Product: Smallville: The Complete Ninth Season (2009)
Rating: 4.0
Great season, DVDs could use more features
Having cruised through the DVDs already, the ninth season is a good one. The overall season arc of the Kandorians under Major Zod is not as strong as some prior seasons' storylines, but this season's true gems are the budding romance between Clark and Lois and the high quality of the individual episodes. The quest to stop the future that Lois is returning keeps popping up as well, along with character arcs for Oliver Queen and his Green Arrow persona and a seeming disregard for civil liberties by Chloe Sullivan.In particular, we start getting more of the characters from the DC Universe making their appearances. We get a classic Superman villain in Metallo, though they might have chosen a better actor to play this kryptonite-hearted baddie. Still, the character design was nice, typically with a Smallville flavor instead of being a direct translation of the comic version. The Justice Society, at least in part, makes an appearance that stops the presses at the midpoint of the season. We also get the Martian Manhunter, who is far too underused for an actor of Phil Morris' caliber, doing his cavalry impersonation, which is nice. Even the Wonder Twins, much improved over their old Superfriends cartoon incarnation, though still bumbling in their hero worship, play a part in this season.The special features are nowhere near as good as in prior seasons. There are deleted scenes from 8 of the 21 episodes, but most of these are just a few seconds. The commentaries are OK, but again, without the liveliness of the early sets, and far less entertaining. Still, the discs are good transfers of the episodes, which is the primary purpose. While some blooper reels would be nice, or perhaps some more cut scenes and more actors on the commentaries, there's not much one could do to improve this set. (It's so nice to have a "Play" option and not have to go to each episode's individual menu to play them, which too many shows still do on their DVDs.)