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In Reply to: No apology necessary, Auph! posted by padreken on May 30, 2002 at 15:49:41:
Hi,
give it a couple of episodes. This series has it's share of stinkers, but succeeds admirably. For me, I liked Lex Luthor, I think that was the one character that was brought to life. Of course,
some of my favorites are villians. I enjoyed Garak the 'tailor' immensely on DS9 (yeah, I know, he's not a classic villian, but he's still the most interesting character on that show). What would Star Wars have been without a convincing Darth Vader? Anyway, if you like Superman, you should find Smallville appealing. Could use a better villian :)
O.K. I admit I didn't give it a fair shake. I watched only one episode (about a girl who was made a queen bee by being stung alot) and I was very disappointed. My wife said, "What did you expect? It's a TEEN show." Boy, did she peg that one!Not anywhere near the standard set by "Buffy".
And Lex Luthor was too much of a nebbish. The girls were kind of cute, though. I expected more.
Ted
The "Queen Bee" episode you referenced was perhaps the weakest of the entire series to date (sorry Ted, your bad luck). Generally, the writing and acting on Smallville is first rate and the characters portrayed with an unusual level of depth for a TV series; that should appeal to adults every bit as much as the teen demographic.If you decide to give the series another chance, be sure to watch the Lex Luthor character; far from being nebbish in most episodes, the character is actually quite complex and believeable. Note: If young Anakin Skywalker (i.e., the future Darth Vader) had been written with this level of complexity the Star Wars films would be much richer and more involving.
As written for Smallville, the Lex Luthor character is a young man trying to prove to himself and to his father that he can be a better man (i.e., more compassionate and successful) than his father, who is a totally amoral and ruthless businessman. As viewers and comic fans know Lex will eventually become one of Superman's greatest foes, but what the series does is demonstrate how he becomes that way. The ironic twist is that Lex is the most interesting and likeable character in the cast, far more complex than any other character in the show, including Clark Kent/Superboy.
I urge you to watch two or three more episodes of Smallville before writing it off as a silly teen oriented series. If you like the wit and complexity of "Buffy", as my wife and I do, then the dramatic complexity of "Smallville" should grow on you over several episodes. Believe me, there are plenty of mediocre angst-driven teen oriented TV series and so-called reality programs that I wouldn't waste my time on, but Smallville is cut from different cloth!
AuPh
The way you describe it is what I had heard before. That's why I turned it on, and also why I was disappointed. Nice to know it was an aberration.Thanks,
Ted
I thought Voyager was just awful, and Enterprise nearly as bad. There is a new film with the Next Generation cast to look forward to this fall, though.
The cable network "TNN" (formerly "The Nashville Network" now re-positioned as "The National Network") is stripping TNG except Saturdays, I believe. The usual time is 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. Eastern.I had a hard time connecting with DS9 -- it seemed like each actor was trying to outdo the other in the intensity of his/her display of "attitude" starting with Avery Brooks. As for "Voyager," it reminded me of nothing so much as "Ding Dong School" (an educational TV program I remember from the mid 1950s) in a spaceship. First we had spaceship captain as swashbuckler (Capt. Kirk); then we had spaceship captain as Renaissance man (Capt. Picard) and with Voyager we had spaceship captain as Elementary School Principal (Capt. Janeway). Yech!
I stumbled into "Enterprise" the other night. It was ok and, if I surfed into it again, I would watch it. I kind of like Scott Bakula. (I'm well past the time when I am willing, or, in most cases able, to schedule my time for any television program. One of these days, I'll pop for a Replay TV or a Tivo machine so I always have something decent to watch when the mood strikes me.)
The videophile in me is very dissapointed in TNG on TNN-it could be my local cable feed, but the picture is very grainy. The cropped picture to fit in the TNN logo & crawl at the bottom of the screen bugs me, too.I agree with your comments about Avery Brooks-I almost gave up on DS9 about halfway through the 1st season. I think the series found its legs by the 3rd season, with the addition of TNG characters like Worf and Ensign O'Brien.
I'll have to give Enterprise another go. Love the Janeway/school principal comparison!
I'm still watching through 27" NEC set that is, I think about 13 or 14 years old (I forget). Great set though. One of these days it will die (the picture tube gradually is producing less output). Having looked at replacements, my wife and I have decided that plasma screen is the only way to go for a large format set. The other are either too bulky, don't look good, except at precise angles (RPTVs) or both. Of course, the plasmas come in at about $7K, so you can see why we're postponing.Not ready to weigh in in favor of Enterprise; but, unlike Voyager, the first viewing was not an immediate turn-off.
Hi,
they have been showing DS9, in order (thankfully), on UPN. Been a real pleasure to have something to look forward to watching after work. Especially so, since all my HT stuff came after that show. So it's a *little* like seeing it for the first time.
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