Do any of you watch Smallville? Is it any good, besides providing fodder for Clark Kent/Lex Luthor slash fiction? It’s going to be starting on TV here soon. We’re also getting the latest series of Dawson’s Creek and The Osbournes too. How great is Australian television? Answer: very.
John
June 17, 2002 — 10:59 pm
Smallville suffers from three problems:
1) Many of the early episodes are monster-of-the-week stories which do little more than give young Clark an opportunity to flex his burgeoning superpowers to save the day.
2) Clark himself is terribly dull.
3) The whole teen romance thing between Clark and Lana Lang seems like a bad copy of Dawson’s Creek’s Dawson ‘n’ Joey saga.
4) Occasionally the whole show seems a bit like a poor photocopy of Buffy season 1, only with much less snappy dialogue.
5) They actually gave Kelly Brook work as an actress. Big mistake.
Having said that, there are also a number of good points:
1) Having the young Lex Luthor be Clark’s friend allows lots of opportunities for Jonathan Rosenbaum to display his devious side while still being a loyal, if extremely curious, friend to Clark. Rosenbaum’s relationship with his father (very well played by John Glover) and indeed with Clark, Lana and the rest of Clark’s family and friends, is far and away the best thing about the show.
2) When the writers get away from monster-of-the-week mode and start to explore issues such as the conflict between Clark’s desire to live a normal life and the need to keep his developing powers a secret, or the effects of Clark’s keeping secrets on his friends and family, the stories are actually rather decent.
3) Lana Lang is gorgeous. (OK, that probably isn’t a major issue for you. But it needed to be said. 🙂
4) They’ve spent enough money on the special effects that for the most part they’re more convincing than the average TV SF/fantasy show.
5) The first season finale ends on a real cliffhanger. Not so much because we’re wondering who’ll survive, but because various secrets are in line to be revealed and the consequences should be interesting.
Overall, it’s worth a look but it’s no Buffy or Angel. (But then again, what is?)
Kris
June 18, 2002 — 12:17 am
John – One of the Best. Posts. Ever. Told me everything I wanted to know. I guess I’ll check it out and see if it grabs me. I actually watch Dawson’s Creek – I know, it’s pathetic – so anything’s possible!
Jenny
June 18, 2002 — 2:38 am
A side note b/c I like inside jokes: Clark’s father is played by John Schneider (Bo Duke) and in the opening of one episode, you see him driving along in his pick up bobbing his head to the song on the radio. The song? The theme to the “Dukes of Hazzard.” It made me want to call Pam and have her make mac & cheese 🙂
Mia
June 18, 2002 — 3:32 am
Another reason to watch: Michael Rosenbaum (Lex) and Tom Welling (Clark) are truly two of the hottest men on TV right now. I don’t even mind that Michael doesn’t have any hair. I admit that sometimes, Clark Kent is very…….cardboard. But it does get better as the show progresses.
John
June 18, 2002 — 5:05 am
Another inside joke is that Clark’s mother is played by Annette O’Toole, who played Lana Lang in one of the Christopher Reeve Superman feature films.
John
June 18, 2002 — 5:07 am
Oh yes, and as Mia points out it’s *Michael* Rosenbaum, not Jonathan, who plays Lex.
SuperFerret
June 18, 2002 — 8:49 am
Yeah I got hooked on it. It does get better but I’ve been watching it since the first episode.
It’s just good how it’s a bit more down to earth than the other superman series. Man that really did start to suck after a while.
A good site to go to is http://www.kryptonsite.com for all the spoilers etc.
I guess they are going to screw it up eventually but a nice new sci-fi type thing to watch in the meantime.
Anonymous
May 28, 2003 — 2:15 am
It’s a good show if you get in to it. Tom Welling is a bonus…
Anonymous
November 2, 2003 — 10:17 pm
lana lang is beautiful
Kris
November 2, 2003 — 11:09 pm
Thanks for that searing insight.