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Smallville (TV series)

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Smallville is an American television series that debuted in 2001 on the WB Television Network. Created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, the series follows the adventures of a young Clark Kent, in the town of Smallville, Kansas, before he becomes Superman. The series spawned a download-only spinoff (but was included in the Season DVDs), and Smallville: Vengeance Chronicles (began during Season 5, after the "Vengeance" episode).

On January 24, 2006, it was confirmed that Smallville will be part of the new The CW's Fall 2006–2007 lineup once The WB and UPN merge and cease operations in September 2006. Season 6 is planned to begin in late September, but a Season 7 has yet to be confirmed. The show is one of the supernatural-themed shows on the network, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Charmed, Supernatural and Roswell, and has many times been noted for its mixing of multiple genres (from horror and fantasy to comedy and even soap).

Smallville broke Charmed's record for highest rated debut for The WB, with 8.40 million viewers tuning in for its pilot, while Charmed had 7.70 million viewers.

Contents

History of the show

Back in 1998, Warner Brothers Television began pre-production of a proposed television series about a teenaged Batman, tentatively titled Gotham City. Alfred Gough and Miles Millar loved the idea and immediately signed onto the project. The project, however, never really got off the ground and into production. Michael Rosenbaum, who would go on to play Lex Luthor on Smallville, was allegedly cast as Harvey Dent. Because Warner Brothers was working on rebooting the Batman film franchise, all production was stopped for the television series.

Gough and Millar, while preparing for the new series Smallville, were able to incorporate a lot of material from the Gotham scripts, such as Lex feeling neglected and unloved by his father Lionel Luthor (which would have been Harvey Dent's story arc). Clark's insecurity and life's indecisions were similar to the scripted teenage Bruce Wayne, the on-off relationship of Clark and Lana paralleled the intended Bruce and Selina entanglement, and Vicki's search for the truth and embroiling trouble could be seen as similar to the predicaments of Smallville's Chloe Sullivan.

Eventually, in 2000, they chose to purchase the rights to the Superboy character, only to make him lose the suit and the majority of his powers. They created a "No Tights, No Flight" rule, vowing that Clark would not, at any point, fly or don the suit during the run of the show. Rosenbaum, already considered for Dent, was cast as Lex Luthor due to his quiet, secretive nature, Kristin Kreuk was cast as Lana, and a young construction-worker-turned-model named Tom Welling was finally cast as Clark Kent. Other casting choices came from Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan, Sam Jones III as Pete Ross, Annette O'Toole (who played Lana Lang in 1983's Superman III) as Martha Kent, and John Schneider (of The Dukes of Hazzard fame) as Jonathan Kent.

Overview

Smallville is based on the popular DC Comics character, Superman. The series follows the life of a teenage Clark Kent living in the town of Smallville, Kansas, that is set at the start of the 21st century. It shows Clark Kent coping with adolescence while he is developing superpowers (supervision, superhearing, etc.), exploring his extraterrestrial origins, and struggling to find his destiny in life.

The series often deals with the people in Clark Kent's life: the trials and tribulations of his adoptive human parents, Jonathan Kent and Martha Kent; friendship with his peers Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross; his attempts at a relationship with his sometimes love interest, Lana Lang; and especially his peculiar friendship with a young Lex Luthor.

The element of Kryptonite is used as a recurring plot device throughout the series. Kryptonite is shown to have bizarre and lingering effects on human physiology and the young superhero often encounters mutated villains who have developed bizarre powers, such as psychic abilities, shape-shifting, and other paranormal abilities. (For this reason, the show is often criticized as being predominately a "villain of the week" series.) Regarding Kryptonians like Clark, though, the Kryptonite has very different effects; the general idea is that Clark is virtually invincible except when around the Kryptonite rocks. Different colors affect Clark differently: Green kryptonite physically weakens him and could possibly kill him if he is exposed to it for too long. Red Kryptonite causes him to set aside moral standings and act out on his impulses and dark desires. Black Kryptonite splits Clark into (and merges him back together from) two separate beings that exhibit his two personalities (Clark Kent and the darker Kal-El). Silver Kryptonite (which in the comics did not exist) causes him extreme paranoia.

Viewers will often observe allusions in the form of dialogue, guest stars, character wardrobe, musical scores, and scenic design used throughout the series to the Superman comic books and films.

Series history

The first season was a tremendous success, but some fans balked at the villain often only appearing in one episode, and deriving their power from Kryptonite exposure, affectionately becoming known as the "freak of the week." Eric Johnson's character of Whitney Fordman, boyfriend to character Lana Lang, was also said to be underused and one-dimensional. Despite these minor problems, the producers were instantly ordered to film at least two more seasons of the show. John Glover's Lionel Luthor character, ruthless business tycoon and father of Lex Luthor, was originally intended to only be a guest star on the show, but, due to his popularity and Johnson wanting to leave the show, he became a full time cast member for season two, as Whitney was written out of the series.

Season 2 had fewer "freak of the weeks" appear on the show, focusing more on character development and relationship building. Several key plot points included Lex becoming more entangled in conflict with his father, Chloe digging into Clark's past and making deals with Lionel, a vacillating Lana and Clark relationship, and Martha Kent and Jonathan's financial troubles. The main story arc, however, focused on Clark's discovery of his Kryptonian origins. The disembodied spirit/will of Clark's biological father Jor-El is introduced, communicating to Clark via his space ship, setting the stage for plots involving the fulfilment of Clark Kent's earthly destiny. The most famous moment in the series was (arguably) the appearance of Christopher Reeve, who played Superman in the 1970s and 1980s film series, as Dr. Virgil Swann. Swann provided Clark with information regarding his Kryptonian heritage, in a "passing of the torch" moment between Reeve and Welling. The show mostly volleyed Clark and Lana's relationship throughout the season, never actually allowing the two to become an official couple.

The third season was also moderately successful. Although, to the chagrin of fans, Pete Ross was essentially marginalized as a character, playing minor roles that involved illegal street racing and threats by investigating agents for Lionel. The character was ultimately written out of the show, explanatorily through his inabililty to deal with keeping Clark's secret and the desire to move to Wichita, Kansas with his mother after his parents had divorced. Fans have complained that this was because the writers didn't want to expand his character anymore, but Gough has stated that the actor wanted to leave the show due to lack of screen time. As of early 2006, Sam Jones has not made (and does not want to make) any return appearances, however, Gough has said that Pete Ross could potentially return if they find the right story arc for him.

The fourth season ventured further into the Superman mythos by creating a story arc that would run the length of the season. The arc involved Clark seeking out three Kryptonian stones (at the instruction of his father Jor-El) that supposedly unlocked the infinite knowledge of the universe. The majority of this season revolved around Lex trying to rekindle a strained friendship with Clark, Lionel's ambiguous transformation into a good father and person, and Clark and numerous other characters vying with one another in attempts to obtain the stones.

This season was also a milestone because it introduced Lois Lane (Erica Durance), Superman's future wife.

Delving deeper into Superman lore, Season 5 introduced several classic mythos elements such as the Fortress of Solitude, Professor Milton Fine (James Marsters), also known as the villain Brainiac, the Phantom Zone, and General Zod. Fine would become a recurring antagonist for Clark throughout the season with the central plot revolving around Clark using the knowledge, obtained in the Fortress of Solitude, to train for an impending doom that was to befall Earth. It was revealed that this doom was the release of General Zod from the Phantom Zone due to the machinations of Milton Fine. Season 5 also allowed Clark and Lana to explore their first real adult relationship with each other. This helped organize the blueprint for what would eventually become the series' most sought after love triangle between Clark, Lana, and Lex. Like with Season 4, the series continued to use multiple minor story arcs running in parallel, mid-season and season finale cliffhangers, and cameoes from other noteble DC characters and high profile actors.

Seasons

Regular cast and characters

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Actor Role Seasons
Tom Welling Clark Kent (Season 1 - present)
Kristin Kreuk Lana Lang (Season 1 - present)
Michael Rosenbaum Alexander "Lex" Luthor (Season 1 - present)
Allison Mack Chloe Sullivan (Season 1 - present)
Annette O'Toole Martha Kent (Season 1 - present)
John Glover Lionel Luthor (Season 2 - present, recurring Season 1)
Erica Durance Lois Lane (Season 5 - present, recurring Season 4)
John Schneider Jonathan Kent (Seasons 1-5)
Sam Jones III Pete Ross (Seasons 1-3)
Jensen Ackles Jason Teague (Season 4)
Eric Johnson Whitney Fordman (Season 1, one episode in Season 2, one episode in Season 4)

Smallville filming and production

Smallville is filmed at various locales in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. The main studio where most of the show is recorded is located in Burnaby, British Columbia, a suburb of Vancouver. However, scenes on the "main street" of Smallville are shot in the town of Cloverdale, British Columbia. Cloverdale is particularly proud of being a filming site for the show; at its entrance is a huge sign which reads "Home of Smallville." When filming first started, the exterior school scenes were shot at Vancouver Technical School, while the interiors were shot at Templeton Secondary School. However, due to several difficulties with the Vancouver Technical location, Templeton later became the exclusive location for almost all of Smallville's school scenes until the characters graduated from High School. Painted hallways with the "Smallville Crows" logo remain inside Templeton.

