Smallville Talk! A Place for all Smallville Fans

A Letter from a fan 5/26/11

 

 

Here's a sweet email we recieved today: 

"I have been watching Smallville since it’s beginning and have never missed it one time. The final show tonight was as grand as the whole series was, and I was so happy to see Lex Luther and Clarks dad  back. I will really miss my Friday night fix. The acting and writing was superb. Tom Welling has grown from a young lad into a wonderful man. I am 72 years old and I will sorely miss this show. Tom made you feel that maybe there could be a super hero that could save our world like Christopher Reeve did. I was a great fan of his also. God bless to all of the stars and writers of this show. You have made one old lady a very happy person. 

Ann D*****"

Letter From Lois Lane To Time Warner Boss | http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/

EXCLUSIVE: Today Lois Lane was cast for Warner Bros' Superman movie reboot. So it's fitting to note that, on February 12th, the widow of Superman co-creator Jerome Siegel died of heart failure in a Los Angeles hospital at age 93. While much has been made of the fact that she was the model for Lois Lane, Joanne Siegel also was a driving force along with the estate of Joe Shuster to recapture the entire original copyright to Superman. The Siegel heirs have already been awarded half the copyright for Superman. And in 2013 the Shuster heirs get the remaining half. After that, neither DC Comics nor Warner Bros will be able to use Superman without a financial agreement with the Siegels and Shusters. There are also stipulations on what parts of the origins story can be used in future Superman movies and which require re-negotiations with the creators' heirs or estates. But Warner Bros keeps fighting the Siegel and Shuster heirs and last May seized on a new hardball strategy: to force their attorney Marc Toberoff to resign by filing a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles raising questions about his alleged role as a financial participant in the Superman copyright. Before her death, Joanne Siegel was preparing the following letter obtained by Deadline:

December 10, 2010

Jeffrey L. Bewkes
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Time Warner Inc.

Dear Jeff,

 

I am Joanne Siegel widow of Jerry Siegel, creator of Superboy and co-creator of Superman with Joe Shuster. It has always been my policy to be in touch with the Chairmen of the Board of your company going back to when Steve Ross formed Warner Communications.

Steve Ross knew how to take care of large vexing problems. He paid the price, whatever it was, then went on, and the company prospered. He was gracious and friendly when my late husband Jerry and I met him at a stockholders meeting after he sent Jerry, Joe, my daughter Laura and me company stock. He also phoned me to say if we needed anything I should just pick up the phone and call him. He said if he could not be reached for some reason, one of the top officers in the company, Deane Johnson, would handle things personally. Laura and I believe if Steve were alive our copyright ownership matter would have been successfully resolved long ago.

Jerry Levin was also reachable and thoughtful. He sent my husband and later me, cases of grapefruit at the holiday season. He remembered Jerry’s birthday with a Superman sculpture. When my Jerry passed away, Jerry Levin told Laura and me that we are part of the Time Warner family, part of its history. Unfortunately he retired before our rights issues were resolved. He had given his attorneys too much power so that negotiations were unsatisfactory and a settlement was impossible. Dick Parsons, on the other hand, was not friendly and, under him, the attorneys hired by the company were arrogant and pro-litigation.

Now you are Chairman and CEO. Because we are in litigation I held off writing to you. I now believe had we had contact early on, things might not have gone so far off track.

My daughter Laura and I, as well as the Shuster estate, have done nothing more than exercise our rights under the Copyright Act. Yet, your company has chosen to sue us and our long-time attorney for protecting our rights.

On December 1st I turned 93. I am old enough to be your mother. I have grown grandchildren. Unfortunately I am not in the best of health. My cardiologist provided a letter to your attorneys informing them that I suffer from a serious heart condition and that forcing me to go through yet another stressful deposition could put me in danger of a heart attack or stroke. I am also on medications that have side effects which force me to stay close to home and restrooms. Nonetheless your attorneys are forcing me to endure a second deposition even though I have already undergone a deposition for a full day in this matter. As clearly they would be covering the same ground, their intention is to harass me.

My dear daughter Laura too has painful medical conditions including multiple sclerosis, arthritis, glaucoma, spine disorders, and fibromyalgia. She has already had her deposition taken twice by your attorneys while in pain. Her doctors have given written statements saying she should not be subjected to a third deposition, yet your attorneys are insisting on re-taking her deposition in an effort to harass her as well.

So I ask you to please consider – do these mean spirited tactics meet with your approval? Do you really think the families of Superman’s creators should be treated this way?

As you know, DC and Warner Bros. have profited enormously from 72 years of exploiting Jerry and Joe’s wonderful creation. Superman is now a billion dollar franchise and has been DC’s flagship property for all this time.

As for this letter, the purpose is three-fold:

To protest harassment of us that will gain you nothing but bad blood and a continued fight.

To protest harassment of our attorney by falsely accusing him of improper conduct in an attempt to deprive us of legal counsel.

To make you aware that in reality this is a business matter and that continuing with litigation for many more years will only benefit your attorneys.

This is not just another case. The public and press are interested in Superman and us and are aware of our and your litigations.

The solution to saving time, trouble, and expense is a change of viewpoint. Laura and I are legally owed our share of Superman profits since 1999. By paying the owed bill in full, as you pay other business bills, it would be handled as a business matter, instead of a lawsuit going into its 5th year.

Even though you will no doubt pass this letter on to your attorneys, the final decision is yours. Your image as well as the company’s reputation rests on a respectable and acceptable outcome, and I hope you will get personally involved to insure this matter is handled properly.

The courtesy of a friendly and meaningful reply from you will be most appreciated.

Sincerely,
Joanne Siegel

 

Listen to last week's Podcast - BEACON Episode 13 Season 10 SMALLVILLE

New Podcast from last week's

Episode 12 Season 10 - BEACON

Recorded on 2/11/2011

 

Why Superman Shouldn't Be Relatable | wordsfinest.com

 

By Aaron Ting

I'm conflicted. DC Comics has published a shiny new hardcover representing a bold path that I've been waiting for DC to embark on for years. It began with Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man, a book series that set out to re-envision Spider-Man's origin story and early days (and an inspiration for the upcoming 2012 reboot movie). The series was an incredible success, taking everything great about the character and presenting it with a fresh, contemporary approach. Best of all, you didn't need to know anything about Spider-Man to read the series - the story ran completely separate from the rest of Spider-Man's forty-year history. I wanted Superman to be that approachable again.

For years, I watched DC characters like Superman slip into greater cultural irrelevance as Marvel enjoyed the fruits of a long string of highly successful film adaptations. Like Spider-Man, I felt Superman would need to be reimagined in comics before he could be successfully reintroduced to film. Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, while a very respectful movie, revealed the danger of dramatically disrespecting Superman's goodness...by making him a creepy stalker and a neglectful father.

Superman Returns had some cool imagery though.

I was thrilled when DC Comics announced the Earth One line - a line of direct-to-bookstore graphic novels that would provide contemporary reimaginings of their most popular characters. Building my anticipation was the news that DC had selected J. Michael Straczynski to write the book. Straczynski is a top-notch science fiction writer whose writing I was most familiar with through his television work and excellent run on Spider-Man. I was psyched.

But having read the book, my enthusiasm has been thoroughly washed away with conflicted apprehension. On the one hand, Superman: Earth One succeeds at retelling the origins of the character in a modern setting. Moreover, it's clear that Straczynski has devoted a great deal of thought to some of the classic ideas in the Superman mythos. Unfortunately, in trying to make Superman relatable to a new generation of readers, I feel Straczynski really failed to capture the point of the character.

To make Superman relatable, Straczynski had to turn him into the type of protagonist that is completely dominating our storytelling right now: a sensitive hipster with a soft personality, great hidden strength, and a relative fear of taking action (see 500 Days, Kick-Ass, and literally every Michael Cera and Jesse Eisenberg movie ever made). The problem is that while this archetype is generally endearing and relatable, it just isn't Superman.

The reason why so many Superman projects fail is because the creators fail to understand the character and the role he serves in human mythology. His personality isn't supposed to be relatable. He's a science fiction messiah sent down from another planet, raised by kind simpletons to be a virtuous, unbending symbol of hope. That isn't relatable.


It's like going through the Bible and trying to relate to Jesus - there are certain ideas and archetypes that you're not supposed to be able to relate to - and that's why they exist. As a character, Superman is meant to inspire because both his moral and physical qualities are so completely extraordinary that we could only hope to be like him in our wildest imaginations - which is why children grasp the idea of the character much more easily than adults.

You can relate with Clark Kent, the bumbling oaf who just can't get the pretty girl's attention. You can relate with Lois Lane, the skeptical reporter who is completely awe-struck by the arrival of someone so powerful and pure of heart that she sets out to learn everything about him. You can relate with Jimmy Olsen, the nerdy photographer whose biggest thrill is that the world's greatest hero knows his name.

But you can't relate with Superman. And more importantly, you can't set out to make Superman relatable, because Superman: Earth One is exactly what will happen. At best, you'll have an expertly-told story about a character who at no point ever feels like the hero he could and should be. A hero who is so incredibly powerful, but so unnecessarily insecure about himself that he can't just step up and do the right thing when people need him...and instead, spends several comic panels brooding across Metropolis, complaining about how difficult his life has become.

