Yup, winter’s comin’, and that’s the signal that Cowboy Pete is back with the TV roundup. This week’s launch is a good ‘un with two episodes of “Charmed,” the season launch of “Smallville,” and a brand new “I Like This Show, I Wonder When They’ll Cancel It” entry called “Veronica Mars.” Spoilers abound.
“Charmed”–Two episodes in, and it’s very clear that the driving force of this season is going to be Leo going slowly off his nut. The future of Wyatt going bad hangs heavily over the series, and it’s starting to shape up that Leo is going to be main reason this will happen (if it does happen.) He’s blown away a couple of Elders, and doesn’t exactly seem to be drowning in remorse. Meanwhile he’s being actively courted by an evil floating head which is, y’know, NEVER a good thing. Personally, I’m wondering whether Leo isn’t going to be tapped to be the new Source of Evil, who has–to my knowledge–been without a vessel ever since Cole was blown away.
Meanwhile the three sisters continue to handle each escalatingly bizarre story development with an attitude that radiates “seen it all,” but at the same time still has a freshness to it that most other shows which have been around this long can only envy. Plus special bonus points for catering to genre fans as this week featured John (“Q”) de Lancie and Elizabeth (New Frontier’s own “Shelby”) Dennehy as elders, with Charisma Carpenter showing up next week. And hey, Phoebe naked on a horse…really, what’s not to like?
“Smallville”–Okay, okay, I give. I finally believe a man can fly, okay? Not only does the show come out of the box firing on all cylinders, but they installed a few more cylinders for good measure so they could have those firing as well. Clark drops naked into a cornfield (to the delight of my wife and 13 year old daughter) only to be confronted by newly arrived Lois Lane, blowing a huge gaping hole in my Chloe-is-Lois theory (and drives the final nail into the coffin of the notion that some years down the road, reporter Lois Lane doesn’t recognize Superman for who he is, glasses or lack of glasses notwithstanding.) There are enough meta-gags and nudge-nudge, wink-wink moments to satisfy Eric Idle’s “Say no more” guy, ranging from the Superman movies’ Lana Lang having a scene with the Superman movies’ Lois Lane (who in turn makes reference to her and the Superman movies’ Superman being a couple in “another lifetime”), to Lois’ comment about liking nerds with glasses, to the priceless bit where some confused pilots pick up a speeding Kal-El on radar and wonder, “What is that? Is that a bird? A plane?”
And how about that flying Kal-El, huh? In a sequence that’s about as far from “three running steps and hit the springboard” as you can get, Kal-El apparently, through sheer will power, severs some gravimetric lines or builds up some kinda energy or something, and blows himself skyward like a cork out of a champagne bottle. For years the mantra’s been “no flights, no tights.” Yet here we get one hëll of a flight, although still no tights…or even underwear on Tom Welling for about half his screen time. And hey, Lana gets naked and glowy too, so that’s all good.
Still, we are confronted with yet another deus ex machina to solve nasty behavior on Clark’s part. Last time it was Jonathan getting powered up by Jor-El. This year’s “huh?” moment is Margot Kidder pulling “black kryptonite” out of her ášš (not, y’know, literally). Pulling in a new color of kryptonite to ignite a story, I’ve no problem with. Producing it in order to resolve a story, on the other hand…not exactly the best writing. So what does black kryptonite do? Well, to all intents and purposes, it restores Clark’s soul, so I guess it’s aptly named. Hey, how come Red Kryptonite doesn’t make him a communist? Or make him vote Republican?
I also liked that Lois is the only other person on the show to dress in blue and red.
I have to admit I did see the shock ending coming the moment Clark showed up at Chloe’s gravesite. But if you want to know where Chloe is, you need look no further than a flip of the channel dial to UPN, where you’ll find…
“Veronica Mars”–…Chloe, or maybe her twin sister, in a vaguely noirish tale of a teenage girl who assists her father in running a private detective agency. Basically it’s “My So Called Life” meets “Encyclopedia Brown,” and the show is SO much better than that somewhat crappy description of it, I can’t even begin to tell you. I tend to believe that first person narration should be limited to detective stories, and so it’s right at home here, as Veronica is pulled both into an adultery investigation that could be connected with a supposedly resolved murder case, and also aids a young guy named Wallace who’s run afoul of a motorcycle gang, led by the most intriguing good guy/bad guy cyclist since the Fonz. The only thing that concerns me is that her father says “Who’s your daddy?” so many times that it’s starting to make me wonder if he is, in fact, not her daddy.
