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Smallville: The Complete Ninth Season
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: Ethan Stevenson (18th December 2010). |
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The Show
 Warner is rebooting the “Superman” franchise with a new feature due out in 2012. The film, currently titled “Superman: Man of Steel”, is going to be directed by Zack Snyder who has yet to make a single movie that I actually like. True, his “Dawn of the Dead” (2004) remake was decent, but it was also hardly special. “Watchmen” (2008) was disappointing and flawed, if admittedly better a second time around via the "Director’s Cut." I absolutely hate “300” (2006), and I’ve yet to see that CG owl movie. “Sucker Punch” (2010) just looks stupid. Isn’t it weird then that I’m actually sorta-maybe-almost-kind-of-really looking forward to “Man of Steel”? My reasons for holding out hope are numerous. The fact that Christopher Nolan is producing the film is probably the primary cause for my tempered excitement, the potential David Goyer script, less so (although, it does mean that Nolan’s brother Jonathan Nolan will probably do an uncredited rewrite, and that is something to cheer). I’m also excited because the character demands a HUGE budget to get right (or at least a budget bigger than what’s afforded to TV shows that air on a last place network… but I’m getting ahead of myself) and Snyder and Nolan’s names are sure to command a gargantuan one. And, lets face it, Supes is far better suited for the cinema anyway. But, I mostly look forward to “Man of Steel” because I’m just plain tired of “Smallville”. In the decade that the series – which has followed the exploits of a young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) as he navigated through high school and then college, in the years before he would finally throw on the tights and cape – has been on the air, I’ve steadily maintained a like/hate/really hate relationship with it. I’ve never really loved “Smallville”, not even a little bit, but I kept watching for more seasons than I care to admit, thinking that the series would get better. Eventually I gave up and for a few years I just didn’t tune in. Then, last year when I reviewed season eight on DVD, I became reacquainted with the show, and what do you know: I found that I didn’t hate it. I still didn’t love “Smallville”, but I freely admit that season eight wasn’t terrible. In its ninth season the show still isn’t completely horrific, and there are a couple of things (which I’ll get to in a minute) that I think that it continues to do well. But, overall, I’m less enthused about the writing of plots and characters, and damn-near the whole production these days. I’m just counting the days until the Miles Millar (who’s since left the show in the apparently near-incapable hands of executive producers Brian Peterson and Kelly Sounders) created series is off the CW’s primetime lineup. I’m just ready for it to be over. So, what does “Smallville” do wrong? That’s a far bigger discussion than the one detailing what the show does right, so I’ll just focus on the good for a second. The series continues to impress with what it has always done well: casting, for one, and a strong season-stretching arc focusing on a new deadly antagonist – which, during the programs ninth iteration brings us a clone of General—er, Major Zod and his band of loyal Kryptonian misfits, fresh from the Phantom Zone. As they always have the cast provides solid performances. Welling is a damn good Kent; the remaining cast – Allison Mack as Clark’s closest friend Chloe Sullivan, Erica Durance as the lovely Lois Lane, Justin Hartley as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow and Cassidy Freeman as the Lex Luthor replacement, Tess Mercer – prove to be adept at their jobs, even if the plots and dialogue that they often get saddled with tries it’s hardest to make that an impossible task. Where the show falls apart – where the series has always fallen apart – is within its scripts, written around those damn repetitive, derivative plots that are steeped in melodrama and soap opera. You can almost pinpoint exactly what formula an episode is going to fit into these days before the opening titles, because some 200 episodes in, the show is now just on autopilot. I