(Opening begins at the 0:36-end mark from the theme from the final season of American Gladiators
original run play the camera pulls back to see James and everyone else on top
of a slab with the words “The Last Of The Americans” on it before cutting to James in his office)
TLOTA:
I'm James Faraci The Last Of The Americans and the views that I'm about to express are that of my own and some of yours and welcome to a new editorial segment that allows me the opportunity to express some theories I have called "Connect The Plots" (Cut to a scene of James trying to connect certain things together like the theatrical version of "Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers" & "Halloween: H20", All the movie adaptations of Stephen King, Superman Returns to the original Salkind Superman movies, the first three X-Men movies to the newer ones and the "Wolverine" & "Deadpool" movies before cutting to James strapped down in a straight jacket all the while a kid sings "Connect The Plots La-La-La!" before panning down to see anything that might have a minor connection spell the words "Connect The Plots" before cutting to every single movie, cartoon and TV Series and every bit of minutia featuring "Superman" as the John Williams "Superman Theme" plays in the foreground and James does a voiceover)
TLOTA (Voiceover):
As a fan of Superman, I took a lot of time this year to check out anything and everything involving the man of steel. I'm talking comic books, cartoons, movies, videos of Let's Play featuring Superman. You name something that had Superman in it and I checked it out!
(Cut to James physically)
I'm James Faraci The Last Of The Americans and the views that I'm about to express are that of my own and some of yours and welcome to a new editorial segment that allows me the opportunity to express some theories I have called "Connect The Plots" (Cut to a scene of James trying to connect certain things together like the theatrical version of "Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers" & "Halloween: H20", All the movie adaptations of Stephen King, Superman Returns to the original Salkind Superman movies, the first three X-Men movies to the newer ones and the "Wolverine" & "Deadpool" movies before cutting to James strapped down in a straight jacket all the while a kid sings "Connect The Plots La-La-La!" before panning down to see anything that might have a minor connection spell the words "Connect The Plots" before cutting to every single movie, cartoon and TV Series and every bit of minutia featuring "Superman" as the John Williams "Superman Theme" plays in the foreground and James does a voiceover)
TLOTA (Voiceover):
As a fan of Superman, I took a lot of time this year to check out anything and everything involving the man of steel. I'm talking comic books, cartoons, movies, videos of Let's Play featuring Superman. You name something that had Superman in it and I checked it out!
(Cut to James physically)
TLOTA:
But one thing I noticed was two tv series in particular that while remembered have been forgotten by time. The Alexander and Ilya Salkind produced "Superboy" series and "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman" (Cut to the title cards of both series then clips of both series as James does voiceovers)
TLOTA (Voiceover):
While "Superboy" was cancelled the same time "Lois and Clark" began and whether it was coincidental or not I believe there to be a connection that the two shows share. That they are on the same world. (Cut to James physically)
TLOTA:
Now just hear me out, I know different production companies, different distributors and etcetera but you know something after watching both series back to back, I noticed something that links the two and I think the connection is between the finale of "Superboy" and the Pilot to "Lois and Clark" and before you guys think I'm wearing a foil hat, I'm not. I'm wearing a Fez because Fezzes are cool! Okay, all kidding aside let's look into my theory and if you haven't seen either there are spoilers to both "Superboy" and "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman". (Cut to "Rites Of Passage" as James does a voiceover)
TLOTA (Voiceover):
The finale to "Superboy" entitled "Rites Of Passage" starts with the infamous moment when baby Kal-El is found by (Doing Ben Affleck Batman Growl) MARTHA (Back to normal voice) and Jonathan Kent but little does either one know that Clark's future employer in "The Bureau For Extra-Normal Matters" C. Dennis Jackson played by Robert Levine arrives moments after the event as he finds a crystal in the crater. We then cut to Clark Kent AKA in the series Superboy played by Gerard Christopher as Jackson and everyone in the Bureau decides to celebrate Clark's birthday when Clark's powers go a little wacky and when I mean wacky I mean his X-Ray Vision is on the fritz and Lana played by Stacy Haiduk becomes concerned. After a bank robbery that ends with Superboy's heat vision frying the gun and taking out their ride. Meanwhile Jackson tells Matt Ritter played by Peter Jay Fernandez tells about how the crystal he found has been reactivated and needs Matt's help in going to Smallville. As Ma & Pa Kent remember all the good days they had with Clark growing up. Meanwhile the vessel reactivates, Clark begins to further lose control of his powers he demolishes the apartment he's staying in. Eventually he heads home to Smallville and discovers the vessel he came to be needs the crystal which Jackson handed over to The Bureau. Without the Crystal Clark loses his powers ending part one. In the second half of the episode, The 100th and final episode. As it starts we find out that without that Crystal Superboy can't go to the next phase of his enhancement which happens to be him becoming Superman and has eight hours to get the crystal. Meanwhile, Jackson and Matt continue to their investigation and spills that the crystal he found the same day The Kents found Clark is the crystal Clark needs. Ma & Pa tell Clark that Jackson has the crystal. Meanwhile Lana puts 2 & 2 together and figures out Clark is Superboy that is until her theory is proven wrong. As that is happening Jackson gets lost in the heart of Smallville, time is running out for Clark to get the purple crystal he finally gets it after using his suit to scare a bully and Clark puts the crystal into the vessel gets his powers back in control and the hologram says there are more trials to come and it ends with Clark returning to the Bureau with Matt, Lana and Jackson. (Cut to James physically)
TLOTA:
Okay now here's where my theory actually may have some credibility. "Superboy" ended in May of 1992. "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman" premiered a year and five months after "Superboy" ended. That is a quick turn around in terms of one series ending and another beginning, especially when it comes to a Superhero series so let's talk about the pilot of "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" (Cut to the pilot episode of "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" as James does a voiceover)
TLOTA (Voiceover):
As the pilot begins we're quickly introduced to Lois Lane played by Teri Hatcher as she comes off an undercover assignment and we're quickly introduced to Jimmy Olsen played in the first season of the series by Michael Landes. As Lois celebrates another successful story for the Daily Planet the Chief of the Daily Planet Perry White played by the late Lane Smith is there to put her in check just as she gets an interview with Lex Luthor before we're quickly introduced to Clark Kent played by Dean Cain who with the subtlety of someone from another planet stops the bus before quickly and quietly getting to the Daily Planet. Meanwhile a former scientist who may have smoked a few with... (Cut to an image of Giorgio Tsoukalos as James says "This Nut" before cutting back to the Lois and Clark Pilot and continuing his voiceover) claiming the next space shuttle is about to go kerblammo. Meanwhile we're introduced to Cat Grant played by Tracy Scoggins as she goads Lois about her non existent social life just as Clark Kent makes it to his interview to the Daily Planet and offers some medicinal help and samples of his work outside of the usual Press. (Show clip of Perry White talking about what the Daily Planet means to the press while being interrupted and Clark Kent not getting the job.) So as he tries to figure out how to get the job, he calls Jonathan and (Doing Ben Affleck Batman Growl) MARTHA (Back to normal voice) Kent about him keeping a low profile while staying in a low rent hotel room and is so bored there he literally bounces off the walls before hitting the sack while we see Lois and her sister Lana played by Elizabeth Barondes as Lana worries about her sister's non-existent life and says she's not gonna be a spring chicken forever. But this is Teri Hatcher, she ages amazingly, like a fine wine. Meanwhile Clark goes out to deal with the end of the theater briefly mentioned by Perry during his interview and to Dean's credit he is a fine actor and in this moment it shows. (Cut to Clark as he watches and talks to the person in the theater before cutting to later) Writing that piece about the theater is what gets Clark the job at the Daily Planet just as the Space Shuttle goes Kerblammo as that scientist said it would. Forced to work with Clark, Lois takes him to meet up with the scientist and lays out the ground rules for the two of them working together before finding the scientist may not be as nuts as he may seems as they find Dr. Baines in the midst of the investigation of the explosion. Meanwhile, Lois in need for a date for Lex Luthor's ball she suggests to herself to bring the new guy just as Clark flies home for a home cooked meal and we discover (Doing Ben Affleck Batman Growl) MARTHA (Back to normal voice) is becoming an Avant Garde artist and Clark feels like he doesn't fit in of course being able to fly and what have you not doesn't exactly make him feel like one of us. Soon after Lois and Clark make it to Lex Luthor's ball and we're introduced to Lex Luthor played by John Shea as he tries to woo Lois while she does her investigative reporting and Lex brings them back to his soiree just in time for his announcements (Show clip of Lex and his "Philanthropic" announcements before cutting back to the clips of the Lois And Clark pilot as James continues his voiceover) After you try to hold back the bile barf we soon see an accident in a sewer which again Clark in secret helps. Meanwhile Jimmy gets the report from the Doctor and send a copy to S.T.A.R. Labs all while Cat tries to sink her claws into Clark all the while we discover Dr. Baines and Luthor are in cahoots to end the Space Program. While Lois and Clark work on finding the report from the Doctor. Well I'll just let Team Four Star's interpretation of Mr. Popo say it best. (Cut to the DBZ TFS version of Mr. Popo saying "HE DEAD!" before cutting back to the pilot and James' voiceover) Convinced it's a murder Lois and Clark decide to investigate while Clark convinces his mom that he needs a suit so he can do what he needs to do. Just as The Council Of Nations tells Lex that he ain't getting his Space Station and as Jimmy and S.T.A.R. Labs prove the Doctor's theory on the Space Shuttle explosion sound. Soon after Lois and Lex find themselves in the midst of dinner and an interview as OKAY CLARK YOU ARE TEN STEPS AWAY FROM CHRISTIAN GREY TERRITORY SERIOUSLY! Actually Clark, you were closer to that territory in "Superman Returns" than this pilot. Anyway Perry says they need the hard facts to publish the story. Which is where Jimmy and Lois go after just as Lois suspects Dr. Baines of sabotage. Which is correct and while this Lois subverts the Dumbass in distress routine in the beginning she's soon captured by Dr. Baines and it looks like it's up to Clark to save them before he too gets captured before he escapes his bindings just as Dr. Baines plans on mixing Chemicals to blow them sky high leaving only the fresh scent of pine. Clark saves them but Dr. Baines goes up with the evidence. But the story is published and Clark returns to Smallville just in time to get his suit after a montage ranging from Tarzan and Flash Rejects to Captain America and Pizza Delivery Chain Mascot rejects before finally coming upon the classic Superman suit which includes the insignia from his Baby Blanket and just in time as Lois discovers a bomb on the Shuttle which Clark stops just in the nick of time by eating it and then after doing that uses his strength and flying abilities to launch the shuttle himself and after that Lois just as she did in the classic Christopher Reeve movie and the 1990's Animated Series gives Clark the Nom De Plume "Superman" and Superman lets Luthor know he's not gonna get away with his plans. (Cut to James physically)
TLOTA:
Now, barring Production and Distribution differences. Am I right or am I heading right to the Super Wacky Shack? Well, let's think about it this way. (Cut to clips of "Rites Of Passage" and "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman" pilot as James does a voiceover)
TLOTA (Voiceover):
In "Rites Of Passage" the hologram said that there'd be more trials ahead of him. Now I am aware this was not how The Salkinds wanted to end the series. They had plans for Straight for TV Movies or theatrical movies to properly close out "Superboy" which would've led to a sort of reboot of the Salkind Superman movie Franchise but since that didn't happen I believe that what happened off screen was the rest of Clark's trials. He had to forget his time as Superboy. Remembering he had powers but never fully acted on them until "Lois & Clark". Also look at the progression of title of each of the series. "Superboy" the tv series started out as "Superboy" for it's first two seasons before being retitled as "The Adventures Of Superboy" after that series ended were we given "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman." meaning that if you were to move from the finale of "The Adventures Of Superboy" titled "Rites Of Passage" and onto "Lois and Clark" there would be some dead giveaways like the fact that after the Lois and Clark part of the title that might lead you to that conclusion. Those words being in the title "The New Adventures Of Superman" which means that everything that was talked about in "Rites Of Passage" again I say happened off-screen. Which would include the aforementioned loss of time as "Superboy" and also his time in "The Bureau For Extra-Normal Matters" as well as the time when he had romantic feelings for Lana. As a matter of fact, there is an episode of "Lois and Clark" in which Lois and Clark go to Smallville for a story Lana is not even remotely mentioned nor is the "Bureau For Extra-Normal Matters" but when Kryptonite is mentioned it's Clark that knows enough to call it Kryptonite. Meaning that if by somehow being exposed to Kryptonite he has some flashes of his days AS Superboy enough to remember Kryptonite to call it that. Further supporting this is when Clark discovers something from his home world Krypton that shows the last hours of Krypton. That was not even thought of when The Salkinds were working on "Superboy". The second biggest piece of evidence to support my thoughts comes in the form of one character. Jonathan Kent. Jonathan Kent in "Superboy" is played by Stuart Whitman and in "Lois and Clark" played by Eddie Jones and in both series he's alive as opposed to the Salkind "Superman" movies in which in the middle of the second act Jonathan suffers a fatal heart attack like he did in the George Reeves Series and "Smallville", which means that the Superboy series not in the same universe as the Salkind "Superman" movies. However the biggest piece of evidence, is in the first season's story arc for Superman who for all intent and purposes knew he was not from earth, just like he was in Superboy. When he finds an orb from his home planet of Krypton and it tells Clark of his home planet of Krypton and the fact his parents from there was Lara and Jor-El. In "Superboy" Lara and Jor-El were different aliens incognito and they weren't really his parents so as far as Superboy was concerned they lied about his past and therefor couldn't trust anything that was known of his origin. So to have the truth is something Superboy never had does give my theory some footing.(Cut to James physically)
