Rewatching SMALLVILLE from the beginning

[Jim Kelly]

I don't believe they show Clark being Superman in the future, they just suggest it and I think there's a music cue. They do show Luthor in the middle of destruction with Batman's cape and cowl in the background. It's in another episode where we see Superman's arms as he flies--someone else has second sight and can see the moment of people's death by touching them. But when Clark is touched, we don't see him dying, we just see Clark heading on forever.

Another recurring stunt detail, besides the vehicular fires and explosions, is that people get pushed and go flying and usually end up crashing into glass--through windows, glass partitions and glass coffee tables. It's Chekov's glass coffee table--if there's a glass coffee table, someone is bound to go crashing through it. Pushing seems to be Clark's go to move--especially in the early seasons. He doesn't punch, he just gives a mild push that sends people clear across a room or a cornfield.

I'm nearly through the series, just one more season to go. What I like the most is Lois Lane. Every episode that has some Lois Lane is a winner. In season 9, I also liked the Legion, the JSA and Zatanna.

I have not liked anything to do with Krypton--and it's unfortunate that Krypton became the main plot. I could accept Jor-El if it was explained he's a computer program and not the real Jor-El, who is dead. In order to keep using Kryptonians they have to make up all this extra mythology that hurts my brain. Most of the season long plots are not worth thinking about. And I hate that Clark doesn't get to fly but every other Kryptonian can, even though they've just arrived on Earth. It should have been one or the other--either Clark gets to fly or none of the other Kryptonians do.

Zod is just awful. The actor who plays him exudes this sense of being in a stinky men's locker room, with a guy who has extreme body odour.

Chloe did stuff in season 8 that should put her in prison for life and then in season 9, she's lording it over Clark like she's the queen of everything.

It's pretty funny that Oliver Queen follows the same path in SMALLVILLE that he follows in ARROW (and neither Ollie chooses Black Canary over the nerd girl).

Still don't like Tess, who is just this empty non-character that exists to satisfy the plot.

There's a lot of dark and broody stuff in this series that is supposed to be cool, but I just find it mostly silly. I'm not into the whole Matrix look for the not Red and Blue Blur.

There is some impressively grotesque imagery--the make-up artists' work makes my stomach churn. It's not what I'm here for, but I can't fault the craftspeople.

I don't know if there will be more development of the JSA's back story in season 10, but they were ambiguous about what period the Justice Society was active. Given that the actors don't look that old in the present day, I would think they began about ten or twenty years before--which would be in the 1980s or 1990s. But the archive images look like it's supposed to be the 1940s or 1950s.

The main episode about the JSA featured Stargirl and seemed like it was a backdoor pilot for a Stargirl series.

[John Venus]

I've been watching Smallville clips online during this quarantine so I thought I would share my thoughts:

-Michael Rosenbaum and John Glover are the GOAT's. They get all the best lines, the best arcs and the strongest actors as well. I think Rosenbaum is still a strong contender for the best live action Lex Luthor. I like how Michael can embody Lex through facial expressions alone like in the season 6 episode Subterranean when he is walking through the 33.1 prison hallways and the disdain and smug self righteousness expression Lex has on his face as he glanced at one of the prisoners.

-Welling is great both as Clark/Superman and whenever he gets to play evil Clark be it Red K Clark, Bizarro Clark or Clark Luthor. He is great whenever they allow him to be more 'Superman' and weaker whenever they have to hold Clark back from fulfilling his destiny.

-Lois Lane is such a breath of fresh air. She is spunky in a way that Chloe isn't. Everybody is so uptight and serious in this show it was nice to have somebody who brought humor, energy and was as boundary-less as Lois. Correct me if I'm wrong but Lois is one of the few characters who don't hold a prolonged grudge against someone in this show? Like Welling, Erica shines when she is allowed to be more and more like her iconic comic book counterpart and when they aren't exploiting her for fan service.

-Martha Kent is underrated. The actress guest starred in another show I was watching (Lie to Me) and I didn't even recognize her in it. A few moments that stood out to me include the scene where she is confronting Clark as Kal-El ("Destiny?! That's Jor-El talking! I want my son back, give me my son back!") and her facial expressions when she saw Red K Lois show up at her door stop to seduce Clark.

