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  1. #16
    Phantom Zone Escapee manofsteel1979's Avatar
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    The first three seasons are kinda awesome in an imperfect way,with Season 2 being the strongest of the three. Season 4 it floundered with the Lana/Witches/stones stuff,but Lois was the best thing about this season and the finale was fantastic and almost would have sort of worked as a series finale with a few tweaks. Season 5 was a return to form with a few fantastic episodes (namely "Lexmas" and "Reckoning",but Jonathan's death really marked the end of an era,and the show began a gradual decline in quality that hit rock bottom in Season 7. However there are still good episodes sprinkled about those seasons.

    Then,the show found its second wind with Seasons 8,9 and 10. The lack of Lex and Lana forced the new producers to think out of the box and just do a straight up Superman show without the classic suit. The finale is great in spite of the sorta cop out regarding Welling and the costume.

    I haven't really watched the show since the revelation of Allison Mack's double life,but I don't think ultimately it will greatly hinder my enjoyment of rewatching it. If there were dark Revelations about Tom Welling,or Rosenbaum,or Erica Durance etc,then perhaps I'd feel differently, but generally I can divorce the character from the person playing them.However,I get where those of you that can't watch it now because of Allison's crimes are coming from.
    Last edited by manofsteel1979; 11-07-2019 at 09:16 AM.
    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.

  2. #17
    I'm at least a C-Lister! exile001's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by manofsteel1979 View Post
    Then,the show found its second wind with Seasons 8,9 and 10. The lack of Lex and Lana forced the new producers to think out of the box and just do a straight up Superman show without the classic suit.
    I definitely agree, Gough and Millar, leaving the show with the end of season 7 allowed fresh ideas and a shift from the original intent, e.g. never flies, never dons the suit or symbol, never leaves Smallville, etc.
    "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!!!

  3. #18
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    It may be perverse, but I have a habit of making up my own subtext for any novel, comic book, movie or TV show I'm looking at. This is why I'm rarely bored. So in that light, I get something out of the things that Chloe does and says (which now have a new meaning).

    No matter the story, I find these early episodes of SMALLVILLE a pleasure to watch, because the cinematography and lighting is so good looking. The colours are rich and the lighting is warm. And all of this series was made in my backyard. In the burbs and in Vancouver proper. The (exterior) high school is a school that some of my childhood friends ended up going to and it's one I attended later on for adult night school classes. There are even old friends of mine that were involved in some capacity as production staff. And together with THE X-FILES and the various Stargate series, SMALLVILLE is one of the most important foundational series for Vancouver's film and TV industry. Seeing this region of BC on screen always does my heart good.

    What are those little blue bottles that Lex has around the mansion? Was that a popular spring water at the time? Is it product placement? Seems wasteful to have such small bottles when he could just bring in a tank of the stuff.

  4. #19
    MaurineFuh
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    Default Rewatching SMALLVILLE from the beginning

    Day 2 - Yesterday Order a set of mats to be sent to Folkestonefrom Canterbury .

    " No problem sir, they will be here today after 4pm"

    Day 3 - Today go and collect above mats from Folkestone. Have they arrived?

    "Sorry Sir they got missed off the van"

    Me and Citroen are not going to get on

  5. #20
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    I recently started rewatching Smallville with my kids. We're up to season 4 now and they absolutely love it. I forgot how much I enjoyed the show. There are some annoying things but overall, it's still a really good show.

  6. #21
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    To save money, I'm watching these on DVD from the library--so literally free--but the third season is out right now, so I will have to wait a week or two before it comes in. I was talking with my sister and my nephew on Remembrance Day about the series and they tell me that the main street of Smallville, with the movie theatre (which was actually the Clova), is in Cloverdale although that's no longer a movie theatre anymore. Cloverdale is a bit of a trek from Vancouver, but maybe one day I'll make the journey just to see what it looks like. I think I've driven through there before, but never stopped to take it in.

    Awhile back Greg Berlanti said how the CW shows owe their existence to SMALLVILLE--and I think some fans took umbrage at that. But I'd agree, there's a lot of connective tissue. And I'd single out Glen Winter. He's the Canadian cinematographer who most often worked on SMALLVILLE (92 episodes)--and later as a director (12 episodes). He's been a director of photography or a director on every Vancouver based DC show, plus TITANS and DOOM PATROL (and soon STARGIRL)--often working on the pilots for these shows. He's also listed as a producer for ARROW, FLASH, SUPERGIRL, LEGENDS and DOOM PATROL.

  7. #22
    Astonishing Member phantom1592's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    I was worried that Mack would ruin it for me, but I found that not to be the case. What concerns me more is what happened in the later seasons--I like the sweet charm of the early seasons and don't look forward to seeing everyone become a little less warm and much more super-villainy. The episode where Jonathan died really killed my interest the first time around and I was only a casual viewer after that.

    I don't know if I have it in me to stick with it into those later seasons--but I'm trying not to get too attached to characters like Jonathan that I know won't be around for the long haul.
    Yeah, I can't get bogged down on the real world actions to ruin a fictional world for me. I was a big fan of Chloe... I love a lot of Kevin Spacey's movie... I'll always think Bill Cosby was a comic Genius. The fact that they are TERRIBLE TERRIBLE people in real life... doesn't taint the stuff I loved about them before I found out how terrible they are now. Heck, most of Hollywood is insane and immoral at the best of time... and downright evil at the worst.

    I bought all the seasons through season 7 I think...and rented the last three. Ironically I gave up on just before it started to improve. I love the first 4 or 5 seasons... and I love the last 2 I think? Some of that middle ground though... UGhhh… just treading water and running in place.

  8. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by manwhohaseverything View Post
    I wouldn't recommend it. It hasn't aged well. Just watch clips. I would say first four seasons are held together by clark and luthor(both lionel and lex). Last two seasons are held together by lois snd Clark. For me erica durance is the best lois lane. Period. She took the postcrisis army brat lois lane and made it her own.

    Also green arrow was awesome
    He was fantastic.

  9. #24
    Superfan Through The Ages BBally's Avatar
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    What's I found quite intriguing about the show since rewatching it is the amount of Pre-Crisis elements other than Clark and Lex knowing each other in Smallville.

    - Lana Lang getting different powers during the course of the show is very reminiscence of how Pre-Crisis or even Modern comics Lana would gain powers temporarily.
    - Lexa being portrayed as a morally ambiguous character calls back to the Lexor stories or the way Pre-Crisis writers like Elliot S! Maggin used to write the character.
    - Pre-Daily Planet Chief editor then reporter Perry White meeting Clark in one episode and Lois meeting Clark in Season 4 are reminiscence of that two separate occasions in the Golden Age Superboy comic where young Clark Kent went a then inexperience reporter Perry White and a young Lois Lane.
    - Clark meeting up with younger versions of certain heroes.
    - That one time/episode where Lana was put in charge as editor of the school paper, like her comic counterpart during Pre-Crisis.-
    The season 3-4 plot of Lana moving to France in an attempt move on with her life is pretty similar to how Pre-Crisis Lana picked an assignment in Europe to forget about Superman (Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #109).
    -Jonathan Kent running for a governmental office in Smallville was basically the last over arching storyline the Superboy comics were doing before Crisis On Infinite Earths rebooted the DC entire Universe.
    -Even the idea that Smallville was picked as a destination for the rocket ship with baby Kal El to land via young Jor El's experience on Earth and the coordinates' signal being traced by Dr. Swan (Christopher Reeve) in the 70's sounds somewhat similar to the idea that Jor El sent a tracker to Earth with a recorded message when it landed near Albert Einstein's home, requesting the best environment for Kal El to land and be raised in from Elliot S! Maggin's Last Son Of Krypton novel.

    Also while people tend to think of Clark's red jacket and blue shirt look when they think of the early seasons, Clark also wore a red t-shirt or sweatshirt/pulover a lot, which remind me of the red pulover he wore in his youth during Pre Crisis.

    Last edited by BBally; 11-16-2019 at 08:42 PM.
    No matter how many reboots, new origins, reinterpretations or suit redesigns. In the end, he will always be SUPERMAN

    Credit for avatar goes to zclark

  10. #25
    Phantom Zone Escapee manofsteel1979's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BBally View Post
    What's I found quite intriguing about the show since rewatching it is the amount of Pre-Crisis elements other than Clark and Lex knowing each other in Smallville.

