Sadly Lost Ideas (This is all Labby's fault!) - Lois & Clark Fanfic Message Boards

I read this comment from the new Krypton thread.

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Originally posted by LabRat:

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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 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 [b]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.

{...}

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

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And it got me thinking (Danger! Danger!)

What are some of the other wasted opportunities in the series?

Groobie/Susan has shown us the way with Smart Kids.

Wendy has practically made TOGOM the poster child for this subject

The first thing that comes to my mind is I'm Looking Through You. Face it, a man makes it possible to be invisible! Imagine the military uses!! If it can be done once, it can be done again, especially if it has been done once.

So, what other interesting ideas or avenues died on the vine?

James

As much as it pains me to say it...Ultrawoman *cough*

Lois was UW for, what, two days? In that time she couldn't have possibly come to completely understand what Clark had to face on daily basis. Not to mention the total lack of dealing with Clark sans superpowers--or who he lost them to.

Then again, maybe someone upstairs was as nauseous over that suit as I was and decided to wrap it up in one episode.

I think a good story could be written about any of the "bad guys of the week" who get taken away in handcuffs. Do they immediately post bail and continue their crime sprees? Is Superman constantly called in to testify against them?

On that line of thought: how does anyone that Superman catches in the act and hands over to the police get convicted in court? If Superman was the only witness, how does he get subpoenaed? If he doesn't testify, does the criminal go free? How could he possibly testify in all of the cases he's involved in? Talk about Clark losing his job - he'd never make it in to work!

Mayson did have a legitimate point about Superman in "Church of Metropolis":

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Do you have a license to chase criminals? Do you ever read them their rights?Are you insured if you hurt someone? You know how much paperwork you make for my office? And where am I supposed to get a hold of you to come in for despositions? Where do you live, do you work, who _are_ you?

What a nightmare for the D.A.!

Here's another point: how many of you have sat through jury duty? You know the part where they list the names of the lawyers, defendants, and witnesses, and they ask if you know any of them? Well, everyone knows Superman! So then they have to determine if you're biased (either for or against) that person - if you would be unduly swayed by that person's testimony. How easy would it be for everyone in Metropolis to get out of jury duty by saying that they'd believe everything Superman testified, just because he's Superman? The defense should be able to bounce everyone off the trial for cause!

(I'm not a lawyer, so I'm guessing on this, based on what I witnessed during one jury duty I served on. It was a drug case and people were getting bounced for cause by saying statements like "I don't believe in the country's drug laws." Maybe one out of the room might have truely believed that, but ten? They appeared to be lying just to get out of jury duty.)

The show had many characters that appeared once and were then thrown away. I'd like to see more stories that continue to develop these characters.

Susan

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On that line of thought: how does anyone that Superman catches in the act and hands over to the police get convicted in court? If Superman was the only witness, how does he get subpoenaed? If he doesn't testify, does the criminal go free? How could he possibly testify in all of the cases he's involved in? Talk about Clark losing his job - he'd never make it in to work!

Well, in the US, less than about 5% of criminal cases actually go to trial. US Attorneys, to the best of my knowledge, won't lay down an indictment unless they know they can win, and as a result most cases get plea bargained or tossed out. I doubt Superman would really get called in that often.

On the same note, it often takes years for things to actually go to trial. Superman doesn't take notes, and doesn't file reports -- I highly doubt anyone would even really *want* him as a witness except to just be there saying, "Hi, I'm Superman," and smiling pretty for the cameras.

My guess would be the majority of incidents where he is the only witness will get tossed out and the guys will go free.

Realistically speaking, I see Superman having much more success as an emergency worker, not a crimestopper.

I guess a missed opportunity is that beyond a paragraph from Mason and an episode where he got sued, they never really addressed this. At all.

I mentioned this when I replied to the feedback on my short story, but I think there was a wasted opportunity in "Tempus, Anyone?" After Wells dropped Lois off in that alley, she just carried on with her life like nothing had happened. I'm not saying we should have gotten an entire episode about her dealing with the emotional fallout of the unintentional destruction of alt-Clark's life, but there should have been something, even if it was just a comment in a later episode.

