Marcus Mattsson

I watched Smallville one and off in the earlier seasons, now the 8th season is airing and Clark Kent is still not flying. Apparently this is because of a rule made by the creators of the show, Miles Millar and Al Gough, stating “no flights, no tights”. However, these guys have been sacked (well, they’re not controlling the storyline anymore), and this seems to have injected some fresh air into the series. I stumbled upon a review of episode 10, in the 8th season, and fricking Doomsday is in it. This guy is the only villain who’s been able to actually kill Superman, and apparently this was a pretty huge event in the comics back in nineties.

The new Executive Producers also mentioned some other changes to the show, in a recent interview:

• They will not attempt to bring in a character to replace Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) as the prime antagonist.
• All of the characters will be moving on to the next phase of their lives.
• The show will be moving on to the next phase in the Superman mythology.
• They want to bring Clark closer to the traditional Superman character that we all know.
• There will be an episode that explores the relationship between Clark and Chloe (Allison Mack), and the underlying sexual tension that’s been brewing there for so long.
• On the other hand the season will move Clark and Lois (Erica Durance) towards the relationship that is well established in the comics and films.
• They will highlight the need for Clark to maintain a dual identity and move heavily in that direction.

And concerning flying:

“We have a lot of conversations [about flying and the costume], the only thing that we are saying is that we can absolutely confirm that there is no tights, so that’s pretty much all we can say on that.”

“Saving people in Smallville was one thing — when he had to run to the factory to save Chloe the roads weren’t very crowded, the streets weren’t very crowded. Being alive in Metropolis as Superman is a very different experience and you will find very quickly in this season he discovers it’s not so easy when you’re running through crowded streets or your having to run into a crowded crisis situation.”

This all peaked my interest, so I downloaded the two newest episodes (10 and 11), and the introduction of Doomsday is pretty cool. The 12th episode is airing this thursday.