• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Smallville is kind of a disaster

Status
Not open for further replies.

DrBo42

Member
Chloe was the only reason I kept watching after the show became garbage.

J6xVUCh.jpg


LcgJlXN.jpg

Chloe > Lana by far.
 

Dysun

Member
Some serious nostalgia goggles going on here. Do people really not remember how awful Smallville could be? The first four seasons are 90% filler episodes alone.

No nostalgia glasses needed, Smallville's seasons 7 through 10 are on par with the current Arrow Felicity melodrama. At least Smallville found Lois and a few interesting villains (Zod) to play against Clark and kept their cute blonde IT girl in the background instead of making her the second main character of the show .

Before someone tries to defend Arrow Season 3 let's not act like it's set a high bar of television
Hong Kong flashbacks, visited Starling, saw Shado's Twin
Felicity/Ray/Oliver love triangle and forced pairings
Oliver douchebaggery at highest level yet, will he, wont he with Felicity
Laurel becomes BC and fights on par with League of Assassin's ninjas
Wildcat's here and then he's gone
Chesthair can't know the truth, because reasons
 

Not Spaceghost

Spaceghost
The show would have been a billion times better without lana

Lana was goddamn poison to the show. There is a quote from the actress that really shows how shit Lana became, "By season three, Kreuk had decided to "invest" herself less in her character, as she felt that her character's ultimate development was entirely in the hands of the producers. She no longer became frustrated when the producers had Lana doing things that Kreuk felt were out of character, instead trusting that they would find the right direction for the character."

Which is PR speak for "I can't care about a character that is written like this"

its honestly worse than i remember. but except for zatanna, all that tried to get close to the comics came out looking wierd or plain bad

It's because it felt horribly out of place. The show cultivated it's aesthetic early on as a very no super heroes world and that superman would be the first real one eventually. But as the suits started showing up on screen it all just felt extremely weird.
 

Slayven

Member
its time to remember



its honestly worse than i remember. but except for zatanna, all that tried to get close to the comics came out looking wierd or plain bad

They tried to do that it's not the costume, but wink wink nod nod it is the costume thing that is annoying as hell.
 

Sheroking

Member
She ruined a large part of the show for me (lana).

I still can't believe how bad they dropped the ball on
Doomsday, he looks so fucking badass and the fight was over in like 2 goddamn seconds

That wasn't so much them dropping the ball as not having the money to rent to gym.
 
Yeah that Native American thing was weird.

Lex was supposed to be a dragon and Clark was a warrior and they were besties but then not.

Wasn't it a prophecy of some kind?

I remember a shapeshifting wolf.
 

Heshinsi

"playing" dumb? unpossible
The minute they had a flying dog filler episode, I bailed the hell out. Even as a kid I knew this show had become stupid.
 

Omni

Member
I thought the first few seasons were trash. So much filler.

Show massively shifted tone around season 6 or 7 when they moved to Metropolis and I really started to enjoy it. It's a fun watch.
 
For some reason I really loved the episode where Louis and Kent pretend to be married to save Chloe and Jimmy...despite it's massive cheese-factor.
 
Okay, I probably should've slept before writing, I get pretty pissy when I'm sleep deprived and it shows with my rambling diarrhea below.

Yeah, the thing with Lana is that the guys in charge really were doing this stuff to give Lana/Kristen Kreuk things to do. They had some weird obsession with her and other characters suffered for it. It didn't get better when the new show runners took over because they also put Lana (maybe without the creepy Kristen Kreuk obsession) on a pedestal while simultaneously destroying the character and after Kreuk wisely left they started doing similar shit with Chloe in turning her pretty much into a Mary Sue as Lana was before her, at least they didn't go make Clark fall in love, so I guess there's that.

Outside of a few episodes I personally despised season 10 even before the series finale that ruined it the entire series for me. I got in a few heated arguments elsewhere at the time over it. That episode where Kara returns in "Supergirl" (episode 3 IIRC) pissed me off so much because it took a moment that should've been Clark's and gave it to someone else, in this case a guest star being the first flying being (ignoring the JSA stuff where people were seemingly memory wiped). The people in charge had a really bad habit of making guest stars and supporting characters shine at the expense of Clark. Though still as much as I hated that, it still doesn't compare to the bullshit with Lana and her getting super powers when Kreuk came back, that arc that ruined season eight and forever made Lois a second choice, a consolation and while I can't remember exactly remember what the runners said they admitted as much with Lana always being Clark's first choice. They also thought it was a clever metaphor (and call back to the first couple seasons I guess) for the Lana/Clark relationship being poisonous to make Lana literally poisonous to Clark from adsorbing a ton of Kryptonite radiation. I didn't even get into the stupid shit that was the Lana/Lex/Clark love triangle from season six, another Smallville low point.

Season nine was one of the few seasons I can say I enjoyed from start to finish even if much of the stuff they did was due to running out of ideas and rating ploys. Not saying nine was perfect, anything but compared to with some of the shit they before and after, nine was one of the best seasons. Anyone got that image/GIF of their Slade Wilson when they used him in season ten? All I could think of was John McCain when I saw him.

