The Pogo Stick - Lois & Clark Fanfic Message Boards

Hello All,

Since my son is at camp this weekend, I'm getting to indulge in a bit of L&C viewing. I've just started rewatching Neverending Battle and I noticed something I hadn't paid particular attention to before. Near the start of the show, Lex is sitting down on his balcony, and two Japanese women bring out a pogo stick which the show Lex and lean against the wall. As if that weren't weird enough, it looks like a girl's pogo stick: It appears to me to be too small for an adult, and it has bright green and pink handles. Lex thanks the women (in Japanese), but does not do anything with the pogo stick. He doesn't seem the least bit surprised at having been given such an odd item; to the contrary, I had the feeling that the women were bringing it to him at his request.

So the challenge: Why does Lex have a girl's pogo stick, and what will he do with it?

If you know of any fanfic already written about this, please point the way.

Joy,
Lynn

From the script it is indeed a pogo stick. What Luthor was going to do with it is anybody's guess because he is diverted and irritated by Superman getting headlines.

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LUTHOR lowers the binoculars, smiles, turns to where Asabi
stands by the breakfast table: white linen cloth, sterling
silver service, O.J. fresh squeezed, coffee fresh brewed.
Luthor's smile widens; all's right with his world. He seats
himself. Asabi provides a napkin. Two beautiful JAPANESE
WOMEN, clad in rec: silk dresses slit up one side, appear and
bow. They hold between them a pogo stick. Luthor nods to
them, nods to Asabi, who hands them each a perfect white rose.

JAPANESE WOMEN
(musically, in unison)
Domo arigato.

LUTHOR
Do itashi mashte.

They bow again, denart. Asabi pours coffee, uncovers a
chafing dish of baked squab, serves, steps back. Luthor
rifles through his stack of morning newspapers. A slight
frown creases his forehead.

LUTHOR (Cont'd)
Superman... Superman...
Superman... Superman...

He drops the papers, looks at Asabi.

So it is never explained and we have no idea why it was put there. However, I'm going to speculate that it was meant to show that Luthor was a daring man to plan to jump on a pogo stick on the balcony of the highest building in Metropolis. And then he found out about a man who could fly. That meant he was automatically Luthor's enemy.

Artemis

I could see Lex jumping on a pogo stick (after all, he has been known to do some pretty stupid things to prove himself), but if that were the case, I couldn't imagine him using a little girl's pogo stick to do so. I would picture him using a much larger (probably jewel-encrusted) one, instead.

I wonder whether he has a niece?

Joy,
Lynn

I think it's for one or both of the women. After he was done with his morning breakfast he'd call them back in. One jumping on it while the other laid on the floor (with the one jumping having to jump around her). The danger inherent in that could be a factor in things.

Christina, that is sick, twisted, perverted... and perfectly Lex. Well done!

Joy,
Lynn

I think the answer is clear here - it's for his 8 year old, never addressed, daughter whom he had out of wedlock with another mistress, whom we never got a chance to meet because the show ended FAR too soon.

Or maybe that's just my weird thought process.

Originally Posted by Deadly Chakram

I think the answer is clear here - it's for his 8 year old, never addressed, daughter whom he had out of wedlock with another mistress, whom we never got a chance to meet because the show ended FAR too soon.

That was my thought exactly.

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Or maybe that's just my weird thought process.

Well, then, I guess you wouldn't be the only one.

Do we know everything we need to know about his relationship with Arianna Carlin? Maybe they secretly had a daughter together (let's call her Alexis)...her 15th birthday is coming up, and Lex is going to send her the pogo stick. Why such a gift that doesn't fit how old she actually is? Because Lex is clueless and disconnected. My dad (who hadn't seen us in years) used to send me and my brother oddly juvenile Christmas gifts on the few years he seemed to remember.

When Alexis gets this POS gift from her father, she gets pissed off and starts bad-mouthing her absent dad. Arianna starts defending him and accidentally slips a clue that identifies Lex as her dad. Alexis is now even more pissed off that the 3rd richest man in the world is sending her crap like this pogo stick. And she starts to plot her revenge...

