Info from crew section of the book.
Reception edit
- The creative team reflected back on the season to discuss what worked well and what did not work at all. There was agreement that the Adam Knight story-arc failed to achieve the outcome they had originally intended, and that the science fiction aspect of the show only worked when it accurately reflected the Superman mythology, or the concept of the show itself. Gough felt that the episodes that dealt heavily in science fiction became "very mechanical, to the detriment of the show".[1]
- One qualm among the crew with season three was how the season devolved into a science fiction, "secret lab" type of stories, with "Resurrection" epitomizing those types of episodes.[2]
- http://www.thefutoncritic.com/rant.aspx?id=20040115 - 11. "smallville: perry" (wb)
- Complete season review at IGN - Jeremy Dunham
Despite season two's unquestionable quality, Smallville's third season is probably its best -- and with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel now completely off of television, it's pretty much the only thing around that can fill the whole supernatural Scooby gang void.
Of course, one of the big reasons that Smallville helps fill that spot so well is because it has a lot of the same ingredients that powered Whedon's universe along in its prime: that is, it has a ton of supernatural special effects, a healthy but intimate cast of likeable heroes, and enough sexual tension to fill almost an entire episode of Moonlighting.
Not surprisingly The DVD iteration of Smallville: The Complete Third Season continues the same excellent standards set forth by the first two boxes and is undoubtedly worth the sixty bones you'll have to pay for it.
The Series
Now granted, the series has never been as witty or as slapstick funny as the Buffy and Angel shows were, but it's never really needed to be. The show's more lighthearted tone and subtle bombardment of comic-related in-jokes is usually enough to please the perpetually romantic and casual Superman fans alike. Season three perpetuates this same basic approach for most of its episodes as well, but has now managed to add a bit of the darkness that most dramas seem to need to throw out there as they mature.
Picking up exactly where Season 2 left off, Season 3 opens with our conflicted hero Clark causing trouble in Metropolis. Thanks to the red Kryptonite ring on his finger, his usually generous and giving manner has been superceded by an overwhelming degree of selfishness with hope of his recovery being rather slim.
Thankfully for Clark (and for fans), his adoptive father Jonathan strikes up a deal with the spirit of Clark's real father Jor-El to gain the strength necessary to bring the young Superman home. Part of what makes this arrangement so interesting is that we don't know the consequences of this deal between Jor-El and Jonathan right away -- building a nice undercurrent of mystery to the usual formula.
Another one of Season Three's ongoing plot points is the slow transformation of Lex Luthor. In fact, some of the Luthor stuff in this collection is pretty crazy as secrets are revealed, revelations are made, and the relationship between Clark and Lex begins to complicate.
Then again, transformed relationships seem to be the theme of Season Three, as Clark is also forced to reevaluate his association with Pete, Lana, and Chloe for reasons best left for you to discover. I do have to admit, though, that it's Chloe's ongoing Lionel Luthor subplot that rises to the top of this season's storyline heap. An underused and more interesting character than Lana Lang has ever been, her constant struggle with good and evil is really good stuff. If only she was used this well in the previous two years.
Despite the season's continuous underlying storyline, there are a few key episodes to keep your eye on. "Asylum," for example, is a fun little episode that sees a collection of Clark's former enemies joins forces in vengeance; only things don't quite work out they way they expect. "Delete" is an interesting mystery-oriented story that can shock you with some of things that Clark and Lana do throughout the episode, while the season ender "Covenant" has a few moments that will undoubtedly send Superman marks into a frenzy.
Score: 8 out of 10
- UGO review - Michael Patrick Sullivan,
The adventures of young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) in his pre-Superman days rally kicked into high gear in the third season and whatever opinions you may have had of the previous couple of seasons, this set is worth the time and money. And if you've never seen Smallville, this isn't a bad place to start.
The first two seasons were heavily populated by freak-of-the-week story lines in which young Clark, with the help of Lois Lane stand-in Chloe (Allison Mack), best friend Pete Ross (Sam Jones III), and on-again/off-again gal pal Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk). In this third season, the scope of stories is expanded a bit and building the eventual Superman mythology moves closer to the front of the room.
The third year starts out in an unusual place as an upset Clark has donned his Red Kryptonite-laden class ring (which brings out the dark and delinquent Clark) and run off to Metropolis. In "Exile" Clark is making dangerous deals with crime lord Morgan Edge (Rutger Hauer) while his loved ones are trying to locate him and bring him home. Clark's dad, Jonathan (John Schneider), makes a deal with Clark's Kryptonian father, Jor-El that leads to an exciting sequence that bridges the end of "Exile" and the beginning of "Phoenix" and has repercussions through this season and into the next. Schneider hasn't been this cool since the last time he slid across the hood of an automobile.
