Distance between Smallville and Metropolis???

[seriously_a_chloe_fan]

It seems to change with every episode...

In one episode in Season 3, Chloe makes a reference to the three hour drive to Metropolis

In another episode, she makes a comment about the 6 hour commute to Metropolis.

And yet Lana seems to drive the distance back and forth like its just a couple of hours!

How far away IS Metropolis from Smallville? Obviously Clark can get back and forth no problem, and Lex and Lionel can take the Luthorcorp jet, but Lana and Chloe driving back and forth several times in one day? It doesn't add up!

Please advise!

[Nospam]

Originally posted by seriously_a_chloe_fan
It seems to change with every episode...

In one episode in Season 3, Chloe makes a reference to the three hour drive to Metropolis

In another episode, she makes a comment about the 6 hour commute to Metropolis.

And yet Lana seems to drive the distance back and forth like its just a couple of hours!

How far away IS Metropolis from Smallville? Obviously Clark can get back and forth no problem, and Lex and Lionel can take the Luthorcorp jet, but Lana and Chloe driving back and forth several times in one day? It doesn't add up!

Please advise!

Well, a six hour commute corresponds to a three hour drive each way. It has been established a few times that Metropolis is about three hours away, but the writers don't let that get in the way of their story telling.

[superhippie2000]

3 hours normally and commute means like rush hour so it will take longer. also its a tv show so timing doesnt matter as long as you get the point.

[Lana_wana_be]

3

[Nospam]

Originally posted by superhippie2000
3 hours normally and commute means like rush hour so it will take longer. also its a tv show so timing doesnt matter as long as you get the point.

When Chloe says it is a six hour commute to Metropolis she is referring to a round trip, three hours there and three hours back. Typically, when somone mentions they have a commute of so many minutes or hours they are speaking in terms of a round trip.

Anyway, it has been established on numerous occasions that Metropolis is roughly three hours away. AlMiles specifically mention in the season one DVD commentaries that Metropolis is three hours from Smallville. That doesn't mean the writers have any concept of what that actually means in terms of story flow or realism, however.:rolleyes:

[Statman29]

so in essance metropolis in real life is Kansas City?

[seriously_a_chloe_fan]

but the writers don't let that get in the way of their story telling.

But the distance between the two is PART of the story; its part of the world that the characters inhabit. The fact that you can't just go back and forth between the two in the blink of an eye is somewhat significant, considering that Clark can and that it is sometimes a very important part of the story (for instance, the episode where Martha was in trouble in Metropolis and it was a big deal for Clark to run all the way there)

My post was meant to be a bit more sarcastic than how everyone is taking it --personally I think it is a somewhat funny inconsistency that in every episode Lana is in Smallville with Lex at 4:00 in the afternoon, then that same day she's back in her dorm room and it is still light outside -- or when she arrives in her dorm room, and immediately says she has to go find Clark (back in Smallville...guess its back in the Jeep Liberty for another three hour drive!)

[bluegayle]

The way I think about Metropolis, it has no parallel to any real city in Kansas or USA. For Smallville TV show, think of it as a fictitious city in Kansas, 3 hours away from fictitious Smallville, which is in driving distance of real city Wichita and Topeka (for Martha to get to her senator job now and then).

I have always imagined "Metropolis" as a huge city, regardless of it being in Kansas instead of East or West Coast (customarily it sort of replaced NYC). Some fan fic writers make LA or NYC bigger than Metropolis but in my mind, it is the other way around. Metropolis is sooo big and has sooo many problems that instead of being called some other name, it can only be called Metropolis, which implies something huge and enormous. This is the city where Superman can pretty much fight crime every day, stopping bank robberies or car jackings or even world-reknowned bad guys like Lex Luthor and Intergang, when he isn't away in some other part of the USA or the world doing something else.

It's the city where a huge world-wide newspaper like the Daily Planet makes its headquarters, so someone like Lois Lane who is the star reporter would be known by many criminals around the world and all the adventures she gets into would require someone like Superman to help out all the time. Various other industries and educational systems also have headquarters here so that all the little stories you see in all the Superman adventures can have contacts which Lois and Clark easily drive around to go talk to. Everything can happen in or go through Metropolis because it is that kind of an enormous city where events happen like that.

[Jason1779]

Yea lol i think its suppose to be 3 hours but one episode pete said that clark would get there in 10 minutes if he ran, and than in other episodes he gets there in about 2 seconds......

The time is always wicked distorted in smallville......

[kryptonium]

Have you seen Lana drive? She could probably make it in 30 minutes

[bluegayle]

Originally posted by Jason1779
Yea lol i think its suppose to be 3 hours but one episode pete said that clark would get there in 10 minutes if he ran, and than in other episodes he gets there in about 2 seconds......


I dont know if the writers forgot about this little tidbit of info also but it is also believeable that Clark has gotten faster, especially after his visit to the FoS or just natural gains in speed.

Clark's speed changing is feasible as he gets older and develops his powers more.

But the drive time has been noticed before by fans. I think the writers forgot about this plot point. There are things we can disregard, like a meteor freak that makes you forget or is as strong as Clark. But such a blatant error as the driving time between Smallville and Metropolis doesn't seem as forgivable.