Anyone, I don’t want to go into too much detail because it’s being repeated this Friday at 9 PM. At least, thank God, this Wednesday 9 PM launch is not its regular slot (that’s going to be Tuesday) so it won’t be going head-to-head with “West Wing.” Now if the UPN will just stick with it long enough for it build an audience.
Waaa hoo, pardners.
And yeah, I know it’s my birthday. Shaddup.
PAD
• 
I can’t believe how far this show has fallen since its season #2 glory days.
They replace Chloe, one of the hottest chicks on TV, with an ultra-annoying Lois who I don’t even want to wank off to. And they replace Pete, who had morphed into an interesting character, with some pretty-boy, wooden boytoy for Lana.
The flying sequence, while OK, was in no way worth three years of buildup.
Even the dynamic between Lex and his dad, which was once so intense and powerful, now seems rather stale and tired.
As for the once pretty Margot Kidder, she now has a more masculine voice than me!
I imagine I’ll keep watching, since I certainly have very little else to do with my life. But what I once followed with much enthusiasm is now more of a chore to keep up with than “NYPD Blue.”
SMALLVILLE thoughts:
First, I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again: THE SHOW SMALLVILLE IS NOT PART OF THE OFFICIAL D.C. CONTINUITY!!! Clark Kent and Lex Luthor were not estranged buddies growing up. Lana Lang was not orphaned by the meteor shower that brought Clark to Earth; she wasn’t a brunette either. Jor-El isn’t trying to corrupt his son from beyond. And except for certain web writers’ fantasies, Lois Lane’s first meeting with Clark Kent did not involve full frontal nudity. This is no more part of the “real” D.C. Universe than Kingdom Come, or Batman as a vampire, or Superman being a Soviet champion. ***Please*** stop trying to squeeze that round peg of SMALLVILLE into the square hole of comics continuity. Thank you.
Whew.
It was a pretty good episode, even if it left me wondering if all the season openers will start with an unaired amount of time lapsing. It was nice to see that someone finally wrapped Clark in a red cape –and it was Lois Lane! — and someone figured out to use kryptonite when Clark goes off the deep end.
My off-the-wall-but-it-may-prove-correct theory: Lionel Luthor was the one who sent Clark after the artifacts. In last season’s finale, Lionel told Clark that hurting him (Clark) was the last thing on his (Lionel’s) mind. Lionel’s gift to Clark led to Clark’s distrust of Lex, which made him more inclined to believe Jor-El’s prediction that everyone would betray Clark. We know from Lex’s prison visit that Lionel is after the artifacts and knew the legend too. And — this is key — we didn’t hear Jor-El’s voice when Clark went after the artifacts. I think that Lionel somehow found a way to tap into Clark’s persona — perhaps more easily when influenced by Jor-El — and wants Clark to gather the artifacts to find a cure for Lionel (along with unearthly power). It would be in character for Lionel to use Clark for selfish ends.
As for how Chloe could have survived when Clark was nowhere around, there was a trick about assumptions in the comic GIRL GENIUS recently. In GG, Agatha is helping defend a circus troupe from a rampaging machine. Agatha blasts it, saying it’s dead but doesn’t know it yet; next panel Agatha looks surprised; next panel the machine is blasting something; flip the page and we see a charred skeleton with a character running to the scene yelling “Agatha!” Great cliffhanger. So, how’d Agatha survive?
Agatha wasn’t blasted. In the next issue we see that somone had grabbed Agatha (resulting in her surprise) and that person was blasted. (The running person — well, cat — was yelling because Agatha was in danger, not because she was killed.) We assumed from the justaposition that Agatha was the victim; not when we see the full picture.
So why assume the explosion happened seconds after we saw Chloe turn around? We didn’t see the flames touch her, or her acting like she heard a noise — or any sign that she was there during the explosion. Just because it looked like the explosion happened moments after she arrived doesn’t mean it did.
