Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

Teri_Hatcher_is_Lois_Lane.jpg as Lois Lane.]]JSLUTHOR.jpg as Lex Luthor.]] Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was a live-action television series based on the Superman comic books. It was advertised simply as "The New Adventures of Superman" in the United Kingdom (with the episodes having altered opening credits when aired on the BBC, though not on later Sky One repeats) — non-US audiences were rightly expected not to understand the joking reference to Lewis and Clark — but should not be confused with the 1966 Filmation animated series The New Adventures of Superman.

Lois & Clark aired from 1993 to 1997, and starred Dean Cain as Superman/Clark Kent, Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane and John Shea as Lex Luthor. The series generally followed comic book writer John Byrne's 1986 revamping of the Superman mythos, with Clark Kent as the true personality, and Superman the secret identity. As the title suggests, it focused as much on the relationship between Clark Kent and Lois Lane as on the adventures of Clark's superpowered alter-ego. As Clark attempts to explain to Lois, in the Season 2 episode Tempus Fugitive, "Superman is what I can do. Clark is who I am."

The series spawned several short tie-in books aimed at young adults, as well as one full-length novel for adults, A Superman Novel (1996), written by C. J. Cherryh.

The plot of the television series is as follows: In 1966, Jonathan and Martha Kent witness the crash-landing of a small spaceship in Shuster's Field near Smallville, Kansas. When they investigate the craft, they discover the baby Kal-El. The Kents decide to raise Kal-El as their own, naming him "Clark Jerome Kent". 27 years later, Clark moves to Metropolis and gets a job at the Daily Planet. There, he is partnered with Lois Lane, who at first considers him little more than a pest. Eventually, however, the two fall in love and marry after a turbulent courtship. The marriage was timed to coincide with the corresponding event in the comic books.

Jonathan and Martha Kent are very much alive and active in this version of the story. They remain on their farm in Smallville, but frequently visit Metropolis.

Lois & Clark was notable for being the first medium outside of comics to reflect John Byrne's retcon of Superman which involved making Clark Kent more assertive and less of a performed persona, emphasising that Clark was the personality Superman was raised as, not the Superhero. In fact, the show took this notion even further, depicting Clark fairly unequivocally as the "real" personality (apart from necessary precautions to safeguard his secret identity) and Superman as a somewhat performed persona. The Lois and Clark version was also notable for having the reverse of the traditional distinction between Clark Kent and Superman's hairstyles; here it is Superman who has the slicked-back hair and Clark whose fringe falls more naturally, perhaps to reinforce the notion that Kent is the "genuine" personality where as Superman is the artificial disguise. In neither mode does the character feature his trademark spitcurl, making it one of the few depictions of Superman to lack this distinctive feature.

Episode list

Season 1

Episode 1-01 Pilot (Part 1) (Airdate: September 12, 1993)...
Episode 1-02 Pilot (Part 2) (Airdate: September 12, 1993)
Episode 1-03 Strange Visitor (Airdate: September 26, 1993)
Episode 1-04 Neverending Battle (Airdate: October 3. 1993)
Episode 1-05 I'm Looking Through You (Airdate: October 10, 1993)
Episode 1-06 Requiem for a Superhero (Airdate: October 17, 1993)
Episode 1-07 I've Got a Crush on You (Airdate: October 24, 1993)
Episode 1-08 Smart Kids (Airdate: October 31, 1993)
Episode 1-09 The Green, Green Glow of Home (Airdate: November 14, 1993)
Episode 1-10 The Man of Steel Bars (Airdate: November 21, 1993)
Episode 1-11 Pheromone, My Lovely (Airdate: November 28, 1993)
Episode 1-12 Honeymoon in Metropolis (Airdate: December 12, 1993)
Episode 1-13 All Shook Up (Airdate: January 2, 1994)
Episode 1-14 Witness (Airdate: January 9, 1994)
Episode 1-15 Illusions of Grandeur (Airdate: January 23, 1994)
Episode 1-16 The Ides of Metropolis (Airdate: February 6, 1994)
Episode 1-17 The Foundling (Airdate: February 20, 1994)
Episode 1-18 The Rival (Airdate: February 27, 1994)
Episode 1-19 Vatman (Airdate: March 13, 1994)
Episode 1-20 Fly Hard (Airdate: March 27, 1994)
Episode 1-21 Barbarians at the Planet (Part 1) (Airdate: May 1, 1994)
Episode 1-22 The House of Luthor (Part 2) (Airdate: May 8, 1994)

