Goodbye to Smallville

Best night of TV of any of my shows ever. Finale comments then some insights about the series:

Part I got started with Chloe beginning to read a Smallville comic book a child (presumably her son) in 2018, then cutting to the present and a brief shot of Darkseid's planet, Apokolips. Good tease to kick things off.

The Clark & Lois wedding dragged on a bit, especially hearing the vows a second time. I did like the talk they had beforehand and how the camera kept spinning around the apartment wall.

Pretty cool how Chloe, ever the sharp eye, quickly noticed the ring was gold K (which would've taken away Clark's powers forever) and stopped Oliver. Decent Clark vs Oliver fight, though they could've made it more dramatic when he was freed of the darkness.

Got lost about how Jonathan was really there. Seeing it again, I got the impression Jor-El made it possible for him to appear to Clark & Martha (or just Clark part of the time), which is pretty cool.

Darkseid making another offer to Lionel and using his heart for the completed Lex clone was well done. The big applaud moment for me was when we finally saw him again. At last, Michael Rosenbaum was back.

His scenes with Clark and Tess were written quite beautifully and I liked the visual memory wipe. Totally got a Gene Hackman vibe. Brilliant plan from Clark to attempt to stop Lex once and for all and it was sad to see everything he knew completely go. I can only imagine what it'd be like in the future when Clark faces him again.

Nice speech by Jor-El about the past 10 years being Clark's trials and how he was proud of him. Loved how the clips montage blended together with Clark seeing them in the crystals. All this happening when Clark was in mid-air, then taking control and ramming into Darkseid was awesome. Dead Lionel being possessed was great too. Darkseid being gone after that was a kinda sudden, but ya can't expect too from the show in that department.

Amazing to see Clark finally fly in the real world, though I didn't quite like how the suit transformed from his hand onto him as he flew up, up & away and out of the Fortress.

It was only natural the first 'super' save would be a plane with Lois on it. Felt cheap to only get head and distance shots of Clark (and use a CGI Superman resembling Brandon Routh), but anything more just wasn't going to happen. Great re-creation anyway.

Didn't mind Clark just shoving Apokolips away. He'll have to deal with Darkseid again, might as well deal with the planet later as well. There was no public reveal as Superman which I initially thought was surprising... But considering the show walked a thin line between Clark the reporter and Clark the superhero, it was best to leave it to the imagination.

Returning to the future, I liked how Chloe finished the comic book and then we shifted to the Daily Planet. Felt kinda random how Clark & Lois were about to go get married for real when a news story broke, prompting Clark to take action as the theme from the movies kicked in...

And it all came to a close in a perfect homage. The classic theme, shirt rip, graphics... It was beautiful... :D Really, more that I would've imagined and made up for Tom not wearing a full suit.

Back when I started watching Smallville in season 4, I didn't really know what I was getting into... But I got to like it quickly and realized that it wasn't just young Clark growing up and had a fun variety of freaks of the week and special effects.

No season was really better than the other. The episodes with Justice League and JSA heros were always a treat, as were ones with an alt-reality and the events that really stood out. Love how the show re-created part of the pilot once and baby Kal-El being sent to Earth when Krypton exploded another time.

I don't think I ever gave an episode below a 3 and rarely there'd be a plot that just didn't work. Though the show often cheapened fights with big bads, it had a lot of great action and cliffhangers. When season 4 concluded with a second meteor shower, I hadn't seen anything like it on TV and it was incredible.

While the finale kinda left something to be desired in places, the last episode closed out the show well and the final development with Clark/Jor-El and Lex was perfect. Jonathan & Martha were used nicely and having Jonathan there along with Jor-El provided a lot, especially when Clark was given the suit.

Tess dying wasn't a real surprise and it was quite brave of her to sacrifice herself for Clark's future, guessing she thought Lex might kill her. It was great having Chloe back (Loved how she got the Superman namedrop and her "See ya in the funny pages" quip) and I love how far Lois came from season 4 to star reporter. It was a great run and the show went far in 10 years -- a big highlight being Lois's relationship with the Blur in season 9 and when she found out in was Clark.

Smallville was in a league all its own and nothing quite like this will happen again, especially this day and age with shows getting canceled. Eventually I'll start from the beginning (including 63 episodes I've never seen), plus check out Superman III and IV and the new film coming. Through it all, I'll continue to BELIEVE. ^_^

PRS #12 "ROOM FOR ONE MORE" and #14 "TEAM SPIRIT"

Antonio reminds me of Trent, between the color theme and the look. And DinoThunder was the last time we had a 6th Ranger with a separate morph. I like it better this way.

Great humor with Antonio having to make space to pose with the others before morphing. But again, certain scenes just don't feel right on this show. I didn't think his grand entrance in Shiba House and speech about joining the team was that good, nor how hard they were on him about not being a "real Samurai" purely to build drama in the episode.