I also don't think that Lois & Clarks dealt with this particular aspect of Lois' and alt-Clark's past. I realize he was in love with her and would have done anything for her, but I wonder if he shouldn't have been a little hesitant to step in for Lois' Clark after what had happened in "Tempus, Anyone?" And why didn't they talk about it then? We got some comments from alt-Clark about how lonely his life is, but a major reason for it being that way was Lois' intervention! Okay, okay, marriage to Lana Lang is not exactly the definition of blissful togetherness--what's an antonym for loneliness?--but at least he still had his life as Clark Kent and his friends at the Planet.

I realize, of course, that Tempus was the bad guy in all this, not Lois. She didn't know what would happen. But she just picked up where she left off in her world without even so much as mentioning her (mis)adventures in the other dimension.

Just my 2 cents.

I agree with C_A.

Why if H. G. Wells can travel between each dimension and back and forth in time why couldn't he go back and stop Tempus from outing Clark in the Alt-Universe? He could have taken an earlier version of Alt-Clark to the other universe just as he did in Lois and Clarks. He could have the opportunity to train become the hero he is suppose to be and even have the chance at a private life. If he pulled him out early enough he could even have a chance at meeting or saving his Lois.

TLAT

The throwaway character who has always whetted my curiosity is the woman who bid $50,000 for Clark in ILTY.

Yes, I know, I wrote a fanfic A Date With Superman dealing with that woman, but I believe I got the character wrong.

I know there was something between the woman and Lex Luthor. I'm sure it was his $50,000 and he has/had some nefarious purpose in mind when he asked her to bid for him.

gerry

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I know there was something between the woman and Lex Luthor. I'm sure it was his $50,000 and he has/had some nefarious purpose in mind when he asked her to bid for him.

Maybe it was just because Lex didn't want Lois to win a date with Superman.

Though you bring up a good point, Gerry. What if he was trying to get information on Superman, weaknesses and such? Or he could have just trying to get someone close enough to kill him... or maybe incapacitate him somehow, seeing as Lex does like a good advasary and wouldn't want to kill him straightaway.

Sara

C A wrote:

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I mentioned this when I replied to the feedback on my short story, but I think there was a wasted opportunity in "Tempus, Anyone?" After Wells dropped Lois off in that alley, she just carried on with her life like nothing had happened. I'm not saying we should have gotten an entire episode about her dealing with the emotional fallout of the unintentional destruction of alt-Clark's life, but there should have been something, even if it was just a comment in a later episode.

I also don't think that Lois & Clarks dealt with this particular aspect of Lois' and alt-Clark's past. I realize he was in love with her and would have done anything for her, but I wonder if he shouldn't have been a little hesitant to step in for Lois' Clark after what had happened in "Tempus, Anyone?" And why didn't they talk about it then? We got some comments from alt-Clark about how lonely his life is, but a major reason for it being that way was Lois' intervention! Okay, okay, marriage to Lana Lang is not exactly the definition of blissful togetherness--what's an antonym for loneliness?--but at least he still had his life as Clark Kent and his friends at the Planet.

That was something else that bothered me, how they left that poor guy without nary a Lois in sight and never addressed properly what happened to him. Of course, we have lots of fanfic where writers helped him find his alt-lois, but it was kind of offhanded how on the show they just left it with Wells saying he didn't like to use the word impossible.

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Why if H. G. Wells can travel between each dimension and back and forth in time why couldn't he go back and stop Tempus from outing Clark in the Alt-Universe? He could have taken an earlier version of Alt-Clark to the other universe just as he did in Lois and Clarks. He could have the opportunity to train become the hero he is suppose to be and even have the chance at a private life. If he pulled him out early enough he could even have a chance at meeting or saving his Lois

I agree! Why not save alt-Lois instead of leaving the poor guy hopeless? Poor alt-Clark!

Marcy

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That was something else that bothered me, how they left that poor guy without nary a Lois in sight and never addressed properly what happened to him. Of course, we have lots of fanfic where writers helped him find his alt-lois, but it was kind of offhanded how on the show they just left it with Wells saying he didn't like to use the word impossible.

I think we were intended to read into Wells's comment that Alt Clark would find his Lois. In fact, there had been an episode pitched for the doomed S5, which would have dealt with that issue and reunited them. It's one of the few things I'd have liked to have seen in S5.

LabRat