Smallville

As you all may know, I am a big Superman fan. I own countless Superman paraphernalia among which include a pair of Superman boxers, behind which holds every women's kryptonite if you know what I'm saying. Wink face! Anyways, not many may know this, but a lot of the reason I'm an avid Superman fan is because of Smallville. Yes, I once started out as a dude who simply liked a show, but that liking evolved into something far bigger than what it was when it began, kind of like a Pokemon. So this blog post is dedicated to Smallville which airs it's final episode on the CW tonight, check your local listings. (Oh, just so you know, I used to like the Green Lantern before Superman, but now the Lantern's like 4th or 5th on my list.)




Smallville has been on for the past 10 years! This show started when I was 10 years old, I didn't fully get into it until I was 13, which means that I became a teen and legal adult all within the span of one show. When I first heard about the show back in 2001 I had no clue what it was about. All I knew was that it involved Kansas and tornadoes (which seems about right for Kansas, being from there and all.) It wasn't until I did my research at a local library 3 years later that I found out that Smallville is the name of the fictional town in Kansas where Superman grew up. I knew from that point on that it was my duty to watch the show and watch I did, little did I know that it would become one of my favorite shows ever.




Now I'm not going to get into an explanation on how the show started, you can just google that. But I will mention what I love about the show. Before that, however, I'll mentioned the things I don't like.

1. Getting rid of Pete Ross. They got rid of him early and he was Clark Kents only dude friend. So for years Smallville was a show about Clark Kent "The Ladies Man...Not!" This changed with the addition of the Green Arrow to the show.




2. Following WAY to close to the Christopher Reeve's movies. Now don't get me wrong, Smallville has taken plenty of creative liberties over the years but time and time again they've tied the show to the Reeve's movies. A crystal Fortress of Solitude, the same Phantom Zone special effect, etc. It seemed to do more than just pay homage to the movies and made the show seem less creative and original whenever they pulled it off.




3. Killing off Jonathan Kent. This relates to note 2. Different versions of Superman handle the Kents in different ways. In most, they live very long and healthy lives, in others Pa Kent dies, usually followed by Ma Kent. Smallville didn't have to kill off Pa Kent, but they did, more than likely because the movies did it. Oh well, it was a good episode, though.




4. The writing, but only on some occasions. Usually I'll sit down and watch a really good episode of Smallville. But some of the times the episodes feel like they're written to strictly fit the type of show it is: a teen romance drama. Other times it will rip off the plots to movies, especially when it did the Hangover episode and quite recently the 300 episode. But when Smallville is original and relates to Superman more, it's a really good episode and I'll fully enjoy watching it.

Here's the list some of things I like about the show.

1. The cameos. Holy Special Guest Star, Batman! This show had a ton of cameos from people related to Superman over the years. Lois and Clark's Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher have been on the show. Christopher Reeve's became a series regular at one point (being Clark's mentor no less!) The voice of Jor-El is the same guy who played Zod in the movies! The list goes on.




2. Going from teenager to Man of Steel. They kept to a good progression with this. The first 3 or 4 seasons involved a High School student discovering powers and weaknessess, then Clark goes to college, then works at the Daily Planet, meets Lois, and hopefully will become Superman in this last episode. Now, while I would have liked the show to be more like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a topic for a different discussion), the show progressed nicely on its own.




3. Smallville is Superman. I've had people tell me that the show has bad guys from the Superman comics that shouldn't appear until much later in the mythology (i.e. Brainaic, Zod, Darkseid, Doomsday, Metallo, Bizarro, etc). But Smallville tackles this in an interesting way. The bad guys appear, but even they are an earlier version of the one's in the comics or changed in some way. Bizzaro is a phantom not a clone, Doomsday still looks human before becoming a monster, Zod is a clone of a young Zod, so on. The show seems to blend the idea of a young Superman and Superman really well. Also, as far as Lex Luthor goes, the Superboy comics established that Clark and Lex knew each other when they were young.




4. Characters. Early season had the classics (Kent, Ross, Luthor, Lang.) As the show progressed they've added people. Perry White and Jimmy Olsen have made appearances. Lois Lane finally got on the show. Heck they've managed cameos by other heroes like The Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg, Black Canary, The Martian Manhunter, and Green Arrow. The characters fit in the show so well too, it's suprising. Just like with the bad guys, the writers know how to make them work.



5. The Rules. No flying and no uniform. These two rules have kept the show grounded over the years. The rules allowed the show to stick with the "early Superman" concept really well. However, they've almost broken their rules on occasion (making for awesome episode.) Clark levitated above his bed after having a flying dream once, he claimed to fly inside the Tornado at the end of season one, he full on flew when he became "Evil Kryptonian Kal-El", other characters have flown plenty of times. As far as the suit goes, they probably should have put him in it sooner. They managed to explain the color scheme because he always wears jeans and a red jacket on the show, this changed to "The Blur in a Trench Coat" look, which changed into his current one (which I like about as much as his offical Superman unifrom, which they actually have on the show, he just hasn't worn it.)

So that's that. Smallville: a show I have loved for years that I now have to say goodbye to. I can't wait to see what other live action Superman stuff appears in the future, but until then, I'll watch reruns of this show. I raise a glass to Smallville, for staying strong for 10 full and wonderful seasons. Here's to you!