Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Superman Related Continuity - Which Canon Did It Best?

I know television and movies are make believe, but to feel affinity for a show, there must be some kind of continuity between episodes. It annoys me to no end to see a character with a broken arm in one episode and no reference to the broken arm in the next episode. It's even worse when continuity goes in waves. Although, this happens more in sitcoms than hour-long dramas. For example: a character cheats on her boyfriend in one story, and it's not mentioned again until 3 episodes later, when suddenly her boyfriend is angry about it again for no reason - out of left field, and you're like, huh? I thought they were past this. (This example comes from That 70's Show.) Another example could be Lois and Lex dating, not dating - just friends, okay maybe dating, popping the question? Huh? Who hit me with that 2x4? Where did that come from?

In LnC, I must say that continuity happened better in S2-4, than in S1, although characters tended to forget that they had already frozen the love of their life once and did it again for no apparent reason. (Really, Clark, did you forget about the super speed aspect of your powers?)

In Smallville, it seems that they've worked a little harder with this. I saw in the S5 DVDs a documentary about the making of the show from the scriptwriters' POV (very interesting, I recommend it for anyone who ever wanted to be a scriptwriter. ).

The old George Reeves Adventures of Superman, didn't seem to have any continuity at all. Once, I didn't ever recognize Lois Lane as the same actress because she wasn't in the previous episode and I had forgotten what she looked like (or they styled her hair differently or something). Sometimes Lois is there. Sometimes she is not. Sometimes Jimmy is there. Sometimes he's not. Sometimes Perry is represented. Sometimes not. It was all over the place (and I've only watch some of S1).

There was continuity between Superman:The Movie and S-II, but not much between II and III, and, frankly, I really don't recall ever seeing IV, so I couldn't tell you. We all know that Superman Returns doesn't really fit in where it's supposed to, either. (Click the link to discuss SR in length.)

I haven't seen enough of the animated shows to comment.

So, what do you think? Which canon did continuity the best?

Psst...The reason you didn't recognize her as the same actress is probably because she WASN'T the same actress: Phyllis Coates played Lois in the first season, and Noel Neill played her in subsequent seasons.

Joy,
Lynn

Quite honestly continuity in TV shows seems to be a fairly recent thing in terms of importance. In the past they'd switch up characters visually without batting an eye (the Jimmys for example) while these days there has to be a better explanation as to why they would look different (possibly writing out the character altogether.) TV is much less afraid of rocking the boat than they used to be (just replacing the character physically but not in the scripts.)

When I watch TV shows these days (Castle, Chuck, Smallville, etc.) they are almost predicated on keeping things along a single storyline rather than being able to watch them out of order without a regular problem.

I wish that were the reason, Lynn, but I haven't yet finished S1. My unopened DVDs taunt me every time I walk past the TV. (My son *hates* B&W movies and TV and refuses to watch anything that isn't in color.

It is my understanding that the reason for the change to Justin was the fact that the first Jimmy looked too much like Dean.

I've heard that explanation as well, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me, for two reasons:

1) I'm extremely bad at distinguishing faces. I've often found that two people whom I think look similar enough to be siblings look nothing at all alike to other people. But even so, I had no difficulty whatsoever distinguishing between Michael and Dean.

2) If they wished to visually distinguish Michael and Dean, they could simply have had Michael dye his hair. Or they could have given him a buzz cut. Or a facial tattoo. Or made his attire very distinct. Or any of a number of other things.

My guess is that the official explanation might be a part of the reason, but that there was more that went into the decision than what is revealed by the official reason. I don't know what the "more" might be, and I don't care to speculate, but the official reason just doesn't pass the smell test to me.

Joy,
Lynn

I agree with Lynn. With the exception of dark hair and similar height, they look nothing alike. They could be put together in a police line-up, but I doubt anyone who has watched the show only once (one episode once) would confuse them.

Although, it would have been more funny if they had used Michael Landes for the Jimmy in AKA Superman. If they had put that episode in S1. I could just see Lois pausing, blanching (at the thought of being attracted to Jimmy as Superman), and then muttering to herself that it less believable than that country hack Clark being Superman.

<<cough, cough>> Dye it red, perhaps?

I agree. It might have been also have that Michael's Jimmy seemed too mature, in looks and personality, to be "Jimmy" from the comics (Superman's youthful pal). Justin's Jimmy isn't as mature, is more silly, acts and appears more youthful. It isn't a knock against Michael Landes, who I preferred as Jimmy, but it a different direction for the character. The "Jimmy" from the George Reeves "AoS" or the one from movie serials of the 30s-40s weren't youngsters like the comics version either.

Christina has a good point. Continuity was never much of an issue until the 90s.

Lois & Clark was pretty good with continuity as was the Christopher Reeves movies like Virginia mentioned. I never watched Smallville. How was it with regards to continuity?

Joan

I would *love* to see that as part of a fanfic.

Joy,
Lynn

I doubt I'm the best one to answer this question. I've watched S1-5 (once) and just started into S6. There was a little confusion continuity wise in S5 when I thought Clark had broken up with Lana, but then they were still dating. I've also been confused with the continuity of Cloe's feelings for Clark. Sometimes she has a secret crush on him, and then I think she's moved on, only to have her kiss him again out of nowhere. I think she's finally moved on for good this time (S6).

