Clark is Kryptonian but he can't translate it...

[Rafael122]

Unbelievable.

[cotton candy girl]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. What's up with that?

[Timester]

Didn't you knew that without Chloe, Clark would even forget to breathe?

[cotton candy girl]

:lol:

[redraven]

Times like this...that I think BDA.

[clarksmuse]

Now... why can't Clark translate the symbols? I thought he learned how to read them in like season two????.... A little lost for words here... :lol:

[Hurricain]

Wow, So we can now add Kryptonian code breaker to Chloe's resume.

[MarkAllan22]

Or, how about the fact Clark has magically forgot that Jor-El inhabited Lionel's body and brought him back to life.

:rolleyes:

[Lexgirl33]

Yeah by just scanning a picture :lol:

[k18]

but what if it is not Kryptonian but everyone just think it is?

[AnimeJoe]

Reading is fundamental..

Clark never learned the Kryptonian alphabet. He never had to recite the Kryptonian version of ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.

So it's understandable that he wouldn't know how to read. He's just an illiterate Kryptonian, but a well-educated 'human'. ;)

[ClLaLeChFAN01]

did clark forget kryptonian since he doesnt practice it a lot or something, boy oh boy. How is Chole able to figure this one out?

[Lexgirl33]

Originally posted by k18
but what if it is not Kryptonian but everyone just think it is?

You definatly have a good point there

[Nospam]

One word: LAME.

He can read Kryptonian but doesn't know the alpahbet? That makes no sense.

Three seasons of continuity out the window. Season five was doing so well....

[Timester]

Originally posted by AnimeJoe
Reading is fundamental..

Clark never learned the Kryptonian alphabet. He never had to recite the Kryptonian version of ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.

So it's understandable that he wouldn't know how to read. He's just an illiterate Kryptonian, but a well-educated 'human'. ;)

Actually, he knows how to read. "Rosetta" was when he learned. I guess that drinking all that Green-K messed his brains (and made Chloe a super genius).

[Rafael122]

Just say no to K.

[Trunkz]

this is bogus...hes read kryptonian before...like in season 1 i believe when he got into his spaceship...wtf is going on now?

[Rafael122]

When Chloe breaks it down to three letters...Clark is like:

"Hmm...Z...O...D...Z...O...D...ZOD! Chloe, it means Zod is coming!"

[Nospam]

Chloe: There. I just decrypted the message. Read it out loud, Clark.

Clark: "I am sofa king we todded". What does it mean?

Chloe: Read it again.

Clark: Zod?

[sstray72]

:lol: Funny how those kryptonian letters looked like a 'Z' an 'O' and a 'D.' If I knew OF Zod and saw something that says "ZODZODZODZODZODZODZOD" in plain english, I might think of maybe..... ZOD!!!!!!

[LuthorCorpCEO]

You know if Clark would have spent a long enough time LEARNING in the FOS he might be able to read it.

[beefywellingtom]

Big Dumb Alien routine... He's been reading Kryptonian forever now. All of a sudden he had a brain lapse? That made me scratch my head.

[Rafael122]

More like a brain fart with excessive gas.

[Summers]

Originally posted by Timester
Actually, he knows how to read. "Rosetta" was when he learned. I guess that drinking all that Green-K messed his brains (and made Chloe a super genius).

Seriously :lol:. Is it me or did this season just did not connect to the first three years of the show? That was just a bogus line if I ever heard it. Hell, even the kryptonian letters actually looked like the word ZOD.

ETA: My 8 year old sister even read it :lol:.

[Rafael122]

Originally posted by Summers
Seriously :lol:. Is it me or did this season just did not connect to the first three years of the show? That was just a bogus line if I ever heard it. Hell, even the kryptonian letters actually looked like the word ZOD.

I dunno...that D looked like an O. Clark might have mis-read and said that the weapon is at the zoo.

[opera_ghost]

don't like it anymore than anyone else... however, I do understand it.

the same symbols were sketched randomly all over spare bits of paper.... not necessarily was it ever linked together... nor would he realize that it was the same 3 symbols.

plus, with all of that text... there may be more there... chloe just brought to his attention the most repeating pattern... (Ala the early translations prior to the discovery of the real life rosetta stone.)

So, lighten up.... :)

[Timester]

Originally posted by opera_ghost
don't like it anymore than anyone else... however, I do understand it.

the same symbols were sketched randomly all over spare bits of paper.... not necessarily was it ever linked together... nor would he realize that it was the same 3 symbols.

plus, with all of that text... there may be more there... chloe just brought to his attention the most repeating pattern... (Ala the early translations prior to the discovery of the real life rosetta stone.)

So, lighten up.... :)

Yes, it could OZD, the super-mouse from Krypton...

[kostaki00]

OR...maybe cuz it was all jumbled up all over the place it didn't make any sense....Chloe's computer found what was common in it....
[edited]

[canon]

Clark's training at the FOS got cut-off in Arrival when he saved Chloe that's probably why he couldn't interpret all those kryptonian symbols. Chloe narrowed it down to three symbols which he recognized as "zod is coming"

[godsmack23]

well, technically Chloe didnt know what it meant.. she just said that the same thing was repeated 32 times

[clarksmuse]

Originally posted by ClLaLeChFAN01
did clark forget kryptonian since he doesnt practice it a lot or something, boy oh boy. How is Chole able to figure this one out?

I don't think Chloe figured out what the symbols meant. She was just able to figure out the pattern among the multitude of papers Lionel wrote... wait, that's really crazy! :lol: Clark was able to read the symbols, but only after Chloe "dummed" it down for him?? *wondering about the continuity*

Maybe Clark did forget some of it because he wasn't practicing his Kryptonian grammar like a good little alien... :lol: :lol:

[F-Stop Blues]

Atleast Chloe didnt break the code herself. She just put it through a computer for the BDA to read.

[Smallville2322]

If you looked at the pictures it was random placement. So Chloe found three that appeared the most and made Zod is coming. Thats why Clark didnt realize at first

[mttmtlnd]

Originally posted by opera_ghost
don't like it anymore than anyone else... however, I do understand it.

the same symbols were sketched randomly all over spare bits of paper.... not necessarily was it ever linked together... nor would he realize that it was the same 3 symbols.

plus, with all of that text... there may be more there... chloe just brought to his attention the most repeating pattern... (Ala the early translations prior to the discovery of the real life rosetta stone.)

So, lighten up.... :)


amen to this...why's everyone getting so bent outta shape?

[Ebert & Roeper]

exactly. If I wrote this on a sheet of paper:


i o p h uir w dk ewso sl w pw(which is not an anagram or anything, so don't spend to long trying to decrypt it):D

You might need someone to unjumble the letters, and maybe see which letters appeared most often on the hundreds of pages. then you could narrow down the possible words. Here, the one word was all it needed to be narrowed down to.

[Nospam]

Originally posted by godsmack23
well, technically Chloe didnt know what it meant.. she just said that the same thing was repeated 32 times

I rewound and watched that scene again. You're right, Chloe didn't know what it meant. Still, Clark looked pretty dumb.

[AnimeJoe]

I dunno...that D looked like an O. Clark might have mis-read and said that the weapon is at the zoo.




:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Timester]

Originally posted by Ebert & Roeper
i o p h uir w dk ewso sl w pw(which is not an anagram or anything, so don't spend to long trying to decrypt it):D

Woi?

The problem here is Clark is supposed to able to decypher without any help. He is a genius at mathematics (or did AlMiles also forgot that?).

[watcher4]

Originally posted by mttmtlnd
amen to this...why's everyone getting so bent outta shape?

Agreed!!

[Ebert & Roeper]

Right, but to decypher would mean looking at all of the sheets, and I know, I know, he could do it super-fast, but he never chooses doing things at superspeed over normal speed unless he has to. in this case, he had Chloe do the work on the symbols, while he fried bigger fish.

I'm just playing devil's advocate.

[EricN68]

I agree that it wasn't the language itself, it was the code, that kept him from understanding or seeing at first. A jumble of letters isn't a language even if he recognized individual letters. So to me, it's a non-issue.

[kostaki00]

Edited for insulting posters and talking about posters. Please review rule#10.

10) We cannot stress this enough: DISCUSSION ON THIS BOARD SHOULD AT ALL TIMES BE ABOUT THE SHOWS THEMSELVES, NOT OURSELVES, THE BOARDS, OTHER POSTERS OR OTHER FANS. Threads about why people like Lana more than Chloe (or Logan more than Duncan or WHATEVER) or posting things like "People who think that are just stupid and prudeish" or attempting to psychoanalyze the reasons why another member of this board feels the way they do, or even couching it under "positive" terms such as "I'm glad people stopped talking about that really stupid and annoying subject!" or "I'm glad most people have the sense to agree with me!" are not allowed.

This board is here for discussing television. There is NOTHING more boring than a board that talks about ITSELF. Even "I don't get the hate (or the love)" is frowned upon here - what it usually really means is "I don't get why YOU, THE OTHER FANS OF THE SHOW, feel this way, because that's a stupid way to feel." If you don't "get it," it's not really anyone's job here to justify their opinions ad infinitum to you.

Don't even try to be slick about this rule. We can still tell when you're trying to do this in an oblique way. We've been at this a while and we can tell.

BOTTOM LINE: The sole purpose of this message forum is to facilitate discussion among fans about Smallville, Veronica Mars, Birds of Prey, The 4400, Supernatural, Aquaman and the Superman Movies, and any of Craig's other fan site projects. This board is not here to discuss how stupid people who disagree with you are.

[wildcat]

But I thought Clark was "downloaded" with the information and ability to read Kryptonian in season 2. I vaguely remember him being suspended in air with light from the cave shooting through him. That was also how lionel and that other mousy looking dude (can't remember his name) were given the ability to read kryptonian. Correct if I'm wrong though.

It really bugged me that Clark suddenly couldn't read it.

[i love u tom]

i think its cuz the symbols were too advanced even for him. but then chloe helped him with this pattern deciphering (cuz u know without chloe he would forget to put on his little time almost nonexistent thinking cap every morning) and tehn he knew cuz it was easier to understand.

[opera_ghost]

the one thing I do think some people miss... including me... is that the kryptonian language doesn't resemble the english alphabet... or any alphabet with less than 50 characters...

it's more like the chinese or japanese alphabet in which the characters themselves are the words....

so he may have seen the symbol for the third person possessive verb for to come, to travel, to journey... however you wish to describe it.... but never caught the symbol for Zod on any of the picutres...

plus there may have been other things there like... "I miss my mommy... I wish I'd never killed her" and "Lex is an idiot."... but those were just musings of lionel trying to break through....

And another thing is, I don't completely trust Clark's ability to read the language anyway.... given that whole... "They are a flawed race son... rule them with strength." debacle of a couple years ago.

[milton fine]

in the episode with dr. swan swan shows clark some kryptonion symbols and swan askes clark if he knows what they mean. he says he only understands some of it. so my answer is that clark may understand some kryptonion symbols but not all of them cuse think about it were talking about an entire lanuage. thats alot to learn

[CallMeClark]

Well, for one, he is not a pro at all the symbols and Lionel had them scribbled everywhere, therefore he thought it may have been quite long or a longer messaged. By searching for patterns, which is a simple enough way to crack codes and commonly used, it made it easier.

[wildcat]

But I thought he was downloaded at the caves? What was that scene about from Rosetta?

[muffinpeddler]

Originally posted by k18
but what if it is not Kryptonian but everyone just think it is?

It's kryptonian. Not the same as in the comics, but same as in season 2 of SV.


Originally posted by opera_ghost
the one thing I do think some people miss... including me... is that the kryptonian language doesn't resemble the english alphabet... or any alphabet with less than 50 characters...

it's more like the chinese or japanese alphabet in which the characters themselves are the words....

Wrong. There is in fact, an A=Kryptonian A alphabet, officially proved by DC. SV writers just thought it would be cooler to combine symbols from a sentence into one word. (Retarded if you ask me.)

[S0n0fKrypT0n007]

then again i would've hoped clark's superbrain would've kicked in by now. they hinted at that in Season 1, where he learns like, all his school material in like, 1 minutes or something and rattles off a string of numbers about some statistics...so i mean, he should've been able to deduce that by now... then again, he's not smart enough to bound X-rays off of an invisible guy to see him, so what can ya do? Just watch the greatest hero ever... and watch some more... -___- i really ran out of steam around the 'invisible guy' part... dunno how i should end this post, lol

[wb-superman]

I thought Clark know how to read them. But now he like he can't read it much but know alittle bit of it.

[FiveForFighting09]

Originally posted by Rafael122
Unbelievable.



yeah but you or i can't read it so what if it looked like a bunce of scambled letters ...it would give even a superpowered alien a headache....

[warriorrenegade]

I don't see what the big deal is either, In Rosetta Clark said after burning the barn " Its like the cave downloaded me with the language but its all jumbled up" go and watch Im sure theres a vein of truth in what Im saying. Also in the celler with Jonathan he clearly says " I must be reading it wrong" blah blah rule them with strength thats where your destiny lies". We know he read it wrong. He wasn't sent to rule us . I think we've all assumed he can read the Krypt language and you know what they say about assumming its makes an ass/ u /me.

[StealthyMakoto]

Clark could definitely read the Kryptonian. I think everyone that was recently working to decipher the codes hidden in the AOL blog can relate. It doesn't mean that people don't know how to read numbers or letters... it's deciphering it.

[Maagic]

He read the "Rule them" message in the ship

He read the "rest of the message" from Swann's blackboard

Now all of a sudden he can't read Lion-El's scribble...

riiiiight

[muffinpeddler]

He couldn't read Z-O-D before it was scanned? Come on!

[warriorrenegade]

Wait did Clark say he couldn't read the symbols from Lionels vault? Can't remember. Maybe we're jumping the gun. I think he can read the symbols he just can't decipher its meaning " Its all jumbled up ".

[GottaLoveHotSuperHeros]

Originally posted by clarksmuse
Now... why can't Clark translate the symbols? I thought he learned how to read them in like season two????.... A little lost for words here... :lol:

yeah, did he get stupid or something???!?! did he forget?

[superspider02]

yea i agree it did suck when clark said he did not know what the symbols said but it was alot of different words and things to. plus he may know how to read kryptonian but does not know all the kryptonian symbols and words and all that.

[xrayvision]

It could be that it was jumbled up in a non-sensical order. Kind of like scrambled words. Or like others said, if the characters are in a different order, they mean something else, or don't mean anything until they're unscrambled. I also think the pattern is important. We have seen circular patterns (like what Dr. Walden did on his ceiling), asterisk like patterns (I think this is how the symbols were re-arranged after Dr. Walden used his hand to open the locked cave seal), and even scrolling lines (on Swann's screen). The type of pattern was probably all jumbled since Lionel wasn't exactly writing in an organized manner.

[hotkk]

I'm one hundred percent convince that Lionel was writting code that has to be decipher... if not, CK is big and dumb and... alien:)

[StealthyMakoto]

It was in code. Hence the computer program to scan for patterns. Clark can read Kryptonian, remember Chloe took him the pattern after she found it... she can't read it.

[Nataku]

Originally posted by StealthyMakoto
It was in code. Hence the computer program to scan for patterns. Clark can read Kryptonian, remember Chloe took him the pattern after she found it... she can't read it.

Exactly! It was writing in Kryptonian but was in code, they had to break the code and unscramble the meaning. I can read English with the Latin alphabet (Incase people don't know what the Latin alphabet is, it's the alphabet you are using right now) but that doesn’t mean I could understand any piece of writing in code with the Latin alphabet.

[Theshadow129x]

he couldnt read it because it all wasnt whole letters

the letters were proken into small peices so what he was looking at looked like giberish

[God-Man]

Fine. It was in code. I can buy that. "Zod is Coming." Oh hell yes.

[Watching Smallville]

Originally posted by Rafael122
I dunno...that D looked like an O. Clark might have mis-read and said that the weapon is at the zoo.
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

[bunkmania]

There is an explanation........Just like in english we can create different meanings, or jumble up letters for different codes........hell read the davinci code if you want an example. All you need is the key to reading the text and thats what chloe found in the mathematical analysis.

[svsabbiesv]

i thought he didn't know all of it bc when he was at FOS chloe messed up the learning process of all of that..or am i missin something

[shirkie]

There is no logical reason Clark can't read Kryptonian anymore. Period. Everything I have on Kryptonian writing-- including dialogue from when Clark was reading Kryptonian in "Rosetta"-- is at http://www.ezrasmall.com/kryptonian-main.htm (go into the Gallery and then look at the pages related to the ship interior, etc.). Clark truly is a BDA, and I'm not sure what else to say about this lapse.
shirkie

[VNAF Ace]

There's a perfectly logical explanation...

Lionel doesn't understand Kryptonian. What Lionel wrote was gibberish. If I type out "ozd si ocmnig", then there's no way you could easily read that.

[hotkk]

Originally posted by shirkie
There is no logical reason Clark can't read Kryptonian anymore. Period. Everything I have on Kryptonian writing-- including dialogue from when Clark was reading Kryptonian in "Rosetta"-- is at http://www.ezrasmall.com/kryptonian-main.htm (go into the Gallery and then look at the pages related to the ship interior, etc.). Clark truly is a BDA, and I'm not sure what else to say about this lapse.
shirkie

I do not agree. It's an alphabet for all we know, not necesserely a language. I could write things in latin alphabet that you wouln't understand:

Parle-tu français? Pourtant, c'est le même alphabet
(For the mods: do you speak french. It's the same alphabet)

Hablas espanol?
(Do you speak espanol)

It's possible he doesn't understand. But I would have liked an explanation!

