Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related FFQ: New Krypton Episode Arc

Okay, I know this particular arc wasn't a huge favorite with the fans. I'm curious to see specific reactions as to why. What did you think was wrong or illogical about it, if anything, and why?

I wouldn't say I, personally, loathe this arc--certainly not as much as the clone one. It did provide us with some really touching scenes. Also, where would fandom be today without ALL those stories based on Kal-El from New Krypton (for example, Pam's "Hearts Un/Divided").

There are definitely some aspects of it that I hate, but it is redeemable by such lines as: Family friend?...Very friendly!

I don't particularly hate this arc. It has some moments I don't care for, but then so do many episodes. I must, for example, be one of the few fans who hates the scene where Superman leaves the Planet. I cringe every time I hear Jonathan start with 'Dearest Lois...' It just seems terribly cheesy to me.

Plus, the whole leaving from the Planet thing always struck me as really weird. How no one figured out that Clark was Superman from that little scene, I haven't a clue! But then, of course, there were scenes later where you had to wonder (and many authors have <G>) how the entire planet hadn't figured it out by the time Nor was kicked into touch.

I found the New Krypton characters not very interesting and I've never been really interested, in the main, with fanfic that delved deeper into their characters or New Krypton - although there have been some great exceptions to that over the years.

I thought the tests were silly.

So, mainly, I tend to be bored or skip past the moments that dwell on Zara and Ching and so on.

But, on the whole, I enjoy it a lot and, the scenes with Lois and Clark and Martha and Jonathan are, as Anna, said among some of the most emotionally intense, touching, angsty, and WAFFy in the show and those I do love and are among some of my favourites. The sweater scene, Clark looking at his wedding ring, Lois walking down the street and mistaking a stranger for Clark...and many more.

Also it has some terrific comic moments, which I love. Who couldn't fail to

I tend to enjoy the S4 half of the arc more than the S3 half. Not sure why that is. Except that LNC are back together in that and working together to face the threat, maybe.

LabRat

It's one my least favourite story lines, and yet I wrote a fic that was partially about it and, am currently really enjoying two mbs WIPs that are based around this arc. Go figure.

Where to start?

First, the idea: I always loved the notion of CK/S as the "Last Son of Kryton" and the whole arc destroyed that idea.

Second - lots of continuity problems - for example: the fact that Clark's crib-ship was so obviously different in GGGoH and in the NK arc; Jor EL was physically different in the NK arc than he was in the globe story in S1 (the Foundling?); Zara and Ching's chat about 'for the sake of the children" which was never picked up on.

Third - New Krypton wasn't worth the hassle. It was a class ridden, patriarchy straight out of the European Middles Ages with the exception that it just happened to have high tech gadgets. What was Clark - Truth and Justice- Kent doing fighting for that sort of society?

Fourth: The marriage with Zara - so manipulative of the audience at that point. ( I could now rant a tad about concubines in pink dresses too Guess I just did )

Fifth: The shapeshifter guy - not a bad idea, but once again , over the top.

Sixth: The bad guy's death at the end - but not killed by Clark who was fighting him at the time - someone else did Clark's dirty work for him. An ethical cop-out.

Seventh..... etc.... etc

As usual, I have way too many opinions - I know.

That said, there were a few things I liked it - especially the beautiful scene where Lois and Clark say good-bye and exchange vows. His wonderful line "I have loved you from the beginning."

Maybe what was most frustrating, once I'd given up the romantic "Last Son of Krypton" myth, was the cheesy execution of a few interesting ideas in the arc.

c. ( As usual, I have way too many opinions - I know. )

I have to agree with Labrat, especially about the farewell to Superman at the Planet and no one figuring it out. I mean, c'mon... why would Superman need a private moment with Lois and *Clark's* parents before he left??

But aside from the little plot holes and inconsistencies... I think the biggest stigma comes from the fans that were watching as it first aired.

Clark leaves, indefinitely, for another Planet and we get a TO BE CONTINUED. As the season finale. For four and a half months. Four and half months we had to sit and wonder if and when Clark would make it back. Which, come to think about it, was just about as evil as the "Will you marry me?" cliffhanger. We won't even talk about the mysterious baby...

