Third earth is Earth in the Future.
https://www.looper.com/103557/things-thundercats-notice-adult/?utm_campaign=clip
News Smallville complete series finally coming to blu-ray
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Third earth is Earth in the Future.
https://www.looper.com/103557/things-thundercats-notice-adult/?utm_campaign=clip
That's a depressing thought.
Just finished season 4. I like how when Jor-El said that (poor) Lana killing Doctor Quinn caused something to be released, your mind goes directly to Zod. It wasn’t him of course but Brainiac which was still pretty interesting. I don’t remember that he did much though. He was also too human like. I wish he was more mechanical like.
Lana giving him the Crystal should have been the final straw when it came to his secret. All it does is just make Clark look like a asshole from then on.
Speaking of the crystals I wonder who back in the day knew it was just a elongated story about the creation of the fortress of solitude. In hindsight it makes sense but I’m curious if people saw that coming. I mean they sure gave enough hints on what it was.
So season 5 next but I already own the HD DVD version of that so it wouldn’t be as special to watch but I hear they used a better codec when they encoded it so the picture will be better.
Lana giving him the Crystal should have been the final straw when it came to his secret. All it does is just make Clark look like a asshole from then on.
Speaking of the crystals I wonder who back in the day knew it was just a elongated story about the creation of the fortress of solitude. In hindsight it makes sense but I’m curious if people saw that coming. I mean they sure gave enough hints on what it was.
So season 5 next but I already own the HD DVD version of that so it wouldn’t be as special to watch but I hear they used a better codec when they encoded it so the picture will be better.
Just watched the 100th episode which is good but also really annoying as well. Why not just tell Lana he’s Superman but tell her not to see Lex. You can even tell her why. Sure the dad would probably still die, but that was going to happen regardless. Just wasn’t really thought out.
That silly vampire episode episode though. I feel like the only reason they made that episode was to make James Marsters say, “there are no such thing as vampires”. It wouldn’t surprise me if they tried to get SMG to play the lead vampire as well.
Lana did make a sexy vampire though.
That silly vampire episode episode though. I feel like the only reason they made that episode was to make James Marsters say, “there are no such thing as vampires”. It wouldn’t surprise me if they tried to get SMG to play the lead vampire as well.
Lana did make a sexy vampire though.
Still watching, still loving, BTW. I'm having to be careful in this thread at this point, because thribs has gotten WAY ahead of me (I watch at the rate of one episode a night, on average), and as I've discovered several times already, my memories of the show are incomplete enough that spoilers are still a thing. Saw "Shattered" last night, which was a pretty amazing episode, and certainly a tour de force for Rosenbaum. Tonight was "Asylum," and man, that was a dark and heavy show. Lionel is an amazingly evil bastard who seriously needs killing.
(And I do remember that Lex does just that in a few seasons, in what was the most jaw-dropping moment of the entire series for me.)
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As one who usually downplays Emmy expectation when it comes to genre stuff, he definitely deserved to be in the discussion. I don't think it's hyperbole to call it the best post-Buffy single episode performance the network has ever had.
*Oh and the B-Plot of Asylum is one of my least favroite things of the whole series. Well I don't think it's inherently bad, it's just such an unneeded distraction (that ultimately only amounts to like two minutes of tension) and just totally drags the rest of the episode down with it.
*Oh and the B-Plot of Asylum is one of my least favroite things of the whole series. Well I don't think it's inherently bad, it's just such an unneeded distraction (that ultimately only amounts to like two minutes of tension) and just totally drags the rest of the episode down with it.
Today marks the end of my re-watch with Finale. Should have been called Superman but whatever. I was never the biggest fan of the finale. They spent way too much time on the wedding stuff which I didn't care for and the whole planet coming to hit Earth was a bit silly. That and waiting 10 years for him to put on the suit and only getting CGI wide shots of it was very disappointing. I was enjoying their Darkseid take until that point. Maybe it would have been better to use Zod for the end rather than for season 9.
The flashforward was interesting as I forgot that was set in 2018. That means that just under two years from that, he's married, has two girls and has given up his powers. Hopefully it's just temporary as Lex as President is supposed to do something terrible and he needs to be there to stop it.
The best thing they did in season 10 was how they handled Superboy. The story of his creation is very similar to the comics, but focusing on the Lex side rather than Superman at first made for a good swerve. I congratulate them for that.
The flashforward was interesting as I forgot that was set in 2018. That means that just under two years from that, he's married, has two girls and has given up his powers. Hopefully it's just temporary as Lex as President is supposed to do something terrible and he needs to be there to stop it.
