Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Season 1, Episode 14 (9 Jan. 1994): “Witness”
by Bradley Moore, Mel Damsk

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Season 1, Episode 14

Title: “Witness”

Medium: television series episode

Original airdate: 9 Jan. 1994

Publisher:
Written by: Bradley Moore
Directed by: Mel Damsk

9 characters in this story:

Character (Click links for info about character and his/her religious practice, affiliation, etc.)	Religious Affiliation	Team(s) [Notes]	Pub.	# app.
Superman (Clark Kent)	Methodist / Kryptonian religion	Kryptonians; Super Friends...  The Justice League		13,409
Lois Lane	Catholic	Raleigh College [Superman's girlfriend, then wife]		3,859
Jimmy Olsen	Lutheran	The Legion of Super-Heroes [Superman's pal]		1,896
Perry White	Baptist; Elvis worship (ordained)	[Superman's (Clark Kent's) boss; Daily Planet editor]		1,574
Jonathan Kent	Methodist	[Superman's adoptive father]		816
Martha Kent	Methodist	[Superman's adoptive mother]		827
Lex Luthor	Episcopalian (lapsed); Nietzschean atheist	Injustice League; Secret Six...  Secret Society of Super Villains; The Injustice Gang; The Legion of Doom		1,508
Inspector William Henderson		[police commissioner; police detective]		123
Cat Grant	Catholic (lapsed); promiscuous hedonist	[Daily Planet gossip columnist; co-worker of Clark Kent]		140

Timecode: 2 minutes, 47 seconds: Scene: Offices of the Daily Planet.

Clark Kent: How did you get this interview?

Lois Lane: He called me.

Clark Kent: Hm. What a coup.

Jimmy Olsen: Vincent Winninger, the mad scientist?

Lois Lane: He's not mad. He's eccentric.

Cat Grant: You're going to interview Vincent Winninger?

Lois Lane: Yes.

Cat Grant: [Giggles as if she has just heard something very amusing.] Well, that explains the vain attempt to look sexy.

Jimmy Olsen: Lois, be careful. Vincent Winninger is a notorious--

Cat Grant: Wolf. Womanizer. Maybe I should go with you.

Cat Grant's suggestion to Lois that she go with her on the interview reflects the fact that Cat, knowing of Dr. Winninger's reputation for promiscuous sexual behavior, would like to sample the scientist's renowned licentiousness for herself.

Cat once again demonstrates that she thinks about other people primarily in terms of their sexual behavior. Dr. Winninger is a known womanizer, but also a brilliant scientist. When Cat thinks of Dr. Winninger she doesn't think of his research or professional accomplishments, she thinks of his notoriety as a womanizer and she believes that Lois Lane has dressed specifically to take advantage of this Dr. Winninger's interest in beautiful women. Actually, Lois Lane's outfit seems rather business-like and modest, but compared to Lois's usual attire, her red business suit might be seen as relatively "sexier." Lois herself goes on to admit that she is willing to use her femininity to enhance the possibility of having a successful interview with the scientist. So, in this wise, Cat Grant happened to be correct in her assessment of Lois Lane's motives.

Lois Lane: Maybe you shouldn't.

Cat Grant walks away. Clark was listening to Cat's conversation with Lois. He has some questions of his own.

Clark Kent: Wait a minute.

Clark looks at Lois Lane's dress. As noted above, it is relatively modest (especially compared to just about anything Cat Grant has ever worn in this series), but it is "sexier" than the considerably more masculine, business-like outfits that Lois usually wears.

Clark Kent: Are you planning to exploit your femininity?

Lois Lane: To get the story of one of the strangest and most reclusive scientists of our time? You bet.

Timecode: 4 minutes, 52 seconds: Scene: Interior of Dr. Vincent Winninger's office. The camera starts out focused on a black and white photo showing Dr. Winninger (who is played by actor Elliot Gould) shaking hands with U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter is generally regarded as the first "born-again Christian", or first Evangelical Christian, to serve as U.S. President. Jimmy Carter was an active member of the Southern Baptist Convention. Years after leaving office, Jimmy Carter very publically renounced his membership in the Southern Baptist Convention for a number of reasons, among them what he considered that denomination's mistreatment of gays (and the entire LGBT community) and Mormons (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). After leaving the SBC, Jimmy Carter, a long-time Sunday School teacher, remained active as a Baptist, but he no longer supported the Southern Baptist Convention or identified himself as a "Southern Baptist."

Dr. Vincent Winninger is talking to Lois Lane in his office, talking to her about the photos he has on display there.

Dr. Vincent Winninger: Scientists, philosophers, historians, hippies. Ha. Elemont Center, the intellectual commune. Named after . . . I don't remember who we named it after. Do you? Whoever he was, you can be the was obscure.

Lois Lane: And these theatrical photos?

Dr. Vincent Winninger: The commune had a theater group.

Lois Lane notices a photograph showing President Ronald Reagan shaking hands with Dr. Winninger. A woman stands to the U.S. President's side.

Lois Lane: Is this--

Dr. Vincent Winninger: Yes. Barbara Trevino. She's come a long way. From radical hippie to--

Lois Lane: To Chairperson of the Rainforest Consortium.

Dr. Vincent Winninger: Well, not until Tuesday. And we're going to change all that.

Now it is clear that the young woman in the photograph - Barbara Trevino - is the same person as the older woman we saw in the previous scene. In the previous scene, the contemporary Barbara Trevino, now a woman who appears to be in her late fifties or early sixties, met a mysterious man named "Edmund" at a newspaper stand. Barbara explained to Edmund how Dr. Winninger is threatening everything she is working for with the "Consortium." Barbara Trevino ordered Edmund to kill Dr. Winninger. Edmund pointed out that Dr. Winninger and Barbara Trevino had been lovers. He questioned whether she really wanted him dead. She said that had happened a long time ago. Now Barbara Trevino seems to be a cold, calculating woman of means and wealth, far removed from her days as a hippie living in a commune with fellow hippie, the younger Vincent Winninger.

Now Dr. Winninger has invited Lois Lane to his office to enlist her help in thwarting Barbara Trevino's plans. Dr. Winninger does not know that Barbara Trevino plans to kill him, but she does know that his former hippie lover is up to something bad.

Lois Lane: We?

Dr. Vincent Winninger: Yes, you and me. That's why you're hear, Ms. Lane. Did you know that I spent several years living with an Amazonian tribe? The Life And Times of Vincent Winninger.[Picks up a slim bound volume.] In this play, Barbara Trevino has a leading role. She's the femme fatale. [Puts his hand on Lois Lane's knee.] You're a very good looking woman.

Lois Lane: Thank you.

Lois picks up Dr. Winninger's hand and removes it from her knee.

Dr. Vincent Winninger: How do you feel about increased male potency?

Lois Lane: What?!

Dr. Winninger smiles suggestively at Lois. She feels she must put a stop to the direction this seems to be going.

Lois Lane: Dr. Winninger, I know that your reputation with women is only exceeded by your scientific one, but I think we should keep this meeting purely professional.

Dr. Vincent Winninger: Precisely.

Lois Lane: What am I missing here?

Dr. Vincent Winninger: Barbara Trevino is going to sell all of us and the ozone layer straight down the river and destroy our chances for increased male potency.

Lois Lane thinks that Dr. Winninger is something of a whack job who never got over his hippie-era obsession with meaningless casual sex.

Lois Lane: I guess the Sixties were pretty good to you.

Dr. Winninger offers Lois some iced tea and intentionally spills some on her skirt so that he can have the opportunity to grope under the guise of trying to "clean up." Lois sees through his ruse and says she'll clean up on her own. She leaves the room and goes into the adjoining bathroom. While Lois is in the bathroom, a man enters the room, wearing a disguise, and murders Dr. Winninger by shooting him. Lois Lane witnesses the murder. Throughout much of the rest of the episode, Lois Lane herself is targeted for murder because of what she knows.

Timecode: 12 minutes, 27 seconds: Scene of downtown street in Metropolis in front of the Daily Planet building. Lois and Clark are walking through the entrance, emerging from the building. A Catholic nun in full traditional black and white habit is walking calmly on the sidewalk. The nun has no apparent connection to the story, aside from the fact that the show's creators like to occasionally inject nuns into crowd scenes.

A few seconds later we see on a Sikh man walking on a nearby sidewalk. A young skateboarder speeds past him.

Timecode: 25 minutes, 48 seconds: After is is once again attacked and narrowly escapes being murdered, she shows up with Clark Kent at the offices of the Daily Planet. Her concerned editor and friend, Perry White, sees her enter the office.

Perry White: Lois, are you okay?

Lois Lane: I'm fine.

Perry White: Well, what're you doing here?

Lois Lane: I work here. I have a job to do.

Perry White: Well your job ain't gonna be worth the sweat flying off an Elvis imitator if you end up dead. [To Clark] Can't you talk some sense into her?

As an Elvis Presley worshipper, it often seems as if Elvis is always on the mind of Perry White. A colorful expression incorporating Elvis Presley imagery is never far from his lips.

Clark realizes that the person who is trying to killer her is a master of disguise, a man named Sebastian Finn who Dr. Winninger called "Mr. Makeup." Sebastian Finn, Barbara Trevino and Dr. Winninger were all together in their hippie intellectual commune in the 1960s. When Clark Kent and Lois Lane go outside of the Daily Planet office to hail a taxi, Lois Lane looks around gets freaked out. She starts looking at the variety of people around here and she thinks that any one of them could be the Sebastian Finn, disguised so he can get close enough to killer her. Many of the people Lois sees in the crowd are wearing traditional garb explicitly associated with specific religious groups. She sees an Othodox Jew and a Rastafarian.

Lois Lane: Don't you think this is creepy?

Clark Kent: Taxi!

Lois Lane: Finn could be anybody. Anybody you see could be somebody else.

Lois Lane sees, in the crowd of people walking around her, two Sikhs wearing full beards and turbans, followed by a Catholic nun and a Rastafarian.

Timecode: 30 minutes, 13 seconds: Former hippie Sebastian Finn, who lived in the same commune as Dr. Vincent Winninger and Barbara Trevino, has been trying to kill Lois Lane throughout this episode. Sebastian Finn has been operating as an assassin for many years and is trying to tie up loose ends: He knows that Lois Lane witnessed his murder of Dr. Vincent Winninger, which he committed at the behest of Barbara Trevino. Finn also was willing to kill Winninger because he didn't like the man. In this scene he tells Lois Lane that he killed Winninger becauese the man had had poor acting skills back in their hippie days, although this explanation of his motive is probably at least partially a joke.

Clark Kent has been able to save Lois Lane in each previous murder attempt, but didn't have a chance to turn into Superman and apprehend the fleeing assassin. Now, Clark has found himself separated from Lois by Finn, so that Finn could kill Lois. But this allows Clark to turn into Superman and apprehend Finn. Superman flies off the top of the roof a building that Lois and Finn were on. Lois goes the exit of the building, where she finds Clark Kent standing next to Sebastian Finn - who is sitting in a sculpted metal chair which Superman has twisted around him so as to keep the assassin captive.

Clark Kent: Superman had to run . . . or fly. I told him we'd wait for the police.

Lois Lane looks at Sebastian Finn and rips the wig off his head. At this moment he is wearing a wig and fake beard and moustache, but in earlier scenes he wore completely different disguises (the character was even portrayed by different actors, to emphasize how brilliant the character is at disguising himself). Lois rips the fake bard and moustache off of Finn.

Lois Lane: Sebastian Finn, I presume. Why did you kill Dr. Winninger?

Sebastian Finn: His Rosencrantz was atrocious.

By this, Finn means that Winninger was a terrible actor. In the commune the all lived in, they ran a theatre troupe. Staging live theatrical productions, sometimes from classics, sometimes from works they wrote themselves, was an important part of life for the hippies at this commune. Sebastian Finn, in particular, strongly identified himself as an actor. But Dr. Winninger said that Finn wasn't much of an actor. Winninger told Lois earlier that Finn's skill at theatrical makeup and disguise far exceeded his skill as an actor.

Lois Lane: So why come after me?

Sebastian Finn: You could identify me.

Lois Lane: No, I couldn't.

Sebastian Finn: Well, that's the way it goes sometimes.

Lois Lane: How does Barbara Trevino fit into this?

Finn says nothing. He only looks at Lois calmly.

Lois Lane: Maybe you'll talk to the police.

Sebastian Finn: Not likely. Superman may be the man of steel, but I have a will of iron.

Lois is visibly disgusted by this smug, difficult man who has tried to kill her so many times and not refuses to divulge information that she desperately wants.

Lois Lane: Ugh! I hate actors.

Timecode: 31 minutes, 11 seconds: Back at the offices of the Daily Planet, our principle players in this story compare notes.

Jimmy Olsen: Sebastian Finn.

Lois Lane: Winninger.

Clark Kent: Dr. Hubert.

Lois Lane: You first.

Jimmy Olsen: According to the police, Sebastian Finn wasn't just moonlighting when he killed Winninger. They think he's been a successful hit man for years. I guess he finally made his ability to disguise himself as anyone pay off.

Lois Lane: I can top that. I just talked to the dean at the Philosophy Department at the Metropolis University. He used to be a member of the Elemont Commune. He knew Winninger, Finn, and Trevino way back then. Apparently, it was a regular Peyton Place.

By comparing the Elemont Commune that Finn, Winninger and Trevino lived in during to the 1960s to "Peyton Place" Lois is saying that the commune was a place in which everybody knew each other and everybody engaged in fairly promiscuous sexual behavior, routinely changing partners with little sense of loyalty or stability.

Lois Lane: Winninger and Trevino used to be a couple. But then he dumped her.

Clark Kent: Why?

Lois Lane: He felt that she wasn't living up to the ideals that they all believed in. But then, Finn and Trevino got together. They eventually split, but they still keep in contact.

Clark Kent: Well, I can top that. I found Dr. Hubert, and he'll talk to us tomorrow.

Lois Lane: That's great. But we still don't know the connection between increased male potency, the Rainforest, and Barbara Trevino. The police questioned her. She has an airtight alibi of course. She was getting into her limo. She claims to have no knowledge of the attempt on my life. It would be really nice if I could talk to her myself.

Jimmy Olsen: Yeah. Good luck on that one.

Timecode: 33 minutes, 24 seconds: Later Lois Lane is working alone at the Daily Planet when most of her co-workers have gone home. She receives a phone call.

Lois Lane: Lois Lane.

Barbara Trevino: Hi, Lois. Barbara Trevino here.

Ominous music begins to play, signalling that Barbara Trevino is villainous and dangerous. She is the principle guest villain of this episode. What danger will she present for Lois Lane?

Lois Lane: Uh . . . I missed you after the press conference.

Barbara Trevino: No. I believe it was I who missed you.

Barbara Trevino is basically telling Lois that it was her (Trevino's) intention that Lois Lane be killed after the press conference. When Finn failed to kill Lois, it was as if Trevino had "missed" when aiming a gun and Lois and shooting.

Lois Lane: You want to tell me what this is all about?

Barbara Trevino: I think I'll tell you when I see you. That should be soon. Very soon.

Barbara Trevino hangs up the phone, leaving Lois to wonder what Trevino has planned. Trevino is set to be installed as the new head of the influential Rainforest Consortium in just two days. Why would a woman in such a position of power and prestige act like this?

Lois Lane, worried about her phone conversation with Barbara Trevino, doesn't go home. Instead she goes to Clark Kent's apartment, where she feels she will be more safe. Lois Lane knocks on the door to Clark Kent's apartment. He is in the middle of making a fruit smoothie in his blender. He answers the door.

Lois Lane: Hi, Clark.

Clark Kent: This is a surprise. How about a smoothie? It'll only take a second.

Lois Lane: Uh. I'm not thirsty.

Lois Lane clearly seems nervous or agitated.

Clark Kent: Lois, what's wrong?

Lois Lane: Um, I-- I don't want you to take this the wrong way. It's just that, uh . . .

Clark Kent: What?

Lois Lane: Well, I guess that I would just feel a lot, uh, better if I could, uh . . .

Clark Kent: Stay here tonight?

Lois Lane: Yeah.

Clark Kent: Okay.

Lois Lane looks like she is about to cry. She puts her arms around Clark's neck to receive an embrace that will make her feel less afraid. End of scene.

This is tender moment, demonstrating compassion and sensitivity on the part of Clark Kent, and considerable worry and vulnerability on the part of a frightened Lois Lane. Lois here shows she has great trust in Clark. He has saved her life a number of times in this episode and she also trusts him as a man of honor in whose house she can sleep without him trying anything untoward. Note that, despite her worry and great difficulty in asking for his help, one of the first things she said was that she didn't want him to get the "wrong idea." This seems like something she had carefully thought about saying and rehearsed on the way over to his apartment. She knows that Clark is a morally conservative man who also holds considerable affection for her. She wanted it to be clear to him that she wasn't coming over to his place for any romantic reasons - both so as not to offend his sensibilities and also so as to not kindle unwarranted expectations.

Timecode: 34 minutes, 55 seconds: The next morning we see Clark Kent and Lois Lane arriving at the offices of the Daily Planet. Clark is acting very much like a bodyguard. In fact, he is acting like this so much that he reminds Lois of the movie Bodyguard.

Lois Lane: Clark. You can drop the Kevin Costner protecting Whitney Houston bit. We're in the Planet. I think we're safe now.

Clark Kent: Well, excuse me for caring.

Lois Lane: I love it that you care.

Timecode: 35 minutes, 52 seconds: Lois Lane and Clark Kent leave the Daily Planet to go talk to Dr. Hubert. Clark hails a taxi cab, which pulls up to the curb in front of the Daily Planet building. A Catholic nun steps out of the cab. Lois eyes the nun suspiciously, wondering if this could be another killer in disguise. Ominous music plays, emphasizing Lois's fearful mood. Lois Lane gets in the cab. Two Sikhs walk behind Clark Kent as he gets in the cab after Lois.

Timecode: 36 minutes, 3 seconds: Lois Lane and Clark Kent interview Dr. Hubert in the scientist's study.

Dr. Hubert: During the time Vincent spent in the Amazon, one of the discoveries he made was a rare planet which, when correctly harvested and processed, increased male potency.

Lois Lane: So his prowess with the ladies wasn't all God-given.

Clark Kent: Better sex through science. Hmm. Why not?

Dr. Hubert: He also discovered vast mineral deposits beneath areas of the Rainforest, which are currently protected by law.

Clark Kent: How does Barbara Trevino fit into all of this?

Dr. Hubert: Barbara knew of Vincent's discoveries and research and tried to convince him they should be exploited for their commerecial value. He turned her down cold.

Lois Lane: Wait a minute. Ths background sheet they handed out on Trevino at the press conference. Here we go. Barbara Trevino is, among other things, on the board of directors of Hobbs Mining . . . Extensive mining operations in protected areas of the Rainforest would constitute an ecological disaster.

Dr. Hubert: Winninger knew that. The plant he discovered was just one of the many potential treasures hidden deep in the Rainforest, waiting to be discovered for the eventual good of all mankind. He devoted his life to preserving that resource.

Dr. Hubert explains all this to Lois and Clark with emphatic, almost religious zeal. Dr. Hubert truly believes in the sanctity of the Rainforest (which is capitalized in the subtitles throughout this episode), and Dr. Vincent Winninger apparently also sincerely believed in preserving this ecological resource as well (although Dr. Winninger also hoped to carefully extract secrets from the rainforest and use them for "benefiting" all mankind through discoveries such as the plants which increase male potency).

Later Barbara Trevino, disgused as a cleaning woman, attemps to murder Lois Lane at the offices of the Daily Planet, where Lois Lane is once again working after most everybody else has gone home. Before pulling the trigger, Trevino admits that her true motivation for becoming head of the Rainforst Consortium is so that she can pave the way for massive mining and clear-cutting by the mining company she sits on the board of. Barbara Trevino truly has sold out the hippie ideals she once cherished in the 1960s. Finn sold out his ideals, as well. Of the three aging hippies central to this episode's story, only Dr. Vincent Winninger, as creepy as he might have seemed to Lois, hung onto his hippie beliefs decades later. In fact, he really did die for his beliefs, because they meant that he wouldn't go along with Trevino's plans, and so she had him killed.

After Superman saves Lois Lane from Barbara Trevino, he flies to Brazil to stop the mining company from beginning its clearcutting of the Rainforest.

Timecode: 42 minutes, 35 seconds: We see Cat Grant wearing yet another amazingly inappropriate outfit to the office. Lois is working and Cat is asking about how "scared" she was when her life was targeted by Finn and then Trevino. Cat keeps pestering Lois about this.

Lois Lane: Why is it so important to you that I admit how scared I was?

Cat Grant: It just makes you more human, all right? Okay. I write as well as you do. I'm vastly more fun at parties. But you are the star here. Chief's little favorite. In on all the action. Oh, oh, and when you get in trouble, look who's hanging around to come to the rescue. Not only a cute guy, but also a god in a cape!

Lois Lane: But I--

Cat Grant: No, no, no. You asked. I'm answering. Lois. You have something the rest of just don't have, all right? So it would be nice for just once -- just just once! -- that you could admit that you have bad days, and problems, and fears just like the rest of us.

Cat Grant, having said her peace, starts to walk away. Lois feels some compassion toward Cat and says something to her before she leaves the office.

Lois Lane: Cat? I was a lot scared.

This is what Cat wanted to hear. She smiles and exits.

The process of listing characters who appeared in this source is not yet complete. Webpage for Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Season 1, Episode 14 (9 Jan. 1994) created 1 January 2008. Last modified 11 June 2014.

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