious without realising its true value. The hero (Barry Allen/Clark Kent) tries to help the kid and discovers that they are stealing to provide for their younger sibling, who is also living on the streets with them. The item the teenager has stolen also attracts the attention of a criminal, and this leads to the teenager being taken prisoner and threatened by the villain. The hero (the Flash/Superman) ultimately rescues the teen, reunites him with his younger sibling and arranges a new home for the both of them. In the Lois and Clark episode the teenager is named Jack, and the episode ends with Clark finding him a job at the Daily Planet. Jack, played by Chris Demetral, would become a recurring character throughout the remainder of season 1.

This episode's theme of Clark/Superman helping out the homeless is similar to the plot of 'Homeless for the Holidays' (Adventures of Superman #462, January 1990), which was one of the stories included in the 1994 Lois & Clark tie-in book I mentioned at the beginning of this thread. In this comic a Daily Planet employee named Alice falls on hard times and has nowhere to live. Clark and the rest of the Daily Planet staff help find her a home, just as they do for Jack – who also becomes a Daily Planet employee – in the television episode.

The final shot of this episode is of Clark's childhood treehouse back on the Kent Farm. The sign on the door reads 'Fortress of Solitude', a reference to Superman's Arctic hideout in the comics.

---

This episode explores the field of newspaper journalism in Metropolis, and specifically the Daily Planet's struggle against a rival paper called the Metropolis Star. The Daily Star was the name of the newspaper the original Earth-Two Clark wrote for during the Golden Age. In the modern canon, the Metropolis Star is a rival newspaper of the Daily Planet.

---

The plot of this episode is loosely adapted from book five of the Superman: The Man of Steel miniseries. In both stories Luthor has a secret laboratory hidden in his penthouse apartment. There he has assigned a geneticist the task of creating a clone of Superman. In the comic the scientist is named Dr Teng, while in the TV episode he's called Dr Fabian Leek. Leek is portrayed by Michael McKean, who would later play Perry White in Smallville.


The clone at first appears to be a perfect doppelganger of Superman.


But they soon learn its genetic structure is deteriorating, much to Luthor's annoyance.


The clone (played by Dean Cain) is never actually referred to as "Bizarro" in the Lois and Clark episode, even though that's clearly who he's meant to be. Lois does pointedly describe him as "bizarre" at one point, similar to how Luthor does in Byrne's comic.


The colouring on the clone's costume is identical to Superman's, unlike the Post-Crisis Bizarro's which is typically depicted as having darker shades of red and blue. But the Pre-Crisis Bizarro's costume was also identical to Superman's, displaying the same shades of red and blue as the clone's in this episode.

The clone also doesn't speak with Bizarro's distinctive syntax from the comics. But then neither did the first Post-Crisis Bizarro from John Byrne's Superman: The Man of Steel.

At first the clone attempts to perform acts of heroism, much the way Superman himself would. In the comic he unnerves people with his freakish appearance, while in the TV episode he disturbs them with his smugness and violent treatment of criminals.


The clone also develops an interest in a member of the Lane family and clumsily attempts to woo her. In the comic it's Lucy. But Lucy had already left the series by this point, so instead the TV episode sees the clone going after Lois herself. Both stories include a scene where the clone forcibly kisses Lois against her will.


Clark fears the clone's actions will compromise his duel identity in both versions of the story. When the two of them finally face off against each other, the clone initiates the battle by hurling Superman through a window.


They fight to a stalemate, with Superman realising the futility of their duel since their powers are equal.


Both stories end with the clone dying as a result of its genetic instability. In the comic Superman voices his belief that the clone had good in him at the moment of his death. The TV episode takes this more literally, having the clone change sides to help Superman retrieve the genetic template from Luthor. The clone then hands the genetic material, along with his own dying body, over to Superman. Superman mercifully carries the clone into space and hurls his body into the sun, thereby ending his suffering and ensuring no further clones will be made.


The clone's sympathetic demise in the TV episode may also have been influenced by the second Bizarro clone Superman encountered in the Post-Crisis comics. This clone died in Superman #88 (April 1994), but not before it made sure to destroy the last sample of its DNA in Luthor's possession; frustrating Luthor's plans and earning the respect of Lois and Superman, just like the clone in the TV episode does.

One last thing to mention about this episode is that actress Cynthia Ettinger appears in a small role as a tour guide on a studio lot where Superman and his clone are fighting. Ettinger would go on to play Martha Kent in the unaired pilot episode of Smallville.

---

This episode has parallels with book four of Bryne's Superman: The Man of Steel. The basic plot of both stories sees Lois, Clark and Lex Luthor taken prisoner during a hostage situation.


In the comic, this situation arises on a luxury ship and is secretly orchestrated by Luthor himself. In the TV episode it happens in the Daily Planet building and Luthor is as much a hostage as the other characters.

Clark has to find a way of rescuing everyone without compromising his secret identity. In the comic he allows the villains to throw him overboard, then returns as Superman to stop them. In the Lois and Clark episode he has to sit tight until an opportunity arises to change into his costume without the other hostages seeing. In both stories he is able to accomplish this and rescue Lois in the nick of time.

This episode marks the final appearance of Cat Grant.

These final two episodes comprise the season finale. In my opinion this is where the show reached its peak. If you were to edit these two episodes together with the pilot episode then you'd end up with one of the best Superman movies ever made. Since it's a single storyline spread over two episodes I'm going to analyse them together.

There are two main plotlines in these episodes. The first concerns Lex Luthor proposing to Lois and their subsequent engagement. As I mentioned earlier, Luthor's romantic interest in Lois was an ongoing storyline in the comics at the time. And the idea of him trying to dupe her into thinking he's a good man, as he does in these episodes, is precisely what he was up to in the comics. The following example is from Adventures of Superman #424 (January 1987).


In this example Luthor is trying to convince Lois of his good intentions by providing medical treatment for her mother. In the season finale he tries to win her over by purchasing the Daily Planet after it runs into financial difficulties.

This leads into the second plot of the season finale. The Daily Planet building is blown up and Clark's friend Jack is set up to take the blame. In reality though, Luthor himself is responsible for the attack. He engineers the destruction of his own property to gain the insurance money, remove the Daily Planet from circulation, and bring Lois and himself closer together. This is similar to a plot line beginning in Man of Steel #27 (November 1993), where Lex Luthor II tries to pull off a similar insurance scam by sabotaging several of his own buildings and blaming their destruction on the recent Doomsday rampage. In both the comic and the TV show the Daily Planet reporters investigate the insurance scam and Lois personally confronts Luthor on the matter. And in both stories Luthor smoothly deflects her suspicions.


The destruction of the Daily Planet building is one of several elements in these episodes adapted from Action Comics #700 (June 1994), which was part of the Fall of Metropolis storyline in the comics. The Fall of Metropolis arc was being developed concurrent with the first season of Lois and Clark, and there are enough parallels between that storyline and the season finale to suggest a deliberate synergy between the two writing staffs. In the comic, as in the TV episode, it is Luthor who is responsible for destroying the Daily Planet building.


Perry is particularly devastated by this tragic loss.


With the Planet gone, Lois goes to work for LNN (the Luthor News Network), which is a branch of LexCorp in both the comics and the TV show.

Returning to Man of Steel #27, this issue also marks the first appearance of Franklin Stern in the comics. Stern appears in 'The House of Luthor' played by James Earl Jones. As in the comics, he's portrayed as a wealthy businessman and a supporter of the Daily Planet.


Luthor refuses to rebuild the Daily Planet and so Perry convinces Stern to step in and purchase majority shares in the paper. Stern was already the owner of the Daily Planet in the comics at the time this season was being aired.

Meanwhile plans for Lex and Lois's wedding proceed apace. Action Comics #700 also features a plotline about a wedding, although in the comic it is Lana Lang and Pete Ross who are tying the knot.


The idea of Lois and Lex marrying was also explored in 'The Cheat the Whole World Cheered' (Superman Family #172, September 1975), although in the comic Lois is merely pretending she will marry Luthor so she can spy on him. When Luthor realises this, he brainwashes her into going through with the wedding anyway. By contrast, the Lois in the TV episode genuinely intends to marry Lex, having been duped by his benevolent public persona.

At one point Luthor enjoys a virtual reality fantasy in which he visits Superman's grave. A similar image of Superman's gravestone was used in the marketing campaign for The Death of Superman (1993) story arc in the comics.


The idea behind The Death of Superman storyline arose following a meeting between the writing staffs of the TV series and the Superman comics. It was agreed that they would delay Lois and Clark's wedding in the comics to coincide with their onscreen wedding in the TV show. And it was because of that delay that The Death of Superman storyline occurred. So the makers of the TV show would have been very much aware of this storyline.

'The House of Luthor' features a scene where Clark shaves using his heat vision and a mirror. This is yet another scene adapted from Byrne's Superman: The Man of Steel miniseries.


Luthor has an assistant in these two episodes called Mrs. Cox. She is a physically intimidating woman who serves as his assistant, chauffer and bodyguard. She was an original character created for the show, but I suspect she may have influenced the character of Mercy Graves, who first appeared in Superman: The Animated Series and was later adapted into the comics.


