Smallville

Smallville is an American superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produced by Millar/Gough Ink, Tollin/Robbins Productions, DC Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Television. It follows the coming-of-age adventures of teenage Clark Kent (Tom Welling) in his fictional hometown of Smallville, Kansas, before he formally becomes the Man of Steel. The first four seasons focus on the high school life of Clark and his friends, his complicated romance with neighbor girl Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), and his friendship with future nemesis Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum). From season five onward, Smallville ventures into Clark's early adult years, eventually focusing on his career alongside Lois Lane (Erica Durance) at the Daily Planet and introducing other DC comic book superheroes and villains.

Before the production, Bruce Wayne, a drama series chronicling the young protagonist's journey toward Batman, was proposed first. Although that series failed to generate interest, it inspired the idea of a Superman origin story, which later became Smallville. Gotham later used that idea three years after Smallville's conclusion.

Series developers Gough and Millar pitched their "no tights, no flights" rule to the president of Warner Bros. Television, reducing the Man of Steel to the bare moral essentials and examining what led Clark Kent to become the iconic superhero. After seven seasons with the show, Gough and Millar departed with little explanation. Smallville was primarily filmed in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, with local businesses and buildings substituting for Smallville locations. Most of the music for the first six seasons was composed by Mark Snow, who incorporated elements of John Williams's musical score from the Superman film series. Louis Febre (who worked with Snow from the beginning) became the series' primary composer in season seven.

Initially broadcast by The WB, the show premiered on October 16, 2001. After its fifth season, the WB and UPN merged to form The CW, the series' later United States broadcaster until its tenth and final season ended on May 13, 2011. Smallville was generally positively received when it began. Former Superman star Christopher Reeve approved of the series, making two guest appearances before his death. The pilot episode set a ratings record for a WB debut, with 8.4 million viewers. Over ten seasons, the series averaged about 4.34 million viewers per episode, with season two the highest-rated at 6.3 million. By the end of its run, Smallville passed Stargate SG-1 as the longest-running North American science fiction series by episode count.[2] Since its first season, the series has received accolades ranging from Emmys to Teen Choice Awards. Smallville spawned a series of young adult novels, a DC Comics bimonthly comic book, soundtracks, and series-related merchandise. All ten seasons are available on DVD in regions 1, 2, and 4. After the series finale in 2011, the story resumed in comic book form as Smallville Season 11, which ran from April 2012 to November 2014.

Series overview

The regular cast is introduced in the first season, with storylines involving a villain deriving power from kryptonite exposure. The one-episode villains were a plot device developed by Gough and Millar. Smallville's first season primarily dealt with Clark Kent's coming to terms with his alien origin and the revelation that his arrival on Earth was connected to the death of Lana Lang's parents.

After the first season the series had fewer villain-of-the-week episodes, focusing instead on individual-character story arcs and exploring Clark's origins.[3] Major storylines include Clark's discovery of his Kryptonian heritage and Lex Luthor's escalating conflict with his father, Lionel.[4] The disembodied voice of Clark's biological father, Jor-El, is introduced; he communicates to Clark through his spaceship, setting the stage for plots involving his role in fulfilling Clark's earthly destiny.[5]

In a fourth-season arc Clark, instructed by Jor-El, searches for three Kryptonian stones which contain the knowledge of the universe and form his

Cast

• Tom Welling as Clark Kent, a young man with superhuman abilities who tries to find his place in life after discovering that he is an extraterrestrial in origin and uses his powers to help those in danger. Clark's season-one problems include his inability to share his secret and his desire for a normal life. After months of scouting, Welling was cast as Clark.[15] David Nutter had to convince Welling's manager that the role would not hurt the actor's film career in order to get Welling to read the pilot script. After reading the script, Welling agreed to audition for the role of Clark Kent. Tom Welling operated under a strict "No Tights, No Flights" rule to stay true to the origin story element of the show.
• Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang, the girl next door. Grieving the loss of her parents, she has empathy for everyone and feels connected to Clark.[16] Kreuk was the first to be cast, after Nutter saw an audition tape the actress had sent. Although she left the series after the seventh season,[17] she returned for five episodes in season eight as a special guest star.[18]

