Clark Kent meets a very important figure in the Superman story in Perry White, "future" editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet, in this episode.
Where in the Superman comics and movies, Perry White is an upstanding fellow who is the head of one of the largest newspaper chains in the country, in this episode Perry is at a low point in his journalism career. After doing research trying to dig up major dirt on Lionel Luthor's past, Lionel causes Perry's career to plummet, causing Perry to lose his job and can only find a new one with X-Styles, a cable TV station. Looking to springboard his career again, Perry travels to Smallville with a sense that a major story has to come out of the town that was hit by distant meteors.
There, he witnesses Clark do amazing acts of super-humanity. Good thing he is a drunkard, due to his current predicament in life, or else his hunches about Clark could seem a lot more accurate. It is only at episodes' end, when Perry is convinced to prove Clark's abilities once and for all, that his theory is changed.
This episode was great because it is fun to see a key character from all eras of "Superman" come to life on screen in a way he had never been seen before. It is a big adjustment to see Perry in a different light, but gives the character more interesting backstory in result.
Where in the Superman comics and movies, Perry White is an upstanding fellow who is the head of one of the largest newspaper chains in the country, in this episode Perry is at a low point in his journalism career. After doing research trying to dig up major dirt on Lionel Luthor's past, Lionel causes Perry's career to plummet, causing Perry to lose his job and can only find a new one with X-Styles, a cable TV station. Looking to springboard his career again, Perry travels to Smallville with a sense that a major story has to come out of the town that was hit by distant meteors.
There, he witnesses Clark do amazing acts of super-humanity. Good thing he is a drunkard, due to his current predicament in life, or else his hunches about Clark could seem a lot more accurate. It is only at episodes' end, when Perry is convinced to prove Clark's abilities once and for all, that his theory is changed.
This episode was great because it is fun to see a key character from all eras of "Superman" come to life on screen in a way he had never been seen before. It is a big adjustment to see Perry in a different light, but gives the character more interesting backstory in result.