Kryptonian symbols

[shirkie]

OK, everyone. I was WAY excited when I saw all of the letters floating around Clark in the Fortress of Solitude. I raced up to my room after the ep ended to play back those scenes...

The letters were nothing more than THE ALPHABET! Gahhhhhh! What a cruel disappointment.

However, did anyone else notice the tattoo on Aethyr's back is made up of what appear to be two backwards Z's surrounding some other symbol in the center? Yes, it's supposed to be similar to Lana's old tattoo (well, now-disappeared tattoo), but it's also made of two Z's... Gal really DOES like Zod.

Anyone manage to get any decent screencaps of the full caves table thingy with all the symbols? Maybe the symbols-- if we could get a full shot of them-- actually spell out words in the columns radiating out from the center elements holder. Til now, we have only examined the shots in the Smallville Magazine #10 article, and that's just the very center (nonsense without the full picture).
shirkie

[Lois Sullivan]

Yeah, Shirkie, the symbols on the cave table, they're nothing. Just a bunch of random letters peiced together to make the table look all fancy. Their are a few shots in Spell, Crusade, Sacred and i believe Commencment where you could probably get a good screencap of the whole table. i them together from different shots from all of those episodes, and as far as I could tell it's just some letters peiced together. Most of the columns just repeat the same letters as well.

[gtjsasso-el]

well didn't it say that they were followers of Zod? Maybe the tattoos are the Zod gang insignia

[shirkie]

Lois Sullivan, are you SURE the symbols on the table are meaningless? If you try to read them in circles around the center, they're nothing, but what if you read them as columns radiating outwards from (or inwards towards) the center slot? I demand screenshots from someone.

As for the tattoo... I would like to know what the symbol in the middle of the two backwards kryptonian Z's is. Anyone else catch all the giant Z's in Lionel's cell during the preview shown at the end of "Arrival"? Spectacular!
shirkie

[Brainiac_13]

This isn't exactly Klingon and the writers aren't exactly a committee of Tolkiens. The likelihood that this language is developed beyond the superficial is slim. At most, we MAY, and by we I mean people in dire need of love lives, be able to piece together the secret code a la 'Be Sure To Drink Your Ovaltine' but given that they seem to be attempting to establish Kryptonian as a heiroglyphic system (in order to be able to just randomly invent a new symbol to mean whatever the plot requires), that table does not quite resemble a rosetta stone.

Geez, I went a long way to say that.

[Alan]

arent all the symbols shown part of the krytonian alphabet? things like lanas tatoo are made up symbols, but I think all the writings are letters.

[HarkIAmSuperman]

yeah krypton has its own alphabet, i have the kryptonian/english transliteration guide on my fridge door actually. I wouldnt be surprised if it did say stuff on the table, it has spelled stuff in the past (ie dr swanns moniter in season 2)

[shirkie]

I'm just thinking it might spell something interesting out... After all, we have the cute "BARCODE" on the octagonal disk and the "PLAINS" "RIVER" "BADLANDS" etc. stuff on the map... Not just nonsense stuff, there! So again, if anyone can possibly post some screencaps, that would be great. The detail my VCR captured is just too darn fuzzy to be of much use.
shirkie

[Lois Sullivan]

Shirkie, several of the symbols that are in the columns (Yes I have tried to read them that way, and unless their are a few extra letters in the Kryptonian alphabet that go past Z it's impossible.) aren't Kryptonian letters. Several of them are a compilation of the letters, made into symbols like the one for hope from Rosetta.

I'm currently trying to get a few screencaps for you. Maybe you can figure out the peice-mealed symbols. (I can count at least six that are like the ZOD symbol and the HOPE symbol) the other ones are all letters. Trying to get each column with those translated now. so far i've got one column translated. It reads "ONTH (weird symbol) AS". Hopefully I should have the screencaps for ya soon.

[shirkie]

I was looking at some of the symbols on the table from the Season 4 DVDs. I do believe you're right-- some of them seem to be purely decorative and definitely aren't anything from the alphabet. Bummer!
shirkie

[cmgames]

The symbols were probably something they found from a tea cosy or something. When it comes to SV its better not to look too deep into things as you ultimately end up disappointed.

[shy175223]

I know. It stinks that they don't think too much into things like that do they?

[cmgames]

^^ It sure does. They make SV like its supposed to be popcorn TV and I think I will have to treat it as such to get the most enjoyment out of it.

[Shazam]

The symbols were cool, but did you see the images from the Superman Movie that also were shown. example: Kryptonians falling in the sky, the Dome for the city? That was a cool reference to the Christopher Reeve movies

[shirkie]

But see, the lack of attention to detail in the symbols around the cave table (unless we're missing something, they seem to be meaningless) frustrates me. They put legitimate messages on the octagonal disk, the border of the manuscript, the hidden map inside the manuscript... The letters in Lionel's eyes seem to spell out "ZAP LEX. FUN WITH VCRS." Why wouldn't they do something fun with the cave table writing (which, by the way, is also replicated as a pictograph on one of the cave walls)?

I think I should go back to Season 1 on the DVDs and see what the original (and later changed) ship's heart looked like, see if that writing was anything interesting.

And yes, Shazam, the footage from Superman: The Movie was quite awesome, just like the musical homage!
shirkie