The best thing they did in season 10 was how they handled Superboy. The story of his creation is very similar to the comics, but focusing on the Lex side rather than Superman at first made for a good swerve. I congratulate them for that.
Haven't posted in quite a while, but I've continued my rewatch apace. Nearing the end of Season 4 at this point, and it's frankly been kind of a mess. The Kryptonian stones MacGuffin is nonsense, and has led the narrative some weird and ill-advised places (the trip to Shanghai in "Sacred" is a very long way from Smallville both geographically and conceptually).
The best thing about the season by far has been the introduction of Erica Durance's quite splendid Lois Lane. The first time I watched Smallville, I was not nearly as dialed-in to Lois as a character as I am now -- and by that I don't mean the Smallville version specifically, but Lois throughout her many comics and media portrayals and incarnations. At this point, she's as much the reason I'm into Superman stories as Clark himself, and I wondered how I'd react to Durance's version on this second viewing.
Turns out she's really great, and brings a brand-new kind of energy to the show it's never had before. She also wakes up sleepy Tom Welling, who rises to the occasion and seems to relish their antagonistic give-and-take.
Tonight I watched "Lucy," and that final scene in the barn between Clark and Lois was fuel for my Clois-loving heart. The acknowledgment of their burgeoning friendship, the lyrics of the song under the scene ("Cos I'm showing you where to begin/Better everything/Now it all begins/You've got to fly"), then Clark looking through the telescope and seeing the shooting star striking another object, which then flares with light and takes off in flight ... just beautifully done.
The best thing about the season by far has been the introduction of Erica Durance's quite splendid Lois Lane. The first time I watched Smallville, I was not nearly as dialed-in to Lois as a character as I am now -- and by that I don't mean the Smallville version specifically, but Lois throughout her many comics and media portrayals and incarnations. At this point, she's as much the reason I'm into Superman stories as Clark himself, and I wondered how I'd react to Durance's version on this second viewing.
Turns out she's really great, and brings a brand-new kind of energy to the show it's never had before. She also wakes up sleepy Tom Welling, who rises to the occasion and seems to relish their antagonistic give-and-take.
Tonight I watched "Lucy," and that final scene in the barn between Clark and Lois was fuel for my Clois-loving heart. The acknowledgment of their burgeoning friendship, the lyrics of the song under the scene ("Cos I'm showing you where to begin/Better everything/Now it all begins/You've got to fly"), then Clark looking through the telescope and seeing the shooting star striking another object, which then flares with light and takes off in flight ... just beautifully done.
Haven't posted in a while, but the rewatch continues. Tonight was "Hero," surely a prime contender for the series' nadir. It was hide-your-face embarrassing. 
But this video made me laugh a lot:
One thing this rewatch has confirmed for me is my original impression that the show was much better in its early years.
But this video made me laugh a lot:
One thing this rewatch has confirmed for me is my original impression that the show was much better in its early years.
I had to scoff at that video. I've done a binge re-watch and the things that annoyed me first time around disappeared when I watched the episodes one or two at a time each day without long breaks like in the old days. I didn't have such a problem with "one step forward, two steps back" storytelling, and saw what the writers were doing. The series wasn't perfect, but it was damned good, and yeah, it laid the foundation for all the cool shows we've enjoyed since.Haven't posted in a while, but the rewatch continues. Tonight was "Hero," surely a prime contender for the series' nadir. It was hide-your-face embarrassing.
But this video made me laugh a lot:
One thing this rewatch has confirmed for me is my original impression that the show was much better in its early years.
I wasn't intending to bash Smallville, but "Hero" was pretty terrible, and the series as a whole does have certain foibles that the video skewers in a humorous fashion. I can laugh at it and still love it.
The thing people tend to forget is that Smallville was what we had as a super powers series. The effects were well done for the time and some of the acting was stellar. For all its problems, it was a decent live action interpretation of the Superman mythology and we had it for 11 years.
I listened to the first episode of Talkville and also listened to Welling’s most recent appearance on Rosenbaum own podcast in the same night. So my memory is fuzzy on which Tom Welling revealed the following -
It was part of Tom Welling’s original contract when he signed to do the show that he would never have to wear the Superman suit. He said during the first season the writers tried to have a future vision of Superman. When he reminded them of his contract and said it was not going to be him. They were forced to rewrite it. We all know the episode. It became a cgi image of Superman’s cape flying from behind and nothing more.
I guess you got to give him credit for holding his ground for 10 years...