Yet another plot strand in these two episodes sees Luthor procuring a sample of kryptonite, having learned about the substance following the events of the earlier episode 'The Green, Green Glow of Home' (s1e8). He uses this to create a kryptonite cage and lures Superman into a trap. Similar cages have appeared in the comics over the years. Here's an example from World's Finest #105 (November 1959).


The sequence where Luthor imprisons the depowered Superman seems to have been inspired by a similar scene from 'The Life Story of Superman' (Action Comics #500, October 1979). In the comic Luthor uses red sunlight to weaken Superman, while in the TV episode he uses kryptonite. But in both stories he traps the depowered Superman in a cage and triumphantly gloats over him.


Superman tries to escape the cage using brute force but is unable to do so in his weakened state.


In the end he manages to escape by using an item of clothing to snag the keys to the cell.


Elsewhere, Lois's wedding is underway. Amongst the guests is her mother Ellen, played by Phyllis Coates. Coates had herself played Lois Lane during the 1950s, while Teri Hatcher would go on to play Ellen in the final season of Smallville. Elinore Lane first appeared in the comics in 'Introducing... Lois Lane's Parents!' (Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane #13, November 1959). She becomes a recurring character in seasons 3 and 4, though she is then played by a different actress.

At the end of 'The House of Luthor' Lex is publically exposed for the villain he is. This also happened in Action Comics #700 when the truth finally emerged about Lex Luthor II. The comic ends with Luthor being arrested. The TV episode ends with Luthor ostensibly dying after he leaps from the balcony of his penthouse. The Daily Planet is purchased and rebuilt by Franklin Stern, the journalistic team of Lois and Clark is reformed, and Superman flies off into the sky to answer a call for help.

---

And so ends this analysis of the first season of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

Nine years later, here's an update.

First of all, I mentioned in the section on 'Pilot' that Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale referenced a scene from that episode – where Superman appears outside Lex's office – in Superman for All Seasons (1998). Something else they referenced from that same episode, which I neglected to mention, is the scene where a child compliments Superman on his costume, and Superman replies "Thanks. My mother made it for me." I saw this comparison on Twitter:


But enough about season 1.

---

The main storylines in the second season include the rise of Intergang, Lex Luthor's return from the grave, and the progression of Lois and Clark's relationship from a platonic friendship to a romantic courtship. Season 2 features more comic book villains than any other season, though most are limited to standalone villain-of-the-week appearances.

---

The season premiere introduces Denise Crosby as Dr. Gretchen Kelly, who remains a recurring villain throughout the first half of the season. In the comics Dr. Gretchen Kelley was an ally of Luthor's who posed as his mother when he assumed the clone identity of Lex Luthor II. She was loyal to Lex for a time, but ultimately betrayed him. By contrast, the TV version is depicted as a younger and more psychotic woman who is madly in love with Lex and will do anything to restore him to full life. Gretchen first appeared in the comics in 'The Secret Revealed!' (Superman Vol 2 #2, February 1987).


Lex himself is alive but comatose within some sort of life support capsule. This visually evokes the high-tech iron lung in which Lex Luthor II was confined when his clone body deteriorated in the comics. Note Gretchen standing over him in both of the following images. The panel below is from 'Swan Song' (Action Comics Vol 1 #700, June 1994), a story that was heavily referenced in the first season finale.


Lois and Clark discover that Lex had at least one ex-wife named Arianna Carlin who is out for revenge against them. The Post-Crisis Lex had seven wives prior to meeting Lois in the comics, though Arianna was created especially for the TV show. The name 'Carlin' is likely a nod to Superman comic editor Mike Carlin, who had previously made a cameo in the Lois & Clark episode 'I'm Looking Through You' (s1e4).

Arianna poses as a therapist in order to infiltrate The Daily Planet office and win Lois's trust. Lois also speaks with a therapist in 'The Mad Woman of Metropolis' (Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane Vol 1 #26, July 1961). In both the comic and the TV show the topic of conversation invariably turns to her love life and her obsession with Superman.


Lois speaks to another therapist later in the season, and her obsession with Superman is once again the central topic. Here's another example of her speaking to a therapist about Superman in 'Lois Lane's Romance with Clark Kent!' (Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane Vol 1 #39, February 1963).


Another subplot in the episode sees Lois having to deal with a left-handed criminal lookalike. Lois also encountered a left-handed criminal lookalike in 'The Candid Camera Kid!' (Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane Vol 1 #33, May 1962), and coincidentally the lookalike's first name in the comic was Terry.


Towards the end of the episode Arianna shoots Superman with a kryptonite bullet. The Man of Steel has been shot with kryptonite bullets numerous times in the comics. The following example is from 'Bloodsport!' (Superman Vol 2 #4, April 1987). In the comic the bullet is subsequently removed by doctors at a hospital, while in the TV episode it falls on Lois to remove the bullet and save Superman's life.


One last thing to mention about this episode is that Justin Whalin takes over the role of Jimmy Olsen from Michael Landes. Whalin continues to play Jimmy throughout the remainder of the series.

---

The villain in this story is a rock musician named Lenny Stoke, whose modus operandi involves the use of sound waves to commit crimes and attack Superman's super-hearing. The comic villain Silver Banshee wields sonic attacks with similarly destructive results, though her abilities are supernatural whereas Stoke's are derived from technology.

Stoke is played by Michael Des Barres, who had previously appeared in the Superboy (1988-1992) episodes 'A Change of Heart: Part I & II' (s4e1 & 2).

At one point Stoke attacks Superman using a sonic gun like the one Batman wields in the final chapter of The Dark Knight Returns (1986).


A plot point at the end of the episode involves Superman having to create a sonic boom in order to bypass Stoke's sound wave barrier. The Superman in the comics can create sonic booms with ease, as demonstrated in this example from 'The Day Superman Broke the Law!' (Superman Vol 1 #153, May 1962).

---

Superman stops a runaway train in this episode, which is something he's done countless times in the comics. The following example is from 'Duel of the Diamond Demons!' (Superman Vol 1 #280, October 1974).


I can't think of anything else to say about this one, so I'll move on.

---

This episode marks the first of two appearances in the series by the Prankster, who debuted in the comics in 'The Case of the Crimeless Crimes' (Action Comics Vol 1 #51, August 1942). In the comics his real name is Oswald Loomis, while in Lois & Clark his real name is Kyle Griffin. However, the name 'Loomis' is referenced in the TV episode in the form of Randall Loomis, a red herring whom Lois and Clark wrongly suspect of being the Prankster. They quickly determine that Loomis is innocent before eventually identifying Griffin as the real Prankster. Griffin is played by Bronson Pinchot.


In the Post-Crisis stories the Prankster was a TV comedian who turned to crime to get revenge on the network executives who cancelled his show. The Lois & Clark version of the Prankster is a former weapons developer who is out for revenge against Lois Lane after she wrote a story that got him arrested. Revenge factors into his motives in both versions.

The TV Prankster, like his comic book counterpart, uses weaponised pranks to terrorise people. At one point he pesters Lois with a harassing phone call. The following comparison is with a scene from 'He Only Laughs When I Hurt!' (Superman Vol 2 #16, April 1988), which was the Prankster's first Post-Crisis appearance.

---

This episode introduces Intergang, a criminal organisation that acts as a recurring threat throughout seasons 2 and 3. Among the various leaders of Intergang in the comics were Vincent Edge and his son Morgan Edge, owners of the multimedia corporation Galaxy Communications. The Lois & Clark character Bill Church, Sr., played by Peter Boyle, is based on the comic character Vincent Edge, who debuted in 'The Racer's Edge' (Superman Vol 2 #35, September 1989).


Galaxy Communications is renamed Multiworld Communications for the TV show. In both the comics and the TV series, Edge/Church maintains the public facade of a legitimate businessman while secretly running his criminal empire. In the comics Intergang was really controlled by Darkseid, but Darkseid and Apokolips are never mentioned in the Lois & Clark universe. Intergang debuted in the comics in 'Jimmy Olsen, Superman's Pal, Brings Back the Newsboy Legion!' (Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen Vol 1 #133, October 1970).

In the TV show Intergang use robot insects to assassinate their enemies. Intergang has also deployed robot assassins in the comics, as illustrated by this example from 'Who Took the Super Out of Superman!' (Superman Vol 1 #296, February 1976).


Later in the season we learn that Church has a son who takes over control of Intergang, just as Morgan Edge took over from his father in the comics. But I'll get to that later.

---

The plot of this episode concerns a scheme to plunge Metropolis into chaos by cutting off the city's power and attacking the population's dependency on technology. This might have been inspired by the 'Blackout' storyline in the comics that ran through Adventures of Superman Vol 1 #484, Action Comics Vol 1 #671, Superman: The Man of Steel Vol 1 #6, Adventures of Superman Vol 1 #485 and Superman Vol 2 #62 (November-December 1991). In the comics the blackout was accidentally triggered by Emil Hamilton, while in the TV show it is deliberately orchestrated by the villains. But the chaotic results are similar in both stories.

The TV episode features a cool opening scene where Superman rips the gun off a robot tank. He's ripped apart countless tanks in the comics, so this is a fairly typical display of his super strength.


Another scene has Lois and Clark disguising themselves as soldiers to sneak onto a US Army base, only for Clark to be caught and imprisoned in the base guardhouse. The comic story 'Lieutenant Lois Lane, U.S. Army!' (Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane Vol 1 #6, January 1959) also includes a scene where Clark is imprisoned in a US Army base guardhouse while wearing a soldier's uniform. But in the comic Clark was enlisted, while in the TV show he is merely pretending to be.


The villain in this episode hijacks an orbital weapons platform called the Hawkeye satellite that can kill from space using a powerful laser. This might have been inspired by the Laser Defence System (LDS) that featured in a storyline running through Superman Vol 1 #319-322 (January-April 1978).


In both stories the villain (Parasite in the comic) takes control of the satellite from Earth and tries to fire the laser at Metropolis. In the comic Superman saves the day by pushing the Earth out of the way of the laser. In the TV episode he flies into space and moves the satellite itself so that the laser misses.

---

Dr. Emil Hamilton makes his TV debut in this episode played by John Pleshette. Professor Hamilton first appeared in the comics in 'Man O'War' (Adventures of Superman Vol 1 #424, January 1987) and subsequently alternated between being an ally of Superman and a villain. In the TV show he is initially an unwilling collaborator with the villains but later becomes an ally to Lois and Clark. In both the comics and the TV show Hamilton has ties to S.T.A.R. Labs.


Hamilton later assists Superman in the episode 'Return of the Prankster' (s2e15). After that a new S.T.A.R. Labs scientist is introduced named Dr. Bernard Klein, played by Kenneth Kimmins. Klein shares certain characteristics with Hamilton and continues to act as an ally to Lois and Clark throughout the remainder of the series.

The plot of 'That Old Gang of Mine' concerns the clones of famous gangsters attempting to take over the Metropolis underworld. The leader of the gang is Al Capone, played by William Devane. Superman also encountered Al Capone in the comics in the aptly titled 'Superman Meets Al Capone!' (Superman Vol 1 #142, January 1961).


In the comic Superman met Capone after travelling back in time, while in the TV show Capone is resurrected in the present day via cloning, so there aren't too many plot similarities to note beyond the fact the two characters met.

There's a memorable scene in the TV episode where Capone goes to The Daily Planet and tries to buy off Perry White, only for Perry to send him packing. There's a similar scene in 'Zimba's Gold Badge Terrorists' (Superman Vol 1 #11, August 1941) where mobster Rolf Zimba goes to Perry's office and tries to secure his loyalty. As in the TV show, Perry tells him to get lost. In the comic he actually punches the mobster in the face. This is a nice demonstration of Perry's incorruptibility and journalistic integrity.


Another scene has Lois and Clark investigating a lookalike agency where they encounter a Superman impersonator. This is unlikely to have been a deliberate reference, but there was a Superman lookalike in the comics named Greg Read who appeared in several Pre-Crisis stories beginning with 'Superman vs. Superstar!' (Action Comics Vol 1 #414, July 1972). Read was an actor and Superman impersonator who portrayed the Man of Steel on television and was occasionally called upon to double for him when Clark's secret identity was at stake.

The central concept of this episode deals with an ordinary man named William Wallace Webster Walldecker acquiring Superman's powers after being struck by lightning while in proximity to him. Walldecker then assumes the costumed identity of Resplendent Man and proceeds to charge people exorbitant sums of money for saving them. I don't know of any examples of lightning transferring Superman's powers like this in the comics. Usually lightning just tickles him.


Resplendent Man's costume resembles that of Don Rickles lookalike Goody Rickles from Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen Vol 1 #139 & 141 (July & September 1971).


There's not much else to say about this episode. Lois finds out that Lex is still alive and Gretchen Kelly briefly acquires super powers before Superman strips them away from her and Resplendent Man. Moving on.

---

This Christmas-themed episode was written by Dean Cain and features the comic villain Winslow Schott, aka Toyman, played by Sherman Hemsley. Toyman debuted in the comics in 'The Terrible Toyman' (Action Comics Vol 1 #64, September 1943).


Cain briefly acknowledges Schott's comic book origins in the episode's DVD commentary:

Quote"And this character is based on the Toyman, who is a character who really did exist in Superman lore. But it's a little bit different than the Toyman that existed in the comics."

In point of fact, the TV version's back story is largely faithful to that of the Post-Crisis Toyman, as depicted in 'Toys in the Attic' (Superman Vol 2 #13, January 1988). In both versions, Schott was formerly a toymaker who specialised in manufacturing cute teddy bears that nobody wanted.


When his products failed to sell, he was made redundant and embarked on a criminal quest for revenge. In the comic he targeted the employers who ended his career, while in the TV show he seeks revenge against the whole of Metropolis. In both stories he has his hideout in a toy factory where he makes weaponised toys. In the comic he uses lots of different type of toys, but in the TV episode he has only one: Atomic Space Rats that spray a drug that makes people behave in a childishly greedy manner.

On the trivia front, the Post-Crisis Superman first learns about Toyman in 'Toys in the Attic' from a pair of unnamed British secret agents who are clearly modelled on John Steed and Emma Peel from the TV show The Avengers (1961-1969).


The humour and tone of Lois & Clark, as well as its central will-they-won't-they dynamic, have been compared to those of The Avengers. There is also an episode of The Avengers titled 'Two's a Crowd' (s4e12) in which the main villain uses weaponised toys to assassinate people, similar to Toyman's MO in the comics. The plot of the second season Lois & Clark episode 'Resurrection' (s2e17) also has some striking similarities with The Avengers episode 'Bizarre' (s6e33).

Anyway, the TV version of Schott ultimately turns over a new leaf and is revealed to be a softy at heart. A second and more deadly version of Toyman would later appear in the fourth season Lois & Clark episode 'Toy Story' (s4e21), exhibiting an MO that is closer to that of the comic version plus a wider array of lethal toys.

The plot of 'Season's Greedings' also has parallels with Jerry Siegel's one-shot Superman's Christmas Adventure (1940). Both stories begin with a scene of Lois and Clark strolling around Metropolis observing the Christmas shoppers.


They soon encounter a disadvantaged child (Billy Connelly in the comic, Danielle in the TV show), and Superman is inspired to procure Christmas toys for underprivileged kids. Elsewhere, a criminal duo plans to spoil Christmas. In the comic the two villains are named Dr. Grouch and Mr. Meaney, while in the TV show they're Winslow Schott/Toyman and his secretary Miss Duffy.


Both stories feature a scene where Clark is exposed to the villains' chemical weapon in The Daily Planet building. In the comic it is knockout gas and he has to pretend to be affected by it, while in the TV episode it's the Atomic Space Rat gas and he genuinely is affected by it.


In both stories Superman defeats the villains, saves Christmas and makes certain that the toys are delivered to the children on time. Both the comic and TV episode feature the image of Superman carrying Santa's sleigh through the night sky to deliver presents on Christmas Eve.


In the TV episode this is actually Perry dressed as Santa. However, Clark later hears the real Santa Claus flying through the sky. So the real Santa features in both stories.

One final observation to make about this episode is that Martha reveals Clark's middle name to be Jerome. In the comics his middle name is Joseph, after Superman's co-creator Joe Shuster. The use of Jerome in the TV series is a nod to the character's other co-creator, Jerome Siegel.

---

This episode focuses on the cyborg villain John Corben, who debuted in the comics in 'The Menace of Metallo' (Action Comics Vol 1 #252, May 1959). The TV episode begins with a robbery being committed by a moustachioed robot resembling the original Silver Age John Corben.


The Pre-Crisis Corben was a thief and embezzler who murdered a man to cover up his crimes. He was subsequently injured in a car crash and had to have a new kryptonite-powered metal body built for him by Professor Emmet Vale. In the TV show Corben is initially a small-time crook who is shot while committing a robbery. His partner in crime sells him out to Vale, who then builds a new metal body for him powered by kryptonite. Corben's physical appearance in the TV show, with artificial skin covering everything except his silver torso, reflects his original appearance in the Pre-Crisis comics. He is portrayed by Scott Valentine.


He has a panel that opens up in his chest to reveal his kryptonite power source.


In his Pre-Crisis debut story Corben got a job working for The Daily Planet. In the TV show he mentions having worked a paper round for The Daily Planet until he got fired after he was caught stealing money.

In the TV show Corben is romantically involved with Lucy Lane. In his Pre-Crisis debut story he briefly dated Lois Lane, but only because she mistakenly thought he was Superman after she saw bullets bouncing off his chest.

Elizabeth Barondes had played Lucy Lane in the first season of Lois & Clark, but in the second season she is played by Roxana Zal. Lucy is mentioned in later episodes, but 'Metallo' marks the character's final on-screen appearance in the series.


Emmet Vale also debuted in 'The Menace of Metallo'. In the TV show he is played by John Rubinstein and has a sibling accomplice named Rollie Vale, played by Christian Clemenson.


The scene where Corben first awakens in his new cyborg body recalls a similar scene from Metallo's Post-Crisis debut story in 'Heart of Stone' (Superman Vol 2 #1, January 1987). In both stories he examines his reflection in a mirror as Vale explains what has happened to him. In the comic Vale tells Corben that he's stronger than Superman, while in the TV episode Corben proclaims himself to be as strong as Superman.


