What's in a Name? (what does the title mean?)

The term "Wall of Sound" is credited to a humungous sound system built for the Grateful Dead's live concerts. According to sound engineer Owsley "Bear" Stanley, who designed the Wall of Sound, "It was a massive wall of speaker arrays set behind the musicians, which they themselves controlled without a front of house mixer. It did not need any delay towers to reach a distance of half a mile from the stage without degradation."

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!

1. City street in front of the police department which Lois and Clark pass on their way to work
2. Metropolis Formal Wear, where Clark rents a tux
3. Metropolis Mercantile Bank: where a robbery takes place with Lois inside
4. Daily Planet: news room, exterior street
5. City street 2: where there is a jewel robbery at J. Carr’s Jewelers, and Superman is assaulted by a sound created to destroy him
6. City street 3: where Jimmy takes pictures at “Antique Clocks” of police officers removing a sound device and spots the biker jacket he likes- on one of the people who robbed the bank
7. The Stoke Club: main room, back room, music room, basement, front door
8 .Alley: where Jimmy is caught taking pictures of the bank robbers
9. Lois' Apartment: where she admires her well hidden Kerth Awards, and where Superman visits her for a short time
10. Lois' Car- in which she and Clark drive to Echo Canyon and then return ro stake out the club and argue whether they have enough evidence on Stoke to call in the police
11. Abandoned Building: where Jimmy is bound and gagged and is saved by Superman just before it explodes
12. Outdoor Café, Daily Java: where Clark speaks with Derek Camden’s doctor
13. Press Awards Building- on the red carpet leaving after the festivities
14. Spies’R’Us, a retail shop mentioned by Jimmy

LOCATIONS OUTSIDE METROPOLIS

1. Echo Canyon/Ranger Station: where L&C find Derek Camden, famous for it’s remarkable acoustics; it’s a “state park, no houses, no camping”
2. Above the city/ in the clouds: where Superman patrols and breaks the sound barrier
2a. Superman’s flyover reveals Metropolis is a large city; it has a high clock tower that can be seen from most of the city, except where what is presumably Lex Tower and a few other skyscrapers block the view, giving the impression it is a landmark which can be seen by half the city; there seem to be small parks around the city nestled between the tall buildings, and roof top athletic areas for employees or tenants to use, there is one river shown in the distance

POWERS USED AS SUPERMAN

1. Flight- patrols the city, breaks the sound barrier to negate the effects of Stoke’s weapon
2. Strength- breaks down a door, throws a car steering wheel so accurately it ricochets from one sound device to another, destroying three at once
3. Body density- demolishes the roof of a car when he drops from a one story height
4. Heat or laser vision- destroys sound devices placed on buildings

POWERS USED AS CLARK

1. Strength and speed: takes out Stoke’s men and rips out wiring, before changing into the suit
2. Sight: watches Stokes’ men tapping underground city power lines, sees under ink used to black out earlier writing
3. Super hearing: affected by loud noises or voices after the first sound attack at the jewel robbery

HINT, HINT!

After winning the award, Clark tells Lois the award itself is smaller than he thought it would be, later, as Superman, he looks at her awards and says the lighting makes them look (pause) bigger.

CLARK’S LAME EXCUSES

1. hears the start of the Soundman’s next caper and rushes off, telling Lois the smart thing to do is to split up and investigate the story. He’ll look for Camden, while she investigates Stoke.
2. later apologizes saying he left for a personal thing

PERRY-ISMS

1. I’ve seen her like this before. The door is locked, the alarm is on, and you ain’t getting in- Perry White to Clark Kent, referring to Lois
2. Now I know exactly how the Colonel felt when Elvis brought home his first gold record- Perry White to Clark Kent after the Kerth ceremony

DEVICES

1. bugging device shaped like a pen with ear plug receiver and a range of 500 feet, can also be used to listen to AM/FM radio
2. a sound gun with settings for varying effects: putting people to sleep, blowing things up, destroying objects and hurting Superman through his superhearing
3. small devices capable of broadcasting sounds ranging from voice transmissions to destructive sound waves


SAY WHAT? (Clark’s Languages) (Lois’s Languages)

Spanish- Clark talks to a friend of Camden’s who doesn’t speak much English- Noemi Valdez, a friend from the mental hospital tells Clark that Camden liked to go to a place called Canyon del Sonido, Echo Canyon.
Lois immediately translates Canyon del Sonido to Echo Canyon, giving the distinct impression she also speaks Spanish.