TLOTA:
In "Rites Of Passage" the hologram said that there'd be more trials ahead of him. Now I am aware this was not how The Salkinds wanted to end the series. They had plans for Straight for TV Movies or theatrical movies to properly close out "Superboy" which would've led to a sort of reboot of the Salkind Superman movie Franchise but since that didn't happen I believe that what happened off screen was the rest of Clark's trials. He had to forget his time as Superboy. Remembering he had powers but never fully acted on them until "Lois & Clark". Also look at the progression of title of each of the series. "Superboy" the tv series started out as "Superboy" for it's first two seasons before being retitled as "The Adventures Of Superboy" after that series ended were we given "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman." meaning that if you were to move from the finale of "The Adventures Of Superboy" titled "Rites Of Passage" and onto "Lois and Clark" there would be some dead giveaways like the fact that after the Lois and Clark part of the title that might lead you to that conclusion. Those words being in the title "The New Adventures Of Superman" which means that everything that was talked about in "Rites Of Passage" again I say happened off-screen. Which would include the aforementioned loss of time as "Superboy" and also his time in "The Bureau For Extra-Normal Matters" as well as the time when he had romantic feelings for Lana. As a matter of fact, there is an episode of "Lois and Clark" in which Lois and Clark go to Smallville for a story Lana is not even remotely mentioned nor is the "Bureau For Extra-Normal Matters" but when Kryptonite is mentioned it's Clark that knows enough to call it Kryptonite. Meaning that if by somehow being exposed to Kryptonite he has some flashes of his days AS Superboy enough to remember Kryptonite to call it that. Further supporting this is when Clark discovers something from his home world Krypton that shows the last hours of Krypton. That was not even thought of when The Salkinds were working on "Superboy". The second biggest piece of evidence to support my thoughts comes in the form of one character. Jonathan Kent. Jonathan Kent in "Superboy" is played by Stuart Whitman and in "Lois and Clark" played by Eddie Jones and in both series he's alive as opposed to the Salkind "Superman" movies in which in the middle of the second act Jonathan suffers a fatal heart attack like he did in the George Reeves Series and "Smallville", which means that the Superboy series not in the same universe as the Salkind "Superman" movies. However the biggest piece of evidence, is in the first season's story arc for Superman who for all intent and purposes knew he was not from earth, just like he was in Superboy. When he finds an orb from his home planet of Krypton and it tells Clark of his home planet of Krypton and the fact his parents from there was Lara and Jor-El. In "Superboy" Lara and Jor-El were different aliens incognito and they weren't really his parents so as far as Superboy was concerned they lied about his past and therefor couldn't trust anything that was known of his origin. So to have the truth is something Superboy never had does give my theory some footing.(Cut to James physically)
TLOTA:
And if someone out there thinks my theory is bunk, feel free to let me have it in the comment section but if there is one thing they do have in common is the fact they're late 1980's early 1990's cheesy fun. (Cut to clips of both "Superboy" & "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman as James does a voiceover.)
TLOTA (Voiceover):
By today's standards both shows are considered campy, corny and overall dumb. But for me, that's part of the fun of watching it. They remind me of the days whenever I thought of Superman I thought who was better Christopher Reeve, John Hames Newton, Gerard Christopher or Dean Cain (Spoilers It's Christopher Reeve and he still is.). If you're looking for either series they are available on DVD or for a few bucks purchase on Amazon Prime's streaming service. But I guarantee you'll find yourselves enjoying them both whether they're truly in the same universe or not. (Cut to James physically)
TLOTA:
I'm James Faraci The Last Of The Americans and... (The words "Another Christmas top 12 next month?" appear at the bottom of the screen and James looks down) Yes! (The sound of a gun getting cocked and shot is heard as it cuts to black and James says "I guess I'm too predictable")
By today's standards both shows are considered campy, corny and overall dumb. But for me, that's part of the fun of watching it. They remind me of the days whenever I thought of Superman I thought who was better Christopher Reeve, John Hames Newton, Gerard Christopher or Dean Cain (Spoilers It's Christopher Reeve and he still is.). If you're looking for either series they are available on DVD or for a few bucks purchase on Amazon Prime's streaming service. But I guarantee you'll find yourselves enjoying them both whether they're truly in the same universe or not. (Cut to James physically)
TLOTA:
I'm James Faraci The Last Of The Americans and... (The words "Another Christmas top 12 next month?" appear at the bottom of the screen and James looks down) Yes! (The sound of a gun getting cocked and shot is heard as it cuts to black and James says "I guess I'm too predictable")
