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Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

Strange Visitor (From Another Planet)

Season 1, Episode 3, Aired Sep 26, 1993

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Lois and Clark are the targets of a government investigation whose primary concern is that Superman is a threat to national security. As they do so, Clark begins to learn more about his origins, and how he arrived on Earth.

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Cast & Crew

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GUEST STAR
Elizabeth Barondes

Lucy Lane
GUEST STAR
Terence Knox

Jason Trask
GUEST STAR
Joseph Campanella

George Thompson

K Callan

Martha Kent
Michael Landes

Jimmy Olsen (season 1)
Dean Cain

Clark Kent/Superman
Teri Hatcher

Lois Lane
Lane Smith

Perry White
Tracy Scoggins

Catherine "Cat" Grant (season 1)

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Fan Episode Reviews (2)

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Clark and Lois are investigated by some agents who are trying to find Superman.

7.9

"Good"

By RHam_01, Mar 28, 2007

This was another good episode.

I liked the whole Jonathan hiding the ship instead of destroying it and its nice that Clark has atleast a few answers about himself. Again this is a bit strange... In whatever versions of Superman I know of he has always known he was an alien.. or atleast Martha and Jonathan know. Here he has already become Superman and yet he doesn't know that he is an alien or about his heritage. The 'S' symbol on his chest is a Kryptonian crest.. not a 'S for Superman.'

I suppose you can't blame them for doing something different.. you have to give them a bit of creative license. So I went with it without grumbling too much.

This Jonathan Trask guy is a nicely done villain. In a show about Superman you gotta have powerful villains and it was nice to see that the writers have done something about this instead of introducing caricature villains.moreless
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It's a bird! It's a plane! It's an alien in tights!

3.0

"Bad"

By swingthesickle, Nov 24, 2006

After a stunning pilot, Strange Visitor was a disappointment. The trouble with creating conflict in a Superman plot is that Superman is darn near invincible. No matter what the danger, the viewer knows Superman will be able to defeat it. The pilot set a great precedent: create a mystery that must be solved. Superman is right where you and I are when it comes to mysteries. Clark Kent's mind has to figure the mystery out in time if Superman is going to be able to save the day.

Unfortunately, there was no mystery to be solved in this episode. There was a little bit of tension over whether the government would discover Clark Kent was Superman, but not enough to provide sufficient conflict to make a gripping plot.

Possibly this episode was supposed to be more of a character development episode than a plot advancing episode, but it was poor on the character development end also. Imagine that I was not familiar with Superman whatsoever before watching Lois and Clark. The only thing this episode revealed is that Superman is an alien. Hopefully the next episode is more like the pilot than this outing which earned a 3 out of 10.

-Matthew Miller
Find this review and more at tv.swingthesickle.commoreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (5)
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- Polygraph machines are based on the theory that someone who is lying and fearful of being exposed will have a higher heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure and galvanic skin response. Clark must therefore be able to exert conscious control all these autonomic functions to disguise his extraterrestrial origins at will. If he couldn't do so, the machine would have actually been more likely to react to his responses about Superman regardless of what he said, strictly because of his alien physiology.
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- Mr Thompson has a folder labled "Smallville 1966", so we get our first indication of when Clark's ship landed on Earth.
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- Goof Cat tells Clark she has some pinot noir chilling, and then pours a couple of glasses of a white wine. Pinot noir is a red wine, and is not generally chilled.
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- Lois first mentions the novel which will become so important in the third season episode "Double Jeopardy".
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- As Superman is floating in the clouds trying to find Lois, his left foot briefly dissappears while the sky is still visible where his foot should be. It looks like a problem of merging the green screen flying with the sky stock footage.
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QUOTES (10)
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- Lois: What we have got here is 'Cosmic Watergate'!
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- Lois: (as Trask prepares to throw her out of a plane to attract Superman) And what if Superman does show up? Trask: Does the worm need to know whether the fish is going to be fried or charbroiled?
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- Clark: (when Lois says they have to take the polygraph test) I can't... we can't do this! Lois: If we knew anything, I'd agree, but this is like taking a polygraph on the ring tailed lemur. Perry: Well now, she's right. I mean, we don't know enough about Superman to lie. (sees the look on Clark's face) Kent, do you know something you haven't told us?
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- Superman: I hear you've been looking for me. Lois: All my life.
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- Trask: Does Superman have telepathic powers? Lois: I hope not.
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- Lois: What's going on is, the warrant's phony. Clark: Phony? Perry: Phony as a lock of Elvis's hair from a Memphis souvenir shop.
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- (Clark is being interrogated by use of a lie detector) Interrogator 1: Now, just say yes to these two questions to see if the machine is working right. Is your name Clark Kent? Clark: Yes. Interrogator 2: Are you Superman? Clark: Yes. (Lie detector registers Clark's answer as true)
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- Lois: (To Superman) Where are you from? I mean, you're not from Kansas. That's for sure.
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- Lois: You really do read minds. Superman: Not really. But I do have good hearing.
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- Lois: (To Clark) You are so weird. It works for you, though.
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NOTES (3)
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- John Shea, who plays Lex Luthor, does not appear in this episode.
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- Supervising producer and writer Bryce Zabel gave Clark his own birthday, May 17, as the date his parents found him in the Kansas corn field.
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- This is the third episode in production order.
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ALLUSIONS (3)
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- Lois: You really do read minds. In the 1978 movie Superman when Superman takes Lois Lane flying for the first time, we hear a small interior monologue where she asks the question, can you read my mind?
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- A furniture warehouse exhibits the name "Bessolo," and later in the episode, Lois refers to the street on which that warehouse is located as "Bessolo Blvd." The name has to be an allusion to George Reeves, who's real name was George Bessolo.
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- Title: Strange Visitor (From Another Planet) The title is a reference to the opening narration for the radio serial and the opening of the George Reeves TV series: Adventures of Superman, strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men."
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