HISTORY, HOBBIES, ALL CHARACTERS

CLARK KENT

1. is sure Lois will be nominated for another Kerth Award
2. thinks she’ll win it for the Bolivian drug cartel series
3. agrees to be Lois’ date to the Kerth Awards
4. stops to rent a tux on way to work while Lois goes to the bank
5. discovers Lois and other bank patrons on the floor, revives Lois, notices robbery
6. gets a copy of the bank robbery on tape and hopes to discover why the police have a tight lid on the case
7. he is shocked to be the Kerth nominee for the Daily Planet
8. tries to let Lois know he is as surprised as she is about his Kerth nomination
9. asks Lois to be his date to the Kerths and is a little surprised to be met with sarcasm
10. he lets a woman bouncer at the Stoke Club manhandle him when he’s caught snooping in a back room looking “for a bathroom”
11. goes to the Stoke Club jacketless but with a tie, his idea of undercover, and nearly doesn’t recognize Lois in her much better disguise
12. tells Lois she is the same reporter she has always been when she asks him if she has lost her edge: hard working, dedicated, (a little over the top sometimes, she could use a few more vacations and some semblance of a life,) but she is the best reporter in the city, always has been, always will be
13. jokingly rates Lois an A+ as a date after the Kerth ceremony

LOIS LANE

1. tries to be modest about her likelihood to be a Kerth Award nominee
2. admits she’s only been nominated every year since she has been eligible
3. the dinner is fun and she bought a new black dress that needs breaking in
4. remembers feeling very tired before passing out in bank
5. accuses police of being rude by having leads on the case they are unwilling to share with the press
6. she is “stunned, shocked and in need of oxygen” that Clark is nominated for a Kerth instead of her- for a retirement home scandal!
7. insists on getting right to work on the robbery story by doing “a who and a what. Who would have the ability to make the sounds and what would make them.”
8. She is of the opinion the Kerth committee either lost her story or their brains were taken over by aliens.
9. takes on three of Stoke Club’s female bouncers and wins- with words and martial arts ability
10. insists she never babbles when Clark points out that she is, and is puzzled to learn he thinks she babbles like “a brook.”
11. Apologizes to Clark twice for her behavior over his Kerth nomination- first, after going off about the Kerth Committee not nominating her; second, after he tells her she has not lost her edge as a reporter.
12. takes Clark back as a partner as quickly as she dismisses him
13, tells Clark “So?” when he teases her about memorizing maps
14. wonders if she should be using smaller words when she can’t get a reaction from the woman bouncers at the front door of the Stoke Club (says “Lenny told me he likes his women smaller than the average milk cow”)
15. surprises Perry with her genuine happiness for Clark winning the Kerth Award; later is able to joke with Clark about her rating as a date
16. at one point she sends Jimmy hurrying away from working at her desk, and answers a question he asks, without saying a word
17. Gives Superman a white rose and a kiss on the cheek after he admires her awards

PERRY WHITE

1. announces one of the Kerth Investigative Journalism Prize nominees is one of their own- Clark Kent
2. thinks he has a real good chance of winning and prompts Lois to congratulate him
tells Lois she has won three Kerths, she shouldn’t be petty because the Planet is a team and one person’s success is everybody’s
3. he’s a bit amused by the professional discord between Lois and Clark when they reach their “fork in the road” over the Soundman story, knowing they are both working hard to prove something to one another
4.dryly compliments Lois on her fake tattoo
5. At this point in time he and Alice have a happy marriage.

JIMMY OLSEN

1. plants a bug hidden in an unusable pen on Lois’ desk and mentions Spies’R’Us as the place he bought it
2. likes a biker jacket seen on the bank tape of the robbery
3. gets drowsy along with Lois while watching the robbery tape
4. hopes his pictures for Clark’s Kerth nominated story might have been... recognized...too...?
5. doesn’t know who Secretariat was
6. tries his hand at writing about his experience after being caught by the bank robbers and nearly killed- unfortunately he chose to try to write it at Lois’ desk

LENNY STOKE/SOUNDMAN

1. after bank robbery warns people of Metropolis not to get too attached to material things, because they won’t have them for long, though they will catch up on their rest
2. announces a ‘sound tax’ consisting of 50% of the money in all Metropolis’ banks being bagged and left outside the buildings by 9 am the following day- the mayor refuses to give in
3. as a performer he put out two albums to good reviews but poor sales, sonic R&D,
4. experienced financial bad luck, patents stolen, accountants ripped him off
5. likes “trashy brunettes,” according to Lois Lane and she thinks he is the most likely person to have developed the sound technology used in the bank robbery
6. gives Lois/Linda his guitar pick after his performance at the Stoke Club
7. guesses there is something between Superman and Lois after Superman cannot get through the barrier Stoke calls the Wall of Sound and he and she exchange looks
8. claims he has a problem, a “Rain Man thing,” about flying, just before he is whisked away in custody by Superman.
9. tells uncooperative Mayor Sharp his call to her is untraceable and repeats his demand for money, when she refuses, he puts into motion his plan to destroy city hall
10. tells Lois she has a happy, little greeting card voice, and she should keep it to herself

