Smallville Makes Gail Sad [Archive] - Comic Book Resources Forums

Gail Simone

02-07-2008, 10:30 PM

Christopher Cross Is God

02-07-2008, 10:53 PM

I haven't watched the show much, but if you would have punched up Lois's personality on the show, it could have possibly clashed with her past appearances. She has been on the show quite a bit.

BC, on the other hand, you would have been able to do whatever you want with.

shrike

02-07-2008, 10:55 PM

I can't argue the Lois point. Yes, she sucks... badly.

I went in with the mindset firmly in place this was not 'our' Dinah Lance. It seemed to make it more entertaining when I watched it. The character came across, physically, as very competent. I liked the (reversal) use of the wig as a nod to BC's past.

BTW the special effect for the Canary Cry looked very, very good.

Dedagda

02-07-2008, 10:59 PM

I haven't watched Smallville since I booked a season premiere event watching party at a gay bar with the local WB network.

Its Lois' first appearance...and I got lucky that night! I seem to remember Lana on horseback but that might've been my date.

+++++

You should take ownership of those characters. You've given them voice and depth. It didn't matter how excited I was about the BoP short-lived series. My personal enthusiasm couldn't make it work.

stealthwise

02-07-2008, 11:12 PM

Smallville's still on the air? It's the opposite of what a good superhero show should be; it lacks any sense of dynamism, excitement, or actual HEROISM. Tom Welling is a terrible, terrible Superman.

darkhanamaru

02-07-2008, 11:14 PM

She has wit and style. People always get her wrong when they make her an immature loudmouth. She's FUN, not dumb.

But okay. I understand they didn't want to use the comics version, fine, there were some good things about it.

Worse than Canary is Lois.

Dammit.

Lois doesn't whine.

I don't know why this is so complicated. This is why the movie was troubled. LOIS DOESN'T WHINE.

I don't know. I have always thought as Smallville as "when they were kids" so they are still evolving and growing as characters. And most teenagers and college kids whine at some point. But they have planted the foundation for Lois to grow into an independent character - see the Lois sister episode and follow the way she has been building her career on the show. I like the fact that they are letting the characters be dumb.

But of course, i wish Lana would just get around to dying.

Secret Publicity Stunt

02-07-2008, 11:14 PM

I just didn't understand why they had Dinah throwing knives. Has she ever have a history of doing it? But, personally, I think Lois is one of the best portrayed characters on the show, this episode notwithstanding. I really liked the scene at the end with Lois and Clark, especially this quote:

Lois: Besides, why settle for hot, rich and famous when I can hang out with you?

Major Comma

02-07-2008, 11:39 PM

the problem with the show is since it takes place before the characters are fullly developed ,
They feel they can do whatever they want.
Funny Gail used the word generic .
its the first word that popped in my head when i saw her.
Dinah is more then her canary cry and her fishnets.

Tyr

02-07-2008, 11:45 PM

I turned my back on this show months ago, I wasn't happy with the way they handled Kara.

Paul McEnery

02-07-2008, 11:46 PM

AAAAAGGGGHHHH!

Damn damn damn. Haven't gotten there yet. Nearly all caught up, though.

And I loved the way they tipped us that it was the Martian Manhunter by using Oreos.

And I'm afraid the first Justice League episode, with Chloe in the Oracle role, had me leaping up and down in pure nerdly glee.

darkhanamaru

02-07-2008, 11:50 PM

Spike-X

02-08-2008, 12:09 AM

Yeah, TV shows that suck make me sad, too.

SUPERECWFAN1

02-08-2008, 12:23 AM

Was Green Arrow involved ? I haven't seen those episodes yet ...but considering how close the characters are ...I could see Ollie showing up to flirt some .

darkhanamaru

02-08-2008, 12:43 AM

Was Green Arrow involved ? I haven't seen those episodes yet ...but considering how close the characters are ...I could see Ollie showing up to flirt some .

Uh yeah he did. And that is all i am going to say.

kingdom2000

02-08-2008, 02:21 AM

Finally got around to watching the ep (recorded it) and can see why Gail was disappointed.

The idea was fine, the execution was oh so wrong. The character was one dimension, as if the writer was handed a DC Encyclopedia entry, read only the first paragraph and went from there.

The actress, well she needs some more acting classes. Many more classes. Nor was she that particularly attractive but part of that may had been that silly hair style.

The sonic wave effect was pretty good, but then that department has always done a good job of showing powers in cool ways. However to offset that you had some aweful wire work that looked stiff and fake.

On the bright Allison Mack (Chloe) continues to look mighty fine and does her usual good job but apparently doesn't make many phone calls since BC discovered the GA's identity because it was the last call she made on her cell the night before. It would have been an slick solution if the BC had stole the cell in the initial squirmish and then checked it later. Kristen Kruek looks good in glasses but remains subpar. And when did Lex learn to fight? 6 seasons and out of nowhere he becomes a hand to hand badass?

And now that Gail mentioned it, she is right, Lois is quite the whiner. But then to be fair the is before the Lois of the comics. She is still learning. It was just last season they had the character discover her journalistic instincts.

It still saddens me though that this series can't have a Bruce Wayne appearence because of the movies. Never understood why WB thinks their audience is so stupid.

Draconomicon

02-08-2008, 05:26 AM

Tom Welling is a terrible, terrible Superman.

Its not his acting that makes people watch the show.
Its his Ripped-shirt-per-episode™

Michael P

02-08-2008, 05:28 AM

Its not his acting that makes people watch the show.
Its his Ripped-shirt-per-episode™

Ah, the Shatner factor.

Cam63

02-08-2008, 06:14 AM

Smallville has it's moments.

...Emphasise on " moments. "

KevinTBrown

02-08-2008, 06:22 AM

This show is still on?

Wow.

I gave up on 6 episodes in.... I got tired of the "Kryptonite villain of the week" rut it fell into quickly.

Cam63

02-08-2008, 06:28 AM

I just pretend it's not the pre-story of Superman.

Libaax

02-08-2008, 06:31 AM

I stopped watching when they removed GA in the last season.

The actor playing him did a good job.

Otherwise i dont care about this show.

For me its like a bad elsewhere story. It never happened. Tom Welling is Clark Kent from another world.....

Kid Omega

02-08-2008, 06:35 AM

I hate to say it, but the further the show gets from "young Clark wrestling with adolescent love and emerging powers as metaphors" the worse it gets.

People complained when it was "Dawson's Creek with super-villains", but at leat then it had some focus, and a (melo)dramatic core that you could grasp.

Now it's either a) a lot of boring, obtuse Kryptonian nonsense, or b) a thinly veiled "let's appeal to comic fans by bluntly wedging known characters into the mix".

Mind you, I've only caught bits and pieces for the past few years before turning the TV off. The five minutes I saw last night were so cheesily acted and cornily written that my tummy ached.

cactusmaac

02-08-2008, 06:43 AM

I quite like it. It helped me get back into comics after a few years away. Some of the episodes are meh, but they've come up with enough interesting takes on the mythos, good to great performances from the older cast members and spine-tingling Superman moments to make it worthy.