And right now it looks like SMALLVILLE’s competing with ENTERPRISE for most gratituous t&a (or, in this episode, d&a for dìçkš and ášš). Clark and Lois’ first encounter isn’t just a Meet Cute — it’s a Meet Cute Naked Boy. (How many women were hoping that wind would move that ear of corn?) Then we get Lana naked except for some carefully arranged random bedsheets — and her nekkid silhouette in the shower! I guess it’s Lex’s turn next — boy, girl, boy — but my money’s on Lois next. Can Clark control his x-ray vision?
And the trailers already hinted at the sexual triangle between Clark-Lana-Lois (a quadrangle when you factor in Lana’s American Boyfriend in Paris, whose name eludes me). While that could be annoying, I’ll take it if it means the end of Lana and Clark looking doe-eyed at each other and aaaaaaaaaaaalmost saying something…
SMALLVILLE
Ok ,i could have used fewer shots of Clark’s bare ášš and more of Lana’s but thats just me.
I like Lois so far ,in that she has some attitude to her and may provide an interesting foil to Lex in some aspects (she obviously isnt intimidated easily if she is willing to spar with the much scarier Lionel Luthor)
Not a fan of the Black Kryptonite and some how i hope the 3 months of time with Jorel have an effect of some sort thru the season.Loved the flight sequence,in the sense we actually saw some form of propulsion field as Kalel took off.
The “crusade “comment was interesting ,are we looking at Kal El the conqueror,fighting what he was sent here for(like the Dragonballz series),or will his crusade be turned into a “never ending battle for truth ,justice,and the american way” ??
Lex on dialysis was unexpected but for the most part they got the look of the equipment correct.
Chloe and Jonathan alive…Yay!!!Jonathan and Lex are my two favorite characters on the show.Dont know whats going on with Lana,but it should prove interesting.
As far as Lex turning “evil” I dont think he turns evil in the comicbook sense.I rather like
someone else’s theory in that he is evil with good intentions.Also am i the only one who noticed the reference to a library of knowledge
unlocked by ancient artifacts ?More to the point will this somehow hve something to do with Lex being cured or Lionel?
Just a theory……Lex gets access to this library of knowledge ,said library being Kryptonian ,he learns of the “crusade”as a result he either takes up the battle against the alien crusade setting up his battles with Clark,or JorEl
Learning of KalEl rejecting his heritage decides to offer Lex the knowledge as an exchange for him taking up the Crusade.Lex does so thinking he can stop it but ends being taken over by Jorel.You
seduced by the dark side and all.
Just my ideas
Two things:
I don’t look, at 30, that much like I did at 18. If Clark leaves Smallville, travels the world, and becomes Superman in his mid-late 20s, I don’t see much of a problem. Imagine Tom Welling as Jeff East in SUPERMAN THE MOVIE.
This episode gave us two big clues as to the fact that Jor-El is not “evil” so much as “alien.” Much of what he’s said is not so bad from “a certain point of view.” Think about what Kara said in the season finale. Was she really that far off? And humanity *is* a flawed race. And won’t Superman eventually rule it with strength? Not through conquest but through the example he sets?
Furthermore, Dr. Crosby states that if Clark is flying that means he’s “embraced his Kryptonian heritage.” She also says that the symbol that so closely resembles the famous “S” shield is the Kryptonian word for “crusade.” While there are obvious negative connotations to that word, “crusade” could also be defined as a “neverending battle for truth, justice, and the American way.”
Let’s be honest: Superman is not the life Martha Kent wants for her son. She’d be more than happy to have him married to Lana and running the farm in ten years — not risking his life day in and day out. The future of isolation and sacrifice that faces Clark might inspire our respect but it would break a mother’s heart.
Jor-El *must* spur Clark on to his greater calling. And if he’s going to wind up flying around while sporting a major symbol of his Kryptonian heritage, he must come to terms with his father, right?
No, I think Superman will be the combination of the alien Kal-El who would rule Earth to save a flawed race from itself and the human Clark who would simply serve and protect his adopted planet.
Also, given that Kryptonians have apparently been on Earth before (even Jor-El) and before there was even kryptonite, it seems obvious that they’re not an aggressive race.
