Al Gough Interview

[Sun_Down]

Bryan Singer saved Smallville? Oh god.

Haha, tasty.

 

[RakuMon]

Here are some interesting tidbits from the upcoming Smallville Mag #19:

We'd definitely consider doing it [recurring super-powered characters] next season. We'll see some DC villains. I don't think they'll be allied with Lex. But we'll definitely see Clark battle DC Comics foes.

The priority of the show is always about Clark, of course, but Lex is certainly going to take a dark turn. This is the beginning of the end for him. His humanity is being worn down. He's becoming increasingly evil. His love for Lana has driven him crazy, really.

With Lionel Luthor, what you see is not what you get. He always has some hidden agenda. This season, he's definitely playing his cards close to his chest, but there are surprises coming up.

She [Lois] has definitely got a way to go. She's very much Lois Lane in terms of aggressiveness, but she's still honing her craft, figuring out how to get the story. She's growing to that point. By the end of the series, you will see her fully developed.

 

[Brainiac 8]

Thanks Raku, there is some great info there.

I don't think Lex's dark turn is solely due to Lana....even the show has done that. They have shown that constant rejection by those he cared for or loved is what drove him to turn evil...I do think however that Lana will nail the proverbial coffin.

 

[Catman]

I'm just glad to hear that Green Arrow is returning.

 

[Billy Batson]

GOUGH: "The great thing ultimately, was our biggest savior was Bryan Singer. "

Talk about Brown Nosing, dude lost major cool points with that statement!

 

[Catman]

^ Plus, he said he liked the movie. I wouldn't be surprised if he thought it was the biggest piece of s--t he ever saw.

 

[FanboyX_Returns]

I don't think it would mess anything up. They already said that we would see Welling in the suit in the end, and as it's a different continuity/universe/earth/whatever else people call it, it would not mess anything up in the least.

I still think that whatever they do, they will try and make sure to respect the other visions, just as Singer tried to respect Al and Miles vision. It doesn't hurt the chances of a movie or something along those lines.

Yeah it's an else world tale which uses parts of every Superman medium including the Reeve/Donner movie's as a part of the storyline.
Now this isn't a prequel or even a vague prequel because they have created an entire different storyline then that used in the Reeve/Donner movies.

Singer tied his movie directly only really to the Reeve/Donner movies, and the suit is somewhat molded after the Fletcher cartoons.

When they say that SV is pre Superman The Movie they don't mean so much that it ties in directly to the Reeve/Donner movies like SR but that it's an elseworld take on the Superman Character before he put on the suit.

Since we know that Clark doesn't become Superman until he gets to the daily Planet, and is a bit older anything ever done on tv or big screen that shows the character pre putting on the suit could be said to be "Pre Superman the movie" even with such major storyline changes as Clark metting Lois in Smallville, and stuff.

Remember Smallville both takes form the movies, comics, and past shows but they also have invented new original storylines.

^ Plus, he said he liked the movie. I wouldn't be surprised if he thought it was the biggest piece of s--t he ever saw.

You have to read between the lines dude lol
He works for the WB he can't trash the movie but I don't think he thought much of it when he only relly talked about the plane scene which is about the only good scene in the movie.

lol normally when someone says something like that demands that one reads between the lines.

Why didn't he say something like "Oh man it was amazing!" or "It blew my F'in mind!" lol no all he says "I think that airplane sequence is great."

And it's true Spacey's Lex is a hybrid of Mike R. & Gene H.
The problem is nobody wants to see Gene Hackman's Lex anymore... This is why Lex sucked in the movie. IMO

Well that, and the whole take over the world by creating your own land so that people who need to pay him money for land.
One thing... If you do what Lex was trying to do with New Krypton, and that destroys "Billions" plus destroy the united states, and its economy with what money are these people supposed to pay Lex with?

What currency would survive in an event like the whole New Krypton thing?? None... Further showing how idiotic the plot was.

