Smallville used to be a guilty pleasure of mine.
The plotlines were incredibly contrived, the lines – painfully cheesy, the acting – decidedly atrocious and the CGI… not exactly top notch.
But if anything, Smallville had one great thing going for it… Lana Lang. Haha, I kid. The show was rife with awesome fan references to obscure characters and storylines from the DCU – some of which actually involves Lana Lang!
I was lulled back to the show by the much advertised Geoff Johns (lead creator of Blackest Night) penned episode of Smallville which will feature *gasp* The Justice Society!
The Justice Society is a big thing on my comics shopping list, especially the Geoff Johns penned ones. The JSA is different from most superhero teams. With the motto of “The world need better good guys”, the JSA went about “collecting” the heirs of superheroes past and go through the 101 of “How to be a Superhero” with them…. Kinda like the X-Men, but cooler. You cannot go wrong with a bunch of old fogies like Wild Cat, Green Lantern (Alan Scott) and the Flash (Jay Gerrick) leading the team.
Because of its premise, the recent roster of the JSA has more than 20 members (or about 1% when compared to the cast of the X-Men) , but Geoff managed to create a personal touch for each of them. He made me care about B-Listers like (these are real superhero code names) the Atom Smasher, Power Girl, Mr Terrific, Citizen Steel, Sandy, etc…. but more importantly, he made it seemed like they care for each other too. There’s a warm and fuzzy feeling I get when reading them.
The original creators of Smallville had a strict “No Tights No Flights” policy. Think it worked in favor of the series as it kept a measure of suspense to the series. It explored possible “influences” that made Clark Kent Superman and hints at the possible future of Clark. There was an aura of suspense in the show… much like the “is it there/is it not” relationship of Agent Mulder and Scully in the X Files.
Besides this, there was another huge factor that made this code works – Tights just look ridiculous on normal human beings… eeeesh…
Anyway, a lot has apparently happened since Kristin Kreuk left the series. Besides using star writers like Geoff Johns to continue to lull fanboys in, the creators of Smallville had been using lots of guest stars and super heroes appearances to boost ratings.
They were apparently so desperate, they recently resorted to the use of… The Wonder Twins…. ooooooh….
Back to this episode of Clark Kent…. to summarize it in 2 words – IT SUCKS!
It seems even Geoff Johns cannot make comic book dialogue work in real life. Some decidedly witty one liners just does not come across right… Perhaps it’s the comic book to video conversion, or maybe… just maybe, the producers should channel their funding to acting classes for the cast. The plot for the episode was ok, but the acting made the show a pain to watch.
Actual lines from the show include such gems as:
Jo’hn Jonzz (aka: Martian Manhunter): I hope it’s not too late to say, “We come in peace.”
Green Arrow: Drop the mace, Conan.
Hawkman: I will… on your head.
Green Arrow: Bring it, big bird. Just for the record, you started it.
Hawkman: I’ll finish it
Oliver: What are you–my chaperone?
Hawkman: Think of me as your parole officer but with a mace.
Green Arrow: I’m thinking we should regroup with the others before we go after Icicle Junior.
Hawkman: You go back to Sherwood, Robin Hood. I’ll turn the Icicle into slush myself.
TOTAL Schumacher’s “Batman and Robin” Deja vu.
Hmm… maybe I shouldn’t be that hard on the actors… It seems impossible to deliver lines like these with a straight face… unless you’re Kristin.
Clones are people two 