Originally Posted by groobie

Do we know everything we need to know about his relationship with Arianna Carlin? Maybe they secretly had a daughter together (let's call her Alexis)...her 15th birthday is coming up, and Lex is going to send her the pogo stick. Why such a gift that doesn't fit how old she actually is? Because Lex is clueless and disconnected. My dad (who hadn't seen us in years) used to send me and my brother oddly juvenile Christmas gifts on the few years he seemed to remember.

When Alexis gets this POS gift from her father, she gets pissed off and starts bad-mouthing her absent dad. Arianna starts defending him and accidentally slips a clue that identifies Lex as her dad. Alexis is now even more pissed off that the 3rd richest man in the world is sending her crap like this pogo stick. And she starts to plot her revenge...

Love it! Someone get writing!

Wouldn't it be funny if Lois and Lex's wedding got interrupted by Alexis instead of Perry and the gang.

ALEXIS: You don't want to marry a man so self-abosorbed he doesn't even introduce you to his daughter first!

LOIS: /to Lex/ You have a kid?

ALEXIS: Kids, lady. What, father dearest, did you forget to mention my big brothers to her, too? /looks Lois up and down/ Geeze, Daddy, she's younger than Jaxon! That's sick!

LOIS: My! Look at the time. I have to see a man about a cape. Tootles.

(okay, now I've ruined groobie's great plot idea with my awful diversion.) I return you to your previous plot thread in 3, 2, 1...

Originally Posted by VirginiaR

LEXIS: Kids, lady. What, father dearest, did you forget to mention my big brothers to her, too? /looks Lois up and down/ Geeze, Daddy, she's younger than Jaxon! That's sick!

That's awesome!

That's really why Jaxon targets Lois and Clark...he's still pissed off that she was nearly his step-mom.

What wonderful ideas. The off-air daughter is very plausible, DC. Susan, the daughter being 15 years old is an excellent touch. (I am just sorry that it hits so close to home. FWIW, it does for me, as well: My ex-husband usually e-mails me to ask a few days before our son's birthday or Christmas what our son might like. I respond with a number of possibilities in a wide range of prices to that he could choose his own price point -- and I always include in the list an e-gift certificate, since they are so easy to buy. Then about 2:00am the morning after the holiday, our son receives an e-card from my ex. That's it. No gift. Just an e-card. Our son is *severely* affected by autism and has no interest in e-cards; he won't even look at my computer screen.)

Virginia: "I've got to see a man about a cape"?

You guys are all so creative. I love the stories that are being woven from a simple pogo stick.

Thanks for answering the challenge, and please keep the answers coming.

Joy,
Lynn

Lynn - Serious hugs to you.

Virginia - Glad I'm not the one weird one!

Love your little scenario!

Susan - Awesome idea. Write this please!

Originally Posted by Deadly Chakram

Susan - Awesome idea. Write this please!

Sadly, I have no talent for A-plot. My muse lives happily in the gutter.

But anyone who wants the plot bunny is more than welcome to it!

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Maybe they secretly had a daughter together

Comic trivia: Not with Arianna, but in the comics Lex had a daughter (Lena Luthor) with one of his wives, the Contessa Erica Alexandra Del Portenza (1998, Superman v2 #131).

And now back to your original topic...

Andreia

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Comic trivia: Not with Arianna, but in the comics Lex had a daughter (Lena Luthor) with one of his wives, the Contessa Erica Alexandra Del Portenza (1998, Superman v2 #131).

And a follow-on piece of trivia: Before Lena Luthor was the name of Lex's daughter, it had been the name of his sister. In the Silver Age, he did have a (very) few redeeming qualities, one of which was that he did care for his sister... Enough to let her believe he didn't exist rather than to know that she had a criminal for a brother. Their parents had been so ashamed of Lex that they changed their names to "Thorul" so they wouldn't be identified with him, and they told a very young Lena that her older brother, Lex, had died.

Lex did a number of things in the Silver Age to promote her well being. (I can't think of specifics off the top of my head, however.)

Joy,
Lynn

All this from a Pogo Stick? With fertile imaginations like that this fandom will be around for years to come!!!