Arrow Is this show gradually sliding into the ugly "Smallville" effect?

[Human Torch]

My problem with Smallville (and I've probably said it before,but here goes...) is the concept is flawed either way.If you make the kinda show they set out to do originally and have Clark learn his powers & interact with the people from the early mythos while taking on a "freak of the week"-that concept gets old fast and needs only a solid 3 seasons before either going full blown Superman or ending.

Or they can do as they did and have Clark drag his heels for 7 additional seasons while meeting virtually every important friend and foe he'll ever know in his life-all before he puts on the costume.This approach was far more watchable,but made mockery of the original premise.

 

[Loki882]

Heck, he had already defeated Lex, Brainiac, Bizarro, Zod, Darkseid, etc BEFORE he ever put on the costume. That's just bizarre. And freaking Stargirl got a costume before him.

 

[DrCosmic]

Smallville was never meant to be about Superman. Just Clark Kent. But, once they really had no other stories to tell and started adding so many Superman elements to keep things relatively interesting before he was even so, it lead to issues.

The Adventures of Lois and Clark wasn't really about Superman either honestly. It's fine to have a different focus, but when you shy away from the natural evolution of your main character... that means you're missing something.

I would have LOVED a Smallville that kept Superman in the background and focused on Clark Kent's personal life, personally. Would've been a blast.

 

[Lencho01]

The Adventures of Lois and Clark wasn't really about Superman either honestly. It's fine to have a different focus, but when you shy away from the natural evolution of your main character... that means you're missing something.

I would have LOVED a Smallville that kept Superman in the background and focused on Clark Kent's personal life, personally. Would've been a blast.

Yeah, but they at least showed him as Superman at times because that's what part of his life at that point. Imagine if they never had him as Superman at all in that show. I don't think that would've gone down well with viewers.

With Smallville, because they can't have him be Superboy for real and they didn't really have a set plan (at least not a 10 year one) they started throwing in all these elements that normally wouldn't have been seen and didn't really make much sense. And really, the story of Clark becoming Superman doesn't even have to take 10 years. Something like that for Batman makes more sense (and that was what the show initially was about), but even that takes too long before things get stale.

Arrow couldn't have that problem since they had Ollie become a costumed superhero from the get-go.

 

[DrCosmic]

Yeah, but they at least showed him as Superman at times because that's what part of his life at that point. Imagine if they never had him as Superman at all in that show. I don't think that would've gone down well with viewers.

With Smallville, because they can't have him be Superboy for real and they didn't really have a set plan (at least not a 10 year one) they started throwing in all these elements that normally wouldn't have been seen and didn't really make much sense. And really, the story of Clark becoming Superman doesn't even have to take 10 years. Something like that for Batman makes more sense (and that was what the show initially was about), but even that takes too long before things get stale.

Arrow couldn't have that problem since they had Ollie become a costumed superhero from the get-go.

I agree, but what I was saying is that it was the refusal to have any Superman at all that led to the issues, rather than simply not focusing on Superman, that would have been fine.

Also, if it had been the Bruce Wayne origin story, that would have been soooo boss. I can only imagine what ten years of training looks like. Man, that sounds boss.

 

[Lencho01]

I agree, but what I was saying is that it was the refusal to have any Superman at all that led to the issues, rather than simply not focusing on Superman, that would have been fine.

Also, if it had been the Bruce Wayne origin story, that would have been soooo boss. I can only imagine what ten years of training looks like. Man, that sounds boss.

Oh, ok. I thought Season 4 was the perfect ending for the way the show was going.

Yeah, the show was originally made for Bruce by Tim McCanlies, but got stopped due to Batman Begins. The SV producers wanted to make their own Batman show too, so it was suggested to do Superman. Since they pretty much took the idea from McCanlies, he got paid royalties from Smallville. He clearly had a set plan from the start. I don't think the SV producers really had one except caring so much about Lana and maybe Batman since they wanted to do a show about him so badly.

