Are any other die hard lifelong fans...

[SuperStupidPower]

having some trouble suspending their disbelief when it comes to Jor-El's godlike powers?

1) The guy is supposed to be dead. (So at best we are talking imprinted personality as a type of AI software.)

2) Clark is supposed to be a solar battery. You can't just willy nilly make his powers come and go. (Unless this Jor-El thing is using magic. But then who would he really be?)

3) I find it barely fiesable that the AI Software (Jor-El) can endow humans with kryptonian-esque powers (ala Jonathan and Kara)

4) I find it even less fiesable that the AI Software (Jor-El) could suspended animation a chick from a car wreck 16 years ago (Kara) in order to use her to bring Clark to the cave in 16 years... showing some form of farseeing at the least and omniscience at the most.

5) The guy is supposedly this end all be all as far as knowing Clark's destiny, etc. Yet, we all know the stuff he is saying doesnt match up with what Clark finally becomes. "Let Chloe die."?!?!?! I mean, COME ON!

I know some here assumed Jor-El was Brainac... well we have Spike now so that is moot. I know others suggest Jor-El is the Eradicator. And yes, while that would make this series infinitely more compatible with the Superman Mythos... do we really think the guys who can't write a single story arc involving some stones, a boy, and his mamma without contradicting themselves would be that smart?

Jor-El can't be Mxy... thats some good looking guy from Romania or something...

I mean, come on!

When will someone who actually understands the Superman lore get their hands on the production rights?

[superman_115]

It is their own Mythos, and they aren't always going to be exactly to the comic's.

So, instead of trying to figure out like people did with the Matrix movies, quit reading into it so heavy and just enjoy the show.

If people like you decided on what the show was going to be like and how to even everything out.

We would be waiting years for a new season.

[HalJordan4184]

No, you just wouldn't have weird inconisistincies like Jor-El, who is dead, changing Clark's genetic structure with a wave of his hand. YOu can't just remove Clark's powers. Suspension of disbelief only works when you present some semi plausible reason for somthing to happen. Not just, because we said so. It has to be something, that even if it s a slight stretch, you could rationalize it out.

[SnarkMasterJ]

Originally posted by HalJordan4184
No, you just wouldn't have weird inconisistincies like Jor-El, who is dead, changing Clark's genetic structure with a wave of his hand. YOu can't just remove Clark's powers. Suspension of disbelief only works when you present some semi plausible reason for somthing to happen. Not just, because we said so. It has to be something, that even if it s a slight stretch, you could rationalize it out.

Now that I think about it, that's very true. Even in the movies, they didn't go on for hours on end about how Jor-El was dead. He was dead. End of story. His powers ended there.

But at the same time, SV is somewhat writing its own history. So it being a TV show, there is more creative license to make more detail regarding the Jor-El/Clark relationship.

Television is a different playing field. And if the execs have to make Jor-El a more signifcant part of Clark's life to fill out the plot, then that's what has to happen.

[superhippie2000]

they are aliens who knows what aliens can do when they die.

jor el would let chloe die just like a doctor would make a choice weather to let a dying baby die to save someone else life.

[prometheus04]

Comics, Cartoons, Movies, T.V. there still has to be one constant.
He's SUPERMAN - (Truth, Justice, and the American Way).
These seam to be blurred in SV.

[SuperStupidPower]

Yay! I finally got some replies to this!

I am not anal retentive when it comes to this show... I dont think you can be and still find anything enjoyable about it at all.

I mean, clark has to talk to Sheriff Mean Lady to enter the hospital where a guy has a bomb strapped to his chest... then all of a sudden, the bad guy gets shot... the bomb strapped to his chest disappears, Clark disappears, and some poor farmer's celler gets blown into vapor. Yet, Sheriff Mean Lady never onces goes, "WTF?"

Continunity is not a strong point of the show... heck... I'm not even sure it shows up consistently enough to even be considered a weak point of the show.

My point is: If Jor-El is Jor-El... then how the heck is he doing all the stuff he is doing.

Clark's powers disappear... no beam of light, no magic word, no imp from the fifth deminsion, the sun simply set. Maybe the Phantom Zone was a lot harder to get out of than one would assume and he drained his solar reserves doing so... but that is just me REACHING for a reason that is plausible with ANYTHING in the superman mythos.

If Jor-El is actually the spirit of Jor-El as opposed to some AI.... then perhaps the spirit has supernatural powers.

Thus Clarkiepoo is vulnerable to magic. I suppose that's fairly plausible... but what will the show do next that will prove that impossible...

I mean someone put on a thinking cap before they start writing the script!!!!

Is that too much to ask?

And if Jor-El is the spirit of Jor-El and has these supernatural powers because he just so happens to be an alien spirit... then why isnt there at least one of the presumabely billions of now dead kryptonians playing michevious diety on Earth as well?

[drwood]

I think TPTB have put MUCH more thought about this than any of us, so even though their scripts are inconsistent (and even suck, with WAY too much Lana) at times, we should give them the benefit of the doubt.

There are definitely some inconsistencies, but my advice would be along the lines of Austin Powers 2 when he's going into the time machine and starts worrying about paradoxes -- "I would suggest that you don't worry about that and enjoy yourself (looking at the audience, too)". There is plenty enough that DOES make sense and is well-done for the show to be enjoyable.

[HalJordan4184]

The problem is, they've had five years to think this stuff up now, and they DON'T have an answer, and don't even seem to consider it an issue. So what if part five of our story blatantly contradicts part two. We don't care, just enjoy it. That's a load of crap. I mean, in five minutes, i could come up with something better than Clark's powers just disappearing. Maybe Jor-El teleports him to the fortress after sunset, while lana is unconscious, and once there questions him. You know, "Why did you not return?" And after a little interrogation of sorts, zaps Clark with red solar energy, and tells him his powers are gone for a time now. Not permanantly, but temporartily, for months on end. So now Clark has to experience life as a fragile mortal with no distinct advantage, and in fact, with many disadvantages, as he can't do things the way he is used to. And then at the end of the time span, he either starts getting his powers back, or Jor-El brings him back to the fortress, and zaps him with concentrated yellow sunlight to jump start his abilities again. It could be three minutes long, and all of the inconsistancy there would be gone.

[k18]

Well there will always be fans who are never satisfied with the way the show is going. The producers can't please everyone and it is really hard to explain every little detail in a show about Superman. It just can't be done. So, why can't everyone just enjoy the show for what it is? The producers have developed their own mythology, which is fine by me. They have even combined mythology from the comic books and movies. I think that is more than enough to please the die hard comic book fans.

[Sarsi]

Originally posted by SuperStupidPower
5) The guy is supposedly this end all be all as far as knowing Clark's destiny, etc. Yet, we all know the stuff he is saying doesnt match up with what Clark finally becomes. "Let Chloe die."?!?!?! I mean, COME ON!

Clark will still fulfill his destiny but on his own terms, like with season four he still united the stones in the end.

Anyway I don't think it's really important we know how Jor-El took away Clarks powers. How exactly did the Fortress of Solitude construct itself? It's all mysterious Kryptonian technology and I'd say a lot of it is meant to remain a mystery.

[Daphne]

There are a lot of differences, but I love the show anyway. Any chance to see Supes on TV is great.

[superman79]

That's how it was in the movies so why not in Smallville

[HalJordan4184]

No it wasn't. In the movie he goes into a chamber in the fortress, where he is subjected to concentrated red sun rays from rao, presumably to make him mortal. It sucked, i know, but that was all richard lester nonsense.

ANd justbecaus eit was in the movie does not mean it should be carried over. THey apparently have a near omnipotent jor-el, hwo knows almost everything, and he's not even real. He's not alive. He's supposedly a computer program. IT's not a minor inconsistancy that clark just up and lost his powers for NO DISCERNABLE REASON. That's a giant freaking plot hole, that needs to be filled. How can Jor-El make Clark mortal, grant kryptonian abilities to humans, and know everything, if he's jsut a set of ones and zeroes.

[Adam1WPI]

Or, Jor-El did something to Clark in the Fortress before he left with Chloe, and told Clark if he didn't return by sunset his powers would go away, because he set it up in advance. If Clark had returned in time, then he wouldn't have lost his powers because Jor-El could prevent that back in the Fortress (full of miscellaneous Kryptonian technology, I would assume).

[superman79]

Jor-El was the same in the movies as in Smallville, very lifelike for a deadguy.

[Jellie]

yes but in the movies he couldnt just take kalels powers at the drop of the sun.

[superman79]

What about the chamber? Sure the set up was different but the outcomes the same.

[Tacosupes]

According to JOr-el, letting chloe die would be no worse than stepping on a bug. The real Dumb part is why Is she even on the north pole. Did she run up and grab Clarks ass when he teleported? lol. For that reason, if the stone tranports anything near clark when it teleplorts him, it shouldve transported the cave wall, floor, and the table with the key in it too.

as far as Im concerned, the Wall also absorbed Jor Els Spirit. In essense Jor El is a ghost. the dude knew he was going to die, thats why he sent Clark out in the first place. So he used some tibetan Yoga voodoo to put his spit in the ships heart.

You might say "Ghosts? Thats ridiculous."

Like aliens, right?

[Chesay]

My greatest concern with the Smallville take on things is that Clark blatantly lies and yet is told he is worthy of praise for his heroic feats. Truth, justice and the American way has been associated with Superman from the start and Clark doesn't even try to find a way other than lying. This is not a good role model for young people who are watching the show. Just because Clark wants to protect his secret he is not right to lie. I read the comics a lot in the sixties and watched the original Superman series too and Clark might have squirmed a bit but he always managed to find a way out without lying. It is not an admirable trait and I have a hard time seeing him as a hero in comparison to Lex in this regard. Just because the writers have him lie and then have dialog praising him doesn't make it so.

[superman79]

Some lies are necessary to protect people. And he clearly doesn't like it but it's what has to be done, that's part of why he chooses to become Superman, so the world can see him and know what he is and can do.