Smallville "Pilot" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Anthonynotes]

Impressions of "Smallville":
- as promised, no costume, this not being Superboy, natch.

- The actor playing Clark looks nothing like a teenager---he looks more like some model age trying to play a teenager (see: how tall he looks next to his best friend Pete Ross)

- nothing from the pilot jumped out in interest to me (the characters, elements, etc.), save maybe for Lex.

- as expected, the usual inclusion of WB-teen-drama elements (whiny angst-ridden teenagers, maudlin pop/alt. rock music in the background, etc.).

- for interest of Caps maybe: the plot shows his ship landing in Smallville in October 1989 as an (apparent) 3-year-old (making him 15 years old here in 2001, since the show takes place in the present)...though no 80's-era pop cultural elements are included (space shuttles, jelly beans or otherwise ;-)

All in all, like "Enterprise", might watch another episode or two, but don't expect to become a regular viewer from the looks of things...
-B.

[DR. BELCH]

It's a novel interpretation of the Superman mythos, if nothing else, and if not impressed, I'm at least curious.
What gets me is the attitude of the townsfolk--the landing of young Kal-El's ship decimated half the town and kills at least two people, and one would think they'd scream for an investigation. But no.
Secondly, is it just me or does Mrs. Kent not look like a farmwife? I can't put my finger on why I say that, but she looks/carries herself like a rich city girl who married some guy a couple of rungs below her on the social ladder (and I imagine in a future episode we'll see what her folks think of that).
Then there's the whole thing about Clark's landing and its ramifications. He indirectly killed Lana's parents, caused Lex's baldness (well, he sort of did that in the original comics as well, but this is a very different take on it), and caused the radiation poisoning that turned a Smallville High student that had been nailed like a cut-rate Jesus out in a cornfield into a bioelectric Peter Pan. Devil of a lot of emotional baggage for young Mr. Kent, and only in one episode.
Not only is the teen Clark rather old-looking to be a teen, but the boy is 3 when he comes out of the ship. At least with a baby Martha can hide herself away at the farm for a few months and later claim she gave birth...how will she explain away a toddler turning up out of nowhere? (Well, there's adoption, I suppose... but...still....)

[Matthew Hunter]

Am I the only one who kinda liked this show? Sure, I had some minor complaints, but I still want to see what else happens. I guess I'll state my complaints first, but several were already mentioned: One, Clark looks like a 20-something trying to be a teenager, two, wasn't he a baby, not a toddler? and three, why the whole graveyard thing...Clark feeling bad about killing Lana's parents...and the scarecrow prank...the school mascot....it's kind of dark. Now, I will state its good points. For a tv show, the special effects are good. It does a good job of creating sympathy for the characters, and it makes you want to see more. Whether or not I'll watch regularly depends on future episodes, but the opener did what it was supposed to, and that's get me interested. As little network TV as I watch, and as much as I hate the typical WB crap (Who cares about Dawson or Felicity? what trash!) this one is the first show I've actually wanted to watch again in a long time. I say don't knock it yet...
-Matthew

[The Mad Hatter]

I kinda liked it. It wasn't absolutely gripping, but it wasn't quite the "Smallville's Creek" people were fearing. I liked how they were setting up the lessons Clark had to learn to become a good Superman... like not expecting a reward when saving people (i.e. giving up Lex's truck). And personally, I got a giggle out of how Lana's Kryptonite necklace caused Clark to "act klutzy" around her as if he was smitten, even though it was just kryptonite weakness. The characters themselves weren't THAT interesting, but I'll give it a chance to see how things develop. The show seems like it was written by a comic book fan, at least.

Some fun facts to answer above concerns:

The guy playing Clark is, in fact, 25. That's why he doesn't look like a high school kid.

Margot Kidder (I think that's her name) looks darned attractive as Clark's mom simply because, in a casting wink, she originally played Lana Lang in the Superman movies. So there ya go.

My only complaint is that they started the show with Clark aware of his powers... personally I thought it would have been more fun if we started with his powers just beginning to emerge, but that's just me.

[Captain Caps]

It was *Annette O'Toole* as Clark's mom, and who played Lana Lang in the "Superman" films. Margot Kidder was the one who played Lois Lane.

Ah, the guy playing Superman/boy/whatever is 25. Do we compare it to "Beverly Hills, 90210" now?:D...

Sincerely,

John "Captain Caps" Kilduff

...Or "Saved By The Bell" or "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" or practically any TV show or movie set in a high school?

[DR. BELCH]

Is she still acting? Seems I heard she had drug problems and went bananas (her antics were parodied in a cartoon sketch on TV Funhouse --"Clark, why are you ignoring me?--partnering her with Robert Downey Jr. and Anne Heische as detectives).

The actress playing Clark's mom is attractive, yes...but not "farmwifey". I suppose they went in a different direction than the comics/cartoon series/Dean Cain's series...rather jarring...maybe they wanted the "rich-girl-slumming-it-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-USA" effect, and if they do, I hope they at least use it to full advantage. Imagine Mr. Clark hollering at Jonathan for "draggin' my little girl out'n her ideal life in New York and stranding her in this one-horse armpit of a town to slop hogs!" Now that I'd watch.... :D

[Calhoun07]

I thought the show was great, despite the flaws. They can't hire a true 15 year old kid to play Clark because teenagers could never legally put in that many hours on a TV show. It's a problem with Hollywood as a whole, not just Smallville, so I don't hold that against the creators of this show, I just live with it.

My only complaint is the fact that there has to be alot of these kryptonite jewlery pieces around Smallville, but yet we only see one. What is the deal with that?

[The Mad Hatter]

Crap, wrong name! The embarrassment flows like wine! Where's my danged seppuku blade...

Honestly Caps, give it a try. It's actually much better than all the shows you mentioned.

[Anthonynotes]

[Cut to Smallville, Kansas, namely the Kent farm house living room. Around a TV set, we see Ma, Pa, and Clark are all watching this show....]

MA: Jonathan....why is one of the "Dukes of Hazzard" playing your role?

PA: Got me...all I said was "sure wish I could see more of those Duke boys" to some WB exec once, and....

MA: Never mind. Clark, how could you let them hire someone like that to play you as a teenager? You were never anywhere *near* that tall...I mean, he looks more the way you did at *25* rather than 15. And since when is Smallville High's mascot the "Crows"? And why didn't the cars have any Kansas license plates?

CLARK: It's TV, Ma....they always change some detail to "give it a fresh look". Remember how they left the "S" off my cape to make it easier to animate?

MA: Of course....especially after the hours it took on the Singer to *make* it....

CLARK: Besides, these are *Hollywood* writers....unlike us, they've probably never even stepped foot east of *Vegas*, let alone have any in-depth knowledge of what "flyover country" is like.

MA: "Flyover country"?

CLARK: What folks like Lois call anywhere between the east and west coasts....basically, "flying over" it in an airplane since we're all purportedly a bunch of backwards hicks with nothing of note to see here.

MA: (Annoyed) I *see*.....maybe we should get Lois to do some farm work for a day and see how "backwards" back-breaking labor is....

CLARK: Of course, if you're going to nitpick, I don't think I was ever that whiny as a teenager---was I? (Ma and Pa look around at the ceiling, with Pa whistling) *Sigh*... well, I suppose we all got off lucky, compared to Pete and Lana's, erm, "treatments" for this show....

[Cut to Lana and Pete...]

LANA: (Seeing the split-second deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Lang) Since *when* were my parents killed off in some cheap-looking, throwaway special effect?!

PETE: (Seeing his African-American counterpart in "Smallville") Since *when* was I... *short*?!

LANA: Well, when your lead guy playing 15-year-old Clark looks tall *and* old enough that he should be playing for a college or pro basketball team, I guess that can't be helped....

[Cut to the even more obligatory 'toon reaction.... namely, the lab mice]

PINKY: Um, since when did Superboy become an angst-ridden adolescent without a costume and with one of the "Dukes of Hazzard" as his dad?

BRAIN: Probably since about two or three "retcons" ago, Pinky....for what passes as "internal consistency" for DC Comics nowadays....

PINKY: OK....well, I dunno about you, but after watching those scenes with their kitchen, I have a *strange* craving for Pepsi® *and* some Post Honeycomb® cereal, NARF!

BRAIN: (Sighs) Advertising within the programs' content themselves....how low can one go to turn a program into an advertisment?

PINKY: Well, being a 30-minute commercial works for that Pokemon show-thingy....and that fun-fun silly-willy infomercial for Soloflex they rerun for six hours straight every Sunday late night!

BRAIN: Never mind....

:-)

-B.

[Calhoun07]

So I take it that means you didn't care for the show! Well, we got to read a good script in the process!

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

First episodes are never good indicators for the quality of a show as the setups for most of these "teen" shows is always pretty derivative. Since we all know about Supes' past, the first 10 minutes is deja vu. The setup was typical teen fare--kid arrives in school, introduced to a bunch of cast members, blah, blah, blah.


For the most part, it felt like it was going through the rounds. I did feel the pacing to be a little bit lethargic--not deliberately slow, but slow as in a lot of the situations seemed superfluous, as they were able to be predicted minutes before.

[The Penguin]

Before the final episodes of Smallville begin airing next week, The CW is presenting a special airing of the first episode. Catch the pilot tonight at 8 p.m. ET!

"Pilot"
Friday, April 8, 2011 @ 8 p.m. ET/7 CT on The CW
Original airdate: May 16, 2001
October, 1989: A meteor shower rains down on Smallville, Kansas, wreaking havoc upon the inhabitants...

[Jacob T. Paschal]

Wow, talk about a ten year bump. :p

I'll try to catch it tonight...maybe. I haven't seen it in quite a few years. :p

[The Penguin]

I'm trying to get caught back up on Smallville talkbacks this weekend and figured I'd better start at the beginning.

Mega-bump or not, I really enjoyed being able to see the pilot again. I don't own any Smallville on DVD and other than the odd in-season repeat or the season finale right before the season premiere, I have never rewatched the episodes. For me, the made this extra special; I hadn't seen it in 10 years. I actually watched it twice before I deleted it.

I won't call this the greatest pilot in the history of pilots, but now possessing knowledge of what comes after it, this hour sets things up pretty strongly and established the universe in which our characters live. Obviously that was the idea, but it really set me up for the final episodes.