Cam63

02-08-2008, 06:44 AM

Mind you, I've only caught bits and pieces for the past few years before turning the TV off. The five minutes I saw last night were so cheesily acted and cornily written that my tummy ached.

The dairy industry have complained they're stealing their act.

LewisH

02-08-2008, 07:50 AM

from the few times I've watched Smallville everyone on that show whines.
It's pretty much just Dawson's Creek with worse writing and acting (if that's possible.)

Solaris

02-08-2008, 08:06 AM

I turned my back on this show months ago, I wasn't happy with the way they handled Kara.

I quit watching long before that... when it became obvious that what started out as a cool show, was going to turn into yet another "90210" young adult soap opera.

I understand how a fan can want a show to go on forever. What bugs me is that they keep *making* a show like this forever, long after they've fallen into "variations on a theme/formula."

I really really really hope that, with "Heroes," they don't do this. I think they can get one, maybe two, more good seasons with the plot and characters. I'd rather see something well-written, exciting, engrossing, that brings things around to a solid ending/closure, than something that goes on forever because the studio makes money with it. Even M.A.S.H., for all that I loved it, ran into the "what do we do now?" problem at times... and most shows don't have half the shelf life that show did.

And if the studio decides the numbers aren't right, more often than not you never get your "closure/ending" episode(s)... which bugs the hell out of me.

As to Gail's comments, though I didn't see the episode, I have to agree: if they made the characters the way she described, it sucks.

The Beast Of Yucca Flats

02-08-2008, 09:05 AM

I don't know why, but JLU being gone while Smallville's still chuggin' along casts my mind back to Patton Oswalt's "Alternate Earth" bit for some reason...

scout1279

02-08-2008, 09:12 AM

Smallville's been making me sad for years. Yet I still watch it. I am a masochist.

All the characters lack in the personality department, so it really wasn't all that surprising that their Black Canary was generic. Ollie gets off a good line here or there, but mostly he's just a poor man's Bruce Wayne, minus the personality.

Lois has been pissing me off for years now. The writers will decide randomly in one episode that being a reporter is suddenly her "calling," but spend half a season on a romance that only leads to her whining to Clark about how much her love life sucks. Plus she's really dumb, but that pretty much goes for all the characters except Chloe, Lionel and Oliver.

It also ocurred to me last night that after turning Lana Lang into Gwen Stacy years ago, they're kind of turning Lois into Mary Jane, except without the being fun and interesting parts.

Smallville's still on the air? It's the opposite of what a good superhero show should be; it lacks any sense of dynamism, excitement, or actual HEROISM. Tom Welling is a terrible, terrible Superman.
Aww, Tom Welling is one of the few things I like about the show. I think he'd make a good Superman if someone would bother to write Superman into the show.

Cam63

02-08-2008, 09:15 AM

Aww, Tom Welling is one of the few things I like about the show. I think he'd make a good Superman if someone would bother to write Superman into the show.

There's a novel concept.

PatrickG

02-08-2008, 09:20 AM

I enjoyed the first four years or so.

They've pretty much lost me.

You know, one thing that worked for Buffy that Smallville never adopted is that the Buffy series kept the drama fresh by poking holes in people's dreams. Not only were people denied happy relationships on Buffy but the door was closed on them.

Jenny Calender died and didn't come back. The Buffy/Xander was deflated very fast because of the transpossessed sexual assault and Angel. Xander/Willow had the door closed on it by Willow's sudden gayness. Buffy/Angel was effectively dead when she killed him and the death pangs lasted a single season. Spuffy fans got their wish for a single season. Oh. There were hints of the old things... and even hopes.

But once a soap opera element ended, it was pretty much over and the show moved on.

Whereas Smallville still wallows in the Clark/Chloe/Lana/Lex quadrangle.

I have no problem with the show being a bit soapy. But there's no excitement when the show is unwilling to back away from anything. Oh, sure, they ADD stuff like Lois/Ollie and Lex/Kara... But they've never just outright dropped anything, broken it and swept away the pieces.

Even Lex keeps teetering back into redeemable territory.

Art pisses people off. Even pop art. Smallville has shown an unwillingness to piss off any of its fan factions and has become bland. It's all about what spice they add to the gumbo next week; there's no feeling of progression towards anything. Which is what a show about a young Superman should be about.

LtMarvel

02-08-2008, 09:27 AM

I cannot defend Black Canary on the show.

My take on Smallville's Lois: young, nervous, but hides the nervousness behind her pushyness. It's kind of a kind of an emotional shield she'd develop as an army brat.

The best current theme of the show: Lex turning forever evil. The episodes this season that stray away from that are the weaker ones.

Smallville pays off its viewers every once in awhile. They make sure to peak at season ender/cliffhanger/season opener. And then there are a few peaks sprinkled in the middle of the season. And there's filler.

Compare this to the current cream of the action crop Lost, which had yet another payoff episode Thursday night.

The Tyrant Virus

02-08-2008, 09:41 AM

I'm like a season and a half behind on Smallville, and haven't seen this episode. It has ups and downs. The down-est being the "Lana-is-a-witch" story arc, which almost made me quit watching completely. But luckily, I thought the season after that was a lot better. Since I'm a bit behind, I don't know what the status of the Clark/Lana thing is, but the fact that they held on to that story for so long really annoyed me. It got dragged on and on and on, to a point it was just pathetic. Maybe it's just my dislike, near loathing, of Lana that makes puts me off of that particular side plot. I mean, Kristin Kreuk is cute and all, but she is not very good on Smallville, unless making Lana unlikable is intentional.

I also have to say, I think Tom Welling is pretty good, actually. I am not a fan of DC, been a Marvel guy as long as I can remember, and I had NEVER been a fan of Superman. Along comes Tom Welling and Smallville, who makes Clark seem like an actual person, who you can empathize with, relate to, believe in. He allowed me to see, even if this Clark/Kal-El is different than the comics version, the good in Superman and converted me to a fan of the character. Before (hell, even after) Superman Returns, I had really been hoping for Welling to get the part. He's not the greatest actor, but I think he's believable.

Charles RB

02-08-2008, 10:21 AM

from the few times I've watched Smallville everyone on that show whines.

Of course they whine - they're forced to be in Smallville.

valentine

02-08-2008, 11:25 AM

One of my many gripes is that so much of the show takes place in a mid-western incarnation of Metropolis.

But I agree with Gail, Lois' depiction is completely unbalanced.

darkhanamaru

02-08-2008, 11:29 AM

I mean, Kristin Kreuk is cute and all, but she is not very good on Smallville, unless making Lana unlikable is intentional.

I honestly think sometimes Lana's unlikability is intentional since they spend almost every other episode torturing her and knocking her out.

Solaris

02-08-2008, 11:57 AM

I don't know why, but JLU being gone while Smallville's still chuggin' along casts my mind back to Patton Oswalt's "Alternate Earth" bit for some reason...

*cries*

JLU was SO much better than Smallville.

And while I hate to see a show outlive its shelf life... I also hate seeing a show cancelled, when there's an enormous amount of untapped stories for it out there. *sigh* That was JLU.

Corrina

02-08-2008, 12:12 PM

Cam63

02-08-2008, 12:14 PM

That's life, and it sucks sometimes.

Spiffy

02-08-2008, 01:31 PM

Okay, mixing Ann Coulter with Black Canary is mixing my LEAST favorite thing with my MOST favorite thing.

That wasn't the big problem, though.

I wasn't going to watch. I like Smallville, though I am way, way behind.

There were two huge problems. First, the Black Canary is not a generic 'bad girl.'

She has wit and style. People always get her wrong when they make her an immature loudmouth. She's FUN, not dumb.

But okay. I understand they didn't want to use the comics version, fine, there were some good things about it.

Worse than Canary is Lois.

Dammit.

Lois doesn't whine.

I don't know why this is so complicated. This is why the movie was troubled. LOIS DOESN'T WHINE.

She's not perfect. She's not fearless. But she doesn't go around moping and looking doe-eyed and argh, it just made me sad.

It's still a very good show. But I woulda KILLED to do a pass at the dialogue, just to punch up the personalities a little bit.

Lois and Dinah, anyway.

I know I don't OWN those characters but having written them and having loved them so much, it does make me a little sad to see them diminished.

Maybe they'll come out of this triumphant at some point.

Gail
Gail, you're just noticing this stuff about Smallville? :eek:

To a certain extent, Smallville short-changes every character on it. Except for Lana, who's blown up to an importance FAR out of proportion to what she ever had even at her most in the comics.

I was encouraged when they first had Lois show up--thinking it was finally a declaration that the show was going in the right direction. From what I've seen (and I admit even more heard, since admittedly I only see about three Smallville episodes a season these days), it hasn't worked out that way.

Lois is iconic for a reason--she's not just some generic girl hanging out waiting to be rescued. Okay, she MIGHT have been all the way up until the 1960s, but she's had a lot of evolution since then. Other than the strange blind-spot of not being able to spot that Clark is Superman, Lois should usually be presented as the smartest person in any room she's in. And there's a big difference between "smart" and "smart mouth", as you say. You were applying that statement towards Dinah, I know, but in earlier episodes I've seen it applies towards Lois too--Smallville starting out making her loud, and I hate to say it... a bit thick. I don't know how much that's changed since I last saw the show, but it depressed me at the time. If its gone from there to making her whiny on top of that? Ick. Lois doesn't whine--she busts her ass to fix things. That's a characteristic SO basic it even existed back in the "help me, Superman" days with her.

As for Dinah? After so many years of writing her, while you don't "own" her, you certainly have more of a right to comment than most.

Solaris

02-08-2008, 01:52 PM

I find Smallville usually badly written and badly acted.

Most of the actors really mug for the camera. Welling has maybe three facial expressions: determined, worried & angry--and they all look the same.

The actress playing Lana is god-awful. Even the actress who plays Chloe has kinda fallen into a lot of the same habits. Lois, when she first showed up, seemed to inject some good stuff but...well, Gail is right. Lois doesn't WHINE. EVER. She might be more impulsive at a younger age but she wouldn't *whine.*

(Only decent part of Superman:Doomsday is that they got Lois right. Not that it helped such a grim, depressing little movie.)

Rosenbaum as Lex used to be my saving grace--he's mugging for the cameras too but he looked like he was having fun. But they keep jumping back and forth between evil & not evil. Ho-hum.

Plus, Mama Kent drove me nuts. They never, ever gave her anything to do because worry about Clark or Jonathan and then, when she was a widow, she just got turned into Lionel's girlfriend. I think I gave up at that point.

Sad waste of a show, to my mind. It's not even a good soap opera because there's no emotional consistency.

She WHAT???

Oh, that's just SICK. Really really sick.

I have to agree on the writing. Season 1 was all about the "what weird abberation does the presence of Kryptonite in this town cause THIS week?", but it was still sort of fun. I enjoyed seeing Clark *not* knowing his origins from day 1, though it seemed to take FOREVER before they started letting him find out things.

I really enjoyed Lex as initially trying to be a nice guy. I liked the whole "my dad wants me to be a cold bastard, and I don't want to be" thing. I'd hoped to see him rebel against Lionel and accomplish it (hopefully bringing Lionel down in the process)... and then once he held the reins, gradually becoming as ruthless as his father was, as the power goes to his head.

Instead, with Lex we got this wishy-washy back and forth crap. We got Lionel getting blinded (YAY!) and out of command... and then him faking it.

We got the whole Clark/Lana/Chloe thing. Dumb. Chloe was the bright stimulating influence. Lana was just "pretty/protect me."

And it all went further downhill from there.

I think the biggest reason the actors haven't developed a wider repertoire of reaction, etc., is because the writing sucks canal water. If the writing is bad, there's not a lot, as an actor, you can do with it.

In other words, the show should have GROWN in the subsequent seasons, as the actors and writers got familiar with the characters, etc. Instead, it got stuck in a rut of "how many ways can we show the same thing and TRY to make it look like something new?"

PatrickG

02-08-2008, 02:26 PM

Lois is iconic for a reason--she's not just some generic girl hanging out waiting to be rescued. Okay, she MIGHT have been all the way up until the 1960s, but she's had a lot of evolution since then.

Lois softened in the 60s, if anything. Although she essentially also changed from being Superman's unrequited love to mooning after a disinterested Superman and becoming his worst enemy for about 10 years. :)

Golden Age Lois was a tough broad. Watch the 40s cartoons or pick up some old comics.

She was a chain smoking Kathryn Hepburn type who was always berating Clark for not being tough enough (and occasionally looking out for him) and, personality wise, was much tougher and more serious than Superman.

He was the grinning, wisecracking, carefree guy with tremendous strength. And she was the hard-nosed, serious, ballbusting, pioneering woman who tended to get herself in over her head physically.

Basically, she was the dramatic engine of the books. Superman didn't take anything seriously and Lois was always the one who forced him to.

I imagine things would have gone a lot differently if Siegel's plan had been approved to have her discover Superman's identity and become his non-costumed partner in crimefighting.

PatrickG

02-08-2008, 02:35 PM

She WHAT???

Oh, that's just SICK. Really really sick.

Ah. But Lionel is a good guy working for Jor-El and the Martian Manhunter, trying to protect Clark. :evilsmile

Paul McEnery

02-08-2008, 02:42 PM

Whereas Smallville still wallows in the Clark/Chloe/Lana/Lex quadrangle.

Well of course it does.

What Smallville's really all about is who gets to be the alpha male who gets to keep all the women.

Paul McEnery

02-08-2008, 02:45 PM

I honestly think sometimes Lana's unlikability is intentional since they spend almost every other episode torturing her and knocking her out.

Absolutely. Every show needs a villain you can do terrible things to every week.

And since Lex is the hero, that's Lana.

Lana is the villain.

Magneto_X

02-08-2008, 04:08 PM

Dinah is more then her canary cry and her fishnets.

At least she has that in Smallville. They turned her into a completely different character on Birds of Prey. Her mother had more in common with the comic version but they killed her off in the first appearance.

Magneto_X

02-08-2008, 04:11 PM

For me its like a bad elsewhere story. It never happened. Tom Welling is Clark Kent from another world.....

I agree. Never liked the idea of a Superman who had no remorse or thought when his villains died in the same episode they debuted in. Even if he isn't directly involved it's like he forgets they existed in the next episode. :confused:

Magneto_X

02-08-2008, 04:15 PM

I don't know why, but JLU being gone while Smallville's still chuggin' along casts my mind back to Patton Oswalt's "Alternate Earth" bit for some reason...

Maybe WB didn't want their animated division making a better Superman on the air at the same time as their live action tv show. ;)

Magneto_X

02-08-2008, 04:18 PM

I mean, Kristin Kreuk is cute and all, but she is not very good on Smallville, unless making Lana unlikable is intentional.

Get ready for Kreuk being Chun-Li from Street Fighter soon. lol

No, I'm not joking.

Paul McEnery

02-08-2008, 04:18 PM

I agree. Never liked the idea of a Superman who had no remorse or thought when his villains died in the same episode they debuted in. Even if he isn't directly involved it's like he forgets they existed in the next episode. :confused:

Oh good God, do you want him even mopier than he already is? He's ALWAYS worried that he didn't do as well as he could, and he's ALWAYS trying to save the bad guy, and he's ALWAYS agonizing over whether he's made the world a worse place.

What more do you want?

Magneto_X

02-08-2008, 04:24 PM

Oh good God, do you want him even mopier than he already is? He's ALWAYS worried that he didn't do as well as he could, and he's ALWAYS trying to save the bad guy, and he's ALWAYS agonizing over whether he's made the world a worse place.

What more do you want?

It would make more sense then him and the entire town getting amnesia the next day.

I stopped watching it after the early seasons but back then he was really, really bad at saving bad guys. Has that changed? It was like there's a Final Destination
curse going on in Smallville that will wack any villain, especially if they discover Clark's got powers, at the end of their debut just so they don't survive long enough to tell anybody his secret.

The Tyrant Virus

02-08-2008, 04:24 PM

Get ready for Kreuk being Chun-Li from Street Fighter soon. lol

No, I'm not joking.

I'm glad I never got into Street Fighter back in the day. Though you have to ask yourself, did that movie even have a chance to be good before they cast Kreuk?

Magneto_X

02-08-2008, 04:27 PM

I'm glad I never got into Street Fighter back in the day. Though you have to ask yourself, did that movie even have a chance to be good before they cast Kreuk?

I liked the idea of it. They are going to make solo movie movies based on the Street Fighter characters. Chun Li would be the first.

The best SF is the anime movie. The manga from the 90's were great were up there in quality, too.

Spiffy

02-08-2008, 04:32 PM

I'm glad I never got into Street Fighter back in the day. Though you have to ask yourself, did that movie even have a chance to be good before they cast Kreuk?
Its a movie based on a video game. So an actress who's main appeal is that she looks good would seem to fit right in. I mean "Superman" I expect a bit more from.

Paul McEnery

02-08-2008, 04:36 PM

It would make more sense then him and the entire town getting amnesia the next day.

I stopped watching it after the early seasons but back then he was really, really bad at saving bad guys. Has that changed? It was like there's a Final Destination
curse going on in Smallville that will wack any villain, especially if they discover Clark's got powers, at the end of their debut just so they don't survive long enough to tell anybody his secret.

It is THE RULE.

Find out about Superman = death or brain damage.

And if you're Lionel or Chloe or Lana multiple occasions of both.

Or become a superhero, of course.

The other THE RULE is that if Lois fancies you, you've got powers. Especially the power TO BREAK HER HEART.

Magneto_X

02-08-2008, 04:39 PM

lol @ Paul

PatrickG

02-08-2008, 04:44 PM

Get ready for Kreuk being Chun-Li from Street Fighter soon. lol

No, I'm not joking.

Is Tom Welling still playing Goku?

I heard James Barsters (Brainiac from Smallville, Spike from Buffy) was playing Vegeta.

Paul McEnery

02-08-2008, 04:49 PM

Is Tom Welling still playing Goku?

I heard James Barsters (Brainiac from Smallville, Spike from Buffy) was playing Vegeta.

Wait a sec. Marsters character was Brainiac?

I mean, I guess so. But I never joined the dots.

Boy are I dumb.

Magneto_X

02-08-2008, 04:55 PM

Is Tom Welling still playing Goku?

No, I think they got someone else. An actor I can't even remember seeing in any show or movie I've seen.

I heard James Barsters (Brainiac from Smallville, Spike from Buffy) was playing Vegeta.

Yeah that's true.

Major Comma

02-08-2008, 06:02 PM

Gail,
what are your favorite Lois and Dinah moments that you have written?

WOLVERINE25TH

02-08-2008, 06:07 PM

The inherent problem with Smallville is it holds back while trying to progress forward. Instead of letting the characters evolve and grow, and allowing Clark to actually USE more than his super speed every episode, they try to keep it where it was in season 1 so the show can keep going on. The whole purpose was Clark's evolution to Supes, but I see none of Supes in the Clark we have yet.

But, while it started out good it quickly degraded into a teen angsty super drama. Green Arrow and the Justice League are the best things to happen to the show in a long time.

Johnny_Luck

02-08-2008, 06:36 PM

I love how everyone automatically blames the fact that Lana sucks on KK, shes a pretty solid actress, just because the character is written so poorly that when she does the best that you could possibly see from that character its average at best a regular episode. That does not make her a poor actress. Had it been given to somehow else who actually couldn't act you be poking your eyes out, with ears bleeding.

Shes proven that when given workable dialog and material that gives her room to do stuff, mostly when she goes bad girl on us like in Nicodemus, Visage(as Tina), Relic, Magnetic, Thirst, Spell, Sacred, Spirit*When Possessed by Dawn) Wrath(Just to name a few) or episodes like Labyrinth that shes amazing, plus ones where her expressions sell the situations like Suspect, Exile, Crisis,and Especially Scare and Promise that she deserves so much better than what she normally gets on a regular basis. Thats Leaving out awesome moments in eps like Lexmas, Lockdown, Reckoning, Void, Vessel/Zod), Phantom, Static,Crimson, Trespass(Yes a predictable and not that well written episode, but it allows her room to do her thing), Nemesis, and Kara

Notice Something with Lana's Best eps/appearances in Smallville--Yeah most of them shes not really playing the regular Lana, shes playing someone cooler or better.

Then you have her lines in Eurotrip which were delivered perfectly and made the character, which was the reason for the movie. Not to mention you have her as Tenar in Earthsea and as a Muslim Chick in Partition(whom she was superbly playing as well)

Chloe/AM on the other hand gets a character so well written that she can just be average at best when delivering dialog, overreact every time shes given a scared or crying scene to the point ofannoyance and only have the scrunched up worried and scrunched up confused faces as acting ability and somehow people think shes the more talented one. Better Written 99.9 percent of the time Yes she is, but someone who fails when trying to make some big work as well.

Tom Welling our Lead is not Much better though, he is really dry and most of the time not that much above average, when given eps like Red, Exile, Bizarro though wheres again like KK he excels at playing the more evil out there parts while on the tv show.

The Acting Ability Easily goes

Glover
MR
Kristin Kreuk
John S
A O'toole
Tom Welling
Allison Mack
Erica Durance
-Then after about 12 o the worst guest stars you can pick Sam Jones the 3rd as Pete would show up on the list.

Now as for this Episode, while I haven't seen it yet Gail, you also have took at both the Lois character and Dinah's from the perspective that this is a minimum of 10 years before we really get to know them in the DC verse, so we really will miss out on a lot of their growth and people do change a lot in that amount of time.

titanfan

02-08-2008, 06:58 PM

I love how everyone automatically blames the fact that Lana sucks on KK, shes a pretty solid actress, just because he character is written so poorly that when she does the best that you could possibly see from that character its average at best a regular episode. That does not make her a poor actress. Had it been given to somehow else who actually couldn't act you be poking your eyes out, with ears bleeding.

I watched one episode of the WB reality show, "The Starlet" which takes a bunch of aspiring actresses and has them do tasks and such, before cutting them. I remember the actress wannabes had to do a Lana scene that KK did. Seeing as KK isn't known as the greatest actress, I thought it was risky for them to do that--but 99% of the actresses doing that scene were horrific--and made me respect KK more.

Johnny_Luck

02-08-2008, 07:19 PM

I watched one episode of the WB reality show, "The Starlet" which takes a bunch of aspiring actresses and has them do tasks and such, before cutting them. I remember the actress wannabes had to do a Lana scene that KK did. Seeing as KK isn't known as the greatest actress, I thought it was risky for them to do that--but 99% of the actresses doing that scene were horrific--and made me respect KK more.

Like I said She is a pretty solid actress who can go places when given good stuff and it really annoys the hell out of me when people say KK cannot act just because they don't like the way Lana is. Its clear to me that 9.5 times out of 10 theres evidence in there to support they cannot tell the actress and her ability apart from the writing of the character.

It be more fair to base her overall ability on all of the things that she has done over her career and not just the poor times Lana is written.

Tyr

02-08-2008, 11:33 PM

The best current theme of the show: Lex turning forever evil. The episodes this season that stray away from that are the weaker ones.

About the only thing that kept me interested in the show, other then seeing glimpses of the Manhunter, was Lex, I actually liked Rosebaum as Lex. That said, I prefered him more as Flash then as Lex Luther. In any case the show has long past its prime.

*cries*

JLU was SO much better than Smallville.

And while I hate to see a show outlive its shelf life... I also hate seeing a show cancelled, when there's an enormous amount of untapped stories for it out there. *sigh* That was JLU.

JLU was starting to show signs of wear and tear in the 3rd season though. I was dissapointed that the Bruce/Diana, Shirya/Jon romances crapped out. The season had its moments such as "Grudge Match", "To Another Shore", and "Chaos at the Earths Core", and "The Great Brain Robbery" got a few laughs out of me but on whole it wasn't as good as the second season, I don't know if the show would have held together all that well for a fourth season.

Magneto_X

02-08-2008, 11:37 PM

Like I said She is a pretty solid actress who can go places when given good stuff and it really annoys the hell out of me when people say KK cannot act just because they don't like the way Lana is. Its clear to me that 9.5 times out of 10 theres evidence in there to support they cannot tell the actress and her ability apart from the writing of the character.

It be more fair to base her overall ability on all of the things that she has done over her career and not just the poor times Lana is written.

She shines in minor roles like in Eurotrip. Fact is unless she does a seriously impressive piece of acting no-one's going to stop thinking of her as Jessica Alba 2.0.

MacQuarrie

02-09-2008, 01:55 AM

I love how everyone automatically blames the fact that Lana sucks on KK, shes a pretty solid actress,
No, she's really not. She's got a very narrow range, most of which consists of interjecting a little snorting sound right in the middle of the most important word in any given sentence. She's pretty enough, but she has the emotional range of a ventriloquist's dummy. She is mediocre at best.

Johnny_Luck

02-09-2008, 12:58 PM

No, she's really not. She's got a very narrow range, most of which consists of interjecting a little snorting sound right in the middle of the most important word in any given sentence. She's pretty enough, but she has the emotional range of a ventriloquist's dummy. She is mediocre at best.

Narrow range my ass if you even just compare what she did in the flashbacks of Suspect in S2, to Scare in S4, and Labyrinth in S6, not only will see see so much growth as a actress, but see so many different facial features, types of reactions, and way she delivers the lines, you would see a huge range of acting ability there.

Also I've never heard her snort either and I have seen everything she is in including Edgemont a Canadian show she did during the 5 first season of smallville at least 3 times a piece. At least)

Not to mention like I said if the producers for smallville, the studio for smallville and WB were willing to share her with another Canadian studio, company, producer and TV show, to have her split the time to shoot 5 seasons of 2 different shows at once, that means that at least a decent amount of people who are in the business think shes pretty darn good and worth their time and effort.

Not to mention when you are the Lead Actress in something where Danny Glover in your supporting cast, that says something about you as well.

Magneto_X

02-09-2008, 01:09 PM

Hollywood can't get enough of Jessica Alba, JL. It sure isn't because of her acting talent.

Johnny_Luck

02-09-2008, 01:31 PM

Hollywood can't get enough of Jessica Alba, JL. It sure isn't because of her acting talent.

Same is true for Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullocks and Zeta Jones that doesn't mean people don't like them, their marketable, Alba is used as a marketing tool.

and Yeah shes not super duper at acting but played Sue well enough and did probably some of her best work on Dark Angel(those were the roles she was fit for)

Using that arguement to try to throw off my point is moot and had really no relevance.

Magneto_X

02-09-2008, 01:34 PM

Same is true for Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullocks and Zeta Jones that doesn't mean people don't like them, their marketable, Alba is used as a marketing tool.
All of them are great actresses. Even CZJ has more acting talent then Alba.

Yes, Alba is a marketing tool. Unfortunately it's her only thing she's good at.

and Yeah shes not super duper at acting but played Sue well enough and did probably some of her best work on Dark Angel(those were the roles she was fit for)
I disagree.

