With my "Lois & Clark" DVD, I got a free DVD featuring an episode of "Smallville".

It showed LOIS LANE finding a teenage boy (who would later be Clark Kent) in Smallville.

In my opinion, this creates much confusion as to the origin of Superman

Both in the movie AND in "Lois & Clark", John & Martha Kent find Superman as a baby in a cornfield.

What gives?

Why can't "the powers that be" agree on the origin of Superman?

It isn't so much that they don't "agree" as that each set of creators to adapt it into another medium (TV, radio, movies) makes different creative decisions in tweaking aspects of the character, including his origin. Even the comics themselves, IIUC, reversed the eventual deaths of the Kents and so they are both still alive in the comics, which means that even the beloved first Chris Reeve movie is inconsistent with them. (Let me know if I'm wrong here, since I never collected the comics regularly, and have only a fragmented understanding of some of the retcons.) I mean, think of what it would be like if the creators of the different adaptations didn't offer their own ideas on the mythos: We wouldn't have kryptonite, either in the comics, the movies, or the TV shows, because that premise was invented by those who adapted it into a radio program. That it was picked up and became a universal part of the mythos for every other subsequent adaptation, and even incorporated into the source medium, is testimony that at least sometimes, the adapters have a good idea or two.

That said, of course, I think we can agree that we don't always like every adaptive change made. While I like most of Smallville's take on the material, and concede that some of its tweaks may be necessary for a TV series adaptation, I agree that much of it from the third and fourth season is arbitrary/unnecessary, and even detrimental to the quality of the original source material. I have no problem, for example, with Pete Ross being African-American, or with so many of Clark's encounters with kryptonite and those affected by it, since they need material for a weekly series, and since they often make the stories work on a dramatic or character level. But I do not think, for example, that bringing in Lois during Clark's senior year of high school was a good creative decision, or that there is any good chemistry between them.

Your individual opinion mileage may vary.

Luigi - We wouldn't have kryptonite, either in the comics, the movies, or the TV shows, because that premise was invented by those who adapted it into a radio program.
Not exactly Luigi. In 1939 or 1940 Seigel & Shuster created what we would call kryptonite (K-metal in the story) for the comic, but the editors didn't like the story, probably because it ended with Clark revealing his secret to Lois and accepting her as a partner. (Bit of a change to the status quo.)

Jimmy Olsen on the other hand was certainly developed, if not named, by the radio show. (IIRC there was a copy boy who might have been named Jimmy before the radio show, but without the radio show he might have remained a one-shot character.)

I believe the George Reeves series had Ma Kent survive to see Clark move to Metropolis & become Superman unlike the comics where both died before he left Smallville.

The John Byrne reboot of Superman changed it so that Ma & Pa Kent lived.

John Byrne also took the idiotic movie idea that the symbol of the house of El was the stylized S symbol & had him named Superman by Lois.

Personally I liked Dana Carvey's comment about it. "What else is he gonna call himself? Pretty-good Man?"

Of course the Superboy TV series contradicted the movies by giving Supes a Superboy career (and both the movie & the series were produced by the same people).

I think Matt Pesti hit the nail on the head when he said that Smallville wasn't about Superboy it was about Spider-Man. (Whiney self-centered hero with great powers.)

John,

The episode you saw is called "Crusade." It is from the fourth season. In the very first episode of season 1, Martha and Jonathan do indeed find Clark in a cornfield.

"Crusade" was included as a bonus on the "Lois and Clark" set because it was the first episode of "Smallville" to include the character of Lois Lane.

I liked the idea that the "S" was a sort of family crest.

Me too. A great early moment in Superman I was the family crests on the robes of the Kryptonian elders, with Jor-El's the familiar S.

I liked the idea that the "S" was a sort of family crest.

It's not the worst thing I've ever heard, but I'm not terribly fond of it. Though it's certainly much better than Smallville's El family crest, which looks more like a figure 8.

John Byrne also took the idiotic movie idea that the symbol of the house of El was the stylized S symbol & had him named Superman by Lois.

While Lois named him Superman (pre-costume!) in Byrne's reboot, the S symbol was in no way Kryptonian in the post-Crisis-pre-Birthright era.

Pa Kent helped Clark come up with the S logo while Ma was working on the rest of the costume in Byrne's Man of Steel miniseries.

Compared to other Superman incarnations this show is an abomination. I gave the show a try a while ago, as I am a fan of comics, but couldn't stomach several things about it. The original town of Smallville, KS only had a few hundred people, who weren't all beautiful either. Metropolis is in New Jersey and in this show they talk about going there like it's down the road; besides, who from a small town in the Midwest would want to go to Jersey? Lois Lane never went there, Lex Luthor lived in NY, and Clark didn't use his powers much at all in HS; why would he need to beyond winning a football game? If this show is entertaining and consistant, great, and it's an interesting idea, but I think the writers are way off base here, IMHO.

In which medium was it established that Metropolis was in NJ?

I'm wondering that myself; granted, I'm no great expert on Superman, but I always thought that Metropolis was set in Kansas not too far from Smallville (maybe the Superman universe's version of Kansas City).

Metropolis was established as being in New York as early as Superman #2.

A number of early Superboy stories established Smallville as being near Metropolis & a Legion of Super-Heroes story established Smallville as being on the East Coast. I believe it was Superman The Movie that moved Smallville to Kansas.

I don't think Superman the Movie ever established where Metropolis was, other than it being known as "The Big Apricot".

It's been ages since I've seen the flick, but didn't the Statue of Liberty make an appearance?

Yes, New York was used for Metropolis in that movie (and this one). The Daily Planet, as I recall, was the Daily News building on E42nd ST, near (IIRC) 2nd Ave. I learned this when I started going to school in NYC, and realized, when passing by it by bus, that it was the same building/street.

I read that Metropolis was in NJ, and Gotham in Delaware, from several encyclopedia-like books by DC comics that contained maps. I don't remember the titles, and it was a while ago, but there were more than one. Also, in Superman Returns, right after Luthor fires that rocket with the kryptonite and info crystal I believe, there was a map that showed Metropolis near/on Atlantic City. As for as I can remember, Smallville has been in Kansas.

Did a websearch and came up with Atlas of The DC Universe which I believe is a game supplement rather than a canonical comics source.

This link leads to the New England states.

BTW it was Metropolis, Delaware & Gotham, New Jersey.

Joisey Batman: Yo, Jokah! I got ya punchline right heyuh!

Thinking about it it seems odd that the game, which probably came out in the '80s or '90s, put Metropolis & Gotham in Delaware & New Jersey.

Back in the '70s it was established that New York City, Gotham & Metropolis were all right next to each other. (Not sure of the first instance, but it was a plot point in an issue of the Justice League of America back then.)

To the best of my knowledge that didn't change post-Crisis, so why would the game put them in different states?

Okay, the game did not make up Gotham in New Jersey & Metropolis in Delaware, these references first (as far as I can tell) appeared in text bios for the Justice League of America in The Amazing World of DC Comics #14 (cover dated March 1977). Additionally it lists Smallville as being in Maryland.