My sentiments exactly.
Superman: The Live Action TV Series
- Thread starter tomswift2002
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My sentiments exactly.
I actually liked the long black coat Clark wore for a while in Smallville, but I missed the part where he changed to the red jacket. Why the switch?
The black outfit was supposed to represent Clark going in a "darker" direction, isolating himself from his human connections. The change to the red jacket showed him moving away from that phase and closer to becoming Superman.
I thought the red jacket represented "Oh for Christ's sake, just have him put on the tights already!"
I thought the red jacket looked pretty good.
The New Adventures of Superman for me (for all the DVD's use the proper title, I can't think of it as anything else. I wonder if any British Superman: The Early Years fans have a similar problem). Yes it's nostalgic as it was part of Saturday teatimes as one of those shows like Due South and BUGS the BBC had to pretend they never broadcast so that when Doctor Who came back they could pretend it had been decades since they'd had a successful Saturday evening family drama, but the first season is generally great fun, even if there's a rapid tail off after than.
Dean Cain is never going to win any acting awards, but he does have charm and charisma and having a really strong supporting cast of regulars really helps him raise his game and makes him a likeable Superman.
And you know, I'd had no idea about the continuity reboot in the comics as a kid, but all the differences between L&C and the Reeve films that were such a staple of Bank Holidays always made much more sense to me. Clark as a credible character in his own right (with the Movies, he's basically a punchline. A funny, brilliantly performed one but you'd get sick of the same thing being done episode after episode of a TV show), Luthor as a cool sophisticated villain who breaks the law whilst operating within it creating a good strong test of Superman's values, Lois as someone who starts off as shallow as the film version by being obsessed with Superman and ignoring Clark before actually growing as a person and coming to fall for the person she actually knows rather than the icon.
It just all really worked for that first year, and it had one of the best end of season two parters ever.
The departure of Lex did hurt the show (but then, I don't think they could have dragged his behind the scenes machinations out for another year without it getting stale and silly so the show may have been screwed either way) and the quality did fall off a lot, but it was never less thank likeable. At least until the clones showed up anyway.
And the Tempus episodes were nothing short of brilliant, "Mild mannered reporter.... Superhero!".
And to be completely shallow, I am still madly in love with Terri Hatcher (and that moment that was in the opening credits every week. You don't really see that much down her top but as hormonal teenager it certainly had an effect on me), she and Gillian Anderson were my greatest crushes of the '90's.
Smallvile bored me, and the first season of the Reeves show was watchable in a 1950's TV sort of a way but wound up boring me by the end of the DVD set when I gave it a try.
Every episode seemed to end in a really odd "Clark basically gives away he's Superman and Lois completely ignores him" way as well.
Lois: Oh Clark, you're so useless. Unlike Superman.
Clark: Now now Lois, no need to have a go at me just because you're on your period.
Lois:... But Clark... How can you know that?!??!!
Clark: Oh, maybe I've got X-ray vision and see the tampons in your handbag Lois.
*Lois pulls As If disgruntled face*
*Clark winks at camera*
Dean Cain is never going to win any acting awards, but he does have charm and charisma and having a really strong supporting cast of regulars really helps him raise his game and makes him a likeable Superman.
And you know, I'd had no idea about the continuity reboot in the comics as a kid, but all the differences between L&C and the Reeve films that were such a staple of Bank Holidays always made much more sense to me. Clark as a credible character in his own right (with the Movies, he's basically a punchline. A funny, brilliantly performed one but you'd get sick of the same thing being done episode after episode of a TV show), Luthor as a cool sophisticated villain who breaks the law whilst operating within it creating a good strong test of Superman's values, Lois as someone who starts off as shallow as the film version by being obsessed with Superman and ignoring Clark before actually growing as a person and coming to fall for the person she actually knows rather than the icon.
It just all really worked for that first year, and it had one of the best end of season two parters ever.
The departure of Lex did hurt the show (but then, I don't think they could have dragged his behind the scenes machinations out for another year without it getting stale and silly so the show may have been screwed either way) and the quality did fall off a lot, but it was never less thank likeable. At least until the clones showed up anyway.
And the Tempus episodes were nothing short of brilliant, "Mild mannered reporter.... Superhero!".