I'm not bitter. Promise.

Sara

Which leads me to one of the major downsides of this one for me. Clark was brought back waaaaaaaaaay too quickly. We had this whole angsty setup and then we come back after the hiatus and boom - oh, look, despite the huge setup about how much danger he was going to be in on NK, how the planet and Lois was going to cope without him, what would be the effect on Clark of having to fight a war without any powers, how was Lois going to get away with Clark being absent at the same time... you know, all the really interesting questions that had been setup by the previous episodes...

...Clark does an immediate one eighty in the first five minutes and returns to Earth. Huge cop out. HUGE! <g>

That's why I love fanfic. So many authors took my frustration with this lost opportunity and answered those questions much better than the show did.

Also agree with Carol about how the New Kryptonians and their society were portrayed. They were such a miserable lot I have no idea why Clark agreed to help them at all. They certainly didn't deserve it.

The shapeshifter thing, too. I think that's the real problem I have with this arc entirely. Too many interesting ideas that were sadly lost in the execution. (Although as I understand it they did have budget problems which massively curtailed what they'd had planned for the S4 premiere. But that still doesn't excuse poor execution of writing ideas.)


LabRat

I actually really enjoyed the third and fourth episodes of this arc. The first two were depressing, with Lois's hair looking really terrible and lots of crying. But the third and fourth, while, yes, they didn't make a lot of sense, had Clark looking very nice in that black Kryptonian outfit, lots of interesting super-battles, and great scenes between Lois and Clark in Smallville (I've always loved that "do you think danger is what makes our relationship work?" conversation). Plus, without this arc, we'd never have the wonderful "Ad Astra Per Aspera" story, and that's a favorite of mine, even if it does make me cry.

Not too many opinions for me in this case, Carol - ditto everything you say, especially points one, three and six.

There was one point that could have been taken from this arc, had the writers ever bothered to utilise it - of course, they didn't; once it was over they behaved as if it had never happened. It's the old 'nature versus nurture' argument. Why is Superman the way he is? Why is he driven by the desire to help others, to save humanity, to do good, to set a higher standard? Is it because he's from another planet?

Well, what the NK arc told us is an unequivocal no. Put any of those New Kryptonians on Earth in Kal-El's place - even Zara - and not one of them would become Superman.

Maybe Ching would've been Batman, but that's another story...


Wendy

I have to agree with several of Carol's points.

1. The Last Son of Krypton - is a key element for me of Superman. This story for me negated a lot of the episode of "Foundling". The feverish drive to build a ship - a ship only an infant could fit in. Obviously they had the technology to build bigger ships. So that leaves a question of why a bigger ship could not have been built to house at least Lara and Kal-El or even all three of them. I understand that Lara would be reluctant to leave Jor-El but that would ultimately be overridden by her desire to go with Kal-El to raise and protect him and Jor-El's urging her to do so. Plus the look of the ship etc.

2. After Strange Visitor there is never any hint that Clark knows where his ship is, including that it was in Smallville during GGGoH. Now after Home...Hurt Is we call all speculate that maybe Clark and Lois think Mindy Church has it. Maybe not though, because in the episode they seem to buy the fact that Joey worked alone. I can't believe that Mindy left his ship for anyone to find. It could still be valuable. If she had time to set up Joey, she had time to get the ship away. So how the heck does Clark know where it is (since we know it's not in his possession). Then there is the question of how they got to it with no one appearing to know it. Then again if he had known where it was why hadn't he taken by now. Plus how did Mindy find out about it and was able to buy it.

To have Bureau 39 die after Jason Trask doesn't seem logical to me. There seemed to be too many followers and the way Trask sent them on their way before he went to the Kent farm at the end they would still be out their. Also look what happens in this arc with the military (particularly Col. Cash) and Superman. To me B39 is a live and kicking somewhere so they would not sell off the ship, they would keep it somewhere very, very safe.

3. The Planet goodbye scene. It's been said.

I also had a huge problem with them doing the 180 and returning to earth. They missed out on so much to be explored that thankfully some of the writers here have explored. I also thought it was very convenient with all there technology that there was no way Lois could go because in all the different planets I'm sure they could have found to colonize they found one so close to Krypton that it would be to hostile for human life.

I guess one of my biggest problem with the arc was also the actors picked to play Zara and Ching. Justine Bateman was adequate but barely and Jon Tenney well can't stand him really and not because of Teri. Just don't like his acting and as Ching he was too over the top - a stiff brute. He is after all only a Lieutenant who should obey Zara without question and yet he overrides her concerns and is down right nasty at times to her. Then in 3&4 we have a new actor who plays him as a stiff whimp.

I guess in the L&C/Superman mythology I rank this arc as not really a part of it. I basically dismiss it as a what if. Yes there are some great scenes but are we sure the people responsible for this arc aren't working on Smallville.

Or even why, if they had the means and the will to send their children to a place of safety in ships and Kal-El was so important to them and part of the elite - why he never got a seat in those spaceships and had to be saved by his parents, alone. Logically, wouldn't they have sent him to NK too?

That one I never understood.

I have to say that JB is definitely a large part of the reason that I don't have much time for the NKers. I couldn't work up much sympathy for the character because she was played so bland and one-dimensional. Whether that was down to the actress or to direction - I understand that they were trying to make the NKers emotionless and cold - I have no idea. But it just left me bored, watching. We were supposed to feel sympathy for at least some of the NKers, and in particular Ching and Zara, but there was nothing there that I could connect with.

LabRat

Adding a few more points...

It really really doesn't fit in with any sort of continuity. The original story goes like this:

Jor-El sees that Krypton is about to explode. No one believes him. He's been working on a plan involving a ship which can go faster than light, but he only has a small prototype. He can't convince anyone to help him, and events start happening faster than he'd even predicted. In a last-minute panic, he guts the prototype, making just enough room in the cargo area to hold his infant son, then launches the thing out into space just as the planet explodes.

The NK retcon:

Several colony ships were sent out a few years before the planet exploded. The ships were fully functional, built with time to spare, had working hyperdrives, and were filled with people who believed in Jor-El's dire predictions.

This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Then... With the whole galaxy to choose from (perhaps several galaxies), the people in the ships chose a barren lifeless barely habitable asteroid to colonize. One in orbit around a red sun. No one ever thought to question this decision, to move out, to explore other systems... Despite the fact that they had even better hyperdrives. In fact, a fleet including a floating palace.

Then there's the emotionless society with a strict feudal system. And the fact that the House of El, one of several on the ruling council, one put into disfavor because of Jor-El, is suddenly the absolute ruler, with the council serving at it's pleasure.

Then... Oops. Gotta go. Mom needs help.

EDIT: I'm back. Picking up where I left off...

There's the betrothal with Zara. When did that happen? Was that before or after the colony ships were scheduled to leave? How old was Clark? Was he even born yet? And why, if there were colony ships and a betrothal and if the entire society depended on Clark being married to Zara... Why did they send Clark to Earth??

Of course, I agree with pretty much all of the objections others have raised, too.

And what's this about deep feelings of love being common in Kryptonians, but emotions being suppressed and marriages of state and... These people are from the planet Krypton, not Vulcan.

And why was there no mention of them ever again? Not that I mind forgetting about them, but if you're going to accept that they're there, shouldn't there have been some lasting connection? Some kind of contact? If they can reach telepathically from NK to Earth (Nor did that), then why was Clark never in touch with Zara again? And what happened to their government? Just because Nor was killed, does that mean Zara is in charge and everything is fine? Can she marry Ching? Will he be accepted? Is there anyone of the House of El left?

Why did an army Col get put in charge of the attack on Smallville? Why did he show up in Metropolis that afternoon?

And.. I think I'll stop now.

Paul

The globe (and the Superman story in general) says that Clark is the last of his kind. Even in the movie no one believed Jor-El that Krypton was exploding. That was what always bothered me. I mean if the Kryptonians believed him he himself would've allowed himself to be saved right? I never really liked the villians in this case were so uninspired though I loved the fact that Lois actually met someone who was worse in the kitchen than she was. I wonder that if Clakr hadn't been busy with duelling practice would he have noticed too?

Thanks for all the responses This has definitely given me some ideas to work with!