Up, up and away with season 1 of the classic 90s TV series on DVD for our first classic review.
Directed by various
Written by various
Purchase your copy @ Amazon.co.uk now
Beware of spoilers… if that’s still possible 20 years later!It’s Friday; it’s the end of the week so why not dive in to the vault and review a good old blast-from-the-past TV show that was a big part of my childhood.
It’s hard to believe that this show first premiered 20 years ago – September 12th 1993 to be exact – and still holds up well against modern day shows. This DVD set was released in 2006 and contains the first 21 episodes (click here for a complete list) across 6 discs and includes a small amount of bonus features:
- Commentary on the pilot by Dean Cain, executive producer Deborah Joy LeVine, and director Robert Butler
- From Rivals to Romance: series retrospective documentary
- “Taking Flight: The Visual Effects of Lois & Clark”
- Original pilot presentation introducted by Deborah Joy LeVine
- Interviews with Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher
The premise of the show is to skip the years that Clark (Dean Cain) lived in Smallville and pickup the story as he arrives to start a new life in Metropolis. The usual cast of characters are present: Lois Lane (Terri Hatcher), Jimmy Olsen (here played by Michael Landes) and of course Perry White (Lane Smith). Also present is Martha Kent (K Callan) and in a change to the Superman mythos also Jonathan Kent (Eddie Jones).
It doesn’t take a genius to work out who the big-bad for the first season of the show is: Lex Luthor (John Shea).
The arc of the season follows the growing reputation of Superman and the burgeoning love triangle between Clark/Superman, Lois and Luthor. Thrown in for good measure are a whole load of brilliant villain of the week characters including: cyborgs, evil clones and Federal Agents working for the shady Bureau 39.
I’ve recently been re-watching this series and even upscaled through a blu-ray player the image holds up well. The special effects, as expected look pretty crude in places but are now just part of the charm of this little series. Much in the way that we look back at old episodes of Star Trek and fondly remember how the effects were at the forefront of technology available at the time.
The chemistry between Cain and Hatcher is the crux of the show but actually the relationships between all the characters function brilliantly thanks to the diligent work by the various writers who passed through the series during its run.
The show feeds off the will-they-wont-they which was such a draw for ‘Moonlighting’ before it and most recently ‘Bones’ which much like ‘Lois & Clark’ continued to be a success after the will-they-wont-they is resolved.
The DVD itself is a slip cover containing three small cases, each containing two discs and brief episode details on the slipcover. The artwork here isn’t outstanding but it never is for shows of this magnitude.
The special features are brief but it’s nice for me as a viewer who was too young to be interested in following behind the scenes of the show have a little insight in to the hysteria that surrounded the show.
For younger audiences who are perhaps more familiar with the ‘Smallville’ series or even just the ‘Superman Returns’ and ‘Man of Steel’ movies this would be a great insight in to Superman history as well being an all round enjoyable 90s TV drama.
I suggest you run out and pick this up if you haven’t already.
7/10