Season 2

Episode 2-01 Madame Ex (Airdate: September 18, 1994)
Episode 2-02 Wall of Sound (Airdate: September 25, 1994)
Episode 2-03 The Source (Airdate: October 2, 1994)
Episode 2-04 The Prankster (Airdate: October 9, 1994)
Episode 2-05 Church of Metropolis (Airdate: October 23, 1994)
Episode 2-06 Operation Blackout (Airdate: October 30, 1994)
Episode 2-07 That Old Gang of Mine (Airdate: November 13, 1994)
Episode 2-08 A Bolt from the Blue (Airdate: November 20, 1994)
Episode 2-09 Season's Greedings (Airdate: December 4, 1994)
Episode 2-10 Metallo (Airdate: January 1, 1995)
Episode 2-11 Chi of Steel (Airdate: January 8, 1995)
Episode 2-12 The Eyes Have (Airdate: It January 22, 1995)
Episode 2-13 The Phoenix (Airdate: February 12, 1995)
Episode 2-14 Top Copy (Airdate: February 19, 1995)
Episode 2-15 Return of the Prankster (Airdate: February 26, 1995)
Episode 2-16 Lucky Leon (Airdate: March 12, 1995)
Episode 2-17 Resurrection (Airdate: March 19, 1995)
Episode 2-18 Tempus Fugitive (Airdate: March 26, 1995)
Episode 2-19 Target: Jimmy Olsen! (Airdate: April 2, 1995)
Episode 2-20 Individual Responsibility (Airdate: April 16, 1995)
Episode 2-21 Whine, Whine, Whine (Airdate: May 14, 1995)
Episode 2-22 And the Answer Is... (Airdate: May 21, 1995)

Season 3

Episode 3-01 We Have a Lot to Talk About (Airdate: September 17, 1995)
Episode 3-02 Ordinary People (Airdate: September 24, 1995)
Episode 3-03 Contact (Airdate: October 1, 1995)
Episode 3-04 When Irish Eyes Are Killing (Airdate: October 15, 1995)
Episode 3-05 Just Say Noah (Airdate: October 22, 1995)
Episode 3-06 Don't Tug on Superman's Cape (Airdate: November 5, 1995)
Episode 3-07 Ultra Woman (Airdate: November 12, 1995)
Episode 3-08 Chip Off the Old Clark (Airdate: November 19, 1995)
Episode 3-09 Super Mann (Airdate: November 26, 1995)
Episode 3-10 Virtually Destroyed (Airdate: December 10, 1995)
Episode 3-11 Home Is Where the Hurt Is (Airdate: December 17, 1995)
Episode 3-12 Never on Sunday (Airdate: January 7, 1996)
Episode 3-13 The Dad Who Came in from the Cold (Airdate: January 14, 1996)
Episode 3-14 Tempus Anyone? (Airdate: January 21, 1996)
Episode 3-15 I Now Pronounce You... (Airdate: February 11, 1996)
Episode 3-16 Double Jeopardy (Airdate: February 18, 1996)
Episode 3-17 Seconds (Airdate: February 25, 1996)
Episode 3-18 Forget Me Not (Airdate: March 10, 1996)
Episode 3-19 Oedipus Wrecks (Airdate: March 24, 1996)
Episode 3-20 It's a Small World After All (Airdate: April 28, 1996)
Episode 3-21 Through a Glass, Darkly (Airdate: May 5, 1996)
Episode 3-22 Big Girls Don't Fly (Airdate: May 12, 1996)

Season 4

Episode 4-01 Lord of the Flys (Part 1)(Airdate: September 22, 1996)
Episode 4-02 Battleground Earth (Part 2) (Airdate: September 29, 1996)
Episode 4-03 Swear to God This Time We're Not Kidding (Airdate: October 6, 1996)
Episode 4-04 Soul Mates (Airdate: October 13, 1996)
Episode 4-05 Brutal Youth (Airdate: October 20, 1996)
Episode 4-06 The People vs. Lois Lane (Part 1) (Airdate: October 27, 1996)
Episode 4-07 Dead Lois Walking (Part 2) (Airdate: November 10, 1996)
Episode 4-08 Bob and Carol and Lois and Clark (Airdate: November 17, 1996)
Episode 4-09 Ghosts (Airdate: November 24, 1996)
Episode 4-10 Stop the Presses (Airdate: December 8, 1996)
Episode 4-11 Twas the Night Before Mxymas (Airdate: December 15, 1996)
Episode 4-12 Lethal Weapon (Airdate: January 5, 1997)
Episode 4-13 Sex, Lies and Videotape (Airdate: January 19, 1997)
Episode 4-14 Meet John Doe (Part 1) (Airdate: March 2, 1997)
Episode 4-15 Lois and Clarks (Part 2) (Airdate: March 9, 1997)
Episode 4-16 AKA Superman (Airdate: March 16, 1997)
Episode 4-17 Faster than a Speeding Vixen (Part 1) (Airdate: April 12, 1997)
Episode 4-18 Shadow of a Doubt (Part 2) (Airdate: April 19, 1997)
Episode 4-19 Voice from the Past (Part 3) (Airdate: April 26, 1997)
Episode 4-20 I've Got You Under My Skin (Airdate: May 31, 1997)
Episode 4-21 Toy Story (Airdate: June 7, 1997)
Episode 4-22 The Family Hour (Airdate: June 14, 1997)

DVD

Season One: June 6, 2005 Released contains all 21 episodes.
Season Two: January 17, 2006 Released contains all 22 episodes.
Season Three: June 20, 2006 Released contains all 22 episodes.

External links

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman DVD Site
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman at TV.com
After the cancellation of the show at the end of season four, fans of the series created a fan fiction site to prolong the series. Virtual "episodes" can be found at the Lois & Clark Seasons 5 and 6 page.

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