Finally some continuity...

[SuperVan]

1 - reference to nuclear silo

2- police being killed in Arvial

3- smashed Red Truck

4 - reference to Pete

[Clark Kent 86]

Good to see the TPTB are paying attention. I loved the reference to Pete!

[MBCorp]

Lex also mentioned Lexmas to Lana.

[LexLuthorMetropolis]

Feels like a one shot deal. They only do it if they want it. Look for them to fall back into a slump of one shots that don't acknowledge anything soon enough.

[Ebert & Roeper]

Wait?!!! A Pete reference? Where and when? how did I miss it? Are you talking about the 7th heaven commerical, because he was in that...?:lol:

[LexLuthorMetropolis]

Martha referenced Pete and Chloe on knowing the secret. Yawns. Such a so-so moment.

I would like to see them mentioned when it actually concerns them and not own Clark's selfishness.

[F-Stop Blues]

Originally posted by LexLuthorMetropolis
Feels like a one shot deal. They only do it if they want it. Look for them to fall back into a slump of one shots that don't acknowledge anything soon enough.

I disagree. I think they have made a conscious effort to have more continuity this season. Gough even said so in his interview with K-Site.

[Summers]

Gough says a lot of crap from his lies to his contradications :lol:.

Plus when Martha referenced Pete and Chloe it actually showed false continuity. Clark never told them about his secret. They happen to find out on their own. He essentially had to be forced to tell them due the situations Pete and Chloe came into.

[LexLuthorMetropolis]

AlMiles constantly contradict themselves in interviews over-and-over again. Particularly with continuity and it continues to show even if they do slide in references to this past year.

These are the same guys that claimed to have a five year plan and then turned around decided to go ahead and plan another season. If they had truly planned this stuff, we wouldn't have such bad arcs and constant stand alone episodes but that's what we continually get.

And that goes back to the evolution of the characters as well. Clark is the same Clark from S1 just with a semi-existent selfish relationship with no sense of responsiblity.

[F-Stop Blues]

Originally posted by LexLuthorMetropolis
AlMiles constantly contradict themselves in interviews over-and-over again. Particularly with continuity and it continues to show even if they do slide in references to this past year.

These are the same guys that claimed to have a five year plan and then turned around decided to go ahead and plan another season. If they had truly planned this stuff, we wouldn't have such bad arcs and constant stand alone episodes but that's what we continually get.

And that goes back to the evolution of the characters as well. Clark is the same Clark from S1 just with a semi-existent selfish relationship with no sense of responsiblity.


I completely agree but Im just saying that season 5 has much better continuity then the last season and I dont think its by accident.

[LexLuthorMetropolis]

I'm going to have to disagree there. They've already screwed up continuity twice this season (once with Chloe/Lionel and in tonight's episode).

This year they've brought it back into play as more "eye candy" than anything and they've gone back on continuity before. The only time it really comes up is when the big episodes are brought into play and it never really goes beyond it. Tonight is build up for the 100th and they'll start slacking again after that until another big episode comes into play.

They've done it constantly throughout the past seasons and I would really count on it happening again.

[F-Stop Blues]

I know they havent been perfectr with it and I dont understand why but i do like seeing it. Last season there was none. I atleast like the fact like they acknowledge that Pete and Alicia existed.

[ryb]

Wow, how quickly this thread devolved into "good vs. bad" continuity. I'm amazed at the criticism this show gets for "discontinuity". Although I tend to agree with much of the criticism, it's not a life-or-death thing for this show (still often a week-by-week storyline vs. seasonal storylines). This season's Smallville is much like Veronica Mars in that each show is separate but contains elements of a greater whole. If you watch closely, several "discontinuities" are evident in VM as well, but often these are minor and unimportant.

Tonight's episode contains several minor references to previous Smallville episodes. I loved the mangled pickup; that surely was an inward jab at the show for the number of times vehicles seem to wreck on the show (Another inward jab was the perfect discussion of hair by Lex -- a frequent comment in Michael Rosenbaum interviews). In these cases, the continuity was for comedic "eye candy", as another person put it.

The Pete reference was simply to underline a case where Clark's secret didn't totally destroy a friendship (and, btw, Pete did NOT find out Clark's secret; Clark directly told him albeit after substantial mounting evidence that Clark had something to hide regarding the spaceship). The point of this remark was not that Clark told Pete and Chloe his secret (which Martha may possibly presume since Clark may not have told her otherwise -- in Chloe's case, that is); the point was to emphasize that Pete and Chloe still regard Clark as a friend and not as an alien.

