dragonfire88's Full Review: Lois & Clark - The Complete Third Season
Superman has been a popular character for years, first in comic books then on television and movies. In the fall of 1993 a new Superman show, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, began to air. I watched the show and enjoyed most of the episodes. In the summer of 2006, Lois & Clark: The Complete Third Season was released on DVD.
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was a more modern version of Superman, with more emphasis placed on his life as Clark and his relationship with Lois. The show was a romantic comedy, which made it a bit more light hearted than the Superman movies. I did think it worked making the show a romantic comedy and I liked that there was more attention given to Lois and Clark’s relationship. The show did get a bit silly at times, which probably bothered some fans of Superman.
When Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman began airing, there really wasn’t a lot of background information shared about Clark or his powers. The first episode started with Clark arriving in Metropolis. The first season showed how Clark decided to use his powers to help along with how he juggled keeping his real identity a secret. The first season also introduced the characters and started the groundwork for the complicated relationship that Lois and Clark would share. The second season really developed that relationship more, making it a bit more important than it had been even in the first season. The fact that their relationship got stronger really laid the foundation for the third season.
The same main cast returned for the third season of the show without any cast changes like happened between the first and second seasons. Lex Luthor has been one of the main villains that Superman had to deal with since the comic books. Lex played a very big part in the first season and then was only in one episode of the second season. He turned up again in the third season, this time in two episodes. Lex was still obsessed with Lois. John Shea did return as Lex. His version of the character was a bit different than how others have played him but his version worked well for the show.
Lois and Clark continued to be the main characters and they were both in every episode of season three. Dean Cain still wasn’t the best actor, but he did seem more comfortable in the part than he had in the first season. He didn’t seem to be as over the top as he had been at times in the past. He portrayed Clark as being more confident instead of kind of geeky and clumsy like has been done in other versions of Superman. A little more about Krypton was shared late in season three. Lois wasn’t as overbearing as she had been when the series began. She was more willing to work with Clark, though she did still rush into dangerous situations. Terri Hatcher was good in the part.
Jonathan and Martha Kent were back in several episodes in the third season. I think they might have been around a bit less than they had been in the second season. I really like and enjoy the episodes when they are around. I really liked that Jonathan and Martha were still such important characters in Clark’s life. I would have liked it if they had been around a little more than they were. K Callan and Eddie Jones were great in the parts and very believable as a couple that had been happily married for years.
Jimmy Olsen and Perry White were really the only other employees of The Daily Planet that were developed or shown much at all. Both of them turned up in every episode at least briefly. There was more focus on Jimmy in a few of the episodes, including one that dealt with his father. Justin Whalin was fine in the part. Perry was still obsessed with Elvis, though he didn’t bring it up as often. A little more about him and his personal life with his wife was also shared. Lane Smith was very good in the part.
There really weren’t any new characters added to the cast during the third season. A few characters like Mindy, a woman that married the head of Intergang, were around in two or three episodes without being regular cast members. Dr. Kline, a scientist that worked at S.T.A.R. Labs came the closest to being a regular character since he turned up at least briefly in several episodes to help Superman or Lois and Clark. There were several guest stars throughout the season, including Shelley Long, Lane Davies, Beverly Garland, Bruce Campbell, Fred Willard, Peter Boyle and Justine Bateman.
Main Cast
Dean Cain - Clark Kent/Superman K Callan - Martha Kent Terri Hatcher - Lois Lane Eddie Jones - Jonathan Kent Lane Smith - Perry White Justin Whalin - Jimmy Olsen
There were two big developments in the third season. The first was that Lois knew the truth about Clark/Superman. Her knowing the truth didn’t automatically make their relationship easier even though she could help cover his absences. She had to work though being upset that he had kept it from her but ultimately it did bring them closer. The second big development, that was somehow included in most of the episodes, was that Lois and Clark got engaged. That did tie back into the last episode of the second season. There was a lot of focus on their relationship throughout the season, especially once they were engaged. I did like that, though some other people may not. Even after they got engaged, things didn’t go completely smooth for them and other things were done to keep them apart. I really hated when those things happened. There were some sexual situations and discussions throughout the season, though there wasn’t anything too racy shown.
Lois and Clark still worked at The Dailey Planet. They were working on different stories in just about every episode of the season. The stories served as small mysteries for them to try to solve. None of them were very complicated, but they did keep things interesting and helped to make the episodes entertaining. Lois did end up in some dangerous situations because of her work on different stories. The Dailey Planet was shown at least briefly in every episode even when the characters weren’t shown doing actual work on a story. Humor was still used throughout the third season. Some things done to add humor were a bit silly and could be too silly for some people.
Clark had to do things as Superman in every episode of the third season. Special effects were used to shown off his different super powers. The effects weren’t bad considering they were done for a television show. Clark had to deal with different villains as Superman. Most of the villains were created just for the show as far as I can tell and several of them did end up being kind of silly. Intergang turned up during the first episode of season three and it did seem like they would play a big part in the entire season at that point. The group ended up being around only for one more episode. The group just sort of vanished. Intergang was mentioned as in Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel, though the group was run by different people in the show. Superman did get into fights with the different criminals he dealt with. That did add some action to the show without really making it violent.
The DVD set for Lois & Clark: The Complete Third Season has six discs in the same type of unfolding case that the DVD sets for the first two seasons had. There were two discs per panel, one slightly below and on top of the other. I really don’t like these types of cases because it is necessary to remove the top disc to get to the other disc on the panel. There was an episode guide on the panels of the case that didn’t contain any of the discs. The guide gave the name of the episode, told who wrote and directed each one, gave the original air date and a very brief summary of each episode.
There were only three special features in Lois & Clark: The Complete Third Season. One the third disc, there were some exerts from the new documentary about Superman that was made by Bryan Singer and Kevin Burns. The other two extras were both on the last disc. The first extra on that disc, Lois & Clark: A History of Romance featured people involved with the comic books and the television show discussing the history of Lois and Clark’s relationship and how it has changed and evolved over the years. It was mentioned how the comic book ended up doing the Doomsday storyline as a way to hold off on having Lois and Clark get married until the show progressed enough for there to be a wedding as well so there could be a connection. The last extra was a Man of Steel Trivia Challenge hosted by Dean Cain. I want to mention one other thing that really wasn’t an extra, but I did enjoying watching it. The first disc of the set started off showing like a history of the different Superman shows and movies to promote the different Superman DVDs. Then it went into a preview for Superman Returns.
Episode List
We Have a Lot to Talk About Ordinary People Contact When Irish Eyes are Killing Just Say Noah Don’t Tug on Superman’s Cape Ultra Woman Chip Off the Old Clark Super Mann Virtually Destroyed Home is Where the Hurt Is Never on Sunday The Dad Who Came in From the Cold Tempus, Anyone? I Now Pronounce You... Double Jeopardy Seconds Forget Me Not Oedipus Wrecks It’s a Small World After All Through a Glass, Darkly Big Girls Don’t Fly
Lois & Clark: The Complete Third Season is a great DVD set for fans of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. People that are fans of Superman in general may also enjoy the show even though it did get a bit silly at times.
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