Score: A
- DVD Verdict - Judge Sandra Dozier
Now that we are into the fourth season of Smallville, I remain amazed at how the creators of this show can take a universe that is known so thoroughly by so many people, completely turn it on its ear, and yet delight us all the same. With solid casting, excellent production values, and inventive storytelling, this series manages to re-envision the Superman mythos for a modern audience and expertly set up the circumstances for the type of adult Superman that was personified in the 1978 classic Superman starring Mr. Supe himself, Christopher Reeve.
This series has something for almost everyone, even fans of the comic-book Clark Kent. The in-jokes and foreshadowing that are worked into everyday conversations are there mostly for fans who can catch them. They aren't so obvious that the average viewer would think it sounds weird, and sometimes they are so subtle you have to listen carefully to recognize them, but they're there. For instance, in the episode "Perry," which introduces Perry White (Michael McKean), White says, "He's hiding something, Chief" to the Sheriff, and she snaps, "Don't call me Chief!"
Season Three is all about living with the consequences of your actions. Clark returns home and must confront the friends he left behind. Chloe finds out that she can, indeed, go too far across the line of decent journalism. Pete makes the wrong enemies, Lex puts his trust in the wrong man, and Johnathan Kent makes a terrible choice. Characters wrestle with their inner demons as often as they are confronted by external dangers and challenges.
Even with this dark turn in the storyline, there are still some "wall of weird" episodes, such as the boy who can manipulate magnetic fields and wants to run away with Lana Lang, and the teleporting girl who discovers Clark's secret when they are trapped in a broken elevator. In keeping with the theme of dealing with consequences, the episode "Extinction" deals with a non-enhanced teen who is waging a war on anyone mutated by kryptonite after his father is killed by Tina Greer.
A good part of the appeal of this series is the way that it can take its time telling the Superman origin story. Clark's powers manifest discretely, often in response to a particular stimulus or change. For instance, in the episode "Whisper," he develops his super-hearing ability after temporarily losing his eyesight, and we get to see him hone the ability, refining until he can selectively pick out noises and conversations at will. Also, his heat vision is more precise the more he uses it, to the point that he can now emit short bursts of heat or long, intense rays. It's interesting to see how these abilities evolve and are used on the show. We're growing with Clark, and so we feel like we know him more intimately.
Another thing Smallville does right is taking the Superman universe seriously. These are real people that we can relate to and believe in—they just happen to be doing supernatural things. The characters have been realistically updated for the new century, as well. Because Clark will eventually go have a career at the Daily Planet, journalism and the power of the pen are large concepts in the Superman universe, which is in keeping with the decade that the comic originated in. However, in this age of 24-hour news networks, to say that newspapers are as powerful today as they were then would be ridiculous. Therefore, the main focus is on the school paper, The Torch. For a high school campus, the newspaper is a big deal. It works, and by extension breaking news in The Daily Planet works, too. It's a great setup that pays off well.
This season was also notable for the excellent way it would end episodes with cliffhangers that dovetailed smoothly into next week's installment. It may sound gimmicky on paper, but characters would be poised doing certain dangerous activities that would lead into future episodes, or even have a resolution a little further down the line. Earlier seasons tended to involve more encapsulated episode stories, with no continuing arcs to future installments. Not so good if you have to wait a week to find out if so-and-so will live or not, but great if you want a tightly paced, gripping drama.
Perhaps the expansive feel of Smallville comes from the 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen release, which gives the series a cinematic presence that most television shows don't have. The video transfer is also stunning, with a clear print that has virtually no problems or defects. This is a very colorful series, with bright, primary colors being used for the all-American Clark, cold blues for the sinister Lionel Luthor, warm sunny tones for the Kents, and so on. All of these rich colors are deep and gorgeous in this print. Sound transfer is equally fresh and makes good use of stereo for big explosions and other sound effects.
As detailed above, there is a large amount of extras with this release. The episode commentaries are reliably thorough and detailed, with a lot of behind-the-scenes anecdotes and production information. In general, actors are upbeat and enthusiastic about their roles, and Michael Rosenbaum in particular seems to have a great time at pretty much whatever he does. Listening to him doing impressions of the crew is hilarious. I really enjoyed the production featurette, but I felt it only scratched the surface of what fans would like to see about the show. I could watch an entire featurette on just creating the kryptonite effects, for example. There were several deleted scenes, which fill in some interesting information for each of the episodes, including a completely scrapped storyline involving the FBI tapping Lana's phone at the Talon in order to get information on Lex. The gag reel is predictably fun, especially a part involving a friendly horse who seems to nudge poor Kristin Kreuk on cue in every take. Finally, The Chloe Chronicles is a web import that was shot on video and uses still comic book panels to fill in the scenes involving any new sets or characters that would be too expensive to bring in just for this short series. Although the chronicles continue from the Season Two boxed set, they are easy enough to pick up if you haven't seen the first batch and are an enjoyable extension to the Smallville universe, particularly if you are a fan of Chloe or Pete. I love the appearance by John Glover toward the end—it's great that each of the actors takes these extras seriously and cares enough to stay in character and give a good performance even though they will be released straight to the low-res world of the Internet.
About the only moment of genuine "huh?" I experienced was when an FBI team forced its way into the Kent home and absolutely ransacked the place, throwing things around without a care in the world. Afterward, it looked as if a petite tornado had set down in their living room. Do these things actually happen? It seems unlikely…there is no need for investigators, crooked or no, to destroy property that they are searching. It seemed unnecessarily heavy-handed, designed to add drama and tension, but only distracting in its over-the-top intensity.
Another minor pet peeve: extremely hot chicks in nontraditional roles for Lex Luthor to meet and be betrayed by. Extremely hot computer chick in "Delete" is just the latest. Is it possible for Lex to meet a nice girl who doesn't work for his father and doesn't want to screw him over in some way? She can be hot, just not evil or crazy.
Smallville kicks ass, and it looks really good while it does so.
- Digitally Obsessed! - Joel Cunningham
When Buffy the Vampire Slayer fled the WB network for UPN, the suits were eager to find a similarly hip show and hold their audience. Superman, albeit a teenage version, turned out to be the inheritor of the Slayer's mantle, and for four years now, fans have watched Clark Kent (Tom Welling) mature into his otherworldly powers under the guidance of Jonathan (John Schneider) and Martha (Annette O'Toole) Kent. The setup— super-powered deal fights villains but can't always overcome teen angst—owes a rather sizeable debt to Buffy, but Clark's adventures, though lots of fun, aren't nearly as satisfying.
With Clark in high school and producers' edict "no tights, no flights," these aren't exactly the adventures of Superboy. Instead, we watch Clark go through all the struggles of a normal teenager while coming to grips with his superpowers, his place in the world, and his ultimate destiny. Smallville has never been quite the show the premise suggests, however. Sure, Clark may question whether his Kryptonian parents sent him to Earth to save humanity or to conquer it, but he only does so in isolated scenes, when it is important to the plot of a specific episode. For the most part, the future man of steel hasn't changed a bit since the first season—revelations and betrayals that would cause a major upheaval in real life are one episode events on Smallville, and the emphasis is on standalone episodes (usually dealing with a "kryptofreak of the week," a teenager given strange powers by the glowing meteor rocks that crashed to earth along with Clark's spaceship) rather than any coherent story arc.
Most of the problems are exemplified in exceedingly stupid installments like Velocity, in which it is revealed that Clark's supposed best friend Pete (Sam Jones III), the only one outside his family who knows of his Kryptonian past, has gotten himself wrapped up in an illegal drag racing ring that tools around in rice rockets supercharged with "meteor rock" fuel (eye roll, eye roll, eye roll). When Pete gets in trouble and Clark asks what he was thinking, his friend responds that Clark is pulling away, they aren't close, blah blah, yet we've never seen any indication of such discord in the past. By the end of the episode, Clark and Pete are involved in a car accident that leaves one driver dead, and their friendship in ruins, and that might be a big deal if there was ever any fallout, but no, by the next week, the two are once again best pals and secret alien code word buddies forever. I don't want to spoil anything that happens in future seasons, but at this point in year four, Clark could probably kill all of his friends' pets and no one would hold it against him. Heck, he could probably even kill their parents, and the next week's episode would be all about the time members of the track team snorted powdered kryptonite in order to run faster (Dear Smallville writers: do not steal my idea).
That's not to say there isn't a story arc, it's just very poorly developed, and, frankly, a little stupid. With little to no comic book reference for Clark's younger days, the writers have tried to hash together their own version of his origin story. Some elements really work—including Clarks bond with future supervillain Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), who at this point is a young businessman trying to overthrow his dangerous, sociopath father, magnificent bastard Lionel Luthor (John Glover). Most everything else is very, very wrong, including a bunch of baloney about Kryptonians having visited Earth centuries ago and these Indian caves with strange alien carvings covering the walls and a section of wall that provides access to some kind of phantom zone. An inordinate amount of episodes also focus on a tepid unrequited romance between Clark and pretty, pretty princess Lana (Kristin Kreuk), despite the fact that they have no chemistry, when it would be much more interesting for him to fall for the brainy, charismatic cub reporter Chloe Sullivan (adorable Allison Mack). But at least Chloe gets a halfway decent story this year when, crushed by Clark's rejection, she sells her soul to the devil and agrees to spy on him for the ever curious Luthor family. Lana is stuck with some rubbish about dark and brooding new character Adam Knight (Lost's Ian Somerhalder), whom many fans initially thought might be Bruce Wayne, but that would have been cool.
If you ignore the lame attempts at serial storytelling, though, and just go episode by episode, the show is usually pretty entertaining from a lowest common denominator standpoint. Most of the actors are likeable and charismatic, dialogue is occasionally clever, and there are always amusingly obvious special effects to look forward to (the producers love their slow motion CGI shots, let me tell you). All the standalones can be frustrating to those who find story arcs more rewarding (me) and appreciate character development (also me), but they work well enough considering the show's often unintentionally campy qualities, even if they tend to blend together (wait, the one where Clark was under the influence of red kryptonite was last season, right? Yes, and this season, and, incidentally, Season Four as well, but that one isn't on DVD yet). And of course, there's always the fluke, an episode that totally works, and this year has a few of those, too.
Among the good I count Perry, which introduces Perry White (played by Annette O'Toole's husband Michael McKean), Clark Kent's future boss at The Daily Planet. Yet when we meet him, he's an alcoholic failure slumming for a paranormal TV show that picks up on the sent of weirdness it Smallville and finds it comes off of Clark in cartoonish, squiggly line waves. Shattered deals with Lex's supposed insanity, which seems to be a result of something his father did to try to keep him quiet about a dark secret from the past. Clark goes blind but develops his super hearing in Whisper. Chloe becomes the target of violent attacks after a mysterious force makes her friends turn violently against her (Lana and Chloe catfight alert!). In Crisis, Clark gets a job at a teen crisis line and gets a call for help from Lana—from the future. Christopher Reeve makes his final appearance as the Krypton expert Dr. Swann in Legacy, while suddenly, no one is physically able to lie to Chloe in Truth (good thing these episodes all have a reset button!).
My personal non-favorites include Slumber, which has Clark teleporting into a troubled girl's head to try and save her from the evil dream version of her father (it feels like a warmed over Buffy plot; not a surprise since writer Drew Z. Greenberg worked on that show for several years); the two-parter that opens the season, though that's mostly because it has to wrap up the lame finale of the year prior; the lame Asylum, in which lame former kryptofreaks put in the crazy house bust out to lamely menace Clark and Lex; and Extinction, in which a kid whose family was hurt by one of Smallville's resident weirdos decides to start shooting anyone who exhibits special powers (and for some reason, he decides to use kryptonite bullets, because that makes sense); and, most of all, Relic, a sweeps stunt that posits Jor-El (Superman's father) came to Earth long before Clark only to fall in love with Lana's mother or something, with past versions of the lovers played by their present day counterparts.
Despite a bravura four-way cliffhanger, the season finale, Covenant, is too wrapped up in the stupid business of the Indian caves and Jonathan Kent's deal with Jor-El (Superman's father) following the events of the Season Two closer. Yes, Jor-El is supposed to be dead, but it's too complicated and boring to explain (particularly when you know how it all turns out in Season Four). Nothing ever matters on this show, but at least it's fun while it lasts.
Overall score: B
The May season finale of Clark Kent's story left me underwhelmed. Clark (Tom Welling) had ridden off, abandoning his family and wearing the red Kryptonite ring that makes him turn into Bad Clark. "Smallville" producers went down the Bad Clark path several times last season, and the season finale felt like they went to the well once too often.
In tonight's season premiere, three months have passed and Bad Clark is tearing it up in Metropolis, robbing banks and blowing up cop cars. Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), who appeared dead in a plane crash, survived, but he's going all Lord of the Flies on a deserted island.
I'm willing to give the producers some rope in hopes that these unfortunate plot turns will lead to something interesting eventually, but so far, it's a tad preposterous, even by fantasy show standards. Pa Kent (John Schneider) somehow has a conversation through time and space with Clark's biological father and ends up going mano a mano with his adopted son.
Not that "Smallville" shouldn't be allowed to take risks, but the joy of the show is its homespun, sometimes cornpone depiction of Kent family life. Seeing Clark go bad, the farm go down the toilet and Papa Kent giving his son a spanking, well, it just seems so unlike this usually upbeat, winning series.
In this cool box-set we see Clark Kent (Tom Welling) still trying to come to terms with both his personal life and his superhero alter ego. With the break-up of his relationship with his beloved Lana (Kristin Kreuk) and the constant battle of trying to keep Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) from following in his fathers footsteps, Clark has his work cut out. And, of course, those raging teenage hormones dont help. The stories are still as fresh as the previous two seasons and this box is a fans dream. Theres an audio commentary from Rosenbaum, Allison Mack (Chloe) and John Glover (the deliciously evil Lionel Luthor), a brilliant behind-the-scenes featurette, unseen footage, a great gag reel and a very funny Easter Egg.