DVD
Review: Lois & Clark: The Complete Fourth Season
Reviewed
by Craig Byrne
Want us to review a new TV-show related DVD at KryptonSite?
E-mail us!
The
fourth season of Lois
& Clark: The New Adventures of Superman as well
as the complete fifth and sixth seasons of The
Adventures of Superman hit stores today.
You
can read our review of Lois & Clark Season 4 below.
Look for our Adventures of Superman review shortly!
Check
out KryptonSite's Lois & Clark section!
What
Is It? The complete fourth and final season of Lois &
Clark: The New Adventures of Superman consisted of 22 episodes
and originally aired on ABC in 1996 and 1997. The show starred
Dean
Cain as Clark Kent/Superman, Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane, Lane
Smith as Perry White, Justin Whalin as Jimmy Olsen, and K Callan
& Eddie Jones as Martha & Jonathan Kent.
The Content: Okay, I've got to be honest here: Of the four
seasons of Lois & Clark, Season 4 is kind of "the
season that sucks." I felt my intelligence insulted by
many episodes back then when I was 18 and I still feel just
as stupid watching some of them now. It was great to see Lois
and Clark finally married, but in many cases the show fell into
a level of camp that was a far cry from the sophisticated writing
of Deborah Joy LeVine in the show's first year.
That being said, though... Season 4 does have some gems. Some
I liked the first time around, like the "Meet John Doe/Lois
and Clarks" two-parter... and some were surprisingly better
than what I remembered, like the Leslie Luckabee trilogy. One
advantage of watching this season on DVD ten years later, besides
the feeling of nostalgia, is that many of these episodes were
ones I had only seen once back in the day... compared to the
dozens of times I re-watched the early episodes. So, in effect,
this is kind of new, and I like that.
I'm also not saying that EVERYONE's intelligence would be put
down by watching this - some people are into this sort of humor.
I just wasn't. I remember being really frustrated with the online
fandom at the time who was willing to accept what the show became.
Angel
and Wonderfalls fans might be happy to spot the name
Tim Minear in the writing credits. While his work on Season
Four is better than some of the other writers, it's still good
to know that he moved on to better material.
Extras: I love the fact that Dean Cain participates in DVD extras,
but the "Kryptonian Kronology" is rather lame. It
seems to me like a glorified intro and epilogue by Dean followed
by listings of trivia which you sort through with your remote.
If you want a better look at the history of Superman, buy or
rent Look!
Up in the Sky!
It's surprising because previous Lois & Clark sets
were so good with the extras - with commentaries, documentaries,
and more. Maybe it has to do with the less enthusiastic response
for the final season when it first aired... but I expected more
or better. Where were the interviews with the writers where
they talk about where they would have liked the show to go?
Why didn't they interview Dean to find out what he thinks of
Tom Welling and Brandon Routh? I just thought it was a major
missed opportunity.
Packaging/Artwork: The exterior packaging is consistent
with previous years, and it looks great. The interior still
uses the overlapping disc paks and that always makes me a little
nervous that something's going to scratch.
Also unfortunately, the disc menus seem to use artwork from
earlier seasons in some of the shots - including Teri with longer
hair. I remember for a fact that there were many Season 4 promo
shots (many of which are in this
gallery). So, what gives?
Final Verdict: I'm still so happy to have Lois &
Clark Season 4 on DVD, that I really shouldn't complain
too much. So often series don't even finish their runs on DVD,
and L&C, thankfully, did. (Now where's Superboy season
2?) But, considering the skimping of the extras, I'm going to
have to only give this one 2.5 stars out of 5. If you're a big
fan, of course you'll want it - but if you want to just randomly
catch Lois & Clark, you
really should go for the Season One set instead.
Click
on the links below to order your copies online at a discounted
price and support KryptonSite!
Lois
& Clark Season 4 - The
Adventures of Superman Seasons 5 & 6
Visit
the official LoisAndClarkDVD.com site