But dude Gough has to play politics, and he has to say that he liked the movie because if not Smallville will be pulled off the air asap.

And or he would get canned from the WB...

 

[Tempest19]

Great interview. Sounds like we're in for a great season finale.

More DC villains and possibly heroes? FRCKIN' AWESOME!!!! Sounds like S7 is going to be GREAT!

And: Hey, some don't like SR, while others do. Personally liked SR, but BB still ranks at top.

Here's hoping for a Green Arrow series!

 

[Zorex]

Season 7 sounds fantastic, but...I'm kind of expecting that. Knowing that the end is most certainly nigh, I see them wasting very little time, giving us a very exciting, forward-moving, driven season. I'm excited to see Lois get fully developed by the end. I like her character more and more as time goes by, and I'm sure she's gonna be grrreat during S7.

I'd be very pleased to see Green Arrow, and even the other guys, return sporadically throughout season 7.

And all this talk of the end of the series...shirt rips, super rescues. So. Exciting. This season also has a lot to live up to in its ending, in my opinion. It's quite possibly the last non-series season finale of the show. The series finale, I imagine, is still going to have cliffhanger elements, but this is likely the last time we'll be able to have a cliffhanger that'll be picked up and resolved later.

 

[\S/JcDc\S/]

That would be a funny sig Gough admitting Singer saved SV.

This would make for a long sig though

GOUGH: The great thing ultimately, was our biggest savior was Bryan Singer. Bryan was a fan of the show. We had a gentleman’s agreement. Miles, myself, Bryan, [SUPERMAN RETURNS scribes] Dan [Harris] and Mike [Dougherty] the writers, we would keep each other in the loop. Bryan invited us down to Australia. We sort of pitched out Season Five. Bryan offered to let us read the script and we said “well, quite frankly we don’t want that responsibility. But you tell us if any of this is conflicting or things that are not going to jive and things you want us to stay away from.” For a television show, you have that flexibility. And it was a great working relationship. Before that, when it was the McG version of the movie and it was another origin story and Krypton didn’t blow up, and Lex Luthor was a Kryptonian -- there was a year there where it was very tough, in that weird kind of way. We were in the weird position of arguing 60 years of comics history to them, where they were willing to have a planet where Superman is on Earth but Krypton still existed. It was bizarre. Thankfully Bryan came in and said, I don’t want to do SMALLVILLE, I want to do a SUPERMAN movie, and he did SUPERMAN RETURNS.

iF: What did you think of the movie?

GOUGH: I enjoyed the movie a lot. I think that airplane sequence is great. I thought Brandon did a very good job. I like Kevin Spacey. Doing the show every week is a little weird and it’s a little weird to watch the movie, because to me Lex was a bit of a hybrid of [Michael] Rosenbaum and Gene Hackman. Some times he was really vicious and other times he was sort of goofy. All and all I enjoyed the movie, I think Bryan clearly has great affection for the character and I’m looking forward to the sequel, because in a weird way, he did another origin story. Now that’s all sort of been set up, I’m curious to see them bring in a villain that’s not Lex Luthor and curious to see where they take that “Superman has a son thing,” which was a huge thing and very daring. There are a lot of places to go with that story and I’m curious to see what they do.

 

[Ultimate_Superman]

You have to read between the lines dude lol
He works for the WB he can't trash the movie but I don't think he thought much of it when he only relly talked about the plane scene which is about the only good scene in the movie.

lol normally when someone says something like that demands that one reads between the lines.

Why didn't he say something like "Oh man it was amazing!" or "It blew my F'in mind!" lol no all he says "I think that airplane sequence is great."

And it's true Spacey's Lex is a hybrid of Mike R. & Gene H.
The problem is nobody wants to see Gene Hackman's Lex anymore... This is why Lex sucked in the movie. IMO

Well that, and the whole take over the world by creating your own land so that people who need to pay him money for land.
One thing... If you do what Lex was trying to do with New Krypton, and that destroys "Billions" plus destroy the united states, and its economy with what money are these people supposed to pay Lex with?

