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Smallville

Smallville is an American superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produced by Millar/Gough Ink, Tollin/Robbins Productions, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Television. Initially broadcast by the WB, the show premiered on October 16, 2001. After its fifth season, the WB and UPN merged to form The CW, the series' later United States broadcaster until its tenth and final season ended on May 13, 2011.

This article is about the TV series. For the fictional town, see Smallville (comics).

Smallville

"Save Me" by Remy Zero

United States

English

10

217[1] (list of episodes)

British Columbia, Canada

  • Ron Spang
  • Andi Armaganian
  • Neil Felder
  • David Ekstrom
  • Debby Germino
  • Vikash Patel
  • Stephen Mark
  • Peter B. Ellis

40-53 minutes

The WB

October 16, 2001 (2001-10-16) –
May 11, 2006 (2006-05-11)

The CW

September 28, 2006 (2006-09-28) –
May 13, 2011 (2011-05-13)

Smallville follows the coming-of-age adventures of teenage Clark Kent (Tom Welling) in his fictional hometown of Smallville, Kansas, before he formally becomes the Man of Steel. The first four seasons focus on the high school life of Clark and his friends, his complicated romance with neighbor girl Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), and his friendship with future nemesis Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum). From season five onwards, Smallville ventures into Clark's early adult years, eventually focusing on his career alongside Lois Lane (Erica Durance) at the Daily Planet and introducing other DC comicbook superheroes and villains.


Before the series' production, Bruce Wayne, a drama series chronicling the young protagonist's journey toward Batman, was proposed first. Although that series failed to generate interest, it inspired the idea of a Superman origin story, which later became Smallville. Series developers Gough and Millar pitched their "no tights, no flights" rule to the president of Warner Bros. Television, reducing the Man of Steel to the bare moral essentials and examining what led Clark Kent to become the iconic superhero. After seven seasons with the show, Gough and Millar departed with little explanation. Smallville was primarily filmed in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, with local businesses and buildings substituting for Smallville locations. Most of the music for the first six seasons was composed by Mark Snow, who incorporated elements of John Williams's musical score from the Superman film series. In season seven, Louis Febre (who worked with Snow from the beginning) became the series' primary composer.


Smallville was generally positively received when it began. Former Superman star Christopher Reeve expressed approval for the series, making two guest appearances before his death. The pilot episode set a ratings record for a WB debut, with 8.4 million viewers. Over ten seasons the series averaged about 4.34 million viewers per episode, with season two the highest-rated at 6.3 million. By the end of its run, Smallville passed Stargate SG-1 as the longest-running North American science fiction series by episode count.[2] Since its first season, the series received accolades ranging from Emmys to Teen Choice Awards. Smallville spawned a series of young adult novels, a DC Comics bimonthly comic-book, soundtracks and series-related merchandise. All ten seasons are available on DVD in regions 1, 2 and 4. After the series finale in 2011, the story resumed in comic-book form, with 22 issues of Season 11 from April 2012 to November 2013.

as Clark Kent, a young man with superhuman abilities who tries to find his place in life after discovering that he is an extraterrestrial in origin and uses his powers to help those in danger. Clark's season-one problems include his inability to share his secret and his desire for a normal life. After months of scouting, Welling was cast as Clark.[17] David Nutter had to convince Welling's manager that the role would not hurt the actor's film career in order to get Welling to read the pilot script. After reading the script, Welling agreed to audition for the role of Clark Kent.[3]

Tom Welling

as Lana Lang, the girl next door. Grieving the loss of her parents, she has empathy for everyone and feels connected to Clark.[18] Kreuk was the first to be cast, after Nutter saw an audition tape the actress had sent.[3] Although she left the series after the seventh season,[19] she returned for five episodes in season eight as a special guest star.[20]

Kristin Kreuk

as Lex Luthor, a billionaire's son sent to Smallville to run the local fertilizer plant. After Clark saves his life, they become fast friends.[21] As the series progresses, Lex's friendship with Clark crumbles until they consider themselves enemies. The role was difficult to cast;[4] Michael Rosenbaum auditioned twice and, feeling that he did not take his first audition seriously enough, outlined a two-and-a-half-page scene indicating where to be funny, charismatic or menacing.[22] His second audition went so well that he was hired.[4] Rosenbaum left the show after seven seasons,[19][23] reprising his role for the series finale.[24]

Michael Rosenbaum

as Whitney Fordman, Lana's boyfriend in season one, who becomes mean to Clark and Lana's budding friendship and bullies him.[21] He reconciles with Clark before joining the Marines and going to Afghanistan.[25] Although Whitney was written out of the show in the first-season finale, he made a special appearance in the season-two episode "Visage" (where it is disclosed that he was killed in action) and was also a guest star in the season-four episode "Façade" (during a flashback to Clark's freshman year of high school). Johnson, who auditioned for Lex and Clark before he was cast as Whitney,[26] was pleased that the writers gave his character a hero's exit.[27]

Eric Johnson

as Pete Ross, another best friend of Clark and the first person to whom Clark voluntarily tells his secret.[28] Although he is in love with Chloe,[29] he does not admit it because of the Clark-Lana-Chloe love triangle already in place.[30] Ross was written out of the series at the end of season three, but made a guest appearance in season seven. Jones was the last of the series regulars to be cast, with Gough and Millar seeing him four days before they began filming the pilot.[30] Jones is African-American while the comics have traditionally portrayed Ross as Caucasian.[30]

Sam Jones III

as Chloe Sullivan, one of Clark's best friends, who is in love with him (although her feelings are not reciprocated).[31] Editor of the school newspaper, her journalistic curiosity and desire to "expose falsehoods" and "know the truth"[32] create tension with her friends (especially when she investigates Clark's past).[33] After learning about Smallville from casting director Dee Dee Bradley, Mack considered auditioning for Lana Lang but auditioned twice for Chloe Sullivan.[32] The character was created just for the series[4] and was intended to have an "ethnic background" before Mack was hired.[32] She has since appeared in the comic book.[34]

Allison Mack

as Martha Kent, Clark's adoptive mother. She and her husband, Jonathan, give Clark wise advice about coping with his increasing abilities. In season five Martha takes a state-senate seat,[35] and in season six she leaves the show.[36] Although Cynthia Ettinger was originally cast as Martha Kent, during filming everyone (including Ettinger) realized that she was not right for the part.[4] O'Toole was committed to the television series The Huntress when Ettinger filmed the original pilot. Around the time the creators wanted to recast Martha Kent, The Huntress was coincidentally canceled, allowing O'Toole to join the cast.[37] The actress had previously played Lana Lang in Superman III.[38]

Annette O'Toole

as Jonathan Kent, Clark's adoptive father, who goes to great lengths to protect his son's secret; according to Schneider, Jonathan is "perfectly willing to go to jail, or worse, to protect his son".[39] Schneider was written out of the show in the series' 100th episode, with Jonathan dying of a heart attack on the night of his election victory.[40] Millar and Gough wanted a recognizable face for Smallville; they were happy to cast Schneider as Jonathan because he was known as Bo Duke from The Dukes of Hazzard, which Gough saw as adding to the belief that Schneider could have grown up running a farm.[4]

John Schneider

as Lionel Luthor, Lex's father. Lionel is responsible for the Kents' adoption of Clark without legal ramifications or questions about his origins.[33] Glover tried to make Lionel seem to try to "toughen [Lex] up", and saw the character as a rich, powerful businessman who was disappointed in his son.[41] Lionel was created for Smallville to parallel the Kents and as an "experiment in extreme parenting".[4] A recurring first-season guest, Glover became a series regular from seasons two to seven until Lionel was murdered by Lex near the end of the seventh season.[42] Lionel returns in a parallel-universe version, also portrayed by Glover, during the final season as a special guest star.[43]

John Glover

as Jason Teague, Lana's love interest, in season four. He follows Lana to Smallville from Paris, taking a job as the school's assistant football coach,[44] but is fired when their relationship comes to light. By the end of the season, it is disclosed that he was working with his mother to track the three Kryptonian stones of knowledge.[45] Before he was cast as Jason, Ackles was second in line for the role of Clark Kent.[46] Although he received top billing for season four and was contracted for season five, he was written out of the show in the season four finale because of his commitment to Supernatural.[47]

Jensen Ackles

Production[edit]

Development[edit]

Tollin/Robbins Productions originally wanted to do a series about a young Bruce Wayne, but the feature-film division of Warner Bros. decided to develop an origin movie for Batman and did not want to compete with a television series.[4] In 2000, Tollin/Robbins approached Peter Roth, president of Warner Bros. Television, about developing a series on a young Superman. That year, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar developed a pilot based on the film Eraser. After watching the pilot, Roth approached Gough and Millar about developing a pilot about a young Superman;[4] the two made a "no tights, no flights" rule that Clark would not fly or wear the Superman suit during the series.[63]

Merchandise[edit]

Since Smallville began airing, a variety of merchandise connected with the series has been produced. Two soundtrack albums of songs from the show have been released. Smallville: The Talon Mix, with a group of artists who licensed their music for the show, was issued on February 25, 2003.[276] Smallville: The Metropolis Mix, with another group of artists, was released on November 8, 2005.[277] In addition to the soundtracks, action figures, T-shirts, hats and posters have been produced.[278] In December 2002 autographed Smallville merchandise was listed for auction on eBay, with the proceeds going to charity.[279] In 2003, Titan Magazines began publishing a monthly Smallville magazine with cast and crew interviews, information on Smallville merchandise and photos. The 34th and final issue was published in November 2009.[280]


Titan Books published companion volumes for each season with cast and crew interviews, episode descriptions and behind-the-scenes photos. On September 1, 2004, the company published its first companion for the series.[281] Written by Paul Simpson, the book has sixteen pages of color photos of the cast.[282] On March 1, 2005 Titan Books published its season-two companion, also written by Simpson,[283] which details the series' special effects.[284] Titan published the third-season companion on September 1,[285] the last written by Simpson. He described the episodes' plots, discussing the neglect of the Martha Kent character and the failure of the Adam Knight storyline.[286] Titan Books released the fourth-season companion by Craig Byrne, who wrote the subsequent companion books, on September 4, 2007.[287] It contains interviews with the cast and crew and color photos of the production.[288] Titan published the season-five companion on December 26, 2007.[289] The season-six companion, with an introduction by Justin Hartley, was published on March 25, 2008.[290] The season-seven companion (Titan's last) has a foreword by Laura Vandervoort, a reflection on the "Smallville phenomenon" and a discussion of Gough and Millar's departure.[291]


In 2010, the Smallville Roleplaying Game was released by Margaret Weis Productions using its Cortex Plus System. Using the series' season-nine setting, it includes rules for earlier seasons. Two supplements, the High School Yearbook and the Watchtower Report, were produced. Players can play the characters from Smallville, or create their own spin-off of the series.[292] Ultimate Smallville Soundtrack, a five-CD box set with 100 songs from the series' 10 seasons, was released by Vicious Records in May 2013 with all profits benefiting the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.[293]

Gotham (TV series)

Krypton (TV series)

Superman franchise cast

at the Wayback Machine (archived July 21, 2011)

Official website

Official MySpace page

at the Wayback Machine (archived October 13, 2005)

Town of Smallville, Kansas

Official


Miscellaneous