-The show tried to add verisimilitude to long standing comic book characters and sometimes it worked (Lex, Milton Fine/Brainiac) and other times the results were mixed (Bizarro, Doomsday). I'm not sure how I feel about this take on Bizarro. Doomsday's 'human self' being shell that he used to adapt himself to his surrounding until the time was right is certainly good use of comic book lore and there is something tragic about his human self being a shell and the monster being the real thing but that just makes him another Hulk analogue. There is only one reason why we are here for Doomsday and it's not the tragic romance angle.

-I remember quitting the show after season 8. Season 7 was so disappointing but I understood that the WGA affected the show badly. Season 8 started off really well then the Clana stuff happened again and the final Doomsday fight was so disappointing then there was that crap with Jimmy Olsen. I did tune in for the series finale and watched a few clips from season 9 and 10 (mainly Lois Lane and Clark/Lois interactions and Perry White) but have yet to watch either of them in full.

-I agree with Jim Kelly and the others; it is annoying when every Kryptonian besides Clark can fly and every Kryptonian has full control of their abilities when they show up. I would have liked it if say they had a power they couldn't fully control but Clark can. That should have evened things up. Except the show went to ridiculous lengths where Kara had to train Clark despite the fact that the former had her powers for less time than Clark had his.

-I really dig James Masters as Milton Fine/Brainiac. I consider him the strongest villain after the Lex/Lionel duo in the show.

Completely agreed on the whole Lana ending. It was terrible on every level. In order for the later Lois and Clark relationship to work,you almost have to ignore this plotline and dump it from your mind.

Knowing what we know now about how badly they botched Lana as a character and the off screen Shenanigans with Allison Mack , If I could make one major change to the series,it would be eliminating the character of Chloe Sullivan from the start and applying her backstory and characteristics to Lana Lang and essentially combine the two characters into one,and perhaps have Kristen Kruek play Lana still. She still lost her parents in the meteor shower,but instead of making her this tragic waif cheerleader she was early on,have that fuel her facination with the weird stuff that happens in the town and fuel her reporters path. I always felt Chloe was a bit closer to classic Lana Lang anyway. After all,Lana was a reporter in her later Pre-crisis incarnation,so it's not at all a lore stretch.

So....basically Silver Age Lana Lang?

I never got why they turned Chloe Sullivan into Silver Age Lana Lang and the actual Lana Lang into an object of everyone's affection. IMO, Superman: TAS had the best Lana Lang. I get the need for a best friend and another female character but they could have done that any number of ways. Given Chloe's connection to Lois was revealed pretty early on, I think she was just supposed to be a lead in to Lois Lane and the series was supposed to be short (maybe 5-6 seasons) but the character was too popular to be bumped off and the show was too successful to be cancelled. Then the show got creatively hemorrhaged trying to stretch out Clark's journey. I wonder why they didn't just spin off a new show and called it 'Metropolis' after season 6 or 7 but I chalk it up to tv just being less flexible as an industry back then.

The kryptonite suit thing was such a cop out and terrible way to end things. The Bizarro situation should have been the final nail on the Clana ship. That was just the perfect way to end things. I feel that somebody behind the scenes, either one of the writers or Kruek didn't like it and so they did the super suit thing. Either way, neither the show nor the characters touched that plot line after it was done so good riddance.

I like Chloe-the character but the actress can rot in prison. I was a lurker and occasionally a part of the online fandom for this show back when it was on and whilst I like Chloe I wasn't gushing over her like a significant portion of the fandom did. I actually feel a little sick remember all the cheerleading around Chloe back the and now knowing what was actually going on behind the scenes. I still remember the fandom furor when it seemed like Allison's contract was up and she might not return for season 8. In hindsight, it might have been a good thing if she didn't come back. Doomsday kills her instead and Jimmy becomes a regular and Lucy becomes the recurring guest start. Boom problem solved.