And to be completely shallow, I am still madly in love with Terri Hatcher (and that moment that was in the opening credits every week. You don't really see that much down her top but as hormonal teenager it certainly had an effect on me), she and Gillian Anderson were my greatest crushes of the '90's.
Smallvile bored me, and the first season of the Reeves show was watchable in a 1950's TV sort of a way but wound up boring me by the end of the DVD set when I gave it a try.
Every episode seemed to end in a really odd "Clark basically gives away he's Superman and Lois completely ignores him" way as well.
Lois: Oh Clark, you're so useless. Unlike Superman.
Clark: Now now Lois, no need to have a go at me just because you're on your period.
Lois:... But Clark... How can you know that?!??!!
Clark: Oh, maybe I've got X-ray vision and see the tampons in your handbag Lois.
*Lois pulls As If disgruntled face*
*Clark winks at camera*
I thought he made a likeable Clark, but was never very convincing as Superman. After all, they cast him with Clark foremost in mind and Superman as more of an afterthought.
As it happens, the person he beat out for the role (or at least one of the other contenders) was Kevin Sorbo, who went on to play Hercules not long thereafter. I think Sorbo would've made a much better Superman, though not as good a Clark.
I did like it that the second season brought in a wider range of supervillains, but it did lack something without an overarching threat like Luthor.
I found him too broad and annoying. And I'm still irked at the writers for having H.G. Wells misconstrue Hamlet's "in apprehension how like a god" and think "apprehension" meant anxiety rather than grasp and understanding. Wells would have known better.
She was stunning, but I felt she got less so over time as they messed with her hairstyle and look further. Hollywood stylists have a way of taking women who are perfect to begin with and screwing around with their look in ways that only detract from it.
They were basically continuing from the radio show there.
"Kent! How did you get here from Chicago? I was on the phone with you not two minutes ago!"
"That doesn't matter now, Chief!"
Or:
"Wait, Inspector, there is a clue in this jacket! A slip of paper hidden under the label. Here, I'll show you."
"Why, you're right, Kent! How did you know that paper was there? You'd have to be Superman to see it through the label!"
"Well, I never thought I'd have to fess up to being Superman."
"Cut it out, Kent, this is serious."
And that's on top of all the times when he says "when I... I mean Superman did so-and-so" or takes credit for things that Superman did, and everyone thinks he's just confused or being a blowhard. On the one hand, there's something endearing about the idea that Superman is a terrible liar, since he's supposed to be so honest and wholesome. But on the other hand, it doesn't make sense that the crack reporters and police investigators he hangs around with are so terminally unobservant that they never piece it together.
Second or third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The makeup, hair and costuming made Buffy look like a stodgy 40-year-old. it was weird.
The ep where he was injured deflecting an asteroid, and Lois and Jimmy found him unconsious in his apartment. He'd passed out in the shower and fell thru the glass door. They found him lying across the door sill, in shards of shattered glass, unharmed, without his glasses on. Jimmy said something like "But only Superman could... do you think...?" and Lois said "Oh, don't be silly, Jimmy!"
^Well, the idea was that everyone saw Clark as so meek and timid and mild-mannered that they had a mental block against the idea that he could be as strong and fearless as Superman. Although the radio and TV shows didn't always sell that very well compared to the comics, since both portrayed Clark as an assertive, intrepid investigator, and radio Clark in particular was constantly scoffing at personal danger in others' earshot, or knocking out bad guys and claiming he threw a lucky punch or they ran into a wall or something. So when characters talked about how meek and cowardly Clark was, it wasn't very convincing.
Speaking of Clark without his glasses, the last kryptonite storyline on radio had Superman lose his memory -- perhaps a forerunner to the "Panic in the Sky" episode you're discussing -- and end up as a star baseball pitcher with an incredible pitching arm. And when Lois and Jimmy saw this incredibly superstrong man who wore no glasses and talked with Superman's voice, they immediately recognized him as... Clark Kent without his glasses and with a weird-sounding but oddly familiar voice. What??? That just made no damn sense.
Unless Lois and Clark's Martha Kent was right and nobody ever looks at Superman's face when he's wearing those tights...
Speaking of Clark without his glasses, the last kryptonite storyline on radio had Superman lose his memory -- perhaps a forerunner to the "Panic in the Sky" episode you're discussing -- and end up as a star baseball pitcher with an incredible pitching arm. And when Lois and Jimmy saw this incredibly superstrong man who wore no glasses and talked with Superman's voice, they immediately recognized him as... Clark Kent without his glasses and with a weird-sounding but oddly familiar voice. What??? That just made no damn sense.
Unless Lois and Clark's Martha Kent was right and nobody ever looks at Superman's face when he's wearing those tights...
There was an ep of The Tick where another superhero used the glasses trick. He took his glasses off and on right in front of the Tick to demonstrate his secret identity. The Tick was... easily confused.
(Glasses off) "Hello, (whatever his name was)-Man!"
(Glasses on) (angry) "What have you done with (whatever his name was)-Man?!"
(Takes glasses off) "Ah, there you are, (whatever his name was)-Man!"
(Puts glasses on) "You again!! What have you done with (whatever his name was)-Man?!"
(Glasses off) "Hello, (whatever his name was)-Man!"
(Glasses on) (angry) "What have you done with (whatever his name was)-Man?!"
(Takes glasses off) "Ah, there you are, (whatever his name was)-Man!"
(Puts glasses on) "You again!! What have you done with (whatever his name was)-Man?!"
Actually he put on the suit near the end of the pilot episode, so it did in fact, appear in every episode.[/QUOTE]
As far as I know (not counting two-part versions of the pilot) there is only one episode in the history of Lois and Clark where he doesn't put on the suit and that's the Season 4 premiere though he does wear the black capeless costume introduced in the Doomsday and Beyond storyline from the comics.
Its is certainly true that there were episodes where it was only a blink and you'll miss it cameo where he wore it but nevertheless he did do so. In the case of the specific episode you're referring to Randy, Superman appeared three times in costume. Firstly when flying to Smallville, then when he catches Lois when she's pushed from an aeroplane and catches a missile fired at him and then at the end when he visits Lois at the Daily Planet and tells her a bit about himself.
Maybe you're thinking of that episode's sequel where Lois and Clark visit Smallville and Kryptonite is introduced. That's actually my favourite episode and ironically when it was screened here in Britain for the first time 20 years ago (God I feel old) the Superman scene was cut. In the full episode Superman shows up in the pre-credit sequence to stop a carjacking by the way.
I remember that episode for only featuring Superman in costume briefly in the teaser. If asked, I would've said that was the episode where Superman appeared the least. So it's plausible that this is what he's thinking of.
Looks like the episode in question is 1x09: "The Green, Green Glow of Home". I saw the show when it originally aired and then again about a decade ago, and an episode where he doesn't put on the costume at all seems to stand out in my memory because of that. It stands out as a fairly early episode too, not episode 9. I guess I'm conflating the two episodes where Jason Trask appeared. If Clark did appear in costume even briefly, then my mistake. If my memory is accurate then maybe I saw a version where the Superman scene was cut.
As for Lex Luthor not being a regular part of the show beyond season 1, didn't John Shea want out?
As for Lex Luthor not being a regular part of the show beyond season 1, didn't John Shea want out?
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Also Gerard Christopher, who was much more convincing in costume as Super"boy" (in name only). He was rejected when the producers found out that he was already associated with the role.
One from the Reeves first season I liked was along the lines of...
Superman: That bomb was meant for me!
Henderson: For you?
Superman: I mean, for Kent!
At first I thought Dean Cain would have made a better Captain Marvel than Superman. He just had that "Big Red Cheese" look.
And the first couple of suits were horrendous. Later ones didn't get much better, but they did look like something his mom made. They probably meant to do that.
And the first couple of suits were horrendous. Later ones didn't get much better, but they did look like something his mom made. They probably meant to do that.
"Superman Vs. the Mole Men" was actually cut up into "Superman And the Underworld People, Parts 1&2", the season 1 finale for "Adventures Of Superman". Both versions were included on the Season 1 box set. I think this where the producers of the 60's Batman show got the idea to try to film the movie first, release it to theaters and then do the TV series, since Superman had done it a decade earlier with Mole Men being in theaters in 1950 or 1951, while the series didn't air till 1951 and 1952.
But with "Superboy", even though the first season was its weakest, it was still better than anything "Smallville" put out.