Smallville is about the continuing adventures of Superman before he became Superman; since its debut in 2001 the show has put a contemporary spin on the iconic character. The show's seventh season aired in 2007-2008. While some shows start to grow long in the tooth, Smallville keeps its youthful appearance by directly adapting pieces of the Superman mythos as well as putting its own unique take on them.
Season seven added some more girl-power to the series by introducing Superman’s cousin Kara-El, aka Supergirl. It was recently revealed at a comic convention by Laura Vandervoort (Supergirl) that the plan was to spin the heroine off into her own series, but those plans have fallen through, which is a shame since it could have been a cool show. Look for her to return for one episode in season eight to “wrap up” her storyline.
The series also saw the return of superhero Green Arrow and his new girlfriend, the sonic-powered Black Canary, as well as the threat from returning villain Brainiac (James Marsters). A new twist had Lex Luthor discovering a secret society that has the means to possess Clark, with the society being led by Lionel Luthor, of all people!
Episode 150 of the series was a twist on the classic “what if I never existed” story. In the episode “Apocalypse” we see what happens if Clark never reached Earth; when he finally gets there, he has to don a disguise. In what seems like an homage to the Christopher Reeve “Man of Steel”, he looks remarkably like Reeve back in the '70s film.
Smallville was only slightly impacted by the writers' strike that affected shows in various degrees; where a typical season has 22 episodes, this season has 20 episodes. In season seven we had the death of a major character, but the bigger news was that actors Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor) and Kristin Kreuk (Lana Lang) decided not to renew their contracts. Not only that, but series creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar decided to leave the show as well. That many people leaving the show should make a viewer nervous. However with the team they’ve got in place to run the show, along with the plans to have Lex and Lana appear in a few episodes combined with the new characters they’ve announced, the show shouldn’t suffer for it even though Lex and Lana will be missed.
Article comments
1 - shaun
Kristin and Michael gone, I am leaving too. I hate what the producers have done to the series. They kept the name, but it is no longer Smallville in Season 8. How could it be Smallville without Lana and Lex. It is $$$ trying to keep the cash cow going. I have supported and watched this show for 7 years to endure and the producers and writers are now turning the show into a Lois and Clark adventure. Every time I see Lois on the screen, I want to kick in the TV screen. It is just better to turn the channel and keep my TV screen intact.