[John Venus]

I have not liked anything to do with Krypton--and it's unfortunate that Krypton became the main plot. I could accept Jor-El if it was explained he's a computer program and not the real Jor-El, who is dead. In order to keep using Kryptonians they have to make up all this extra mythology that hurts my brain. Most of the season long plots are not worth thinking about. And I hate that Clark doesn't get to fly but every other Kryptonian can, even though they've just arrived on Earth. It should have been one or the other--either Clark gets to fly or none of the other Kryptonians do.

The worst part for me is the time travel episode where Clark put himself in the ship that sent him to earth. It contradicted the I think season 3 episode where Clark gets put in that kryptonite mind jogging machine and has a flashback to Jor-El and Lara putting him on the ship. But hey, time travel!

Also the multiple contradictory explanations for Krypton exploding; earlier it was due to the Zod and his coup that lead to Kypton blowing up, then in the aforementioned time travel episode we saw Krypton's sun exploding and swallowing up the planet and finally in the CW Seed Supergirl series, the planet was already unstable and on the verge of blowing up.

As for Jor-El, my head canon has always been that that AI was wonky and was only acting on it's prime directive which was to prepare Clark for the arrival of Brainiac, Zod, Doomsday and Darkseid. It's not perfect but it doesn't contradict too many things.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

I watched the first 3 episodes a few months ago, I remember Chloe having a conversation about not approving of Clark joining the football team. To which he replied “well at least I didn’t join a cult or something.”
Didn’t exactly age like wine.

[John Venus]

I wonder how much 'acting' was involved when Chloe-as-Brainiac was threatening Bloomsday. :P

[John Venus]

I like Julian Sands as Jor-El but he might have been better off as Dr. Fate. They couldn't even bother dying his hair black in the show.

[witchboy]

I always thought Chloe made a better Lana on this show than Lana did.
I think Allison Mack was a great actress in the show and I loved Chloe, it's a shame the actress did the awful things that she did, and that that has tainted her legacy irrevocably.

[manofsteel1979]

Re:Lana's short season 8 stint,I remember reading somewhere that it had to do with the fact Kristin Kruek had to fulfill her contract for the previous season as she was absent for much of the last stretch of episodes there as she was shooting the Street fighter:Legend of Chun Li movie. The producers let her leave to shoot it with the understanding she'd return sometime in season 8 to finish out her contract.

Honestly how her arc began (with her hunting clues on Lex's whereabouts ) wasn't bad. Heck I don't mind the super suit Idea. I just wish they didn't feel the need to reprise the Clana romance again and didn't have the reason they ultimately aren't together in the future is because of her being a walking hunk of Kryptonite.

[manwhohaseverything]

Re:Lana's short season 8 stint,I remember reading somewhere that it had to do with the fact Kristin Kruek had to fulfill her contract for the previous season as she was absent for much of the last stretch of episodes there as she was shooting the Street fighter:Legend of Chun Li movie. The producers let her leave to shoot it with the understanding she'd return sometime in season 8 to finish out her contract.

Honestly how her arc began (with her hunting clues on Lex's whereabouts ) wasn't bad. Heck I don't mind the super suit Idea. I just wish they didn't feel the need to reprise the Clana romance again and didn't have the reason they ultimately aren't together in the future is because of her being a walking hunk of Kryptonite.

I think they were going for her being Clark's weakness than strength metaphor.

[Jim Kelly]

Today, I came across this youtube video that shows a lot of the locations in B.C. where SMALLVILLE was shot.



I know where all these places are, but for folks that don't live around here you might need google maps so you can see how spread out they are.

The one surprising location was the exterior for the Luthor mansion. I never could figure out where it would be around here. And it turns out it's in Victoria--which is on Vancouver Island (that's completely different from the City of Vancouver). To get there from here, you have to take a ferry (about three hours to get to Victoria) or else take an airplane.

Lana getting sucked up by the tornado was right on 0 Avenue. That's the border! Oft times when driving to my sister's house in Langley one of us has got turned around and ended up at 0 Avernue. Weird that they filmed a scene almost in the States.

