On Mon, 3 Jul 2006 13:25:47 -0500, "Mike Combs"
wrote:

The way they explained it in the comic books was the Krypton easily had the
technology for space travel, but it was legally suppressed. Seems there had
been a problem in the past with some would-be despots exiling political
rivals into space. So what Jor-El was doing was highly illegal.

No matter the explanation, this is a major continuity gaffe that cannot be
reconciled. If Krypton knew of 28 other [solar systems], and Jor-el as a
private citizen had the means to send his son in a rocket to earth, Krypton
should have been a thriving spacefaring society, and many of its people
should have been off-world at the time of the explosion.