[QUOTE]Originally posted by Patman

I didn't find that John Schneider has the "gravitas" to be imparting those "good, strong, moral values" onto Clark. What a strange, but decent, casting choice, Annette O'Toole as Martha Kent as she got to play Lana Lang in Superman III over a decade ago.


i don't have the bias of knowing what he was like as Bo Duke, b/c i never watched dukes of hazzard ( i grew up abroad...no dukes out there), so i had no problem with the actor. i think he fit in pretty well.

[quote]

I have to wonder if Clark is smart enough to put 2 and 2 together w/r/t the piece of krytonite that was hanging around Lana's neck which caused his to trip over himself and be subjected to weakness when he was around Lana (the constant betting between the boy and girl classmates was cute). Especially if Lex shows up with it, and he gets weak again.

i think he already figured this out. you can see him staring at the kryptonite everytime he gets close. if you're wondering why he keeps approaching lana then, my theory is - hormones! :) after all, they ARE superhormones.


it's my feeling that he already has a pretty good sense of what he's capable of. after all, once you know that you have strange abilities, wouldn't you go test them out and see just what you ARE able to do? i do kind of wish that they had written the show so that he didn't know anything and slowly uncovered his powers. but then again, it could also explain why he needs a telescope to see lana - he doesn't realize he has supervision! :) j/k...i think mostly the producers wanted to not focus too much on his superpowers.

I did like it so far was very interesting. But I admit if it gets all cheesy I'm gonna have to bail. Since I work nights and never get to watch tv on time I set this for a season pass so I'll stick with it for awhile.

I thought it was great, far better than I had hoped (I've been a Superman fan for 20 years). Fortunately, it looks like it's going to have more of an action/mystery theme than an angst-ridden teen theme (although there will be a fair amount of that). Felt a lot closer to the '90s Superboy syndicated series than to Dawson's Creek.

One thing that bothers me is that Clark had to have it explained to him about being an alien. Isn't he supposed to be superintelligent as well? I thought the '78 movie explained it better - baby Kal-El was tutored during his journey to Earth.

Between this and Enterprise, this is apparently the year of sci-fi prequels!

who's the guy who plays lex luthor?

he looks kinda familiar. has he been on any other wb shows?

haha...we had the exact same discussion at work. but we looked him up in IMDB and we didn't recognize any of his previous work. then i realized, he kinda looks like that guy from clueless, Paul Rudd. only without hair. well, that's who i thought he looked like. other people at work agreed...mebbe that's who u were thinking of?

SPOILERS

Can anyone tell me if anything happened at the end of the episode? I saw Lana ask Clark for a dance, and when she asked if anything was wrong, he said everything was perfect. Then the recording ended, grrrr. What did I miss in the last couple of minutes?

Well, you're gonna hate it--he wasn't actually dancing with her. He wakes up from his dream-state and while looking across the field, he says very softly, "Thanks for the dance Lana" and they cut to a shot of Lana looking back towards Clark's barn like she heard it.

I quite enjoyed the premiere... Nice introduction; it does seem that the series will have an X-Files-like bent. I'm curious about how various mutations might be explored.

Also, I hope that a genuine friendship between Lex and Clark blossoms; for that to work, we'll need to see some complexity in the character. While the actor playing Luthor here pulled off the material he was given with aplomb, for the most part I just got a rich-brat-not-quite-wholly-evil-yet vibe. I hope he's written with a little more depth. It'll only make the eventual "falling out" that much more potent.

I pretty much agree with what's been said about Lana's parents death being handled in a cheesy manner.

As for John Schneider and gravitas... well, I was never a regular watcher of the Dukes of Hazzard, and haven't watched any episodes since it went off the air. Distance allows me to buy him has John Kent. Let's cut the guy some slack, it's not like it's Jim Neighbors playing the role. :)

Other DC characters? Well, I'd read about Bruce Wayne, and this one other person:



The best way for them to pull that off, IMHO, would be to have some kind of situation where this person comes to Smallville, and almost runs into Clark a few times, with them finally bumping into each other crudely in the last scene of the episode, exchanging harsh words and going their separate ways, but not revealing each other's name... Or not run into each other at all. :) For them to actually get to know each other would just deviate from Superman lore far too much, at least on paper. We'll see. :)

Kal El, I mean, Kal Jedi ;) thanks for the info. You're absolutely right - I hate it. But knowing is better than not knowing. :)

As for Bo Duke - I thought he did fine - also like Martha Kent. And agree with all of you on the one really cheesy effect being when Lana's parents died. Not a show for younguns, apparently.

And I also agree with das Monkey- a bit of foreshadowing is a great thing, but they better slow it down some or it'll get silly. I suspect that just about everyone who watched the show knows superman lore pretty well already, so it's not like we need so many hints. :)

Wow. I was wondering when someone would get that first part. Kudos! ;)

Did anybody else find it kind of odd that Clark knew he was invulnerable and could run "fast as a locamotive" but then finding out (in his teens mind you) that he is from another planet sorta wigged him out?

I don't know... I thought that was just some unnecessary "dramatic" dialogue.

As many others have posted though, I feel this part came off kinda corny due to the small amount of time they had to lay it all out for us. I would have much rather seen a 2 hour season premiere where Clark as well as the rest of the characters could have adjusted to the situations they were in.... I mean come on... hey I'm a alien... commercial. -rolleyes-

Yeah ... I was rolling the eyes during that scene. It's doubly hard to take, because I was already using all my resources to suspended enough disbelief to accept that he's 15 years old, when welling is 24. The scene makes a little more sense if you accept that Kent's just entering high school, but it's still a stretch.

das

The show is missing a character... ;)

http://www.fortress.am/images/k2.gifhttp://www.fortress.am/krypto/images/kryptologo-old.gif

http://www.fortress.am/krypto/images/discovery.jpg

http://www.fortress.am/Encyclopaedia/krypto.html

YIP YIP YIP!

das

Yup, that was the other one....couldn't remember, though. :o

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Rebroadcast??
 

I missed this one..anyone know if WB will reboradcast the pilot before the next new one airs?

I was also surprised by this at first, but to be fair, I think Superman lore is an agent here. We know, and have known for decades, Clark's origins. He doesn't. He's carrying "baggage" in the same way that some people here keep calling John Schneider "Bo Duke". I think we all need to distance ourselves somewhat from what we know (or think we know), to begin to accept this series. Also, in the DC universe (which I've read might be explored by bringing in guest characters), other people have extraordinary abilities, and don't come from other planets. :)

Well I just watched it last night & loved it. Thought anyone who liked the show might be interested to know that the ratings are in for Smallville & it was by FAR the highest rated debut show in the history of the WB. I for one think that's great news.

:thumbsup:

Got any actual figures? :confused:

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According to the hollywood reporter 8.4 million. Enough to top Fox & ABC for the top spot between 9-10 as well as the top spot for the WB's target audience.

Thanks. :)

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maybe Kryptonians appear 9 years older than they are, compared to Terrans (maybe that explains Jor-El in the '78 movie) ;)

The special efx looked good but expensive. Nice show but if it becomes more like Dawson's Creek (it is the WB) with all the teenage angst/soap opera then I won't watch.

Well, I didnt read this thread until tonite...AFTER I watched the tape because I knew there would be spoilers. However, the one spoiler I need isnt here. Someone help me out please...

I didnt find out until this thread that the episode would run en extra 10 minutes.. Fill me in please.

Thanks.

BTW - Episode was ok, too much Superman symbolism..

The Angel
The red blanket wrapped around him like a cape after the car accident
the S in a diamond shape on the jocks jackets
The S on the chest for scarecrow
The school colors are red and gold, like his cape and emblem

I hope they stop with this blatant crap. We all know who Clark is and who he grows up to be. We dont need to be reminded every 1-3 minutes.