h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A friend had pretty much the entire show available on DVD, so I've been picking up his boxed season sets one at a time to experience the series. I've always been more of a Bat-Fan than a Superman reader, but I can't deny that Superman still appeals to me on occasion.

First, I have to say that I was surprised by how well written the show is. The first season started rocky...almost a little *too* rocky, to be blunt...but MST3K was more than sufficient training to wade through the first four or five episodes before the show really found its groove.

I've watched the first two seasons so far, and am about to start on the third. However, I have to say that these two seasons effectively have the exact opposite problems.

Season 1-Way, way too many "Monster Of The Week" episodes, not enough character building. When we *do* see character building, it's really good. But for the most part, the episodes tend to follow the pattern of "Here's a strange life situation, here's a strange person, here's how this person was changed by Meteor Rocks (they aren't called Kryptonite yet), here's what pushes this person over the edge to the dark side, send in Clark Kent to save the day without being seen.

Admittedly, this isn't a terrible format to follow...heck, you could break down "The X-Files" into a nearly identical formula pattern, and be correct almost seventy percent of the time...but after a while, it became repetitive. Between the Bug Boy, Clark's Coach, and the shape shifters, it was just too much weirdness at once.

Meanwhile,...

Season 2-GAAAAH! Too much drama! Send in some monsters! I don't care how they get their powers, you can say that they were mixing a salad made of irradiated lettuce for all I care, just tone down the drama!

You could've tacked a "To Be Continued" onto the end of a good number of these episodes. Characters and storylines just kept growing and colliding with each other. I like this kind of thing, I really do...but if I was trying to keep up with it on TV, I can see myself getting frustrated if I miss a single episode.



Now, admittedly: season one wasn't without some really nice character building (the last few episodes were very nice), and season two wasn't without the occasional Dumb Monster story. If not for them, I could compare watching the show to running a marathon without waiting to take your baton.

Oh, and I should also mention: there are two fantastic additions to the Superman mythos that this show has provided. First is Chloe, a sort of prototype Lois Lane (remember, this takes place back when Lana Lang is still Clark's romantic interest.) Her character's just fun in a sort of "Fox Mulder working for the New York Times" sorta way.

A character that I have more substantial reasons for liking would be Lionel Luthor, the father of the infamous Lex Luthor.

I think his character is important to the show because it provides a wonderful parallel for Clark Kent's life. Many people claim that Superman would not have become the same Superman we all know and love (well, that we all know at any rate) without Ma and Pa Kent finding him. Many fantastic stories have been written about how things might've gone differently had this not happened. "The Nail," for instance, features a grim reality where Clark is even more sheltered because he was found by an Amish family (without Clark as a public face, other super heroes around the world aren't trusted by the general public anymore.) Meanwhile, John Cleese's "Superman: True Brit" paints a fun story about Superman landing in England.)

Man, that's a long parenthetical comment...

Anyway, Smallville shows us firsthand ways in which Ma and Pa Kent (or Martha and Jonathan Kent as I've grown accustomed to thinking about them) influence young Clark into becoming the boyscout that he'll be some day.

Lionel Luthor provides the exact same role for Lex. Lex Luthor isn't a villain in this story (some would argue that he isn't even a true villain in the comics), but watching him react to his father's presence does a marvelous job of showing how pretty much anyone could turn into a supervillain with that type of nurturing.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling about Superman now. Season 3 awaits, and all that.

I started watching the show towards the end of the 3rd season (when Enterprise and Smallville were finally on different nights). You are in for some surprises Affy! Good ones too.

Enterprise is another show that I need to catch up on. I liked what I saw of it, but it was never on at a good time for me.