Lois & Clark-The New Adventures of Superman: Complete Fourth Season (1996)

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General		Extras
Category	Adventure	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	1996
Running Time	980:00
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (6)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4,5	Directed By	Neal Ahern Jr. Michael Vejar Jim Charleston Robert Ginty
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Dean Cain Teri Hatcher Lane Smith Michael Landes Justin Whalin Tracy Scoggins Eddie Jones K Callan John Shea
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	Jay Gruska William Kidd Julius Robinson

     According to Warner Home Video, 2006 is the Year of Superman and the Season 4 release of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman marks another noteworthy DVD release in the lore of the last son of Krypton.

    Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman offered up a fresh perspective on the classic superhero. Focusing on the romantic angle between the intrepid reporters, the show examined the relationship between the two (three if you include Superman) in a fairly non-traditional way for a comic book based show. With the romance attracting female viewers and the superhero line drawing in males, the program was a ratings smash. Lois and Clark became the 'it' TV couple of the nineties and launched the careers of Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain in the process.

    Season 4 marked the final episodes of the show. After the drop off in fans during the silly arc in Season 3, this time round the producers wanted to resolve the tension between the two and the wedding finally took place. As a result, newlywed and marital issues became a large part of the character development. Although viewers abandoned the show after the romance was consummated fans would argue that Season 4 probably has stronger plots and an overall better storyline than Season 3.

    It's a shame that the show got cancelled with a few unresolved plots, but while it lasted Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was a lot of fun.

    Disc 1

    401 Lord of the Flys (44:07): Clark has gone to New Krypton, but the evil Lord Nor comes to Earth to take over the planet.

    402 Battleground Earth (43:16): Superman and Lord Nor battle over Earth.

    403 Swear to God, This Time We're Not Kidding (44:12): The real wedding

    404 Soul Mates (43:40): Interrupted on their wedding night, Lois and Clark must time travel to save Lois from a future disease.

    Disc 2

    405 Brutal Youth (44:11): Jack Larson guest stars. Lois and Clark go househunting.

    406 The People vs. Lois Lane (44:11): Lois is framed for murder.

    407 Dead Lois Walking (43:40): Lois is convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

    408 Bob and Carol and Lois and Clark (43:47): L & C make friends who might not be who they seem.

    Disc 3

    409 Ghosts (43:12): Lois gets possessed by a ghost.

    410 Stop the Presses (44:08): Lois gets a promotion that causes friction.

    411 T'was the Night Before Mxymas (44:08): Groundhog Day meets Christmas Eve and Mxyzptlk has something to do with it.

    412 Lethal Weapon (44:08): Every season has a Red Kryptonite episode and this one is no different.

    Disc 4

    413 Sex, Lies and Videotape (44:12): A photographer catches Lois and Superman in a compromising position.

    414 Meet John Doe (44:12): Tempus returns to wreak havoc.

    415 Lois and Clarks (44:17): Tempus is still around and a new dimension is opened...

    416 AKA Superman (44:13) Jimmy's girlfriend thinks she knows Superman's true identity.

    Disc 5

    417 Faster than a Speeding Vixen (44:10): The new owner of the Daily Planet causes problems.

    418 Shadow of a Doubt (44:09): A shadow like killer is on the loose and Superman is trying to stop him.

    419 Voice from the Past (43:11): Luthor's son is seeking revenge.

    420 I've Got You Under My Skin (42:14): Clark gets transferred to another person's body (without any powers.)

    Disc 6

    421 Toy Story (42:15): The Toymaker is kidnapping kids and Superman needs to stop him.

    422 The Family Hour (42:16): Family plays a big part in this final episode of the show.

Video

    The series is presented in its original TV broadcast ratio of fullscreen 1.33:1 and is presented in PAL format.

    I was reasonably impressed at how good this set looked for a TV show that aired a decade ago. The picture was reasonably sharp and was quite well defined, however some scenes we noticeably softer than others. There was noticeable grain in darker scenes.

    Colours were quite natural (even though the terrible 90s wardrobes have dated), skin tones looked good and shadow detail was excellent.

    Stronger colours, like Superman's red cape sometimes showed signs of colour bleeding.

    Thankfully the commercial TV ad breaks have been marked with chapters.

    The subtitle options are Spanish, Hungarian, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish and English for the Hearing Impaired.

    Overall a good transfer for a TV show.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio track is English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s).

    There is nothing really stand out or disappointing about the track - it is fairly middle of the road and probably what you would expect for a decade old TV show.

    The dialogue is mostly clear but can sometimes get drowned or lost in the music.

    There were no sync, click or other audio issues.

    The music sounded good and the great superhero theme it had added a lot to the show. It did, however, muddy the dialogue at times.

    There are also Spanish and Hungarian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) tracks.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Introduction

Main Menu Audio & Animation

    No features at all!

    The R4 and R1 seem to be identical, and the R4 version is selling cheaper than it does in the US, so buy on price.

    Overall, this was a fun show but lost steam in later seasons.

    The video is pretty good.

    The sound is fine.

    No special features at all for this final season is a big let down.

    Worth seeing how it all ends up for fans or previous seasons.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall