Rating:  -
Out of all the superheroes, I would have to say that Superman has always been my favorite. I was just ten years old when Lois & Clark first debuted on TV. I was too young for all the romantic stuff and it was on past my bedtime, but now that I'm older, I appriciate it more. What refrehing changes! The characters genuinely care for one another, the characters are stronger and how about Lane Smith as Perry White; the best! Lex Luthor has been remade as a smart, suave fellow, but still evil. A smart, well written series. I can't wait for season two on Jan. 17th!
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There are many great things about TV series coming out on DVD. First, no commercials. This has the obvious benefit of keeping unwanted ads from interrupting the narrative, though a secondary benefit is that it has been devastating to older television studies theories concerning television that emphasized the way that shows were integrated into network scheduling, an approach that made commercials integral to the experience of the show and made the show's themselves subservient to its role in the evening's programming as a whole. Now we can finally appreciate shows entirely on their own. Second, we get the opportunity to go back and catch up on some shows that for whatever reason we missed the first time around.
THE ADVENTURES OF LOIS AND CLARK was a show that I knew many people liked and enjoyed, but while I enjoyed the several episodes that I saw, I did not watch all that much of it at the time. The great news is that the show is marvelous to watch for the first time twelve years down the road. The show seems hardly to have aged, thanks in part to the timelessness of the design of the show. The Superman legend has been used over and over since the earliest days of television. There was the famous George Reeves version of the show in the early 1950s, a 1980s version of Superboy, this 1990s romantic version, and the currently running SMALLVILLE, which reconceptualizes the Superboy story. On top of this there are multiple cartoon versions in both film and TV and several films.
Although THE ADVENTURES OF LOIS AND CLARK is respectful of previous versions of the Superman legend, its true predecessor is MOONLIGHTING, with Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher filling the slots that Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd filled on that show. The title is not merely a take off on Lewis and Clark, but a statement of purpose in emphasizing Lois as much as Clark in the story. This truly is about Lois AND Clark, specifically their relationship with one another. The story of the Man of Steel actually takes a back seat to the romantic comedy in the foreground of the series. The show works in large part because of the great chemistry between Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher as well as the overall production that keeps their relationship interesting.
Although I very much enjoy this series (at least through Season One), I have to note that the romantic relationship prospers at the sake of all else. There is virtually no dramatic tension in any episode. There are tremendous potential tensions in Clark's situation as a super empowered individual on the one hand and his need to keep this a secret so as not to endanger others on the other hand. If one compares THE ADVENTURES OF LOIS AND CLARK to SMALLVILLE, this is all made pretty obvious. On the latter, Clark's stringent efforts to keep his abilities secret comes close at times to destroying all his relationships. Over and over his relationships come close to ruin because each of his friends knows that he is dishonest with them. Precisely what he is hiding from them or lying about they are uncertain, but they all know that he has kept a great deal from them. When Clark at the beginning of Season Five tells Lana that he wants a relationship with her he begins by telling her that there will be "No more lies." Over five seasons Clark and Lex Luthor's friendship has been severely damaged by the lack of trust and truth telling between the two of them, each of them guilty of lying to the other. There simply are no similar tensions in LOIS AND CLARK. In fact, the earlier show is remarkably tension free. In a way this is not surprising. If LOIS AND CLARK's main predecessor is MOONLIGHTING, SMALLVILLE's predecessor is the profoundly dramatic BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Nonetheless, LOIS AND CLARK succeeds well as a romantic comedy. It is filled with a host of in jokes and gags, most of which work. My favorite might be at the start of the season, where Clark asks his mother to create a costume for him so that he can fight wrongdoing while keeping his identity secret. She wonders if he should wear a mask to cover his face, but he explains that all he need do is remove his glasses, and demonstrates by removing them. As his parents look at him, he apparently becomes unrecognizable to him each time he removes his glasses. Of course, the ludicrousness of no one being able to recognize Clark as Superman has always been at the heart of the Superman story, but never has anyone made such a nice joke about it. (On a side note, this is the major problem for SMALLVILLE in any attempt to have Clark create his Superman persona, since even Lois Lane knows him without his glasses.)
