“Superman: The Early Years: Behind The Scenes of Smallville”
Sunday 17th March, 2.30pm, Channel 4, Wide screen
Only aired in the United Kingdom
Review by Brian Davis

Review:

The show begins with a small title sequence using clips from the show, Remy Zero’s theme tune and an ‘S’ emblem graphic which is not the familiar Superman graphic but the one from Smallville – the one used on the football players shirts.

Andi Peters is in Vancouver, Canada where the show is made. The programme kicks off with a brief description of Smallville, explaining what it’s all about. Nothing fresh but good analysis for anyone who isn’t familiar with the show. We see clips of the eight main characters on set while filming ‘Nicodemus’ all boasting considerably longer hair, Whitney having a whole new style all together.

Special effects clips are shown showcasing Clarks various powers. The cast are asked when they were first introduced to the legend of Superman. Kristen Kreuk laughs with embarrassment, as ‘Lois and Clark’ seems to be the furthest back she can remember. Michael Rosenbaum recounts how he had a pair of Superman underoo’s. John Schneider talks about his days in ‘Dukes of Hazard’ and Annette O’Toole talks about playing Lana Lang in Superman 3 opposite Christopher Reeve. John Schneider makes an interesting comment explaining that essentially Smallville shows us why Superman makes the choices he does in later years due to experiences he has had as a teenager in ‘Smallville’.

Andi Peters appears outside of the main Smallville studio in Vancouver and explains that this studio houses the three main sets of Smallville – Lex Luthors Mansion, the Kent Barn and the Kent Family home. Peters walks around and we meet Tom Welling’s double Rob James who plays Clark’s hands in the scenes where Clark is being effected by Kryptonite and in the fast motion blur sequences when Clark is running at super speed. Peters chats to Michael Rosenbaum who is on his way to film a scene in Nicodemus. He explains that the episode is about a flower that makes people act out their inner most desires and speak their mind. We see a scene being shot were Jonathan Kent is having a rather heated discussion with Lex Luthor telling him how much he hates him befriending his son. This looks like a great episode.

Andi talks briefly to the script supervisor who explains that they never change a word from script to screen. We learn that Michael Rosenbaum is the joker of the set. We see him putting on a camp voice and holding a piece of chocolate that someone left on set and he holds up the Smallville issue of Mad Magazine to the camera, points at the cartoon Luthor, smiles to the camera and says “You know what they say about men with space in their teeth”.

After the break we see more on the filming of Nicodemus, this time with Sam Jones. Jones repeats the general storyline and we see a late dramatic scene where Pete is accusing Lex of stealing Clark as a friend and has turned up at the mansion with a gun to kill him.

An interview with Tom Welling reveals his thoughts on the part. He explains that he had to be sure he was making the right decision as Smallville is something that he has to devote the next 5-7 years of his life to. He says that it’s great that the cast care so much about the show and try to make the stories more believable. Michael Rosenbaum jokes around in his interview as he plays pool with Peters. He says that he gets more women now and he’d love to get it on with Kelly Brook but her fiancé is very nice and extremely strong.

Tom Welling reveals that relationships in Smallville fit into triangles. “There’s Clark, Lex and Lex’s Father, Clark and his parents, Clark, Lana and Whitney and Clark, Chloe and Pete”. Sam Jones talks about his three-way relationship with Chloe and Clark. Alison Mack describes them as “the little Scooby-Doo trio”. She goes on to say that her character loves Clark but she’s no Lana Lang. Kristin Kreuk defends Whitney “He has a good side. It’s just the producers haven’t shown it yet”. Eric Johnson describes his character as a “good guy who cares about Lana”. Tom Welling talks about the Lana tension “You know it’s not going to happen but you still want them to”.

The programme begins to wrap up as Michael Rosenbaum titles the show ‘The S Files’ – a combination of Superman and The X-Files. Tom Welling says he works on the show 14 hours a day, 5-6 days a week but still sets his VCR to tape it so he can see how it all turned out. During the credits Andi Peters jokes around with Tom Welling asking how he keeps such a trim figure and shows footage of him stuffing his face with a burger during a lunch break. Overall this was quite an in-depth half hour show on the insides of Smallville. This would make a great supplement on a DVD.

by Brian Davis
www.batmanuk.freeserve.co.uk