The least favorite thread reminded me of a scene in The Eyes Have It that made me go

Clark is at Lois' Apartment and can't see and goes outside to telephone his parents. Like James said "How Big are Lois' feet" that Clark can wear her tennis shoes? I know...he probably has left all of his clothes over there, including a lovely large, camel overcoat?




Anyone else have some scenes

Hmm...are these scenes that make me snort and say, "yeah, right, like that would ever happen."?

Hmm...darn, I'm not thinking of any bloopers right now, but some of the more ridiculous scenes for me:

The translation of the dead sea scrolls.
Never on Sunday and Ghosts-the whole episodes.
:rolleyes:

Yes, or bloopers work too!

Paul has a good example here Lois going on Promethus

There are a lot for me. I cannot seem to think of any at the moment..... I'm sure they've been pointed out tonnes before, but hey why not.

I hope I am on the same wavelength here.

Yes I have an imagination, but sometimes I have to groan.....a lot. Usually I just ignore it and enjoy the show...

- Ides of Metropolis
- Jimmy's ability to get info so amazingly fast
- I remember faulty props in a winter episode. They really looked fake.
- virutal reality logic. I can use my imagination for some, but Jimmy has a too easy of a time being connected to everything......I could go on.
-"Honeymoon In Metropolis" Do maids/housekeeping really interupt THAT much in such a ...rude? way?
-Pilot episode there is a map showing Metroplis not near the ocean and yet later a tidal wave threatens its existence.

Scenes that make me go WHAT? -- too many to list! LOL. I have a few scenes that make me go AUGH though:

*The end of TEHI, when Lois asks Clark where he was all weekend. It's actually a cute scene but it makes me crazy that he doesn't have an answer.

*The end of COS... it's like, okay Martha, too much information! Thanks...

*Pretty much any scene in BGDF when people are possessed by Tez. Especially Martha. The green slime, the horror of it all...

Okay but now I'm just starting to list scenes that gross me out... so I shall stop.

I could list a thousand scenes I love, though!

The biggest one for me? Anything having to do with NK. I'd enumerate my issues, but, to save time, I'll just give you this link.

Paul

I had one that jumped to mind right away. I don't know all the titles of the shows, but it was the one with Ultra Woman. Clark was tied to a chair by those sisters. He was escaping and fell backwards from the chair and you see his hands fly up, but then while he running away his hands are still tied firmly behind his back. Whats up with that? :rolleyes:

I totally agree with you guys. Those ones got to me too.

Ghosts...'nuff said.

And just to comment on another, it's not terribly common, but I've had Housekeeping barge in on me before. Fortunately for them I was just in another room hanging up stuff...

Never On Sunday...voodoo dolls? I never really bought into that whole train of thought.

The Lex Files...WHAT?


JD :p

TEHI... two parts that bother me every time. As a whole, the episode is really cute, but the parts that irk me are the ones where Superman (while blind) asks Lois if she's okay, and she doesn't say ANYTHING. Once, in her apartment, and again at the DP. It's like sheesh Lois he can't SEE you, you have to SPEAK UP. And it's so un-Lois-like that it's really annoying to me.

Hi,

I'm not sure if this goes here, but this is the closest thing to a "bloopers" thread that I could find (without going *too* far back!)

I was just watching Andrea's "Holding out for a Hero" video ( ] - however, the scene I am referring to is just *after* the Charades scene. Superman flies outside with Lois, just as the dynamite explodes in the background.

The blooper part of this scene comes when the explosion causes debris to come flying through the air. I think the explosion was probably just a tad more explosive than planned, because Superman gets hit with a piece of debris, and his first reaction is to bring up his hand to protect his head. Superman wouldn't need to protect his head from flying debris, but Dean Cain would! Ouch!

- Vicki (who hopes for Dean's sake it was just pieces of styrofoam!)

Hey, how did I miss this one?

The scene which always makes me cringe and want to throw something at the TV is when Superman 'helpfully' :rolleyes: turns on the fire hydrant for the kids, so that water gushes out all over the place.

As many of you know, hubby is a firefighter. And every darn summer, firefighters lives are made hell by children turning on fire hydrants to cool themselves down. It's dangerous, it lowers water pressure, leads to a high possibility that when firefighters actually need that water during an emergency it won't be there for them, and they get verbal and physical abuse from parents who don't want them 'spoiling the kid's fun' when they come back twenty times in the same day to the same fire hydrant to turn it off.

On more than one occasion, thanks to this practice, there's not been enough water pressure in the local area to make tea at the station, let alone deal with any fire that happens along!

So every time Superman does this idiotic, reckless and stupid thing, I want to smack him upside the head with a two by four on behalf of all long-suffering firefighters.

LabRat

Not a blooper. More of a

In BGDF (I think), when Clark as Kal-El dressed in jeans, shirt and baseball cap is back in Smallville, why didn't any of the Smallvillians recognize him as Clark. He probably dressed that way when he lived in the town, maybe even without his glasses. And there he was hunging around his parents and Lois. Duh! :rolleyes:

gerry

This one has always driven me crazy. In SLAV, after Clark resuces Lois, the whole charades thing is bad enough, but then he has to stop the bomb from going off at the peace talks which are miles away in Metropolis. He throws a piece of (glass, mirror) high into the air, fires his laser vision at it. The Laser vision bounces off and refracts directly to the building where the bomb is. Let's say, he got lucky and it passed through a window on the exact floor of the bomb, so the laser vision didn't blow a hole in the side of the building and it didn't refract off the glass as it had just done. But then, the bomb is under a heavy wooden table. The laser vision somehow gets under the table and burns out the bomb mechanism without damaging the table or exploding the bomb. It's just too unbelievable to be funny. At least the huge canister-full-of-liquid bomb, instead of some small plastiquie device, under the table in WHALTTA was so ridiculous it was funny, intentionally so.

I never did notice that one, Vicki, but now I'll need to re-watch.

Exactly, Gerry!! I never thought too hard about it, but it's always been in the back of my mind.

Sara

I always had a problem with the pilot, Virtually Destroyed and Stop The Presses.

In the pilot Superman gets off the shuttle but Lois is still standing there. If they are trying to say she went on the shuttle and then came back with Superman get real. Also the second that there was a problem indicated on the shuttle there would have been people swarming all over it.

Virtually Destoryed - before Superman and Jimmy go into the apartment where "Clark" is trying to get the imformation about the names I think its Superman that says it may look like Clark but its not. Get really - Clark didn't have any glasses on he looked more like Superman. I think Jimmy would have noticed that. But they have him not notice and I just don't think that would have happened. I think he would have noticed and been stunned. Or at least have questioned them about it later.

Then the whole way the had Lois and Clark act in Stop the Presses. I think they would have been more supportive of each other. Instead they have Lois running rough shod over Clark but treating everyone else ok. Then they have Clark going around in a snit (sp). Instead of being supportive and helpful. I just think the whole relationship angle they took was out of character.

I agree with you 100% on that one! My grandfather was Fire Chief in my home town and every time I see that scene it just makes me want to yell at the TV !

James

That scene also makes me cringe because I don't know how often it has been said how dangerous it is and people just don't seem to get a clue.

It also bothers me for another reason and there are many other scenes like it that are just as stupid, though I can't recall them right now. I just know they make me think get real. Clark has spent all this time hiding his abilities. However when they want to have a "cute" or "sneaky" scene they have him glance around - barely - and then pull a super stunt. He is in the middle of the street. People could be looking out windows of buildings, cars, roofs etc. but they have him do a quick glance and then do somthing "super". I hate to tell you guys I'm sure someone saw the "super feat" and they world would know Clark Kent is Superman.

I was watching the New Krypton episodes and I have a big problem with one scene. Sometimes the writers did really stupid things.

Zara asks Clark if he has his ship and his response is he thinks he knows where they can get a hold of it. Which was with Mindy Church. Now in the NK story you can't tell where they are when they put their hands on the ship together. My things with this is after Mindy made him sick why didn't he go get his ship. Either it was left in JOey B's (?) lab which would have been searched when he was arrested or it was in Mindy's complex. Which was also searched and she had used it to set up the other guy.

Obviously Clark must have looked for it after what happened or he wouldn't have known where it was so why didn't he retrieve the ship then. He would have wanted it badly. That was obvious at the end of episode "Strange Visitor."

Oh, the one that really kills me for that is in season four, when he keeps coming into their house through the front window. Despite the fact that there are rows and rows of apartments with windows directly opposite. And then they wonder why there are rumours Lois is hanging out with Superman...

LabRat

Yea, LabRat your right. I never could understand why buying that brownstone seemed like a good idea to Clark other than the hidden compartment. Even that seemed kind of stupid to me it is in the living room for crying out loud. What if he needs to get a clean suit and his in-laws or friends are there. And your right about people seeing him coming or going. From front or back there are bound to be windows overlooking all the doors and windows. There is just no way for him not to be seen.

Another thing with that secret compartment in the living room. Unless they kept the drapes closed you can't be sure that someone didn't see it being opened, even with sheers at the window. If it is dark out and lights are on in the house it is easy to see what is going on. Plus believe me people are noisy as hell. I live in a resort town so the lots are tiny. I keep my drapes facing the street closed because people walking by would stare in as they went by - even with you sitting there where you could see each other. So no way did people not see Superman flying in and out of the brownstone at all hours of the day and night. And I do mean all hours. :rolleyes:

Two words: Wedding Destroyer.

Sheesh.

But then again I found most of season 4 to be like toffee to a diabetic - way too sweet.

I don't know if this counts, but there was one scene (I think it was in the Pilot?) that I could never understand. When we first saw Lex Luthor, why were those Japanese ladies handing him a pogo-stick???
As if it was an important item, no less!

I've started rewatching them all from the beginning. What I've found is despite the fact that I love the show in almost every episode I find myself wondering what the heck. Examples:

1. Green Green Glow of Home - Clark is chained in the back of the van. He tests no powers. Then it seems like a few second or minutes later and he is back to full strength. Bust the chains, kicks the doors off.

Now if that isn't bad enough. Trask signals the guy off - the driver. To take the van away. He knew Clark Kent was in the back. So how come the world doesn't wind up knowing that he is Superman. I'm sure someone would have bought the story.

2. Smart Kids - Which actually showed before Green Green Glow of Home. The kids figure out he is Superman. He sort of tries to unconvince them. But at the end in chalk they right Clark Kent=Superman maybe? I can't imagine that one of those kids didn't tell someone. So again how come the world doesn't know he is Superman.

Another one that drives me crazy. In Man Of Steel Bars the heat wave is caused by the heated aquifer water. Now correct me if I'm wrong but that would heat the ground above it which would make the ground hot. Then the heat from the ground would radiate upward into the air making the air closer to the ground warmeer than normal. There is no way they would be having summer weather. It would make it warmer on ground level but the higher up the colder. So like Lex's penthouse would be winter cold.

This being so why did it take the entire show to figure out what was going on it should have been obvious from the start to look below ground.

I love the show and I like this episode but the premise was just really to far out there.

Well, it wasn't just heated water but a radiation "leak". That could explain the temperature but not why people are still alive, I suppose.

I can remember when there was the Chernobyl disaster, I was way out in the country side (not even in Russia) and I ended up with sun burns.

*scratches head*

It was believable to me though, since they didn't really explain the circumstances of the "problem". I guess there could be instances where it could be done.

Okay, Julie brought up the episode Chip Off The Old Clark tonight in IRC and it reminded me of the thing that gets me the most . In fact, had I the time, I'd write a plot un-twist (unless someone already did it... come to think of it, I think *I* did that, but I don't remember if I ever finished it ).

Anyway...

Why the HECK does Clark not just tell Lois that he's a virgin when the whole question comes up?!?!

"Lois, there's something I have to tell you... there's no possible way that he can be my son because I'm a virgin."

Grrr!! Okay, I have to stop thinking about this episode because it's getting me all mad.

Sara

Sara wrote:

Why the HECK does Clark not just tell Lois that he's a virgin when the whole question comes up?!?!

"Lois, there's something I have to tell you... there's no possible way that he can be my son because I'm a virgin."