As in the Pre-Crisis comics, it is the press that first names Corben 'Metallo'.

The first time Superman and Metallo come face to face in the TV episode the cyborg easily defeats the Man of Steel. The same thing happened the first time they fought in the Post-Crisis comics, as depicted in 'Heart of Stone'.


In the TV show Superman defeats Metallo during their second fight by melting his legs with his heat vision. In the comics Corben's metal body is explicitly stated to be "unmeltable" in Action Comics Vol 1 #252.

Metallo's Post-Crisis debut, published in Superman Vol 2 #1-2 (January-February 1987), ended with Corben seemingly dying after Lex Luthor wrenched his kryptonite power source from his chest. Corben dies in a similar manner at the end of the TV episode, only it is Rollie Vale who tears the kryptonite from his chest. Rollie later gives Metallo's kryptonite power source to Lex Luthor in the episode 'The Phoenix' (s2e13). So Luthor ends up acquiring Metallo's kryptonite in both the comic and the TV show.


Corben's death at the end of the TV episode reflects how the Pre-Crisis Corben died at the end of his debut story in Action Comics Vol 1 #252. Both were limited to a single appearance. Subsequent Pre-Crisis Metallo stories focused on the second Metallo, John Corben's brother, Roger Corben. There's no mention of John having a brother in the TV series. However, when Rollie Vale next shows up in 'The Phoenix' he has enhanced his own body with a cybernetic limb to compensate for the damage Corben inflicted on his arm, and he still has the kryptonite power source that had fuelled Corben. He's the closest thing the series has to a second Metallo.

---

This episode was written by Hilary J. Bader, who later went on to write extensively for various DCAU shows including Superman (1996-2000), The New Batman Adventures (1997-1999) and Batman Beyond (1999-2001). Bader also wrote numerous scripts for tie-in comics connected with the DCAU, including the Superman story 'Dark Plains Drifter' in Superman Adventures Annual Vol 1 #1 (November 1997). Her association with DC began with 'Chi of Steel'.

Martial arts feature prominently in this episode. Lois mentions having trained in karate and tai chi, and in the later episode 'Lucky Leon' (s2e16) we find out that she has a brown belt in taekwondo. In the comics Lois has a black belt in karate, as revealed in Superman: The Man of Steel Vol 1 #6, which was part of the aforementioned 'Blackout' event. According to Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe Vol 1 #13 (March 1986), the Earth-One Lois Lane was also an expert in karate and judo.


Now for a slight digression. In the tradition of our threads examining the fighting styles of the Batman actors...

---

In real life Dean Cain had a background in contact sports before becoming an actor. He'd competed in wrestling during his high school years, played American Football for Princeton University and later signed on as a free agent with the Buffalo Bills in the NFL. He's also a long-time MMA enthusiast and has indicated in interviews that he might have competed in the sport had he known more about it back when he was younger. But what martial arts does his character use in the TV show Lois & Clark?

To begin with, Clark trains in boxing in the season 1 episode 'Requiem for a Superhero' (s1e5).


In 'Chi of Steel' Superman is trained in the Yi Chi fighting discipline by 10th Level master Lin Chow. The kata they are shown practicing in this episode strongly resembles the real Chinese martial art of tai chi.


During the final fight, Superman takes down the villainous Jzuk-Mao with a jumping side kick. Such moves are common to numerous martial arts, including jiu-jitsu, karate, taekwondo and various forms of kung fu.


Clark employs a similar fighting style against some muggers he encounters while depowered in the episode 'Ultra Woman' (s3e7). The way he traps his opponent's arm with a joint lock before striking and throwing him is typical of jiu-jitsu.


Lieutenant Ching trains Clark in Drei (battle staff) fighting in the fourth season episode 'Battleground Earth' (s4e2), and Superman later uses this Kryptonian martial art to defeat Lord Nor (the L&C version of General Zod) during their climactic battle.


Later that season, Clark displays some basic fencing skills when he duels Baron Tempos in the episode 'Soul Mates' (s4e4). So by the end of season 4 Cain's Superman seems to be proficient in at least four or five different fighting styles, which is more than most live action versions of Superman.

Anyway, back to the comic influences.

---

The plot of 'Chi of Steel' concerns special bracelets that grant the wearer supernatural abilities. Wearing these, a martial arts master can stand toe to toe against Superman. One example of something similar in the comics is the 'The Fantastic Fists and Fury Feet of Jimmy Olsen' (Superman Family Vol 1 #185, October 1977), in which Jimmy acquires special CAPOCC (computerised atomic-powered combat clothing) boots and gloves that grant him advanced martial arts abilities.


The most obvious example of a ninja giving Superman trouble in hand-to-hand combat in the comics would be the various times he's fought Bruce Wayne. Lin Chow's ability to disappear from sight, eluding Superman's super senses, is reminiscent of Batman's ability to vanish in Superman's presence. The following example is from 'Deadly Covenant' (Action Comics Vol 1 #654, June 1990).


At one point Lois disguises herself as a man to infiltrate a gentlemen's club. She also disguised herself as a man in the 'Pilot' episode (s1e1), and she's done so in the comics too. The following example is from 'The Mad Woman of Metropolis', which I mentioned earlier.



Well that about covers the first half of season 2, so for now I'll leave it there. If anyone can think of anything I missed from these episodes then go ahead and add it. I'll try not to wait another nine years before the next update. There's some good stuff in the second half of season 2, including Doctor Light, red kryptonite and Adam West!

Quote from: Silver Nemesis on Sat,  6 Apr  2013, 11:24

'Neverending Battle' (s1e3)

It's in this episode that Clark moves into his new apartment. The address is 344 Clinton Street, which is the same address as Clark's apartment in the comics. In both the comics and in the TV show, Clark continues to live in this apartment until his eventual marriage to Lois.

(https://s10.postimg.cc/3ow22jzzd/344_clinton.jpg)

Can't believe I never remarked on this part of your post sooner.

But the episode itself is very reminiscent of Byrne's Man Of Steel #2, the plot of which partly revolves around Lois chasing Superman all over Metropolis and just barely missing him. The ending of the comic subverts expectations somewhat, by showing Lois missing out on the first interview with Superman... as Clark interviews himself.

Obviously, the show gave the first Superman interview to Lois. And in so doing, some chaos unintentionally resulted from that.

Originally, the episode Neverending Battle is supposed to take place immediately after the pilot and episode 3 is supposed to be Strange Visitor. But some kind of something went wrong with Neverending Battle so the ordering was flipped around. The best evidence of this is Clark rapidly changing into Superman in midair in Strange Visitor (the second episode to air) while struggling with changing into Superman in the Daily Planet bathroom in Neverending Battle (the third episode to air). It LOOKS like discontinuity. But it's actually not. Watching the episodes in their intended order resolves that quite handily:

01- Pilot
02- Neverending Battle
03- Strange Visitor

The above is the intended order. But obviously, those last two were reversed with each other. But the above is the order in which they were meant to be watched.

The reason I mention that is because it clarifies a mini-arc Lois has in the first three episodes. The INTENDED order of the episodes (Pilot, Neverending Battle, Strange Visitor) establishes Lois as a domineering, take-no-prisoners career woman (Pilot), Lois pursuing the Superman story at just about any cost before being humbled by Clark (Neverending Battle) and then relaxing SOMEWHAT while becoming somewhat protective of Superman (Strange Visitor).

It kind of doesn't make sense for Lois wanting to somewhat protect Superman in Strange Visitor and then try exploiting him (in her own way) herself in Neverending Battle. But again, reverse the order of those two episodes (watching Neverending Battle and then following it with Strange Visitor) and it makes more sense.

The capstone for all that is Superman consenting to an interview with Lois at the end of Strange Visitor. It's sort of a reward for Lois's newfound maturity.

And again, it doesn't make sense for Lois to ravenously pursue a story in episode 3 that she already got in episode 2 (i.e., an interview with Superman). But correcting the running order solves that problem.

Also, you can extrapolate an arc for Clark here too. In NB (tired of writing out these titles), he's unprepared for (and uncomfortable with) his new fame. By the end of SV, he's at least comfortable enough with it to do a brief interview with Lois. Which shows that he's growing too. But the wonky air dates throw that off.

...

Yeesh, I know a lot about this show.

But whatever, let this be a lesson to all of you. If you ever binge the first season, make sure to watch Pilot THEN the NB episode and THEN the SV episode. Everything makes a LOT more sense after that.

Anyway, unrelated to what I wrote above, the 344 Clinton thing has always intrigued me. Yes, that was Clark's address in the Post-Crisis comics. But a frequently overlooked fact is that it's also his address in the Pre-Crisis/Bronze Age period as well. John Byrne changed so much about Superman and his mythos that I always thought it was curious that he apparently made a priority of retaining his Pre-Crisis address.