She did better on DA but that show still managed to suck. She didn't have the pressure of being an iconic character for that role unlike in FF.

Using that arguement to try to throw off my point is moot and had really no relevance.

As I said before you don't need to be a Shakespearian actor to be successful in Hollywood. Alba and Kreuk still have yet to prove they can be talented actors.

Corrina

02-09-2008, 02:16 PM

All of them are great actresses. Even CZJ has more acting talent then Alba.

Definitely. Watch "Chicago."

stealthwise

02-09-2008, 07:48 PM

Definitely. Watch "Chicago."

Ugh. Musicals.

Can I just watch "Traffic" again instead?

Cam63

02-09-2008, 07:57 PM

Agreed. Zeta Jones could out act Alba with a bad case of the flu.

Tyr

02-09-2008, 08:31 PM

I disagree.

She did better on DA but that show still managed to suck. She didn't have the pressure of being an iconic character for that role unlike in FF.

I thought she did an ok job with Sue not great, but ok. In any case she did have Gruffuld, Davis, and Chiklis to fall back on, didn't stop the first Fantastic Four from being a bad film though, but at least the second one was decent.

The Beast Of Yucca Flats

02-09-2008, 08:45 PM

As I said before you don't need to be a Shakespearian actor to be successful in Hollywood.

No! The world made sense before I read this post!

Magneto_X

02-09-2008, 08:54 PM

I thought she did an ok job with Sue not great, but ok. In any case she did have Gruffuld, Davis, and Chiklis to fall back on, didn't stop the first Fantastic Four from being a bad film though, but at least the second one was decent.

Decent shouldn't be all that we should expect with comic movies. That only encourages the movie studios to give us shit like Catwoman.

We demand our comics to be the best it should be the same with movies and tv show adaptions.

Tyr

02-09-2008, 09:06 PM

We demand our comics to be the best it should be the same with movies and tv show adaptions.

Yeah your right, cause Fox and Warner Brothers does a real great job of listening to us. :p

Magneto_X

02-09-2008, 09:17 PM

Yeah your right, cause Fox and Warner Brothers does a real great job of listening to us. :p

That's why I avoid watching or buying crappy comic adaptions.

stealthwise

02-09-2008, 09:36 PM

Both FF movies were pure shite, and Alba wasn't the worst part of either, but she was far from watchable.

Every time someone brings those films up, I get mad when I think about how good they COULD have been. Lee, Kirby, Byrne, Simonson, Waid and Wieringo and countless others gave us the blueprints for it.

Tyr

02-09-2008, 09:40 PM

Both FF movies were pure shite, and Alba wasn't the worst part of either, but she was far from watchable.

I thought the second one was ok, don't have a real urge to jump up and add this to my collection or anything, but it was better then the first.

Magneto_X

02-09-2008, 10:11 PM

I thought the second one was ok, don't have a real urge to jump up and add this to my collection or anything, but it was better then the first.

Daredevil was better then the first FF movie.

Pink Bat Maxine

02-09-2008, 10:13 PM

I enjoyed the first FF movie fine. I thought the Johnny/Ben dynamic was great.

It was a fair piece of fluff. Except for Doom.

Spiffy

02-09-2008, 10:26 PM

I also thought the second FF movie was quite tolerable (even though the first one was repulsive). And also that Alba was at least neutral, not horrid. Not great, not even good, but at least not disgustingly bad.

That said, some stuff is a matter of taste. I'm not trying to start an argument nobody can win, but personally I STILL can't agree KK is even a passable actor. I haven't seen every example quoted to prove she is, I admit, but I've seen some of them and still don't "see" it.

Tyr

02-09-2008, 10:31 PM

Daredevil was better then the first FF movie.

True enough, I thought Ben Affleck did alright with the role.

Tobias March

02-09-2008, 11:10 PM

Cam63

02-09-2008, 11:12 PM

Who do you mean by KK, sorry.

Kristin Kreuk, I presume.

stealthwise

02-10-2008, 12:30 PM

True enough, I thought Ben Affleck did alright with the role.

Back to the realm of opinion here, but I thought that he stunk. He's nowhere near the level of the kind of actor they should have got, such as Guy Pearce (who reportedly turned down the role) or Edward Norton (who's actually playing Bruce Banner this year).

valentine

02-10-2008, 01:43 PM

Brad Pitt should have worn the horns.

FF was pretty good. In my humble opinion a slight rewrite where Doom, knowing full well that the cosmic storm is coming and will give him powers, goes crazy and all mad alchemist/sorcerer/battle suit wearin' when he's the only one that doesn't. Surfer was great in the 2nd one.

I miss Pete on Smallville.

Loren

02-10-2008, 09:12 PM

Shes proven that when given workable dialog and material that gives her room to do stuff, mostly when she goes bad girl on us like in Nicodemus, Visage(as Tina), Relic, Magnetic, Thirst, Spell, Sacred, Spirit*When Possessed by Dawn) Wrath(Just to name a few) or episodes like Labyrinth that shes amazing, plus ones where her expressions sell the situations like Suspect, Exile, Crisis,and Especially Scare and Promise that she deserves so much better than what she normally gets on a regular basis. Thats Leaving out awesome moments in eps like Lexmas, Lockdown, Reckoning, Void, Vessel/Zod), Phantom, Static,Crimson, Trespass(Yes a predictable and not that well written episode, but it allows her room to do her thing), Nemesis, and Kara

It'd be easier to take this notion of 'KK is a great actress' if your proof didn't involve citing a whopping 23 episodes. Usually folks illustrate an actor's prowess by pointing out their true high points, not by listing a quarter of all the episodes in their series. ('Steve Carell is awesome in The Office, and here's a list of two dozen different episodes as proof.')

And the fact that you include the wretched 'Lana becomes a vampire' episode as an example of *good* acting goes a long way to calling the rest of your judgment into doubt. Plus, the existence of at least nine episodes where Lana was mind-manipulated into acting out of character just serves to remind us how repetitive the show's writers have been over the last several seasons. That particular plot device is one they've utilized WAY too often.

Finally, apart from Kreuk's own acting ability, the aforementioned problems in how Lana's character has been written over the years serves to expose one of the series' core weaknesses: apart from physical beauty, there's very little that's attractive about Lana. For years now we're expected to buy the fact that Clark is smitten with Lana, and that he continues to see her as a star-crossed lover, despite her having very few redeeming qualities. She's repeatedly proven herself to be deceitful, deceptive, backstabbing, inconsiderate, rude, and generally unsympathetic. She's the type of girl most of us would likely encourage our friends to break up with for their own benefit. Of all the characters on the show, she's the only one who has no identifiable occupation (she dropped out of college, and hasn't done anything since except marry Lex and steal his money; between quitting school and shacking up with Lex, she had no source of income, but never suffered for it). Apparently she pretty much spends all day, every day, just hanging out with Clark and spying on Lex.

Tyr

02-10-2008, 10:33 PM

Back to the realm of opinion here, but I thought that he stunk. He's nowhere near the level of the kind of actor they should have got, such as Guy Pearce (who reportedly turned down the role) or Edward Norton (who's actually playing Bruce Banner this year).

Well I thought he did alright but then I'm not really a fan of Daredevil.

Cam63

02-10-2008, 10:35 PM

I enjoyed the first FF movie fine. I thought the Johnny/Ben dynamic was great.

It was a fair piece of fluff. Except for Doom.

Yep... Hated the pissed off yuppy they decided Doom should be.

I expected him to complain the drinking water on the ship wasn't Evian.

stealthwise

02-10-2008, 10:41 PM

Well I thought he did alright but then I'm not really a fan of Daredevil.

I love DD, and all I saw in that movie was Ben Affleck pretending to be blind.

Eliseu Gouveia

02-10-2008, 10:54 PM

People still watch Smallville? :confused:

I have to say I enjoyed the FF movies solely because of Johnny Storm, his parts were gold.The rest was pure manure.

The DD movie, OTOH, I enjoyed solely for Bullseye. I´m sorry, but every one of his parts cracked me up.

Cam63

02-10-2008, 10:55 PM

Yep to that.

Johnny_Luck

02-10-2008, 11:51 PM

People still watch Smallville? :confused:

The fact that in a seventh season they finally hit a stride where there are more than 3 great episodes in a row and don't stop until they hit 7 really good to great ones in a row is amazing, for smallville and for tv in general.

Usually you have 2 great ones and an average one, or three really good ones and then a really poor one, then start over.

This season they have done really well for themselves considering their still going with the Lana/Clark thing and Honestly its the best its ever been written so far, which is weird.

and Yeah Season 6 went from a solid premiere to not really having a great or even good episode until half way through the season(Though Static is at least decent and underrated)

Overall though its been going pretty strong. If you made it through the second half of season 5 from Hypnotic-to Vessel/Zod(the two shining lights in the horrid period of smallville) until Justice, then you pretty much watched the worst you'll see and will see from smallville.

Season 4 while starting off iffy was pretty excellent and the witch storyline gets way to much flack considering it wasn't even remotely bad in any sense. It gave Lana history and a reason to be there and KK played it off well, the stones were a cool idea to get to the fortress, etc.

Season 3 was easily the best.

Season 5 had your fun episodes like Thirst/Lexmas, you extremely well written episodes like Reckoning(probably the best writing I seen from the writers to date) and Mortal.

Also looking at Top 5 Episodes of Smallvilles History(Phantom is the only one I might change)

Reckoning
Labyrinth
Promise
Exile
Phantom

Out of those top 5( Thats 3 From 6, 1 from S5 and Only 1 from S3(which was the best season))

Which means there is plenty of reasons people should be watching smallville still.

Then again the people who usually say stuff like that are huge superman fans, something I was not nor will I ever be. I really don't care for superman at all and am glad the show is so much more entertaining then the stuff that superman usually has going on for him.

diana_fan

02-13-2008, 06:38 AM

While I absolutely agree about Lois on one hand, they were obviously just trying to play off the "I can't take wondering where you are, what you're doing" riff, since we all know she'll end up with Clark.

It makes it ironic. I guess.

And no, it is not the best Canary of all time. Then again, Ollie wasn't the greatest Ollie either, when introduced. And I've grown to absolutely love the character on the show.

So, I'm willing to see where it goes, as far as Dinah is concerned. And as I suspected, she didn't look anywhere near as bad on screen as she did in still shots.

Tyr

02-13-2008, 07:20 PM

Yep... Hated the pissed off yuppy they decided Doom should be.

I expected him to complain the drinking water on the ship wasn't Evian.

Speaking of messed up villians, and getting back to the topic, Vandal Savage on Smallville, Vandal is a conquer, a taker of worlds, not some whiney emo bitch, like they made him in Smallville, that episode made me sad.

Magneto_X

02-13-2008, 07:46 PM

Loren:

Lana did have one job that I know of.

She owned and maintained a bar.

Magneto_X

02-13-2008, 07:48 PM

I love DD, and all I saw in that movie was Ben Affleck pretending to be blind.

Elektra was superior to DD. I liked it more, anyway.

Wasn't as hardcore as I wanted, but it was closer to the comics and more entertaining.

Johnny:

Not all tv shows only have a few good episodes in a row. Burn Notice, Psych, 24, Cold Case, The Office, The Shield, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate: Atlantis, Doctor Who just have entire seasons of good episodes.

Johnny_Luck

02-13-2008, 08:16 PM

Johnny:

Not all tv shows only have a few good episodes in a row. Burn Notice, Psych, 24, Cold Case, The Office, The Shield, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate: Atlantis, Doctor Who just have entire seasons of good episodes.

I disagree.

As much as I love Cold Case it has plenty of average if lucky episodes throughout its history and Pysch completely lost the majority of its charm and good humor in season 2, its still enjoyable but some episodes are just lackluster.

Doctor Who?? I mean its okay but I cannot agree at all season or even just one season isn't filled with some average and poor episodes.

Burn Notice is the only one I can agree on. I cannot comment on Atlantis or the shield as after trying time and time again to get into them they just aren't good imho.

Chris Hansbrough

02-13-2008, 08:21 PM

I disagree.

As much as I love Cold Case it has plenty of average if lucky episodes throughout its history and Pysch completely lost the majority of its charm and good humor in season 2, its still enjoyable but some episodes are just lackluster.

Doctor Who?? I mean its okay but I cannot agree at all season or even just one season isn't filled with some average and poor episodes.

Burn Notice is the only one I can agree on. I cannot comment on Atlantis or the shield as after trying time and time again to get into them they just aren't good imho.

disagree about psych. it's probelm isn't that it's lacklustre....it's that it's stringing together good episode after good episode but none really stand out as being excellent recently....

Dr. Who......seriously agree on. I think a geeral rule since it came back is Cornell or Moffat = Gold, Russ T Davies = Tolerable yet somewhat annoying, Most everyone else = Eye Gougingly bad.....seriosuly...>Daleks in Manhattan.......ouch

Tyr

02-13-2008, 09:04 PM

I'll admit, I've only watched two episodes of Cold Case, but it seems to me that they rehash the same plot over and over again, the murderer always turns out to be the victims best friend or the person that was the most friendly toward the victim.

I still watch Psych, though I'm not as much a fan of Monk as I once was.

Does anyone know when the next season of Burn Notice is suppose to air?

Magneto_X

02-14-2008, 05:39 AM

Tyr:

The beginning of March.

Tyr

02-14-2008, 08:57 AM

Tyr:

The beginning of March.

Sweet. :D

Spiffy

02-14-2008, 03:22 PM

I'll admit, I've only watched two episodes of Cold Case, but it seems to me that they rehash the same plot over and over again, the murderer always turns out to be the victims best friend or the person that was the most friendly toward the victim.
I'll defend Cold Case on that, even though I'm not really a regular viewer, with the argument that if its supposed to be emulating actual police work rather than "detective shows", then that pattern is actually pretty realistic. Who usually kills people in real life? Yeah. The people who know them best.

The point with Cold Case, I think,, is supposed to be that its less of a whodunnit than a why and howdunnit. I mean I guess it starts with a whodunnit, because the Case did go cold afterall, but the steps really typically are "pound on the people who knew them and something will shake out".

Paul McEnery

02-14-2008, 03:28 PM

Speaking of messed up villians, and getting back to the topic, Vandal Savage on Smallville, Vandal is a conquer, a taker of worlds, not some whiney emo bitch, like they made him in Smallville, that episode made me sad.

Everyone is a whiny emo bitch.

It's a RULE.

And now that I've seen it, I am sooooo not convinced by the Coulter Canary idea. Another bloody journo? And it's still not Clark Kent. No no nopity nopity no.

Looked good in the tights, though. If you can stand the LA New Wave do.

Spiffy

02-14-2008, 03:31 PM

Everyone is a whiny emo bitch.

It's a RULE.

And now that I've seen it, I am sooooo not convinced by the Coulter Canary idea. Another bloody journo? And it's still not Clark Kent. No no nopity nopity no.

Looked good in the tights, though. If you can stand the LA New Wave do.
Its Bizarro World. Everyone is a Journalist EXCEPT Clark Kent.

Paul McEnery

02-14-2008, 03:38 PM

Its Bizarro World. Everyone is a Journalist EXCEPT Clark Kent.

Even Jor-El's got a strip on the funny pages.

Cam63

02-14-2008, 04:12 PM

Its Bizarro World. Everyone is a Journalist EXCEPT Clark Kent.

I'd expect Bruce Wayne to be begging on corners for spare change and Wonder Woman to be less than wonderful too.

Paul McEnery

02-14-2008, 04:38 PM

I'd expect Bruce Wayne to be begging on corners for spare change and Wonder Woman to be less than wonderful too.

Bruce owns the Gotham Gazette. And Diana writes a Naderish column for it called the Lasso of Truth.

Loren

02-15-2008, 02:02 PM

Loren:

Lana did have one job that I know of.

She owned and maintained a bar.

But that was back when she was in high school. She quit that job and sold her shares when she moved to Paris at the end of Season 3.

Season 4 she moved back to Smallville, got herself a single apartment above the Talon, but never appeared to have any source of income. Season 5 she went to college and lived in the dorm, again without any source of income.

Midway through season 5 she quit college, and to be honest, I can't remember where she lived before she shacked up with Lex. Either way, the only identifiable source of income she's had since she quit the Talon almost four years ago was Lex.

And nowadays, while Clark is tending the farm and Chloe and Lois and Jimmy are working at the Planet (and Chloe is presumably still in school), Lana does...nothing. She stole a bunch of Lex's money, and apparently spends her days spying on Lex and becoming an even better super-hacker than Chloe.

Magneto_X

02-15-2008, 02:12 PM

But that was back when she was in high school. She quit that job and sold her shares when she moved to Paris at the end of Season 3.

Season 4 she moved back to Smallville, got herself a single apartment above the Talon, but never appeared to have any source of income. Season 5 she went to college and lived in the dorm, again without any source of income.

Midway through season 5 she quit college, and to be honest, I can't remember where she lived before she shacked up with Lex. Either way, the only identifiable source of income she's had since she quit the Talon almost four years ago was Lex.

And nowadays, while Clark is tending the farm and Chloe and Lois and Jimmy are working at the Planet (and Chloe is presumably still in school), Lana does...nothing. She stole a bunch of Lex's money, and apparently spends her days spying on Lex and becoming an even better super-hacker than Chloe.

I'm glad I don't watch this show. :D

Rabid Trekkie

02-15-2008, 06:38 PM

JLU was starting to show signs of wear and tear in the 3rd season though. I was dissapointed that the Bruce/Diana, Shirya/Jon romances crapped out. The season had its moments such as "Grudge Match", "To Another Shore", and "Chaos at the Earths Core", and "The Great Brain Robbery" got a few laughs out of me but on whole it wasn't as good as the second season, I don't know if the show would have held together all that well for a fourth season.

Actually according to one of the commentaries I heard, they intentionally changed their storytelling format for the 3rd season/2nd collection. They wanted more stand alone episodes as a kind of breather after the whole Cadmus arc. They even had a plan for bringing back Grodd and they could have done a ton more episodes by focusing on some of the background characters, but instead that ended up being their last season.

Sabrinaset

02-15-2008, 08:01 PM

I'm glad I don't watch this show. :D

It sounds like the kind of show you should be stoned for about a half hour before you watch it.

Cam63

02-15-2008, 08:03 PM

Alcohol helps too.

ed2ward

02-15-2008, 08:04 PM

It sounds like the kind of show you should be stoned for about a half hour before you watch it.

That's about right.

Or take the approach I generally have which is to avoid watching it except when I am sick and confined to bed.

After surgery a few months ago, Smallville + painkillers = just right.

Cam63

02-15-2008, 08:07 PM

You should've tried a good show with the painkillers.

ed2ward

02-15-2008, 08:08 PM

You should've tried a good show with the painkillers.

I like to actually focus on and pay attention to the good shows.

Cam63

02-15-2008, 08:09 PM

Point taken.

The Xenos

02-15-2008, 08:21 PM

Lois doesn't whine.

I don't know why this is so complicated. This is why the movie was troubled. LOIS DOESN'T WHINE.

She's not perfect. She's not fearless. But she doesn't go around moping and looking doe-eyed and argh, it just made me sad.

Yeah, but it's a teen drama. Everyone whines and goes around moping and looking doe-eyed.

Hmm.. this would explain why I don't watch teen dramas. Though upon numerous recommendations from friends and writers I like, I bought Veronica Mars and am checking that out. Veronica Mars is a better Lois than the one on Smallville.

Meanwhile, I stopped watching just before they introduced Lois. Hell, the fact that they needed to toss in Lois showed they were running on empty. Tossing in Lex from the start worked surprisingly well. Adding Cloe was neat. Yet Lois? Eh. That bugged me.

And skimming through comments.. Vandal Savage a whiny emo kid? Laaaaaaaaame.

Cam63

02-15-2008, 08:31 PM

The show desperately needs a retcon and half the cast be shown the door.

...or just cancel it.

Spiffy

02-15-2008, 08:37 PM

I'm glad I don't watch this show. :D
That crap is why its a hit. And also why a lot of DC comics loyalists loathe the show.

I mostly loathe it but admit they scored a few hits with a few individual elements. But mostly the show just irritates me. Not so much for ignoring DC continuity. But for the annoying back and forth nature of teen dramas. For the stupid "conventions" of that genre.

Best case is its brought new potential readers to the actual DC product. Which hopefully won't need to be changed all that much to keep those new readers.