Hopefully the Gold Ranger instant replays won't be around much longer, but I'll let that slide since it is for the target audience. And I'd say we're missing a morphing grid reference here to explain how Antonio made a working morpher. Why gold power, anyway?

It was still good for the most part. I do like the direction the show is in and I'm digging Antonio's excellente attitude. 4/5

--

Great episode. Solid plot with a good sense of danger & urgency and a nice intro for Clawzord. Liked Splitface's attacks and how Antonio used the electronic symbol power as a magnet to get him out of the Netherworld.

The compass directions and spinning wheel is kinda weird, but it does sorta go with Antonio's upbeat personality.

The episode worked even better without pausing the action for a Bulk & Spike scene (The Pink Ranger fantasies are funny but we could've done without Sammy being kidnapped in Blue and the Gold as a means to include them). Throw in a little more backstory with Deker, plus some improved acting and I'd say we're golden. 5/5

Gokai Change into Zyuranger aka MMPR

Yes!

Smallville Finale Countdown + "Prophecy" Comments

I've seen plenty of shows end, but nothing really as big as the countdown for the end of Smallville. Whether you've been a fan of the show over the years or at least have been aware of it, anyone can guess what ultimately happens at the very end. It's that anticipation over the final iconic moment the show will have that has made the journey quite fun, especially this season.

If anything, I can only compare it to Buffy, which like Smallville, had a final season and pretty much went all out with guest stars and wrapping up storylines. The last episode and fate of Sunnydale was quite a thrill -- a great bookend to that seasons premiere and the show altogether -- however some of the emotion was lost knowing that James Marsters would be joining Angel after Spike sacrificed himself. I still remember going on the BuffyWorld website and forum often then and enjoyed chatting about the episodes with fellow Power Ranger fans. Other than that, social networking was pretty much limited to LiveJournal and AIM for me -- no where near it is today with tweets from writers and updates via Facebook.

But even Buffy was only on 7 years and changed networks. Smallville has simply moved times and days since joining The WB in 2001. I've heard some people saying this'll be the end of the Donner era of Superman if the upcoming movie does things differently.

I've never been a comics fan and never really looked up to Superman growing up, but I'm glad I've been with the show the past 7 years and finally watched the first 2 Christopher Reeve movies. The backstory about Clark and Krypton in the first film was really cool and the second one had a great plot with Zod and his goons taking over Earth, complete with a big fight sequence.

I'll hold off on the other 2 films for awhile, but in the meantime it's time for destiny to be fulfilled.


"Prophecy":
Liked how Jor-El gave Lois Clark's powers. It was cute how she kept superspeeding and tried supertyping.

Nice to see Oliver and Kara with scenes together. Liked how they stumbled upon eachother and just when Oliver was about to get his hands on the bow -- Nope, not while Granny's still around. Awesome.

I don't mind Kara going to the future so much and Jor-El basically telling her she needs to leave for Clark to fulfill his destiny... But she didn't say goodbye or even have any scenes with Clark.

Hope we see Toyman's team of villains again and I like how we at least know that in-show continuity will have a fight again Justice League in the future.

That Lana mention came across like the writers were saying "Here's the cameo!"

Trying to use Lois to kill Clark before she quickly snapped out of it was lame. And Clark shutting off Jor-El felt old with how many times he's gone against his wishes. I'd wager Jor-El's last gift to Clark on the show will be having the suit appear to him.

Also, thought the prophecy about the good and evil balance was pretty cool. I did expect a little more from this episode (It doesn't help that I'm really amped-up for the finale), but overall I liked what this episode was able to do to keep things rolling.

I got to thinking you have to look at it as their's really 2 separate episodes left. I imagine Part 1 will be more buildup with the core cast, then we'll really get moving with the last act of the hour followed with returning cast, which'll hopefully include Lionel and some Justice League.

PRS #11 "UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL": Golden Boy

Thought the plot in this was neat, with Vulpes spying on Jayden in an effort to learn the sealing symbol power. I kinda like Antonio's flamboyant attitude, but the acting wasn't all that good and it would've been nice if we had seen him before -- in "A FISH OUT OF WATER" or quietly keeping an eye on the team.

I like when the 6th Ranger doesn't use the team morph call and I was glad Antonio didn't say "Gold Ranger." We have Trey after all -- hopefully still out there with the gold Zeo power -- continuity be damned.

With how much Shinkenger footage we get per episode it was nice to have more scenes with our cast for a change. I'll give it a solid 4 for being a fun episode and enjoyable 6th Ranger intro for this season.

S-10.19 "Dominion"

A little too much padding and slo-mo battle scenes in this.

Didn't really like Lois with the gun either.

Still a pretty good episode. It was great having one last Phantom Zone episode and Zod appearance. Pretty cool that he merged with the Phantom.