DEREK CAMDEN

1. one of four people capable of developing the sound technology used to rob the bank
2. cracked up testing a thought altering sound on himself
3. released six weeks ago from state mental ward
4.Clark Kent feels he is the most likely candidate to have developed the sound devises used in the bank robbery
5. current whereabouts unknown but he and Stoke once worked together. wants to know if L&C are his “appointment in Samarra” or death come to visit him, when they find him at the ranger station
7. talks disjointedly of the sounds Lenny is using as coming from his, Camden’s, heart and soul, and that Stoke stole his dreams and now wants to “end my body and keep my dreams.” As for the sound that hurts Superman, it needs a lot of power to be generated, and Lenny has found it, thus making him the power to be reckoned with- divulged in an abstract way
8. Calls Stoke a thief, killer and destroyer

DR. GREEN, unnamed on screen
1. Though hospital files are normally confidential, under the circumstances, he reveals that Derek Camden was released into the care of a friend, Lenny Stoke. The doctor spoke to Camden not long after and discovered he and Stoke had a new business venture in the works.
2. Camden’s last address known to the doctor was the Stoke Club.


NAME THAT TUNE (the L&C theme and any other music)

The Lois and Clark theme music can be heard when Lois accidentally switches the bugging device to AM/FM radio. Lenny Stoke and band sing “Wall of Sound” at the Stoke Club. It is his first appearance in over two years.


MISCELLANEOUS

1. according to Lois and Clark, the Kerth award dinner is just for nominees and their dates/companions, and also their chief editors because Perry and wife attend.
2. the florist shop Clark passes on the way to the bank is obviously a chain with many locations around the city as its logo “Florist, sometimes words are not enough” appears all over town in many episodes
3. Jimmy mentions the first sound to put people to sleep was used at the robbery, but Lois comments she thinks Yanni did it first
4. Lois had been nominated every year for a Kerth since she’s been eligible. Clark gets nominated his first year at the Planet. Was Lois not always an investigative reporter? If not an investigative piece, what kind of story did Claude steal from her?
5. Lois’s password for the “Daily Planet Computer Database' is Lane0779
6. A day passes between the bank robbery and the time Clark scores a copy of the bank robbery tape.
7. When Clark asks her to the Kerth Awards as his date, Lois reacts as if it so far beneath her she’s insulted, even though he agreed to be her date originally.
8. By the way, Lois did not buy that black dress for the Kerth Awards ceremony. It was a coincidence she bought it around the time of the awards. She doesn’t even like the stupid thing and is going to take it back.
9. After Perry’s Kerth announcement, most of the staffers go back to work, but several stick around and witness his rebuke to Lois and her subsequent inability to congratulate Clark.
10. The Stoke Club bartender tells Clark Camden has been living in the back room for a while
11. Lois infiltrates the Stoke Club crowd as Linda, a trashy brunette airhead, and literally bulldozes her way into position to get Lenny’s attention, plants the pen bug on him but gets no further. Dispirited, she returns to the newsroom.
12. Amusing bit where two winos sit in a wooded area and one explains to the other how breaking the sound barrier causes sonic booms - we discover he once worked for NASA, which would indicate NASA and EPRAD exist together in this Superman universe
13. Lois’s three Kerth Awards were: 1991- Gulf War on the Front Lines, 1992- Inside Bush Campaign Headquarters, 1993- Sexual Harassment in the Military
14. some of the books used to hide her awards are Millennium, Woman of Tomorrow, Elizabeth the Great and Plant Propagation
15. The sound that hurts Superman is an ultra high frequency of 500 million megaherts capable of melting his “metallically dense nervous system.”
16. The Daily Java, a gourmet cafeteria, is a business on the ground floor of the Daily Planet Building. Farther along the street is Oak Leaf Realty, a shoeshine stand, a bakery and Sports Exchange, possibly a sports memorabilia shop at the end of the block. Across the street is a bank, a florist and a movie theater showing “A Star is Born”- which version unknown.

OBSERVATIONS in Real Life

Nice “in” joke when Jimmy announces he’s going for a new look with biker jackets- as if his appearance hasn’t been completely changed by the real life casting department
One of the police officers blown through the air at the jewel robbery looked a lot like Jake Weber, in a teeny, tiny role, later a star of “Medium”