Hehe. Well the way I see it, A) he was nervous about bringing up that subject, really nervous, and he didn't feel actually comfortable until Virtually Destroyed. (Yeah this is a weak argument.) And B) Lois didn't believe, at first, Clark's assertion that he didn't have a kid. (THAT bugs me... but yeah okay, it helped Lois deal with her issues about trust, yada yada.) If Lois wasn't going to believe Clark about THAT, despite all they'd been through together, how much she loved him, etc., I don't think him blurting out THEN that he's a virgin would have made her go "Oh, well then, in THAT case, I believe you!"

It just, to me, didn't seem like the best time to be bringing up that issue.

And hey, Lois very well could have gone, "You? Ha! Give me a break."

I think it was good of him to wait for the dust to settle before sending another shock her way.

Oh, and I have one to add that I thought of today.

In Tempus Fugitive, HG Wells tells L&C that he's going to drop them back before he ever showed up so that they'll remember nothing and "none of this will have ever happened."

But obviously it DID happen, because Tempus WAS sent to 1866 afterwards and wrote the diary. Plus, in Tempus Anyone?, HG Wells helped Lois remember the events of TF. PLUS, Lois wrote "Clark is Superman" on the envelope and THAT was still there when they were sent back. So yes, it really did happen.

So what'd HG Wells do, hit them both over the head and give them temporary amnesia before he dropped them back in 1995?

I don't get it.

My personal favorite was during Individual Responsibility when Bill Church Jr. wiped his harddrives and said, "There, now there won't be anything that points to Intergang when police get here." Except for the fact that it says INTERGANG in big capital letters on the wall behind him somewhere.

At least I think that's how I remember it :p Also I happen to know that deleting files like that does *nothing* that can't be undone =p

Your right about the hard drive plus the bigger the drive the longer it takes. You have to do a
scrub several times to make sure that nothing can be retrieved and it takes special programs. I did it on a computer that didn't have a very big hard drive - like 2 gig (maybe 10 but no bigger) and to scrub it several times took a couple of hours. So there is no way that the information on Bill Churches hard drive couldn't be recovered.

Hehe, I was wiping drives today. Took about 4 hours to write a 10 gig drive over with 0s just the one time, no repetition. I had to leave the 40 and the 120 running overnight.

Pretty much any show or movie that does things with computers does it badly that I've seen so far... But it's all good entertainment at least =p

Possible answer to this one - don't forget that Metropolis was always shown as being slightly ahead of here in the real world when it came to technology. Particularly, often, when it came to computers.

Perhaps their computers work just a little faster and more successfully than ours do.

LabRat

Last Saturday I was bored (not used to spending Saturday night at home anymore ) and I ended up watching some eps (it'd been ages since I'd done it). So, I started with WWW, and the ATAI and WHALTTA followed. There were a couple things that made me go... what?? (leaving aside some not-so-good dialogues at some points). Though I'm not sure it's so much because they were a little out there... It was more that I found them a little out of character. For example, Lois's change of mood at the beginning of WHALTTA. Once Clark is talking to her but as Superman, it seems like the tables simply turned. He becomes the ofended one and she starts almost apologizing, and so again the following morning at the Planet.

Then, a little later, when they go see Bill Church Sr., Clark says he needed to know she'd marry him before telling her he was Superman... But he'd almost told her his secret, on three different occasions (at the end of WWW it certainly seems to be his intention, and twice in ATAI)

Not sure that's the kind of thing you guys are bringing up in this thread, but...

Cris

It always bothered me that the beginning of ATAI, Clark was preparing and practising to tell Lois that he was Superman. He was interrupted by Jason Mazik's phone call. What bothers me is that Lois doesn't appear to remember that, and in many ways it is pivotal since Clark was going to tell Lois he was Superman...and it seemed that interrupted revelation happened not long after (perhaps the next morning) she had decided to say the scary words.

As far as this is concerned:
I've always interpreted it differently. When she is talking to Superman she was dealing with business first, so when the discussion turned more personal, it was easier for her. She told him that she needed time. She wasn't saying "No." she was saying "Not yet". So she knew that she needed some time to work through that he was Superman, and more importantly, that he hadn't told her. (Perhaps, when she got home that night and thought the whole thing through she'd remember the morning when he almost told her, "Lois, I'm super...". Even if she didn't, she would have time to think which makes her attitude the following morning make sense.

Clark, on the other hand, was being naive and human--a lunkhead. He proposed to Lois before she knew the truth and he hoped that she would marry him. He never thought about the ramifications if she found out, without him telling her, that he was Superman. Because at that moment he believed there was no difference between himself and Superman (I think if you asked him that at another point in time, he'd say there was a difference between Clark Kent and Superman). Anyway, he was hurt when Lois rejected his proposal. He heard "No", not "Not yet". And because he's human, he was petulant.

I think they both were in character there. (And the writers had to draw out the developing relationship.)

That's my take on these scenes.
gerry

I guess you have a point, Gerry, though I still would have expected an angrier reaction from Lois (maybe I've read to many fics ). I've always felt the writers made the relationship move way too fast at that stage (from ATI on), but your explanation makes sense.

Are we allowed to say why mentioned scenes don't make us go ... WHAT? You're probably right--too many fics. (/me ducks) Seriously, in the show, Lois showed herself remarkably forgiving of Clark, so her reaction in WHALTTA is in character. In NeverEnding Battle, remember how she came to the Planet after Clark sent her on that wild Godzilla chase? She accepted that he had a reason for behaving as he did, even though they weren't friends at that time.

In Tempus Fugitive, she got mad after Tempus revealed Clark's secret in the most humiliating way possible (in the future, everyone wants to know "how dumb was she?"). But she understood why Clark had deceived her and forgave him even before they saw the results of Tempus's meddling (when he started fading).

The longest she stayed angry at Clark was when he broke up with her "for her own good" and left without even giving her a chance to discuss his decision. I always figured she was using her anger as a way to keep him at a distance while she was trying to figure out if she really could live with a man who made life-changing decisions for both of them without listening to her point of view.

Other than that, Lois continually showed herself to be very forgiving of Clark. She exploded easily, but she didn't hang on to her anger--not with him. Because of that, her behavior in WHALTTA seemed very in character to me.

OMG, I so fully agree about the brownstone being a terrible place for Superman to "hide." And the photographer (though, I guess with the faked pics, people would be to embarassed on having turned on a man who repeatedly saves the world to openly admit that the Lois/Superman relationship is a little sketchy...especially after the Chip Off the Old Clark fiasco).

