posted
So... in last week's Smallville, the cops referred to superheroes as "capes". I get it. That's used a lot in the comics. But... in the comics, most superheroes wear capes. Unless I'm forgetting something, not a single hero in the Smallville universe does. So why on earth would they refer to them as "capes"?
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Lisa: So... in last week's Smallville, the cops referred to superheroes as "capes". I get it. That's used a lot in the comics. But... in the comics, most superheroes wear capes. Unless I'm forgetting something, not a single hero in the Smallville universe does. So why on earth would they refer to them as "capes"?
That episode was in my opinion one of the worst. I caught that as well. How about the fact that Clark managed to get a hold of a police uniform without ANY explanation, AND get assigned to a patrol. There were so many plot holes in that episode.
Of course a 14 year old just pulled that off in Chicago the other day....
KILL OF LANA AND BRING BACK LOIS!!!
Posts: 3134 | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yeah, while this season has shown a marked improvement, logical consistancy is not a hallmark of the show. I mean running down some dirty cops can't be done using Chloe's hacking and Clark's superhearing and superspeed? Yeah, they wanted a dilemma...the good cop on the cusp. But they could have done that without all the plot holes. And of course, all the Lana crap, just when we were free of her and Lois was moving into center stage. At least she'll only be around for a few more eps. I guess the 5 other break-up moments weren't good enough. We need to see Lana (that great millstone) leave, yet again, so that Clark can finally achieve his destiny.
Oh well, this show has been so much worse and this season has been so much better that my disappointment is actually not too high.
Posts: 1346 | Registered: Jun 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yeah, last week's episode was a disappointment compared to most of the rest of season 8, which actually got me into watching the show again after a 2-year gap. (I caught up on the missed episodes...Lana and Clark in season 7 made me nauseous.)
But in the grand scheme of things, a reference to an aspect of superheroes that don't exist in the Smallville universe are just not a big enough problem for me to care about. Now, what in the world LANA is doing back on Smallville when she should be gone already...how they will ever manage to convincingly transfer Clark's feelings to Lois at this point is beyond me.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Actually, one hero in the Smallville universe used a cape. Oliver Queen pretending to be the "Blur" or whatever it is they refer to Clark when Jimmy Olsen caught him in his super-speed mode.
Posts: 339 | Registered: Apr 2008
| IP: Logged |
Legion was ok in the one aspect of Clark's unwavering principle on murder....
...too bad this is after he's killed (or at the very least been guilty of negligent homicide or parylization- whats with the superthrow, anyway?) innumerable times in the previous 7 years.
But as I've said, this season has been loads better than the previous 4. If it jumped to this immediately after season 3, with the few explanatory/awesome episodes that appeared in between...well, it would have been awesome.
Posts: 1346 | Registered: Jun 1999
| IP: Logged |
quote: But as I've said, this season has been loads better than the previous 4. If it jumped to this immediately after season 3, with the few explanatory/awesome episodes that appeared in between...well, it would have been awesome.
I stopped watching early in season 4. What are these explanatory/awesome episodes that I would need to pick up again on this season?
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
what, you want me to search through the crapfest that was 4-7 and find them?
Thing is, sometimes the good stuff/explanation happens in the b-story and so you have to suffer in the a-story. And a few times, it was all around teh awesome. I bet, if someone really cared enough (and thats a stretch since I sure don't) they could create a fan version of the show like the ones at fanedit.org.
At the least, I could try to post the names of the few all around good episodes between 4 and 8. Let me think about which ones.
Posts: 1346 | Registered: Jun 1999
| IP: Logged |
1. Why does Chloe commute 3 hours to work each way every day?
2. How did Chloe, Clark, and Lois all get jobs at the daily planet, after apparantly dropping out of college. (Same thing happened in Buffy, college just sort of vanished)?
3. What is the point of calling this Smallville, when 99% of the time is now spent in Metropolis?
4. What was the purpose behind Clark wiping Chloe's memory of him, if it didn't even work for 5 minutes? Its almost as if the writers are not even talking to each other. One writer decided Chloe should forget, the next one decided she shouldn't. Reminds me of those chain stories we wrote in elementary school.
5. Why do I keep watching it, when I want to pull my hair out every episode?
Posts: 3134 | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote: But as I've said, this season has been loads better than the previous 4. If it jumped to this immediately after season 3, with the few explanatory/awesome episodes that appeared in between...well, it would have been awesome.
I stopped watching early in season 4. What are these explanatory/awesome episodes that I would need to pick up again on this season?