I never found out the reason for the reordering of episodes. But you're right – 'Neverending Battle' clearly takes place immediately after the 'Pilot' episode. At the start of NB everyone in The Daily Planet is fussing over Superman's debut, Lois is giving a description of his appearance to a sketch artist, and Cat is making innuendos about what Lois and Superman got up to on the space station. Clark only formally adopts the name Superman during his interview with Lois at the end of that episode. But in 'Strange Visitor', which aired before NB, Clark is making public appearances in costume and everyone is already referring to his heroic alter ego as Superman. The events of SV have to happen after NB.

The clearest indication of the correct timeline is in the episode 'Man of Steel Bars' where one of the reporters at The Daily Planet produces a line chart cross-referencing Superman's super-feats against spikes in temperature.


The order of the events listed on the chart goes:

•   Superman saves the Prometheus ('Pilot')
•   Superman stops two suicides ('Neverending Battle')
•   Superman intercepts missile ('Strange Visitor')
•   Superman foils robbery at Fort Metropolis ('I'm Looking Through You')
•   Superman KO's Menken prize fighters ('Requiem for a Superhero')
•   Superman extinguishes fires ('I've Got a Crush on You')

No super-feats are listed from the episode 'Smart Kids'. This could indicate that 'Smart Kids' was also shifted in the season, but it most likely reflects the fact there aren't any major super-feats from that episode worth noting. So why switch the order of those other two episodes? The only reason I can think of is that the producers might have objected to Superman almost quitting in NB, despite having only just debuted as a crime fighter in the previous episode. Also, NB and SV both feature early kisses between Lois and Clark. But in SV the kiss was merely part of Lois's plan to distract Trask and escape captivity, whereas in NB it was a sincere heartfelt kiss as Clark bid farewell to Lois. The producers might have thought the heartfelt kiss in NB happened too early in the season.

Or the episodes could have been switched owing to a less obvious technical issue. Either way, it's strange that they didn't rectify the matter by reordering them for the DVD release.

I think the change in broadcast order comes down to the Superman costume used in NB.

If you go back to about 13 minutes in when Superman foils the dual "suicide" attempts, his cape features those heavy shoulders. He looks like a linebacker. Fans joked about this being the "cleavage costume" because the neckline was necessarily lowered pretty far.

And yet, you flip ahead to 30 minutes in when Superman gives Lex an in-person demonstration of his abilities, his cape has been completely redesigned (to something closer to what would be used for the remainder of the series). Also, note the neckline of his tunic is MUCH higher.

Zip ahead to 33 minutes when Superman meets with the Kents and he's back to wearing the linebacker cleavage costume.

Based on that, I'm operating on the assumption that everyone agreed that the linebacker costume used in most of NB sucked and it desperately needed to be redesigned. But they were mostly willing to let the episode be what it is.

Except for the power demonstration scene! I can't prove it. But I think somebody found the original power demo sequence TOTALLY unacceptable. So, they hastily redesigned the cape and tunic to reshoot the scene. But unfortunately, that sequence features some effects stuff, some props, etc. So, reshooting it was no simple matter.

So, NB got delayed to reshoot the power demonstration scene and SV was hastily finished to take NB's place in the production order. SV has some kind of rough effects shots, which bolsters my claim that SV was finished in a rush in order to take NB's place.

As background (get out a beer, because this is a long one), the pilot featured an effective version of the Superman suit. But for whatever reason, someone decided that the suit needed to be redesigned once the main series started shooting. In particular, the production seemed to want to use a much heavier cape like the kind John Byrne favored in his run.

And fair enough, the Superman pilot outfit does have a sort of Halloween costume feel to it. So, maybe a new design was inevitable.

Well, the redesigned cape used starting in NB was made of such heavy material that attaching it to the Superman costume (as would be the intuitive approach) was simply not going to work, period. So, the costume designers had to come up with a new approach.

What the production eventually settled on was an unusual cape design supported directly by Dean Cain's shoulders. Of course, this necessitated putting the cape on to Cain's body BEFORE putting on the tunic. Strange. But effective. You can't argue with the results.

(https://i.imgur.com/HXHISck.jpg)

(Incidentally, this same basic cape design was utilized for the Ultra-Woman costume in season 03. There you can see Lois's cape attached to her shoulder with the support straps running under armpits just like Cain's cape. The costume designer seemed to want to somewhat disguise the shoulder straps (hence the "U" and "W" emblems on Lois's shoulders) but the shoulder straps are still plainly visible.)

This new cape design allowed a more sensible style to the Superman suit... while also showing less "cleavage" for Cain.

The Superman costume would evolve through most of the show's run. But the subsequent tweaks and changes are harder to pinpoint because they're so subtle. By the time you get to season 04, I don't think any significant changes were made to the Superman costume at all. Deborah Joy Levine left the show after the first season. But apparently, she watched the show like a hawk even after she left. Because she said in the season 01 DVD extras that by season 04, the costume designers were VERY close to what she wanted the costume to be all along. Something like 99% of the way there.

A good example of what I mean is the suit design used in The House Of Luthor season 01 finale. It's fine in its place. No major problems to speak of. The technical issues from earlier in the season had all been ironed out by the time you get to THOL.

But when you get to Madame Ex, the season 02 premiere, you can see that the bodysuit looks a lot shinier. The best evidence for this is the chest symbol, which definitely looks different from the flat/non-reflective material used in The House Of Luthor. So, obviously some significant changes were made to the Superman costume between the first two seasons.

Anyway. But if you watch closely, you can see the evolution of the Superman uniform's design through the first few episodes of season 01.

(https://i.imgur.com/JNyYGN6.jpg)

I think someone involved with producing NB even tried to half@$$ explain the change to the cape in-universe. After a commercial break, the episode shows Clark washing his Superman tunic. Clark says words to the effect of "I like the new cape, Mom. We're getting closer!" But Cain's line reading there sounds like ADR to me. I think the scene was originally supposed to begin with brief silence and then Clark says "It's [the bomb stain] not coming out", which sounds like production audio. But instead, the first thing he says it's "I like the new cape", which has a very ADR quality to it, after which Clark gives the "not coming out" line, which sounds more natural to me.

This line actually makes some sense too because after the bombing, Superman comes out of the building with a wrecked cape. He then wears a new cape in the scene with Lex. So, that part adds up.

Of course, he reverts to the old outfit/cape in his scene with the Kents. But what can you do?

But to hopefully make an actual contribution to this thread...

(https://i.imgur.com/wW5C9DQ.jpg)
Action Comics #500, October 1979

(https://i.imgur.com/nxpfQGC.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/as7ky6C.jpg)
The House Of Luthor

The evolution of the costume presents a plausible explanation for the reordering of episodes. I never noticed the "new cape" line sounding like ADR. I'm currently nearing the end of season 4 on my latest re-watch, and I'm enjoying it so much that when I finish I might go straight back to season 1 and start over. If I do, I'll listen out for that line.

I've seen numerous people online voicing preference for the 'Pilot' suit over the later costumes. The main reason for this seems to be the smaller size of the s-shield. Cain was leaner in that first episode and had longer hair, all of which adds up to a slightly different look from the rest of the series. Personally, I like the 'Pilot' costume and rate it above the cleavage suit.


However, I think Cain's Superman looked best in season 4. His costume appeared brighter and more vibrant, with the blue sections having a shiny and almost metallic texture to them. Back then Cain had a similar body shape to Cavill.


When wearing the suit, he looked like a younger version of the Alex Ross Superman.


The only major difference (besides the top of the boots) is that the Ross Superman wears a George Reeves-style cape, while Cain's Superman sports the more traditional variety.


In general, I think season 4 might be the most visually appealing season of L&C. Granted, the quality of the writing declined, but it looked more vibrant and colourful than seasons 1-3, and the special effects were better. In fact season 4 is the only season of L&C in which the SFX arguably still hold up. I particularly like the first two episodes, which are basically the L&C version of Superman II or Man of Steel. The story ranges beyond Earth's boundaries and into space opera territory, with the production values admirably rising to meet the challenge. The costumes, sets, props and special effects in those episodes are just as good as anything you'd see in Babylon 5, which was WB's big sci-fi series at the time. The whole aesthetic of the New Krypton culture is stylish, colourful and visually appealing.



I love the model effects in the scenes with the Kryptonian spaceship/floating palace.


The imagery of the energy shield over Smallville foreshadows the Gungan energy shields during the Battle of Naboo in The Phantom Menace, which came out three years later.


Had there been a season 5, I would've liked to have seen more stories with Lois and Superman leaving Earth to visit alien worlds. The production values showcased in the New Krypton episodes make me wonder what an L&C version of Warworld or Apokolips might have been like.

Wish I would've included this in my last post. But to hopefully put a final bow around all this costume discussion...

Quote from: thecolorsblend on Wed, 10 Aug  2022, 13:22The Superman costume would evolve through most of the show's run. But the subsequent tweaks and changes are harder to pinpoint because they're so subtle. By the time you get to season 04, I don't think any significant changes were made to the Superman costume at all. Deborah Joy Levine left the show after the first season. But apparently, she watched the show like a hawk even after she left. Because she said in the season 01 DVD extras that by season 04, the costume designers were VERY close to what she wanted the costume to be all along. Something like 99% of the way there.

