‘Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman: The Complete Series’ Blu-ray Review
At the time of this writing, we have seen a new Superman movie enter cinemas, with a digital release happening recently too. But this is an even more exciting time for Superman fans and physical media collectors, because now, after decades of hopes and dreams Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman is flying into homes on Blu-ray. I never watched Lois and Clark during its original TV run. At the time I was too busy enjoying Batman: The Animated Series and many of the other great cartoons. But as I grew up, I started collecting the DVDs of these old shows and realised how much I enjoyed them all. And these shows included Lois and Clark.
Now I know that for some people, there is hatred for a certain actor in this series. I will not touch that hot-button issue in this review. I want to focus totally on the show and nothing else!
Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher star in this fan-favorite romantic action/adventure series with comedic overtones, which gave the time-honored, legendary superhero a ’90s twist over the course of four seasons on ABC TV. With clever writing, and strong performances from the cast, the comic book characters of Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane were brought to life with entertaining exploits in 87 episodes. What begins as the most unrequited love affair of all time becomes the most unpredictable of all romantic relationships. Newly remastered in High-Definition for its Blu-ray debut, Lois & Clark look better than ever!
Watching this series over 30 years after its debut, there is no denying its great writing and strong performances and a great amount of awesome guest stars. Admittedly, the special effects are a bit cheesy. But in my humble opinion, this show is a perfect mix of newsroom drama and romance with superhero action. These shows still hold up after all these years.
The episodes in this new Blu-ray set are presented in 1080p and are in their original 1.33 full-frame aspect ratio. The audio track is an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo track. There are also English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. All four seasons and 87 action-packed episodes are spread across 20 Blu-ray discs. These episodes look so crisp and clean, the audio is clear, and the series looks absolutely stunning in HD. In addition to 87 wonderful episodes of Lois and Clark, Warner Bros. have added some cool bonus features to this Blu-ray set. Take a look at what is included in this collection:
Special Features:
- From Rivals to Romance: The Making of Lois & Clark
- Pilot Presentation Featurette for ComicCon.
- Taking Flight featurette of the visual effects
- Secrets of Season 2
- Marketing Metropolis: The Fans look at Lois & Clark.
- A History of Romance featurette
- The Man of Steel Trivia Challenge hosted by Dean Cain
Many physical media collectors are aware that the Lois & Clark DVD sets are often affected by Warner Bros.’ disc rot. Unfortunately, several of my discs across multiple seasons were affected, leaving some episodes unplayable. That’s why this new upgrade is such a welcome improvement. But I must be honest, while there are some cool featurettes – some of which have been ported over from the previous releases – some from the DVDs did not find their way onto this collection for one reason or another. I don’t know why. Overall, even with the missing featurettes, this Blu-ray set is absolutely ‘SUPER’! The episodes are still enjoyable and have never looked better.
***** 5/5
So, if you love the adventures of Superman as much as I do, this new Blu-ray set of the complete series of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman is a must-own. Buy your copy now on Amazon.
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