[Watching Smallville]

He reads it. We saw that in Rosetta.

Kryptonian was created as an alphabet in the 40s, I think. But SV seems to be using it as a symbol language, like Chinese.

A bit of a stretch that Clark can't read it. But that's why we have cryptanalysts working on decoding messages. Sometimes, even when you know the alphabet, you need a computer to sort it all out.

[shirkie]

If Jor-El is so powerful he can communicate through Lionel from beyond the grave, why the hell wouldn't he do so using a standard Kryptonian alphabet and standard Kryptonian language? Look at the writing inside the ship... This just doesn't make any sense.
shirkie

[superman_115]

He can't read it, but CHLOE can translate it for him to read, that has to be the biggest bunch of crap I have ever seen in this show.

[VNAF Ace]

Chloe didn't translate it. Chloe scanned the symbols and ran it thru a computer to find a repeating pattern.

Can you read this jumble of letters?

zdoisgniocm

It's impossible to easily read a jumble of letters no matter much English you know. The same thing applies to any other language.

[shirkie]

Well, I'm satisfied in saying I can read this string of letters in English OR Kryptonian:

BSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBS.
BDABDABDABDABDABDA.

Shame on you, writers!
shirkie

[VNAF Ace]

But it WAS NOT an organized string of letters... :rolleyes:

[smallvillerocks45]

Originally posted by Rafael122
When Chloe breaks it down to three letters...Clark is like:

"Hmm...Z...O...D...Z...O...D...ZOD! Chloe, it means Zod is coming!"

See, this is the part I didn't understand. Clark couldn't understand the kryptonian symbols when Lionel gave him the "book", but once it was broken down to three symbols, the message was clear as day? I don't get it. Can Clark read the Kryptonian language or not?

I guess it's possible that since he hasn't completed his "training", he only knows the simple terms (as a kid would know: the, and, is, be, can, car, yes, no...etc. in English). *shrugs* Who knows?

[Rack]

I would guess that an advanced alien language would be a lot more advanced then our human languages.

It's not just a matter of letters being out of order. It's complete symbols being out of order.

For example, in english, if you wanted to spell "ZOD" you'd need...
_
_ /

()

l

)

Consider those as symbols.

Combine the first three...

Z

The next two...

O

The last two...

D


(best I can do on a keyboard).

If all you saw was ...


_/_()l).lsC()^^llVoJ


All those "Symbols" all mixed up in no particular order mean nothing. But if you combine all those symbols in a specific way in a specific order You'd see that it say "Zod Is Coming".


The only problem I had with Chloe putting the most common symbols together is that she just happened to get the order correct ...

Z O D


It could of been thousands of different combinations of those symbols but she just happened to get it right on the money. Of course, she couldn't read it, but that's not the point.


Still, with all those symbols being out of whack and Clark NOT being an "Expert" at the kryptonian language (yet), it's very understandable that he couldn't read it. Not with the little time he had. I'm sure if he were given time and didn't have to save Lex's butt he would of figured it out eventually.

[MamaK]

I kept wondering about his inability to read the symbols myself. Now I know I'm not alone! Seriously, come on writers!

[happasaiyan]

i figured the kryptonian language might be more like japanese (in this iteration of "superman" at least) and clark could read simple symbols (the japanese equivalent of hiragana or katakana) and he couldnt read more complex symbols (the japanese equivalent of kanji).

i was a little confused at first, too.

[Timester]

Going to remember some Smallvillian facts:

- Clark knows the language, including the "Hope" word and the crystal symbols (we saw him reading it, several times).

- Clark is a mathematical genius (remember Clark saying the results before the calculator).

- Clark has superspeed, which makes him faster than a CPU on descovering paterns on a piece of paper.

- "Z" is the Kryptonian symbol for "Zod". It's on the comics and it was on Smallville ("Arrival"). So, since when was the Kryptonian alphabeth was changed?

[kal-el03]

Because the Kryptonian words, were mixed in matter that he couldn't understand. He learned "Basic kryptonian" in season 2 if you wish. So Chloe just found all the symbols that were repeating themselves and just taped them up together. Like a puzzle, since Lionels book didn't seem well organized

[commencement_rox]

he could translate in season 2. i dont get it. but then he also translated zod is coming at the end of the epi o well i thought it was a great epi

[udtiger]

It is not that he cannot read Kryptonian, it's that he could not decipher Lionel's jumbled writing.

Assuming we are all literate in English, do you think we would be able to glean the meaning from a bunch of random letters or words scribbled on various pieces of paper that filled a walk-in safe? If it were that easy, therwould be no possible way to encrypt written messages.

[Nerial]

I also just assumed that all of Lionel's writing was Kryptonian jibberish, and that's why they needed to find a pattern.

HOWEVER!

If that's the case, they needed to point it out, and that would have been SOOOO easy to do.

Lionel: Can you read it?
Clark: It's Kryptonian...but...
Lionel: But, what?
Clark: It's just jibberish. All the words are mixed together. I don't know what it means.

The idea of going to Chloe is still a little off (surely Clark could skim the book using his super-speed, and catch a pattern), but at least it's a little more forgiving for a plot hole.

[MidgardDragon]

I like to look at it like this - it was basically a word jumble, with repeating words in some areas, but as with any word jumble, the words don't always automatically jump out at you. Chloe scanned it and ran it through to find repeating patterns in said word jumble, and found the "Zod is coming" combination. Clark could read it once he could actually see it as an individual phrase or word, but not when it was a jumble.

[muffinpeddler]

So Jor-El enjoys writing word jumbles?

[Theshadow129x]

*sigh* ok dont people get it? the symbols were in giberish. peices of the letters were mixed up and broken apart. thats why chloe had to scan the paper and find a way to place the peices of the symbols/letters together. hence why at the end he was able to know that from the three letters on that sheet of paper it said 'Zod is coming' he never lost his ability to stop reading kryptonian. i mean thats like saying somehow you stopped learning how to read english or learning how to write. furthermore, things you learn cant not be unlearned its simply forgotten and i highly doubt Kal-el forgot how to read.

[SVSpector]

It might be a an older or different form of the written Kryptonian language....equal to Latin on Earth....not everyone can read it....mostly historians, professors and and a few others. It could be Jor'EL hasn't taught Clark this older version yet.

[margroks]

I was puzzled by that but I think it was meant as Lionel madly scribbling things whenever he was mementarily overcome by Jor-El or felt his inner presence. It was a jumble and not the actual alphabet but pieces of the symbols. Chloe put together what Lionel had scribbled down and found the repetitions then put them together as the actual Kryptonian alphabetical symbols for Clark's perusal and identification. Chloe cannot read Kryptonian actually, as per her earlier comment about her Kryptonian being a little rusty.

Of course one might think Clark could have done it faster but he did have big fish to fry at the time. This might have been better if they'd had Clark do more than stare blanky at what Lionel showed him, maybe having him say something to make it more clear these were illegible scribbles of partial Kryptonian letters or symbols.

[erances23]

whatever it truly means, this is what i dont get:

the message chloe gave to clark have symbols that looked like a "Z", an "O" and a "D" in it. it would look obvious that the whole thing read ZOD as everyone watching TV initially saw (i mean c'mon. u gotta b real stupid not to see it").

clark also already told chloe about general zod after she saved him in the FOS when he was battling fine. so looking at the message chloe should've had an idea already that the message have something to do with the maniac from krypton.

so with all those hints and the vast brain power we all know chloe has, why ask clark what the message means anyway???

[krpto]

i fiqured that he meant he knew he didn't have time to read the whole thing since he still cann't read kryptonian at superspeed so he had chloe search for repeating paterns that since they whould probably be the most important.

[Watching Smallville]

Originally posted by shirkie
If Jor-El is so powerful he can communicate through Lionel from beyond the grave, why the hell wouldn't he do so using a standard Kryptonian alphabet and standard Kryptonian language? Look at the writing inside the ship... This just doesn't make any sense.
shirkie
Well, that's the bottom line isn't it. Can't argue with that kind of logic, shirkie.

[Timester]

Originally posted by kal-el03
Because the Kryptonian words, were mixed in matter that he couldn't understand. He learned "Basic kryptonian" in season 2 if you wish. So Chloe just found all the symbols that were repeating themselves and just taped them up together. Like a puzzle, since Lionels book didn't seem well organized

Uh... No. All Kryptonian words in Smallville are actually pictograms of letters. Some of you brought the example of "Hope". But there is on catch, the symbol "Hope" was actually a combination of the Kryptonian letters "H" "O" "P" "E".

The fact is AlMiles can't give just for once some brains to Clark, he is supposed to be a super genius.

[shirkie]

Thank you, watching Smallville. It doesn't make sense that Jor-El, this incredibly powerful being who is somehow using Lionel to channel messages even though he's long dead isn't using a standard Kryptonian alphabet and Kryptonian writing style-- like he did when he built the ship, for example-- or when he sent the "I AM WAITING" message via Swann. Now, suddenly, Jor-El is the Riddler?
shirkie

[All about Clark]

I just think that the scribblings weren't all legible, plus there was just too much there to look at. By trying to find stuff repeated was to get the most important part plus the scribblings would be more accurage if repeated.

Even when we saw Lionel draw one, his pen ran off the page so it makes sense that some would turn out to be jibberish.

[Welling_is_pretty]

Oh, good, I'm not the only one who thought that Al and Miles had slipped there.
Yeah, ok, so Clark can read the language then he can't then he can (notice he knows what the last message means in the episode--though frankly, anyone would have gotten that!).
I've given up on the Smallville writers, um, being consistent and remembering contuinity!
geez!

[Krypton935]

I think it looked like a different type of kryptonianlike a different dialouge or something. like some people say couch others sofa and some say vanderport(its a sheely's commercial!) I think clark just wasn't used to it

[ShySoul]

It doesn't make sense that Jor-El, this incredibly powerful being who is somehow using Lionel to channel messages even though he's long dead isn't using a standard Kryptonian alphabet and Kryptonian writing style

Perhaps the problem isn't with Jor-El, it's with Lionel? To be inhabited by such a powerful being has to be disorientating and confusing. Maybe from Jor-El's perspective he is sending a simple message, but from Lionel's perspective it is to much to comprehend and his lesser developed human brain is being overloaded. We've seen Lionel take pills recently, so it would follow that he is not able to handle Jor-El's presence in much the same way Jonathan suffered back in Season 3 from being possessed.

Jor-El has also shown a dismissive and distant view of humans before, using them to acheicve his mission (ala Kara being used to lure Clark back to Jor-El). So its not a stretch to believe Jor-El wouldn't give much of a thought to what affect his prescence would have on Lionel or if Lionel could fully understand what was expected of him.

[lexyfan]

Originally posted by ShySoul
Perhaps the problem isn't with Jor-El, it's with Lionel? To be inhabited by such a powerful being has to be disorientating and confusing. Maybe from Jor-El's perspective he is sending a simple message, but from Lionel's perspective it is to much to comprehend and his lesser developed human brain is being overloaded. We've seen Lionel take pills recently, so it would follow that he is not able to handle Jor-El's presence in much the same way Jonathan suffered back in Season 3 from being possessed.

Jor-El has also shown a dismissive and distant view of humans before, using them to acheicve his mission (ala Kara being used to lure Clark back to Jor-El). So its not a stretch to believe Jor-El wouldn't give much of a thought to what affect his prescence would have on Lionel or if Lionel could fully understand what was expected of him.

And maybe, this time, since other Kryptonian beings - Zod and is disciples - as well as Brainiac are in Clark's midst, Jor-El thought it necessary to give Clark the message in code since they can obviously read Kryptonian, too. He would need a way to warn Clark of Zod without tipping Brianiac that Clark knows. Just a guess.

[shirkie]

I wager Brainiac is, well, brainier than Clark. Or at least brainier than Chloe, who descrambled the scramble. But these explanations are starting to make a little more sense of things.
shirkie

[kf6tac]

Well, seeing as how Brainiac already knew of Jor-El's presence, and apparently also already knew that Jor-El was habitually inhabiting Lionel Luthor, it probably doesn't matter too much to Jor-El whether or not Brainiac can read what he tells Lionel to scribble out, since... well... Brainiac already knows. Of course Brainiac knows Zod is coming, he's the freakin' brain behind the operation.

[jaime,oburg]

Originally posted by shirkie
Thank you, watching Smallville. It doesn't make sense that Jor-El, this incredibly powerful being who is somehow using Lionel to channel messages even though he's long dead isn't using a standard Kryptonian alphabet and Kryptonian writing style-- like he did when he built the ship, for example-- or when he sent the "I AM WAITING" message via Swann. Now, suddenly, Jor-El is the Riddler?
shirkie

I just don't get it either. Now we all have come to accept the canon that Clark relies on his girl friday for a lot but WTH, I can't even defend Chloe helping the BDA on this one.:lol:

[Keyser Soze]

My guess is it was in code, which meant you need a key to read it.
Like in WWII codes when you may have a fully page of writing but only one word on the page actually meant anything. Maybe so other Kryptonian people could not just read it off the page (ie someone like M. Fines). Plus does anyone know how many letters (symbols) there are in the Kryptonian language?

CK reads Krytonian but maybe the sentences were meaningless with out some sort of key.

[j-kent]

man lighten up guys...there's a buncha things I mean for one the messages were jumbled up from Lionel's sketchy scribbled memory. And another Clark hasnt finished his 'lessons' in the FOS. it's gonna be okay...he got the message :)

[tjpw fanatic]

In all fairness to Clark they were all mixed up and not making sense. Maybe he didn't know where to start reading them? (sorry i love clark im biased even though he is a BDA):D

[Timester]

The symbol "Z" means "Zod", and that's written all over the book. It's that more than enough?

[Superman_Beyond]

It occured to me after watching the episode again that Chloe really didnt crack the code. All she did was go through it and find symbols that kept repeating like her and Lionel.

[Kryptonian_unforgiven]

Originally posted by Keyser Soze
My guess is it was in code, which meant you need a key to read it.
Like in WWII codes when you may have a fully page of writing but only one word on the page actually meant anything. Maybe so other Kryptonian people could not just read it off the page (ie someone like M. Fines). Plus does anyone know how many letters (symbols) there are in the Kryptonian language?

CK reads Krytonian but maybe the sentences were meaningless with out some sort of key.

I agree with the code theory,it seems to be the only thing that works out. Either that or it was written in an ancient form of Kryptonian that Clark doesn't know yet,like how the English language has evolved over thousands of years.But that still leaves the question of how the hell CHLOE was able to figure it out!!! Perhaps most of it was jargon to hide the real message.
Any thoughts?

[liana]

They did it so they could have a reason for Chloe do it in his place. They are doing that a lot lately. Theoratically, or at least it was chose in Season 1, Clark is a genious in mathematics because his mind works quickier than a normal human being. That's why Superman was always able to read in quick speed. So, it would make perfect sense that he would be able to crack into any system quickier than Chloe or even read or discover any code in Super speed.

The truth is that if they portrayed Clark consistently (with Smallville) and the Superman mythos, he wouldn't need Chloe's assistance at all. She would be only friend and confident. I don't exactly understand why they seem to think that she has to do these things. She is much more interesting when she is being a friend instead of super computer machine plot device. :rolleyes: I really don't know what is their problems with people being just good friends. But I guess they think that everyone who is Clark's friend must be a something more or they will send them out of the show as they did Pete.

[Happy Random]

Maybe because Chloes all knowing-magical computer was green, it made him unable to read the Kryptonian! :eek:

But we shouldn't worry, Chloe and her all-mighty computer will figure it out. And maybe with a little help from Lion-El :D

[tk_ravenprime]

hi there...
actually clark was trained in kryptonian/kryptonese by jorel this season. clark made it to the fortress after having thrown the crystal and chloe found him.
BTW. chloe didnt translate "ZOD" for him, she told him she foud those 3 symbols grouped together 32 times, clark tranlated it as zod.

[Watching Smallville]

Clark learned Kryptonian in Season 2 when he went to the cave and put the key in the slot. I forget the episode. Maybe Rosetta. That's how he was able to translate what was in the ship as "Rule them with strength." It led to the whole mess of blowing up the ship and hiding out in Metropolis.

[GooN]

yeah didnt lionel or lex have to hire the world's leading language translator to try and decipher the kryptonian symbols?

pretty dumb when u have the all-knowing cloeth and her laptop just round the corner.

[Kal (aka Dusty)]

Yeah i was thinking that it may have been a riddle sort of thing or a code or just kryptonian jibberish, ;)



D.

[clob]

There are other humans that already decipher the kryptonian symbols like Dr. Swan (but the man was a genius), the man in jail (Transference), and I love Chole but she never gave us a clue about be a super genius before (just a smart reporter) and it's pretty lame that Chole helps clark to understand something about his planet.

[Miss L]

I thought it was jumbled Kryptonian. It was piecemeal on a bunch of random papers, not one long coherent message. So I'm willing to believe that's why Clark couldn't understand it.

That said, you'd think Clark could speedread it and find the pattern himself. Especially since once Chloe found the repeated pattern, she still had to come to Clark to read what it said. Sometimes I think the writers forget that the viewers are going to tear something like this apart--just as routinely as they forget that Clark is supposed to be a whole lot more intelligent.

[GottaLoveHotSuperHeros]

i wish i could understand/write kryptonian!!!!!

[bobser]

Actually, Clark can read the symbols. It was just a bunch of gibberish and random symbols thrown together from what he was seeing from the MB's writings.

Chloe, using "um, ya know that program", was able to pull out a repetitive code in the symbols. She brought that to Clark (mind you she had no clue what it meant), which he instantly new to be "Zod is coming".

What's cool is if you look at the the symbols, you can see the word ZOD in formed.

[son2380]

The only reason I can think of as to why Chloe could understand the Kryptonian words and not Clark who is Kryptonian. Is because the writers wanted to give Chloe an important part in the episode. Just like what they did with Lana. Put her there just to make her feel important

To me there was no reason for TPTB to make clark look that dumb just so Chloe could have an important role in the story

Plus the fact that Clark is destined to become the worlds greatest reporter, even better than Chloe but he can do something as simple as this. This is pissing me off and this is why the rating are down. people watch Smallville to see clarks progress but he get dumber and dumber. Why so Chloe can have a role in the story, if it wasn't for Chloe clark wounldn't be so dumb.

why am I the only one that see this. I think everone is blinded by there Idol worship of Chloe


Originally posted by Timester
Woi?

The problem here is Clark is supposed to able to decypher without any help. He is a genius at mathematics (or did AlMiles also forgot that?).

Thank you for pointing this out, with clarks abilities he should be faster than a computer and able to figure it out without anyones help. This is why he is the worlds greatest reporter. He shouldn't be relying on Chloe. they dumb up Clark to keep her in the show.

[Miss L]

Originally posted by son2380
The only reason I can think of as to why Chloe could understand the Kryptonian words and not Clark who is Kryptonian. Is because the writers wanted to give Chloe an important part in the episode. Just like what they did with Lana. Put her there just to make her feel important

But Chloe couldn't read them. She brought the repeated pattern she found to Clark to read them. She just found the pattern. However, I do agree that they dumb Clark down. I get that he's just on the brink of embracing the superman destiny, but that doesn't mean he has to be stupid as well as immature.

[son2380]

That not the point if Chloe could read them or not. The point is that they deminish the main character of the show to give another character a purpose for being on it. clark should be able to decipher the code scribbles or whatever was written in that book alone without anyones help and he should have been able to do it 1000000 times faster than a computer. What is clark gonna do when he is superman run to Chloe to help him figure out what Lex, braniac or an of his smarter villains plans. Please don't allow you Idol worship of a character cause you to ignore what the writers are doing.

The writers have no reason to make Clark look dumb all the time just so one minor character can have a purpose in the show. The show is still about Clark becoming superman and he is not suppose to be dumb.

In Lois and Clark, and all of the other superman stories, CK always uses his super intelect and super speed to solve crimes and mysteries. Plus he know how to use a computer.

What was the purpose of Dr. Swan using his super computer and super brain to read the Kryptonian language if all he needed was just a regular laptop and a reporter instinct. I never new regular laptop or desktop had that type of software on it. regular earth computer is more powerful than a geneous Alien and all the technology on his planet. Why make him dumb

[GooN]

maybe clark is supposed to be dumb in his early years.....cos later in life he is supposed to be this intelligent hero who acts all on his lonesome.

Maybe the experiences he takes from the smallville-era help shape him into the supreme super-hero he will later become.

?

[Keldaz]

Originally posted by AnimeJoe
Reading is fundamental..

Clark never learned the Kryptonian alphabet. He never had to recite the Kryptonian version of ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.

So it's understandable that he wouldn't know how to read. He's just an illiterate Kryptonian, but a well-educated 'human'. ;)

My point exactly. Even if the kryptonian "letters" dosen have to contain alphabet. :)

[bobser]

Originally posted by Miss L
But Chloe couldn't read them. She brought the repeated pattern she found to Clark to read them. She just found the pattern. However, I do agree that they dumb Clark down. I get that he's just on the brink of embracing the superman destiny, but that doesn't mean he has to be stupid as well as immature.

Exactly, he did read the words he was just too dumb to figure out the pattern, which is wrong.

Kent's supposed to be very smart, and honestly, should be the one hacking computers with his photographic memory, lighting fast reflexes (fast typing), and ability to think for more quickly than Chloe...let alone entering the symbols into the program to find an organized code.

[Iowa_Gent]

Remember Lionel is writing down thing that flash in his head no matter what they are. He can't make sense of it so he just writes down everything. Since they are just 1000s of kryptonian words not complete sentences It is easy to understand why Clark couldn't make sense what Loinel has wrote down.

Just like this: House come flower the do dead can went scream you can not earth zoo understand around cannon garden highway why suppose farther brush maybe now.

Now that makes no sense it is just a bunch of words like Loinel word down but now read every fifth word I highlighted for you

House come flower the DO dead can went scream YOU can not earth zoo UNDERSTAND around cannon garden highway WHY suppose farther brush maybe NOW. That Clark needed help undertand the pattern of what Lionel wrote down.

[son2380]

It doesn't matter if Lionel was writing things down in an irrational manner. The Kryptonians are suppose to be 1000 years ahead of us in intel and evolution. Regardless if clark was raised on earth he still can read faster than anyone on the planet, and should be able to contain more information and read faster and more efficient than any human or computer. He should be able to read 1000 words per second ( just a guess no actual facts supporting this) but Im sure hal Jordan knows how fast superman can read or deduce problems.

Hal if you are still out there please tell us how fast superman can read, deduce problems like the thing lionel wrote and how smart superman/clark is.

Like I was saying earlier it shouldn't matter how or what lionel wrote, it shouldn't matter if clark was able to read it after Chloe found the patterns. What matters is how do we suppose to believe clark will become the world greates investigative reporter if he can't solve a riddle from his home planet. How is he gonna solve crimes if he can't figure things out.