A good example of what I mean is the suit design used in The House Of Luthor season 01 finale. It's fine in its place. No major problems to speak of. The technical issues from earlier in the season had all been ironed out by the time you get to THOL.

But when you get to Madame Ex, the season 02 premiere, you can see that the bodysuit looks a lot shinier. The best evidence for this is the chest symbol, which definitely looks different from the flat/non-reflective material used in The House Of Luthor. So, obviously some significant changes were made to the Superman costume between the first two seasons.

In this season 01 publicity photo...

(https://i.imgur.com/vTLsIm2.jpg)

... you can see the "cleavage costume". Quite apart from the low neckline, you can see the linebacker shoulder pad design for the cape. Further, the spandex (lycra?) bodysuit seems a little closer to the navy blue spectrum. Also note the "flat" material for the chest symbol, as I mentioned above.

Meanwhile, with this season 02 publicity photo...

(https://i.imgur.com/NmzoAlB.jpg)

... you can see more of an "electron blue" color to the main bodysuit while the chest symbol is made of a shinier and more reflective material. It looks like a million bucks when you it onscreen. A lot more visually interesting, we can conclude, than the above chest symbol. Obviously, the neckline has been raised and the cape deliberately appears to be supported by the bodysuit's shoulders. But by this time, the new design of Cain supporting the cape directly on his own shoulders had been in place for nearly a full year by the time this photo was taken.

So, clearly some very radical and very welcome improvements were made to the Superman suit.

As to the pilot Superman outfit, I've always been sort of fascinated by it. Levine said that ABC outright told her to right an expensive (by 1993 TV standards) pilot. So, she did.

(Incidentally, ever wonder why the pilot effects run laps around the effects from the rest of the series? That's why. About 6x the amount of money and 4x the amount of production time will do that. If you want to know what a 1993-era Superman film could've looked like, I say watch the pilot because those effects are very close to feature quality for the time.)

The one thing that stands out in the pilot is the Superman costume. As it is my understanding, the production company contracted the design and creation of the pilot outfit to a local dance costume studio in Los Angeles. Because back in those days, you were hard-pressed to find costume designers with any experience creating costumes that use the unusual combination of tights and capes. So, a dance costume designer got tapped on the shoulder for that.

And honestly, I do rather like the pilot outfit on balance. It seems like it was comfortable enough for Cain to wear and the cape obviously didn't create any of the problems that the series cape would cause later on. The pilot cape seems to be made of light material that easily catches a breeze and looks great in flying shots.

(https://i.imgur.com/Ag8lHFb.jpg)

So, why did it change? Honestly, I think it was purely a question of aesthetics. The pilot costume was designed by outsiders. It didn't necessarily have the showrunner's imprimatur. Plus, the chest symbol is a direct translation of the official Superman symbol that WB and DC used for licensing purposes. It's fine for what it is. But it lacks a character specific to L&C.

So, I think the combination of the above factors inspired Levine to push for a redesign (as was her right as EP on the show). Personally, I could've accepted the pilot costume being used for the rest. But it seems like Levine had a different opinion on the matter. And when you get past the chaos of the first several season 01 episodes, the design the series eventually settled upon has a distinct character that is unique to this specific show. The pilot costume is a little generic in ways that the final costume isn't.

Quote from: Silver Nemesis on Thu, 11 Aug  2022, 21:31

(https://i.postimg.cc/MZrBVtCj/8.png)

Had there been a season 5, I would've liked to have seen more stories with Lois and Superman leaving Earth to visit alien worlds. The production values showcased in the New Krypton episodes make me wonder what an L&C version of Warworld or Apokolips might have been like.

That's understandable. But the few times that L&C ever poked a toe into the more cosmic elements of the Superman mythos... honestly, I don't think it works to the show's strengths very well. There's a chance it could've turned out just fine.

But I look at stuff like Superman's showdown with Lord Nor in season 04, which looks more like American Gladiators (a cheesy early Nineties American gameshow) than a visceral battle to save the world, and that gives me a little bit of doubt as to how well executed Apokolips or Warworld would've been.

One quibble I've long had with L&C's production value is their seeming preference for using green screen rather than wires. Now, there are instances where the green stuff actually looks atmospheric and powerful:

(https://i.imgur.com/Y9DVnT7.png)

At least, I assume that's green screen. It could be rear projection. Either way, L&C's green screen more often looks like this:

(https://i.imgur.com/dvRDHPj.png)

Whereas the wire shots usually look like this:

(https://i.imgur.com/mv5qkiA.png)

Or this:

(https://i.imgur.com/U3IuTBZ.png)

The show did wire work amazingly well and it's a shame they didn't do more of it.

Quote from: thecolorsblend on Fri, 12 Aug  2022, 00:40That's understandable. But the few times that L&C ever poked a toe into the more cosmic elements of the Superman mythos... honestly, I don't think it works to the show's strengths very well. There's a chance it could've turned out just fine.

But I look at stuff like Superman's showdown with Lord Nor in season 04, which looks more like American Gladiators (a cheesy early Nineties American gameshow) than a visceral battle to save the world, and that gives me a little bit of doubt as to how well executed Apokolips or Warworld would've been.

Admittedly the show's makers would have had to heavily adapt the material to fit the style and tone of L&C, which would have angered many diehard fans, but I think it could have been done. L&C generally didn't use alien makeup or creature effects. There were some exceptions, like the fake aliens in 'Contact' or Tez in 'Big Girls Don't Fly'.


But I don't think we would have seen too many weird-looking aliens in future episodes. Maybe one or two in the background. But most of the alien characters from the comics would have been re-imagined so that they looked like ordinary humans. In order to justify building elaborate sci-fi sets, they probably would have had to use them across multiple episodes like they did with the sets for the New Krypton ship. So any storyline featuring Warworld or Apokolips would likely have been at least a two-parter. Perhaps a three-parter.

I imagine the L&C Warworld being a parody of American Gladiators and other forms of 'sports entertainment'. There was an absurd episode of Charmed titled 'Wrestling with Demons' in which the Halliwell sisters had to fight in a demonic underground wrestling tournament. Their opponents were played by real pro-wrestlers Scott Steiner and Booker T. It was ridiculous, but entertaining. I imagine the L&C Warworld being somewhat similar, featuring wrestlers or American Gladiators as guest stars. The American Gladiator Lori 'Ice' Fetrick had already guest starred as Vixen in season 4.


And of course Dean Cain won the American Gladiators celebrity special back in 1994. So some kind of tie-in with that show, or maybe even the WWE, doesn't seem beyond the realms of possibility.

I see the L&C Mongul as a sort of Vince McMahon type managing an interplanetary sports entertainment show similar to The Running Man. They could have got a famous game show host to portray him, or better yet a famous wrestler or Gladiators star. McMahon himself would have been the perfect choice, but I doubt he would have done it. A good alternate pick might have been Lee 'Hawk' Reherman, who acted in a number of films and TV shows including Columbo, Last Action Hero and The X-Files. Here he is going up against Cain on American Gladiators.


It would have been a lighter and more comedic take on Mongul, and he wouldn't have looked anything like his comic book counterpart. Instead he'd have been a tall, buff human in a flashy purple and gold suit. But he would have retained the comic Mongul's mischievous grin and ruthlessness.

In terms of special effects, there would have been some model/CG shots of Warworld as seen from space. Satellites, space stations and spaceships often featured in L&C, so I don't think the exterior shots of Warworld would have been a problem.


For the interiors, they would have had to build a reasonably large arena set, plus several smaller sets for things like prisoner cells and Mongul's private chambers. The plot would involve Mongul forcing Superman to compete in his game show (which would literally be called 'Warworld') and Lois would have to overcome her aversion to sports journalism to become The Daily Planet's sports news correspondent so she could travel to Warworld and cover the contest in person.

Many comic book fans would have hated this approach, but it's the best way I can imagine Warworld being adapted for L&C's budget, tone and unique style. It would have been funny and satirical, but nowhere near as savage as the comic book Warworld.

With Apokolips, I expect they would have taken a darker and more serious approach. As with Warworld, there would have been some model/CG effect shots of the planet from space and showing its hellish surface. There would have been a set for Darkseid's throne room, plus maybe one or two smaller chambers and passageways. Here's what a late nineties TV Apokolips might have looked like, courtesy of the Stargate SG1 episode 'The Devil You Know'.


And Darkseid's throne room.


Season 5 would have begun airing in 1997, and that's the same year that Stargate SG1 started. SG1 star Christopher Judge (who later appeared in The Dark Knight Rises) would have been perfect as the L&C Darkseid.


Again, he would have looked like a human rather than the grey-skinned goliath from the comics (though the grey skin was a possibility, since the makeup would have been relatively straightforward). His costume would have consisted of simple robes or armour, fashioned within the limitations of a TV budget, with the omega symbol featuring prominently. But he wouldn't have looked too much like the comic book Darkseid. If Mongul was a goofier villain, then I imagine the L&C Darkseid being a more serious and threatening adversary in the vein of Lex Luthor and Baron Sunday.

I see the L&C Darkseid being a mysterious background villain who would remain in his throne room for most of the season while he observes his agents operating on Earth. Characters like DeSaad would have travelled to Metropolis and interacted with Lois and Clark. Once again, they would have looked like ordinary humans.