I should note one other problem with the show, though it is mainly a problem that SMALLVILLE has created for it. By far the finest thing in that show has been the reconceptualization of Lex Luthor, making him a vastly more interesting and compelling figure than in any other version in the history of the franchise. LOIS AND CLARK's Lex, on the other hand, is rather cartoonish and uninteresting. He has been conceived as a sinister industrial magnate, but he is not really allowed to become more than a two-dimensional character. The rest of the cast is at least OK, though the great stand out is the late Lane Smith, who succumbed this past summer to ALS.
On a minor note, fans of movies like THE MUSIC MAN or TV shows like THE GILMORE GIRLS will notice that the show is filmed on one of the most heavily used sets on the Warner Brothers lot. Any fan of THE GILMORE GIRLS will over time start to recognize bits of the streets of Metropolis as parts of what is now Stars Hollow. I first caught this on the episode where Clark takes Lois back to Smallville. I recognized the set and then thought, "If the camera will just move a bit we could see the gazebo on the town square." The camera moved and the gazebo was right where it was supposed to be. The stock footage for the skyline of Metropolis, however, is clearly that of Chicago. Interestingly, only night shots are used for Clark's flying scenes over the city.
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I got this as an early christmas present, because of the great price. At twenty bucks your paying less than one dollar an episode. Each episode is an hour that means less than 50 cents for a half an hour. Great price, great episodes. There are a lot that I remember from the other seasons including the christmas episode with nipshispitlick "?" If I can get the other season for this price then I'm deffinatly going to get them. I'm getting all four Smallville seasons for christmas. I like Smallville more than Lois and Clark. It's unfortunate that they aren't the same price. "Smallville fans should consider getting this."
P.s Smallville season five rocks. "Way better than season four."
Rating:  -
After 4 movies throughout the 1970's and 1980's, Superman seemed to have vanished from the realm of TV or movies. So fans were thrilled when it was announced that Warner Brothers was making an hour long weekly drama series based on the 'Man of Steel'. With this new series Warner Brothers was also quick to point out that this was going to be a slightly different take on the iconic hero, true there would be the classic costume, and plenty of special effects and action sequences, but the main drive of the show would be the relationship between Superman's alter-ego, Clark Kent and his future love, Lois Lane. This made some fans nervous, because they wondered will it stay true to the comic roots or just go off on its own, the answer was, a little of both. But when the series premiered to huge ratings it looked as if Superman was back and better than ever and ABC had a winner on their hands, with "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman".
However, as good as the first episode was the show quickly spun out of control in terms of serious drama with some comedy, and became more of a comedy hour that focused less on Clark Kent and Superman (Dean Cain), and more on their lovely co-star Lois Lane as brought to life by actress Teri Hatcher. Story lines were more humorous than they should have been, and the villains were never that threatening, and even Lex Luthor wasn't as intimidating as he should have been.
The aspect of the show that was always strongest was the acting, all of the cast members were very good in their respective roles, especially Teri Hatcher as a more modern Lois Lane, and Dean Cain as Superman, his take on Clark Kent was too macho for the role. The problem with Dean Cain is that he played Clark almost identical to Superman, so there really was no differentiating the two characters other than by use of powers and clothes. Also, a choice made by the producers of this show that served as a semi-slap in the face to fans of Superman, was the fact that they made Clark Kent's hair have the classic 'S'-curl, and Superman's hair was always slicked back, when in the comics it's always been the other way around. This wouldn't have bothered me so much, except it was intentional, showing the lack of respect the production team had for the source material, in my opinion at least.
Truthfully, I liked the first episode and a few others here and there, but by the end of the first season I would catch a few episodes at a time, but was never a devout viewer, and based on what I've heard from other people I wasn't missing much. Sadly, this show that had so much promise, failed on so many levels. If you're a fan of Superman and would like some good television based on the character you may want to look at the season box sets of "Smallville" (seasons 1-4 are available on DVD) or the first season of "Superman: The Animated Series" (from the creators of "Batman: The Animated Series"), both shows are terrific.
If you're still interested in "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman", in todays television rating system, this show would receive at most a TV-PG, so it is safe for the whole family to watch. And as I said, there were several good episodes, and who knows you may just love it after all and think I'm completely off-base, and that's possible, though I doubt it will happen with this show.
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The first season,is not really sexy,but the second season,is getting sexy.Dean Cain is gorgeous! Even an old woman in one of the episodes said,"Where is that Sexy Superman?" I loved the magic episode.
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