I watched it all but found it pretty frustrating. It's also a show of two parts.
The first series is pretty awful being mostly villain of the week (with a few redeeming features). Lex, Clark and Lana's dynamics were firmly and well established and the supporting parents were all excellently casted.
In seasons one to seven, there was always series arcs but they seemed designed to begin and end with the status quo upheld (albeit with a cliffhanger). As a result, it felt like wheel spinning because it had no overall goal than to not get to Superman (the show's ending). They had a weird habit of introducing a main villain or threat in a season finale and dealing with them in the first episode of the next. Or, like Brainiac, have him in some of the first few episodes then be quickly and suddenly dealt with. There was never a full season villain building a final confrontation (the Buffy formula).
I was SO ready for Lex and Lana to be gone when they left the show. Not a great sign for the main antagonist and love interest (although Lois was firmly on the scene by then and absolutely killing it).
Honestly, until season 8 I considered it pretty mediocre with moments of greatness. That 100th episode, Reckoning, is absolutely excellent.
With season 8 (and new showrunners), they finally brought in defined season arcs with a set villain and it became much stronger. It also started having a lot more fun with the mythos and became far more loose with expected cannon. I really started enjoying it from this point on.
Personally, I can't get over the Alison Mack thing enough to watch it again. Was VERY surprised to see her in the clips during FanDome. I will add that to those who hated Felicity in Arrow, Chloe did it first! Lol.
"Has Sariel summoned you here, Azrael? Have you come to witness the miracle of your brethren arriving on Earth?"
"I WILL MIX THE ASHES OF YOUR BONES WITH SALT AND USE THEM TO ENSURE THE EARTH THE TEMPLARS TILLED NEVER BEARS FRUIT AGAIN!"
"*sigh* I hoped it was for the miracle."
Dan Watters' Azrael was incredible, a constant delight and perhaps too good for this world (but not the Forth). For the love of St. Dumas, DC, give us more!!!
Wait, Allison Mack participated in DCFandome, from behind bars?
I agree with most of your post, I only enjoy the show from S8 onwards, I enjoyed the Luthors immensely but wasn't much a fan of Lana or Chloe, which makes it easier for me to watch those last three seasons since they were hardly on.
Last edited by rpmaluki; 10-18-2021 at 04:23 AM.
^ There were some clips of Chloe/Allison shown in the tribute.
I love S8- first half. When Lana came back everything fell apart in her last arc on the show. It really was 1 step forward for Clark & Lois- and then several steps back from 8x15 when Lois returned. I do love a slow build-up for a couple, but the producers just dragged Clana too much.
No, they played a bunch of clips from the show and I was surprised to see a short clip of her hugging Clark. I expected her to be ignored. God, can you imagine? Lol.
Seeing Tom and Michael chatting on a sofa was genuinely heartwarming to me.
Yeah, they totally backed themselves into a corner by spending 7 years building a Clark and Lana relationship that was never going to matter because they decided to bring in Lois. So from an audience standpoint, they had to cater to fans of just the show who had invested years into Clark and Lana but also Superman fans who knew/wanted Clark and Lois.
At least they got out of it in the most comic book of ways, I guess? Lana becomes the Kryptonite Woman with Luthor getting his "from Hell's heart I stab at thee" moment wrapped up with it.
Last edited by exile001; 10-18-2021 at 04:26 AM.
"Has Sariel summoned you here, Azrael? Have you come to witness the miracle of your brethren arriving on Earth?"
"I WILL MIX THE ASHES OF YOUR BONES WITH SALT AND USE THEM TO ENSURE THE EARTH THE TEMPLARS TILLED NEVER BEARS FRUIT AGAIN!"
"*sigh* I hoped it was for the miracle."
Dan Watters' Azrael was incredible, a constant delight and perhaps too good for this world (but not the Forth). For the love of St. Dumas, DC, give us more!!!
I usually skip those Lana episodes after the botched wedding episode. I can easily pretend they never happened. Clark had a habit of making progress and then regressing throughout the show, so I can squint past it and not be so upset by Lana messing up a really great build up towards Lois and Clark to the point of giving up on them.
I can't skip. It always bother me that I missed something--so I have to watch a series in its entirety.
What I wish they could have done was split the series in two. The first five seasons SMALLVILLE, the second five seasons METROPOLIS. The show really is two different series. The first half is more like your DAWSON'S CREEK, ROSWELL, GILMORE GIRLS, DEGRASSI, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. The second half wants to be more like HEROES, THE X-FILES, V, LOIS & CLARK, MUTANT X, STARGATE, THE WIRE.
They could've dropped most of the original cast, after those first five years--certainly Lana and Chloe--and moved everything to Metropolis. Erica Durance and Justin Hartley should have been the two main cast members besides Clark, in the second half of the series. And I think Lois should have used "The Super-Man" as the name for her mystery man. He doesn't need to wear a costume--but he's obviously a super-hero.
I personally hated everything to do with Krypton.
They bungled how both Lionel and Lex left the show. But I think there was a writers' strike that contributed to that.
The strike did mess up Lex and Lionel's departure from the show. S7 was hardest hit by the strike. I remember they actually spoiled Lionel's death in one of the teasers which lead some people to claim that it's a fake out and another character was going to die in that episode.
The show had a very strong 'make it up as you go along' vibe. I don't there ever really was an overall plan. I think that was very typical of television at the time and long over aching story telling was still very new. No streaming service back then so every show felt that they had to stick to a formula every week.
I think Chloe being Lois's cousin was mentioned in either S2 or S3. I wonder if she was meant to be a lead in to Lois appearing on the show? If they ever intended for Lois to have a huge role or if her appearance was originally meant to be a 5 minute thing after the show ends.
Chloe on the show was basically Silver Age Lana Lang in all but name. The Lana Lang on the show had very little substance to her besides being either the object of either Clark, Lex or any of the villain of the week's affection.
S7 do have some excellent episodes- considering the shortend season because of the writers strike. The second half did feel rushed because Michael, Kristin and John were leaving. The Veritas arc where they had the Luthor logo in the stained glass changed to incorporate it with a "V" magically appeared.
Chloe mentioned Lois in S3. I was so thrilled when I heard her name
Erica was only supposed to do the first 4 episodes of S4, but the reaction to her was better than what they expected, so they brought her back, and back, and back- many times as they could.
Man, I still love that scene between Clark & Lois on the football field where she tells him she'll be back for a visit. "Is that a promise or a threat?" They smile and she gives him a little punch on his shoulder. "See you around, Smallville"
I always said that they should've changed the show to Metropolis around season 5. I loved the show all the way through, even it's rough patches, but a change of format and some retooling would've made the second half a stronger show.
Losing Lex was a hard blow to take. I wonder if Rosenbaum would've stayed if the show had changed and improved it's quality.
I loved the show. Tom Welling captured a very modern Superman for a young audience.
Last edited by Fridays; 10-19-2021 at 12:14 PM.
I just watched an unboxing video on YT- Smallville: The Complete Series 20th Anniversary Collection on bluray, and now I want it, lol
Man, just watching the pictures brought back memories of watching it on tv- argh the nostalgia of it all! Sure, there are things I dislike about the show, but my love for it is much greater
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