I would just go to the wikipedia entry for Smallville and read the plot summaries. It really isn't all the complicated.
Posts: 3134 | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Stephan, all good questions for which there are no answers. Though this season, even with the Chloe-wipe, which is universally thought to be a prickish move, has been better. Yeah, it could try to answer those questions, but they're legacy issues and the focus of the new EP's appears to be working more closely together and creating a slightly higher good-to-suck ratio, which I think they've done.
Wikipedia is where I went to go through the episodes. Wow, when you read all there are once...just some horrible stuff, man. But there were still some good ones. Sometimes, there were even awesome moments in crappy episodes, like Clark's crying for his father in 6-12 "Reckoning", which was, otherwise, a terrible episode and made utterly pointless by the end of the season when Lana found out Clark's secret anyway.
Anyway, here's my list. I didn't include every explanation myth ep because, frankly, some (many) of them sucked. I was thinking of my overall first impression if what I really enjoyed and/or thought showcased good acting, cool storyline, or real drama (and its no coincidence that many of these are Lex episodes). The summaries are good to finish any raised plot points where the resolving episode(s) was (were) not up to par. As I said, this is like 5 minutes of reading summaries and remembering what I liked, for what it's worth:
posted
You know, I find that I'm pretty unforgiving when it comes to serialized TV fiction. When it became unbearably clear that the writers of BSG didn't have any more of a clue what would be happening one or two episodes down the line than I did, I stopped watching. When the first episodes of season 2 of Lost failed to capture me I stopped watching, even though I'd been riveted to my TV for season 1. The maudlin, telegraphing-plot-points-too-obviously second season of Deadwood made me uninterested enough in the final season to not bother watching all of the first episode of season 3. Season 4 of Smallville pretty much killed my interest in that show. If someone were to spoonfeed me the information necessary to get up to speed, and if Jupiter were aligned with Pluto, I might resume watching, but A)this isn't really a reasonable demand, and B)even then, there's a decent chance I'd never get around to Netflixing it.
And yet, when it comes to books, I'm pretty forgiving. Hell, I finished Battlefield Earth! I'm not sure why I'm so much more willing to endure crap when it's in written form.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Noemon- I drop tv shows pretty easily and stick with awful books. I find books much more convenient then tv. I can bring books to places and read while I am waiting, I can read at 2 am when everyone else is asleep, I can read while watching Monster and not worry about damaging her little psyche. So, for me to do the extra work to keep up with tv, it has to be dang good. But books, if I have the book, I'll read it. I am not reading as much right now, but when the library reopens (hurricane damage apparently takes a long time to clean up), I will read a lot more. And with a toddler, I have to go to the library anyway, so might as well get some for me too.
Posts: 2223 | Registered: Mar 2008
| IP: Logged |
quote: But as I've said, this season has been loads better than the previous 4. If it jumped to this immediately after season 3, with the few explanatory/awesome episodes that appeared in between...well, it would have been awesome.
I stopped watching early in season 4. What are these explanatory/awesome episodes that I would need to pick up again on this season?
Personally, I read through the plot summaries on Smallville Wiki and then watched the episodes that looked the most entertaining or seemed to have the most important things happen in them.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Lisa: So... in last week's Smallville, the cops referred to superheroes as "capes". I get it. That's used a lot in the comics. But... in the comics, most superheroes wear capes. Unless I'm forgetting something, not a single hero in the Smallville universe does. So why on earth would they refer to them as "capes"?
That episode was in my opinion one of the worst. I caught that as well. How about the fact that Clark managed to get a hold of a police uniform without ANY explanation, AND get assigned to a patrol. There were so many plot holes in that episode.
Of course a 14 year old just pulled that off in Chicago the other day....
KILL OF LANA AND BRING BACK LOIS!!!
Well, I figured that Chloe hacked into the police computers and set him up. This show requires a lot of fanwanking.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Stephan: Things I would like to know:
1. Why does Chloe commute 3 hours to work each way every day?
She actually works in Smallville now, but Jimmy does commute to work 3 hours each day and Clark seems to (to those who haven't figured out he's not normal). And in answer to why that would be...that's a nagging problem with the show, yes.
quote: 2. How did Chloe, Clark, and Lois all get jobs at the daily planet, after apparantly dropping out of college. (Same thing happened in Buffy, college just sort of vanished)?