Smallville could've been so much better, so much more than what it ended up being if Millar and Gough cared about the character or were fans of the source material. So many cast members deserved better too, not Welling, fuck Welling and Souders and Perterson too for that matter and their infuriating, "coy" PR bullshit interviews over the last couple season.
 

Not Spaceghost

Spaceghost
Yeah, the thing with Lana is that the guys in charge really were doing this stuff to give Lana/Kristen Kreuk things to do. They had some weird obsession with her and other characters suffered for it. It didn't get better when the new show runners took over because they also put Lana (maybe without the creepy Kristen Kreuk obsession) on a pedestal while simultaneously destroying the character and after Kreuk wisely left they started doing similar shit with Chloe in turning her pretty much into a Mary Sue as Lana was before her, at least they didn't go make Clark fall in love, so I guess there's that.

Yeah this explains what happened to Chloe, when they ran out of Lana they were like GOTTA GO FULL HAM ON CHLOE.

Outside of a few episodes I personally despised season 10 even before the series finale that ruined it the entire series for me. I got in a few heated arguments elsewhere at the time over it. That episode where Kara returns in "Supergirl" (episode 3 IIRC) pissed me off so much because it took a moment that should've been Clark's and gave it to someone else,

Season 10 was filled with moments like this, where they were ending the show but refused to change the formula or make it look like Clark had particularly grown, supergirl was a horrible episode, but not anywhere near as bad as the 2nd to last episode. Any time there is anything wedding related in smallville I cringe so fucking hard. The dumbest shit was how many episodes we had to endure of Lois dropping every single hint that she knew but Clark being like "what chu talkin bout Lois?".


Smallville could've been so much better, so much more than what it ended up being if Millar and Gough cared about the character or were fans of the source material. So many cast members deserved better too, not Welling, fuck Welling and Souders and Perterson too for that matter and their infuriating, "coy" PR bullshit interviews over the last couple season.

There is a great show underneath all the bullshit Smallville does, there really is. Smallville needed to stay close to home, there was really no reason for the show to continue once they left Smallville permanently. They needed to stop with the other heroes, they needed to really avoid the earth threatening super villains and focus more on the running theme of powers corrupting people who shouldn't have them. Hell all the non powered Villains like Lex, the reporter in season 2 who was going to expose Clark, Lionel, and even shitty Tess Mercer worked FAR better than any Kandorians or Doomsday ever could.
 

E the Shaggy

Junior Member
True story: Tom Welling refused to wear the Superman costume, which is why you never see him in it in the final episode (they do clever camera tricks but never show him full out).
 

DedValve

Banned
The show should have been much shorter and split into 2, smallville and metropolis with a big timegap in between.

Smallville would be about a young clark discovering himself, trying to reconcile with the fact that he's an alien with godly powers and getting to gain control of his powers. Maybe 3 seasons max for each year in highschool with flight being granted in the last season. Clark and lex would be friends here.

Metropolis would take place several years after Smallville with an older Clark Kent who finally dons (an early version of the suit) and tries to be Superman. He has a much more refined control over his powers but now he's trying to find out how to be a good superhero, an icon while also managing his double life. This is where Louis Lane steps in and Clarks double identity creates a rift between him and Lex, ultimately leading up to Lex's mantle of the villain to finally create the superman we know and love.

No justice league and only smaller notable superman villains should show up in Metropolis.

Also lex at the end of the series was the most bullshit thing in existence. They literally wiped out 8 SEASONS OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT because they couldn't come up with a good excuse of why Lex knew Clark = superman. It was such extreme bullshit.

They should have given him a reason to keep Clarks secret like "kill clark kent and you kill a man, kill superman and you kill a god" or some shit like that since Lex gets off on being powerful. ANYTHING would have been better than just "lets wipe out this character from existence!" which seems to be a running theme in Smallville.
 

Patryn

Member
I stopped watching the show around season 6 or so. At the end, Chloe was the only thing keeping me watching, because they had pretty much ruined everything else.

I hear that the Lois of the last seasons is good, but I just remember that I liked her when she first showed up, then she started acting like an idiot for a while and I couldn't stand her.

In fact, I liked the Chlois fan theory, which postulated that Lois would die and Chloe would take on the Lois Lane name, possibly due to witness protection or something.
 

Probably because he kinda seems like a douche. And also something something spandex is bad.

I mean, I get why some people wouldn't want to wear a costume. Especially tights.

But when you're an actor auditioning for the character of Clark Kent, a.k.a. SUPERMAN, maybe you should expect that to happen.
 

Not Spaceghost

Spaceghost
Remember that episode where Clark was sick and he was totally KOed and was close to death so Chloe goes to visit him and spills her feelings and sleepy Clark says "....lana?" and then Chloe runs out crying?

That's the moment I knew this Lana shit was going to get insanely out of hand one day.
 

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
True story: Tom Welling refused to wear the Superman costume, which is why you never see him in it in the final episode (they do clever camera tricks but never show him full out).

I don't buy that as the sole reason. I mean, it would be so incredibly nonsensical and can't believe Welling had that much decisional power
 

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
It's kind of funny when looking back on smallville ... Almost more has happened in the flash story wise than the entirety of smallville.

Smallville was just one major tease fest
 

kurahador

Member
I don't buy that as the sole reason. I mean, it would be so incredibly nonsensical and can't believe Welling had that much decisional power

Pretty sure he was credited as executive producer or something in the later season.

So yes, he has some decision making power.
 

Patryn

Member
I don't buy that as the sole reason. I mean, it would be so incredibly nonsensical and can't believe Welling had that much decisional power

It was the last episode, so there was not really much they could do to him if he refused.

If the rumor is true, I'm curious if he just wanted to avoid type-casting or something, and didn't want images of him wearing the suit floating around in the future. Although, it's not like he's really done much of anything since Smallville ended.

The more curious thing to me is that I'm now realizing that even Smallville seems to have fallen down a hole. I don't really see it on syndication anywhere, compared to stuff like Charmed and Supernatural.

Pretty sure he was credited as executive producer or something in the later season.

So yes, he has some decision making power.

On shows that go 10 seasons, the main actors tend to accrue a lot of power during contract renegotiations.
 
I don't understand why these showrunners at WB/CW keep making these awesome show-only characters like Chloe and Felicity and then hamstring themselves with the comic-mandated pairings.

Drama mandates that the love interest be irrationally tsundere to start, so of course the audience is going to fall in love with the cool, smart sidekick chick.
 
Also lex at the end of the series was the most bullshit thing in existence. They literally wiped out 8 SEASONS OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT because they couldn't come up with a good excuse of why Lex knew Clark = superman. It was such extreme bullshit.

They should have given him a reason to keep Clarks secret like "kill clark kent and you kill a man, kill superman and you kill a god" or some shit like that since Lex gets off on being powerful. ANYTHING would have been better than just "lets wipe out this character from existence!" which seems to be a running theme in Smallville.

This so much. They should have grew balls and have Lex retain his knowledge of Clark's secret even if this differs slightly from the Lex of the comics. This would have redeemed the series IMO.
 

Patryn

Member
I don't understand why these showrunners at WB/CW keep making these awesome show-only characters like Chloe and Felicity and then hamstring themselves with the comic-mandated pairings.

Drama mandates that the love interest be irrationally tsundere to start, so of course the audience is going to fall in love with the cool, smart sidekick chick.

It doesn't help when the writers tend to become creepily obsessed with the actress.

Because you could seriously tell the writing staff had some weird fixation with the actress who played Lana.
 

Jetman

Member
Agree with everything the OP posted. Turned to garbage after Season 3/4. The only reason I kept watching the other 6 seasons was I felt weirdly...invested somehow? Like an 800 page book that you're 350 pages into and just had to finish, no matter how horrible it got.
Supernatural fell in the same category, but actually manned up and shit-canned that show off of my watch list after last season.
 

Sheroking

Member
I don't believe you. Or anybody else that says Arrow is good.

Arrow is middling this year, Flash is great.

"This show is bad, I'm never watching this network again" is nonsensical. The WB was a great network when Smallville premiered, and the CW is in a recovery period now.
 

jelly

Member
It doesn't help when the writers tend to become creepily obsessed with the actress.

Because you could seriously tell the writing staff had some weird fixation with the actress who played Lana.

That is a bit creepy, a lot of shows seem to fall down that way, lets put her in this and do that, like some personal fantasy. Chuck was a bit weird with that. Sure the actors know what the plan is but you have to say enough is enough at some point if the story isn't right.
 

Skilletor

Member
Arrow is middling this year, Flash is great.

"This show is bad, I'm never watching this network again" is nonsensical. The WB was a great network when Smallville premiered, and the CW is in a recovery period now.

You're right. I meant "Comic book show on the CW," because I love Whose Line.

The Flash is legit great, and youre missing out

Tons of stuff to watch. I'll survive.

This is getting off-topic.

Smallville was awful.
 

LakeEarth

Member

The Smallville Witch episode is probably the best semi-recent example of jumping the shark that I know. My friends used to get together to watch Smallville and Angel, mostly for Angel but we did enjoy Smallville. After this episode, we would just meet up at 9.
 

garath

Member
I agree OP. I loved the first couple seasons. It really dropped off and just became a hot mess. As rabid and my friend and I were about the show, we just stopped watching.
 

The Cowboy

Member
The Flash is legit great, and youre missing out

No, The Flash is legit GOD DAM FANTASTIC!!!!!.

Seriously, The Flash is as close as one could get to the perfect live action superhero show - its quite incredible what they've done with just 1 season so far..
 

KalBalboa

Banned
Smallville has a strange mix of ups and downs.

Season 10 has some of the best and worst episodes of the show back to back. Season 9 was more or less solid and a notable step-up from the previous year or two.

Overall, I have a real soft spot for it. I liked the casting and the general idea of the show but only wish it could've had a tighter run overall. Maybe 10 seasons of 12 episodes each would've worked better, or 5 seasons at 20-23 episodes each.

Seasons 2/3 had some real magic to them, and the heart of the show in those first few seasons made it work wonders for me at the time (I was a freshmen when Clark was, after all).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom