The 22-episode sixth season of Smallville aired during the 2006/2007 TV season. It starts off pretty much the moment season five ended, with Clark trapped in the Phantom Zone, Zod inhabiting Lex's body, and the computer virus released by Brainiac causing chaos everywhere (including downing the jet Lois and Martha were on). Of course, Clark manages to get out of the Phantom Zone and in the process, releases many of its inhabitants who wreak havoc on Earth, and one of the big storylines of the season is Clark hunting down the various "zoners." The other large storylines involve a Lex-Lana-Clark love triangle, Lex's continued turn toward evil, and the return of Oliver Queen (whose disappearance was shown in the newspaper Lionel was reading at the beginning of the pilot episode) as The Green Arrow, played by Justin Hartley. The show also adds the character of Jimmy Olsen as a recurring character played by Aaron Ashmore, whose brother Shawn, of course, played one of the "meteor freaks" in the first couple of seasons, as well as introduces the character of John Jones, played by Phil Morris, who would have a larger role in the later seasons. The notable guest stars this season were Lynda Carter, Tori Spelling, Bow Wow (having dropped the Lil' at that point), and WWF wrestlers Dave Bautista, Kane, Ashley Massaro, capitalizing on the popularity of the WWF in the 2000s.
I will not go into too much of the storylines to avoid spoiling the few people who may not have seen the series yet. The only hints that I will give are that there continues to be more cast turnover as Annette O'Toole would leave the show as a series regular after this season, and the show sets up her exit storyline about 2/3 of the way through the season. Overall, the show moves more and more away from the setting of Smallville to Metropolis, with the Daily Planet becoming more of a base of operations for Clark and Chloe.
The Blu-Ray set is a four-disc set. The A/V quality is very good, and the show looks and sounds excellent in the high-definition format. The extras include deleted scenes for most episodes, a feature on the character of Green Arrow, a series of very rough animated episodes detailing Oliver's turn into Green Arrow, and comic sequences that extended some of the storylines. A decent amount for those who like going through the bonus features. The only quirky thing about the Blu-Ray release is that there is no real episode menu that allows you to select the episodes one-by-one. The first episode on each disc starts playing once the disc loads and if you hit the menu button it just takes you to the screen with the bonus material. But, if you stop before watching all the episodes on the disc, it will allow you to pick up where you left off, even in the middle of an episode.
Overall, the season is very good. It is definitely a season that transitions from some of the old storylines to set up new ones. All of the actors do a great job with their characters, and the writers do a great job balancing the storylines for the large ensemble cast. Each of the main cast members gets at least one stand-out episode. Michael Rosenbaum and Tom Welling both take a turn at directing episodes this season. Allison Mack is yet again great in her role as Chole (again making the craziness that her personal life turned into after the series ended all the more baffling and sad), and Erica Durance does a great job making Lois her own. In fact, of all the versions of Lois that have been in live-action, hers has arguably been the best of them. The only storyline that I did not really care for was the Clark-Lana-Lex love triangle, but thankfully that was resolved by the end of the season. It is definitely worth picking up.
I will not go into too much of the storylines to avoid spoiling the few people who may not have seen the series yet. The only hints that I will give are that there continues to be more cast turnover as Annette O'Toole would leave the show as a series regular after this season, and the show sets up her exit storyline about 2/3 of the way through the season. Overall, the show moves more and more away from the setting of Smallville to Metropolis, with the Daily Planet becoming more of a base of operations for Clark and Chloe.
The Blu-Ray set is a four-disc set. The A/V quality is very good, and the show looks and sounds excellent in the high-definition format. The extras include deleted scenes for most episodes, a feature on the character of Green Arrow, a series of very rough animated episodes detailing Oliver's turn into Green Arrow, and comic sequences that extended some of the storylines. A decent amount for those who like going through the bonus features. The only quirky thing about the Blu-Ray release is that there is no real episode menu that allows you to select the episodes one-by-one. The first episode on each disc starts playing once the disc loads and if you hit the menu button it just takes you to the screen with the bonus material. But, if you stop before watching all the episodes on the disc, it will allow you to pick up where you left off, even in the middle of an episode.
Overall, the season is very good. It is definitely a season that transitions from some of the old storylines to set up new ones. All of the actors do a great job with their characters, and the writers do a great job balancing the storylines for the large ensemble cast. Each of the main cast members gets at least one stand-out episode. Michael Rosenbaum and Tom Welling both take a turn at directing episodes this season. Allison Mack is yet again great in her role as Chole (again making the craziness that her personal life turned into after the series ended all the more baffling and sad), and Erica Durance does a great job making Lois her own. In fact, of all the versions of Lois that have been in live-action, hers has arguably been the best of them. The only storyline that I did not really care for was the Clark-Lana-Lex love triangle, but thankfully that was resolved by the end of the season. It is definitely worth picking up.
No comments:
Post a Comment