Growing up, my favorite two super-heroes were Batman and Superman.
And, despite being a “Batman guy”, one of the most significant events of my childhood was seeing Christopher Reeve don both the glasses and cape in Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie.
And things weren’t like they are today for fans of television and films based on comic book characters. With the exception of Saturday morning programming, there wasn’t much besides a short-lived Spider-Man live action series, and long, better received seasons of both Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk.
And that’s where things pretty much stayed until 1989 when Tim Burton’s Batman was released; jump starting a demand that already seemed to have burned out by the fall release of tv’s The Flash series and then a few years later with the tepid romantic comedy, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.After a fairly solid first season, Lois & Clark pushed out three more disappointing seasons before it’s mercy cancellation.
And with that, superhero television had pretty much ended.
That is until Smallville launched on October 16th, 2001 from creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough.
Chronicling Clark Kent’s journey from high school into the role of the iconic mild-mannered reporter was nothing like the Christopher Reeve version, no glasses or cape. In fact, the series motto was “no tights, no flights”; a mandate from Gough and Millar that became more and more challenging as the series went on.
Now, on it’s twentieth anniversary, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has released the entire series on Blu-ray and revisiting it this past week has been interesting. Let me start off by saying I always liked the series. I’ve seen every season and watched it religiously from it’s premiere. Which leads directly to my thoughts on both the set and the series itself.
Tom Welling has truly become Superman.
Watching his performance from the pilot through the end of the series, he has evolved into an extremely talented actor. Director Richard Donner believed that “verisimilitude” helped define his work on the first film and Welling has it in excess. With the entire series resting on his shoulders, Welling captures Superman’s strength and is often confronted with his greatest weakness; caring about people.
The supporting cast evolved throughout the decade long run, but standouts include Michael Rosenbaum’s Lex Luthor, John Schneider’s Jonathan Kent, and Erica Durance’s Lois Lane. There’s no coincidence that these three performances come from the most important characters in the mythos. Supporting these actors are part of a strong ensemble which also included Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang, Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan, Anette O’Toole as Martha Kent, John Glover as Lionel Luthor, Lauren Vandervoot as Kara Zor-El (Supergirl), Cassidy Freeman as Tess Mercerand Justin Hartley as Oliver Queen (Green Arrow).
Combining standard “villain of the week” storylines, with those which delved into the icon’s mythology, Smallville‘s success in both guest casting and introducing characters from the mythos set a precedent that allowed Greg Berlanti to introduce his “Arrowverse.”
Among the iconic characters introduced on Smallville were Jor-El, Zod, Brainiac, Jimmy Olsen, The Martian Manhunter, Black Canary, the Suicide Squad (Amanda Waller, Deadshot, Rick Flag, Icicle, Plastique, and Warp), Brainiac, Andrea Rojas, the Legion of Super-Heroes (Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, and Cosmic Boy), Cyborg, Livewire, Speedy (Mia Dearden), Impulse (Bart Allen), the Wonder Twins, Neutron, Doomsday, Brainiac 5, Parasite, Zatanna, Stargirl, Wildcat, Doctor Fate, and Aquaman, Gordon Godfrey, Aquaman, The Flash, Metallo, Desaad, Granny Goodness, Zatanna,, Maxwell Lord, Slade Wilson, Morgan Edge, Dr. Fate, Booster Gold, Doomsday and the Parasite and attracted such talent as Terrence Stamp, James Marsters, Alan Ritchson, Pam Grier, Helen Slater, Michael Ironside, Julian Sands, Rutger Hauer, Lizzy Caplan, Amy Adams, Carrie Fisher, Dave Bautista, Marc McClure, Jensen Ackles, Lynda Carter, Margot Kidder, Ian Somerhalder, William B. Davis, Jane Seymour, Joe Morton, and the GOAT Christopher Reeve who thought Welling “should have” been cast as the next big screen interpretation of the Man of Steel.
But the theme at the heart of the series was love and family.
Fathers and sons. Clark and Jonathan. Clark and Jor-El. Lex and Lionel. Clark and Lana. Clark and Lex. And ultimately, Clark and Lois. I’ve always been a bigger fan of the small moments between characters rather than the big action beats. With Smallville you see how relationships and friendships evolve; blossoming and dying. All while watching a shy, farm boy take the necessary steps to becoming the most important person in the world.
The box set is packed with extras including featurettes, commentary tracks and more. There’s lots here for fans of the series or newcomers who have an interest in the character. While not every storyline or season is perfect, watching the series and characters evolve is one of the great joys of the series. It’s even more surreal that during the decade long run, Welling has played the character for hundreds of hours of screen time longer than the next runner-up.
Smallville: The Complete Series is both highly recommended and a must have for any super-hero fan’s collection.
WBHE provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.
