superman-related stories
Posted Nov 21st 2009 1:34AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Smallville, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S09E08) The whole alternate timeline or alternate future concept has been around sci fi for ... well, I don't know how long. The most famous example I can think of is the classic
Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror," though I'm sure there are many more. We've already had alternate timeline stories in
Smallville (such as Lana's "death" in the 100th episode), and now we have an alternate future story.
Although it used an old television and sci fi concept, this particular story served a dual purpose: it let the viewer know what happened to Lois between the 8th and 9th seasons and also let us know the stakes of a potential Zod victory (although we probably could have figured that one out on our own).
Continue reading Review: Smallville - Pandora
Posted Nov 17th 2009 9:02AM by Mike Moody
Filed under: OpEd, Smallville, Casting, Reality-Free
I'm sure most of you
Smallville fans have already seen this preview pic of
Michael Shanks as Hawkman, taken from the upcoming Justice Society episode. So why am I posting it here?
Because that photo looks weird, man!
First off, I must say that I'm really looking forward to this
Smallville two-parter, and I think
Stargate's Shanks is a fine pick to play Carter Hall.
Smallville has been a lot of fun to watch this season, and I hope the upswing continues through next year.
Now, back to that photo ... Why does it look like a still image from a video game? Is it a mostly CGI shot? Concept art? Did somebody switch the real photo of Shanks with a fan photo manip? I'm hoping that some of you graphic designer-types can tell me what's really going on here, because ... yeah ... that photo looks weird.
Continue reading Smallville: Let's talk about that Hawkman photo
Posted Nov 14th 2009 12:32AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Smallville, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S09E08) Wonder Twin Powers, Activate! Okay, so it wasn't so much the Wonder Twins as an homage to the Wonder Twins. Or Wonder Twins: The Next Generation. You get the idea. The blingy Gleek cell phone was a nice touch. Hell, the ringtone even sounded like an alien monkey.
Of course, the Wonder Twins were just gravy for the actual purpose of the episode: to further the legend of the Blur and heighten the Lois/Clark relationship. Like her predecessor in the 1990's
Lois & Clark series, Lois is a smart cookie but really blind when it comes to secret identities. Speaking of cell phones, her ringtone for the Blur was very cute indeed.
Continue reading Review: Smallville - Idol
Posted Nov 7th 2009 1:08AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Smallville, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S09E07) If
Smallville continues to produce episodes of good quality like tonight's, I may have to take back some of the things I've been saying about it. Seriously.
Tonight we got a lot of backstory and explanation about some of the stranger aspects of the
Smallville universe. Why is Earth such a magnet for Kryptonians, dead or otherwise? Because Krypton has been observing Earth for a long, long time and designated the planet as a bolt-hole. We also learned more about that Kryptonian artifact that has been a mystery in
Smallville for a few seasons now.
All this and no Lois, too.
Continue reading Review: Smallville - Kandor
Posted Oct 31st 2009 12:03AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Smallville, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S09E06) Tonight's episode had everything but the metaphorical kitchen sink. There was a lot going on. We had the rather amusing attempt by Lois to score a morning show job, the start of Green Arrow finding his sidekick Speedy and a little more Tess/Zod action.
In all the years I've watched or read Superman in various forms, I've never seen him go on an online date. I would have enjoyed watching more of that, particularly with Lois whispering in his ear. Isn't it illegal to tape someone without their permission (unless you're the government)? What would Clark write on his profile anyway? " Can lift cars, run real fast and shoot lasers out of my eyes. No Kryptonite, please. Must love farm animals."
Continue reading Review: Smallville - Crossfire
Posted Oct 29th 2009 9:36AM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Industry, Smallville, Reality-Free
Smallville really is the show that won't die.
After more than eight years, numerous cast departures, and countless recycled plotlines,
Smallville might be
headed for a tenth season, producer Kelly Souders told EW. Somehow, the veteran superhero series manages to stay on the air while shows like
Southland and
Trauma can't seem to make it past season one.
Smallville has experienced a drop in ratings since its recent move to Friday nights on The CW, but Souders says the drop off hasn't been that bad. Last week's episode, "
Roulette," attracted 2.5 million viewers, a season high for the series. It shared third place in the ratings with ABC for the 8 p.m. hour. That's not terrible for a CW show in its ninth season.
Continue reading Smallville producers pushing for a tenth season
Posted Oct 24th 2009 2:05AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Smallville, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S09E05) Tonight we get an Oliver-centric episode that finally resolves his issues. Good! Now we can get to the more interesting dramas of the series such as that with Major Zod and his time-traveling Kryptonian army.
I had a myriad of questions about certain inconsistencies of the episode. No matter how wrecked Oliver was, how did he get so stupid as to swallow a pill given to him by a stranger in a casino? How did he get a flashlight while in the coffin? What casino takes car keys as collateral? Fortunately, they wrapped it up all neatly at the end by blaming Chloe for all his troubles during the episode.
Continue reading Review: Smallville - Roulette
Posted Oct 17th 2009 1:39AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Smallville, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S09E04) It's when the writers give Clark abilities he's not supposed to have that I begin to worry, like his "reconstruct the Great Wall of China" vision from
Superman IV. Thankfully, in this instance it was yet another of Jor-El's senseless tests and only temporary.
Admittedly, I don't get the title "Echo" for this episode. Is it that Oliver is an echo of his former self? Is it that he's turning the path back to heroism? It certainly seems that way.
Since Clark has switched to the black outfit, I hope people (including Lois) stop calling him the "red-blue blur". Now he's just the Blur. Or maybe the Black Blur, but that could be construed as slightly racist.
Continue reading Review: Smallville - Echo
Posted Oct 10th 2009 4:05AM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Smallville, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S09E03) Who knew the
Smallville zombie episode would turn out to be such a bummer? Our heroes did nothing but whine, brood, and talk about their lonely lives while the almost undead were chompin' on people's limbs.
Where were the fun
Grindhouse-style action sequences with the good guys firing sawed-off shotguns and revving up chainsaws? Where were the decapitations? And where were the jokes? You'd think a show about Superman fighting zombies would have plenty of jokes.
I understand that every piece of zombie art can't be as fun and clever as
Zombieland, or as gloriously gory as
28 Days Later, but I was hoping for something a little more off the wall here.
Continue reading Smallville: Rabid
Posted Sep 28th 2009 6:06PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV on DVD, Reality-Free
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.
This might not be the biggest DVD release day in history, but it's certainly one of the business. There's something for everyone this week, including a bunch of "Fan Favorites" DVDs for various sitcoms, including
NewsRadio,
All in the Family, and
I Dream of Jeannie. That's a neat idea, though I wonder, if you're a big fan, wouldn't you already have the DVDs?
Oh, and remember
Day Break, the ABC mystery series from a couple of years ago? You can get the Complete Series. I don't think I ever saw the end of that show. You can watch it on
SlashControl, so maybe I'll start there before buying the set.
- All in the Family - Fan Favorites
- Ax Men - Season 2
- Barney Miller - Fan Favorites
- Bewitched - Fan Favorites
Continue reading New TV on DVD releases this week
Posted Sep 26th 2009 1:07AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Smallville, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S09E01) Welcome back to another year of "the show that wouldn't die". This year, we've been given a target in the first episode that in one year, Clark will somehow destroy the world. However, this was told to him by a Kryptonian ninja woman who is apparently from the past and working for this year's big bad, so her word may not exactly be trustworthy.
The writers have turned Chloe into the new Lana. My sympathies to Allison Mack for being given that tragic role. The special effects of the derailed train in the beginning were pretty cool. I hope they didn't blow the entire season's budget on it.
Continue reading Smallville: Savior (season premiere)
Posted Sep 16th 2009 3:02PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Reality-Free
After the Superman/Batman story
Public Enemies, DC Entertainment's
next Direct-to-DVD animated release for Spring 2010 will be called
Crisis on Two Earths and will star the animated Justice League. Will it be the same Justice League that was on Cartoon Network for four years? I doubt it. The animated features tend to be in their own, self-contained universes.
The story involves the League fighting their evil, other-dimensional counterparts. It's based on the classic "Crisis" stories from the comic books.
I do wish the story was in the Cartoon Network
Justice League universe because I liked that theme song. However, the fact that the Hal Jordan Green Lantern appears in the promo picture and the television version used the John Stewart Green Lantern pretty much confirms that it won't be. The writer behind the story is Dwayne McDuffie, who was one of the folks behind the
Justice League cartoon. So even if it's not that version of the group, it'll likely still be a quality story.
Posted Sep 10th 2009 8:17AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Reality-Free
Much like the
Disney acquisition of Marvel Entertainment, television is only a part of what this change represents. However, it does affect the television industry and should be mentioned on this blog.
DC Comics has changed its name to DC Entertainment to encompass more forms of media, such as television and movies. Also the president of DC, Paul Levitz, has been replaced by a Time Warner officer named Diane Nelson.
While there are those that might disagree with me, this move looks like it's a response to Marvel's success with its movie franchises. Even though DC has done better on television (
Smallville, plus various cartoons like
The Brave and the Bold), movies are where the big bucks are. Granted, DC and Warner Brothers have had major success with its Batman movies, but it hasn't built any other franchises.
And as with the Marvel acquisition, we'll have to wait and see what the long-term effects of this corporate change will be. DC also loses
the rights to Superman in 2013, so exciting things are afoot.
Posted Aug 22nd 2009 12:14PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Smallville, Reality-Free
In anticipation of the season premiere on Friday September 25th (and nothing says 'the last season" like a move to Friday nights),
a new promotional trailer for
Smallville Season 9 has been released (it's on the EW.com site and is sadly not embeddable). The good news is that the trailer gives a pretty clear view of Clark's new costume.
It's somewhat different than the
leaked Comic-Con trailer, and that's a good thing. As for the outfit itself: others have said it reminds them of Neo's outfit from The Matrix. While there are similarities to that, it reminds me more of the outfits worn by the Phantom Zone villains in a recent Superman comic co-written by Richard Donner and Geoff Johns. Given this
season's big bad, the costume design was likely done that way to evoke Clark's Kryptonian heritage.
So what do you think of the trailer? Does it make you want to stay in Friday nights and not miss an episode?
Posted Aug 18th 2009 8:02AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Smallville, Celebrities, Casting, Reality-Free
Yes, at first I thought this was indeed a joke, but it looks like it's true:
The Wonder Twins are coming to The CW's
Smallville.
You remember The Wonder Twins,
Zan and Jayna, right? They were on
The Super Friends and could turn into anything in the world just by touching their hands together. They would say things like "Form of...a tampon!" and then they would change into a tampon. This could also be used to turn into animals, various food products, and inanimate objects like hammers and shoes. They'll be played by
Warehouse 13's Allison Scagliotti and
7th Heaven's David Gallagher.
So ... is this a good idea or just ridiculous?
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