ROR #100 (Smallville Retrospective)

Running on Rooftops: The Comic Book Adaptation Podcast

Running on Rooftops Episode 100! We are going to take a look at the Tv show that influenced most of the shows that cover, as well as the show that is referenced almost every podcast episode: Smallville. 0:07:15 - Bad

• The show has not aged well - Some of the choices in music and effects are fairly cheezy in retrospect.
• Bad Character Writing - A lot of this comes from how long Smallville ran, but many of the characters felt poorly used. Lana remained on the show for far too long. Jor-El and his overpowered shenanigans got very tiresome. Pete Ross was done a disservice. Finally, never forget "Henry James Olson".
• Smallville Season 8 - The number of missteps in this season almost made Darryl drop watching Smallville entirely

0:18:11 - Good

• The acting wasn't as bad in retrospect - Michael Rosenbaum was overall one of the better actors. His portrayal of Lex was a delight to see for seven seasons. John Glover's Lionel Luther was a fantastic villain for most of his time on the show. The Kents were way better parents than in the Man of Steel. Finally, Tom Wellings' Clark was a little stiff at times, but he did work as the character and an actor. One highlight was when he played Lionel in Clark's body. Another point to him is that his Clark wasn't as mopey as the Barry or Oliver could have been in similar situations.

• The redemption of the show in season 9 - After the disappointment that was Season 8, Smallville did a complete turnaround in Season 9. The writers trimmed some fat from early seasons, focused more on stories in Metropolis, While not perfect, Smallville season 9 was the best we could have hoped for live action superheroes at the time.
• The team-up episodes - Starting with the introduction of Bart Allen(Impulse), the team-up episodes with various DC superheroes were a delight. Some highlights were Impulse, Zatanna, Speedy and the Justice Society of America. By the end of season 9, you can see Clark grow into a leader and a symbol of hope viewers hoped to see from the beginning

00:26:33 - Take-Aways

• Not being afraid to commit to the comics - Smallville was afraid to commit to being a comic book show for half of its run. The Arrowverse starts with their heroes almost fully formed. If Arrow started back in 2003, it would have taken place years before he went on the island, with his home filled with various arrows in the background of each episode.
• The lost art of the Opening Theme song - A Strong opening theme song can get viewers primed and excited for the upcoming show. While cheezy, the opening theme song for Smallville still gets me a bit exciting. You can't really say much for the themes for the current run of comic TV
• Fingers crossed they don't drag the current shows for too long

00:32:12 - Thanks to everyone for 100 episodes! Thanks to everyone that is subscribed to the show! Even if this your first episode, I hope you say for another 100. Also Thanks to everyone who has been on the show in the last 99 episodes. Hope you all enjoyed being on, and let's keep on running! References

• A classic example Smallville not fully committing
• A classic example of some decent Smallville acting

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