Production

Broadcasting

Smallville premiered at 9:00 pm on Tuesday,[89] October 16, 2001 on the WB.[90] For five seasons, the series aired on the WB, moving from Tuesday at 9:00 pm to Wednesday at 8:00 pm and eventually to Thursday at 8:00 pm. In 2006, before the start of Smallvilles sixth season, the WB and UPN merged into The CW and the series continued in its lineup.[91] During its seventh season, the series aired in Canada a day earlier than it did in the United States.[92] In May 2009, Smallvilles ninth season moved to Friday at 8:00 pm, considered the "death slot" for television programs.[93][94]

Reception

Smallville set a WB record as its highest-rated series debut, with 8.4 million viewers tuned in for the pilot.[99] Its premiere set a WB record for adults aged 18–34 and finished first among viewers aged 12–34, with Warner Bros. president Jordan Levin crediting the series with invigorating the network's Tuesday-night lineup. Smallville appeared on the cover of Entertainment Weekly as one of five new shows to watch.[100] After its first season, the series was sixth on the Parents Television Council's 10-best list of broadcast programs.[101] Levin, acknowledging early concerns that Smallville had become a villain of the week series, said that season two would introduce "smaller mini-arcs over three to four episodes" and become less of a "serialized show".[102] According to Gough, although each succeeding season relied more on season-long story arcs, an occasional villain-of-the-week story was necessary. The villain-of-the-week stories were more harshly criticized by fans of the Superman mythology, but Gough wanted to please them and the WB's general audience (teenagers who preferred villain-of-the-week stories over episodes focusing on the Superman mythology).[103]

Other media

Smallville has generated other media and spin-offs, from young-adult novels and comic books to Internet-based mini-episodes with characters from the series. It influenced the British TV series, Merlin.[157]

Home media

Seasons one through ten have been released on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4. Seasons five and six were also released in the HD DVD format on November 28, 2006[228] and September 18, 2007,[229] respectively. Seasons six, seven, eight, nine and ten have been released for Blu-ray. The DVD releases include deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurettes and commentary by cast and crew members on selected episodes. The promotional tie-ins Chloe Chronicles and Vengeance Chronicles accompanied the season two, three and five box sets. Other special features include interactive functionality (such as a tour of Smallville), a comic book and DVD-ROM material.[230]

For the 20th anniversary, the complete series was released for the first time on Blu-ray on October 16, 2021.[231] Season one is the only season to be produced in standard-definition; all subsequent seasons were produced in high definition. The 20th Anniversary Blu-ray release contains the original standard-definition of season one, upscaled; with seasons two, three, and four in their native high-definition for the first time.

Merchandise

Since Smallville began airing, a variety of merchandise connected with the series has been produced. Two soundtrack albums of songs from the show have been released. Smallville: The Talon Mix, with a group of artists who licensed their music for the show, was issued on February 25, 2003.[281] Smallville: The Metropolis Mix, with another group of artists, was released on November 8, 2005.[282] In addition to the soundtracks, action figures, T-shirts, hats and posters have been produced.[283] In December 2002 autographed Smallville merchandise was listed for auction on eBay, with the proceeds going to charity.[284] In 2003, Titan Magazines began publishing a monthly Smallville magazine with cast and crew interviews, information on Smallville merchandise and photos. The 34th and final issue was published in November 2009.[285]

Titan Books published companion volumes for each season with cast and crew interviews, episode descriptions and behind-the-scenes photos.

See also

• Gotham (TV series)
• Krypton (TV series)
• Superman franchise cast

External links

Official

Miscellaneous

• Official MySpace page

• KryptonSite
• Smallville Wiki at Fandom – a Smallville wiki encyclopedia.