understand that they’re staples of the comics and movies, but do we really need three episodes this season in which one of the main plots is that Lois gets kidnapped, or so many of the stories based around Clark a) losing his powers, or b) going insane because of some variety of Kryptonite? The answer is unquestionably yes, because Supes/Clark is only vulnerable to a select few things (just Lois’ feminine ways and that green-and-sometimes-red space rock bascially), but that doesn’t do viewers any good. In fact it only hardens my view that Superman just isn’t fit for a long running television series. The character does better in movies where the three to five (or 20) years between films gives us a big enough break to palate such repetition. The less said about the soap-opera-y elements of the show the better. It seems to get progressively more aggressive with each passing season and that’s not a good thing. For every decent episode that dives into the depths of the Superman mythos, we’re met with two entries that are just awful, tedious and sometimes even offensive. While the Zod storyline is handled gracefully – no doubt helped immensely by actor Callum Blue’s excellent portrayal of the legendary villain – diversions into standalone episodes that rely on C-and-D-list DC heroes and villains, or no villain at all, cheapen the show. I think it’s safe to say that “Smallville” is now thoroughly scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to supporting DC characters, and mostly by choice. The Wonder Twins, Icicle – really? Couldn’t they find someone, anyone, better? No, probably not. Not with the way that the show is being run these days. Even one of the better episodes this season – a two-parter teaming up the Justice Society and the as-of-yet-unnamed Justice League – seems compromised by the show’s reliance on lame-ducks, or perhaps better said, it’s reluctance to introduce any real stars. The little teases of the JLA have been fun, but where the hell are Flash, Green Lantern and Aquaman? Still nowhere to be seen; at least not with any regularity (and never in this season) and that shouldn’t be happening nine and ten years into a series’ lifecycle. Sometimes episodes feel like they have nothing to do with Superman at all. “Warrior”, a standalone story with a dumb plot about a comic book that turns a kid into a crime fighting superhero seems like something fit for the later seasons of “Are Your Afraid of the Dark” (1991-1996), not “Smallville”. “Rabid” – an episode revolving around a vaccine that turns people in to zombies – seems to be a direct rip-off on the fifth season of “Supernatural” and it’s Reaper Virus-based Apocalypse theme. (Then again, perhaps the parallel only seems so direct because I watched both Blu-rays back to back.) Another episode, titled “Persuasion”, might single-handedly set feminism back fifty years, and only furthers my belief that despite having many female staff writers and even a show-runner of the non-male gender, “Smallville” secretly hates women. None of these episodes do anything positive for the series as a whole. As is usually the case, the back half of the season picks up steadily, delivering the bulk of the decent entries in the series. As Zod becomes better formed as the season’s nemesis and a long plotted arc dealing with a government agency that wants to experiment on and expose so-called superheroes takes hold, “Smallville: Season Nine” becomes tolerable fodder and is at it’s most criminal, entertaining. But only just. And while I’ll be back for the tenth and final season, watching apathetically, I’ll only be doing it because I’m basically a masochist. All 21 episodes from the ninth season of “Smallville” are presented in this four-disc set, including the hour-and-a-half long, super-sized TV movie of an episode “Absolute Justice” which serves as the mid-season finale. Although it’s technically two episodes, the Blu-ray (and DVD) release presents “Justice” like a single entity – as it should – with one set of credits. Typical of a Warner release, the simplistic menu offers up either a “play all” option or the choice to view a singular episode; not-so-typically, the various discs are linked via a dynamic index so the “play all” option actually acts as a rudimentary “season play” like feature. Neat. I hope that Warner continues to do