But to my main point -- continuity is nice and at least a small amount of it is required for at least reasonable transition from episode to episode, but the show does not suffer from not mentioning Pete or Alicia or Tina or Whitney or whomever each and every episode. It's nice but not necessary.

[LexLuthorMetropolis]

I can relate with you there, but they need more of a reason to do it. Emotional connect it all instead of just feeling the need to bring it up as they feel the need.


Originally posted by ryb
Wow, how quickly this thread devolved into "good vs. bad" continuity. I'm amazed at the criticism this show gets for "discontinuity". Although I tend to agree with much of the criticism, it's not a life-or-death thing for this show (still often a week-by-week storyline vs. seasonal storylines). This season's Smallville is much like Veronica Mars in that each show is separate but contains elements of a greater whole. If you watch closely, several "discontinuities" are evident in VM as well, but often these are minor and unimportant.

Tonight's episode contains several minor references to previous Smallville episodes. I loved the mangled pickup; that surely was an inward jab at the show for the number of times vehicles seem to wreck on the show (Another inward jab was the perfect discussion of hair by Lex -- a frequent comment in Michael Rosenbaum interviews). In these cases, the continuity was for comedic "eye candy", as another person put it.

The Pete reference was simply to underline a case where Clark's secret didn't totally destroy a friendship (and, btw, Pete did NOT find out Clark's secret; Clark directly told him albeit after substantial mounting evidence that Clark had something to hide regarding the spaceship). The point of this remark was not that Clark told Pete and Chloe his secret (which Martha may possibly presume since Clark may not have told her otherwise -- in Chloe's case, that is); the point was to emphasize that Pete and Chloe still regard Clark as a friend and not as an alien.

But to my main point -- continuity is nice and at least a small amount of it is required for at least reasonable transition from episode to episode, but the show does not suffer from not mentioning Pete or Alicia or Tina or Whitney or whomever each and every episode. It's nice but not necessary.

Comparing VM and SV is like comparing SV to Buffy or Angel. The shows are complete different leagues and VM handles continuity superbly due to the fact that it has an overall arc planned for the season.

SV has the tendency to just fill in the blank as they feel necessary. If you're going to have a 22 episode show continuity is necessary especially going into 5 seasons now. They would be stupid to neglect it period and they've even gone out of their way to claim to stick to one episodes, which is really smooth way to have no continuity whatsoever.

Pete found out the secret because Clark revealed it in front of him. Chloe did as well.

Actually it is suffering on the account of not having continuity, Clark has evolved very little and fails to continue to. His past relationships and experiences would have furthered the character, but then again we're getting into the writing of the show, which is a completely different nightmare.

[Randy G.]

Well, they're paying a little more attention to detail, because they're finding out the fans are smarter than imagined. :lol:

They realize that WE pay closer attention to details, & that challenges THEM to set the bar a little higher.

To not do so, would be embarrassing......for them. :)

[boonaducious]

*sigh* The continuity argument again. I've always thought that you don't have to have good continuity to have a good TV show. Touched By an Angel and countless sitcoms prove that. Good continuity is just icing on the cake, and in Smallville's case, a very good cake. Just because Al and Miles don't have OCD over past episodes doesn't mean that they're bad at what they do. Spiderman II proves that, as well as the many episodes of
Smallville that they have written and directed.

That said, I've always thought that the biggest continuity errors in SV were just small things, most of which can be explained away. I don't take the "lack of mention" continuity errors too seriously, mostly because of common sense. If one of my friends mentioned dead people all the time, I would think that they were a little loopy, unless a conversation warrents it. Plus, if they just mentioned dead or dissappeared people randomly, it would seem like they would be trying to hard for continuity, and that is a pet peeve of mine.That said, I've seen plenty of mentions of dead and dissappeared people over the course of the series, even in season four. I think that it's just people's particular bias that keep them from seeing that. (I admit that I'm biased for Smallville, but I would never admit that the show is perfect.)

We also have to remember, TV shows are supposed to entertain us, not act as a "how well do you know past episodes" test for writers and veiwers. If it becomes that, then most, if not all TV shows will fail. I know that the JW worshippers will say that Buffy and Angel are exceptions, but they really aren't.

This is coming from a lover of Veronica Mars, and I am very impressed with VM's continuity. However, that level is a rarity in today's TV world, which drives me not to judge other shows based on it. That will just always leave you dissappointed. I love Smallville and I love season five and I don't think think that will change anytime soon, mostly because I believe the good points of the show outweigh the flaws, continuity included.