At the end of season 5 (I think), there was a huge disaster that kept the college from re-opening. At that time, Chloe was an intern at the Daily Planet and Lois was working for a rag of a newspaper (an enquirer-like paper), but coming up with some great investigative pieces. As time goes on, Chloe becomes more and more disillusioned with her job because she is reluctant to do stories on "meteor freaks" now that she has firsthand knowledge of what it's like to be one. So she leaves (actually, she gets fired), realizing that she will never get out of the basement of the planet. Right around the time Chloe gets fired, Lois's work gets noticed and she gets on at the planet.
So basically, Chloe was never anything more than an intern at the planet and Lois got in through actual work and experience -- which is more important than a college degree.
Now, how Clark got on, I'm not entirely sure. They went to too much trouble early in the series making him dislike journalism and now I'm having trouble with his conversion
quote: 3. What is the point of calling this Smallville, when 99% of the time is now spent in Metropolis?
It's called "Smallville Beginnings" and they call it that because it is the story of how Clark Kent becomes Superman. He isn't Superman yet.
quote: 4. What was the purpose behind Clark wiping Chloe's memory of him, if it didn't even work for 5 minutes? Its almost as if the writers are not even talking to each other. One writer decided Chloe should forget, the next one decided she shouldn't. Reminds me of those chain stories we wrote in elementary school.
Personally, my guess is that they did it, realized it was hugely unpopular, and undid it. Nothing else quite makes sense.
quote:
5. Why do I keep watching it, when I want to pull my hair out every episode?
I'm not a shrink, but as I've done the same thing with this and other shows, maybe we should form a support group. Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by scholarette: Noemon- I drop tv shows pretty easily and stick with awful books. I find books much more convenient then tv. I can bring books to places and read while I am waiting, I can read at 2 am when everyone else is asleep, I can read while watching Monster and not worry about damaging her little psyche. So, for me to do the extra work to keep up with tv, it has to be dang good. But books, if I have the book, I'll read it. I am not reading as much right now, but when the library reopens (hurricane damage apparently takes a long time to clean up), I will read a lot more. And with a toddler, I have to go to the library anyway, so might as well get some for me too.
Yeah, I'm sure that a large part of it is the convenience of books for me too. Another element is probably that when I was little we didn't really watch TV much. Reading was the dominant form of entertainment in my house when I was growing up, and I was shaped by that.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Smallville Beginnings? Wasn't that what ABC Family called it in re-runs at one point? The CW doesn't have Beginnings anywhere in it.
Posts: 3134 | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think a few years into the series the WB started to rerun the first season's episodes on Sunday nights, and that was Smallville: Beginnings.
Posts: 1794 | Registered: Jul 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yeah, a lot of things in Smallville don't really make sense. Characters travel between Smallville and Metropolis like they're 20 minutes apart rather than like 3 hours. Earlier in the series Chloe acted like just getting an internship at the Planet was a major accomplishment that required beating out many qualified applicants, yet somehow Clark walked into a full time job there without having any experience beyond writing for a high school paper, and not even having completed a full year of college (where I don't think he ever even mentioned studying journalism).
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Smallville has disappointed me on so many levels, so many times in a row, there's no way I could go back to it. A show with so much promise and they just... Nope, not starting my rant.
Suffice it to say that by season two it was clear that this show could not possibly produce any Superman I'd ever heard of, and by season 4 they'd just gotten silly. I stopped watching somewhere in there and have never gone back.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
quote:I'm not sure why I'm so much more willing to endure crap when it's in written form.
Reading makes you feel smart. Watching TV doesn't. Reading crap makes you feel smugly smart. Watching crap on TV makes you feel like your brain is melting.
Posts: 324 | Registered: Mar 2008
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Chris Bridges: Smallville has disappointed me on so many levels, so many times in a row, there's no way I could go back to it. A show with so much promise and they just... Nope, not starting my rant.
Suffice it to say that by season two it was clear that this show could not possibly produce any Superman I'd ever heard of, and by season 4 they'd just gotten silly. I stopped watching somewhere in there and have never gone back.
Wow. I LOVED the show in seasons 1-3. I recently rewatched them and remembered the reasons I admired the show in the first place. No, it wasn't classic Superman. It was more human and more believable.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Christine: It was more human
No, that would be Lois & Clark.
quote:Originally posted by Christine: and more believable.
Say what? Were we watching the same show?
I also enjoyed Lois and Clark, but on a completely different level. It was intentionally cheesy and meant to be amusing. The romance element of the show was the best of any Superman incarnation.
