The venerable Superman mythos gets a 21st-century updating in the imaginative and engaging TV series Smallville. The premise of the show--Superman as a teenager--takes up just a few pages in Superman's very first comic-book appearance (in Action Comics back in 1938), but producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar flesh out that period by portraying young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) not as the noble Superman-in-waiting, but as an average teen with some not-so-ordinary supernatural powers, including incredible strength and heat vision (Clark hasn't lifted up, up, and away as of yet). Clark's desire to fit in with his peers and make sense of his extraordinary abilities grounds him in very realistic and identifiable terms for the series' primarily under-25 audience, as does his appealing and tentative romance with Kristen Kreuk as Clark's dreamgirl Lana Lang.

But Smallville also strikes gold when it takes a turn towards more comic-book territory, as evidenced by the parade of shape-shifting killers and other outlandish antagonists (many generated, in one of the series' most ingenious notions, by the same devastating meteor shower that brought the infant Clark to Earth) that Clark must harness his powers to face and defeat. Gough and Millar, along with their capable cast (which includes Michael Rosenbaum as a young and already bald-pated Lex Luthor, and Annette O'Toole and John Schneider as the Kents) manage to pull off the precarious high-wire act of combining science fiction with coming-of-age drama to create this highly watchable programme. --Paul Gaita

ABOUT TWO WEEKS AGO I BOUGHT THE 7 SEASONS,
WHAT CAN I SAY?ABOUT THE STAR WHO PLAY THE PART OF MY HERO
[TOM WELLING} JUST KEEP PLAYING MY HERO.

BARRY TOLCHER

Even those of us who don't read comics know the story of Superman. But what was life like growing up for him? That's the focus of this series. And it is surprisingly addictive.

Set in modern times, we join Clark Kent (Tom Welling) is Smallville, Kansas. He's a teenager attending high school. And he's just starting to develop the powers he'll use to save the world as Superman. His best friends in school are Pete Ross (Sam Jones III) and news hound Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack). And he is not so secretly in love with girl next door (okay, a mile away. It is the country) Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk). Unfortunately, she's already dating quarterback Whitney Fordman (Eric Johnson).

In addition to being a farming town, Smallville has a LuthorCorp fertilizer plant. Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) has just been sent there by his father Lionel (recurring actor John Glover). And when Lex hits Clark but both survive, the two form a friendship, much to the dismay of Clark's parents, Martha and Jonathan (Annette O'Toole and John Schneider).

But weird things keep happening in Smallville. Seems that the meteor shower in which Clark arrived 13 years ago left behind all kinds of rocks. And coming in contact with them gives people strange powers. With Chloe's help, Clark has to keep trying to save the day while forging a friendship with Lana. All this leads up to a season ending cliffhanger sure to have you coming back for more.

I'm just now watching this series. The first few episodes were actually rather forgettable. I was already getting tired of the formula of the show. But then around episode 8 or 9, the show began to find itself. True, it often still focused on the freak of the week, but they started telling the story in different ways and involving more of the cast. I especially got hooked on Whitney's storyline in the second half of the season.

And you can't forget the special effects. Even when I was bored with the story, I was still impressed with just how great they looked, especially for a weekly television series. The acting was a little weak near the beginning, but it got better as it progressed as well.

What really got me the most was watching the friendships of the characters. It breaks my heart that Lex and Clark grow up (okay, so Lex is already an adult) to be enemies.

And the show constantly throws in ironic lines about who Clark will become. These jokes always make me laugh.

I've added another TV show to my list of shows to watch. Just what I needed. Give the show a chance to get over its slow start and you just might be hooked as well.

Simple......just buy it.
You dont need to know anything bout superman or even like superman, as this is it's own thing...Really you must buy it..
The story is awesome, and yes it may have a few cheesy we love america and flags around but it makes up for that with the story lines of each episode.

Fantastic first series, captivating pilot episode had me hooked from the very beginning. I found myself watching the entire season within one weekend! My only criticism would be that first few episodes seem slightly fragmented, all telling a 40/50minute story from start to conclusion without a visible progression of a main storyline. From about episode 5 or 6 onwards though, everything starts to tie in and become a more ongoing and fluent story. The last episode was amazing but also very frustrating as it was "to be continued" so I would reccommend having season 2 close at hand to prevent frustration!!

I am in my thirties, so when I was a kid Superman was one of the main cartoons on TV and these comics were available everywhere. Throughout the years there have been many movies and series about this beloved superhero, but I am not aware of any that tackled Superman's life as a teenager. Therefore, "Smallville" fills a gap that fans everywhere love to finally see bridged. In this series we find answers to many questions about Superman, from why kryptonite weakens him to why Lex Luthor was a villain.

In 1989 a meteorite storm hit Smallville, Kansas, killing many people, but bringing joy to a couple of farmers that were not able to have kids. The Kents find a small boy near a strange artifact, or maybe it was the boy that found them. They soon realize that this boy is different from other kids, and what a big difference it is! He has unbelievable strength and speed, and that is just the beginning. But not only the Kents saw their life change on that day in 1989, since Lex Luthor was visiting Smallville with his father and the shock of witnessing the meteorite shower left him bald for life.

The connection between Lex and Clark was established at that first moment, but it is not until years later that they "meet". If that is what you would call Lex unintentionally running over Clark with his car and ending up in a lake from which he has to be rescued by the super teenager. Lex does not remember very well what happened, but he has suspicions; nevertheless, they become very good friends.

Clark is different from other teenagers, but he feels exactly like every other one of them. He is in love with Lana Lang, the girlfriend of the quarterback of the high school's football team. Therefore, he wants to play football himself and upon his parents objections he promises not to use his "natural advantage" in the field. Of course, there are many other situations along these lines throughout the season.

The story has a nice balance between the action and the constant development of the personal stories of the main characters. Also, the meteor shower had a myriad of secondary effects on many people, so we see villains with strange powers surface episode after episode and Clark Kent battling them.

On top of the appeal from the plot's perspective and the background information on the most famous superhero of all time, the series counts with very good actors. Tom Welling is the best Superman I have seen among all the series and movies, and Michael Rosenbaum is absolutely perfect in the role of Lex Luthor. Most of the other members of the cast do not lag far behind.

This is a must see series for anyone that has ever been interested in Superman. For the people that have been disappointed by previous experiences regarding movies or series featuring this superhero, I can only say that this effort surpasses them all and that you may be pleasantly surprised if you give it one more try. Enjoy!