What currency would survive in an event like the whole New Krypton thing?? None... Further showing how idiotic the plot was.

But dude Gough has to play politics, and he has to say that he liked the movie because if not Smallville will be pulled off the air asap.

And or he would get canned from the WB...

Or maybe just maybe he really did like the movie. Is that so hard for people to believe?

 

[Ultimate_Superman]

This would make for a long sig though

GOUGH: The great thing ultimately, was our biggest savior was Bryan Singer.

Not really all I really need is this part. When people now say "You guys act like SR saved SV." and it has been said many times.



Although as I have said before I think this statement was pretty funny:

We were in the weird position of arguing 60 years of comics history to them

 

[Zorex]

Or maybe just maybe he really did like the movie. Is that so hard for people to believe?

I've gotta agree with you here. It's not as though it's impossible that Gough actually, good golly, did enjoy the movie like he says. It doesn't need to have blown his "F'in mind" for him to have liked it.

 

[LadyVader]

GOUGH: I enjoyed the movie a lot. I think that airplane sequence is great. I thought Brandon did a very good job. I like Kevin Spacey. Doing the show every week is a little weird and it’s a little weird to watch the movie, because to me Lex was a bit of a hybrid of [Michael] Rosenbaum and Gene Hackman. Some times he was really vicious and other times he was sort of goofy. All and all I enjoyed the movie, I think Bryan clearly has great affection for the character and I’m looking forward to the sequel, because in a weird way, he did another origin story. Now that’s all sort of been set up, I’m curious to see them bring in a villain that’s not Lex Luthor and curious to see where they take that “Superman has a son thing,” which was a huge thing and very daring. There are a lot of places to go with that story and I’m curious to see what they do.

Ever the diplomat.

 

[Serene]

Ever the diplomat.

Heh. Who knew Al was such a good tap-dancer?

 

[AgentPat]

Heh. Who knew Al was such a good tap-dancer?

I heard they ship truckloads of tulips and egg shells to the set every morning so he and Welling can practice....

 

[Tempest19]

Just was over at Kryptonsite and one villain I would love to see:

METALLO

Just think of the fighting possibilities! It would be like two terminators fighting each other!

 

[Ultimate_Superman]

They had a guy like him in season 4

 

[Tempest19]

/\ Do you mean the guy like Terminator TX-1000 (I believe, the bad guy in T2).... cause' I'm talking original terminator. Fist to fist action, punching each other and slamming each other into walls.

 

[RakuMon]

Just was over at Kryptonsite and one villain I would love to see:

METALLO

Just think of the fighting possibilities! It would be like two terminators fighting each other!

With SV's reliance on "Krypto-Freaks" a John Corben appearance makes the most sense, doesn't it?

Another obscure villain I always thought was perfect for SV is Conduit. Like Metallo, he's a Kryptonite-based baddie. Also his backstory works for Smallville as well:

On the night he was born, Kenny suffers a high level of radiation poisoning due to exposure to kryptonite when Kal-El's starship pases over the Braverman's car, which had skidded on ice caused by a snowstorm on their way to the hospital. While his health fails from time to time, he always manages to recover. He even becomes a remarkable athlete at Smallville High, although he always comes in second place in sporting events after Clark Kent. In order to learn how to manage the changes his body goes through, he volunteers to be thoroughly examined by the CIA. He accepts a covert job in France that is thwarted by Clark, unknownst to him.

Kenny always despised Clark and once he learned to control his powers by focusing them through his suit, he tries to kill Clark and Lois Lane with metal gauntlets on each arm that can emit beams of kryptonite radiation. While he fails to kill them, he ends up dueling Superman (not knowing that he is Clark Kent).

