Smallville (TV Show)

***Smallville*** was an American television series that debuted : October 16, 2001 on the WB Television Network and ended in May 13, 2011. Created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, the series follows the adventures of a young Clark Kent, in the town of Smallville, Kansas, before he becomes Superman. The series spawned a download-only spinoff (but was included in the Season DVDs), *Smallville: Chloe Chronicles* and *Smallville: Vengeance Chronicles* (began during Season Five, after the "*Vengeance*" episode). Mark Snow composed music for each show. The theme song, "Save Me", is performed by band Remy Zero.

### Overview

*Smallville* is based on the popular DC Comics character, Superman. The series follows the life of a teenage Clark Kent living in the town of Smallville, Kansas that is set at the start of the 21st century. It shows Clark Kent coping with adolescence while he is developing super powers (X-ray vision, super speed, etc.), exploring his extraterrestrial origins, and struggling to find his destiny.

Best shown at the beginning of season 5 and 8, Smallville is said to be a show of 3 chapters: Chapter 1 is the High School year of Clark Kent (Seasons 1-4) featuring villains Lionel Luthor, Roger Nixon and Jason and Genevieve Teague. Chapter 2 is known as Clark's training begins and Lex Luthor's descension to darkness (Seasons 5-7) featuring new heroes and villains like Brainiac, Bizarro and Lex Luthor. The final chapter is known as The Final Trials of Clark Kent: Doomsday, General Zod, and Darkseid (Season's 8-10) and features the rise of the Justice League, Lex Luthor's return, and Clark's rise to Superman.

The series often deals with the people in Clark Kent's life: his adoptive human parents, Jonathan Kent and Martha Kent; his peers, Chloe Sullivan, Pete Ross; his on-again, off-again love interest, Lana Lang; his *Daily Planet* cohort, Lois Lane and especially his friendship with a young Lex Luthor.

The mineral kryptonite is used as a recurring plot device throughout the series. Kryptonite is shown to have bizarre and lingering effects on human physiology and the young superhero often encounters mutated and psychotic villains who have developed bizarre powers, such as psychic abilities, shape shifting, and other paranormal abilities. (For this reason, the show is often criticized as being predominately a "freak of the week" series.) On a Kryptonian like Clark, though, kryptonite has very different effects; the general idea is that Clark is virtually invincible except when around the kryptonite rocks. Different colors affect Clark differently : Green Kryptonite physically weakens him and could possibly kill him if he is exposed to it for too long. Red Kryptonite causes him to set aside moral standings and act out on his impulses and dark desires. Black Kryptonite splits Clark into (and merges him back together from) two separate beings that exhibit his two personalities (Clark Kent and the darker Kal-El). Silver Kryptonite (which is solely the creation of Milton Fine in the show) causes him extreme paranoia. Blue Kryptonite takes away his abilities, but doesn't cause him pain like green kryptonite is often seen to. Lastly, Gold Kryptonite can permanently damage or scar a Kryptonian and take away their powers permanently.

Viewers will often observe allusions in the form of dialogue, guest stars, character wardrobe, and scenic design used throughout the series to the *Superman* comic books and films.

### Tom Welling

**Tom Welling** (*b.* April 26, 1977) portrayed Clark Kent on the series *Smallville*. In addition to directing seven episodes, he became one of the show's executive producers beginning with "Savior".

Welling was active in many team sports including baseball, basketball, and excelling in soccer, playing the position of goalkeeper. He graduated from Okemos High School in 1995. After graduation he worked as a construction worker and continued to live with his parents.

Since Season Five, Tom has directed one episode each season (except season 10 he directed 2 episodes). Some of the episodes he has directed include:

Season 5
* *Fragile* (co-written by Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer) - Clark and Martha take in a little girl, Maddie, after her foster mother is brutally stabbed to death. However, it is discovered that Maddie has the power to shatter glass and she becomes the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Chloe asks both Lex and Lana about their budding relationship.

Season 6
* *Hydro* (co-written by Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders) - After Lana confesses to Chloe she has reservations about marrying Lex due to her lingering feelings for Clark, the Daily Planet gossip columnist, Linda Lake runs a story detailing their exact conversation. Determined to prove she didn't give the story to Lake, Chloe investigates her fellow co-worker and discovers Lake has the ability to turn herself into water and uses it to secretly overhear conversations for her column. Meanwhile, Lois begins to suspect Oliver is the Green Arrow and enlists Clark's help to prove it.

Season 7
* *Apocalypse* (co-written by Al Septien & Turi Meyer) - Clark discovers that Kara sent messages from Krypton in the past that indicate that Brainiac wants to kill baby Kal-El so Clark will not exist in the future. Clark is torn because he thinks the world would be better off if he had never arrived in Smallville so Jor-El arranges for Clark to see what life would have been like if he hadn't existed.

Season 8
* *Injustice* (co-written by Al Septien & Turi Meyer) - Chloe returns and begs Clark to kill Davis, claiming she can no longer keep the beast under control. Tess has assembled a team of meteor freaks, including Plastique, to track down Davis so Clark can kill him. However, things get out of hand once Tess’ team discovers she is double-crossing them.

Season 9
* *Absolute Justice, Part 2* (written by Geoff Johns) - Courtney pleads with Hawkman and Dr. Fate to help her catch the killer that is targeting their group, but they are reluctant to resume their duties as superheroes. Clark, John Jones, Green Arrow and Chloe team up to help the JSA stop Icicle before he murders another member of the group. Meanwhile, Lois receives a package from a mysterious agency called Checkmate, run by Amanda Waller.

Season 10
* *Patriot* (written by John Chisholm) - In an effort to protect the rest of the team, Oliver decides to register for the Vigilante Registration Act to see what the government plans to do with the new law. As he suspected, it was a trap to lure superheroes to an undisclosed location where he is confined to a jail and subjected to a battery of brutal tests under the supervision of Gen. Slade Wilson. Aquaman and his new wife Mera team up with Clark to free Oliver. Lois is frustrated when Clark continues to push aside her offers to help the team and sets out to prove she can play with the big boys.

* *Booster* (written by Geoff Johns) - After everything that happened with the VRA, Lois tells Clark it's best to make "Clark Kent" forgettable and awkward so people don’t suspect he’s The Blur. However, the two are stunned when a fame-hungry superhero from the future, Booster Gold, sweeps into town and begins making saves and posing for press ops, completely winning over the city of Metropolis. Booster begins his campaign to take The Blur’s place as the "World’s Greatest Superhero" and tries to charm Lois into writing a story about him, but she’s not having his antics and begins her own campaign for The Blur. During one of Booster’s saves, an alien weapon in the form of a scarab falls from a truck and fuses itself to a boy named Jaime Reyes, turning him into the Blue Beetle. Unfortunately, Jaime is unable to control the suit and Blue Beetle starts attacking Metropolis.

Both *Smallville: The Comic* and Issue 1 of *Smallville* contain an interview with Tom Welling. Some quick facts about him are

* He has a pug named Cook.
	+ Tom's favorite TV show is *Seinfeld*.
	+ Tom's favorite movie is *Mutiny on the Bounty*.
	+ Tom was in the music video "Picture Perfect" by Angela Via. He and Angela shared a kiss at the end of the music video.
	+ Tom can do the voice of Gollum (*Lord of the Rings*), as well as a pretty accurate Keanu Reeves impression.
	+ Tom modeled alongside Ashton Kutcher. The two are good friends.
	+ Tom has modeled for Tommy Hilfiger, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Calvin Klein.
	+ Tom and his wife Jamie White were married on July 5, 2002. They lived in Vancouver, near the set of *Smallville* until March 2011, when they moved to Los Angeles. As of November 2015, they are officially divorced.
	+ During his time off, Tom enjoys reading, running, playing basketball, and spending time with his dogs.
	+ Tom turned down the auditions for the role of Clark Kent on *Smallville* twice. Once he finally auditioned, they offered the part to him, and he immediately accepted. Christopher Reeve similarly did the same thing when he was offered the part of Clark Kent.
	+ Tom has played three different named personalities of Clark Kent: Clark Kent, Kal (on Red Kryptonite), and Kal-El (while brainwashed by Jor-El) and he has also portrayed a paranoid Clark, under the influence of Silver Kryptonite (*Splinter*). Secondarily he has also played his own future self. (Homecoming)
	+ Tom has portrayed two versions of Clark possessed by another being: a Clark possessed by Lionel Luthor (*Transference*), and a Clark possessed by teenager Dawn Stiles (*Spirit*). He has also portrayed Tina Greer in disguise (*Visage*).
	+ Tom has also portrayed three entirely different characters on *Smallville*: a young Jor-El, Bizarro and Clark Luthor.
	+ His (US) shoe size is 14
	+ Tom appeared in every season of *Smallville* and is the only cast member to appear in every episode of the series. However, in the episode *Gemini* his lines of dialogue are restricted entirely to his portrayal of Bizarro.
	+ By the end of Season 10, Tom Welling had played Clark Kent for the longest, continuous period of time (2001 to 2011) according to *Guinness World Records*.
	+ Tom played Lt. Marcus Pierce/Cain in the third season of *Lucifer.* In one scene, Lucifer asks Marcus Pierce about his weakness, "Everyone has a Kryptonite, lieutenant", referencing Superman.
	+ He is also the only live-action Superman portrayer not to be seen wearing the full suit.
	+ His astrological sign is Taurus.
	+ He is 6'3 (1.91 m).
	+ He has two older sisters named Rebecca and Jamie, and a younger brother named Mark.
	+ He knows kickboxing.