[Jim Kelly]

There should be some title of honour for Tom Welling. In the U.K. they give out knighthoods. Could the U.N. confer a special title on Welling for his ten years of service as Clark Kent?

Watching the series finale, I felt that the actor is deserving of praise, giving a decade of his career to one character.

In the finale, it was surprising to see who returned and who didn't. Michael McKean did give his voice to Perry (but no actual filmed scenes) while Aaron Ashmore got to return as his younger brother, Jimmy Olsen 2.0. Did Michael Rosenbaum really go to all the trouble of shaving his head, just for a few scenes in the finale?

The ultimate defeat of Darkseid wasn't that great, as expected. While the series set up all these big foes, they could never pull off the big comic book confrontation to pay it off.

Clark in the super-suit might mostly be in animation, but it's still Superman right there on screen. I understand why people wanted that to pay off in a bigger way. But what they delivered was pretty good and likely blew a huge amount of the budget.

Who was the president that Lois met on Airforce-One? Was it Barack Obama? Lex is elected in 2018, so whoever was elected in 2016 must have been forced out of office and a special election held.

Conner Kent didn't return for the finale. Although we do get to see that actor in some of the flashback scenes from Lex's youth. As the same actor that played young Lex returned as clone Alexander who ultimately becomes Superboy. I think that's a cool bit of casting.

In the last two seasons, they were able to jam in a lot of D.C. comic book characters and story lines. I don't think (other than animation) any other T.V. series or movie has been given such freedom to use so much from the catalogue. It might not always have been well executed, but at least fans got to see their heroes (and villains) in live action.

The final season did a good job with the Lois and Clark love story. So I'm happy. The last scene of them calling back to the quantum leap earlier in the season got me all choked up. Donner end credits.

[rpmaluki]

Michael Rosenbaum did not shave his head, he wore a bald cap.

[manofsteel1979]

There should be some title of honour for Tom Welling. In the U.K. they give out knighthoods. Could the U.N. confer a special title on Welling for his ten years of service as Clark Kent?

Watching the series finale, I felt that the actor is deserving of praise, giving a decade of his career to one character.

In the finale, it was surprising to see who returned and who didn't. Michael McKean did give his voice to Perry (but no actual filmed scenes) while Aaron Ashmore got to return as his younger brother, Jimmy Olsen 2.0. Did Michael Rosenbaum really go to all the trouble of shaving his head, just for a few scenes in the finale?

The ultimate defeat of Darkseid wasn't that great, as expected. While the series set up all these big foes, they could never pull off the big comic book confrontation to pay it off.

Clark in the super-suit might mostly be in animation, but it's still Superman right there on screen. I understand why people wanted that to pay off in a bigger way. But what they delivered was pretty good and likely blew a huge amount of the budget.

Who was the president that Lois met on Airforce-One? Was it Barack Obama? Lex is elected in 2018, so whoever was elected in 2016 must have been forced out of office and a special election held.

Conner Kent didn't return for the finale. Although we do get to see that actor in some of the flashback scenes from Lex's youth. As the same actor that played young Lex returned as clone Alexander who ultimately becomes Superboy. I think that's a cool bit of casting.

In the last two seasons, they were able to jam in a lot of D.C. comic book characters and story lines. I don't think (other than animation) any other T.V. series or movie has been given such freedom to use so much from the catalogue. It might not always have been well executed, but at least fans got to see their heroes (and villains) in live action.

The final season did a good job with the Lois and Clark love story. So I'm happy. The last scene of them calling back to the quantum leap earlier in the season got me all choked up. Donner end credits.

I agree regarding the last two seasons,particularly the last season. At the end it was indeed a true Superman show,he just never wore the traditional suit until the last half hour or so of the finale. I wish they had Clark start developing the mild mannered Kent identity at the top of season 8 at least,but I'm surprised we got it at all actually.

I think the finale was pretty great. The Darkseid confrontation was weak,but everything else was great. I'm more mad that they had Tess wipe Lex's memories in his final moments of the series, but at least it had a pretty decent plot payoff in the Season 11 book.

