Not to be confused with the recently concluded Superman & Lois series, this new Blu-ray box set compiles the full four-season run of the ‘90s Superman series starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. Spread across 87 episodes, the show tracks the relationship ups and downs of Lois and Clark, while occasionally remembering to sprinkle in some comic-book action.
Buy Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman – The Complete Series Blu-raySeason One follows Clark as he moves to the big city of Metropolis, lands his reporting gig, and falls for star reporter Lois Lane. It also focuses on the exploits of Lex Luthor (John Shea), the evil corporate titan who serves as the principal foil for the entire season. The budding romance between Lois and Clark suffers roadblocks from both Lex and Superman, with Lois considering both of them to be more appealing paramours than dorky Clark Kent.
Subsequent seasons reduce Lex’s prominence, not due to any fault of Shea’s but by decree of ABC, who made massive changes to the production team to increase the action and rotate in other baddies for variety. The romance between Lois and Clark continues to ebb and flow, with the writers stretching out their inevitable wedding until well into the final season, with fakeouts along the way.
The chemistry between Cain and Hatcher makes the show rewarding, even as its downplaying of Superman’s abilities often makes it feel more like Moonlighting than a superhero show. It’s particularly interesting timing for the Blu-ray release, with Cain recently in the news due to his much-ballyhooed career aspirations as a real-life ICE agent. This may be a case where some publicity is bad publicity, but the series remains charming for those who can tune out its star’s post-Superman trajectory.
Strangely, the series has never been released on Blu-ray in the U.S. until now. For this debut release, the series has been newly remastered in 1080p hi-def, and includes DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound. The Blu-rays present the series in its original 1.37:1 aspect ratio, with superb image clarity that appears less grainy than before, indicating some likely enhancement. Sound is reliable throughout, although music sticklers may bristle at occasional song replacements due to rights issues. While the original DVD releases have the full music experience, the stunning video upgrade here should negate most complaints about the songs.
The show as a whole has never looked this good, except that the quality is so high that there’s a noticeable mismatch during special-effects sequences. See, the series was shot on film, but the effects were originally rendered in standard definition since they were only envisioned for pre-HD TV broadcast. As a result, while the main series now benefits from its filmed origins, the effects suffer the SD curse we’ve seen before in remastered sci-fi shows of its era. Good thing the series focused more on relationships than effects sequences, limiting the impact of the SD material.
The new Blu-ray box set utilizes a single hard plastic clamshell to protect its 20 discs, consistent with most other releases of older multi-season series. To class it up a bit, the case is housed in a slipcase. Multiple archival bonus features are included as well, such as a making of reel, a look at the show’s fans, and a trivia challenge.