Parademons, if they appeared at all, would have been limited to some brief CG effect shots. Or they might just have been human guards equipped with cloaks, helmets and staffs.

DeSaad would have stayed on Earth, occasionally visiting The Daily Planet offices and secretly taking control of Intergang. Every now and then he'd report to his mysterious master back on Apokolips. Darkseid would only have appeared in maybe three or four episodes total, including the season premiere and the two-part season finale. His agents on Earth would show up once every three or four episodes, just to remind the audience that they're there. Perhaps there could have been an episode similar to The Call of Cthulhu in which DeSaad forms a cult of Darkseid worshippers. Omega symbols start cropping up in graffiti all over Metropolis, and The Daily Planet team anxiously ponder the question of "Who or what is Darkseid?"

There would have to be a scene early in the season where Darkseid destroys one of his underlings using his Omega Beams, just to establish how powerful and deadly he is. The special effects for Omega Beams would have been well within the show's means.

In terms of action, there wouldn't have been any epic battle scenes. The showdown in the season finale would have gone something like this. Superman goes to Darkseid's throne room using a Boom Tube or similar portal, or else Darkseid comes to Earth. Superman punches Darkseid in the face, but Darkseid barely flinches. Darkseid grabs Superman by the throat and throws him across the room/street so that he makes an impression in a wall. At this point Superman realises Darkseid is much stronger than anyone he's ever faced before. Darkseid would then attempt to obliterate Superman using his Omega Beams, and Superman would try to repel the beams using his heat vision. There'd then follow a contest of strength, similar to the showdown at the end of 'When Irish Eyes Are Killing'.


Lois would shout words of encouragement to Superman, which would give him the willpower to overcome Darkseid and repel his Omega Beams back at him. Darkseid would then fall victim to his own power and be transported to a time and place unknown, leaving the door open for him to return in a later season.

Fans hungry for epic battles and fight scenes would have gone unsatisfied, but I think the essence of the Darkseid character could have been captured in L&C. This show was always more about the writing and the characters than the special effects anyway. The show's makers could have moulded a good story arc from the Apokolips mythos. That's a direction I'd explore if I was writing a season 5 comic. I've also got some ideas about how you could tie the Apokolips storyline in with the baby that was left on Lois and Clark's doorstep at the end of 'The Family Hour', but I won't go into that now.

Quote from: thecolorsblend on Fri, 12 Aug  2022, 00:40The show did wire work amazingly well and it's a shame they didn't do more of it.

They cut back on the wirework very noticeably in season 2. In the show's second year, they mostly relied on the trick of having Cain sweep his cape in front of the camera as he leapt out of shot while having the other actors look up so their eyelines suggest he's airborne.

By time you get to season 4, they were using CG effects for many of the flying scenes. You'd have Cain standing on the ground, then he'd suddenly turn into a superfast blur and zoom skyward. With that technique, they could show him manoeuvring at speeds and trajectories that could never have been achieved using just wires. I thought this approach worked well considering the show's budgetary and technological limitations. But even then, they still used some of those stock flying shots from season 1. I watched 'Faster Than a Speeding Vixen' recently, and there's a flying shot in that where you can clearly see Superman wearing the cleavage suit. And that's in season 4!

But there is some great wirework in the 'Pilot'. Especially that scene where Superman flies Lois into The Daily Planet building.


The bit at the end of that clip where he flies out of the window is one of the best live action flying shots of Superman ever put on film.

Less of an influence from the comics and more of an influence ON the comics, there was a one-shot published in 1994 entitled Superman- Under A Yellow Sun.

I've been a fan of that one-shot since the day it was released. And what I've always loved about it is how it feels like a kicked-up season 01 episode of L&C. It's most reminiscent of the episode Fly Hard, with the flashbacks to America's Prohibition Era where the main cast all played different roles. Under A Yellow Sun does something similar, where Clark casts the people in his life as characters in his novel.

It's not quite perfect. As might be expected, UAYS one-shot features Superman doing stuff that no network TV show back in the Nineties could've afforded. The super-powered guns, Superman pitching somebody literally across a shipping dock, an airplane exploding, etc. So, it's not quite perfect.

But if you mentally scale things down a little bit, yeah, you can read UAYS as a sort of "lost episode" from L&C's first season. And it works pretty well.

I'm not familiar with that story, but it sounds like one I might enjoy. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

I have some examples of scenes from the TV show that were referenced in the comics, but since they're from later seasons I'll save them for now.

Quote from: Silver Nemesis on Tue,  9 Aug  2022, 21:08Elizabeth Barondes had played Lucy Lane in the first season of Lois & Clark, but in the second season she is played by Roxana Zal. Lucy is mentioned in later episodes, but 'Metallo' marks the character's final on-screen appearance in the series.

(https://i.postimg.cc/J4KzMJXp/lucy.png)

I always regarded the departure of Elizabeth Barondes as a pretty big loss for the show.

(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/tvdatabase/images/7/75/Lois_and_Clark_1x01_004.jpg)

Barondes played Lucy as a minor foil for Lois. Lucy could be Lois's semi-slacker little sister who is, nevertheless, a bit more "worldly" than Lois herself. It would've been a subtle but effective dynamic, aided by the real chemistry Hatcher and Barondes had together. Plus, Clark always had the Kents in his corner. But the loss of Barondes meant Lois stood alone more often that she rly should've. Barondes's Lucy would've given Lois a support network that she sorely lacked in season 01.

So, why did things change? I don't know that Barondes has ever gone on the record about it. But fan gossip basically says there was some sort of contractual dispute between Barondes and the showrunners. They couldn't bridge that particular chasm. So, Barondes abruptly quit.

L&C is a good show. But it had a peculiar way of upsetting some of the talent. Examples include Tracy Scoggins, who quit the show after Fly Hard, as well as John Shea, who had a falling out with Levine (or somebody anyway) because he was fed up with flying to LA from New York once a week.

Chris Demetral, who played Jack, got his pink slip from the show about a week before shooting was due to begin for Madame Ex, the season 02 premiere. Michael Landes discovered that Jimmy Olsen had been recast a day or two before Whalin was announced as his replacement, which itself was scarcely a month before shooting Madame Ex.

By the time you start getting into season 02, the show had lost four regulars from the first season and recast one of the remaining regulars. That's a LOT of surgery to perform on one series in less than a year.

Rumor has it that there was network pressure to write K Callan and Eddie Jones out of the show as well. But it looks like Levine (or Robert Singer?) held the line there, stating that Clark needed the Kents for exposition purposes. Clark could level with his parents in ways that he couldn't for any other character on the show, not even Lois. So, the Kents narrowly avoided termination. But it was close. The network perspective was they wanted to play up the "young, modern, sexy" take on Superman without extras from Cocoon running around. But thankfully, cooler heads prevailed in the end.

Circling back to Barondes, she had some sort of QUALITY to her. Her eyes? Her voice? It's hard to pinpoint. But to this day, I miss her being on the show. Nothing against Zal. But Zal was a guest star who played the character like a guest star. But Barondes clearly invested a lot of effort into turning Lucy into a real character and her efforts were bearing fruit when she suddenly quit after SV.

For those reasons, it's interesting to consider how Barondes's Lucy would've affected the dynamics of episodes like Requiem For A Super Hero and All Shook Up.

Speaking of Demtral, it's wide open to interpretation just how much he actually knows about Clark. The Foundling provides circumstantial evidence that Jack discovered Clark's secret identity. But comments Jack makes in Fly Hard as well as The House Of Luthor are a little incoherent if he DOESN'T know Clark is Superman. I had occasion to ask Cain about his perspective on this at a con Q&A. Cain's answer was that he personally believes that Jack knew Clark's secret (which I tend to agree with). He added that he loved the Jack character because it gave the show some extra youthful energy as well as providing Clark with a "little brother" of sorts.

As with Barondes, it's interesting to ponder how Demetral's Jack would've impacted Madame Ex or Scoggins's Cat would've affected Barbarians At The Planet and The House Of Luthor. Again, we'll never know. But those episodes seem tailored to include those actors/characters and their absences are definitely felt.

Yeah.

Since I apparently have a lot to say about L&C, I want to yammer a bit about Lane Smith's Perry. Smith is one of my favorites. I mean, I enjoy Jackie Cooper's Perry. But his Perry is just sort of there. Whereas Smith gave his Perry a lot of flavor and individuality. The American Southern thing, the Elvis fandom, his ongoing trials and tribulations with Alice, there's a lot to enjoy about this version of Perry.

But one thing I struggled to justify is Perry's relationship with Jimmy. It goes back to the early days of the show and continued up to the very end. Now, I can recognize the necessity of pairing Smith with Landes/Whalin because Cain and Hatcher were frequently paired up by the very nature of the show. But still, Perry's relationship with Jimmy seemed a little hard to grasp for a while.

But what I eventually realized is that Perry was always on the lookout for his replacement. And he identified Jimmy early as the best candidate.

See, Clark and Lois are the rockstars of the Planet. So, it would make superficial sense for Perry to keep an eye on either or both of them. But I don't think Perry would consider either Lois or Clark as his eventual replacement.