First, I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again: THE SHOW SMALLVILLE IS NOT PART OF THE OFFICIAL D.C. CONTINUITY!!! Clark Kent and Lex Luthor were not estranged buddies growing up. Lana Lang was not orphaned by the meteor shower that brought Clark to Earth; she wasn’t a brunette either. Jor-El isn’t trying to corrupt his son from beyond.
James, I’m pretty sure that most of us realize, at least by now, that Smallville is not partof the Official DC Continuity.
However, in some pre-Crisis stories, Lex and Clark were indeed old buddies. Well, Lex and Superboy were. In fact, one of the reasons why Lex was said to have a major hate on for Superman was because Superboy caused Lex to go bald.
Smallville, to me, is like a collection of some of these Pre- Crisis stories formed together. Aside from that I just like to see how we go from what we see about Clark on TV to what we know his destiny is to be.
While Deus Ex Machina tend to be annoying, I have no problem with the show inventing a new form of kryptonite. Kryptonite as a concept was invented by the radio show.
Black Kryptonite’s properties will probably remain nebulous on the show, as are the properties of regular “K” adapted to fit each week’s premise. The comics will have to take the concept and run with it before we can say for certain what it’s “supposed” to do.
My favorite form of Kryptonite is “pink K” – invented by Mr. Peter David.
RK
joelfinkle: Here’s another Kryptonite type list — black’s never been mentioned. “>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryptonite
Luigi Novi: Um, it
In regards to the secret identity, efforts have been made in the past to show Clark as a viable disguise.
The Superman Radio Serial used two seperate yet distinct voices to show the difference between Clark and his alter ego.
The best visual effort made to portray Clark and Superman as two seperate people was by Christopher Reeve in his first movie.
Meanwhile, a pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths issue of Superman, (I think written by Marty Pasko) established that it is not just the glasses that make the secret identity, but Clark had always been using a power he was unaware of (super-hyptnotism) to make everyone believe that Clark was the mild mannered person he wanted them to think he was.
Aaron Thall: Given that Doc Swann was the one possessing the Black K, it’s reasonably safe to make a postulation… He made it SPECIFICALLY to counter Jor-El’s plans for Clark.
Luigi Novi: And how would he know what Jor-El
I hope Lois is going to be in many more Smallvilles to come. There’s some great stuff coming this season that hopefully you all will like. http://www.kryptonsite.com is my site for more if you’d like to be spoiled.
Who says Chloe’s still alive? 😉
I plan on watching Veronica Mars – err, the Chloe Show soon. Got it downloaded. The few minutes I saw I liked. http://www.kryptonsite.com/chloemars.jpg might show the *real* reason I subconsciously will like, though.
Black Kryptonite is weird. Is that what Pete was affected by? He used to be a white guy, right? Okay, really lame joke, and not meant to be offensive at all.
I thought the Clark meld was weird. Actually, I was hoping for a HULK 377-ish type thing where the various versions of Clark/Kal-El fought inside his mind, WITHOUT the use of Kryptonite, and what we’d see in the end would be a melded, Kryptonian and human, Clark.
By the way, look for more nudity in future episodes.
I still can’t believe no one’s commented on the rear end crack that was seen on the premiere that WASN’T Tom Welling’s.
And I agree, the Margot promo was LAME. I was amazed that I was able to fast forward through it before my roommate could see.
Luigi Novi: The question on many comic fans
Luigi,
Regarding the Margot Kidder promo during the episode: if I remember correctly, that came at the half hour break. I’ve noticed the WB tends to do a quick summary and/or a “this is what’s coming up” in the half hour break. My guess is that this isn’t for the people already watching the show, but for people whose half hour long shows have ended and are now flipping through the channels to see what else is on. If the WB can get them to jump on board for the second half of “Smallville”, while being quickly brought up to speed on what happened in the first half hour, maybe they’ll come back next week (and the weeks after) for an entire episode.
As to not having Kidder’s name in the credits, things like that aren’t always possible, according to Actor’s Guild rules (at least not without a whole bunch of legal hassles). I remember J. Michael Straczynski was once asked why Melissa Gilbert was in the opening credits of a B5 episode, thus spoiling her “surprise” appearance; in a nutshell, he said those were the rules. He might have liked to have kept it a surprise, but can you imagine all the legal hoops he and others would have had to jump through to allow for her name not to appear, while still ensuring she’d receive the appropriate renumeration?
There was also a comment (I forget from whom) praising the Powers that Be at Smallville for not including Allison Mack in the opening credits, so that surprise wasn’t spoiled. I don’t think they did that to keep from spoiling anything. I think they did it because she’s no longer a series regular. When and if Chloe does turn up, either alive in the present, or via flashbacks, Mack would be credited as a guest or special guest.
As to Clark unconsciously using super hypnotism in that old pre-Crisis story, if it’s the same one I’m thinking of, then it was the subject of a CBG article earlier this year. It was a goofy idea which was quickly forgotten, because the idea was that Clark had been hynotising people to see him as a middle-aged, slightly overweight balding guy. A few problems come to mind with this concept, not the least of which is why would Lana and later Lois have been so suspicious that Clark and Supes might be one and the same if their image of Clark looks nothing like Supes?
Plus, it raises the question why would he bother with the glasses if people see him as a completely different individual?
But back in the old days some of the stories were just a little bit sillier.
Rick
I must say that that Margot promo seemed out of place..that aside I must say that I like the reaction here to the season premiere on Smallville than another comic book writer’s message board I frequent to. Sure the people’s negative comments on there are their own personal opinions but eh I’m just getting sick and tired of seeing negative comments done in a distasteful way…and granted there are some negative feedback on here but (IMO) I think it was done in a tasteful way..
As to not having Kidder’s name in the credits, things like that aren’t always possible, according to Actor’s Guild rules (at least not without a whole bunch of legal hassles). I remember J. Michael Straczynski was once asked why Melissa Gilbert was in the opening credits of a B5 episode, thus spoiling her “surprise” appearance; in a nutshell, he said those were the rules. He might have liked to have kept it a surprise, but can you imagine all the legal hoops he and others would have had to jump through to allow for her name not to appear, while still ensuring she’d receive the appropriate renumeration?
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ANGEL did it at least three times (Juliett Landau in the episode “The Trial,” Stephanie Romanov in “Peace Out,” and Christian Kane in “Destiny.”
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There was also a comment (I forget from whom) praising the Powers that Be at Smallville for not including Allison Mack in the opening credits, so that surprise wasn’t spoiled. I don’t think they did that to keep from spoiling anything. I think they did it because she’s no longer a series regular. When and if Chloe does turn up, either alive in the present, or via flashbacks, Mack would be credited as a guest or special guest.
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Everything I’ve read states she is a series regular. Only Sam Johnson was let go.
There was also a comment (I forget from whom) praising the Powers that Be at Smallville for not including Allison Mack in the opening credits, so that surprise wasn’t spoiled. I don’t think they did that to keep from spoiling anything. I think they did it because she’s no longer a series regular. When and if Chloe does turn up, either alive in the present, or via flashbacks, Mack would be credited as a guest or special guest.
Aaron Thall: No… He’s had access to a lot of Kryptonian writings
Look closely for *Annette O’Toole* crack. Really!
There is one series regular who was not in the opening credits for the premiere. Maybe he/she hasn’t been seen on the series before. 😉
I wish they did credits the way they do for DOCTOR WHO and save them for the end. And even then, they’d jumble the names to keep a surprise (for example, Anthony Ainley who played the master, was given names like “Neal Tonyay” To keap a surprise.
Aaron Thall: No… He’s had access to a lot of Kryptonian writings
Re: Black Kryptonite
PAD your remarks about pulling (not literally, of course) Black K out of (ex-Lois’) @$$ made me chuckle since you used PINK Kryptonite in your last Supergirl run on Superman himself.
What’s wrong with Superman?
Supergirl: Lois, you don’t want to know.
Well, at least Veronica Mars isn’t on FOX – since the “Firefly”- and the “Wonderfalls”-Desaster I don’t give the new series on this network a real chance if they are too clever and too smart. But you forgot to mention “Desperate Housewifes” – that looks promising, IMHO.
Ad Astra
Well, at least Veronica Mars isn’t on FOX – since the “Firefly”- and the “Wonderfalls”-Desaster I don’t give the new series on this network a real chance if they are too clever and too smart. But you forgot to mention “Desperate Housewifes” – that looks promising, IMHO.
Well, “Wonderfalls” was a lame rip off of Joan of Arcadia which is a better show all around.
I didn’t watch “Firefly”, and I assume that I wasn’t the only one not watching.
Aaron Thall: Hense my theory that he had it specifically made. And being in regular communication with Clark, he probably knew of Clark’s concerns… And when he vanished, several possibilities HAD to come to mind, including brainwashing.
Luigi Novi: Again, what does this have to do with it? I am not TALKING about
Aaron Thall: I was being sarcastic. Obviously, if it’s Jor-El, the writers just don’t get it… And that’s unlikely.
Luigi Novi: Given that one of the producers is Jeph Loeb, I
SER: “Look, unless they wish to discount the 1961 flasback, Jor-El is clearly not evil. He was on Earth when there was no Kryptonite and no one could stop him. He made no effort to “conquer.”
Look at Lex as he is in the series right now. Is he evil? Do you think that he might become evil? I mean, he’s Lex Luthor afterall. Who you are as a child has a lot to do with who you are as an adult, but not everything.
Whoever/whatever is manipulating Clark seems to clearly see humans as vastly inferior and disposable. We can classify that as “alien” instead of “evil” but it still seems to be setting Clark up to conquer the Earth and rule over us like we’re ants.
Well, regarding Jor-El, you’d also have to consider that Jor-El knew Clark was going to be raised by humans, who aren’t exactly the most peaceful of species. Jor-El could have been under the assumption that once Clark descovered he had the power to rule, that Clark would want to rule, knowing that there was little to stop him. It made more sense to say “Rule them with Strength and Wisdom”, rather than “Crush the f***ers under your thumb!” or “blend in with the weaklings, but secretly run around in red and blue tights and save them.”
Look at Lex as he is in the series right now. Is he evil? Do you think that he might become evil? I mean, he’s Lex Luthor afterall. Who you are as a child has a lot to do with who you are as an adult, but not everything.
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That’s a good point. However, I’ve long argued that Lex has shown obvious signs of the villain he will become as far back as the first season. We just ignore most of them or rationalize them because we don’t *want* him to go bad.
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Whoever/whatever is manipulating Clark seems to clearly see humans as vastly inferior and disposable.
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Inferior, yes. By Kryptonian standards, Clark is basically being raised by apes (shades of Tarzan). Disposable? Not so much. Kara might not have been alive in the first place (we also don’t know that Jor-El actually killed her). And his treatment of Jonathan might be more than it seems.
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We can classify that as “alien” instead of “evil” but it still seems to be setting Clark up to conquer the Earth and rule over us like we’re ants.
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He hardly needs to “set” Clark up to essentially abuse his powers. The Clark who was under the influence of Red K in “Red” and “Exile” was someone who would wind up ruling over us like ants. You’ll notice that Jor-El was not fond of those actions and attempted to stop him (the brand on his chest, which vanished once he removed the red k ring).
Jor-El knows first hands what humans are capable of and I think he probably fears what being raised by humans might do to Clark — especially given Clark’s powers.
Luigi: Sorry for the delay in responding. Problem with my post was that Movable Type still read my faux-HTML, even though it is so wrong it hurts my HTML-lovin’ head.
So I’ll try this again.
The way I did the “‹” with the “‹u›” tag is because I didn’t actually type the ‘greater-than’ and ‘less-than’ symbols… I used the ASCII Character codes to make ’em show up. So, when using trying to use the tags, don’t copy and paste what you’re seeing, because it’s not the way it needs to be written. You actually gotta go and type out what you see (which, although it’s a pain, is the only way to do this).
So, therefore, to make a hyperlink (say you were making it to my website, since, you know, it’s a free plug…), you type:
‹a href=”http://www.ert3.com”›ERT3.com‹/a›
This would result in ERT3.com to be shown.
As I’m sure you’ve figured out, the ‘/’ tells the browser to turn the code off. So, if you’re really into formatting, you gotta type whatever the format tag is (‹u&8250;) and then end whatever you want to format with the same tag with the “/”, or else the format will continue throught the thread.
So, remember to just re-type what I hope actually showed up this time… and, if not, you can just e-mail me here and I’ll try to explain it without being too lame!
-eD
And, no, it seems the underline tag is disabled… although, for the life of me, I can’t figure out why.