Here are some of the locations used, in their present non-Smallville states.

Image:Clova-front.jpg|The Clova Cinema in Cloverdale, a.k.a. "The Talon." Image:Clova-front2.jpg|Another view of the Clova Cinema in Cloverdale. Image:Smallville-sign1.jpg|The welcome sign for Cloverdale, the home of downtown Smallville. Image:Cloverdale-Jewellry-Loans.jpg|Cloverdale Jewellery & Loans, a.k.a. "Smallville Jewellery & Loans." Image:Fordmans.jpg|"Fordman's Hardware" in Cloverdale, now occupied by the Cloverdale Learning Centre [link], operated part of School District 36 Surrey. Image:Cloverdale-mainstreet.jpg|The main street in historic Cloverdale, a.k.a. "Main Street, Smallville." The Clova Cinema ("The Talon") is seen on the left and "Fordman's Hardware" is on the right. Image:Gov-canada-bldg.jpg|The Government of Canada Building in downtown Vancouver ("Metropolis"), a.k.a. the "headquarters" of LuthorCorp. Image:Ctrl-city-ext.jpg|Central City mall and office tower in Surrey, a.k.a. LuthorCorp "headquarters" for season 3. Image:Koerner-Lib-UBC.jpg|Koerner Library at the University of British Columbia. Its general landscape is surroundings for the "University of Metropolis" and "Central A&M Kansas University" throughout seasons 3-5. Image:Templeton-Secondary.jpg|Templeton Secondary School, a.k.a. Smallville High. Image:Vancouver-tech-sec.jpg|Vancouver Technical Secondary School, a.k.a. Smallville High (exteriors for first season, and in the opening credits). Image:Nells-flowershop.jpg|The building next to the Clova Theatre that stands in as Nell's Flower Shop, in Cloverdale. Image:Templeton-smallvillehigh.jpg|The Smallville Crows mural still remaining inside Templeton Secondary School. Image:Marine-bldg.jpg|Marine Building, a.k.a. the Daily Planet offices.

Superhero/Supervillain guests

Clark's Superpowers (and episodes of first appearance)

Awards and nominations

DVD release dates

Season
Release dates
Cover Art
The Complete
1st Season
center
The Complete
2nd Season
center
The Complete
3rd Season
center
The Complete
4th Season
center
The Complete
5th Season
center

Soundtracks

Most episodes feature a song or songs by an alternative rock act, and the success of Songs in the Key of X prompted the release of a soundtrack album. A second soundtrack album followed two years later.

Smallville: The Talon Mix (2003)

Talon Mix
Enlarge
Talon Mix

  1. "Save Me" — Remy Zero
  2. "Inside Out" — Vonray
  3. "Island in the Sun" — Weezer
  4. "Superman (It's Not Easy)" — Five For Fighting
  5. "Nuclear" — Ryan Adams
  6. "Lonely Day" — Phantom Planet
  7. "Fight Test" — Flaming Lips
  8. "Don't Dream It's Over" — Sixpence None the Richer
  9. "Wave Goodbye" — Steadman
  10. "I Just Wanna Be Loved" — AM Radio
  11. "Everything" — Lifehouse
  12. "Time After Time" — Eva Cassidy

Smallville: The Metropolis Mix (2005)

Metropolis Mix
Enlarge
Metropolis Mix

  1. "Forget It" — Breaking Benjamin
  2. "Precious" — Depeche Mode
  3. "You and Me (Extended Wedding Version)" — Lifehouse
  4. "Superman" — Stereophonics
  5. "Dirty Little Secret" — All-American Rejects
  6. "Almost Honest" — Josh Kelley
  7. "All the Money or the Simple Life Honey (Remix)" — The Dandy Warhols
  8. "Cold Hands (Warm Heart)" — Brendan Benson
  9. "The Girl's Attractive" — Diamond Nights
  10. "I'm a Human" — Flashlight Brown
  11. "Wicked Game" — HIM
  12. "Other Side of the World" — KT Tunstall
  13. "Hungry Heart" — Minnie Driver
  14. "Feels Like Today" — Rascal Flatts

See also

External links

Official websites

Fan websites

Other references

Smallville
Seasons: Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6
Characters
Clark Kent | Lana Lang | Lex Luthor | Chloe Sullivan
Lionel Luthor | Lois Lane | Martha Kent | Jonathan Kent
Pete Ross | Jason Teague | Whitney Fordman
Smallville Guest Characters
Seasons: Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6
Related articles
Broadcasters and home video releases | Allusions to Superman
Clark's powers | Kryptonite | Kryptonian Crystals

 

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