View Poll Results: Is Smallville worth my time?
Yes, start from the season one, episode one.
22
43.14%
Maybe, just check out the best episodes.
14
27.45%
No, it's not worth the investment.
15
29.41%
Voters: 51. You may not vote on this poll
Is Smallville worth the investment of time?
12-13-10, 11:02 AM
#27
Re: Is Smallville worth the investment of time?
I don't think there's any "comic baggage" to it. I'm a comic fan, but I tend to be pre-inclined to like anything comic related. I'll rewatch really mediocre comic-related stuff that I wouldn't touch if it wasn't comic related. If I'm as negative about Smallville as I am, despite it being comic related, that should be telling. Hell, they've thrown us massive amounts of fan service in the form of JLA, JSA, and 4th World characters in the past two years, and I still say skip it.
12-13-10, 11:26 AM
#28
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Is Smallville worth the investment of time?
That wasn't near as bad! At least it featured One Republic. I'd put that other Pete episode (Fast) ahead of Hero in the worst column. In fact, we should come up with a worse 5/10 episodes list.
12-13-10, 12:19 PM
#30
DVD Talk Reviewer
Re: Is Smallville worth the investment of time?
12-13-10, 01:00 PM
#31
Re: Is Smallville worth the investment of time?
I would say absolutely not.
About 5% of the time it's great. 15% of the time it's pretty good. 30% of the time it's passable, and the other 50% it's really, really bad. Especially for the first few seasons, there are an atrocious amount of reset buttons, where a character learns something, then gets hit in the head and forgets it by the end of the episode. Lana was a terrible, terrible character... shrill and bitchy and massively prone to misunderstanding. Lois is 1000x the character, and she has basically kept the show afloat.
About 5% of the time it's great. 15% of the time it's pretty good. 30% of the time it's passable, and the other 50% it's really, really bad. Especially for the first few seasons, there are an atrocious amount of reset buttons, where a character learns something, then gets hit in the head and forgets it by the end of the episode. Lana was a terrible, terrible character... shrill and bitchy and massively prone to misunderstanding. Lois is 1000x the character, and she has basically kept the show afloat.
I watched about 7 seasons of the show before I gave up. Starting back at the beginning and watching all the episodes again would be excruciating. There are some fun episodes, sure, but the will-they/won't-they between Lana and Clark was ridiculously overdone, and then the writers would still found new ways to drag it out some more. Kristen Kreuk is gorgeous, but Lana Lang is the worst. The Luthors are pure awesomeness though. Maybe try watching the premiere, mid-season finale, and finale from each season? It seems that those are the only episodes where the producers were given money and writers.
I'm intrigued by all the positive reviews for the latest few seasons, but I don't think I can endure another 60 episodes in order to catch the 5-10 great ones. Recommending that someone watches all 220 episodes? That's just mean.
12-13-10, 02:07 PM
#32
Moderator
08-12-12, 01:38 AM
#33
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: Is Smallville worth the investment of time?
I just finished a roughly 2 and a half month journey of watching little else and it was a blast. Ideally though I'd recommend starting from the season 5 finale. Cleanest reboot point after the witch craziness, plus you can get seasons 6-10 on blu ray and watch 5.22 on VOD. Biggest thing you mill is going to the Arctic for the first time but if you're not enduring the freak of the week monotony the payoff isn't as great anyway.
08-12-12, 10:38 AM
#34
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Re: Is Smallville worth the investment of time?
I also starting rewatching a few weeks ago. I just started S4 and tho it is a little weak with all the witch stuff, I still like the show and can't wait to experience the whole series again.
08-12-12, 01:49 PM
#35
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Is Smallville worth the investment of time?
Smallville did have its positive attributes, though the sloppy writing at times overwhelms everything. Tom Welling was perfectly cast as a young Clark Kent and it's a shame we never saw him don the costume (two seconds at the end of the series does not count). Welling is probably the second best Superman casting of all time after Christopher Reeve.
What they did with Lex Luthor was amazing for the limitations of a weekly television show, though the Clark-Lex relationship became ridiculous as the years wore on.
What they did with Lex Luthor was amazing for the limitations of a weekly television show, though the Clark-Lex relationship became ridiculous as the years wore on.
08-12-12, 02:56 PM
#36
Re: Is Smallville worth the investment of time?
I just finished a roughly 2 and a half month journey of watching little else and it was a blast. Ideally though I'd recommend starting from the season 5 finale. Cleanest reboot point after the witch craziness, plus you can get seasons 6-10 on blu ray and watch 5.22 on VOD. Biggest thing you mill is going to the Arctic for the first time but if you're not enduring the freak of the week monotony the payoff isn't as great anyway.
"Memoria" had a GREAT scene with Lex and Lionel.
S3-S4 also had great moments with Chloe, eg in the episode "Blank"
08-12-12, 07:14 PM
#37
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: Is Smallville worth the investment of time?
I got so tired of Lex being behind every single bad thing on some level. And the stretch where Chloe went from the target audience's ideal high school girlfriend to Trinity from The Matrix I found awkward, watching the episodes consecutively. I most liked the way they introduced characters from the comics post-Brainiac, the Welling/Durance chemistry when they were working together, and everything by Geoff Johns.
Last edited by cleaver; 08-12-12 at 07:54 PM.
