Smallville Season Ten.

[Droid]

Smallville will be back on September 24, 2010, 8:00 ET. They are putting Supernatural on after it, which makes a lot more sense than America's Next Top Model.

However, I thought Supernatural was kind of a darling of the CW, so I'm surprised they're putting it on Fridays. I guess the Vampire Diaries is the big thing now.

[Lord Malakite]

I thought Supernatural was kind of a darling of the CW, so I'm surprised they're putting it on Fridays. I guess the Vampire Diaries is the big thing now.

The show's creator, Eric Kripke, only planned for a five season story arc when it came to Supernatural and the actors who portray the Winchester brothers, Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, originally signed a six season contract. The show just completed that story arc at the end of this past season (season 5), so Kripke is leaving the show and a "postscript" 6th season is being handled by another show runner, Sera Gamble. The upcoming 6th season is being done simultaneously because of season 4/5's increased ratings, as a means to complete the actors 6 year contract terms and to see if the show has legs story wise if pulled in some new direction by someone other than Kripke. Both actors who portray the Winchesters have said they have been happy with how the show went for the 5 season story arc and that if they don't like how/where the show heads in the 6th season they simply wouldn't renew their contracts, effectively ending the show at 6 seasons.

On a related note, at least the first 2 seasons of Supernatural is getting remade as an anime cartoon in Japan, with a possible import/dub to the US.

[Droid]

tvguide.com has quite a write up on the last season and what was revealed at the convention. It is pretty spoiler filled.

I noticed this, which I predicted:

Super Villain: "This year we have a little different twist on the villain," executive producer Brian Peterson said. "We're bringing in Darkseid, but he's going to come in a little different form than you're used to seeing, so we're going to switch it up a little."


He'll be a charming, caucasian, good looking Englishman.

Oh, and they said that the Superman suit would be the exact one used in Superman Returns, which is a bit of a bummer for me. That suit was too dingy, I didn't like the cape's plasticity, and the S was too small. Oh well.

[JediTricks]

I missed that panel yesterday, so I'm glad the info is out there.

Surprised they're using the Superman Returns suit, I totally agree with your assessment of it.

Not surprised about Darkseid being "different", your guess sounds likely.


EDIT: Here's that spoilery article link: http://www.tvguide.com/News/Smallvil...n-1020944.aspx

SPOILERS:

===Ugh, Tess lives. And she'll be part of Watchtower? Just gets worse and worse.

Chloe is taking up the helm of Dr. Fate? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

Sounds like Lois finding out and not saying anything about Clark is going to feel hackneyed.

Allison Mack is leaving before the series finale? What's the point? And it sounds like it's going to be cheap.

Looks like a lot of the actors from before on the show are going to be making cameos, I hope it doesn't feel too cheesy.

Booster Gold? Wow, I hope they can make that work, but it seems like such a different thing for the Smallville universe.===

[JediTricks]

Smallville starts tonight! The guide listings have a buttload of spoilers for just a few sentences.

[JediTricks]

1) It's the "final season" according to the opening of the episode.

2) Uh, Darkseid is a vapor?

3) So, Ollie's attack is the world's fastest normal guys? What?

4) That was terrible, everything that was done right in last season has fallen to crap this season. Motivations that make no sense for Chloe and have no payoff, Lois playing the game of "I know your secret but I won't let you know I know", and Clark apparently is a prideful murderer in his own eyes now for no reason whatsoever, with Jor-El magically coming back online after all this time just to chide him about stuff that makes no sense. They're just looking for an excuse to make drama and not put Clark in the suit.

What a letdown.

[Droid]

Agree. Awful episode (save one point I'll get to in a bit).

They set up Darkseid and then totally backed off except for the one Darkseid cloud shot.

Granny Goodness brings Tess back and will have her enslaved. Nope, her face is healed and she's just at Cadmus brought back through magic for no reason.

Green Arrow attacked by Darkseid's men. Nope, just more government stuff like last year.

So Chloe knows something happened to Ollie and DOES NOT tell Clark and thinks the Dr. Fate helmet is the only way because... it makes no sense. Ollie got captured last year (when he skateboarded out on the truck door) and it wans't the end of the world and didn't require some weird sacrifice from Chloe. And she gives herself over to the government for what reason other than she sees in the future it should happen. But what is the rationale that led to that being the future other than the actress leaving the show? What a sloppy writeoff. And if she didn't want to be on the show anymore, just write her off the page without making us watch a bunch of "where's Chloe"?

Why send Lois to Africa for whatever five minutes it will be when we know she's going to be in a lot this season? And why did she go? She didn't act like it at first. (Guess she saw the suit and realized Clark had a bigger destiny than being with her - but still dumb.)

Clark's falling off the building and Lois pulling the knife out and it suddenly being day was a lame resolution to the climax. You'd think if he was human that the fall would have obliterated his body beyond recognition such that it would be too late once the knife was out. I think they needed to save him before he hit the ground.

So there is a Lex clone (CLex?) and his brilliant scheme is just to do the "can't be in two places at once trick" from Superman: the Movie except it's just a big ball falling into traffic from the top of the Planet and Lois in a burning cornfield? Seems like what the real Lex did to Lana when he couldn't even move was a step up from that! And Lex doesn't bring Kryptonite to the exchange? I was telling someone I was watching the episode with "I hope they have Clark a little smarter than to just run up to Lex and have Lex have Kryptonite so that Clark falls down and almost dies." Nope even worse - Clark is too stupid to guard himself from Kryptonite and Lex is too stupid to bring it.

I did like Lex saying people call Clark for cleaning up his own messes. They never harp on the fact that all the meteor freaks were caused by Clark's arrival and so many of the problems on the show that Earth experiences are Kryptonian based. Doomsday. Both of the Zods. Both meteor showers. Brainiac. I always wanted a scene where Lana figured out her parents died because Clark came.

I actually thought the clone Lex wasn't a terrible idea - they did it in the comics, but to just have him in for one episode was pretty pointless, particularly when there was stuff from the prior season's last episode that needed unpacking. Usually I complain that they have a lot of stuff that needs done in the season finale which is conveniently dealt with in one season premiere. Here they didn't even want to spend one episode dealing with the season finale and they shoved this standalone Lex stuff in.

This kid Lex is a terrible idea too. So the Jimmy AND the Lex we saw on the show were not the Lex and Jimmy that Superman will actually encounter and Clark is older than Lex now. If in the mind of Smallville producers actual Lex is really dead and every moment of the earlier seasons was building up to the two characters on screen NOT eventually becoming mortal enemies when Clark was Superman is pretty lame.

I still hate that Superman Returns costume. So dingy and latexy. Not a bright shade of red and blue to really inspire.

Gee, Jor-El, you put my suit in crystal. Guess my mom will just have to give me another one. It's not like you gave me the suit or it has special properties or Kryptonian properties. If Jor-El gets angrier will he take the sweater Martha gave him for Christmas?

This episode's one saving grace in my opinion was having Clark talk to Jonathan. The setup is murky and I'm not sure if we are supposed to believe it was a hypothetical conversation in Clark's mind or if it really happened, but I always find the stuff like the first conversation with Jonathan after he died and the flash Martha had last year of seeing Jonathan come through the door pretty moving. Bit of a retcon though, Jonathan had a bad heart because he made a deal with Jor-El to stop Red Kryptonite Clark and he died because Clark traded Lana for Jonathan in order to change history. Jonathan didn't die because he couldn't control his anger.

So tired of Jor-El. They even acknowledge that lousy stuff about how Clark was supposed to rule with strength and then Jor-El goes nuts because Clark lost his temper for a second and yet still didn't kill CLex. Didn't Jor-El WANT Clark to kill in prior seasons where necessary? Would Jor-El really care if Clark had just stomped Lex out of existence?

And yeah, Clark DOESN'T kill or even maim Clex and saves everybody and decides he's a hero, but is criticized by Jor-El for what and then decides Jor-El is right and he is awful just to set up the Jonathan talk and delay the suit?

[JediTricks]

I think it was night when Clark fell off the building only because of the ensuing ascension thing, and once that was done, the clouds it created spread and the sun came out. How a now-mortal Clark survived that fall intact though, that was crap and a half.

I can understand Lois leaving, they made an effort to show HER how her presence in Clark's life was a weakness and vulnerability to him, and Lex clone's actions proved it (in theory, it actually didn't in reality but don't tell him that, he'll be upset ). So I get going halfway around the world, but they should have had her say it to herself, something to sell it.

It was nice to talk to Jonathan for a moment, and for him to refute Jor-El's out-of-nowhere claims while simultaneously recognizing the truth in limitations for our hero are largely self-inflicted. The whole "why" of it was out of left field though, especially with a perfect opportunity to deal with it in the "halfway between life or death" scenario earlier.

I feel like you have even more points I couldn't voice because I was so annoyed, and it just reminds me that this episode singlehandedly seems to have undone all that worked in the prior season.

[Droid]

Yeah, I thought it was silly that Jonathon didn't appear to Clark in the limbo state.

The more I think about the Chloe thing the sloppier it is. How about Chloe just tells Clark where the prisoner exchange is and he runs up at superspeed and carries them both out of there?

I guess the Dr. Fate helmet showed Chloe that in the future she'd lose her sense.

And who were the people that Green Arrow was walking to as he was recovered?

And if "the government" had Oliver and now Chloe why not ask Martha/the Red Queen to pitch in?

So dumb.

[JediTricks]

The season premiere's ratings were higher than any episode from last season, yet nobody seems to be talking about this turkey of an episode.