Don't see how a SV vs. SR debate is relevant on this thread, especially since I said both were good on their own. But lets do this anyway.
This is what you were arguing, is it not? That Returns went way too far away from the comics and their version of Superman and that Smallville didn't?
No, I said
Smallville was an adaptation that was more faithful to the comics than
Superman Returns, solely because it took elements from all eras of Superman, while the latter didn't. An adaptation, by definition, is allowed to take liberties. I'm not 'attacking'
Superman Returns in any way, so lets keep that clear.
Yet in the quote I posted above, you admit that Smallville changed some rather important things. But you seem to think that Smallville is okay, despite changing things far away from the comics and their version of Superman.
Who ever said change was bad? I compared
Smallville to
Batman Begins. Both made important changes.
Or is it somehow better to have Clark be the trench coat wearing Blur for 10 years while Lois knows his secret and Clark has met every other hero and villain in the DC universe before he even thinks about using his own costume than for Superman to be a somber loner who feels he can't connect with anyone on Earth so he abandons it for five years and finds out later that Lois had his kid but nobody knows its his kid and Lex is still a wacky land swindlyer?
Again, you're getting the wrong idea. I'm not comparing the Kal-El of SV to the Kal-El of SR; the first looks into the things that made him the icon he is and the second looks into that icon returning to his 'home' after a leave of absence to see how things have changed. But if you really want me to address these issues, fine - the 10 years is a nod to his adventures as Superboy in the comics, apart from a few detours
SV showed a lot of respect for the Donner films. Seasons 4-10, i.e. from the time he creates the Fortress to when he becomes Superman, is very reminiscent of the '7 year training' that Kal-El goes through in the first Donner movie. In the modern comics Lois knows Clark's secret, having her know about it beforehand only made their relationship more believable. And it's not as if doing so disrupted those moments when mild-mannered Kent longed for Lois and she dismissed him, that happened for a good long while. As for knowing nearly every villain - like I said, it's not that big a deal. At least SV gave us live-action versions of the characters - gave us adaptations of characters who would probably have never been adapted. As a fan of comics I think you should at least respect that.
SR is great, it kept the classic story of Kal-El longing for humanity and normalcy intact, it made a lot of nods and quirks about Reeve's films, but it's in no way more true to the comics than SV is. If you're going to talk about Clark knowing about Lex Luthor, Brainiac and Doomsday before they came along, then maybe you had a problem with seeing Superman with a 5-year absence in his prime and his that son of his.
And... I don't think he abandoned Earth or the people because he failed to connect with it, it was because he found a trace of Krypton and looked it up. Wacky, land-swindler Lex isn't a very accurate depiction of the character from the comics anyway.
You know, it really amazes me when people attack Superman Returns for being not true to the comics and then praise Smallville. Yes, Smallville, the show that pretty much altered every aspect of Clark Kent's story to keep him out of costume for as long as humanly possible. When Green Arrow is in costume before Superman? That is getting it wrong.
As I've said, Smallville is an origin story. If you're really going to play the 'he was out of costume for this and this long' it's really irrelevant because in SR's own continuity, Clark Kent wasn't Superman for just as long. As for Green Arrow, how does Oliver Queen's origin concern a Superman story in any way? It doesn't. Adaptations are about alterations.
Thanks people. I had the strong feeling that Smallville's storyline was radically different from the average comic's
No less different than other origin stories. I'm not saying that it's flawless, but truth be told, it tackled more material from the comics (in all its years) than the film franchise did.