When Conduit discovers Superman's secret identity he proceeded to stalk Clark, sending him notes saying "I KNOW" and planting bombs intended to kill his friends and co-workers. Kenny is convinced that when they had raced as children, Clark had possessed all of the powers he possesses as Superman, and thus had 'cheated'. Seeing no other option, Superman attempts to forsake his identity as Clark Kent and go into hiding, but Kenny eventually tracks him down and knocks him unconscious.

Kenny then proceeds to place Clark in a fake Smallville set twenty years in the past filled with android versions of its citizens programmed to hate Superman. Several of them attack Superman, including imitations of Jonathan and Martha Kent and Lois (the only one who doesn't appear younger because Kenny hadn't known Lois in those days). Once Superman figures out Conduit is waiting for him at the high school football stadium, they fight one-on-one as Clark versus Kenny; no powers. Kenny resorts to using his kryptonite powers and the hand-to-hand escalates to an all-out brawl that heavily damaged the stadium. In a desperate attempt to defeat Clark, Kenny channels the stadium's electrical energy powering the robot audience (all of which were built in the image of Kenny's father) into himself. As a result, Kenny overloads and dies. Saddened by the loss of his old friend, Superman returns Kenny's body to his father, where he criticizes the man for only focusing on Kenny's losses rather than congratulating him for what he did achieve in life.

 

[Threshold]

I'm always impressed by Al Gough and his interviews about Smallville. He seems like a very intelligent guy who has taken great care in developing the story of Young Superman on the Farm.

Not every episode has been amazing, but the fact that the story has progressed this far and is now more accessible than ever is indicative of he and his producing partners abilities as the creative control of a TV series.

These recent episodes of Smallville (Hydro, Justice, Labyrinth, and Crimson) have made me SO glad I've been watching Smallville from day one. They're great episodes on their own, but if you've been watching since October 16, 2001... The journey the show has taken is a wonder to behold. Despite it's decent start and rocky mid-section, SMALLVILLE is without a doubt going to be the show that all other superhero shows are compared to.

Plus, the show has far more definitive versions of Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, Martha Kent, and to a great extent Clark Kent/Superman than Singer's SUPERMAN RETURNS did. That's one hell of an accomplishment!

 

[Riva]

I hear ya, Threshold. I haven't been watching from day 1, I infact watched all the seasons in one go and caught up before season 6, but this season is really standing out for me. 'Zod'-'Reunion' was an excellent spell, with only Wither slightly weak, and 'Zod' and 'Arrow' being real highlights. And then again the 'Hydro'-'Crimson' spell has been an even more stellar one. I really hope this trend continues for the rest of the season too.

 

[JackMercy]

Heh. Sometimes it's more telling what people leave out of a conversation than what they put in...

Tip...tap. Tip...tap.

 

[Threshold]

I hear ya, Threshold. I haven't been watching from day 1, I infact watched all the seasons in one go and caught up before season 6, but this season is really standing out for me. 'Zod'-'Reunion' was an excellent spell, with only Wither slightly weak, and 'Zod' and 'Arrow' being real highlights. And then again the 'Hydro'-'Crimson' spell has been an even more stellar one. I really hope this trend continues for the rest of the season too.

It makes me wonder if they'll keep it up and the show will continue to get better and better as it moves into the seventh season OR if it will just sorta teeter out and return to the somewhat lame and needless stories that plagued much of the third and fourth seasons.

This show is at it's best when it's on a mission. Their new mission needs to be less about Clark stopping bad guys and more about Clark becoming Superman.

I'm seriously hoping that the sixth season finale will end with Clark capturing or destroying all of the "Zoners" while ridding the world of 33.1, then goes back to the Fortress and finishes his training. The cliffhanger would be that when he goes back home, it's several years later. He didn't even know it but five or more years past in what seemed like a flash.

Thoughts?

 

[Billy Batson]

^ I think that should be the finale episode of SV, "goes back to the Fortress and finishes his training." end the series on that note.
Than make a SUPERMAN Movie in 10 years with Tom as the Main Man.