Smallville is a superhero show that lasted ten seasons from 2001 to 2011. The 21-episode first season aired during the 2001/2002 TV season and starred Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Kristen Kruek, Eric Johnson, Sam Jones III, Allison Mack, Annette O'Toole, John Glover, and John Schneider. It is a show about Clark Kent's teenage years in Smallville, long before he becomes Superman, while he is discovering his powers. Welling plays Clark Kent, and Kreuk plays his high school crush, Lana Lang. Rosenbaum plays Lex Luthor, Johnson plays Whitney, Lana's boyfriend, Sam Jones III plays Pete, Clark's sidekick and best friend, and Mack plays Chole Sullivan, Clark's friend, and editor of the school newspaper who keeps tabs on all the weird stuff that goes on in Smallville. Schieder and Annette O'Toole play Clark's parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent. Of course, O'Toole has ties to the franchise, having played Lana Lang in Superman III opposite Christopher Reeve).
The pilot starts with Clark's ship crash landing, but the twist is that it occurs as a part of a metro shower in which the remnants of Krypton fall to earth and decimate the town. It also spreads meteor rocks (aka Kryptonite) all over Smallville, which is basically the cause of all the weird happenings in the town since that day. The first season is about establishing the characters and Clark's role as a protector. It was basically him going against a Kryptonite-powered "freak of the week," but there was a larger arc involving Clark and Lex. Lex has been banished to Smallville to run a Luther Corp fertilizer plant by his father Lionel (played by John Glover) after Lex has been in too much trouble in Metropolis. In this version, Lex and Clark are friends, with Lex being an "older brother" type of influence on Clark, who also believes that Clark is hiding something.
In addition to the main ensemble cast, the show boasts a host of guest stars, including many who would go on to be quite famous before they made it big. Some recognizable guest stars in the first season include Lizzy Caplan, Amy Adams, Tony Todd, Kelly Brook, Azura Skye, Shawn Ashmore, Evangeline Lilly, and Adam Brody. Fans of the Battlestar Galactica remake will also recognize Aaron Douglas and fans of The Wonder Years will recognize Dan Lauria, the dad from that show.
The DVD set is a six-disc set. The extras include commentary tracks on the pilot and second episodes of the season from the show's creators, deleted scenes on those two episodes, and an interactive tour of Smallville showing the main locations in the show. It is not an extensive amount of extras, but what was included is good.
Overall, the show is well-written and acted, especially given how many unknown actors made up the main cast. In my opinion, Michael Rosenbaum did the best job of all the live-action Lex Luthors, having a balance of wanting to be a good person but being so ambitious he will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. So, he does not just have to play an evil mastermind like Hackman in the movies, John Shea in Lois and Clark, and even Jon Cryer in Supergirl has to play. Allison Mack also did a great job as Chloe, making her post-Smallville life even sadder because she had the potential to have a great career based on her work on the show, especially in later seasons. While those two really stood out to me, the entire cast does a great job. Welling plays a young Clark well, doing a similar balance that Lex does, but in his case, he has to balance wanting to use his abilities to help people against wanting to have a normal life and be a normal kid.
It can be argued that this show launched the "Arrowverse" currently playing on the CW. Of course, there have been many live-action superhero shows from the 1950s (Superman), 1960s (Batman), 1970s (Wonder Woman), and 1990s (Flash and Lois and Clark). But unlike Smallville, which had a 10-season run, most of those shows only lasted a few seasons (at most). Had Smallville not been as successful as it was (given on a smaller network, the WB, which eventually became the CW), Arrow would not have been made. The Arrowverse should really be called the Smallvilleverse. While you do not get the whole Superman effect (there was a strict "no-tights, no-flights" policy that the showrunners stuck to for most of the show's duration (especially in the early seasons), so Clark is not flying around the town in a cape. The show also sports a great early 2000s soundtrack.
If you are a fan of the current Arrowverse group of shows, this is a must-watch. Likewise, if you are a fan of the Superman mythology overall, it gives a good backstory that is really only glossed over in the movies. I definitely recommend it.
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