I've become a pretty big Superman fan because of "Lois and Clark," so I've seen practically all of the live action versions of the character. I'll give my thoughts on each version I've seen.
I enjoyed "Smallville" through its entire run, and I especially got into it during the last few seasons. Sure, there were some low points, but there were a lot of high points, too. I think any show that lasts 10 seasons is going to have some low points, especially one like "Smallville," which was only supposed to be about Clark's high school adventures and then lasted much longer than expected. Erica Durance as Lois Lane was amazing. I'd rank her right next to Teri Hatcher as one of the best Lois Lane actresses ever.
I liked the serials with Kirk Alyn. They're not for everyone, but I think they're worth checking out if you like Superman. I even saw some similarities to the way Lois and Clark were played there to the way Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain played them.
The George Reeves series, "The Adventures of Superman," in my opinion, is the Superman show most worth checking out for "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" fans. George Reeves as Clark Kent was a lot like Dean Cain. He was played as a good reporter, he wasn't bumbling or clumsy, and his Clark Kent always seemed like the real person, kind of like Dean Cain. In a lot of ways, "The Adventures of Superman" and "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" felt like two sides of the same coin.
I recently bought the movies on DVD, so I'll post my thoughts on each of them in this thread as I watch them. I just watched the first one last night.
I like Christopher Reeve as Superman a lot. I tend not to enjoy Clark being played as a bumbling disguise as much as I enjoy Clark being portrayed as the real person, but Christopher Reeve did a very good job with the role.
I first watched this movie before I got into "Lois and Clark," and I remember really liking Margot Kidder as Lois when I first saw it. These days, I like the portrayals of Teri Hatcher and Erica Durance better, but I can still appreciate Margot Kidder's Lois Lane.
The Lois and Superman scenes were some of my favorite moments of the film, so I guess it's no surprise that the show "Lois and Clark," revolving around Lois and Clark's relationship, is what would get me really into the Superman story. The first time Superman saved Lois was a great scene. The interview was another good scene, and Superman x-raying Lois' underwear always made me laugh. The best scene, for me, though, was the Lois and Superman flight scene. I think it was probably the most romantic Lois and Superman scene that had been filmed up to that point. Of course, Superman's reaction to Lois' death and then going back in time to save Lois was both a sad and powerful scene.
Gene Hackman made a good Lex Luthor. I prefer the businessman Lex Luthor that would show up in later versions, but Gene Hackman did a good job with the way Lex was written in this movie.
I always felt like Perry White and Jimmy Olsen didn’t get a whole lot of screen time in the movies, especially Jimmy. I guess that’s probably because in a movie, you only have a couple of hours to tell the story, so the supporting characters got pushed to the side.
OK, with that, I'm going to end this post. Sorry for the length, but I love talking about Superman.
