Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Lois & Clark Season 1 Rewatch: Pilot

I first stumbled upon L&C early in 2010. I had just downloaded a free-tv-shows aggregator app and wanted to give it a try. Since I was simply planning to test the app rather than actually watch a show, I hadn't been too particular about what show I chose, so I picked L&C -- the most interesting looking show on the first screen. At the time, all I knew (or thought I knew) about Superman was what the general populace "knows": that he works as Clark Kent at the Planet with Perry, Jimmy, and Lois, and that when someone is in danger, he changes into Superman in a phone booth.

I had only planned to watch a minute or two of the show, but I was impressed that Clark was not, after all, the two-dimensional character I had imagined. I was hooked at the "You like to be on top" line. Those of you who have read my stories know that while I am very much into wordplay, I am rarely into double entendres. But this particular one was both set up and delivered so perfectly that it caught me. That was when I decided to stick around for the rest of the episode.

My favourite scene was Clark's chat with Jonathan on the farm.

The plot bunnies I set free based on this episode were Letting the Cat Out of the Bag...Or Not, The Butterfly Effect, The Panhandler's Tale, The Sofas, and Summertime Blues. (I hadn't realized before that I had written five pilot-based stories. Huh.)

A plot bunny that I just thought of: What would have happened if Lex Luthor had happened to see Clark's save of the nuns? Would that not have been enough, especially coupled with the "All you have to do is look up?" line, for Lex to figure out that Clark is Superman?

It had been several years since I watched the pilot. A few things that stood out to me upon this rewatching are:

• The opening credits were so plain. (They obviously didn't have enough episodes in the can to show scenes from it during the opening.)
• Elizabeth Barondes (Lucy Lane) was listed in the opening credits. I am guessing that that meant that there were plans for her to appear in far more than a mere three episodes. Meanwhile, neither K Callan nor Eddie Jones were listed. I realize that the show as originally conceived was supposed to be primarily a love story with Lois being at least as prominent as Clark, but I find it interesting that Clark's parents were apparently not originally going to be regulars while Lois's sister was. IMHO, they made the right choice with keeping them; their appearances were always among the highlights of the show for me. I love, love, love how they interact with Clark and with each other.
• One gets a feel within the first few seconds of much of the essence of most of the characters. (Jimmy's didn't do much for me, but then again, I've never particularly cared for first-season Jimmy. That has nothing to do with Michael Landes and everything to do with the scripts.)
• Way to lay low, Clark -- you are in Metropolis for less than a minute before you indulge in your first super-feat there? Then again, given the setup, he would have felt he had no choice. (The “he.. he… he…” lady cracks me up every time. Excellent delivery.)

All right, I paused the show several times as I came up with the above list, but I won't be continuing such a detailed commentary. (I doubt anyone would want to read the tome I would have come up with if I had.)

• Clark-as-Superman has always struck me as awkward in the pilot and, to a lesser extent, in the first couple of episodes. I've often wondered whether it was because Dean Cain or the director chose to give Clark a mini-character-arc of gradually becoming more comfortable playing the superhero or because Dean Cain himself was initially uncomfortable in the Superman persona and had to grow into it as an actor. I suspect the latter, but I could be convinced of the former.
• A little passive-aggressive, Clark, shaking Perry's hand too hard at the end of the interview?
• "Dissecting you/me like a frog," walking the walls, and the lightbulb incident -- pure gold, even if the special effects were outdated even when the pilot was filmed.
• A privately owned space company -- pure science fiction when this was first aired; simple fact now.
• The whole Luthor-staring-down-the-snake scene strikes me just as weird now as it did upon first viewing. Maybe even weirder. I had never noticed the tear before.
• I had forgotten that Star Labs was mentioned as early as the pilot.
• I am watching the show on a bigger screen than I had seen it on before, and I am catching a lot of details that I missed. Another example: Lois's coffee mug has the perfect motto for this version of the character: The best man for the job is a woman.
• While I love the whole "Don't fall for me, farm boy" scene, the nitpicker in me is frustrated by the fortune cookies, since they were invented in the U.S. and (I presume) would therefore not be found in a restaurant in China. (This page provides a more detailed history of fortune cookies.)
• "What was he supposed to do, Jonathan? Let the man die?" This pre-dates by decades a similar question posed in The Man of Steel. Somehow, I can't imagine L&C's Jonathan answering, "Maybe."
• "I said nine. I thought you'd be naked." Though when it comes to that, why didn't Clark get dressed at superspeed before answering the door? Did a part of him want her to see him like that?
• "I never have dessert," says the woman who downs double fudge crunch bars.
• Clark outside Lois's window: Stalker much?
• "Nobody's going to be looking at your face." (I love the entire montage, but especially that line.)
• When I watched the pilot the first time, I hadn't known the significance to the mention of Clark's baby blankets.
• How convenient is it that TV bombs always tick loudly and have digital countdown timers to make it evident what they are? (Also how convenient that there just happened to be a spare seat in an empty chamber for Lois.)
• "There was a bomb. He... He... He... ate it." Clark does seem to get a "He... He... He..." reaction a lot, doesn't he?

Wow. And I had been wondering whether I would find much of anything to say. I promise my posts for subsequent episodes will be much shorter.

Joy,
Lynn

p.s., Thanks again, Toomi8, for coming up with the idea for these rewatches.