I guess I'm a fan of Smallville. I've cringed at the truly horrible episodes. I've been on the edge of my seat over the unbelievably good ones. I've yawned through the vast majority which were ultimately forgettable. Through it all, I kept watching in the belief it would eventually lead to Clark finally and fully embracing his destiny. However, now the show has concluded, the finale has aired and I find myself feeling perplexed.
The finale had a ton of problems. These missteps include the following: an overlong, boring and redundant first half; an unnecessary fight between Clark and a possessed Oliver Queen; the hollow dispatching of Darkseid's three emissaries by Green Arrow; the unceremonious murder of Tess Mercer; the return of Lex Luthor, in all his malicious glory, only to have his memory erased; and an anticlimactic fight between Clark and the Darkseid possessed corpse of Lionel Luthor.
Not one of these problems is minor, and, in a professionally written review, would most likely result in some hefty deductions—especially for a finale. Unfortunately, these problems, even when lumped together, are almost inconsequential against the most glaring flaw imaginable. That would be the conscious decision being made to not deliver what the audience wanted.
After ten years and 217 episodes, there were no clear shots of Clark in full costume. Instead we get a few long distance shots of a poorly rendered CGI Superman. The shots that weren't from a distance were close-ups of Tom Welling's face. In the final shot of the series, just when it looks as though things might pay off, we see Welling do the iconic shirt rip to reveal what could only be a short sleeve Superman shirt. There wasn't even a point where he either called himself or was directly identified as Superman. In short, the destination was never reached. Once again, I'm left feeling more that a little confused.
Don't the executive producers know how the people who work on genre shows depend on their fanbase to score other gigs just as much, if not more so than the quality of their work? David Boreanaz, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Marc Blucas, James Marsters, Eliza Dushku and Joss Whedon were able to rely on their fan appeal from "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer" to get involved on other projects. The same goes for "Firefly's" Nathan Fillon and Summer Glau. Grace Park (formerly of "Battlestar Galactica") and Daniel Dae Kim (formerly of "Lost") both landed leading roles on "Hawaii Five-0". These are things the principles on a genre show can look forward to when they deliver the goods. "Smallville", for some inexplicable reason, took the other route. It's the route taken by "Heroes", and has anyone seen that shows leads do much of anything since its cancellation? So now I'm going to make a prediction.
I see that, within three to four years, the principle on camera and behind camera crew will find themselves doing one of three things. Option A involves them shilling their autographs on the convention circuit. Option B involves them ending up on a soap opera. Option C involves them writing, directing and/or starring in the occasional SyFy Channel original picture—the likes of which have included such gems as "Sharktopus" and "Mansquito".
Who's going to want to see another show starring Tom Welling or another series that's written or executive produced by Miles Gough, Alfred Millar, Kelly Souders, or Brian Peterson after this? They basically relegated a ten year series into a sneeze that never comes, into an itch that's never scratched. Check the message boards. There isn't one person who isn't at least mildly disappointed with the way things ended. The one's who say otherwise then go on to state they never thought "Smallville" was good to begin with. That's definitely not how you want to send off a long running series—by leaving a steaming pile on the realistic and warranted expectations of its fans.
So while those who've worked on other genre shows enjoy continued success, the buck probably stops here for those involved with "Smallville". I'm pretty sure Erica Durance, Allison Mack, Justin Hartley, Cassidy Freeman and Michael Rosenbaum had nothing to do with this inordinately, ill-advised decision. Matter of fact, I'd wager money they didn't agree with it. Nonetheless, this is a lump sum game, and this is their lump. It doesn't matter if you sell shoes, crunch numbers or work in movies & television, the same standards apply. You deliver what your customer/client/audience wants and reap the rewards. But should you decide to screw them; the only thing you reap is ill-will. In an industry so reliant on charisma, this may as well be an acute case of Ebola.
After over twenty years of seeing these things play out, I'm pretty spot on about this stuff—it's kinda' my thing. As such, I only see a few ways out of this quandary for the primary cast and crew whose name and likeliness' are linked to this epic fail. They can release a statement stating the Superman name and costume was off limits for legal reasons (cheap and easy to do). They can provide extra, clearly shot footage of Welling wearing the full costume, while in action, for the upcoming DVD release or as an exclusive extra for the complete series box set (it could push those overpriced blue boxes right off the shelves). Or they could always do a made for T.V. movie, or series of them, detailing the events immediately following Smallville's conclusion. This could serve to keep up the interest in Superman until the "Man of Steel" hits sometime in 2012. Seeing as how it has to get past the bomb that is "Superman Returns", this could leave both the big and small screen parties in a rather desirable position.
