I liked it when I was a kid, especially the first 3 Seasons, but I find it hard to watch today, it's "no Tights no fights mantra" just isn't something that really ever appealed to me, it was kind of a product of its time when producers were still too self-conscious to do straight up superhero action, but when the Green Arrow and Metallo started showing up it became hard for me to watch

@redwhiteandbluesupes: Bless you man I can understand that. Smallville definitely isn't the series you turn to when looking for feats for the battle forum that's for sure. However I've got to say the last 3 season as divisive as they were I actually feel were so god damn strong not so much because of the action but because of the character relationships that began to form when you had the likes Hawkman, Flash, Green Arrow, Aquaman and Cyborg really start to unite and there was really a chemistry between these characters which I feel only the Justice League animated series's have really brought to life. Not to say it was all great though because turning Darkseid into a Supernatural villain was pretty dumb.

For me I'd say Season 1-5 were awesome at establishing Clark's backstory but by Season 3 really felt like a rinse and repeat formula with just enough tweaks and twists like the death of Jonathan and introduction of Brainiac to make things interesting. However Season 6 is where I think things really picked up because it was the turning point where Clark started to establish his belief in being a super hero with the introduction of a bigger threat from the Phantom zone but also introduction of the Justice Team.

@infantfinite128: Bless you Mr. Infinite ^_^

Being honest here Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor is quite possibly one of the best actors in this show. I don't recall a single point watching the series where I wasn't gripped by his character. Lex's descent in this show came as a result of what happened to him and you can see that every step of the way unlike with Mr Eisenberg and it really creates a compelling character dynamic between him and Clark and that for me was this shows strongest attribute.

And Chloe! It's very rare that I see a character so well written that I actually thought she had appeared in the Superman comics beforehand. She had a character which just fit so damn well in tying up the motivations of Lois and Jimmy and my only real regret is that her introduction into the comics wasn't quite as fluid but I can understand that since Lois and Jimmy were already so well established.

@adamanouer: Well, Bless you too good sir!

Rosenbaum's Lex was definitely my favorite live action comic book villain until Heath Ledger's Joker. I haven't seen the show in a long time, so I'm glad you liked him.

I agree with your assessment of Chloe. I loved her!

Yes

It was alright. It's kind of hard to watch most episodes now since it was pretty poorly written at times, characters included. But hey, it's a CW show so....

@adamanouer: although I haven't seen it since it originally aired, I like the relationships in the final seasons of the show too, I just felt like the whole thing was hampered by the Smallville universe, it's like the show outgrew itself from its soapy beginnings, I'd rather they just did Conner Kent Superboy, but again this was the early 2000s. If they wanted to go all Superboy and the legion, they should have just started out like that instead of cramming it all in the later seasons

@buttersdaman000: I'd ask what you mean but I think I get what you're driving at. The way some characters development and backstory were executed would probably make a lot of comic book fans roll their eyes.

The perfect example is Doomsday. Like anyone who's read the comics knows who Doomsday is and what Doomsday does which is to say KILL, KILL, KILL. Problem is that's a very hard attribute to pull off over a character arc so instead what they did was introduce Davis Bloom who essentially is a discount Bruce Banner. Now I like Sam Witwer a lot I really do but this set-up for me just really doesn't fit Doomsday although to be fair where it counts I'd gladly take his character design in this show over BVS because Doomsday actually looks every bit the monster he is in the comics.

It's not just Doomsday they do that with either because characters like Metallo and Darkseid also carry that same sort of thread and I guess it depends on whether or not you like the adaptation. In some cases like with Toyman, Zold and Lex I feel were incredible.

@adamanouer:

I was honestly thinking about the main cast. Clark Kent was a huge, sappy tool at times, Pa Kent was a douche, Lex was whiny and needy, Lois was annoying, Lana straight sucked, and so on. People look at the show through rose colored glasses now, but those faults are still there.

I can still watch Adventures of supes with George Reeves and Lois and Clark with no problem, Smallville to me just hasn't held up as well

I still enjoy it. Sure it went 5 seasons too long and the teen drama was annoying but it had a charm to it. It had a great Lex and Lois. The comic spinoff was fantastic.

What surprises me so much about this show is that it went on for like 10 seasons and has close to no residual impact on the character. How does that happen?

Yes it was a truly great series...Tom Welling is easily my all time favorite live action Superman behind the GOAT Reeves.

I never cared for it

No it was watchable and fun but by no means great

I would say it was for its day. But in comparison to modern live action tv shows? Even a mediocre show like arrow blows it out of the water in just about every catagory. Let alone something like flash or daredevil

@saintwildcard: Well that's the thing I mean let's be honest here, Clark has barely throughout his entire history has barely been what you could qualify as a character rather than an identity. In both Comics, Video Games and Animated Series all character development was done through Superman and not Clark and we never get to see Clark become a man with the exception of a very few excellent stories back in the day. Superman quite frankly has always been a self righteous superhero and while I'm sure for many that's a great thing to aspire to, it's an extremely hard thing to relate to. Only the TV adaptations of Superman have really ever shown Clark's own motivations over that of his alter ego.

Man of Steel tried to make Clark relate-able by making the world question his actions as if anyone would do any different in his situation. Smallville never needed to do that because Clark grew up as a human and he asks questions anyone would ask like why can't he share his secret with those he loves. Clark is a great hero because he CHOOSES to be better not because he had it magically built in but because he grew up and evolved into a man of his own creation not what people expected him to be.

