MovieChat Forums > Smallville (2001) Discussion > Smallville is the most stagnant show eve...

Smallville is the most stagnant show ever

posted 4 years ago by MickyMac (2935)
14 replies | jump to latest

Especially in it's first seven seasons. It has a multitude of deep format flaws that I'm not sure the writers knew they were creating but if they did they certainly didn't intend for the show to go through any major changes as little did they know it would go on for ten seasons.

Clark and Lana love story could've easily ended after three seasons but they were dead set on it probably because they felt because it's about a young Superman he should be obsessing over his first love for the entire series.

The creators were dead set on Clark not flying until the end but it was like a four season rule and most of the time was making Clark look bad especially when other characters could and made him the most stagnant character on the show and as a result his first flight in the last episode was a bit of a let down for one saving stuff til the end can lead to problems.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (12244) 4 years ago

My brother (who is a fan of the show) did admit that the first season was beating a dead horse with the "meteorite freaks" plots they kept laying out. It only works so many times before the plot gets old and stale.

I had my own issues with the show, but they weren't about stagnation.

[–] ghostboy (652) 4 years ago

My problem with the show mainly came from how goofy/cheesy it got in the later seasons when they kept bringing in more comic book characters and I hated The Green Arrow and he had so much screen time....it made some seasons painful to watch.

[–] MickyMac (2935) 4 years ago

Clark did nothing but farm work for seven seasons, his college days only last a few episodes, perhaps him working at a Smallville newspaper would've been a better post high plan for him.

[–] Ripkens25 (1898) 4 years ago

The evolving dynamic between the friendship of Clark and Lex was what made the story and seasons very interesting to me. It was like a Greek tragedy.

[–] melissah1982 (883) 3 years ago

Agree. I didn't watch the show the first season because I thought it was ridiculous they would know each other during that time. But after watching an episode (I love Superman, I couldn't keep away) I 'got' it and loved it since.

I didn't feel the show itself was stagnant but they definitely let Clark be stagnant and I actually feel sorry for Tom Welling that they let that happen to his character. They let the 'no flights, no tights' thing go on WAAAAY too long. Once they started making Metropolis and major set piece and talking about the 'red/blue blur' (stupidest name ever) they needed to just let him be Superman. Him having a fear of flying when you had the entire Justice league formed and Super Girl on the show was ridiculous. when everyone else on the show is more powerful then the main character in that way, that's a problem to me.

Smallville was a great concept. But in my opinion, they should have ended it when the kids 'grew up' and did a soft spin off naming it Metropolis with most of the same cast.

[–] MickyMac (2935) 3 years ago

They were sticking to the version where he doesn't fly until he puts on the suit like in The Movie and MOS, but it was kind of hard to have that be effective at all when it's a commonplace in pop culture, also felt a bit time worn and too much of a stretch of creditability to have a pre Superman Clark Kent not being able to fly when his other powers were developing.

[–] melissah1982 (883) 3 years ago

I definitely get that was the idea; waiting for the suit. They just missed the sweet spot where it should have happened and it was like they couldn't find a way back to it.

[–] MickyMac (2935) 3 years ago

As said before the no flying rule was like a four season thing that lasted the entire series since the show was meant to be like a five year plan, him flying with no suit like in the Lois & Clark pilot perhaps would've brought in better stronger dramatic possibilities and better reasons why he suits up later on in life.

The original writers have some regrets about the no flights rule https://moviechat.org/tt0279600/Smallville/5afcc012d8047d0014c2e245/Gough-and-Millars-ending

[–] MickyMac (2935) 3 years ago

Even in the Lois & Clark pilot he was able to fly long before he puts on the suit, what was wrong with that?

They couldn't have different actors playing the characters future selves because the actors were old enough to be playing their future counterparts, Gotham was able to do it because the actor playing young Bruce Wayne was too young to be playing adult Bruce Wayne/Batman.

[–] Artisan (3464) 3 years ago

I liked how slow it was to begin with it was later on when they started throwing all these aliens in and Aquaman it just got too much.

[–] ATG6 (3000) 3 years ago

Smallville was a great show. Clark being stuck in his world and not taking on the mantle of Superman as world savior was the main point -- to show what was holding him back, where he came from, and how he overcame his struggles along the way.

[–] melissah1982 (883) 3 years ago

That's all great but the big problem most people have is it went on for WAY too long. It got to the point where in the last few seasons, we had Doomsday, the Justice League, Supergirl with full powers BEFORE Clark, that weird group of future people all having powers and knowing what who Clark is or supposed to be...everyone...except Clark. It just became a story where he was no longer the main character and was instead that geeky kid who was still in the shallow end of the pool while all his friends were in the deep end shouting for him to join them. It got plain embarrassing.

I'm for the idea of trying to round the story out, ending Clark as full on Superman by the show's finale episode is a great ending to the show; But they stretched it too long into 10 years without a real idea of pacing and plot lines to fill in the gaps enough for the audience.

[–] Cognoscente (2463) 3 years ago

Clark was The Flash of his time.

[–] MickyMac (2935) 3 years ago

The more you think about it how many secret rescues from Clark until people start pointing fingers, in the first season there was a crooked cop and a reporter on to him.