After making his first appearance in a comic book in 1938, Superman has become a very popular character. He’s been featured in several different comic books, cartoons, movies, and television shows over the years. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman began airing in the fall of 1993. I enjoyed the show when it first aired and I have gotten the DVD sets. I just finished watching Lois & Clark: The Complete Fourth Season.

I will be mentioning some things that will be spoilers for people who haven’t watched Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

Deborah Joy Levine decided to do something a little different for a show about Superman when she developed Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. The show was more of a romantic comedy and did give a lot of time to the growing and changing relationship between Lois and Clark/Superman. In previous versions of Superman, there wasn’t as much attention on the relationship even though it was important. I have really liked the emphasis that was placed on relationship over the course of the series. This show was much more lighthearted than the Superman movies and it did get a bit silly at times. That silliness has probably bothered some fans of Superman, but I thought it worked with this show for the most part.

There wasn’t a lot of background information about Clark shared when Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman began. Clark was just arriving in Metropolis and starting to work at The Daily Planet in the first episode and nothing from his childhood had been shared. Over the course of the series, more of that information was shared, usually as Clark himself learned something new. The first few episodes showed how Clark decided to use his abilities to help people as Superman without letting everyone know he was really Clark Kent. The first season laid groundwork for several things including the complicated relationship he would share with Lois. The second season started to focus more on the relationship, making it even more important. The third season showed how Lois dealt with knowing that Clark was Superman. Their relationship got even more serious with them getting engaged.

The major development in the fourth season of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was the fact that Lois and Clark got married. They got engaged in the third season after Lois worked through learning that Clark was Superman. They were supposed to have gotten married in the third season, but complications screwed that up. First Lex returned and replaced Lois with a frog eating clone. Once that was all straightened out, two other survivors from Krypton turned up claiming that Clark had to marry Sarah. Those two story lines annoyed me to no end and almost caused me to stop watching the show entirely. The one thing that annoyed me throughout the series was how just when there seemed to be some progress with the relationship between Lois and Clark, something would happen to screw things up and keep them apart. I absolutely hate when shows keep couples apart, and I have stopped watching other shows before because of that. If one more thing had been done to keep Lois and Clark apart, I would have stopped watching the show.

Even after Lois and Clark got married, things didn’t automatically go smoothly in their relationship. Right after the wedding they had to deal with a curse that kept them from consummating their marriage for a while. Another complication popped up when Lois was accused of a crime she didn’t commit and sent to prison. Much of the season did focus on how Lois and Clark settled into married life. It was interesting to see how they adjusted. I think Lois had to do more adjusting than Clark did. Work things did add some complications when Lois received a promotion. I liked seeing them married and don’t think the marriage is what caused the show to end after the fourth season. Unfortunately, several of the story lines that popped up after the marriage weren’t that good. The villains that Superman had to deal with were really bad and silly for the most part. It was just like the writers stopped trying after Lois and Clark got married. I have no idea if the writers had much advance notice about the shown being canceled. For me, it just seemed like something was missing from the final episode. There wasn’t a sense of it being a strong conclusion for the show and instead it seemed more like a major story arc was being set up for the next season. There just weren’t enough explanations for something.

Later in the season, the possibility of Lois and Clark having children came up several times. They had briefly talked about that during their engagement in season three. The subject wasn’t brought up again until later in season four. Lois wasn’t sure she was ready to be a mother, but once the possibility was first raised, she started to spend more time thinking about it. Clark wasn’t even sure they would be able to conceive because of his different biology. At the subject first came up, they agreed to talk about it more later but they did both sort of avoid the topic at times. It was only logical that the subject would come up after they were married and I did think it was handled well for the most part. I did think it was interesting to question if they would be able to conceive because of their different biologies.

The relationship between Lois and Clark has always been important throughout Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. I personally have always liked that aspect of the show while I know some people won’t feel the same about it. I was very glad that their relationship moved forward to marriage. There was a lot of emphasis on how they adjusted to marriage that I did enjoy. There were several sexual situations throughout the season without there really being any sex scenes. Lois and Clark were frequently shown kissing and they were shown in bed together as well. Things like that made it clear that they had an active sex life without showing graphic sex scenes.

Many episodes in season four dealt in some way with a story that Lois and Clark were working on for The Daily Planet. The were shown doing different things to investigate their stories, including interviewing different people. The stories did add a small amount of mystery to the episodes since Lois and Clark were generally trying to solve something. Those mysteries weren’t complicated in any way and a few were even a bit silly. They did help to keep things interesting. Lois did continue to end up in some dangerous situations, but it didn’t seem like she was as thoughtless about rushing into danger as she had been in previous seasons. Some of the stories also added humor to the show, some of which was a bit silly. Some of the humor will probably be too silly for some viewers. I don’t think anything that happened was as silly as what happened in previous seasons, especially Clark ending up married to a frog eating clone of Lois.

Clark did things as Superman in every episode of the fourth season. Most of the time he was trying to help someone or deal with a villain. Special effects were used to show his different special powers like his heat vision and being able to fly. The effects done were fine for the time, but they do look a bit dated now. There was only a little bit of minor violence in some of the episodes. That usually happened when Clark had to deal with a villain as Superman. I believe that the villains that showed up in the fourth season were created specifically for the show.

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman had the same main cast since the second season when a few changes were made with one character being eliminated and Justin Whalin replacing Michael Landes as Jimmy Olsen. Lex Luthor, probably one of the most known of the villains that has faced off against Superman, wasn’t around at all in the fourth season. That didn’t bother me since I really hadn’t liked what he did in the third season. He was still mentioned in a few of the episodes and was sort of indirectly involved because of that.

