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  1. #1
    Obsessed & Compelled Bored at 3:00AM's Avatar
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    Default I need some help with a skippable viewing of Smallville

    I have a pair of students that got hooked by the pilot of Smallville and want to dive into the series proper. The problem is Smallville is a decade long and chock full of mediocre to outright terrible episodes.

    I did a little digging online and found this guide

    S01E01 – Pilot
    S01E04 – X-Ray
    S01E12 – Leech
    S01E16 – Stray
    S01E20 – Obscura
    S01E21 – Tempest

    S02E01 – Vortex
    S02E03 – Duplicity
    S02E04 – Red
    S02E07 – Lineage
    S02E10 – Skinwalker
    S02E17 – Rosetta
    S02E22 – Calling
    S02E23 – Exodus

    S03E01 – Exile
    S03E02 – Phoenix
    S03E08 – Shattered
    S03E09 – Asylum
    S03E14 – Obsession
    S03E18 – Truth
    S03E19 – Memoria
    S03E20 – Talisman
    S03E21 – Forsaken
    S03E22 – Covenant

    S04E01 – Crusade
    S04E02 – Gone
    S04E05 – Run
    S04E06 – Transference
    S04E11 – Unsafe
    S04E12 – Pariah
    S04E15 – Sacred
    S04E17 – Onyx
    S04E22 – Commencement

    S05E01 – Arrival
    S05E03 – Hidden
    S05E04 – Aqua
    S05E08 – Solitude
    S05E12 – Reckoning
    S05E13 – Vengeance
    S05E15 – Cyborg
    S05E21 - Oracle
    S05E22 – Vessel

    S06E01 – Zod
    S06E04 – Arrow
    S06E06 – Fallout
    S06E08 – Static

    S06E11 – Justice
    S06E15 – Freak
    S06E17 – Combat
    S06E22 – Phantom

    S07E01 – Bizarro
    S07E02 – Kara
    S07E11 – Siren
    S07E14 – Traveler
    S07E16 – Descent
    S07E20 – Arctic

    S08E01 – Odyssey
    S08E03 – Toxic
    S08E04 – Instinct
    S08E05 – Committed
    S08E09 – Abyss
    S08E11 – Legion
    S08E22 – Doomsday

    S09E01 – Savior
    S09E06 – Crossfire
    S09E07 – Kandor
    S09E11 – Absolute Justice
    S09E19 – Sacrifice
    S09E20 – Hostage
    S09E21 – Salvation

    S10E01 – Lazarus
    S10E04 – Homecoming
    S10E05 – Isis
    S10E09 – Patriot
    S10E10 – Luthor
    S10E11 – Icarus
    S10E20 – Prophecy
    S10E21 – Finale

    Would you guys make any subtractions or additions to this list? There's always a chance that my students will want to jump off before the series ends or will want to skip to the end, so the more suggestions you can give me, the better. It's been a decade since I've seen anything but the pilot, which holds up remarkably well, so my memory is pretty sketchy in regards to specifics of the show.

  2. #2
    Invincible Member Vordan's Avatar
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    Looks like a solid list to me, but yeah it’s been almost a decade since I watched the entire show.
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  3. #3
    Father Son Kamehameha < Kuwagaton's Avatar
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    I've actually only seen like two episodes of Smallville so I'm bookmarking this, at the very least in case checking out this new show piques my interest in live action.

    Even though that's still almost 100 episodes lol
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  4. #4
    Obsessed & Compelled Bored at 3:00AM's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kuwagaton View Post
    I've actually only seen like two episodes of Smallville so I'm bookmarking this, at the very least in case checking out this new show piques my interest in live action.

    Even though that's still almost 100 episodes lol
    Yeah, it's pretty daunting, but there's a lot of gold in there for Superman fans.

  5. #5
    Leftbrownie Alpha's Avatar
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    I don't remember all those episodes by name, but are you only going to recommend the important story episodes? Because the best episodes to me are mostly filler. Like when Clark gets telepathy or stuff like that.

  6. #6
    Black Belt in Bad Ideas Robanker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alpha View Post
    I don't remember all those episodes by name, but are you only going to recommend the important story episodes? Because the best episodes to me are mostly filler. Like when Clark gets telepathy or stuff like that.
    As Bored can attest, I do love my zany silver age cheese, so I know what you mean. My dream Superman adaption is a spiritual sequel to Batman: The Brave and the Bold titled DC Comics Presents: Superman and... where they'd just rotate a guest do the most ridiculous stuff for 22 minutes every week. I'm talking Mxy putting red K sprinkles on a cupcake Clark's about to eat that turns him into a dog man and B'wanna Beast has to use his chimera powers in reverse to try and split Clark and his dog self who later becomes Kryptzarro.



    I was starved for good Lois content when I was home with the 'Vid and finally caved and watched some Smallville at many people's suggestions and... well, I'd say season 4 will be difficult. Lana is sleeping with a teacher at her school and the show wants you to think he's not a total scumbag. I couldn't get through the season because that thread was killing me and between Lana's subplot with her teacher and knowing what we do about Alison Mack, there are just large swaths of the show that aren't fun to watch.

    Durance was great as Lois Lane, though. Gotta give her credit, she really elevated that part (which is more a comment on the show than Lois herself). I'm pretty convinced that most of Lois's best moments were more Durance than Smallville itself. At the time, I just thought it was overly melodramatic and cheesy. Don't get me wrong, I can love that sort of thing (I do love '50s science fiction and especially radio serials like X-Minus One), but it's a lot easier to distance yourself from some deeply problematic stuff when it's 70 years ago versus, what, a decade? It's just hard to think this stuff went on the air in a Superman show and was deemed acceptable so recently.

    I think it'd create a lot of good discussion if you plan to show it to kids, but I'll just say I saw a lot of stuff that's going to raise some flags.
    Last edited by Robanker; 02-26-2021 at 04:45 AM.

  7. #7
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    half of season 4 is about the witch isobel who had possessed lana and she was badass as isobel. your list is missing her episodes.


  8. #8
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    Personally, I would like to skip over most of the stuff that happened with Lana Lang in her later seasons (and a lot of the stuff with Chloe) and just get to the Lois Lane episodes. My favourite female love interest other than Lois is Alicia Baker (Sarah Carter) in "Obsession," Unsafe" and "Pariah." Lana was cute in the first few seasons, but I grew to loathe her and her attempts to draw focus away from Lois. Chloe is just pure evil and should have been serving a life sentence for murder.

  9. #9
    Leftbrownie Alpha's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Robanker View Post
    As Bored can attest, I do love my zany silver age cheese, so I know what you mean. My dream Superman adaption is a spiritual sequel to Batman: The Brave and the Bold titled DC Comics Presents: Superman and... where they'd just rotate a guest do the most ridiculous stuff for 22 minutes every week. I'm talking Mxy putting red K sprinkles on a cupcake Clark's about to eat that turns him into a dog man and B'wanna Beast has to use his chimera powers in reverse to try and split Clark and his dog self who later becomes Kryptzarro.



    I was starved for good Lois content when I was home with the 'Vid and finally caved and watched some Smallville at many people's suggestions and... well, I'd say season 4 will be difficult. Lana is sleeping with a teacher at her school and the show wants you to think he's not a total scumbag. I couldn't get through the season because that thread was killing me and between Lana's subplot with her teacher and knowing what we do about Alison Mack, there are just large swaths of the show that aren't fun to watch.
    Haha awesome. I think Erica brought an incredible energy to every line, but nearly every line she had was a joke accompanied byba reference to something obscure or not. I can't imagine that she ad libbed much of it.

  10. #10
    Obsessed & Compelled Bored at 3:00AM's Avatar
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    Smallville didn't exactly do a great job endearing viewers to Lana, did it?

  11. #11
    Astonishing Member Ra-El's Avatar
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    S04E12 - Pariah, get's me angry everytime I watch it, every character makes me angry, Clark, Lois, Lana, Chloe, Jonathan, everyone. It's not often that I say this, but Clark should have killed someone that episode.

  12. #12
    Moderator Frontier's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bored at 3:00AM View Post
    Smallville didn't exactly do a great job endearing viewers to Lana, did it?
    I feel like she was the forebearer for CW Superhero love interest syndrome.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bored at 3:00AM View Post
    Smallville didn't exactly do a great job endearing viewers to Lana, did it?
    Given I rewatched the whole series just last year, these wounds are still fresh.

  14. #14
    Phantom Zone Escapee manofsteel1979's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bored at 3:00AM View Post
    Smallville didn't exactly do a great job endearing viewers to Lana, did it?
    The problem is they basically took the traditional Lana Lang type character and renamed her Chloe Sullivan, and the Lana they wrote was essentially a different character with a tragic backstory tied to the meteor shower. I feel bad for Kristen Kruek because it wasn't her fault Lana was an unlikable character by the end. She was fine for the first two years and only began to wear out her welcome in season 3. Season 4 she jumped the shark and the writers just made things worse.
    When it comes to comics,one person's "fan-service" is another persons personal cannon. So by definition it's ALL fan service. Aren't we ALL fans?
    SUPERMAN is the greatest fictional character ever created.

  15. #15
    Astonishing Member stargazer01's Avatar
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    I've never seen Smallville whole and don't even want to. Saw enough to not want to watch the bad ones. I know there is too much filler.

    I'd be interested in the best episodes, the most fun, and the ones that show Superman 's mythology.

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