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Lois & Clark:
The New Adventures of Superman
Season 1, Episode 13
113-allshookup
Air date January 2, 1994
Written by Jackson Gillis
Bryce Zabel
Directed by Felix Enriquez Alcalá
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Witness

An asteroid heads toward Earth and Superman flies into space to stop it. The impact back on Earth causes him to lose his memory, forgetting how to use his own powers. Martha and Jonathan arrive to help Clark regain his memory, so that he can become Superman and stop a fragment of the asteroid still heading to Earth.

Plot[]

An unannounced solar eclipse heralds the approach of a 17-mile wide asteroid. Using Clark as a contact, Professor Daitch summons Superman and confides in him the full alarming story: the asteroid is going to hit Earth in four days, potentially triggering the end of all human life. Eprad scientists have calculated that if Superman hits a structural weak point they have identified on the asteroid, it will shatter it. With the world relying on him, Superman takes on the job.

Superman makes impact with the asteroid as planned, which knocks him rocketing back in the opposite direction, burning up his costume and leaving a crater in a Metropolis street when he lands. Amnesiac and naked, he is taken in by a homeless shelter, where Inspector Henderson finds him. His amnesia is attributed to a delayed reaction from when he was knocked over by a car the day of the eclipse. Clark's parents Martha and Jonathan Kent don't answer their phone, so Lois reintroduces him to his work space, co-workers, and apartment in hopes of jogging his memories. When Cat Grant learns he is amnesiac, she tells him that the two of them have a secret love affair, but Clark is skeptical that he could be romantically involved with Cat.

Eprad determines that though Superman broke up the asteroid, a 3-mile wide chunk is still headed towards Earth. With Superman missing, the U.S. government proposes to eliminate this chunk by launching a rocket with a nuclear payload. This promise is not enough to keep the citizens of Metropolis from going into pre-apocalyptic panic. After Cat unsuccessfully tries to persuade Clark to spend potentially his last days alive with her, she goes to a confessional to confess her attempt to take advantage of his amnesia. Lex Luthor offers Lois a spot in his nuclear bunker, but she declines, saying that if the asteroid does hit Earth, the aftermath would be a watershed moment in human history, one she couldn't bear to miss witnessing for herself.

Jimmy Olsen learns that some residents of Hobbs Bay saw a shooting star land in Suicide Alley. Since the fragments of the asteroid logically should not have reached Earth this far ahead of the 3-mile chunk, Jimmy thinks this was most likely Superman. Following the sightings with Perry White, he finds the crater where Superman landed, and a scrap of the "S" from his costume inside it. Impressed that his long shot paid off, Perry has Jimmy write the story, his first, as a joint byline with Lois.

Lois decides to spend her last couple days with Clark, but backs out of the offer after she learns his parents have arrived in Metropolis to be with him. When they find out that Clark is amnesiac, Jonathan and Martha tell him that he is Superman, proving it by hitting him in the ribs with a baseball bat. The Eprad rocket misses the asteroid, so with Superman their only hope, the Kents struggle in vain to make Clark remember how to fly. Clark asks Lois to tell him about Superman, and her insightful words about Superman's character make his memories return. He dons his Superman costume, flies into space, and pushes the asteroid chunk until it reverses course. He returns to Metropolis and his Clark identity in time to join the celebrations at the Daily Planet.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

  • Shaun Toub as Asabi

Guest starring[]

  • Richard Belzer as Inspector Henderson
  • Richard Roat as Professor Daitch
  • J.A. Preston as General Zeitlin
  • Matt Clark as homeless man
  • David Sage as John Cosgrove
  • Jenifer Lewis as the psychic
  • Suanne Spoke as Dr. Jerri McCorkle
  • Rick Fitts as Frank Madison

Production details[]

This episode is a remake of the 1953 episode of the Adventures of Superman TV series, "Panic in the Sky."

Richard Belzer makes his first appearance as Bill Henderson in this episode. For his previous two appearances in the series Henderson was played by Mel Winkler and Brent Jennings.

Quotes[]

Clark: "And we're... friends, right?"
Lois: "Sure we're friends."
Clark: "Are we... more than friends?"
Lois: "More than...? Well, like I told you, we're partners. We work closely together."
Clark: "How close?"
Lois: "Close! ...Ah, not close close, but... close."


Cat: "I told a man who has no memory that... that he desires me."
Priest: "Does he?"
Cat: "Well, he ought to."

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