Why do they have to reduce clark to a moron so that certain character can have an important role in the story.

[Sweetie]

This just prouves that Clark has to stop worrying about Lana and start to take his krytonian heritage seriously...He was extremely lame...But,Chloé's computer replaced the krypto-symbols together and Clark was finally able to read them...Funny,I read before Clark said anything...Hey,I'm the last daugther of Krypton:lol:

[myankskent]

Originally posted by Sweetie
This just prouves that Clark has to stop worrying about Lana and start to take his krytonian heritage seriously...He was extremely lame...But,Chloé's computer replaced the krypto-symbols together and Clark was finally able to read them...Funny,I read before Clark said anything...Hey,I'm the last daugther of Krypton:lol:

Again with you and your hatred toward Lana in a thread that has nothing to do with her. I understand that you hate Lana but blaming her on everything that is wrong with Clark is ridiculous.

[Sweetie]

Originally posted by myankskent
Again with you and your hatred toward Lana in a thread that has nothing to do with her. I understand that you hate Lana but blaming her on everything that is wrong with Clark is ridiculous.


What?I was only making a point that's all...Sorry,if I offend you with my personal opinion.Don't take it so personally:rolleyes:

[myankskent]

Originally posted by Sweetie
What?I was only making a point that's all...Sorry,if I offend you with my personal opinion.Don't take it so personally:rolleyes:

I don't take it personally, I just laugh at the fact that you accuse people of taking it too seriously when someone bashes a FICTIONAL character and meanwhile, you bring more bashing of that character into a thread that has nothing to do with her.

[shirkie]

Well, in all fairness, Clark hasn't been paying attention to his Kryptonian heritage because he's been obsessed with Lana. He has a case of LanaOnTheBrain-itis and has been neglecting his FoS duties.

However, and I think this is important to remember... It was Chloe who interrupted his training in the FoS, not Lana. Clark left the FoS to bring Chloe to a hospital, and he never returned to complete his training after that. And I'm pointing this out as a strong Chloe supporter!
shirkie

[myankskent]

Originally posted by shirkie
Well, in all fairness, Clark hasn't been paying attention to his Kryptonian heritage because he's been obsessed with Lana. He has a case of LanaOnTheBrain-itis and has been neglecting his FoS duties.

However, and I think this is important to remember... It was Chloe who interrupted his training in the FoS, not Lana. Clark left the FoS to bring Chloe to a hospital, and he never returned to complete his training after that. And I'm pointing this out as a strong Chloe supporter!
shirkie

Well I think Clark is neglecting his training in the FoS because he doesn't trust JorEl, not because of any of the people in his life. If he actually loved and trusted JorEl, he would actually listen to the things that JorEl tells him and he'd want to know more about his kryptonian origins.

[Wildfire]

Originally posted by myankskent
Well I think Clark is neglecting his training in the FoS because he doesn't trust JorEl, not because of any of the people in his life. If he actually loved and trusted JorEl, he would actually listen to the things that JorEl tells him and he'd want to know more about his kryptonian origins.

I may be wrong but I always felt that he fights Jor-el more when hes with Lana than any other time. I could be wrong, I just think they need to get Lana to her cannon place and Clark to his and lets be done with it.

[myankskent]

Originally posted by Wildfire
I may be wrong but I always felt that he fights Jor-el more when hes with Lana than any other time. I could be wrong, I just think they need to get Lana to her cannon place and Clark to his and lets be done with it.

Clark has fought with JorEl through the entire series and Clark hasn't been with Lana all that time. Plus, Jonathan was against JorEl since the beginning so if anything, Jonathan is the character that stood in the way of Clark getting close to JorEl.

[Sweetie]

Originally posted by myankskent
I don't take it personally, I just laugh at the fact that you accuse people of taking it too seriously when someone bashes a FICTIONAL character and meanwhile, you bring more bashing of that character into a thread that has nothing to do with her.


Will you stop calling me Lana's basher,please?I didn't call you by any names or did I offend you?If it's so,I'm sorry.I'm a fan of the show just like you are who has the right to express my opinions.

By the way,I was talking about Clark in my statement...I didn't say that it was Lana's fault...You twisted my thoughts around...It just if Clark had took his kryptonian heritage seriously,he would been able to read the message right away and he will be more prepar for what's coming...

[myankskent]

Alright Sweetie, it's over. I only said that because you made a statement about people getting offended about fictional characters in another thread. Good point about Clark though.

[Sweetie]

Originally posted by myankskent
Alright Sweetie, it's over. I only said that because you made a statement about people getting offended about fictional characters in another thread. Good point about Clark though.

You misunstood me again.I just wished that some fans wouldn't overreact at others remarks.That's what I meant about "fictional character"so people would take more rationally different opinions and wouldn't take it so personally either.It didn't work,I can see that;)

[Mistryman]

awww joni loves chachi!!

[erances23]

just face it, clark's too stupid..... and this is the guy that's gonna save the world???

[shirkie]

<Sings R.E.M.> "It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fiiiiiiine..." ... Milton Fine, that is!
shirkie

[Sweetie]

Originally posted by erances23
just face it, clark's too stupid..... and this is the guy that's gonna save the world???


Yeah!I think that all the krytonites that he has been exposed to over the 5 seasons got to his brain:lol:

[norman619]

Originally posted by Timester
Didn't you knew that without Chloe, Clark would even forget to breathe?

Dang you guys are dense. All she did was scan the pages into a computer and used a OCR (Optical Character Recognition) application to scan all the texts and pull out the symbol(s) that appear to be repeated the most. How does that translate into her deciphering (breaking code) the message? She did not translate jack for him. I did find it funny that the symbols spelled out ZOD!!! How retarded is that? It's an alien laguage. It's supposed to be like ancient egyptian writings. Icons instead of letters. Another strike by the writers....

[Keldaz]

^^ what do you mean?

[Simba_Muffy]

Well, they did use Chloe has Clark's brain in S5-S7.:mad::lol: