A little something I wrote debunking the myth that Smallville didn't embrace the comics
Respecting Smallville
Smallville is a television show about Clark Kent in his days before he was Superman. The show lasted ten years and revitalised the superhero genre on TV. Smallville probably is still my favourite television show ever. No it wasnt perfect (is anything?) but I watched it from day one and went on a journey with this shows version of a young Clark Kent.
Smallville Embraced its Comic Book Roots
Ive heard often people say Smallville ran away from its comic book roots, its not even close to true. But I think by that the people who say that mean it didnt have Clark or other heroes running around in full on costumes (they did in later seasons). There is truth to that although it wasnt running away so much as trying to remain true to the premise of the show and their golden rule no flights, no tights. A rule I also think we can attribute to Bryan Singers X-Men series which took the X-Men out of colourful tights and into leather. Something they probably thought was more approachable for the general audience than yellow spandex. The show was never meant to be a full on superhero show but it did become that later.
But even with that the show still embraced the comic books in its early seasons. Clark Kent and Lex Luthor were friends, a storyline taken from a Superboy story in which Clark & Lex are friends until an accident cause Lex to lose his hair. Lex losing his hair in that story is Superboys fault, but its unintentional as Superboy tries to blow out a fire in Lexs lab the chemicals Lex was using end up going onto his head causing him to lose his hair. In Smallville a meteor shower containing debris from the destroyed planet Krypton containing Baby Kal El are what causes a young Lex to lose his hair, again an accident but again something that Lex could have blamed Clark for given he was in the meteor shower. Again its inadvertent but the idea behind the two is similar.
Smallville continually used characters from the comic books even in its early years, right from the get go, Lex Luthor, The Kents, Lana Lang, Pete Ross, Dr Hamilton (that one they did cheat with but still the surname was there), Maggie Sawyer, Perry White, Morgan Edge and Jor El were all either main characters or guest characters in Smallvilles early years which again some have deemed afraid of its comic book roots but this and many other things like Metropolis, the island that Oliver Queen was stranded on, mentions of Gotham, Central CIty, Star City, Krypto, etc were all from the comic books.
In Smallvilles later years they turned the show into a fully fledged comic book show, characters like the Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen (later renamed Henry James Olsen), Green Arrow, Impulse, Cyborg, Aquaman, Metallo, Brainiac, the Toyman, Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Ultraman, Maxwell Lord, Booster Gold, Darkseid, Deadshot, Slade Wilson and others were all included many times, that list goes on and on. The show gave us a DC Universe, something which we hadn't had before in live action. Looking at the final seasons introduction of a Lex/Clark hybrid clone named Conner was very faithful to the comic origins of the 90s Superboy character. As was Clark and Lois working together as reporters at the Daily Planet and many other things.
Even these brief examples are more than enough to prove that the complaint that Smallville never embraced its comic book roots is just wrong because it did consistently. Of course it made changes but so have Arrow, the Flash, Supergirl, Gotham etc.
It Embraced Richard Donners Superman
It has been said before that the Smallville TV show could not have existed without the Smallville scenes in Richard Donners Superman. The creators and writers on the show certainly did not forget that, the Fortress of Solitude and the Jor El AI were both taken from the Donner movie. They even had appearances from Margot Kidder, Marc McClure and the late Christopher Reeve on the show. Terrence Stamp (Superman/Superman II' s General Zod) was the voice of AI Jor El throughout the series. The looks of Krypton we got were very much based on the Donner Superman movies. Season 9s villain was Major Zod, portrayed by Callum Blue who gave a very Terrence Stamp portryal of Zod. They even played out the shows final moments with John Williams Superman theme and elements of his theme were often used during the series run.
It revolutionised the comic book genre on TV
Smallville was the first live action superhero TV show to embrace the overarching plot/villain template. Sure Superboy and Lois & Clark had Lex Luthor around as a consistent nemesis (the latter only in its first season and in a few later episodes) but they never really went the overarching plot and the mystery of the big bad like Smallville did.
Even something as simple as the love triangle which Smallville did so frequently (ad nauseum I admit) was nothing new in terms of comic books or even TV shows but it was Smallville that really took it and ran with it. Arrow, the Flash, Supergirl and even Gotham (although not quite as much) have taken the love triangle and ran with it.
What Smallville did was discover many ways in which a comic book TV show would work with modern audiences and this enabled shows such as the Flash, Arrow, Supergirl and even Legends of Tomorrow to get their characters into costumes much quicker. Smallville tested the waters and took risks so these shows didnt have to.
Its success led to more comic book shows
The CW had a built in audience for Smallville and wanted to keep that audience, so they greenlit a new comic book show Arrow. Originally intended as a prequel show for the Smallville version of Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (but smartly rebooted as a fresh take on the character with a whole new cast). Arrow, much like Smallville, took the concept of a character before he becomes the full fledged hero. Just like those final seasons of Smallville, Arrow was able to take a much more comic book costumed approach to the myths. Lets not also not forget Arrow's first season was much closer to a grounded concept much like Smallville had been in its early seasons. Arrow did eventually grow into a show much mor comic book styled, with a multiverse of characters introducing the likes or Huntress, Roy Harper, The Black Canary and maybe most importantly Barry Allen. This then led into the Flash, which itself takes many tropes from Smallville, Barry already in two seasons has had his unsure of himself moments and the I must do this alone moments that Clark had many times on Smallville. Of course these are nothing new to comic book fans or comic book stories but it is something that wasnt really explored in comic book TV shows until Smallville.
Legends of Tomorrow, a spinoff from Arrow and the Flash is on the horizon. This show will feature a team of superheroes much like the Justice League did on Smallville and later the JSA (which seems even more of an influence with the inclusion of Hawkman & Hawkgirl in LOT). Again Smallville was able to test this scenario out, Clark was often teaming up with his Justice League pals in the same way Arrow and Flash do their sidekicks/team mates and the same way the Legends of Tomorrow will.
Just looking at the show Gotham which takes the general idea of a young Bruce Wayne before he is Batman, of course this isnt a new idea. Smallville was originally pitched as a show about Bruce Wayne but unable to figure it out they eventually landed on a story of a young Clark Kent. Gotham also explores Gotham City and its criminal underworld before the Batman came on the scene, this is something that was also touched upon in Smallville with frequent trips to Metropolis. Even there and in the fictional town of Smallville we got many Superman villains before they were there full comic book versions.
Finally we come to Supergirl, a show about a young Kara aka Supergirl trying to find her way in the world as a rookie superhero is something that was done on Smallville before. We can also not forget that Kara appeared in live action on Smallville (as a recurring character for season seven) for the first time since the 1984 movie. One can argue that Smallville reintroduced the character to modern audiences who may not generally read the comic books. Its also worth noting that much like fans wanting Justin Hartley to reprise his Oliver Queen role in Arrow many fans were asking for calling for Laura Vandervoort to play Kara once again.
Respect what came before
Im not saying these shows are taking Smallville and copying it, far from it. They are taking far more from comic books and a previous TV show (in the case of the Flash) but what they are doing is taking the template left behind from Smallville and expanding upon it.
If you are a fan of any of the shows Ive mentioned then surely you can see the influence Smallville had on those shows. I am not saying that if you dislike Smallville that you have to like it. But if you are a fan of any of the other shows I have mentioned I am asking you to respect it, because it deserves it.
The only point which strikes me almost at the end of every episode is the totally pointless conversation between Lana and the hero - I mean, the seem to like each other a lot, so why don't they just get together for good and be done with it? It's always the 'big eyes stare' from Lana and the 'you won't understand my problems' dialogues from our superhero and then they just leave it at that. Escapes me!
