"Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" Super Mann (1995)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

James R. Bagdonas

Writer:

Chris Ruppenthal (writer)

TV Series:

"Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" (1993)

Original Air Date:

26 November 1995 (Season 3, Episode 9)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Two years ago, three Nazi officers woke up from a long sleep to find that they had lost the war to the US. Now, they are trying to set up a new Nazi country in the US as the first step to begin world domination.

Plot Keywords:

Superman | 1990s | Shrinking | Kryptonite | Superhero

Cast

Dean Cain	...	Clark Kent / Superman
Teri Hatcher	...	Lois Lane
Lane Smith	...	Perry White
Justin Whalin	...	Jimmy Olsen
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Linden Chiles	...	Sen. Truman Black
Sandra Hess	...	Lisa Rockford
Tom Hines	...	Ned
Sean Kanan	...	Steve Law
Paul Kersey	...	Hank West
Kenneth Kimmins	...	Dr. Klein
Jack Stauffer	...	Victor
Sean Whalen	...	Skip Wallace

Quotes:

Skip Wallace: [about Perry] And why are we doing a story on pet food when there are people starving in Texas? I mean, it's un-American! And he knows it!

Movie Connections:

Features "Perfect Strangers" (1986)

Definitely could have been better

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

My biggest problem with this episode is the (Nazi in disguise) country singer's lyrics. The Nazis thought sticking up for the little guy was important? That's a communist ideal, not a fascist Nazi ideal. The Nazis liked to put the "little guy" in concentration camps and do experiments on him. What made it even harder to ignore was this error popped up at least twice in the episode.

The main villains spent too much time bickering. Whenever they started up, my mind would drift off (usually in a rant over communism vs. fascism), and then I'd have to rewind so I'd know what their plans were and what was going on. For a group of people who ought to have it together, they spent an awful lot of time infighting, and they also decided to kill off Lois and Clark too soon. The reporters didn't even start investigating before the villains decided they were a threat. I scratched my head wondering how the Nazis took over the city so quickly, considering how sloppy and uncoordinated their main planners were.

Then there's Skip, whom I find hard to watch. I know he's supposed to be obnoxious, but the best villains are the ones that entertain, or the ones you love to hate. I just find it hard to keep my eyes on the screen when he's on.

In a better episode I would suspend disbelief and overlook the physics, but here it's one more nitpick in an episode with too many problems already. Isn't Superman only supposed to be able to hold his breath for 20 minutes (at least in the Lois & Clark universe?). The Sun is 8-and-a-half light-minutes away from Earth, and not even Superman can travel faster than light. He's got to hold his breath for at least 20 minutes - he guessed it could take him hours - while he goes from Earth to the Sun and back. Meanwhile, there didn't seem to be that much going on back on Earth to fill up 12 hours of ultimatum time. It felt too rushed.

On the plus side, my favorite parts of the episode are the interactions between Lois and Clark, and the scenes with Dr. Klein. I especially liked the assassination attempt scene and the cute scene that comes right after it. I love watching Clark doing something super when he's dressed as Clark, and he does this a couple times this episode.

Super Mann is an episode riddled with problems: one gaping (to me) plot hole and a few personal dislikes, but it has just enough scenes between Lois and Clark to make it re-watchable.