Smallville 1.01 - Pilot

Three weeks ago a friend told me there was a new podcast about the television series "Smallville". That's a name from the past. I used to watch it regularly when I was younger. I bought the whole series on DVD, and as far as I remember I only watched each episode once. I didn't buy the whole collection at once, I bought each season as it was released. When I got through the series it was over for me. That was almost 10 years ago.

A few general thoughts about the series and Superman in general. I was never a fan of the character Superman. He was too powerful for me to take seriously, in contrast with normal superheroes like Spider-Man. Kryptonite was added to the comics as a means to weaken him and make battles with supervillains more interesting. That always seemed like a cheap way out to me, so I rarely read the comics. I watched the 1978 Superman film because a friend persuaded me to go with him, but it didn't make me like the character any more. I didn't bother watching the sequels or the various TV series. Until "Smallville" came.

I forget how I first became aware of "Smallville". I wouldn't have watched it, but someone probably recommended it to me. Maybe I saw a random episode at a friend's house. I have no idea, it was so long ago. All I know is that I started buying the series on DVD, a year at a time. I was hooked by the concept of a young man with incredible superpowers struggling to lead a normal life.

Fast forward to 2022. The actors Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor) and Tom Welling (Clark Kent) have reunited to talk about the episodes week by week. It's a rewatch podcast, i.e. the two actors watch an episode every week and then talk about it. They recommend their viewers to do the same. It's a great idea. I watched the first two episodes of the podcast on YouTube, and I made a spontaneous decision. I would not only watch the weekly podcast, but I'd rebuy the series on Blu-ray and write (at least) a few words about each episode. That's new for me. I watch TV series, but I don't review them, unless it's a very brief summary. I'm watching "Game of Thrones" at the moment, and I don't intend to review it. But I will review "Smallville".

I paused my viewing of the podcast episodes while I waited for my shiny new Blu-ray discs to arrive in the post. Today I watched the pilot episode and rewatched the first podcast. I'm not sure whether I'll write more about the episodes or the podcasts as I continue. All I know is that as long as Michael and Tom continue their podcast, I'll also carry on with my reviews. They have a lot of work ahead of them. If they keep to a regular weekly schedule they'll need more than four years to get through the series.

Smallville is the name of a sleepy little town in Kansas. The pilot episode shows the meteor shower in 1989 that accompanied the spaceship carrying a child to Earth. The child was adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent, who called their son Clark. 12 years later he's developed great strength and speed. Clark grows up on a farm, and he has a crush on his neighbour Lana Lang. It's a creepy sort of crush. At night he watches her through his telescope. His best friends at school are Pete Ross and Chloe Sullivan.

In the first episodes it's not clear how old the children are. According to fan sites they're supposed to be 14 to 15 years old. The actors were all older, 20 at least, but the makeup artists did a good job of making them look younger. Tom Welling in particular was 24 at the beginning of the series.

The first season follows a freak-of-the-week pattern. Each episode Clark faces someone from his town who's been given superpowers by the meteor rocks. The rocks are the kryptonite that we know from the comics, but the word isn't used. They're just called meteor rocks.

It's fascinating to see how the actors, Tom especially, react to seeing themselves after so many years. Tom says that he can't recognise himself in the pilot episode. He has some memories of the filming, but not complete memories. Watching the episode jogged his memories in some cases. It was a hard time in his life. He worked on the series for ten months a year, and most days he worked for 12 to 14 hours. Under such circumstances it's obvious that he can't remember everything.

The first podcast doesn't go into many details. Tom and Michael talk generally about the series. I expect that the future episodes will go into more detail. One amusing anecdote is that Tom was recently approached at a convention in Vancouver by a young man who said he played the baby Clark Kent in the first episode. Tom discreetly doesn't name him, but he's named online; he was Malkolm Alburquenque, a random young boy from Vancouver. He hasn't followed an acting career since then.

Tom talks about being a beginner with no acting experience. IMDB lists a few television appearances shortly before "Smallville", but I assume they were small roles that he doesn't think are worth mentioning. He looked up to Michael Rosenbaum as an experienced actor, even though Michael was only five years older than him. He was nervous about playing the leading role in a TV series, but he gained confidence as he continued.

Tom also mentions that his wife never watched "Smallville". She knows that he was the main character, but she never watched it. Maybe the rewatch podcast will encourage her to delve into her husband's past.

I'll end with a few screenshots from the pilot episode. This is Lex Luthor before he lost his hair. He was ginger! That would be a good question for a pub quiz.

Lex Luthor as an adult. Michael Rosenbaum had to shave his head for ten years! Not quite ten years. If I remember correctly, he didn't appear in the final seasons. I'll have to watch them again.

Clark Kent was a handsome young man, even if he had the creepy habit of watching girls with a telescope.

But I shouldn't be a hypocrite. If I'd had a neighbour as beautiful as Lana Lang I would have been watching her bedroom window as well. When I was 14 I only saw trees from my window, otherwise I would have bought the best telescope I could afford with my pocket money.

Chloe and Pete in front of Chloe's Wall Of Weird. For years she's been gathering newspaper cuttings of unusual events in Smallville.

The podcast team, from left to right Michael, Tom and Ryan. I don't know what Ryan's background is, but he says that he'd also never watched "Smallville" before the podcast began.

As I said above, I just bought the complete series on Blu-ray. I've added links below, but it's always worth shopping around, especially if you live in Europe. The Amazon prices are:

In America the box set costs $199.96.
In England the box set costs £135.71 ($164.96).
In Germany the box set costs €94.99 ($96.59).

The German price sounds good, but I decided to buy the box set from Amazon.fr, where it only costs €64.45 ($65.53). The delivery lasted a few days longer, but it was worth the wait.

Click here for the podcast.

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