this on future releases. The episodes included are as follows: "Savior" - What time is it? Three weeks later – it’s time for Lois Lane to return from her accidental slip into the time-stream; time for Zod to assemble his followers; and time for Clark Kent to train, even though he finds it hard to cut off human attachments that may distract him. "Metallo" - “Human form, with a Kryptonite heart.” John Corben (Brian Austin Green) awakens from a post-accident operation to find that someone has transformed him into a powerful, meteor-fueled cyborg. Now he has the power to do what he couldn’t do before: stop that rogue vigilante called “The Blur”. "Rabid" - Welcome to Zombietown, aka. Metropolis. Zod’s minions unleash a virus that turns people into zombies. Meanwhile, Oliver Queen continues to despair over his murdering of Lex Luthor, and seems close to abandoning his crime-fighting alter ego – the Green Arrow. "Echo" - Clark finds that his temporary ability to read minds can get him a date with Lois, and more importantly, better training in understanding humans. Also, Oliver becomes the target of deranged Winslow Schott’s (Chris Gauthier) game of “Toyman Says”. "Roulette" - A game of Russian Roulette leaves blood on Oliver’s hands when the woman who coerced him into playing ends up dead. When the Metropolis PD arrests Queen, Clark begrudgingly sets out to prove his friends innocence, even if that means exposing himself to humankind again and revealing the truth of Olly’s suicide attempt to Lois. Meanwhile, evidence of a certain Kandorian menace catches Clark’s attention. "Crossfire" - While Lois and Clark’s audition for the hosting gig on “Good Morning Metropolis” lands them the job, Oliver meets a young girl named Mia (Elise Gatien) on the streets and offers to train her. Also, Chloe uses insider info to recruit ace hacker Stuart Campbell (Ryan McDonell), and Tess shows Zod that she’s much tougher than he thought. "Kandor" - Jor-El, alive, and not just a computer construct – it can’t be. When the Kryptonian mysteriously arrives in Smallville (at the Kent Farm no less), he finds Chloe and quizzes her about where to find Kal-El – his son. When Clark learns the news that his father is actually on Earth, he goes on a search to find him. Zod, believing that his old friend is actually the Red-Blue-Blur hunts down Jor-El too. But will the right people find each other first? And why does Zod seem to be holding a grudge with the father of Superman? "Idol" - The Wonder Twins – Zan (David Gallagher) and Jayna (Allison Scagliotti) – want to help “The Blur” fight crime in Metropolis, but their clumsy antics often put people in greater danger than they already were. Despite Chloe’s protests, Clark considers revealing his true self to the press – that is if the increasingly lovesick and suspicious Lois doesn’t break the story first. "Pandora" - It’s time for a little girl on girl action when Tess Mercer kidnaps Lois Lane, and delves into Lane’s memories of the future. What she discovers – a post-apocalyptic world ruled by Zod where a powerless Clark Kent is unable to stop him and Oliver and Chloe lead a subversive commando unit in hopes that someday they can restore order – doesn’t look so good for Tess. "Disciple" - The Green Arrow’s mentor Dark Archer (Steve Bacic) seeks revenge, and looks to harm those closest to his student – namely Lois, Chloe and Mia – to get it. Meanwhile, Clark refuses an alliance with Zod, and once again must save Oliver Queen from making yet another terrible mistake. "Absolute Justice – Parts I & II" - In this massive 84-minute two-part episode, members of the disbanded Justice Society of America reunite to confront the threat of being “iced” by the notorious villain Icicle (Wesley MacInnes). The JSA approach another heroic team – Clark, Oliver, Chloe and John Jones’ (Phil Morris) currently unnamed group which Clark calls a “work in progress” – for help. Meanwhile, Lois receives a mysterious package from the equally mysterious Checkmate Group. "Warrior" - Stephen (Carlo Marks), a troubled boy, is transformed into the Warrior Angel when he opens a comic book that has been charmed by the father of sorceress Zatanna Zatara (Serinda Swan). Clark, knowing the youth isn’t ready for enhanced abilities, teams up with Zantanna to find him – causing Lois to become jealous of their