Sunday September 12, 1993
475512A
Clark Kent is a super guy who has travelled the world, but his biggest dream is to someday write for the Daily Planet, one of the greatest newspapers in the world. To do this, Clark travels to Metropolis, and, even though he was rejected at first, lands a job at the Daily Planet. There he meets a sexy but feisty reporter named Lois Lane. "Don't fall for me, farmboy," she says to Clark, but, alas, he already has. Clark's first job as Superman is to save a space station from destruction ordered by Lex Luthor, Metropolis' most powerful businessman.
Read Full Recap » (warning: possible spoilers!)Clark Kent arrives in Metropolis in search of a career at the Daily Planet. In this pilot episode, the viewer gets an interesting new take on the birth of Superman. hide show
This review is for the pilot as a whole, not for Part I only. One of my favorite things about this version of the Superman tale is that the writers took the time to show us details that we have (to my knowledge) never seen before. For instance, Clark decides he needs an alter ego so we get to watch as Martha sews one spandex costume after another until she finally gets it right with the red, yellow, and blue. But despite all of the attention paid here, the pilot drags on and on. The special effects on this show are terrible, and the scene in which Clark paces UP the walls in his dingy apartment was LAME-O. My biggest complaint with this series in general is that the writers do not seem to make use of their one hour time-slot. In fact, if the episodes were edited down to thirty minutes, the show would be a lot better and I wouldn't feel like I was wasting my time. I know this show has a healthy number of die hard fans (and I consider myself among them), but I think that what we love about this show is the ongoing love triangle between Lois, Clark, and Superman; not the cheesey plots of each individual episode. But I digress, I am supposed to be reviewing the pilot and not the series as a whole. This episode has some good moments, but I recommend keeping the remote nearby with one finger on fast-forward. But don't worry, the show gets better eventually.
Clark Kent arrives in Metropolis in search of a job at the Daily Planet. hide show
I think it was a good start. Considering the day and age it was made the quality was very good. I was a bit surprised at first to see that Clark hadn't yet become Superman and had yet to find his costume. It sort of goes against mythology. If I recall correctly he already is Superman when he joins the Daily Planet. But this wasn't too much of a bad thing. It involved the viewers in his journey of becoming Superman and that was sheer genius because we get to see him becoming Superman right before our eyes.
I did wonder why he was wearing glasses, though. I know Clark Kent wears glasses.. but that was to hide his identity as Superman. If he wasn't already Superman and didn't have an idea of the costume or dual identity then would he wear glasses? It seems like a plot hole to me, albeit a very small one.
Dean Cain looks good on screen and makes for a very charasmatic Clark Kent. Teri Hatcher makes for a great Lois Lane.. I like her sass and her bossiness.. but I was a bit thrown by the tears at first.
While Lois Lane, an average gal, is striving to be a superwoman, Clark Kent, a superman, is trying just to be an average guy. hide show
I've never been privy to such a meeting, but I imagine loud groaning and sighing when a writer pitches yet another Superman television series. The producer might ask, "Superman, the man who cannot be stopped by bullets or laser guns. What are you going to use as a plot point? Kryptonite?" Nor do I know what is going through the producer's head when he okays a series such as Smallville when I'm sure the writer must have emphatically shook his head yes to Kryptonite.
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman took a different route which will make it forever stand out as one of the best Superman series of all time. Clark Kent is not the secret identity, Superman is. Clark just happens to have super powers because he was born on another planet, but he desperately wants to be an average guy who can get a job and have a girlfriend.
Lois is no damsel in distress. She is a motivated woman who is attracting a lot of attention as an investigative reporter. What else would you expect from a 90's television series? The dynamic between Lois and Clark, the titular characters, is spot on from the very first episode. Lex Luthor, Perry White, and Jimmy Olsen add a bit of spice to the mix also, but Lois' sister Lucy seemed absolutely useless in the pilot.
A pilot is all about character interaction, and this pilot scores high marks in getting the characters and dialogue right. Unfortunately, it does not score as high with plot. Lex Luthor is a creepy bad guy with lots of promise for future episodes, but sabotaging a space station really did not capture my attention bringing this episode down to an 8 out of 10.
So why did this Superman series work while Smallville is such a disappointment? My opinion: it's all in the approach. Deborah Joy Levine, who created Lois and Clark, states in the special features of season one that she was fearful the whole time she penned the pilot of alienating Superman fans. She wanted to create a fresh series that remained true to the classic character. Robert Butler, who has directed episodes of classic series such as Star Trek: TOS, Hogan's Heroes, Mission: Impossible, and, The Fugitive, was the perfect choice to give the pilot of Lois and Clark the classic Superman feel. The very purpose of Smallville is to appeal to young adults by making Superman soapy in feel rather than maintaining the classic, pulpy spirit of the great superhero.
-Matthew Miller
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A modern re-telling of one perhaps the most well-known and widely appreciated comic book character of all time. hide show
What made this episode so great was that right off the bat you knew this show was going to be different. This show isn't about Superman... and it doesn't try to be. That's what I found to be so refreshing. We know what Superman can do. We've seen him in action.
The story of these two characters is probably the best love-triangle of all time. Not only did that dynamic make for interesting stories, but the entire series was smart and funny even if it was a little cheesy at times.
Seeing Clark/Superman use his powers for everyday tasks (shaving, making breakfast, playing sports, etc) was also amusing. There was a kind of tongue-in-cheek humor with those sequences that I always found very enjoyable.
In my opinion (and mind you, I am quite the Supermnan fan), this is one of the best versions of the character/mythos you can find. The only versions I feel that are on par with this series are the first and second movies and the Bruce Timm/Paul Dini animated series.
Those versions told the stories of Superman -- larger-than-life super hero. This show told the stories of Clark Kent -- newspaper reporter. The show managed to make him human even though he isn't and brought him down to earth... despite the fact that he can fly.
A different take on an immortal character. The Lois and Clark pilot presented a Superman Family that we could embrace as our own. hide show
Since the first Max Fleischer Superman cartoon hit theaters in 1941, the focus of all filmed adaptations of Superman had been the Man of Steel himself. Here we were given a somewhat different take on the story.
Eschewing the obligatory origin: the infant being sent off in a rocket from a doomed planet etc., Deborah Joy Levine presented the story of an eager, young Clark Kent arriving in Metropolis, the city where his life would truly begin to take shape. Here he would settle down: find his very human niche in society, meet the woman he would love and eventually marry, and begin his career as a crimefighter.
Levine's decision to focus on Lois and Clark as people and not icons would serve to bring us closer to the characters. The audience could identify with Superman in a way they never truly had before.
Of course, this would not have been possible without comic book artist/writer John Byrne's 1986 revamping of the character. It was Byrne who ultimately decided that it was time to recognize Clark as the real man. No longer would he be merely a disguise to enable Superman to be among people and find where his powers were most needed. Now Clark was a person with hopes and dreams. Superman was simply the result of Clark's realization that sometimes society would face problems that only he and his unique powers could resolve.
The pilot for Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was full of promise. It was light, humorous, well paced and full of great chemistry.
While the show would later be subjected to a little too much tinkering, especially in subsequent seasons, it often delivered on that promise. Even if it hadn't, the Lois and Clark pilot would stand on its own as a fine entry in Superman lore.
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