For starters, Lois is just too damn good at her job to ever risk kicking her upstairs and taking her away from the action. Her talents will ALWAYS be utilized as a writer/reporter. She could do great as EIC. But is that the BEST use of her abilities? I say no. Which is one reason why I never bought the main premise of 'Stop The Presses'. There's no way Perry EVER would've done that, except maybe as a temporary thing.

As for Clark... well, I can't prove it. But my headcanon says that starting somewhere in the second season, Perry figured out that Clark is Superman. Now, he would NEVER have been stupid enough to say so out loud to anyone. Because that knowledge is dangerous. But still, you don't get to Perry's station in life by being an idiot. Lois is just too close to see it (at first) and it would never cross Jimmy's mind that Clark is Superman. But Perry? Yeah, I think he figured it out. Which means Perry knew that Clark already had enough on his plate without ever becoming EIC.

But Jimmy? He has the same youth and energy that Perry himself once had. But Jimmy needs a lot of seasoning. I completely believe that Perry got close to Jimmy to begin grooming him as the future Planet EIC. Plus, I don't think Perry is an idiot either. Jimmy clearly needed a father figure (as per 'The Dad Who Came In From The Cold') in his life. And for his own part, Perry wanted a son figure (as per 'Lethal Weapon').

If Jimmy was 19 in season 01, then my headcanon is that Jimmy would've become a staff writer and photographer by the age of 24 or so, a department head by 30, assistant editor by 35 and EIC by age 40. Which is a fairly believable career arc. Perry (50 in season 01) would've probably retired by the time Jimmy was 35 with the EIC job teed up and waiting for him.

For me, Lane Smith's Perry is the definitive live action version of the character. He was an authentic southern gent with the perfect look for the part, and his performance always struck the right balance of humour and emotion. I appreciate how the writers of this show treated Perry like a fully rounded person and incorporated storylines from the comics, such as his marital problems with Alice and his troubled relationship with his criminal son Jerry. Most other screen versions of Superman don't delve that deeply into Perry's personal life, but L&C did.

Smith himself might never have been a big star, but he had a solid career as a character actor. L&C was the first thing I saw him in when I was a kid. As an adult, I've enjoyed spotting his appearances in classic movies like Network (1976), Red Dawn (1984) and My Cousin Vinny (1992). I've heard he was good as Richard Nixon in The Final Days (1989) and even got a Golden Globe nomination for his performance, but I haven't seen that yet.

I never considered that Perry might know Clark's secret, but it does gel with the all-knowing insight he claims to have in this scene.


Jimmy becoming editor is an interesting idea. He obviously had the potential to go far in life, and we see that potential actualised in the parallel universe from 'Tempus Anyone?' where he owns The Daily Planet. It's strongly implied that Jimmy's life got off to a rocky start in the prime universe, which might explain why he's not as successful there. He spent time in juvie and didn't have his dad around to straighten him out. Perry's fatherly relationship with him certainly extends into professional mentorship, and I can imagine Jimmy as editor using his specialist IT skills to bring The Daily Planet up to date in the age of social media. That would be another avenue to explore in the unlikely event we get a comic book or TV revival of L&C.

Funny you mention the Nixon thing. Because one of my main arguments for why L&C Perry knows Clark is Superman (aside from the fact that he's damn good at his job) is from the second season episode Top Copy.

Diana Stride announces to the world that Clark is Superman. When it happens, everyone at the Planet looks utterly shocked... except Perry. And he says, "People say I look like Richard Nixon. But I ain't never been to the White House."

In a clever wink to Smith previous credits, Perry pounced on the first excuse (provided by Jimmy) that he could find to publicly reject the theory. Because that scene you posted definitely shows that Perry knows when to keep his mouth shut about something.

It's up for grabs when Perry figured it out (although All Shook Up from season 01 is a good candidate). And it's headcanon anyway. But I am POSITIVE that Perry knew what was up no later than Top Copy in the second season.

I'm sure Perry knows in most incarnations of Superman. Fishburne definitely does in the Snyderverse. I like the idea that he's Superman's version of Gordon in that both relationships are handled in an unspoken way. Perry will ride Clark at times to do the best job for the Planet, but he's always on his side and the secret is safe. I think he liked Clark from the start but didn't show it overtly for a number of reasons. Discovering the secret was the cherry on top which deepened the level of respect. It's an underrated dynamic between these two characters that should get more attention than it does - the man who can do just about anything is merely an employee when he's under the roof of Perry's building, and he's soaking in the knowledge of a mentor figure. It's just as interesting as the guidance he receives from Martha, Lois or Jor-El. Each figure comes from a different perspective.

Quote from: Silver Nemesis on Fri, 12 Aug  2022, 15:44But there is some great wirework in the 'Pilot'. Especially that scene where Superman flies Lois into The Daily Planet building.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E6WLmibjcE

It could be a sign of where my head was at when I watched the pilot when it first aired. But I just couldn't figure out how the shot of Superman and Lois flying into the newsroom was done.

There's no way CGI was advanced enough to do that back then. Totally impossible. And unaffordable for TV in any case. Besides, it looks and FEELS like a wire shot.

But how? Because in that shot, someone pushes the doors open and Cain and Hatcher get pulled on the wires from one side of a wall to the other side of the wall in one unbroken/uncut camera move. The wire work is ridiculously precise, so I knew right there that I could rule out green screen. But I didn't see how it was possible to pass from one side of a wall to the other side with the actors rigged up on some kind of wire setup. The precise movements combined with the obstacles that have to be avoided also ruled out some kind of gimbal.

I was flummoxed.

But luckily, the season 01 DVD set included a sizzle reel of then incomplete effects shots from the pilot. Including the bit where Cain and Hatcher were wire-lifted into the newsroom. And it's where I finally found my answer. Turns out, it was staring me in the face the entire time.


The above comes from the sizzle reel. Here you can see the top section of the wall is completely gone. This would allow the wires to pull Cain and Hatcher through the doors. From there, the wire coordinators pulled off a pretty complicated series of maneuvers to guide the actors through the doorway, above the railing and then back down to begin their descent onto the newsroom floor. Talk to anybody who does wire work in that town and they'll be happy to tell you what a pain in the nuts those kinds of complex, nuanced movements can be to get right.


Of course, that has to get fixed for the final broadcast. So, someone comped in a top section of the wall to complete the illusion of Superman and Lois flying through a narrow opening (which wasn't narrow at all on the day of filming). The top section of the wall that's clearly missing from the first image is now visible in this finalized shot.

Now, it's obvious that somebody was proud of the work done that was done here (rightfully so, I might add) because that shot appeared in every L&C opening credit sequence. It's some pretty flawless work and boy does it hold up after all these years. Very high quality.

Quote from: Silver Nemesis on Fri, 12 Aug  2022, 15:44The bit at the end of that clip where he flies out of the window is one of the best live action flying shots of Superman ever put on film.

The sizzle reel shows visible wires on Cain's harness. Obviously, those wires are not visible in the final shot. Which means they had to get painted out.

To be totally honest, the amount of detail and craftsmanship in those newsroom shots make the final product doubly amazing if you ask me. Because the sizzle reel shows just how much work was needed to achieve those awesome shots of Superman flying around like that.

If anyone's interested, I'll go looking for the sizzle reel on YouTube. It's probably up there somewhere. Worst case, I'm pretty sure I've got it buried somewhere on one of my hard drives and can load it up on YouTube myself.

To give everybody a baseline of comparison, compare the smooth-as-glass wire techniques used in the L&C pilot to this moment from the Smallville episode 'Rosetta'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHfBeKte3V0

The shaky, wobbly quality could be a deliberate creative choice. But I don't think it is. I think that moment was meant to show Clark eerily gliding through the air with purpose and precision. But that's not how the shot comes off. Now, Smallville was no stranger to using wires for effects shots. But they WERE strangers to using wires for flying shots. Which probably explains (1) why we see so little of Welling on the wire rig and (2) why the shots of Welling on the wire rig are so wonky.

I love Smallville, huge fan. But it's clear that L&C prioritized quality wire shots where Smallville kind of didn't.

Which makes it an even bigger shame that L&C ultimately didn't do very many wire stunts. Because they did it so well.

How did I not think of this sooner?

But in the second or third episode, when Clark gets a phone call from his new landlord, he repeats the name "Glenn Whitmore". Apparently, the landlord is named Glenn Whitmore?

Glenn Whitmore was the colorist of Superman comics of the time. He helped pioneer computerized coloring in the Superman titles. Standard color separations were used until Superman: Man Of Steel #21.

Beginning in Adventures Of Superman #500, the Superman titles were selling in such huge numbers that somebody higher up the food chain thought it was worthwhile to invest in computerized coloring for the Superman titles.

As far as I know, the Superman books were the first DC titles to feature computer coloring at the standard $1.25 cover price.

Previous titles that used computer coloring were Legends Of The Dark Knight (the 'Prey' storyline for sure but maybe others) and other similar "premium" titles. But it was Superman that brought computer coloring to the unwashed masses.

Spearheaded by Glenn Whitmore.

Well spotted, colors. I never would've caught that reference in a million years.