I sorta understand why some were upset that we never had Tom actually physically wear the suit,but as you said,we did get Superman in costume on screen,which frankly I never actually thought Smallville would ever do. I dont blame Tom for not wanting to wear the suit,because that's what he signed up for. He took the job with the understanding he'd never actually have to put on the suit and play Superman and they stuck to that even if they stretched things pretty far to the line. Besides it would have made no sense to make a full Superman costume to fit Tom for two or three shots in the last half hour of the last episode. By season 10 the budget had been slashed quite a bit compared to its time on the WB. Its amazing things went off looking as good as it did for that last year and last Episode.

It sort of pissed me off back then when fans were complaining that Tom Welling "owed" the fans and should have put on the suit because of that. I can understand being disappointed,but the idea of fan entitlement always irked me. Fans aren't "owed" anything aside mutual respect. Tom simply didn't want to wear the suit. He never signed on to play Superman. He signed on to play Clark Kent on the way to becoming Superman. He could have changed his mind,but he didnt and that's his right,and the fans who insulted and slagged him off for not meeting their expectations should have respected that decision. I mean we still got Superman.

[Jim Kelly]

Michael Rosenbaum did not shave his head, he wore a bald cap.

Ah good to know. I was looking at his head trying to figure out if it was a bald cap or if he shaved his head. There were no tell-tale clues I could see.

I'm more mad that they had Tess wipe Lex's memories in his final moments of the series, but at least it had a pretty decent plot payoff in the Season 11 book.

So now I have to read the season 11 book.

It irks me that whenever SMALLVILLE is discussed by fans it's mostly them complaining that Tom never wore the suit. There's no gratitude toward the man for giving up so much of his life for the character. Superman actors never get an even break.

I was surprised that they went to all the trouble and cost to visualize Blue Beetle in the "Booster" episode. All that for just one appearance. Or maybe they were hoping to spin Beetle off into his own series.

I started watching the series from the beginning because of Tom Welling and Erica Durance making an appearance in the Arrowverse Crisis. Now that was in 2019 (our time) and the final scene of SMALLVILLE is in 2018. I don't think that lines up. However, Tom Welling was 24 when he started on the series. And according to the series (as it backdated itself) Clark was only about 14 or 15 in the first season. So if we assume there's a ten year gap between Welling's age and Clark's age throughout the series, then Clark is 24 in 2011. And we know Welling is now 43, so let's say he was playing his own age in his Arrowverse appearance and Clark is 43 in that scene, which makes it 2030 not 2019 in the Smallville cameo appearance. That allows Clark and Lois lots of time for more adventures before Clark gives up his power to raise his girls.

[rpmaluki]

Ah good to know. I was looking at his head trying to figure out if it was a bald cap or if he shaved his head. There were no tell-tale clues I could see.



So now I have to read the season 11 book.

It irks me that whenever SMALLVILLE is discussed by fans it's mostly them complaining that Tom never wore the suit. There's no gratitude toward the man for giving up so much of his life for the character. Superman actors never get an even break.

I was surprised that they went to all the trouble and cost to visualize Blue Beetle in the "Booster" episode. All that for just one appearance. Or maybe they were hoping to spin Beetle off into his own series.

I started watching the series from the beginning because of Tom Welling and Erica Durance making an appearance in the Arrowverse Crisis. Now that was in 2019 (our time) and the final scene of SMALLVILLE is in 2018. I don't think that lines up. However, Tom Welling was 24 when he started on the series. And according to the series (as it backdated itself) Clark was only about 14 or 15 in the first season. So if we assume there's a ten year gap between Welling's age and Clark's age throughout the series, then Clark is 24 in 2011. And we know Welling is now 43, so let's say he was playing his own age in his Arrowverse appearance and Clark is 43 in that scene, which makes it 2030 not 2019 in the Smallville cameo appearance. That allows Clark and Lois lots of time for more adventures before Clark gives up his power to raise his girls.

Yes, there's definitely more time passage between the 2018 in the finally and the Arrowverse Crisis.

There's nothing worse than fan entitlement and it's getting worse all round.