Mixing and matching is hard. Mostly because you're right -- the characters have evolved quite a bit over time. I love Chris Reeve's Superman (and the little details, like the way they tinted his hair blue when he was in the suit), but putting him with Teri just wouldn't work for me. I mean, can you imagine Silver Age Lois with Modern Age Clark? He's trying to deal with real problems and take a mature look at his crazy world while she's running around, obsessed with proving that he's Superman in disguise. She thinks she's Superman's girlfriend, but to Clark, she's supposed to be his wife. Meantime, somewhere in the background, Jimmy has mutated into a giant tentacled monster again and Golden Age Perry is sitting in his austere office, waiting for someone to come in and talk to him, prefably to explain the flimsy and very unusual typewriter which suddenly appeared on his desk.
Whatever you think of Smallville, mixing the teenaged characters with the adults from other versions would create all sorts of problems.
I keep trying to come up with a way around it, but it's still not fair. For example... Chris Reeve is the best Superman, but the Silver Age writing just doesn't cut it for me. Sometimes, it almost hurts to see bumbling Clark. Even just focusing on Superman, there's a lot of baggage. The plot holes. The random powers they decided to add (since when did Superman have telekinesis?).
Still...
Dean makes the best Clark. Not much question about that.
Lois is harder for me. I don't like Margot Kidder's version. I do love L&C, but I am not a fan of Teri's. I think I may have to go with the George Reeves version here, even if I don't remember the names of the cast.
I liked the George Reeves version of Jimmy, too. Silly, but classic.
Lane Smith carried over a lot of my favorite aspects of the George Reeves version of Perry, and he brought more depth to the character. Partly because L&C was a more modern show, with 1 hour episodes and better, more mature writing.
When Batman shows up for the crossover ep, I'm going to have to pick Kevin Conroy.
As for the movie, I haven't been paying too much attention. I'll wait till they have their stuff more together and we can see actual trailers and such. The only photos of the actor I've really seen were photoshopped images of his head on Chris Reeve's body. Besides, the whole thing's been through too many revisions to count.
Are you guys sure about continuity, though? I thought they were taking their cue from Batman and starting fresh. Okay, Superman IV wasn't as bad as Batman and Robin. At least the former is watchable and even has its moments. Still, you'd think, especially after all this time, that they'd be better off without that burden of pre-Crisis continuity.
Speaking of post-Crisis continuity... I agree that it's infinitely better than pre-Crisis, but what's going to happen post-Inifinite Crisis?
Oh, and one last thing...
"Kneel before Zod!" indeed...
Paul