My What the crap moments:
When Ultrawoman stops the truck dressed as Lois: 1) How does Clark change so fast? 2) How does he get the truck he couldn't even see so fast? 3) How does Lois explain why the truck carried her forward?

Why aren't more villains after Superman's powers when the Newtrich sisters prove they can be taken?

Why doesn't anyone notice Clark flying Lois to their actual wedding?

Why does the Kryptonite bullet Lois removes from Clark's shoulder heal so quickly?

How in God's name does Lex come nack after taking a swan dive off the top of the Tower?

How come no one notices the many late night visits Superman makes to Lois's apartment?

Why does Clark make faces when Martha grabs his ear in Season's Greedings? We know it doesn't hurt...

How come the writers make Lois like Jonathan's Metropolis chinese take out better than Clark's actual Chinese takeout?

How does Clark have different currencies always available to buy Lois snacks from other countries?

Where DO his clothes go when he wears the suit? (The hyperspace answer is the only one I can deal with on this one)

How can HG Wells return LnC to before he got them without any reprecussions? Wouldn't they reun into themselves?

If the whole point was that Perry would blow up if he got off of the chair, how did Clark push him off of it and prevente debris from hitting him?

Ellen was happy when she finally figured out Clark's secret. We don't see any reaction time that would indicate that the reprecussions of his being Superman would upset her, so why is that memory wiped away with the Bummer Begone? And what does everyone think happened in those moments that they've forgotten? Aren't they considered about these lapses in memory?

And why, why in god's name, does plastering Lois and Clark's pic all over Metropolis make any sense when they need to go undercover so much?!

"But I've given this a lot of thought," "and I realize instead of dancing around my feelings for you, I have to meet them head on and verbalize my emotions."

I cringe every time I hear this dialogue. :rolleyes:


My greatest pet peeve is WHALTTA.

Ok, I get that Clark want to be sure that Lois loves him for himself. But she has shown that she is interested in him romantically. So you would think it would be a good idea to tell her what she is buying into. By asking her to marry him without knowing him, he shows appalling disregard for her feelings.
I can only interpret it as a test. Lois must show that she is truly serious about him. But what is his plan afterwards? He can't possible hold her to her presumed Yes when it turns out she doesn't know who he is, that he has deceived her for years?

If you start by humiliating your intended and showing so little trust you really deserve to be smacked around silly.
But not only does Clark lack any contrition he gets HUFFY when Lois asks for some time to reconcile his dual identity. WTF is wrong with him?
It's so out of character and so unbelievable that it is almost funny. I don't think have read a fanfic that has handled the subject worse.

Also the revelation and its consequences is a major story arch with a immense payoff. But it's virtually ignored for some reason.

Now if they had milked that for five episodes instead of Clois and her amnesia.

Another thing areall those people who threatens Superman. Luthor running around with smirk, implicitly trusting that Superman's ethics will keep him alive and scheming.
You would think someone with the powers of a God would be treated with some wariness. Especially if you go out of your way to piss him of.

Take his parents hostage asking him to kill other people.. hmm if he is willing to do that why wouldn't he kill you?

In the Dillinger episode we see that Clark is no stranger to interrogation under extreme duress. Yet when his parents or girlfriend's lives are at stake he submits meekly to all demands.

And then we have Luthor, the criminal at large, that are allowed to run away with Lois without being detained. You would think with all mind altering methods Clark has encountered he would take Lois to a hospital at least.

Arawn, Clark wasn't thinking when he proposed to Lois. After her near-death at his own hands, he was obviously in a seize-the-day mode, and I don't believe his secret was really on his mind. Before, when he still thought she was immortal and that he had plenty of time, he had tried to do it in the right order--tell her his secret first and start a relationship second. But now, he was reacting out of terror at nearly losing her, and the only thing that mattered to him was showing her how much she meant to him. That was totally in character for the Clark who used to vanish with stupid excuses and completely forget about them until he saw Lois after he returned (Clark: "Uh... I'm in the mood for frozen yogurt. Want some?" ... (Later, after a Superman intervention) ... Lois: "What happened to you? You left two hours ago. And where's my yogurt?") He focuses on one thing at a time, unlike Lois, who can focus on any number of things simultaneously. But that doesn't mean he was testing her when he didn't tell her he was Superman before proposing. It means he was focused on showing her how much he loved her rather than how much he trusted her.

Well, you can interpret things differently I guess.

Sheilah,

Which he could have shown by making his intent clear, then sharing his secret, then respecting her decision. Really how would you react too something like this?
A guy ask you to marry you, you say yes, and then he makes clear that he really is a someone completely different, proving that you lack any kind of judgement whatsoever. You are left in a position where you cannot look anything but shallow if you would want to backpedal.And shown that he doesn't trust you.

Sure Clark makes mistakes, but he is also thoroughly empathic putting other people’s feelings above his own. And considering Lois impressive number of near death experiences, it seems ridiculous to me that he not until now grasp that she isn’t immortal. The scene is just so ad hoc. In the previous episode we have Lois willing to die for him, Now we have petulant Clark with “Fine I asked, you answered”. Really nice.

The difference is that in those cases he puts saving lives above his own and Lois happiness. His sorry excuses, I understand more as reluctance to put effort in it rather then lack of ability to spin a story. Considering that he can play baseball with himself he seem to have a considerable multitasking ability.

When I examine the things done in the show that really drive me crazy I figured out 2 things.

1) When Debra Joy Levine was involved the show didn't aggravate me as much. I felt like most of the time she put thought into what happened on the show. I felt if she went with something questionable that if you looked at it she did it for a reason.

An example of this is Honeymoon. Having worked at a major hotel for 19 years I know that at an upper class property a maid would never, ever barge in as in the show, neither would maintenance. They would knock loudly and announce who there were and wait, then repeat. If no answer after knocking twice then they would enter. This was not done in the show simply for the reason the kissing scene on the bed would never have happened otherwise. There would be no need for it. But they wanted to ramp up the sexual tension in the relationship.

Yes despite her thought there were still things like the fire hydrant that were stupid or wrong. But not as many as in the later seasons.

After first season I feel they just wrote stories without really think of the characters at times or what would be believable.

Example: (Just went and watched the epiosde) The episode Sex...Videotapes. When Superman throws the mirror up to disarm the second bomb in Metropolis he shot his vision at the satelite dish on the roof of the building where the Peace Conference was to take place so the signal would not be received. Ok kind of dumb but I can live with it.

What I can't believe was the photographer falling backwards off the ledge without getting hurt. Yes there was snow but get real that would not have kept her from being hurt. But what really sends me over the top on THE GET REAL METER is when Superman goes to rescue Lois. There is a recording saying you have activated a pressure sensitive bomb. Okay so why doesn't he float and get her. He won't be standing on any pressure sensitive plate. But beyond that when they are playing charades she puts her right hand with her finger extended up to her mouth and nose (touching them in fact). So why not just pull the stupid tape off her mouth. No need to go through those stupid charades that make Superman look dumb. Some idiot probably thought it was a cute scene when it has to been one of the worse in the whole series. There is absolutely no reason for that entire scene of charades. No reason at all. Go in hear message, float to rescue Lois and stop other bomb from exploding - simple. NO NEED FOR CHARADES.

I think the point of that was that Ellen was too flakey to be trusted with the secret, so it was best for all concerned that she be made to forget.

At least, that's what I always figured was in the minds of TPTB on that one.

Me? I always thought it was a bit of an insult to the character. Sure she was a bit out there and prone to hysteria in any given situation. But she loved her daughter and she had no ill feelings towards Clark. So why on earth she wouldn't strive to keep the secret once she knew it defeats me.

I always imagined that Ellen would be dreadfully hurt if she ever found out that everyone but her knew what was going on.

LabRat

I'm annoyed by gag scenes in which Clark openly uses his powers in front of witnesses, while dressed as Clark, without any attempt to cover up - in particular flying in front of the homeless man in (I think) the pilot episode, and the basketball game in which he hangs motionless in the air for several seconds in front of the guy he's playing against in season 2.

Or openly discusses his secret with Lois in crowded rooms! That one always kills me. Course, it's the old TV convention, isn't it, that no one in a crowded room can eavesdrop on important conversations.

In a similar vein, I always love in the Stargate episode, Lockdown, when Carter wants to privately discuss the fact that the patient in the bed adjoining Daniel's is dying she draws the curtain between the beds! As though that's going to stop their conversation travelling to the poor soul! They don't even lower their voices.

Apparently sound doesn't travel the same way in TV land as it does in reality.

LabRat

Fire hydrants

Mm it does seem irresponsible, but perhaps Clark wasn’t really familiar with conventional fire fighting yet. Or since he seem able to take out the local fires with his breath maybe he thought the water came too better use by the children under those extreme circumstances.


Pressure sensitive bombs

Some of those are activated when you take your foot away from it. But I didn’t even think about the charade thing, mostly because it’s no problem whatsoever to speak through a film of duct tape.

Maybe that was more of an artistic license. Since he can take off faster then the eye can see it shouldn’t really matter, if he cared.

Well since Metropolis scientist can regenerate gangsters from the 1930- thies that should be a piece of cake.

I always assume that Clark reflexively play acts when someone bumps into him etc, it was more her follow up comment with “tanning his hide like cheap leather” that felt strange to me. Well they said he wasn’t born invulnerable so maybe Martha gave him beatings at a more tender age.


Maybe he has a standing offer to help himself? Or he could zip by his apartment, or maybe he keeps foreign exchange in the same place as his ordinary clothes. Or maybe he carries travel checks.

Regardless, I'm quite sure Martha and Jonathan brought him up not to tamper with property that doesn't belong to him. At best you can call it vandalism. The hydrants aren't his - what makes him think he has the right to open them up?

Seems a bit arrogant of him, if so. What makes him think he can decide how such water is used? He must surely know what a fire hydrant is for? So what gives him the impression that he knows better than Metropolis's Fire Dept.?

The one which really amuses me is in one of the Lex Files episodes (I think). Where he stands on the front window ledge for several moments, talking to Lois. In full view of all those apartment windows behind him. Then, after a time, casually drops down from the window ledge into the house. No zipping in and out in the blink of an eye there.

LabRat

Originally posted by Mara:
I laughed out loud when I read that — thanks, Mara! You're so right. I have no idea why the marketing executives at The Planet — sorry, I mean the show's writers — never thought about that particular aspect. If Lois and Clark were columnists, I'd understand. But an investigative reporting team (for a newspaper, not TV news, no less) ... ? Not so much.

I guess the bottom line is that beautiful people pique interest and sell papers.

OK, OK, I got one.

I just started watching "The Man of Steel Bars". What's with Sonny Bono being the mayor and quoting his famous songs? "And the heat goes on" to the first reporter and "I got you, babe" to Lois, of all people? Sheeesh! :rolleyes:

One thing that I have noticed while watching the Pilot is the writing on the bus that Clark stops. When the bus is going down the hill out of control, you can see that "RT 36" is separate, and on a close-up after Clark stops it, we have "RT36", together. Did they actually not notice that?

One more thing: on "Man of Steel Bars" also, when Superman is rescuing the trapped workers and he lifts up the power cables, when the last worker passes and Superman lets go of the cables, one of them actually hits the back of the worker. Wouldn't it give the worker a shock?

malu

Ok, it does seem OOC, I tried for a positive spin.
The Lawful Good aspect of Superman has always been his hallmark. but for the sake of argument,there is a streak of arrogance in Clark in the series, (rather understandable too), If he is sure that he can handle any potential fires with or without the fire department then his action might not be that strange for a naive good guy.


Another one of the villains supreme faith in Superman's ethics.

In "Don't tug on Superman's cape." we have Tim Lake's gleeful, "Ten seconds and counting" You wouldn't think Mr and Mrs Lake would be blown away too if Superman failed to comply. or that Superman could leave the cage anytime there is a choice between Miss Lane and hundreds of people trapped in the wake of a volcano or whatever.

The Lakes have everything, yet are willing to gamble it all away ,for fun, on their abilty to second guess Superman.

My moment of today is from a episode I watched recently...Supermann--I think that's the name. While I enjoy Clark and Lois's banter, I was kind of caught in a what the heck moment at the point where they're researching Lisa Rockford's fingerprints. They come upon a database in Russian, so Clark starts reading.

Lois then says, very nicely in an admiring way, are there any languages you don't speak?

Then Clark responds in a VERY unnecessarily rude way with: well, sometimes I don't understand you.

She laughs. And I think both his comment and her response make my eyebrows go through the roof. Clark isn't catty. They hadn't been fighting. There was no reason for him to make a rude remark to a purely nice aside from her. And that she didn't call him on it? Impossible. Lois Lane would have definitely challenged him or at least shot back some retort. I just have to wonder sometimes if a writer was mad at his wife and felt the need to get his kicks in there!

And could we possibly discuss some of the wardrobe choices? Why would an investigative reporter ever be caught dead wearing a straight skirt that went all the way down to the ankles and was so tight she had to take tiny steps to get anywhere. Yeah, fat lot of good that would be chasing down a source. Not to mention, who can do any kind of self-defence in that sort of get-up?

Yes, it's the little things that kill me.

How come no one notices that Clark is Superman with glasses?

Also why did he wear the specs before the tights?

Jensguy said:

I've always wondered if it's purely a creation of this fandom or something from the comics/movies/somewhere else that prompts most of us to use the idea of Clark wearing glasses (lead and all that) as a way to control his emerging powers as a teen?

I get so confused between what is canon and what just seems like it to me.

Interesting question. I always thought it as a way to hide his strength. You don't beat on the wimpy guy with glasses. It gave him an excuse to avoid contact sports.
But I've not seen any evidence of that from his youth. Then again in the beginning the comics start with Superman up and going and his fosterparents dead.

It seems that way, in the beginning his glasses was made of krypton materials allowing him to use his heat-vision through them.

This page goes through the change of Superman over time in great detail, check the biology section . In 1986 With a "man of steel" Superman got a large remake in order rekindle interest.

These are many of those changes we see in the series that aren't original:

The planet Krypton was a cold and emotionally sterile planet.
Although all of his standard superpowers remained, Superman was effectively limited in power and scope; while the pre-Crisis Superman at his peak could easily move planets, the post-Crisis version strained at moving a commercial airliner in flight.
While the pre-Crisis Superman's costume was invulnerable (as a result of being made from the blankets in the rocket that brought him to Earth), the post-Crisis Superman's costume was made of ordinary material. Since the post-Crisis Superman possessed an invisible "aura" that surrounded him and contributed to his invulnerability, objects held close to him, such as his costume, were protected from harm; his cape, meanwhile, could (and did) easily sustain damage in battle.
Kal-El was not an infant sent from Krypton to Earth; rather, his fetus was placed in a "birthing matrix" equipped with a rocket engine and Jor-El's experimental warp drive, with Kal-El gestating during the trip to Earth; once the rocket landed, Kal-El was fully "born" on Earth.
Superman was made the sole survivor of Krypton's destruction (vs. the earlier version having other survivors such as Supergirl, Krypto, etc. attached to him).
Clark's abilities developed gradually in the yellow sun environment, starting with resistance to injury, then strength, x-ray vision, etc., with his ability to fly being the last to emerge. It took until his late teen years for all of his powers to develop; thus, Clark only adopted the Superman identity in adulthood, and never was Superboy.
Clark's adoptive Terran parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent are alive and well in Clark's adulthood, and Clark visits them periodically. (Previously, they had died shortly after Clark's high school graduation).
Lois Lane was written as an aggressive reporter and person from the start, and never expressed a desire to find out Superman's secret identity.
Superman's arch-nemesis Lex Luthor was no longer a mad scientist but instead a power-hungry billionaire, "the most powerful man in Metropolis," who resented Superman's overshadowing presence. Instead of battling Superman directly, Lex would use hired minions and staff on his payroll to confront Superman directly using whatever schemes or devices Lex had in mind.
The villain Bizarro was established as an imperfect clone of Superman, created from the superhero's DNA, rather than as a duplicate from an alternate universe.
Lana Lang and Jimmy Olsen lost all of their superhero identities.
All of the variant forms of kryptonite (red, gold, yellow, blue, white, etc.) no longer existed. Only green remained.
Superman's relationship with Batman, which was much closer pre-Crisis, became much more tentative, as each disagreed with the other's methods and attitudes.
Superman had no memory of his existence on Krypton, but instead identified himself as a citizen of Earth.
Two of the most important changes made to Superman's personality included:

Superman's alter-ego Clark Kent was no longer "mild-mannered"; he became more assertive, and an important half of a double life. Man of Steel established Clark Kent as the "real" person, with Superman being the "disguise" - a reversal of the earlier canon.
It was not known to the general public that Superman had a secret identity, since he didn't wear a mask.

i haven't seen the episode where Clark says "well, sometimes I don't understand you" in a while, but I always thought it was teasing, not rude. Much like the "babble" comments. I don't remember thinking he sounded angry with Lois or anything, and if she had gotten angry with him, I feel like it would've been unjustified given the minor nature of the comment.

He was definitely teasing when he said that, and he actually did that a lot. And Lois knew he was teasing, which was why she didn't call him on it.

Clark was always portrayed as somewhat of a smartass, so that was completely in character, in my opinion. Remember his "pumpkin" remark in Requiem for a Superhero? Or the "You like to be on top, got it" comment in the Pilot (in this case she would have been totally justified in letting him have it, IMO). Some people just communicate that way, it's what they do, and it doesn't mean they're being rude.

In any case, in Super Mann, his tone of voice and facial expression definitely told her that he wasn't trying to upset her, and she responded in kind.

Okay, so I finally got S2 on dvd and was watching Chi of Steel when I heard something I couldn't quite justify to myself. It's when Chen Chow says that he knows Clark from the optometrist. Okay, I get why Clark goes to the eye doctor...to get the glasses. But have you ever tried looking through glasses that weren't your prescription? I think even Clark's eyes would hurt from it. So yeah... I don't get that.

I was watching The Source the other day and I noticed that when Clark went home with his parents after Perry said that he could and Lois told him that there was nothing pressing going on and when he's about to have lunch with his parents and sees the paper being dropped on the side walk and he focuses in on the headline, he doesn't pull down his glasses to read them when he normally does to focus in on stuff or to use his heat or X-Ray vision.

Crazy_Babe - It's been a few weeks since I watched "The Source" but I know what scene you are talking about.

I just thought the camera panned away before we saw him pull them down, and came back after he'd already put them back in place. Doesn't he 'hear' the paper being delivered and looks out he window and then we see the image of the paper getting zoomed in on? Like I said, it's been a few weeks since I saw that one last.

I'm one of those naive people that tries to give everyone the benefit of the doubt though.

ladyluck1128 - Maybe Clark just tells his optometrist that he likes how he looks in glasses and so he goes to an optometrist to get the good/stylish frames - but they don't have an actual prescription in them. His optometrist wouldn't tell anyone that his eyes weren't really bad.

Just a thought. I remember girls back in highschool who wore stylish glasses because they liked how they looked in them.

That would be another reason (besides someone recognizing him with his glasses off) that he wouldn't want Jimmy to try his new glasses on in Top Copy, Jimmy would realize there was no prescription in them. Tee hee. Okay, I know, I'm 'reaching'.

I agree with C_A. Clark was always making smart remarks in the series. Like in the Prankster when she stays at his apartment and the next morning they are going to go on an interview and she asks if she can go home and change clothes (I think she's in sweats and her hair is in a pony tail, obviously she needs to change first) and Clark says yes that he knows how you senior journalists have an image to maintain. He says it in a smart alec tone.

He was geniuinely concerned about her the night before. We had that sweet little couch scene with them, and then the next morning he was being smart with her. That's just part of Clark. His funny/ornery little quips.

It's also part of what Lois needs in him (and I think wants, too, although perhaps not consciously to begin with). Can you imagine what that ego would be like without Clark to bring her down a peg or two? Well, we don't have to imagine - that's how she got the tag Mad Dog Lane back at the Planet.

Lois needed Clark to prick her ego now and then. He did it in a way that wasn't mean, but was effective in making her think about how she behaved and what she said and constantly challenged her perceptions of herself. And she was the better person for it.

LabRat

The basketball scene with Bo...in the Season 1

CK not wearing his glasses, his CK hair style, his clothes, but he flies....

Okay now I'll agree with that one CK 9397. That one has *always* bothered me.

They did other sports themed *teasers* at the beginning of episodes. Like the one where Clark plays baseball with himself (he plays all the positions) and the one where he is at the practice range with Lois and hits the golf ball too hard. But in both of those (I think) he was at least still wearing his glasses.

I wanted to say "duh" Bo, how dumb are you? At least Lois had the glasses thing to fall back on.

i thought the whole Lex Luthor giving clone Superman a piggy back was a bit out there

Ha ha ha! Definitely one of Luthor's less debonaire acts. But he played *corny* a few other times. Like when he had conversations with himself, or when he sang the song about 'looking for the silver lining' in every cloud with Nigel.

I think that just gave a slightly "human" (?) side to Lex so that we know he is a person...maybe...somewhere deep down...perhaps.

Okay, I noticed this today, and I was so excited about finding it I just HAD to post it. In Wall of Sound, when Lois and Clark are first looking into Stoke and Camden, watch Lois' computer screen as she summarizes info for Clark. Teri's lines are written out ON THE SCREEN! Kinda bugged me that it was so blatant. oh well. It was funny.

ladyluck, I completely agree with the Chen Chow thing. When Lois asks him how he knows Clark, the way he hesitates before he answers and the tone in which he responds that they go to the same optometrist had me shouting at the screen, "He knows!" I'm sure that Clark and Chen know each other from some other shared experience in the past, perhaps to do with Clark's travels in China? Sounds like an idea for fanfic...

Has anyone done this fic, by the way?

If we're ranting about discrepancies on the show, I always had a problem with TEHI and the whole ultraviolet light and infrared light thing. I mean, hello? Infrared light is heat, duh! It was just bad science all the way through.

And in Top Copy, when Superman is dying of Kryptonite poisoning and the doctor tries to explain that it's "spreading like a cancer," and Lois has the brilliant idea of sending him into a nuclear reactor to cure him. I wanted to cry with frustration -- if he was exposed to kryptonite, he'd no longer be invulnerable to the radiation, for one, and for another, the concept of curing poisoning with radiation is just so wrong! Chelate it... dialyse it... but for heaven's sake, don't nuke him while his powers are gone!

But, since we are, after all, watching a science fiction show in which a guy can fly and shoot laser beams out of his eyes, I guess I can suspend some disbelief and just enjoy the show

-JudeM

And another one -- it looked like Clark was put into the ship as a newborn and was at least a few months old when he reached Earth. How did Jor-El and Lara get around the problems of feeding the infant on the journey? Better yet, how about the other, messier issue? Now see the Amazing Kryptonian Automatic Diaper-Changer! Gotta get me one of those

I like the idea of him being sent as a foetus undergoing gestation during the journey. Someone posted that info a little ways up this thread.

I think I may have gone slightly OT with this, but bad science just bugs me. Sorry

JudeMustard -

That's why it's called Science Fiction/Fantasy. Or why it's called Lois & Clark, and not CSI.

No, but seriously, I totally understand where you are coming from...I just love the show so much for it's romance and chemistry, (and a good laugh) that I give it a very wide berth when it comes to realism. It is, after all, a show about a super hero with super powers who does super things. We can let it bend the rules a little bit - I mean, come on, time travel? Alt-universes? Soul swapping?

Enjoying it for all it is and *isn't* - That's what it's all about. Tee hee.

I'm not sure why that matters. But the simple fact that UV and IR light are not "opposites" in any meaningful way, and one would not reverse the other . . .

Quote

It was just bad science all the way through.

Oh, yeah!

Quote

But, since we are, after all, watching a science fiction show in which a guy can fly and shoot laser beams out of his eyes, I guess I can suspend some disbelief and just enjoy the show

Comic-book physics!

Quote

And another one -- it looked like Clark was put into the ship as a newborn and was at least a few months old when he reached Earth. How did Jor-El and Lara get around the problems of feeding the infant on the journey? Better yet, how about the other, messier issue? Now see the Amazing Kryptonian Automatic Diaper-Changer! Gotta get me one of those

Suspended animation, with an awakening sequence triggered by (choose one) the impact of landing, the pod being opened, entering a planet's gravitational pull.

Yeah, the scientific nonsense was annoying. Then again, it wasn't all that much worse than Star Trek, and there's a book explaining how that might work (although it involves a whole bunch of hand-waving ). Closest we seem to have is this .

Jude, we just watched Top Copy Saturday night on IRC, and the same thing bugged me, too. However, the writer tried to cover it with a couple of things: when Clark was on the phone with his parents, he refused to go to the hospital because "the needles would break on [his] skin." So even though he was losing his powers, he retained his invulnerability, so dialysis wasn't an option.

Nan Smith did an excellent job of showing what the doctors could have done to help Superman, but I wonder how much good purges, etc. would have done 12 to 16 hours after ingesting the poison. Someone who knows more about it can probably point out how wrong I am, but I was under the impression that anything he swallowed would already be in the bloodstream by that point. It would have been more logical for his invulnerability to have failed so the doctors could have helped him with dialysis, if nothing else. But the emotional point of that scene was that Lois saved him when no one else could.

Personally, I think it would have been better to have the doctor mention that they'd tried all the purges, etc., but that the kryptonite was already in his bloodstream, so they weren't able to wash it out. If he had mentioned that they still couldn't pierce Sman's skin in order to cleanse his blood, the medical system wouldn't have sounded quite so ineffectual. On the other hand, there probably wasn't time for that within the 45 minutes of the show, so I'll imagine that that is what the doctor was telling L&S before the start of that particular scene.

Sheila, you watch episodes on IRC?? How does that happen -- everyone watches at the same time while discussing it on IRC? I'd like to know more about this!

Was this in a fanfic, and where can I find it?

I agree with you; purges wouldn't have helped much after so many hours, and I realise that the point was supposed to be that Lois was able to think of a way to help him when no one else could. Since it is a science fantasy show, I just have to accept that the science in the TV show universe is different from ours

It just bugs me sometimes, when things are blatantly wrong, and detracts from my enjoyment of the whole scene. I have a doctor friend who can't stand to watch medical dramas, cos she'll see a chest x-ray up on the light box the wrong way around (i.e. left and right inverted) or there'll be a CT scan of the head on the box while they're talking about an abdominal cancer or something, and she, like me, will get so completely distracted by that that she can't concentrate on the dialogue anymore.

Actually, this is probably why I get stuck when I'm trying to write fanfic. I'll come up with an idea, and then insist that it has to be realistic and feasible before implementing it -- hence, the story never gets written!

But yes, I am aware that it's a comic book show, and not a medical drama, and the whole point is the interaction between our beloved characters, and not the science behind the A-plots.

Waitaminute. A-plots? What're those??

Yes, exactly! Find out more here.

Jude, since the DVDs came out last summer, a group of us gather on #lanekent on IRC to watch L&C on Saturday nights at 9 pm Eastern, 6 pm Pacific, just as we used to when the series was on. We don't get started right at the stroke of the hour, and we usually do a 30 second countdown so everyone can start their DVD players at the same time. Then we make comments about what we see, what we love, what bugs us, little things we never noticed before, etc. There isn't a password on #lanekent on Saturday night for the viewings, so everyone is free to watch with us.

Nan Smith's story is called Partners if you want to read it.

Thanks, just read it!

I love the idea of watching the dvd's together on IRC, but unfortunately, it would be 9am on Sunday mornings for me, which is exactly the time I need to be making my way to church. Oh well.

Is that on undernet, irchighway, or efnet or what?

Undernet. Go here for instructions on how to get there.

Jackie

I always wondered about their wedding... what in the world were they thinking with that guy Mike???? Even now I don't understand why they did such a cheesey wedding...

Also in the Rivial when Clark comes into her apartment I always wondered why after she unlocked the doors for him to come in why is it then when he is leaving he has a hard time getting our of her apartment because they are all locked...

Also which is 105 Carter Avenue or 501 Carter avenue she says them both.

This one may be old news or have been said already but oh well....

I think it was funny that Jimmy couldn't figure out how to turn the car off...all superman had to do was turn the key off. How simple was that.

Was watching Man of Steel Bars a couple days ago, and I noticed something:

(Thanks to Christiane\'s site for the pics!)



Like LabRat, I was always bothered about Clark opening that hydrant. Kids play and feel better, but lives are endangered...

Look at the pic, tho. The hydrant is surrounded by sawhorses. There's a "men working" sign up. There's no other sign of construction around.

Not only that, but it already had a short pipe attached, allowing access through one of the sawhorses:



Why would a hydrant be roped off when nothing else is going on?

I can only think of one answer. Hydrants need to be flushed regularly, or the stagnant water in the reserve tanks (even at high pressure) will start to grow things. It's a guess, but I'm thinking that the hydrant in question was due to be flushed.

Usually, they block off several in a row, and just work their way down the street. It takes a while, though, because they drain each one before moving on to the next. (They drain it through a hose - which would have made things hard for the kids - and they don't want to bother using more than one hose for the street.)

So... there you have it. The hydrant Clark opened would have been opened and flushed by the fire department, but they would have done it a couple of hours later and through a hose.

Sure, he got the street wet and stuff, but no one was really hurt.

Paul

Hmmmm. I dunno, Paul - I think if I was working on a hydrant and some idiot came along and set it off, interfering with my work, I'd be kind of ticked. <G> I'm presuming that if the fire dept would have set the hydrant off 'a couple of hours later' that when they intended it to be set off. If they'd intended/wanted it set off there and then, they'd have done it themselves!

I'm also presuming that - in order to ensure that water pressure/supply is maintained that this kind of maintenance needs to be done a certain way. So there's no guarantee that Superman's actions wouldn't mess things up, endanger lives, even if all he's doing is something the fire dept might do themselves later. The timing might be all important.

Still seems a very OOC thing for Clark to do.

LabRat

Just had to say, I was amazed to hear during this past summer that my city actually *intentionally* opened fire hydrants in the city. They called them "street showers" and posted in the paper and on the news what blocks they would be on. They did it to help citizens cool down, though, because we had a serious heat wave (about 100 for about two weeks, and with our humidity the heat index can jump to 115 or so) and a lot of people don't have fans or air conditioning. Nonetheless, I was still stunned to hear that the city would actually do that intentionally, especially as I would assume that they might have *more* fires during that season.