Again, I truly wanted to love Superman: Earth One. I still have a profound respect for the writer and I'm terribly impressed with the risk that DC was willing to take to put this hardcover on the shelves. It's a well-told story, but it isn't the Superman story. Superman is a touchstone of American mythology, and while myths will be retold and reimagined over and over again, successful retellings only work if they are able to capture the idea of the character - in this case, the messiah-like symbol of hope. Earth One just doesn't do that.

If you want to know the difference - if you want to know how an out-of-date ideal like Superman can be successfully reborn in a modern world, read Geoff Johns' Superman: Secret Origin when it hits bookstores in hardcover this December. It tells the story of an uncertain man moving to a hostile city and trying to realize his mission in life. It beautifully captures the heroic value of Superman and shows why his cornball goodness is more important than ever (it also gives a respectful nod to Christopher Reeve's portrayal). As I fearfully await Zach Snyder's rebooted Superman films, I desperately hope he looks at Secret Origin and leaves Earth One on the shelf.

Bottom line, Superman writers need to stop worrying about making Superman relatable and just focus on telling a good, fun Superman story. It's not about leaving your mark on the character - it's about respectfully servicing a legend for a new generation.

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Laura Vandervoort is an awesome Supergirl - What Would Tyler Durden Do

via www.wwtdd.com

According to wikipedia, ‘Smallville’ is still on the air, and in fact began it’s 10th season earlier this week. That seems hard to believe, but either way, the CW sent out some new pictures of Laura Vandervoort looking fantastic as Supergirl. She looks so good I wanna watch the real show now. Is there a real show? Is this thing seriously still on the air? What the hell is the CW anyway? She looks like Charlize Theron, is she related to Charlize Theron? Why do dogs have wet noses? 20 dollars!? Do you think that girl over there likes me? So many questions. Life is full of mysteries, my friend.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

SPECIAL NEW PODCAST Smallville's "WARRIOR" PLUS a bonus, 2 Assistant Editors from the Series will be on the podcast this Friday!

 

DON'T MISS THIS SPECIAL EVENT!

Donna, the assistant editor from Season 9 & Season 8.

Makes sure you mark your calendars, have your questions ready for this rare and special event.  This is probably the only time FANS like you can speak directly to someone that works on the show!!

Podcasting will start at: Saturday12:00 AM Est / Friday 9:00 PM Pst @ http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=22442&cmd=tc
Phone Number: (724) 444-7444
Call ID: 22442

Don't forget to call our Hotline and ask your questions at: 206-426-0521 it's open 24 hours.  Call and leave a message so we can play it on our next podcast!

REMEMBER it's this, FRIDAY!!

Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season (Blu-ray) Blu-ray and DVD Review - ComingSoon.net

 

via www.comingsoon.net

Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season (Blu-ray)
Reviewed by: Scott Chitwood
Movie Rating: 6 out of 10
Extras Rating: 7 out of 10

Rating: Not Rated

Starring:
Tom Welling as Clark Kent
Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
Erica Durance as Lois Lane
Aaron Ashmore as Jimmy Olsen
Cassidy Freeman as Tess Mercer
Sam Witwer as Davis Bloome
Justin Hartley as Oliver Queen / Green Arrow
Alaina Huffman as Dinah Lance / Black Canary
Kyle Gallner as Bart Allen / Impulse
Ari Cohen as Regan Matthews
Ryan Kennedy as Rokk Krinn / Cosmic Boy
Mike Dopud as Security Guard George
Dario Delacio as Doomsday

Special Features:
Cast/Creator Commentaries
Unaired Scenes
In the Director's Chair: Behind the Lens and Calling the Shots with Allison Mack
Smallville's Doomsday: The Making of a Monster

Other Info:
Widescreen (1.78:1)
Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound
Running Time: 1012 Minutes

The Details:
The following is the official description of the series:

"There's a new reporter at the Daily Planet: Clark Kent, who shares a workspace with Lois Lane. There's a new hero in Metropolis, too. No one knows who he is. But Jimmy Olsen was on the scene of one of the do-gooder's exploits, and he snapped a blurred photo of the hero in superspeed action - a hero everyone now calls the Red-Blue Blur.

Red-jacketed, blue-shirted Clark Kent draws closer to his Superman destiny in the exciting 22-episode, 4-disc Season 8 set brimming with high-definition excitement. Another Kryptonian destiny also takes shape. Davis Bloome begins to realize he is Doomsday. His mission on Earth: kill Clark Kent. So many new events (will Jimmy and Chloe's marriage last?), so many new faces (Tess Mercer, Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy among them!), so many state-of-the-art effects - so don't miss a single thrill-packed moment! "

"Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season" is not rated.

Mini-Review:
I haven't watched "Smallville" in quite some time, so it was interesting to catch up with the series. After all, I'm a big Superman fan so I should be following this show more than I have.

First off, they should start calling this show "Metropolis" rather than "Smallville." The show is almost entirely set in the big city with Lois and Clark both working at the Daily Planet. The story also hops around the globe quite a bit and extends well beyond the tiny town's borders. The few times they do return to Smallville, it seems a bit forced into the story.

Second, each episode of the show looks more like a theatrical motion picture rather than a TV series episodes. The cinematography, sets, and effects look better than a lot more expensive shows on TV. I was definitely impressed.

I'm also amazed by how many characters from the comics have crept into the TV show. A few of them have appeared before, but they seem a lot more prominent now. We get numerous cameos by Green Arrow, Flash, Black Canary, and Aquaman. We also see Zatanna, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Martian Manhunter, and others. Brainiac and General Zod's wife come into play, too. But if that's not enough to blow your mind, they tackle Doomsday in this season, too. They took some liberties with the character, but they seem justified. Doomsday is not simply an enormous, mindless beast that kills Superman. He's more of an anti-Superman that has a human side. By day he's an EMT, at night a creature that looks fairly close to what's in the comic books. I think it was definitely a challenge to translate, but they pulled it off.

This season also marks the departure of Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor. In his place is Cassidy Freeman as Tess Mercer, Lex's replacement. While you can't blame him for wanting to go and do other things, he's an incredibly tough act to follow.

This season also did something extremely odd in the season finale with Jimmy Olsen. I can't discuss it here without getting into spoilers, but it's probably the biggest departure from the Superman mythos they've done to date. Watch the show and you'll see what I mean.

If you're like me and you're a comic fan who hasn't watched "Smallville" in a while, this season may be where you want to jump back on board. The show is still continuing on strong and is more tied to the DC comics than ever.

The bonus features are a tad light this time around. There's a featurette on the development of Doomsday and another on Allison Mack's turn in the directing chair. You'll also find a couple of commentaries and deleted scenes.

First Look: 'Smallville' Season 9

via blogs.nypost.com

After falling out of favor with my Tivo for a few seasons, "Smallville" made a rip snorting comeback last season with its Chloe-heavy Doomsday-plot. And now that the Superman-series will be moving to Fridays this fall, no longer going head-to-head with "Survivor," I am super excited to season nine takes us.

EW.com's Michael Ausiello is giving fans their first look today at what the Zod-centric season will look like. It's embedded below and fantastic! All I can say is, the words "Kneel before Zod" are said in the promo, so I'm a happy camper!

Smallville keeps expanding: CW producers say series may last beyond ninth year

via www.examiner.com

Superman small-screen fans have reason to breathe an super-cold sigh of relief as executives of the CW, home of Warner Bros. comic book television series Smallville, have announced that they feel the series has enough potential creative energy to last beyond its upcoming ninth season. Says CW President Dawn Ostroff, "I hope it's not the last season...the show still has a lot of life yet to it."

Smallville, which began broadcasting in 2001 on the CW's predecessor channel the WB, chronicles the early adventures of Clark Kent (Tom Welling), beginning in high school and currently set in Kent's early days as a budding reporter for the Daily Planet. The series' title refers to the future Superman's home town in Kansas, where most of the series' earlier adventures occured (they have since largely moved to the hero's more familiar home of Metropolis but there is as of yet no title change in sight). The long-running television series also focused on the friend-turn-foe relationship between Clark Kent and Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), first forged when the former saved the future villain's life during a motor accident. Clark's early romance with his high school sweetheart Lana Lang (Kristen Kreuk). In recent years, both the Luthor and Lana characters have left as series regulars, as well as Clark's parents Jonathon and Martha Kent (John Schneider and Annette O'toole), however other well-known Super-friends have appeared in later seasons, such as Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen (Erica Durance and Aaron Ashmore). A non-comic book core character created especially for the series is Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack), an aspiring reporter, cousin to Lois Lane, and unfailingly loyal friend to Clark. The Chloe character has proved popular enough that an attempt was made in the mid-2000s to integrate her into the mainstream Superman comics, but as of yet the character has not appeared although fans, including this Examiner, live in hope.

For Smallville's upcoming ninth season, the CW will move the series to air on Friday nights, as an anchor for a new set of programming. Says Dawn Ostroff, "We felt the best way to open up Friday night was with a big establishied hit like Smallville." Ostroff also hints that Michael Rosenbaum's Lex Luthor, who left the program's regular cast at the close of the seventh season two years ago, may eventually make a return appearance. She also voices his approval of Smallville''s former Thursday sister series Supernatural (starring Jared Padalecki and Smallville alumi Jensen Ackles), and hopes that series will continue past its upcoming fifth season as well.

Smallville will return to television on September 25th, 2009, and feature Clark Kent edging towards his destiny as Superman while battling the renwed threat of his fellow Kryptonian nemesis, Zod.