How do you sum up ten years of your life in a few paragraphs? That’s the issue I faced when sitting down to write this essay (if ya wanna put a label on it). SMALLVILLE has been my favorite TV show for the last ten years. It’s gotten me through high school, my “taking a year off” hiatus after that (which turned into four years but let’s not get into that), my move from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, and through multiple issues in my life that existed in between those things. So why did I stick with SMALLVILLE when so many people seemed to abandon it? One reason – it always remained a wonderful show to me.
It always bothered me when people would say, “Oh SMALLVILLE sucks!” “He’s not Superman!” “He doesn’t even fly!” “That show’s still on?” It’s hard for me to understand why those people hated the show so much. The show wasn’t always great but it was never so bad that I never wanted to watch it again. Of COURSE he’s not Superman! That’s never been what the show was about. Although, the flying I kinda have to give to those people. Not like it was a HUGE deal but it still would’ve been cool. Although, there were many times when Clark would do a “tall leap” so in a way the show was more faithful to the original Superman comics than anything that came before it. However, I don’t wanna dwell on the negativity. This is meant to celebrate SMALLVILLE’S life on TV.
I remember when the show premiered 10 years ago. I had heard that there were plans to create a Bruce Wayne TV show. I remember thinking (and I still think this) that it would hard to pull that off because, at least to me, the show would have to take place all over the world to match Bruce Wayne’s training to become Batman. Then they decided to scrap that idea and go ahead with a Clark Kent TV show. In the end it ended up being for the best because the Bruce Wayne TV show sounded kinda dumb. Granted I still would’ve watched it. Anyway, I’ve always been a huge superhero fan and was excited to see what happened. Not long after that previews started showing up on the WB network for SMALLVILLE. At the time I was big into BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and ANGEL. I was very excited to see what would happen with this show. The previews were really cool. I remember thinking, “Hey that lady was in SUPERMAN III! And Lex is that one guy from URBAN LEGEND!”
Then on October 16, 2001 I sat down with my sister and watched the first episode of SMALLVILLE. I was completely blown away. It was so different and interesting but still felt like Superman to me. I was in love at first sight. I never lost that feeling. Tom Welling really felt like Clark Kent
The funny thing about the show was that sometimes I would get so frustrated that was still not Superman. Then I would watch the show and get so swept up in the action, drama, romance, etc that I would forget all about that. The producers always did a good job of keeping the show so interesting that, at least for me, it never really bothered me that Clark was not Superman. Although to be honest it did bother me that he didn’t wear glasses! Oh well, nothing I can do about that now . . . ;)
I remember one day I was driving and thinking about the show. It suddenly occurred to me that the main reason I was OK with Tom Welling never technically portraying Superman is that the show really felt like the greatest love letter that anyone could write to/about Superman. Also, as the seasons progressed it became more and more of a Superman show anyway. In season 8-10 especially the show shifted gears and really became about the classic Superman we all know and love. From a budding romance with Lois Lane, to team ups with the Justice League/Society, dealing with villains seemingly more powerful than himself (Doomsday, Zod, Darkseid), working at the Daily Planet (without a college degree?), and even more frequent appearances from Superman’s rogues gallery (Metallo, Toyman, Bruno “Ugly” Manheim, Silver Banshee, Parasite). The series became increasingly more like a Superman show every week.
SMALLVILLE has been a big part of my life and something that I will always hold near and dear to my heart. As I write this I realize that I have never missed a season premiere. The show has always found a way to impress me. Ten years and I loved it every week. My favorite years are definitely seasons 6 and 9. They felt the most “Superman” to me. But they also had the best episodes of any year. Episodes like PROMISE AND CROSSFIRE that were very much about Clark’s love life and how it’s never easy whether you’re from Krypton or from Earth. Or even episodes like JUSTICE and ABSOLUTE JUSTICE that were superhero extravaganzas! Not that the other seasons were bad, but in my opinion 6 and 9 were the best.
The show began with a “freak of the week” vibe not unlike how BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER began but the show quickly found out that whatever monster/alien/meteor freak was thrown at Clark his biggest enemy was always himself. Luckily, Clark managed to break free of his personal demons and become the world’s greatest hero – SUPERMAN.
I certainly hope that DC plans to continue SMALLVILLE in some fashion such as a “season 11” comic book ala BUFFY SEASON 8 comic book by Joss Whedon. That would certainly be something I would be very interested in. I don’t know if there are any plans like that now but maybe someday. Either way, SMALLVILLE remains the one show I have followed and loved closely for a good chunk of my life. I feel lucky that the show remained loyal to the fans as the fans remained loyal to SMALLVILLE. Maybe we will meet again someday. But for now, I will be happy knowing that it went out with a bang! Or should I say UP, UP, AND AWAY!
No comments:
Post a Comment