To incredibly mixed success with those characters. Lex, the parents and (maybe) the Zod clone were the only decent ones.....despite how poorly Lex was handled in the end.
They also showed Lana as a real potential for being a love interest. Part of Batman's charm is also his relationship with Catwoman and Talia and the rest of the women. Also, they showed that if they would expand the Super family with another character, Lana Lang would be a good choice.
Besides, theres tons of relationship with Martha and Jonathan that Smallville fleshed out where no where else have done. The scene with Pa Kent dying was voted as the #1 scene amongst all the medium that Pa Kent died. And you can't deny how powerful that episode was.
Superman is just as irrelevant now as it has ever been.
Hence why MoS is a complete reinvention of the character inspired by BB/TDK.
Thats because the writers made it. But its all changing with new 52. Well written or not, Earth 1 showed that if they made Superman with inner struggles and what not, following Smallville's formula, it could work. Plus Smallville's comics is actually the top selling digital book in DC. A breakthrough for digital comics, even beating Snyder's Batman in digital sales.
They really didn't.
I'm sure "Man of Steel" will accomplish that.
Smallville just characterized their version of Clark as a flawed, passive BDA going through super puberty.
I'm sure there are much better ways to make Superman relevant than that. I'm sure we'll see it in the 2013 film. Nolan/Goyer really succeeded with how they handled Bruce in BB.
And yet, several millions of fans would disagree with you. Smallville made Superman relevant to teens and women. People are shouting about their favourite female character in DC is Lois Lane. Lex Luthor and Lois are their favourite characters. Without Smallville, Superman would be even more irrelevant in the pop culture and the picture they might think of when they think of Superman was Christopher Reeves in his underwear.
Now millions of teens that watched Smallville think of it as the greatest Superman story.
I guess you missed out on the 1990s. You should check out "Look up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman." It's a documentary. It reveals that DC was branching out to appeal to women in the 1990s and tried to retool the character in order to do so (hence the wedding, Lois and Clark etc)..
Today, DC regrets that. I remember a statement last year saying it was a complete misdirection of the character and that's why the New 52 retconned and retooled Lois and Clark's relationship.
In essense, the women factor isn't a good or necessary one. TDK and Avengers are the highest grossing superhero outings ever, and they didn't have to bother with focusing their storylines to cater to women.
Superman have always been a household name. He is iconic, everyone knows him. But popularity is a whole different matter. People have been saying that Superman is lame and boring. But Smallville showed them a different side of Superman. That he is just like one of us. They don't have to cater to women, but women are not the sole audience for the show.
So Alas, I'm not really going to convince you that Smallville should rock your world, yes it is partially a little soapy, but you can't deny the impact Smallville has made and how they actually brought lotsa villains to life and introduced them to mainstream audience.
MOS would be great, I am definitely excited for that, but theres only so much a 2 hour movie can do. In time to come, people would remember Superheroes as iconic due to their long running TV series, animations and etc.
I don't see Smallville as a definitive story, Smallville is just showing a different side of Clark Kent, catering to the twihards and teens and even the comic book fans. Its just adding a chapter to Superman's long history of media influences. If you want the classic, theres STAS, Christopher Reeve's Superman. A light hearted take, theres Clark and Lois. A modern take, theres SR, a action pack take, theres MOS, a teen version, theres Smallville, or even all the animations Losh, Justice League and his animated DVD.
Superman is too iconic to be defined by a certain version of his media appearances. But with all these different version, theres different audience for it. You may not like it, but it doesnt mean millions others don't as well. Its just a way of reaching out to different audience. But lets leave our disagreement to Smallville as that. Agree to Disagree.
That a TV show can go for 7 - 8 seasons and still be good. So If Supernatural can do that, I would like Arrow to try that as well. I don't believe that a quality show can be long lasting. CSI, Community, Criminal Minds, Dexter and etc are shows that ran for quite a while and still as engaging. Quality may have dropped from an 90 to a 80 but I don't see it as a make it or break it.