relationship. "Persuasion" - Exposure to rare Kryptonite dust gives Clark the power of persuasion. Unconscious of his new ability, while out on a date with Lois, Kent causally mentions that he wishes they had a more traditional relationship, which causes Lois to instantly quit her job at the Daily Planet and move in with Clark to be his little Susie-homemaker. Meanwhile, Zod fights with Tess and deals with the sudden appearance of his wife, Faora (Sharon Taylor) while contemplating the construction of a solar tower that could restore the Kandorian’s superpowers. "Conspiracy" - When Clark and Faora discover that a faction of Kandorians has been experimenting on humans in order to find a way to reclaim their powers, the two team up to uncover the truth behind a series of disappearances on both sides of the fence – a search that is further complicated when Faora’s sister Vala (Crystal Lowe) goes missing. Meanwhile, when an escaped human abductee – Dr. Bernard Chisholm (J.R. Bourne) – kidnaps Lois hoping that she’ll write a story in the Daily Planet about the alien’s experiments, and Zod goes after the doctor without his powers in order to stop him, Clark must once again intervene. "Escape" - Eager to get away from the craziness of their everyday lives, Lois and Clark embark on a romantic getaway, but their plan to have a quite weekend are thwarted when it appears that Oliver and Chloe are staying at the same bed and breakfast. To make matters worse, the shape-shifting man-killer, Silver Banshee (Odessa Rae), who is also staying at the B&B, sets her sights on Clark and Oliver. Elsewhere a new power couple – Tess and Zod – rises. "Checkmate" - After Oliver is kidnapped by Tess, who succeeds in delivering the Green Arrow to shady government agent Amada Waller (Pam Grier), Queen escapes custody and recounts the peculiars of his abduction to his close friends, revealing to Clark and Chloe that Waller wants to know more about their little club: aka. The Justice League – in particular one of their members known as Watchtower. Clark investigates the matter further and is surprised to find John Jones doing the same. But whose side is Jones on? "Upgrade" - After an accident (and rescue) leaves him exposed to red Kryptonite, Clark, under the influences of the powerful element, teams with Zod and then takes him to see the Fortress of Solitude. Fearful that Clark will reveal all of his secrets to the Kandorian, Chloe enlists the help of a powerful and newly upgraded ally – Metallo – to stop him. "Charade" - Lois investigates the early prison release of ex-DA Ray Sacks (Dylan Neal), putting her in a typically dangerous situation from which “The Red Blue Blur” eventually saves her, but it seems that this time Clark – or a least a incredibly blurry version of him – has been caught on tape. When news surfaces that the tape is being sold to a rich tycoon named Maxwell Lord (Gil Bellows), who just so happens to be an operative of Checkmate, meaning he wants the Blur dead, Lois and Clark try to intercept it. "Sacrifice" - Chloe and Tess are trapped inside Watchtower and running out of oxygen after Checkmate’s breach of the computer network sends the ‘tower into lockdown. Also, Zod rallies his Kandorian and Kryptonian followers against humanity, and Clark witnesses one of the great powers that Zod’s army now shares. "Hostage" - Martha Kent (Annette O’Toole) makes a surprise return to the Kent farm… with her new suitor Perry White (Michael McKean). Over dinner, White learns of Clark’s dismissal from the Daily Planet and works with him to get reinstated. Meanwhile, the search for the Book of Rao escalates and Chloe and Clark try to put a stop to the rise of Zod’s army. "Salvation" - Caught up in war: Zod and Clark. Caught in the middle: Lois, Chloe, Oliver, Tess, Kandorians, the Justice Society of America… and mysterious, unexpected someone’s. In the balance: Earth’s future and the fate of the man who will become Superman. As Chloe and Oliver try to rebuild Watchtower from the ashes of Checkmate’s meddling, Zod lets his army loose to wreak havoc on humanity. The Kandorian villain convinces Lois that he is “The Blur”. Unsure, Lois confronts Clark, but he’s less than willing to come clean about his true identity – an identity that he must fully accept in order to save mankind from an otherworldly menace.