Time will tell how the newly introduced Jimmy works out here. He, too, is blonde, not a red hair in sight.

Lois's backstory is similar to that in the comics (only her mom's dead). She's introduced to Clark via her cousin Cloe while Clark's still in high school. (See KatherineKent's WAFFy fanfic story The Kissing Booth for an example of what I mean.) Lois is also a year older and has a lot more world experience than Clark.

Kryptonite acts different in Smallville because it effects everyone. Anyone who was exposed to the meteor shower Clark arrived on, could end up with weird abilities. (Kind of like Human + Kryptonite = X-Men). Thankfully, that story device is mostly phasing out, except they had another meteor shower in S5, so maybe they'll bring back that aspect of the show in the later seasons. I hope not.

This show does sometimes mention things from the past, which I can't recall (since I seem to watch the DVDs less regularly than once a week), which can be confusing.

There was a horrible storyline with Lana as the reincarnated soul of a witch burned at the stake back in S4, I think, which I could have lived without. Even though I've watched the entire plot arc, I still have no idea what it was about because it was pretty convoluted and confusing and never seemed to have a point. Somehow the witch and Clark, or Krypton maybe or Kryptonian mythology, had something to do with one another. I don't know. I never understood it. I'm just glad it's over.

There's one nice continuity thing that Smallville does. It has been slowly introducing (via cameos) other Justice League and DC characters, and showing their origin stories as they stumble through Smallville for one reason or another. So far, we've seen Aquaman, Flash, and a couple of others I can't recall off the top of my head. Green Arrow has just been introduced as a recurring character (S6) and another foe against Lex. I don't know if this is the same Green Arrow (a spin-off) as the new Green Arrow TV show though.

I never saw the George Reeves "AoS" episodes, although due to your reviews, Virginia, I'm thinking about it. Maybe with the release of the new Superman movie, the old shows will be out and I can snap up a set for cheap.

Anyway, speaking of continuity - I think that the cartoon version Adventures of Superman had the best continuity. The writers brought in Darkseid, for example, and used him a lot in several episodes, all of which hung together.

I liked L&C, and as several have already pointed out, there are a lot of bloopers and continuity errors. But this show was intended to be a not-serious rom-com.

"Smallville" doesn't have that excuse - it's drama and action. And I would just *grosn* over the continuity errors.

Neal Bailey has a great bit about this in his column . It's labeled "The Smallville Knockout Count" (in homage to everyone who was clonked on the head by the writers, so that they wouldn't see Clark acting super), but if you scroll down there is an amusing section labeled "Miracles". Here's a sampling (WARNING - SPOILERS):

Maybe you'll be lucky. I picked them up for $10 each (3&4 are one boxset and so are 5&6). My Mom's day gift for myself. I'm still hoping that I'll catch Smallville in a price range I can afford. We'll see.

What a great link. Thanks for sharing. It was after watching the open episodes of S6, I was starting to wonder if Smallville had more or less continuity problems than LnC.

Sorry about the typo. I would *groan* over continuity issues. There.

Lois and Clark did have continuity in waves. The first episode with Tempus was wedged between two Dan infested episodes, and really could have fit anywhere in season 2 with little problem. "The Return of the Prankster" also felt slightly out of sync. On the other hand, they almost seemed to reboot after "Top Copy". Lois should have not fully bought Clark's hologram display. Other times like with "That Old Gang of Mine", the issue should have come up again when Lois learned that CK=SM, but it didn't.

On the other hand, I really don't think there was enough development of the plot in "The Adventures of Superman" to consider if there was continuity or not. There was no plot development, so no real continuity issues at all.

From what I have watched of the Superman animated series from the 1990s, that is also my feeling about it. The plot was not developing so there were not really issues at all to solve to keep continuity.

Actually the biggest problem then is they seem to have forgotten about the "Resurrection" drug. When Lois has to fake her death, that would have been the way to do it, much safer than freezing her.

To tell you how little continuity the adventures of Superman had, in the season I got from iTunes, they had mixed up the order, but the only way I realized this is because they linked the episodes to different names then they actually had. There was nothing in the order of the episodes that effected that.

I think in L&C season 1, you could for move "Honeymoon in Metropolis" all the way to just before "Fly Hard", and I am not sure things would be different. In fact, with Clark's comment about how he will act in the honeymoon suite, it almost should be further removed from when Lois was so crazily trying to seduce him.

I wish that were the reason, Lynn, but I haven't yet finished S1. My unopened DVDs taunt me every time I walk past the TV. (My son *hates* B&W movies and TV and refuses to watch anything that isn't in color. over it. That is a wonderful idea. Sort of along the lines I suggested of a Lois and Clark movie, but probably more likely to happen. My Lois and Clark movie idea is sort of inspired by the film "Get Smart Again".

I have read speculation that they were going for a more young looking character to appeal to a younger female audience.

I do think Dean and Michael look alike, but I did not notice that until after I read the explanation for changing Jimmy's. I don't think it ever confused me when I was first watching the show.