Several of the episodes included new characters that were somehow connected to the plot of that particular episode. Most of them weren’t that memorable and none of them received much development at all. In previous seasons, some villains that had been used in the comic books were used, sometimes in a slightly changed version. I don’t think that happened with any of the new villains from season four. There were two characters, Leslie Luckabee and Mr. Smith, who were around for three episodes. At the time he was introduced, it did seem like Leslie was a potential new regular character. I’m glad that didn’t turn out to be the case since I really didn’t like him. Leslie and Mr. Smith were mysterious characters who might have some kind of connection to Lex Luthor. Basically everything with Leslie and Mr. Smith was resolved by the end of the third episode, though one thing didn’t make the most sense.

Lois and Clark continued to be the main characters and both of them were in every episode of the season. They went through some more changes because of the new aspect to their relationship and it was interesting to see how they handled everything. Dean Caine did better with his acting than he had in the first season, though he still wasn’t a great actor. Lois probably had to do the most adjusting, and she changed quite a bit by the end of the season. Lois was still dedicated to her career, but she wasn’t as inflexible as she had been originally. Terri Hatcher handled the part well.

Clark’s parents, Jonathan and Martha continued to turn up every so often though they weren’t around as much as they had been in previous seasons. Frequently in the first two seasons, they would be briefly shown while talking on the phone to Clark and I liked those little scenes. They really helped to show how close they were with Clark and I missed seeing them. I think it would have been interesting to show some of those types of scenes between Lois and Martha after the wedding. K Callan and Eddie Jones continued to be good in the parts. I loved seeing the interaction between them and thought they made a believable happily married couple.

Jimmy Olsen and Perry White were back as well. They were usually just shown around The Daily Planet. A few of the episodes did give a little more time to their private lives which was interesting. Perry still had his obsession with Elvis and some sort of collectible tended to be visible around his office. I think Lane Smith handled the part well. Dr. Klein wasn’t considered a regular character, but he turned up frequently throughout the season again. His work at S.T.A.R. Labs gave him the opportunity to help Superman several times. Dr. Klein also worked with Lois and Clark and he had no idea that Clark was actually Superman. Several of the episodes included guest stars, though there weren’t any of the bigger names like appeared in the first three seasons. Beverly Garland was back a few times as Lois’s mother.

Main Cast

Dean Caine - Clark Kent/Superman
K. Callan - Martha Kent
Terri Hatcher - Lois Lane
Eddie Jones - Jonathan Kent
Lane Smith - Perry White
Justin Whalin - Jimmy Olsen

DVD Information

Lois & Clark: The Complete Fourth Season contains all twenty-two episodes from the fourth, and final, season of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman on six discs. The case for this season is the same type of unfolding case that the first three seasons had. Three of the panels held two discs each, with one disc slightly below and on top of the other disc. I don’t like these types of cases because it is necessary to remove the first disc to get to the second disc on each panel. The panels that don’t have discs have an episode list broken down by which disc the episode was on. There are short plot summaries, the original air dates and information on who wrote and directed each episode.

There was really only one special feature included with Lois & Clark: The Complete Fourth Season. None of the seasons have had many special features, but I think this set did even worse than the previous three in that regard. Kryptonian Kronology was an interactive history of Superman that was hosted by Dean Caine. The different dates shown in the interactive time line can be selected by using the DVD remote. For each date, there were facts or trivia about Superman, like when he made his first appearance in a comic book or cartoon. Dean Caine was showing sharing some of the information while other dates just loaded up a screen with text to read instead. The information was interesting and I did learn a few things, like that there was a comic book called Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane that ran for 137 issues. There was also a trailer for the Justice League Heroes video game and that was it for extras.

Lois & Clark: The Complete Fourth Season is a great DVD set for fans of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman even though it basically had no extras. People that like Superman in general may also enjoy the show, though it may get too silly for some.

Superman Reviews
Lois & Clark: The Complete First Season ~ Lois & Clark: The Complete Second Season ~ Lois & Clark: The Complete Third Season ~ Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman ~ Superman: The Movie ~ Superman II ~ Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut ~ Superman III ~ Superman IV: The Quest for Peace ~ Superman Returns ~ Superman Doomsday ~ Superman and the Mole Men ~ Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel ~


Other Comic Book/Graphic Novel/Superhero Reviews
The Amazing Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide ~ Batman ~ Batman Returns ~ Batman Forever ~ Batman & Robin ~ Batman Begins ~ Batman: The Ultimate Guide to The Dark Knight ~ Catwoman ~ Daredevil ~ Elektra ~ Fantastic Four ~ Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer ~ Fantastic Four: The Ultimate Guide ~ Flash Gordon ~ Ghost Rider ~ Ghost Rider Visual Guide Hellboy ~ A History of Violence ~ Howard the Duck ~ The Incredibles ~ Judge Dredd ~ The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ~ The Legend of Zorro ~ The Mask of Zorro ~ Men in Black ~ Men in Black II ~ Mystery Men ~ My Super Ex-Girlfriend ~ The Punisher (1989) ~ Sky High ~ Spider-Man ~ Spider-Man 2 ~ Spider-Man 3 ~ Stardust ~ Transformers ~ Underdog ~ X-Men ~ X2: X-Men United ~ X-Men: The Last Stand ~ X-Men: The Legend of Wolverine ~ Ultimate X-Men ~ V for Vendetta ~ Zoom ~

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD