The show is good and they do a good job portraying what it may have been like for Clark Kent growing up. Tom Welling is a great Clark and Annette O'Toole and John Schneider are perfect for his parents Jonathon and Martha Kent.
The Lana character, Chloe and Pete are all there because you couldn't market a teen drama (which is what it was) without some high school friends.
The real cool character though through the first 3 seasons I've now seen is Lex Luthor.
To anyone who really doesn't know, in the Superman universe Lex Luthor is to Superman what the Joker is to Batman. He is the worst of villains and often believes his evil to be for the good of mankind.
Smallville takes a lot of liberties but long story short is this. Lex is banished to run some plant in Smallville, Clark uses his power to save his life and they become friends. Lex is always trying to figure how Clark saved him and knows Clark is hiding something, leading to tension and what will ultimately doom their friendship and in a sense shape the future of the world.
(Side note, Clark Kent being from Smallville has a nice Jesus metaphor. From an otherwise insignificant town comes world's greatest hero)
But how interesting. We see how the choices Lex and Clark make shape the other's life.
Lex Luthor is more identifiable than Clark to me and I think that's what they were going for.
Clark is unbreakable, indestructible and never wavering in his beliefs of truth, justice and "other stuff." He is who I guess we all want to be.
Lex on the other hand is a brilliant mind, curious, seeking the truth or some version of it. He craves power and is full of ambition but isn't a bad person. He's fiercely loyal.
But there is a dark side. He struggles with an evil dad and valiantly against his destiny to be even worse. Lex struggles to do the right thing and often doesn't. He fails at being good again and again and each time gets a little closer to being the super villain he will become.
I don't identify with super villain Luthor, but rather with the mostly regular guy who tries to do the right thing.
I always love Shakespeare's tragic heroes and while Luthor in comic lore never gets his redemption (to my knowledge), his story from the Smallville perspective is truly a tragic one.
Anywho I know I'm a decade late in posting a review of that series but I've been watching it a lot and wanted to throw my two cents out there.
------
Update on the coming Robot War.
I think the machines are trying to scare us into submission.
They sent their champion out against two of our greatest trivia warriors and showed their utter dominance on Jeopardy.
An IBM computer known as Watson destroyed Jeopardy champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter the other day, showing that we have little hope of outsmarting them when the war comes.
Be ready people. You never know when the robot apocalypse will begin.
Oh man I used to watch this back in the day, sadly though I probably dropped off near the fourth season. I think you hit the nail right on the head with the seasons I did watch; the most interesting and complex relationship on the show was clark and lex's. Truly painful to see how they're friends and know that the future isn't so bright at all.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure lana lang was an actual superman character, that did go to high school with clark, I'm unsure about the other characters, they probably could have just been made up for that tv show. I also think the lana clark relationship is interesting in some similar sense. She's obviously very important to clark, but everyone knows superman ends up with lois lane.
It's interesting to watch a show when you know how characters will end up in the end. Something I don't think many shows on television do. Also I have to like smallville b/c that show got writers from my favorite show back then
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
total shout out, but that was my favorite so I had to do it. ;)
Yeah Lana was a character from Superman's past so she fits in, she just bores me usually.
ReplyDeletehahahahahahahahahaha. i only laugh because my sister is named after lana lang.
ReplyDeleteIn regard to your update:
ReplyDeleteYou know, scientists are ignorantly optimistic people. They think their inventions will only be used to assist human development, but rarely take the time to consider the potentially horrific aspects of their creation. Here is one of my personal favorite modern inventions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf0E9llkZIU
That video is horrifying....also of note. When Watson destroyed the competition again yesterday, Jennings wrote along with his final jeapordy answer
ReplyDelete"I for one welcome our new computer overlords."
Jennings was quoting Kent Brockman from that Simpsons where Homer goes to space. For a moment it appeared that giant ants had taken over the shuttle and Brockman started a monologue in support of the glorious new regime by saying "I for one welcome our new insect overlords..."
ReplyDelete