Lois & Clark: The Complete First Season — Soap Opera Delivered In Super Proportions

Superman is an old man.

Let’s face it. He made his debut back in 1938 as a stranger from another planet with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. He has graced every single piece of merchandising that can possibly be conceived. His legendary story stands beside the mythological lore of Hercules, Robin Hood, and King Arthur. Everybody knows everything about Superman. So what more can be done to him?

Apparently, quite a lot.

Executive Producer Deborah Joy LeVine was given the opportunity to present Superman for the 1990s and decided that she needed a different take on the subject matter. There wasn’t much she could change about the myth. He was born on Krypton, sent to Earth by his parents Jor-El and Lara before the planet exploded, crash landed in Smallville, raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent, and went to work in Metropolis at the Daily Planet as mild, mannered reporter Clark Kent. What LeVine did, however, was approach the story from a different angle.

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman—The Complete First Season is a 6-disc boxed set that recasts the Superman mythology as a romantic comedy featuring—you guessed it—Lois Lane and Clark Kent.


Love is Alien

The series of Lois & Clark made its debut in 1993. LeVine followed what John Byrne accomplished in 1986’s revamped version of the Superman mythos, where Clark Kent is the real person and Superman is the secret identity. As indicated in the “Pilot”, she wanted to make it clear that the Superman persona allowed Clark to move freely and use his powers to do good without having to sacrifice his privacy and new-found life as a reporter for the Daily Planet.

Dean Cain won the dual role of Clark Kent and his super-powered alter-ego, beating out Kevin Sorbo who fell just short of wearing the union suit. (Ironically, Sorbo would land the role of another famous strongman on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys). What the producers liked about Cain was the earnestness he brought to the series. He wasn’t the greatest actor by any stretch of the imagination, but he understood the mentality of Clark Kent. He didn’t play him like Christopher Reeve did in the Superman movies—bumbling, meek, and even cowardly at times. Instead, Cain allowed Clark Kent to be confident and assured of who he is without having to put on an “act”. The stories had a more Clark-centric feel to them, and this was good as it made him so much more relatable as a person trying to do right is right; he just also had another outfit in case his super touch was needed.

Teri Hatcher brought out a sassy, independent streak with a no holds-barred attitude for Lois Lane. However, she also showed that this driven woman was also very vulnerable inside and hid it with her outside, tough exterior. Lois Lane made sure nobody would be able to get past that wall she built in order to avoid exposing her emotions for all to see. She always had to be in control, and made sure everyone else knew, especially Clark. In a sense, Lois and Clark are really opposites—she’s brash and outspoken, he’s calm and rational. And it’s this chemistry that works very well between the two.

I was skeptical when they cast Cain in this role. The only other exposure I had of him was a guest stint on Beverly Hills 90210 (damn, did I just reveal I watched that show?), but he grew on me as Clark; his Superman, however, wasn’t to my liking as much. I only knew Hatcher from her role in the movie Tango and Cash with Sly Stallone and Kurt Russell, and the ever popular episode on Seinfeld where she declared her “breasts were real, and they’re spectacular”. I’ll leave it right there. It’s obvious that they were cast for their sex appeal because, after all, this was, first and foremost, a romantic comedy so they needed some good looking people for the roles.

I think John Shea stole the show as Lex Luthor. He was the good, and boy you just loved to hate him. I liked the producers’ decision to make him a handsome man complete with hair. No bald scientist or fat business man for this show. His versatility and range as an actor was tested, and he pulled it off marvelously. His Luthor is charming and devastingly devious all at the same time. Luthor may seem like a successful business tycoon to the world, but he is the ultimate control freak who likes to pull the strings and lives of people behind the scenes. Superman knows this and tries to foil his plans, but constantly gets frustrated because he can’t prove anything to the authorities; Luthor never gets his hands dirty. That is, until, the climatic ending of the first season titled “The House of Luthor” where the world really gets to see firsthand what he’s really like.

We also see Jonathan and Martha Kent (played by Eddie Jones and K Callan) having a big role in Clark’s life. This is another nod to Byrne’s revision of the Superman lore where his foster-parents are still alive. They are his lifeline, the ones who ground him and guide him through times when he has no one else to talk to. I’m very glad that the Kents are still around. This isn’t Batman. They don’t need to be dead, and it shows the viewers where Clark gets his moral compass.

Rounding up the cast is Lane Smith as Perry White, Michael Landes as Jimmy Olson, and Tracy Scoggins as Catherine Grant. Perry White, the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Planet, gets updated a bit. He trades in his “Great Caesar’s Ghost” saying for “Great Shades of Elvis” indicating the King of Rock Roll is an obsession of his. Jimmy Olsen isn’t this redhead, freckled-face teenager. Instead he’s a bit older and more street smart. He and White are almost like the Abbott and Costello of the show. Cat Grant isn’t a made up character for the series; she actually does exist in the comic books. I think it was a great idea to include her to add another feminine presence and to show how different she is from Lois. Unfortunately, she was just one-dimensional without much character development.


1990s Camp?

The stories were entertaining and sometimes over-the-top. I know purists who avoided Lois & Clark like the plague, and compared into to the 1960s Batman television series filled with so much campy moments. I’ll admit that there were times I just shook my head and thought to myself What crack are they on?” but I still watched it because it was Superman.

I think one of the best sub-plots running through the series was discovering Superman’s true heritage. Clark doesn’t know where he came from. He doesn’t even know he’s actually an alien from another planet. He slowly discovers his true origin along the way and it’s a great way of getting the viewers in on the secret without having to start the show off with the big explosion of Krypton to his time on Smallville. Lois & Clark literally starts with Clark Kent getting off the bus and finding a job in Metropolis. The producers already know that people are familiar with Superman’s origins and can come back to that issue later on in the series. It was a good move on their part.

The special effects were as good as it could be for the time, especially with the budget they were working with. I was more disturbed with the ever changing Superman costume. I think I saw at least 4 different versions in the first season alone. The “S” shield was either too big or too small, his cape looked like shoulder pads at times, just little things here and there that distracted me away from the show.

Overall, I really enjoyed this series. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman—The Complete First Season really took a chance to showcase superheroes on prime time television, and I’m glad it did. Things may have changed here and there for the sake of the show, but it didn’t detract from the entertainment value and the chance to see Superman fly once again on the small screen.

Not bad for a 70 year old geezer.

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Disc One:
Pilot
Strange Visitor

Disc Two:
Neverending Battle
I’m Looking Through You
Requiem for a Superhero
I’ve Got a Crush on You

Disc Three:
Smart Kids
The Green, Green Glow of Home
The Man of Steel Bars
Pheromone, My Lovely

Disc Four:
Honeymoon in Metropolis
All Shook Up
Witness
Illusions of Grandeur

Disc Five:
The Ides of Metropolis
Foundling
The Rival
Vatman

Disc Six:
Fly Hard
Barbarians at the Planet
The House of Luthor

Also Included:
• Commentary on the Pilot by Dean Cain, Executive Producer Deborah Joy LeVine and Director Robert Butler
• Restrospective Documentary “From Rivals to Romance: The Making of Lois & Clark”
• Behind-the-Scenes Featurette “Taking Flight: The Visual Effect of Lois & Clark”
• Original Pilot Presentation introduced by Deborah Joy LeVine