I just do not know what to say. I remember an early season 1 interview where he basically said the same thing. Yet you had fans waiting all those years for something that was never going to happen.
Though if my memory is right in the interview on Rosenbaum’s podcast for first time Welling said he would NOW be open to consider playing Superman. I believe he said it was with age and distance from the show he would see it as a fresh challenge.
I just had to roll my eyes though. He had the appropriate time in the finale and personally rejected it. That finale is so awkwardly written because it was trying to appease an actor who never let go of hang ups when he signed up for the role. I actually respect his objections in that first season episode. If he agreed than it would have likely lead to the writers having future visions all the time. But that he still refused to wear the suit in the actual final episode...
It was part of Tom Welling’s original contract when he signed to do the show that he would never have to wear the Superman suit. He said during the first season the writers tried to have a future vision of Superman. When he reminded them of his contract and said it was not going to be him. They were forced to rewrite it. We all know the episode. It became a cgi image of Superman’s cape flying from behind and nothing more.
I guess you got to give him credit for holding his ground for 10 years...
I just do not know what to say. I remember an early season 1 interview where he basically said the same thing. Yet you had fans waiting all those years for something that was never going to happen.
Though if my memory is right in the interview on Rosenbaum’s podcast for first time Welling said he would NOW be open to consider playing Superman. I believe he said it was with age and distance from the show he would see it as a fresh challenge.
I just had to roll my eyes though. He had the appropriate time in the finale and personally rejected it. That finale is so awkwardly written because it was trying to appease an actor who never let go of hang ups when he signed up for the role. I actually respect his objections in that first season episode. If he agreed than it would have likely lead to the writers having future visions all the time. But that he still refused to wear the suit in the actual final episode...
Even to this day he's very touchy about people saying Superman instead of Clark when they talk about Smallville. In Talkville ep 1, he's very quick to correct Rosenbaum's offsider. "I never played Superman!" (even though he technically did for a hot minute.)
The only thing as eye-rolling about Tom's fear of the cape is the percentage of the audience who wanted him to wear it. I really wish the show had stayed properly with Clark and not the horrible almosts they kept designing. Red leather jackets and long black coats with chalk shields...feh. Of course, I actually wish they'd wrapped the show up much earlier, but that's me.
The only thing as eye-rolling about Tom's fear of the cape is the percentage of the audience who wanted him to wear it. I really wish the show had stayed properly with Clark and not the horrible almosts they kept designing. Red leather jackets and long black coats with chalk shields...feh. Of course, I actually wish they'd wrapped the show up much earlier, but that's me.
There is no real evidence he really wore the S Symbol in the finale. Sounds crazy? We only see it for a few seconds. It could easily been put in digitally. When he is rescuing Lois on Air Force One he was clearly wearing a Blue top. But that might have been it. The cape was cgi.
Compare to Hayden Christensen who when first hired to play Anakin Skywalker had no reason to expect to wear the Darth Vader. Originally played by a Body Builder much taller than him in a mask. Yet when Episode 3 came insisted to George Lucas that he wanted to be in the Vader suit even for the brief end scene. Of course years later has returned to so again. Because he sees Vader as a continuation of his performance as Anakin.
Listening to that first Talkville episode it’s clear Welling had little experience as an actor. Brutally honest it was evident on screen too. I guess the producers wanted that for a young naive inexperienced Clark Kent. He never really moved far beyond that though as an actor. The longer the show was on the more strained the premise and pretense that he was “Only Clark Kent”. Especially when they gave him prototype suits and was running around with other heroes who were fully developed.
Compare to Hayden Christensen who when first hired to play Anakin Skywalker had no reason to expect to wear the Darth Vader. Originally played by a Body Builder much taller than him in a mask. Yet when Episode 3 came insisted to George Lucas that he wanted to be in the Vader suit even for the brief end scene. Of course years later has returned to so again. Because he sees Vader as a continuation of his performance as Anakin.
Listening to that first Talkville episode it’s clear Welling had little experience as an actor. Brutally honest it was evident on screen too. I guess the producers wanted that for a young naive inexperienced Clark Kent. He never really moved far beyond that though as an actor. The longer the show was on the more strained the premise and pretense that he was “Only Clark Kent”. Especially when they gave him prototype suits and was running around with other heroes who were fully developed.
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Listening to 2nd Talkville episode and liking their honesty. Michael clearly thought Bugboy was step down from Pilot. That is why show was labeled Freak of Week so quickly. That set real weekly format for show and not really about characters.
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