Smallville

CyLeader · 02-05-2010, 11:26 PM

Ok, I just finished "Absolute Justice", the Smallville JSA made for TV Movie. It was ok, but for all the hype I was kind of expecting more than just 3 JSA members and 3 JLA members. Do they not have the budget to get the other JLA actors into the show every once and a while?

Doctor Fate looked great. I also thought they did a really good job on the effects for whis powers, and the way the helmet split open and kind of wrapped itself around his head.

I reallize making a good Hawkman costume is hard, but wow that really didn't look good. And what was Michael Shanks trying to do with his voice? I watched 9 seasons of Stargate SG-1 staring Michael Shanks, he's a good actor, what happened in this? Was he supposed to play Hawkman as a melodramatic nimrod?

I loved the whole museum/JSA headquarters setup with all the JSA memorabilia. That was a wonderfull scene, although I thought they dragged out the part where Clark was flashing back to the arrest files and matching them to the painting.

VaderFan · 02-06-2010, 09:20 AM

Smallville does very few things right, and more often than not, they botch it. I tell people I watch because Erica Durance is probably the best Lois Lane in the history of Superman. Hard for me to say after Dana Delaney's performance in the animated series, but Durance is spot-on 99% of the time.

The point here is, given how much they actually got right in this episode, it's hard for me to knock it. We were given the very first appearance of the JSA outside of the comics, ever. Granted Batman Brave & Bold has given us some of the characters, notably Flash, but this was the first time we saw a semblance of the team. That cartoony knockoff in JL doesn't count.

For what it was and how they did it, I think that was far more than what I was expecting from Smallville. I think Christian Bale needs to share his bat-losenges with Michael Shanks, but the costumes overall weren't too bad for a TV-level attempt. Certainly better than Arrow's hoodie or Clark's black suit. I loved the museum HQ setup, the banter between Hawkman and Green Arrow, and I appreciated the montage as a chance for this fanboy to get a closer look at that painting. I hope they bring the JSA in again, maybe with some of the other members like Flash and Green Lantern.

CyLeader · 02-06-2010, 01:54 PM

I hope they bring them back again too, and maybe actually do something with them. As far as Batman the Brave and the bold, they had an episode that had several of the JSA members in it as the JSA (Hawkman, Hourman, Wildcat, Dr. Midnight, and Black Canaray). Get this Lex Lang was the voice of Hourman, coincidence I think not. They also had Clancy Brown as the voice of the evil Per Degaton. The point being they had more members of the JSA and actually did something with them and that was in a 30 minute cartoon.

I usually like Smallville, I know its not all that acturate to the Superman History, but its usually a pretty good story (especially since everything isn't kyptonite based anymore) and the production values are excelent. They had 2 hours and didn't really do anything with the JSA, so I certainly hope that they bring them back at some point as well as getting all of the JLA that they have had in the show back into one episode.

As I said I loved the HQ/museum and I'd like a better look at that painting as well, I imagine a poster version will be out soon, so that fan boys can hang it over their dining room table like a comic book Last Supper. The scene just felt a little drawn out, I would have prefered a nice closeup pan of the painting, and maybe a better look at some of the memorabilia in the cases. Instead we get flashbacks to the film clips we had seen 30 minutes before that just weren't that interesting the first time we saw them.

VaderFan · 02-06-2010, 08:13 PM

Ok, I stand corrected. Apparently I missed that episode of Batman! Man, I'd LOVE to have a print of that painting hanging in my dining room. That's be greatness.

PaganChick · 02-07-2010, 09:21 PM

The most annoying thing to me was that they missed out on the chance to have Hawkman played by (who else?) Ethan Hawke-Man (as mocked in Drawn Together). ;P

VaderFan · 02-08-2010, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaganChick

The most annoying thing to me was that they missed out on the chance to have Hawkman played by (who else?) Ethan Hawke-Man (as mocked in Drawn Together). ;P

They had to get Shanks! Hawkman's secret identity is an archaeologist. It's typecasting, you see.

Black Adam · 02-08-2010, 02:54 PM

I'll be the first to admit, I hate Smallville. I mean I HATE Smallville. I could go on for days about it and VaderFan knows it all too well, because we've had discussions. Other than that, I decided to watch the JSA episode because I wanted to see the team just once in live action, and unfortunately as most seem to forget about them, this was the best I could get.

This wasn't an episode to be overlooked though. This one truly showed the spirit of the JSA at its best. It's about a group that would do anything for one another and stand by each other no matter what. When they finally decided that they'd be back, there was a sense that there was a super-team out there for the better instead of Justice Lite with no semblence of actually cohesion. This one actually showed a glimmer of what the show could've been from ground zero. And while I will agree the Erica Durance does a wonderful job as Lois, up until this one I had no reason to look back and take any real note. I.E. Clark teaming up with surfer dude Aquaman, and thief Flash, but I digress...

For the bad: I didn't like their Icicle, he looked like Jon Crier's emo son. Shanks did need to make up his mind whether or not he wanted to play Igor or Hawkman voice wise, but other than that I'm not gonna give him too much crap for it. If he gets over the voice thing I'll be more than happy to see his return as Hawkman. My only wish is that I could've seen more JSA members assembled. Other than that, some of the show standard stuff applied. I actually saw Welling giving an honest to God Superman speech to Stargirl.

So will I watch more Smallville? Probably not, but at least I'll be more attentive to episodes that catch my attention without dismissing them outright as never gonna get them right anyway. That's about as good as anyone could hope from me. lol

VaderFan · 04-24-2010, 07:28 AM

This week's Smallville was actually good! Erica Durance needs an Emmy. This was some of the best secret identity storytelling I've seen in a long while. I realize this is rhetorical, but why can't they do this every week? Honestly the only thing missing this week was the super-suit. Everything else was spot-on.

VaderFan · 05-15-2010, 06:12 AM

Just watched the season 9 finale. After a rather aggravating (and somewhat cheesy) teaser intro, the rest of the episode played out pretty much as I had anticipated. The fight with Zod was better than last season's brush-off with Doomsday, but not by much. And since we know their cliffhanger is kind of a waste, the promise of next season is basically some form of the super-suit in the traditional red and blue - probably not THE uniform, but anything's better than the black trenchcoat. It's not much of a finale, but at least Clark has finally accepted his destiny and figured out who he's supposed to be. It's probably too much to hope that season 10 finishes out the series and puts the final pieces in place, but it seems that they've finally set it up to be so.

SciJunkie · 05-18-2010, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VaderFan

Just watched the season 9 finale. After a rather aggravating (and somewhat cheesy) teaser intro, the rest of the episode played out pretty much as I had anticipated. The fight with Zod was better than last season's brush-off with Doomsday, but not by much. And since we know their cliffhanger is kind of a waste, the promise of next season is basically some form of the super-suit in the traditional red and blue - probably not THE uniform, but anything's better than the black trenchcoat. It's not much of a finale, but at least Clark has finally accepted his destiny and figured out who he's supposed to be. It's probably too much to hope that season 10 finishes out the series and puts the final pieces in place, but it seems that they've finally set it up to be so.

Yes, I agree. Very aggravating. Somewhat Cheesy teaser..Yes it sucked.. But they have to save something for next year I guess..