From Clark Kent to Superman: A Look Back at 10 Years of Smallville - TV Guide

[michel_90]

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Smallvil...e-1033026.aspx

Originally, the plan was to follow the origins of Batman, a superhero who wears his angst and rage on his sleeve. But a film version was in the works, so series creators Al Gough and Miles Millar took on the story of Clark Kent, whose origins story seemed less obviously compelling.
Peterson: Finding problems and character flaws for Superman has always been the challenge of this show because he's perfect... [What we decided to do was tell the story of] the immense struggle it took to get to that point, to fill in the space from when he arrived on earth to the point that he decided to be that inspiration for people.

To keep Superman grounded, literally, Gough and Millar set one rule for the show: "No Tights, No Flights."
Souders: Because we're big fans of Superman, there is always that gut reaction of, "I just want to get to the end!" But what's been most fascinating, for me, is that whole journey to that end. Had they just immediately jumped into tights and flight, we wouldn't have gotten to know Clark Kent. There is something about being able to write about real people, even though it seems insane to say that about Superman, and [have him] experience the kind of moments that all of us experience in our life, and do it with some kind of honesty.

[Tebow15]

sighs, so many memories.

----- Added 37 Seconds later -----

yeah, I noticed the Batman thing. it would have been a good show too, but not Smallville good.

[BlueRanger]

Blessing in disguise, smallville was the better choice of the two.

[VilleFan]

yeah, I noticed the Batman thing. it would have been a good show too, but not Smallville good.

This. Smallville will never be matched by another superhero series IMO. Never.

[AChloeChick]

Thanks for the link.

I'm kind of concerned about how Chloe "kind of" lines up with the comics version of her. Sorry, but I HATE how they incorporated her into the comics! She's nothing more than an impostor, and a bad one at that!

If they mean "kind of" as in she's a reporter now, I'm perfectly fine with that. IF not . . .

[Exedore]

There is no way to incorporate Chloe into the mainstream comics continuity exactly as she is on SV. You'd have to change the entire world of Superman to accommodate her. The only way this Chloe can show up is if SV is acknowledged as part of the Multiverse and then SV-verse is visited by the main Superman in some story or if they create a comic book series based on SV-verse (similar to what was done with DCAU).

Either that or Mr. Mxyzptlk conjures her up out of thin air.

Everybody treats the material very reverently, but we put a tiny bit of a different spin on it. I feel like this show has been very successful with that.

BP = King of the understatement.

[supergirl905]

I really dig this article.

[vantheman77]

Even though they introduced Chloe in the comics, she's not part of Superman's future. Right now in the comics, she has something going on with Jimmy Olsen.

[Jade4813]

I love when they're talking about Amy Adams's character.

It allowed us to tell the more high school stories, which were more based on issues that kids go through in high school.

Man. Takes my back to my first date with a boy. He ate a roadkill deer and then tried to suck all the fat outta me. Ah, teenagers!

[In the episode, "Blank,"] where Clark loses his memories and has to learn it all over again, there is a scene where he looks at Lana and he just can't even comprehend what he could have done to screw this up. We've all been to the place where we think, "What if we could go back and do our relationship over again?"

And then they forced us to relive that relationship. Over. And over. And over again.

[Another] big benchmark for me is in Season 6's "Promise," the wedding episode where Clark actually proactively goes after Lana. He doesn't just sit back. He actually, for one of the first times, goes after something he wants, even though it doesn't end well for him in that episode.

...

There are...there are WORDS to express my reaction that that. But I wouldn't say they're GOOD words. So let's move on.

I would never use the word "cater,"

I would.

however, we really wanted to know what was of interest to fans and it certainly influenced the area that we tried to explore with the characters.

And (just for ONE example) Clark chasing after a married (and presumably pregnant) woman, making out with her in the bedroom she shared with her husband while her wedding ring is quite visible on camera...that's what was of interest to fans?

Umm...

We probably didn't change a storyline. We might have de-emphasized something that we were really going to play out.

I actually think this was one of the flaws of the show. If they had a plan to play something out, they should have stuck to it. This kind of "de-emphasizing" led to too many seasons where they would build up a story and then take a left hand turn. Or just bail on it and hope the audience forgets. Which we never do.

This kind of caterin...oh, sorry, "de-emphasizing" compromised the integrity of their story and took Smallville from a phenomenal series to one that hit excellence on occasion but was too often sub-par.

Even though we were trying to give the audience what they wanted

In other words: "catering."

There is also a huge shift in "Reckoning" because he stopped leaning on his family as much and became more self-reliant and had to look inward. I think that began a more psychological investigation into Clark Kent.

THAT would have been awesome. But, actually what happened was that he threw his morals down the tube and his brain in the trash. The Kents went from being huge influences in his life to being people he kinda sorta interacted with once upon a time, but Chloe was the one who was making him into a hero. Well, trying to as he chased after Lana Luthor.

Meanwhile, Papa Kent was rolling in his GRAVE. Martha probably disapproved, or she would have when she stopped supporting the Lexana relationship long enough to notice. Before being shoved into a corner and forgotten entirely.

The three of us really were, in a weird way, on the same trajectory that Clark Kent was as far as our mentors moving on and leaving us with all this knowledge and [having to decide what] to do with it.

There's a bad joke to be made, asking how Smallville plots played out in real life. But I'll be bigger than that and pass.

We're also lucky that our lead was a person who wanted to take on more responsibility instead of getting less and less interested, which can easily happen.

I still credit his involvement in making S9 as strong as it was. I wish he'd had as strong of involvement going into S10.

we always tried to honor, as much as we can, what came before us and what will come after us.

Arc of Suck, man. Arc of Suck. That's all I have to say about that.

What was hard for us was that people wanted such completely different things from Chloe because she started off as this awesome, fun sidekick.

Technically, she started off as his friend. It was when she got shoehorned into becoming his sidekick that things went downhill with her.

When I watched [the finale], what's interesting is you have this rush of, "Gosh, that's what I've been waiting for all these years!"

I certainly hope I have that rush of satisfaction after watching the finale!

[MissWofflez]

Thats for the link... im starting to get realy sad now tho looking back at the years - coz its gonna be over soon

[~*Lois & Clark Fan*~]

Love your comments Jade

I never understood why Al & Miles wanted to do a show about Clark, when it was obvious they hated the character and hated Superman. The no tights no flight was only cause they hated the suit(and Supes) and mocked it on several occassions

[clark-guy]

It's been good, and they've held their view of young Clark, like being a teenager, when everything is falling into place and shows how to grow up to take a responsibility

[Alicia Chipy]

As old as I am ,I think I have also "grown up" a bit while watching SV.

[smallvillerocks45]

This. Smallville will never be matched by another superhero series IMO. Never.

I concur. This was truly magic, never to be touched again or duplicated. Not like this, not ever.

[Mars Investigations]

Great article.