Even Doctor Who a guy who's a 2000 year old time-traveller from a different planet is constantly learning from his human companions because of their unlimited potential by giving them hope and a future to believe.

Granted I'm a Spider-Man fan but I'm the kind of Spider-Man fan that defends The Clone Saga for giving Peter the freedom to grow as a man, a husband and a potential father as well as a brother to Ben Riley. I Smallville similar in that regard because it's a Clark who still has room to grow and learn that difference within all of us and himself.

Maybe you need to read more Superman comics lol

This is so true lol all that development yet he pretty much starts from scratch after the finale....at least Lex does.

No, not at all.

@adamanouer: I think I understand why you're a Spider-Man fan...,"Granted I'm a Spider-Man fan but I'm the kind of Spider-Man fan that defends The Clone Saga for giving Peter the freedom to grow as a man, a husband and a potential father as well as a brother to Ben Riley... I'm with you on this, maybe it's not the best regarded story but it's way better than the Dan slott big time Spider-Man era 4 sho

It's quite pleasant for late night television imo.

No, I mean in the sense that it came and went. I feel like Superman fans in general don;t give a shit about and I don't think many people ever really talk about it. Like people probably care more about the old 50;s Superman series or the old Flecher(don't know how it's spelled) cartoons more.

EDIT: and other example would be how much people don't think there is enough Superman content outside the medium of comics. Like Batman has had video games and hit movies, but no one ever brings up Smallville (not saying they're comparable, but again it went on for 10 seasons)

Ah, well, the reason why it's not talked about is because the series honestly wasn't that great. You don't see Superman fans talking about Superman 64, do you? Not to say they're on the same level, but it's the same concept. People have a nostalgic view of Smallville, but i'm glad that series had no impact on the canon character and comics.

@buttersdaman000: People have a nostalgic view of Smallville, but i'm glad that series had no impact on the canon character and comics...I actually agree with butters on this

@saintwildcard: No, I mean in the sense that it came and went. I feel like Superman fans in general don;t give a shit about and I don't think many people ever really talk about it. Like people probably care more about the old 50;s Superman series or the old Flecher(don't know how it's spelled) cartoons more.... Pretty much

Yeah, but I think there's difference between a game that tanked and a series that consisted of such a high volume of content being cranked out, and it being renewed 9 times. I'm not even saying it should have ahd a huge impact, but something. I feel all we got were those awesome sequel comics.

That Batman point I made reminded me of something else. If Superman fans can hang their hat on something, is that a show about Superman's dog was made before any of the Batfamilys. That's a victory on it's own

Haven't seen it and not interested in it either

Hell yes that show was Epic!

I liked it at the time but I have no interest in ever watching it again. Maybe the odd episode, but on the whole: no.

I think it was good but not great. It suffered in the early years from the freak of the week formula. The stories were sometimes poorly written and it seemed like big events took forever to happen. It suffers from being compared to newer shows like Arrow and Flash that have superhero team-ups seemingly weekly. Arrow and Flash move at much faster paces, but shows in general do today.

Heck yeah! Still my favorite superhero show

@freedomzebra: I liked it at the time but I have no interest in ever watching it again. Maybe the odd episode, but on the whole: no...I feel the same. @ldm: Haven't seen it and not interested in it either... this would probably be my opinion if I wasn't a kid slapped in front of the TV back in 2000.

True, but the show was just based on the Superman mythos, it never tried to be apart of it. Do you think Gotham will have any impact on Batman even if it goes for 10 years? No, because where Smallville was a (teen) drama first, and a Superman show second (or third), Gothams emphasis is as a police procedural, not a Batman show.

Krypto had a show?

@buttersdaman000:

It was pretty good for what it was which was a CW teen drama. That said it had some great ideas for exploring the Superman mythology. I loved how Krypton was destroyed through civil war which gives a great look at the future of Earth will probably be and reinforces Clarks mission to help guide humanity away from following in Kryptons footsteps.

It also they had great interpretations of the villains such as Lex, Zod, Brainiac and Bizzaro. I understand that some of these aren't really in line with their comic version but for this interpretation I think they worked.

The biggest problems the show had in my opinion was that the writers were making it up as they went and answers came to far slowly as well as to much time devoted to the relationship nonsense but that's probably what kept the show on the air for so long and non comic lovers tuning in.

I thought the whole cast was great despite some horrible dialogue but I thought it was a bad decision to kill off Tess and keep Chloe alive. I've seen some people say Lois was annoying but honestly I found her to be amazing. One of the things she did that I thought really worked for her, and as the end game romance, was when someone found out Clarks secret and didn't know how to deal with it, Lois, without even knowing the circumstances, would explain and understand that people who live with secrets all day are scared to tell the truth and they don't need to be verbally beaten up over it. They need patience understanding and time.

@redwhiteandbluesupes: Bless you my friend it's nice to see someone who can at least see the good in it rather than hammer home just the bad.

@kiba: My friend I completely with that assessment I feel it's more than fair. They did make up a fair amount was they went along and Tess's death was in all honesty seemed completely meaningless and as for Chloe as much as I do love her as a character I got the feeling they really struggled to know how to tie up her character in Season 10 because I like the idea she was basically the eye in the sky with watch tower. Overall though I still enjoyed it for what it was.