The finale had a ton of problems. These missteps include the following: an overlong, boring and redundant first half; an unnecessary fight between Clark and a possessed Oliver Queen; the hollow dispatching of Darkseid's three emissaries by Green Arrow; the unceremonious murder of Tess Mercer; the return of Lex Luthor, in all his malicious glory, only to have his memory erased; and an anticlimactic fight between Clark and the Darkseid possessed corpse of Lionel Luthor.
Not one of these problems is minor, and, in a professionally written review, would most likely result in some hefty deductions—especially for a finale. Unfortunately, these problems, even when lumped together, are almost inconsequential against the most glaring flaw imaginable. That would be the conscious decision being made to not deliver what the audience wanted.
After ten years and 217 episodes, there were no clear shots of Clark in full costume. Instead we get a few long distance shots of a poorly rendered CGI Superman. The shots that weren't from a distance were close-ups of Tom Welling's face. In the final shot of the series, just when it looks as though things might pay off, we see Welling do the iconic shirt rip to reveal what could only be a short sleeve Superman shirt. There wasn't even a point where he either called himself or was directly identified as Superman. In short, the destination was never reached. Once again, I'm left feeling more that a little confused.
Don't the executive producers know how the people who work on genre shows depend on their fanbase to score other gigs just as much, if not more so than the quality of their work? David Boreanaz, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Marc Blucas, James Marsters, Eliza Dushku and Joss Whedon were able to rely on their fan appeal from "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer" to get involved on other projects. The same goes for "Firefly's" Nathan Fillon and Summer Glau. Grace Park (formerly of "Battlestar Galactica") and Daniel Dae Kim (formerly of "Lost") both landed leading roles on "Hawaii Five-0". These are things the principles on a genre show can look forward to when they deliver the goods. "Smallville", for some inexplicable reason, took the other route. It's the route taken by "Heroes", and has anyone seen that shows leads do much of anything since its cancellation? So now I'm going to make a prediction.
I see that, within three to four years, the principle on camera and behind camera crew will find themselves doing one of three things. Option A involves them shilling their autographs on the convention circuit. Option B involves them ending up on a soap opera. Option C involves them writing, directing and/or starring in the occasional SyFy Channel original picture—the likes of which have included such gems as "Sharktopus" and "Mansquito".
Who's going to want to see another show starring Tom Welling or another series that's written or executive produced by Miles Gough, Alfred Millar, Kelly Souders, or Brian Peterson after this? They basically relegated a ten year series into a sneeze that never comes, into an itch that's never scratched. Check the message boards. There isn't one person who isn't at least mildly disappointed with the way things ended. The one's who say otherwise then go on to state they never thought "Smallville" was good to begin with. That's definitely not how you want to send off a long running series—by leaving a steaming pile on the realistic and warranted expectations of its fans.
So while those who've worked on other genre shows enjoy continued success, the buck probably stops here for those involved with "Smallville". I'm pretty sure Erica Durance, Allison Mack, Justin Hartley, Cassidy Freeman and Michael Rosenbaum had nothing to do with this inordinately, ill-advised decision. Matter of fact, I'd wager money they didn't agree with it. Nonetheless, this is a lump sum game, and this is their lump. It doesn't matter if you sell shoes, crunch numbers or work in movies & television, the same standards apply. You deliver what your customer/client/audience wants and reap the rewards. But should you decide to screw them; the only thing you reap is ill-will. In an industry so reliant on charisma, this may as well be an acute case of Ebola.
After over twenty years of seeing these things play out, I'm pretty spot on about this stuff—it's kinda' my thing. As such, I only see a few ways out of this quandary for the primary cast and crew whose name and likeliness' are linked to this epic fail. They can release a statement stating the Superman name and costume was off limits for legal reasons (cheap and easy to do). They can provide extra, clearly shot footage of Welling wearing the full costume, while in action, for the upcoming DVD release or as an exclusive extra for the complete series box set (it could push those overpriced blue boxes right off the shelves). Or they could always do a made for T.V. movie, or series of them, detailing the events immediately following Smallville's conclusion. This could serve to keep up the interest in Superman until the "Man of Steel" hits sometime in 2012. Seeing as how it has to get past the bomb that is "Superman Returns", this could leave both the big and small screen parties in a rather desirable position.