And WebMonkey should be able to answer any other questions you may have.
-eD
Ok, I just want to see if I learned something.
Speaking of the “Superman” radio show, if any of you are interested in hearing what is considered one of the best radio serials, get a hold of “Superman Vs. The Atom Man.” It’s available through Radio Spirits (www.radiospirits.com), but Borders and/or Barnes and Noble sometimes carries it as well. It’s 38 chapters (7.5 hours) of entertaining radio adventure with Clayton “Bud” Collyer as Supes and Mason Adams as the Krytonite-powered Atom Man.
Actually, _all_ the “Superman” radio adventures I’ve heard are pretty good (especially when you consider it was written as a juvenile series), but “Superman Vs. the Atom Man” is really good.
On the other hand, you’ve gotta laugh at Jor-El’s statement to Lara in the very first episode that the Earth is on “the other side of the sun.”
By the way, just as a point of clarification for those not familiar with the radio show, while two distinct voices were used for Clark and Supes, both belonged to the same man– Clayton “Bud” Collyer.
And speaking of secret identity stuff, one of the most amusing things about the radio show was how often Clark would would make some careless remark and almost give himself away. It’d be something like,
White: “We just got word that The Wolf has arrived in Paris a few minutes ago. If he gets hold of Professor Jones, nothing will be able to stop him.”
Clark: “Don’t worry chief, I can be there in no time.”
White: “You can?”
Clark: “Er, what I mean is, Superman can. I’ll try to get in touch with him.”
Still Clark’s habit of nearly giving the game up notwithstanding, the radio show is good stuff.
Rick
Just wondering… Is anybody else hoping for a Lex/Lois/Clark triangle to pop up in Smallville? I think that has tons of story possibilities… especially since that, if the producers give a nod to post-Crisis continuity, Lois would wind up with Lex. (Since Lex might have some… issues with intimacy, he might transfer some of his negative feelings towards his exes to Lois, and… but I think I’m getting a bit dark, here.)
BTW, as long as a previous poster mentioned radio shows, you guys might also be interested in the fact that the BBC are presenting NEW Hitchhikers Guide shows (with most of the original cast) even as I type. Episodes are archived for 6 days after their last airing (late Thursday), and can be found on
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/
> As to not having Kidder’s name in the credits, things like that aren’t always possible, according to Actor’s Guild rules (at least not without a whole bunch of legal hassles). I remember J. Michael Straczynski was once asked why Melissa Gilbert was in the opening credits of a B5 episode, thus spoiling her “surprise” appearance; in a nutshell, he said those were the rules. He might have liked to have kept it a surprise, but can you imagine all the legal hoops he and others would have had to jump through to allow for her name not to appear, while still ensuring she’d receive the appropriate renumeration?
Well, in addition to the Angel stuff someone mentioned above, I remember Virginia Hey getting credited in the closing, rather than opening, credits of John Quixote to keep her app a surprise.
(NB: John Quixote = Farscape 4×08)
“Well, in addition to the Angel stuff someone mentioned above, I remember Virginia Hey getting credited in the closing, rather than opening, credits of John Quixote to keep her app a surprise.”
Though you could hear her voice in the promos.
David
No where in Superman mythos has Jor-el been portrayed as the bad guy. In fact, an dream tale had him as the only Kryptonian against an Earth invasion. I haven’t been a loyal viewer of the show so I can only go by what others have said in this blog, but it appears that Jor-el is portrayed as good and bad. This seems to be the same as Enterprise’s Daniels.
Maybe there’s another force at work, corrupting everything that Jor-el left for his son, someone who would gain from Clark going to..
the Darkseid!
Ba-ba-baaa
I just caught the rerun of Smallville and I have to say I really enjoyed the episode. All of the
in-jokes were plenty fun.
However, I just can’t help but wonder how they are going to get these charachters to become who they will become. It’s a bit of a stretch. Then again, I do have to suspend disbelief on Smallville fairly often.
One observation though, The Lois Lanes are getting progressively more attractive. We had
that ugly, frumpy Lois from the 50’s series, then Margot Kidder, then Teri Hatcher, now Erika Durance. I think there’s a definite pattern of hotter Lois Lanes developing and I like it. I like it alot.