As far as believability goes...let's face it, Superman in any form requires a serious suspension of disbelief. I mean, come on...he gets his powers from the yellow sun? Kryptonite hurts him? His clothes remain intact? And let's not even consider the physics involved because they never did!
But in terms of characterization (which is really what I was talking to in the human and believable comment...I didn't mean for them to be taken separately), Smallville is the best they've ever done. Especially Lex.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Christine: But in terms of characterization (which is really what I was talking to in the human and believable comment...I didn't mean for them to be taken separately), Smallville is the best they've ever done. Especially Lex.
I appreciate the clarification. I think I still disagree, though.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
My wife just finished season 7 and just can't stop watching. I watched most of 7 with her and I can still see how Smallville could have been magnificent. Some elements of it are good, but overall it just was not good for me.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
The problem that I have with Smallville is that it has strayed way too far from it's roots. It started out as a show about a teen aged Clark Kent learning about who and what he is long before he was ready to take on the mantle of Superman. It dealt with more down to earth issues, even through Clark always had super-powered enemies to deal with.
But now there's little reason for the show to not just be about "Superman". Clark's finished high school, started his career at the Daily Planet, is already close to Lois Lane, knows all about his Kryptonian origins, has worked with (the precursor to) the Justice League, and even faced Braniac and now Doomsday. The creators of the show have always emphasized that the premise is "no tights, no flights" but I think that that idea once meant more than literally just what it says. At this point it's everything but the tights and the flights, which makes their absence seem contrived. Especially the "flights". Every Kryptonian who spends 5 minutes on Earth masters flying with no effort, but for some reason Clark, who has spent his whole life on Earth, can't do it.
The bottom line is that they should either have ended the show years ago or just revamp it into a show about Superman. The Smallville years are over.
*Edited to correct several typos that resulted from my initial rushed typing.
posted
I don't entirely agree. As a matter of fact, the reason I started watching again this season is that I was wanting to see the transition from Smallville to Superman. This is the season is has to happen because all of those things are in place. They're possibly even stretching it out a bit, but maybe only by a season.
Of course, if he doesn't put on tights in the season finale of season 8, that's not good.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
And that, I think, is the biggest problem. The contrived elements holding him back to keep the show going. The no flying is a perfect example of this. That being said, clearly Clark is not Superman yet- not physically and definitely not emotionally. Ultimately, this is the fault of the writers, whose characterization is inconsistant, as it changes to suit the plot and arbitrary drama.
...And yet, there are moments, when Clark exhibits the personality and heroism that makes Superman such an enduring hero. And to see it evolve, especially when it was much more clearly about and from his father, Jonathan Kent it was thrilling.
And to see the opposite, to see Lex sink and fall into the arch-villian, some of it because of his father, and some of it because of Clark's own mistakes...well, just wow.
I think the writers this season have the end in sight, the final person Clark must become, and are working on this character arc. Ultimately, as annoying as the return of the CLana is, I think it is supposed to be Clark's finally moving passed her...trouble being that I thought he'd already done that when she left and he started to develop feelings for Lois.
But there are still moments and the story is just entertaining enough that I've stuck with it, though I will say that I was just about ready to stop watching it. Last season was the end. But this season has breathed new life into the series that I am not as critical as I was.
Posts: 1346 | Registered: Jun 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
I've been giving the Clana thing a bit of thought and I *think* that one reason to bring her back this season is that last season, it was her choice to leave. I think that to truly move from Lana to Lois, it has to be Clark's choice to leave Lana. At least, I hope that's what's going on. Lana has certainly shown that she has a dark side now and that, I hope, will sever things from Clark's perspective, not just hers.
I do think that Clark's characterization has been somewhat inconsistent and that all of the inconsistencies are due to them trying to stretch out his change into Superman. I'm also not clear on how they're going to hide Clark under glasses, since he's never worn them except in a couple of joke episodes.
But I can forgive some of that because I am still just loving the fledgling Superman story.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
I haven't seen any of the Brainiac episodes, though I am a big James Marsters fan. Are they any good?
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Ron Lambert: For what it's worth, I think Lana is prettier now. Maybe she just got a better makeup artist.
I agree. The haircut is one thing. Also... she seems to have learned more than just the two expressions she knew when the show started.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
I understand that he originally had an adorably evil kiddie sidekick named muffin top, but they ended up having to write the character out of the script.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
yeah, Lana still doesn't do anything for me either, even though she's older and not a girl anymore. Lois still takes the cake.
Posts: 1346 | Registered: Jun 1999
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
