Comments on: Cape Town

By: sonic producer

sonic producer — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 02:16:48 +0000

thanks to the author for taking his clock time on this one.

By: Travel Offers

Travel Offers — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 18:54:20 +0000

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By: collectededitions

collectededitions — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 02:11:36 +0000

I was amazed that the TV Guide review thought this was one of the best episodes of Smallville yet. As opposed to the Zod episode last season premiere, I found this one terribly predictable–we knew Lana wasn’t dead, we knew Chloe wasn’t dead, the Bizarro fight scene was terribly short, and himself was hardly distinguishable from the dozens of other Bad Clarks we’ve seen in the series.

Much as I love Smallville, my growing dismay concerning the show goes to Tom’s point that the show “must ultimately reinforce what it dances around”–I think the show’s finally stretched the possibility of this to the point of ridiculousness. At first I believed Smallville–could easily dovetail into the Superman mythos we all know; it’s reasonable to believe that the Smallville show could be the early days of the Byrne-era Superman, with a few tweaks. But with Lois, Jimmy, Perry, and now J’onn J’onzz and the Justice League, it’s gotten to the point where it seems impossible that the Smallville Clark could ever become “the Superman we know”–too much of the Superman life has been folded into the Smallville life.

Additionally–and I forget which blogger already said this, so forgive me–but the show is bringing so much Superman life into Clark’s Smallville life that we end up with the “why won’t Clark leave the barn” dilemma. It already seems like more than a forgone conclusion that Clark should become Superman, and yet he’s still reluctant to leave Smallville–even Martha’s left, for gosh sakes! When Chloe learned Bizarro could fly and quipped, “Clark, you’ve got to get on that one,” truer words were never spoken. Even the characters can tell this has been stretched on too long.

By: Tom Bondurant

Tom Bondurant — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 12:26:22 +0000

(13th post! W00t!)

By the way, that was a real Superman-style look Clark gave the kid at the end of the teaser last night. The rest of the episode was pretty decent too. Not sure about Alias!Lana, though….

By: edc

edc — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:01:06 +0000

y’know, they might be able to de-underpant the supersuit in the llast three or so installments.
make the suit truly alien.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:28:32 +0000

I think they realize that whenever they decide to end it, they have the potential for the most satisfying series finale EVER. They could spend the final stretch of episodes tying together all the threads and bringing everything to a head, with the last episode showing the public debut of Superman.

By: Mark Engblom

Mark Engblom — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:55:19 +0000

“Beyond that, though, “Smallville” seems content to be a Superman show without the Superman.”

Not entirely. I see it as an amalgamation of the Clark/Superman character. True, he’s not wearing the costume…but he’s also not in full “Clark Kent mode”, meaning the glasses, the altered behavior, etc. of his comic book Metropolis personna. The recurring red & blue color scheme on Welling also subtley drives home this point.

Except for the abysmal fourth season, I’ve been with the show since the beginning…and this season should be no exception.

I fully expect the first three or four episodes to elicit the usual “HOLY FREAKING CRAP!” reactions before settling down into a mild status quo for the remainder of the season….at least until the “HOLY FREAKING CRAP!” episodes leading up to the season finale.

Of course, the dynamic might change depending upon whether Smallville gets renewed for another season. I’m also hoping it’s the final season…since his Superman career seems just around the corner. I’m also hoping the series ends with Welling in full costume. I mean, come on…throw us a bone, here!

By: Tom Bondurant

Tom Bondurant — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:38:24 +0000

That’s why I don’t think the series will want to send Clark off as a lame Superman. Everything up to the Superman transformation is supposed to be worthy of an ironic, Buffy-esque show. Assuming the series still ends with Superman, the show can’t afford to look like it’s betrayed its principles. At the risk of sounding too harsh, therefore, I’d say “Smallville” will get the Superman it deserves.

By: Matthew E

Matthew E — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:41:55 +0000

See, the way I look at it is (and bear in mind I haven't watched much of Smallville since the first season) that it's not trying to be a show about Superman. It is one, but it isn't really interested in it. It's trying to be a male version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and has substituted Kryptonite and the Superman mythology for the Hellmouth and vampire lore. So, if a satisfactory Superman doesn't come out the other end of the show, who cares?

By: Billy ray

Billy ray — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:35:17 +0000

Or he could just kiss everyone who knows his secret ID, a la Superman 2. It would certainly feed the slash fiction fire..

By: Jeff Johnson

Jeff Johnson — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:18:14 +0000

Just wait, he’ll fly around the world a bunch of times and everybody will forget Clark is Superman.

At least in theory.

By: Sentry/Void

Sentry/Void — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:03:24 +0000

One thing that annoys me about Smallville is that if he becomes Superman, there’s no reason why Lois or Jimmy can’t say, “Oh that’s Clark Kent!” They’ve seen him loads of times without glasses

By: edc

edc — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:02:20 +0000

where DID spidey get that suit in the movies?

By: Squashua

Squashua — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:58:42 +0000

There was a great line in “Lois and Clark” where Martha Kent puts together the Superman outfit and sees Clark wearing it for the first time. She says something akin to, “Well, that’ll keep them from looking at your face!”

By: Tom Bondurant

Tom Bondurant — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:11:38 +0000

That was it — Peter using the costume to “market” himself. Admittedly, it probably makes more sense in the comics’ context than it does in the first movie’s.

By: Mark D. White

Mark D. White — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:06:01 +0000

Great piece, Tom, as usual – but what did you mean about Spidey’s costume being a marketing gimmick? Not challenging you, understand – I’ve just never heard of this. (Unless you mean the wrestling match thing in his origin story?)