Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Connections: LnC and Smallville

I've recently started watching Smallville. I'm only in season 2, but having been an LnC fan for so long, I can't help but note connections between the shows that I see along the way. Smallville makes a point to make cute remarks that cite the Superman legend, but I feel like the show also makes certain connections with LnC specifically. Like when Lana's aunt gets engaged, her fiances name is Dean, and in the episode I just watched called Legacy, Lana meets up with this guy that might be her father, and the character is played by the guy who played Leslie Luckabee. What's more at the end of the episode, the opera that the real Leslie Luckabee listens to in LnC is playing as the Luthors talk. I only decided to mention this when the episode Redux came on with a plot about people having the life sucked out of them. Anyway, it's a pretty cool series that I avoided for a long time out of loyalty to LnC, but I'm interested to see what other connections pop up.

I am so glad somebody started up this topic. I, like you, despised SV for years out of loyalty to LnC and then fell in love with it after I started watching it. And although the two shows are apples and oranges, I noticed so many similarities in the plot lines that catches me off guard all the time. I never caught on to the stuff you mentioned, though. Henry Small was also Leslie Luckabee? Are you sure? Whoa, okay, I've got to check IMDB!

Btw, most glaring similarity - in "Noir", (which featured a monochrome gangster era crime story, the like of which we've NEVER seen before, on ANY OTHER SHOW ) Lex Luthor is seen to be having an affair with the speakeasy singer, Lois Lane. Now, since the SV Lex has never once shown a flicker of interest in Lois within the original storyline, we can only clear our throats loudly and say, Wanda Detroit, anyone?

And now, with the second episode of Season Seven, speculation is rife that the government agency that made off with Kara's spaceship may turn out to be Bureau 39. Or something like it.

Although a few (very few ) trivia bits in SV have shown show a bit of an awareness of LnC, and more so of comic and movie canon, the show is, in its core characterization and its key premises very different from any other incarnation.

The character traits of SV Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Lex Luthor differ substantially - about all SV "Clark" and "Lois" have in common with their iconic counterparrts is the names. Lana, too - she has become almost the focus of the show and has been portrayed as *the* love of Clark's life.

Of course, as a Lois Lane fan since childhood, I'm especially bothered by SV's marginaliztion of Lois Lane.

As well, once you factor out the special effects, which Smallville has done better, imo, (its bigger budget and the updated tech shows ) than LnC, the essential "feel" of the show is adolescent soap-op angst, with a few 'Freak of the Week' bad guys.

Not saying that LnC didn't have its deplorable soap op moments - think the wedding arc , but that wasn't the dominant feel.

I understand, though, how "spotting the connections" can be an interesting game - I love to find references to other books, shows, films in the things I read and watch.

- apologies for posting my opinion here but since the previous 2 posters did so I hoped it would be okay

btw, weren't there bits of the L & C a nod to film noir in Fly Hard? Wasn't those monochromatic? Also, I'm thinking, years ago, Moonlighting did a monochromatic noir ep , too. As for the monochromatic idea - MASH did that , but not as a nod to film noir but to news coverage during the Korean way. Think a ST:TNG ep did a mono film noir ep too. Didn't Remington Steele do one? There are probably other examples out there, too, that I'm not aware of.

the SV noir nod was a beautifully shot ep, though.

c.

I don't care for Smallville much myself, except for a few singular episodes, they lost me after the first season, but when I catch an ep or two now days, and I DO see some of the connections, my first thinking was how the writers on SV ripped off LNC. I've read stuff where they're always busting on LNC, but it must have been good enough to steal from.

yes, I must admit I'm seeing the positives of SV now. A couple of things though:

I don't necessarily think SV is done better than LnC. I agree that they have better special effects (especially the heat vision. I really don't know why I never thought that that's how it should look before I saw it on SV, but it definitely makes more sense as blurry air than laser beams)

That being said, and acknowledging that LnC could be the campiest of camp at times, I must say that in the first 1 1/2 seasons of SV some relationships developed oddly imo. I think they could have spent more time working us into the relationships, especially the crushes and romanic partnerships, because at times they seemed to leap illogically.

Also, though LnC sometimes left gaps in storylines, SV seemed to take particular pleasure in ignoring loose ends and glaring questions.

I LOVE LnC's Lex Luthor, but I'm surprised to say I love SV's version just as much and I think the premise there is great!

I love SV's Clark too, but obviously Dean is my number 1. And the whole Lana and Chloe thing just throws me WAY off. They're both cute, but all I can think is "this is so wrong" It makes sense, of course, as Lana was Clark's youthful love, but still.

Also, I'd like to point out that I loved Days of Our Lives which also featured a Chloe Lane and I though I knew DOOL's Chloe first, I believe I like SV's better (which is surprising, usually the first version of something to get me, is my favorite).

Well, as a staunch defender of Lois Lane, I finally had to comment on this bit, of course.

SV has made Lana a central character, as important as Lex Luthor, perhaps more. a role she never had in the comics or in any movie incarnation. In those, she was Clark's high school crush, nothing more. So the emphasis on Lana in SV and the relationship with svClark is quite different. Whether it makes any sense is up to the viewer, of course.

c.