KryptonSite: Old Headlines

Yet *Another* Preview Review of the Smallville Pilot
By LanaBizarro

[Yes, "Smallville" STILL won't air until September or October. But that hasn't stopped yet another fan from sending in another "preview review" of "Smallville." Here's one from LanaBizarro:]

The pilot is approximately 50 minutes and 12 seconds long. To resolve all the criticisms--it's good. In fact, it's better than good. The photography is superb. David Nutter did some great direction. And though there is some rock music in it, it's not that much. And it doesn't take away from any of the storytelling of the show. There is more original music in it--from an original composer. Way better than Lois and Clark! It takes the characters seriously, and Welling's performance is much like John Haymes Newton's from the 1st season Superboy. He is vunerable and the nervous type, but not geeky. Too bad he didn't wear glasses though. Because I think with glasses on, he would definetly have a Clark Kent look.
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Here's my complete review (WARNING!!! SPOILERS!!!):
The openning is powerful. First off, we don't see Krypton explode, or Krypton for that matter, but we do see huge meteorites in the mist of an explosion heading straight for earth. Baby Clark's craft is in the middle of it all. It takes a while for the craft to actually land in Samillville. Meanwhile, it is day time in Smallville. 1989. People are going about their daily business. Jonathan and Martha are inside some shop and Marth talks to some little girl. When they leave in their car, Martha expresses how she wants a child. Next Lex Luthor's character is developed. (There is good character development in the pilot, by the way.) Lex is like 6-7 years old. His father is rich; a real jerk too. He treats Lex bad. Lex runs off into a corn field, the one where Clark's craft eventually lands. There, Lex sees a vision who later is apparently the true villian of the show...Scarecrow. He has super-powers/electricity powers. This is some sort of vision of the future, because this guy gets his powers from the metorite disaster. Lex sees Scarecrow hanging on a cross (christ-like) and he has an 'S' painted on his chest. He's saying "help me". Lex hears him and follows the voice. Next --Clark's landing. It's crazy! When the craft lands, a trail of black smoke can be seen clear across Smallville. It's a catastrophe. Meteorites are crashing into buildings, destroying cars. A lot of destruction. A LOT of action. Lex is in the middle of it; that's how he loses his hair. Jonathan and Martha are tipped over in their pick-up truck. They got hurt from the metorite fall as well. I thought that Clark coming out of the craft was done well; you only see his feet first. And this is what Jon/Martha see first. However, how Jon/Martha decided to keep Clark happened a bit too soon I think. What I mean is, it really didn't build up to it, it just was like 'ok, here he is, now let's take him home'. But the last shot following makes up for it. It must have been a crane shot, because we suddenly get a twisting, arial view of the craft. A nice touch to end the 1989 sequence.

Next, onto the PRESENT: Smallville is now hailed as the meteorite capital of the world. There is a huge sign that says this. Here is where we hear popular music (I think it's John Meloncamp, not sure). But Smallville itself has a small-town, cozy look. I didn't get the impression of this being a hip town 'Dawson's Creekish'. It had a serious feel to it. And sometimes it's eerie or elusive. 15 year old Clark is introduced. He wants to play football. His father won't allow it, because he says Clark could seriously injure somebody. So Clark goes off to school, upset. This notion does seem to bring sympathy to the Clark character. Clark misses the bus and decides to run through the corn fields in super-speed. That is actually a cool effect. Pete Rose is introduced on the bus along with the blonde friend (can't remember her name). But they are amazed to see that Clark is already at school when they arrive. I liked Smallville High. The school wasn't 90210ish; it didn't focus on any particular social class--like nerds over here and popular people over there. The show focused more on eerie situations. Clark is dared to go up to Lana to ask her out. His friends laugh when they see him almost fall over because Lana is wearing the kryptonite necklace. Here Clark does act sort of geeky, giving us a glimpse of geeky Clark. *One bad thing I didn't get, and thought was jarring, was in this very particular scene. Lana mentions something about Superman. Wait a minute----HUH? Did I hear Superman? Ok--uh, nobody is supposed to know about Superman yet. Oh well. I think it was just a joke; something that Lana thought up at random. I was willing to go along with it.

In some other school scenes, we see Clark day-dreaming about playing football. He tends to day dream a lot in this show. One day dream is with him and Lana. He imagines that Lana is going up to him, likes him, and is about to kiss him. Oh--and Clark is a peeping Tom! He peeps on Lana through a telescope at night. After school one day, Lex hits Clark with his speeding porsche. It is a great stunt! Clark gets knocked clear off a bridge. He lands into the water as does Lex's car. Clark swims underneath and saves Lex. Nice underwater photography. When the paramedics arrive, Jonathan gets pissed at Lex for driving too fast. Lex wants to offer his thanks to Clark, but Jonathan says "Drive slower". Lex offers Clark a red pick-truck the next day, but Jonathan tells him to take it back. Clark even goes to Lex's mansion. There, Lex tells Clark about the vision he had while he was trapped under the water in his porsche. He dreamed he was flying. Hmmm.... Anyway, the dialogue between Lex and Clark is great to hear. Lex also says something like, "I wouldn't want anything to ever happen to our friendship." Hehehe...little does he know....

There is also a jealous boyfriend sub-plot. Lana has a boyfriend. He plays on the football team. Lana gives him the kryptonite necklace as a token of her love. Later, there is a confrontation between the boyfriend and Clark. But before that, back at the Kent home, Pa Kent is working. Clark wants some answers. He proclaims he wants to be normal. He puts his arm into a large blender machine, but it doesn't hurt him. Jonanthan shows him a card with kryptonian writing on it. "It's a form of writing unknown to mankind". He says. Apparently, Jonathan had been trying to decipher the writing on the card for years. Clark almost laughs. "So are you trying to say I'm from another planet!" Jonathan doesn't laugh, but he takes Clark to a storage area and shows him the spaceship. Clark gets upset because Jonathan never told him. He storms off, and next scene is the graveyard scene. Lana is visiting her parents. Clark is visiting the dead from the meteorite catastrophy (Clark's blonde friend had showed him tons of newspaper clipping of what happened during the day of the meteor show). Clark and Lana bump into each other. Somehow, the boyfriend sees them together and sets out to get Clark.

When the jealous boyfriend sets out to get Clark, he wants to fight him. Clark is powerless against him, because the boyfriend is wearing the kryptonite necklace. This makes Clark look like the classic geeky Clark/wimp. The boyfriend throws Clark into the back of his truck and so they storm off with him. They take him to a corn field. Strip down his clothes and paint an 'S' on Clark's chest. Then they hang him (reminescent of Scarecrow in 1989) from a cross, christ-like. This is probably what happened to Scarecrow before the metorite shower changed him into a mutant. Clark calls for help. Lex finds him and saves him. That evening, Clark bumps into Scarecrow, the main villian of the show. Clark apologizes for what his landing in space craft caused to him and to others. But Scarecrow wants to kill him. They fight one another. It's a pretty good fight. A lot of electricity, but Clark easily over-powers him. He throws him far. Scarecrow with his electricity powers starts a truck's engine and takes off in it. Later, Clark gets revenge on the jealous boyfriend and stacks the boyfriend's truck, and his friend's cars on top of one another. Clark has a menacing look on his face as he walks away, unnoticed.

Overall, the show is watchable. In fact, it is good. Worth sticking around and seeing what happens next. One thing I do like is that there no Lois and Clark camp. So rest assured, this show will definetly NOT be the turkey that L&C was. It takes itself seriously. The FX is very clean too. And be assured, this show is going to have a lot, I repeat, a lot of action in it. Not super-hero action, like 'Superboy', but realistic action. The pilot certainly did have a good deal of action in it from the beginning to the end.

[Special thanks to LanaBizarro for the permission to reprint this!]