    - Lana Lang getting different powers during the course of the show is very reminiscence of how Pre-Crisis or even Modern comics Lana would gain powers temporarily.
    - Lexa being portrayed as a morally ambiguous character calls back to the Lexor stories or the way Pre-Crisis writers like Elliot S! Maggin used to write the character.
    - Pre-Daily Planet Chief editor then reporter Perry White meeting Clark in one episode and Lois meeting Clark in Season 4 are reminiscence of that two separate occasions in the Golden Age Superboy comic where young Clark Kent went a then inexperience reporter Perry White and a young Lois Lane.
    - Clark meeting up with younger versions of certain heroes.
    - That one time/episode where Lana was put in charge as editor of the school paper, like her comic counterpart during Pre-Crisis.-
    The season 3-4 plot of Lana moving to France in an attempt move on with her life is pretty similar to how Pre-Crisis Lana picked an assignment in Europe to forget about Superman (Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #109).
    -Jonathan Kent running for a governmental office in Smallville was basically the last over arching storyline the Superboy comics were doing before Crisis On Infinite Earths rebooted the DC entire Universe.
    -Even the idea that Smallville was picked as a destination for the rocket ship with baby Kal El to land via young Jor El's experience on Earth and the coordinates' signal being traced by Dr. Swan (Christopher Reeve) in the 70's sounds somewhat similar to the idea that Jor El sent a tracker to Earth with a recorded message when it landed near Albert Einstein's home, requesting the best environment for Kal El to land and be raised in from Elliot S! Maggin's Last Son Of Krypton novel.

    Also while people tend to think of Clark's red jacket and blue shirt look when they think of the early seasons, Clark also wore a red t-shirt or sweatshirt/pulover a lot, which remind me of the red pulover he wore in his youth during Pre Crisis.

    I really do think Smallville reintroducing pre-Crisis elements into the mix is a large reason the mid 2000's saw the comics attempt to do the same, although Smallville did it better because they basically just took pre-Crisis notions and put a modern spin on them that fit that illeration of Superman, while the comics tried to resurrect the pre-Crisis stuff verbatim and jam it into the Byrne /post -Crisis continuity willy nilly,which resulted in a decade long continuity cluster fluck that the character and franchise is still recovering from to this day.
    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.

  11. #26
    Superfan Through The Ages BBally's Avatar
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    Also the season 5 plot of Clark going up against General Zod who's possessing Lex's body, is reminiscence of the times Superboy had to deal with the Phantom Zone criminals who were using their ghostly forms in an attempt to try to attack the then Boy of Steel.
    No matter how many reboots, new origins, reinterpretations or suit redesigns. In the end, he will always be SUPERMAN

    Credit for avatar goes to zclark

  12. #27
    Phantom Zone Escapee manofsteel1979's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BBally View Post
    Also the season 5 plot of Clark going up against General Zod who's possessing Lex's body, is reminiscence of the times Superboy had to deal with the Phantom Zone criminals who were using their ghostly forms in an attempt to try to attack the then Boy of Steel.
    Another great point. Also, Rosenbaum was frickin awesome as LexZod.
    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.

  13. #28
    Mighty Member adkal's Avatar
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    I've started watching it again, too (it's available on Amazon Prime in the UK). Still on Season One.

    The memories.

    And the songs (I should not know so many lyrics).

  14. #29
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    The feeling of the classic Superboy comics is what got me interested back in the day and I get that sense on watching it now. I imagine the producers didn't have much source material they could use from the 1990s comics, so they had to look through the older comics to find ideas they could use.

    Green K giving humans and critters super-powers was something that was used a fair bit in the 1950s comics.

  15. #30
    Superfan Through The Ages BBally's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    The feeling of the classic Superboy comics is what got me interested back in the day and I get that sense on watching it now. I imagine the producers didn't have much source material they could use from the 1990s comics, so they had to look through the older comics to find ideas they could use.

    Green K giving humans and critters super-powers was something that was used a fair bit in the 1950s comics.
    Makes me wonder if Jeph Loeb who was the show's producer during the early seasons had anything to do with that considering he was a Superman during the 70s (his question to Elliott S! Maggin about Superman's role is what inspired Maggin to write Must There Be A Superman)
    No matter how many reboots, new origins, reinterpretations or suit redesigns. In the end, he will always be SUPERMAN

    Credit for avatar goes to zclark

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