Smallville - Season 1
Season One takes place during Clark, Lana, Pete, Chloe and the rest of their classmates' freshman year (Grade 9) at Smallville High School aged 14-15 in this season and Lana's boyfriend, Whitney Fordman being a senior (aged 17-18).
Smallville - Season 1
The first season of Smallville, an American television series developed by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, began airing on October 16, 2001, on The WB television network. The series recounts the early adventures of Kryptonian Clark Kent as he adjusts to his developing superpowers in the fictional town of Smallville, Kansas, during the years before he becomes Superman. The first season comprises 21 episodes and concluded its initial airing on May 21, 2002.[1] Regular cast members during season one include Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk, Michael Rosenbaum, Eric Johnson, Sam Jones III, Allison Mack, Annette O'Toole, and John Schneider.
The season's stories focus on Martha and Jonathan Kent's (O'Toole and Schneider) attempts to help their adopted son Clark (Welling) cope with his alien origin and control his developing superhuman abilities. Clark must deal with the meteor-infected individuals that begin appearing in Smallville, his love for Lana Lang (Kreuk), and not being able to tell his two best friends, Pete Ross (Jones III) and Chloe Sullivan (Mack), about his abilities or his origins. Clark also befriends Lex Luthor (Rosenbaum) after saving Lex's life. The season also follows Lex, as he tries to assert his independence from his father, Lionel Luthor (John Glover).
The episodes were filmed primarily in Vancouver and post-production work took place in Los Angeles. Gough and Millar assisted the writing staff with week-to-week story development. "Villain of the week" storylines were predominant during the first season; physical effects, make-up effects, and computer generated imagery became important components as well. Limited filming schedules sometimes forced guest actors to perform physical stunts, and the series regulars were more than willing to do stunt work. Episode budgets ultimately became strictly regulated, as the show frequently ran over budget during the first half of the season. The pilot broke The WB's viewership record for a debut series,[2] and was nominated for various awards. Although the villain of the week storylines became a concern for producers, critical reception was generally favorable, and the series was noted as having a promising start.[3][4][5] The first season was released on DVD on September 23, 2003, and included various special features that focused on individual episodes and the series as a whole. It has also been released on home media in regions 2 and 4 in the international markets.
"What if" episodes were another Millar-Gough concept used to generate first season storylines. These episodes posed underlying questions about Clark. Episodes would evolve from basic questions, including: "what if someone had a crush on Lana, and acted on that obsession"; "what if someone found out Clark's secret"; "what if someone else had Clark's powers?" These three questions developed into the episodes "Metamorphosis", "Rogue", and "Leech", respectively.[31] "Stray", episode 16, answered the question, "what if Clark had been adopted by the wrong parents and his powers were exploited?"[32] "X-Ray" director Mark Verheiden and the rest of the crew realized divergent, unrelated storylines were not the best way to create episodes for Smallville. Verheiden believes "X-Ray" was the first episode that managed to bring all the side-stories together so that they affected characters other than Clark and Lana.[33]
When filming fell behind schedule, another director came in to assist the main unit director in finishing the episode. Greg Beeman assisted director Chris Long for the two "visceral visions of the future" that appeared in the episode "Hourglass".[34] "Jitters" was an episode with so many changes that its initial scheduling as the second episode of the season was pushed back to the eighth spot. By the time filming for "Jitters" was completed, three directors had worked on the project: Greg Beeman, Phil Sgriccia, and Michael Watkins; however, Watkins was given sole directing credit for the episode.[35]
Often, the show would beat its lead-in, Gilmore Girls (which saw a 60% surge in its new timeslot) in the ratings.[50] Towards the end of the season, it was #1 with viewers under 35 in the ratings, which beat Frasier, Scrubs, and 24.[51]
The season received mostly favorable reviews. IGN's Jeremy Conrad, who was initially against the idea of "reimagining" the Superman mythology, gave the first season a 7/10 rating. After reviewing the entire season, Conrad stated the first season of Smallville was "a solid start to what will be a great Superman TV series".[4] Entertainment Weekly's Bruce Fretts believes the series might appear "corny" on the surface, but actually shows "subversively witty spin on the comic-book myths".[52] Clint Morris, founder of Moviehole.net, stated the series was "still finding its feet in season one", although, he commended the acting, citing specifically Michael Rosenbaum's "uncontrollably likeable Lex Luthor".[5] The Free-Lance Star's Rob Hedelt commended the casting as well, comparing Welling's portrayal of a teenage Clark Kent to that of Christopher Reeve's portrayal in the films. Hedelt considered John Schneider and Annette O'Toole to be ideal picks for Jonathan and Martha Kent, but felt Allison Mack and Sam Jones III, important characters, were the weakest part of the ensemble.[53] Judge Byun, of DVD Verdict, felt having Clark Kent and Lex Luthor start their relationship as best friends was a "brilliant concept" that moved the show past a "Dawson's Creek with super powers" tone the premise of the show suggested. Byun believes the first season had "solid writing and excellent performances", but is weakened by the freak of the week storylines that plagued the early episodes of the season; the season works best when the episodes focus on character development and not super powers.[54]
Other critics were less enthusiastic about the season. Peter Bowes of BBC News felt the season was simply a "soap opera" with "pretty young people". Bowes believes the season suffered from the "sentimental boy-girl storyline", but that die-hard Superman fans would still be taken in by this incarnation of the character's early years.[55] A common criticism for the first season was the use of "villain of the week" storylines. By the time the first seven episodes aired, at least one journalist had had enough of the villain of the week format. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Rob Owen wrote the series works best with its "character interaction and a nice performance by John Schneider as Pa Kent", but that the show needs more than the "'monster of the week' stories seen so far".[56] Jordan Levin, president of The WB's Entertainment division, recognized the concerns that the show had become a villain of the week series. Levin announced that season two would see more "smaller mini-arcs over three to four episodes, to get away from some of the formulaic storytelling structure" the series has fallen into.[3]
The complete first season of Smallville was released on September 23, 2003 in North America.[68] Additional releases in regions 2 and 4 took place on October 13, 2003 and December 3, 2003, respectively.[69][70] The DVD box set included various special features, including episode commentary, an interactive tour of Smallville, and storyboards from select episodes.[71]
Smallville was an American television series, created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the largest hero of all-time, Superman. The series addressed the transition of young Clark Kent from his adolescence to adulthood, showing all the problems faced by an ordinary teenager, as well as developing superpowers and finding discoveries about his true origins. Starring Tom Welling, Smallville lasted for ten seasons.
It's been 15 years since Smallville kicked off the modern superhero TV show trend, and to celebrate, we're taking a walk down memory lane by revisiting some of the show's best and most unexpected guest stars. Ten seasons means hundreds of actors, and we found 30 of them whose names faces you may be surprised to see...
Early in the first season, Adams played a teen who was way ahead on the health shake trend, except her shakes included Kryptonite, and caused her to have a craving for sucking the fat out of other humans, and also occasionally wildlife. Amy Adams eating a deer is an image we still haven't been able to shake, but now she plays Lois Lane in the new movies, so that's fun!
Orange is the New Black and Fringe star Brown was just a regular non-alien lady who thought she was Clark's (Tom Welling) biological mother in season two. She was mistaken, of course. Her real son was actually...
Damon Salvatore also had a fairly big arc on the show, playing Adam Knight for six episodes in season three. He wooed Lana while she went through physical therapy, but then he turned out to be an insane formerly dead teen who Lionel resurrected in order to take down Clark. Oops!
Lana showed up at the beginning of season four with Jason Teague, a new boyfriend she met in Paris. He was played by none other than Dean Winchester himself, Jensen Ackles. Of course, he turned out to be evil, and then was killed by a meteor after holding Clark's parents hostage, because Lana always did have the worst luck with boyfriends.
The series' pilot broke The WB's record for highest-rated debut with 8.4 million viewers. After airing the first two episodes, which averaged 7.8 million viewers, the WB placed an order for a full season of 21 episodes. The first season averaged 5.9 million viewers weekly, placing #115 in the Nielsen ratings alongside Futurama, The Ellen Show, and Star Trek: Enterprise. The pilot and "Tempest" were selected in The Futon Critic's 50 best episodes of 2001 and 2002, respectively. The pilot placed 31st, while "Tempest" placed 15th. 041b061a72