You can read about it here...

http://www.batmanytb.com/Bruce Wayne (Television)

Or just read the script here...

http://www.leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Pilot_Hell/Bruce_Wayne_1x01_-_Pilot.pdf

 

[LaughingMage]

I really liked season 1 of Arrow. It was interesting,decently acted and it gave me a believable vigilante character. Batman being the most realistic superhero is bull, IMHO. Arrow felt far more plausible... and then they start to introduce superpowers and all that far out jazz and my interest dropped immediately to zero. Haven't watched a single episode of season 2 yet because of that and I dunno if I actually want to.

 

[Boy Scout]

Give it a watch. It sounds jarring, but they actually did a good job of introducing fantastic elements without ****ting all over everything that came before.

 

[Ryder]

Delete

 

[p4poetic]

Heck, he had already defeated Lex, Brainiac, Bizarro, Zod, Darkseid, etc BEFORE he ever put on the costume. That's just bizarre. And freaking Stargirl got a costume before him.

And Supergirl predating Superman is one of the worst fails (if not the worst) of Smallville. I remember being when Kara was revealed to the public.

Remember how Chloe met Batman and Wonder Woman before Clark?

 

[Boy Scout]

Remember when Chloe wasn't one of the most annoying characters on the show?

 

[Loki882]

Hey, I liked Chloe.

 

[Boy Scout]

So did I...then the last three seasons of SV happened.

 

[p4poetic]

I don't ever remember her being annoying.

I do remember finding the whole "Chlois" theory thing annoying though.

 

[Dr. Remy Lebeau]

I found Chloe annoying from the get go. She was too much of a Willow clone and she never went Dark Pheonix which the character desperately needed.

 

[DrCosmic]

I don't get annoyed at supporting characters so much. It's usually overly dominant leads in ensembles that bother me. (If the name of the franchise is plural, and the story begins as an ensemble but the story somehow becomes about a singular individual, I am HIGHLY annoyed).

Chloe was just another vestige of a show about Clark Kent that was begging to become a Superman show.

 

[sezibuf]

Thanks my man for this I needed it too.

 

[storyteller]

Smallville effect:

Everyone starts to discover the identity of the lead character, or certain situations happening on screen makes almost impossible not to think all characters are on the verge to discover/suspect the lead character's secret identity.
+
Too many "super" characters crowding the show and making it more and more hard to consider "plausible".

So much to say, I'll start here. These points you make are not the Smallville effect or at least not bad things.

Discovering the identity - This wasn't actually a problem. We wanted this when it got to insane points like not telling Lana. which would make his life so much better. Maybe what you are really thinking of is "Clark Kent has a secret, what can it be". They built arcs on this and it got very annoying and detrimental.

By the Blur points they stopped doing this arc and the show was better for it.

Too many Super characters?

That was never a problem. We all loved this. Smallville get's props for this. The real issue was characters would show up and do nothing. Characters show up just to get captured and prove Clark is a better hero. They never developed. Green Arrow suffered from never being GA or needing Clark to save him. But we loved the Legion and JSA episodes.

The Smallville effect is dragging things out and never making good on a promise. Well Green Arrow has his costume. Arsenal, Huntress, Canary, Flash........all suited up. They aren't doing a before the mask.

I'd say Gotham may have the Smallville issues.


FOTW on Smallville also suffered from being teen problems manifesting as meta's. But by the time of the Blur, all that nonsense was gone. FOTW were actual baddies.


Now romance reeks of Smallville and CW in general on Arrow. It's so destructive and counter intuitive. Though I think Arrow has been working it out.


Now since we are on the subject.

Smallville big issue was that it was a Superman show trying not to be a Superman show.
I think Welling probably got over the Superman thing but the showrunners didn't want to. They got him in costumes. They did this.
No flights was a super duper stupid rule. They either broke or failed with Tights since they never made it.

Clark became Superman when he became the Blur. It only took him a few years to get the proper costume and name. Superman didn't need training or a trial period. But the show wasn't aware of this fact. It wasn't area that they had already completed their goal.

It was a mockery of the premise and it was frustrating.


Lois and Clark was about Superman. It just also focused on the romance between the characters and Clark himself.You never watch the show and go "Wait why is he wearing a Superman costume?". It was a show about Superman/Clark Kent but it wasn't a show only about the Superman identity like the 50's show was and really the movies.




Back to Arrow

It's not having these problems. It's having fun being about superheroes.