Video
Warner’s 1.78:1 1080p 24/fps VC-1 high definition transfer of “Smallville: Season Nine” is solid, but ultimately somewhat problematic. Wearing its pulpy comic book origins proudly on its sleeves the series relies on scenes where contrast runs hot and whites tend to bloom out of control far too often. But, on the plus side, the show’s unusual style does wonders for color, especially primaries, which are bold and bright, often bordering on complete over-saturation (although, thankfully, reds never actually bleed). The image has nice pop, surprising depth, and enough high def detail to consistently provide pleasing textures. Since season eight, “Smallville” has been shot digitally in high definition with the Panavision Genesis, and as a result the image is entirely grain free – devoid of even the tiniest hint of celluloid ever entering into the production chain. The clean textures of HD video fit the show well, but, like Bryan Singer and Thomas Siegel’s homage to the original Richard Donner pictures before them (“Superman Returns” (2006)), “Smallville’s” HD video-based image is also often curiously softer, particularly during the Fortress scenes, than one might expect. The occasional hazy faintness to the picture is no doubt a side effect of post-production filters used to mask the show’s low-grade CG special effects; a wise decision. The filters and general softness keeps the show from looking entirely cheap and TV-ish during its most vulnerable moments. Unfortunately, this means that “Smallville” isn’t a perfect, razor sharp presentation at all times, and even if the look is entirely intended, it’s still distracting and makes the show less visually impressive than some of it’s contemporaries. Creative decisions aside, this Blu-ray release of “Smallville: Season Nine” still isn’t without fault. An occasionally noisy presentation, both in the sense that the darkest of scenes exhibit a bit a coarse source noise, and (likely because Warner has crammed five to six 44 minute episodes on each dual layered BD-50) also more than a few fleeting moments that suffer from compression artifacts and clumpy digital macroblocking. I also noticed a few minutes of banding sprinkled throughout the season too. The Blu-ray release still obliterates the 1080i CW-HD broadcast, offering a far more stable image than the airings could ever hope to provide, and I have to assume that by default the discs also make waste of their DVD counterparts, but there is no mistaking – no matter how could “Smallville” looks most of the time – that this is a compromised set that might have looked better had Warner spread the season over five discs.
Audio
Warner has provided both a default English Dolby Digital 5.1 (48kHz/640kbps) mix and a Portuguese Dolby Digital 2.0 surround dub. English, Spanish, French and Portuguese subtitles are also included. Still no lossless, and still a major disappointment because of that. Part of my rating is on principle – the distributor really shouldn’t be sticking standard Dolby (even if it’s at a slightly higher bitrate than the DVD's) on Blu-ray. Blu-ray should be lossless or nothing these days – especially from the big boys like Warner, most definitely on their big TV products like “Smallville”. There’s really no excuse; not when smaller companies like Image and E1 Entertainment (the people behind the high-def home video releases of the C-grade SyFy series “Sanctuary”) consistently offer lossless LPCM and DTS-HD mixes on their TV product. So, now that my little rant is over, how does “Smallville: Season Nine” actually sound? Well, it certainly doesn’t sound terrible – surrounds get decent use in nearly all of the episodes with subtle activity in the rears that help create immersion, LFE adds decent weight to the low-end and most importantly dialogue is clear and, if occasionally overpowered by some of the bigger action set pieces in the season, still easily intelligible. But, at the same time, the lossy Dolby offering is not going to impress many. The track just doesn’t possess the power and authority of its losslessly encoded contemporaries, and at almost every turn I was, if not exactly under whelmed, not at all wowed. A shame really, because I have a feeling that this would have sounded much better with higher resolution sound.
Extras
A handful of deleted scenes, two audio commentary tracks, and a couple of featurettes are certainly more than what some series are saddled with, but, honestly I expected more supplemental content than what’s included. I mean, the fact that the entire extras package can be exhausted in less than two hours is disappointing to say the least. On the bright side, all of it is presented in 1080p and 1080i high definition. As always the deleted scenes are skippable, but the two audio commentaries and the featurettes are admittedly quite interesting. It should be noted that each one of the four discs is also equipped with Warner Bros. BD-LIVE, although, at this time no exclusive content pertaining to the actual series is available for download. DISC ONE: Two deleted scenes (1080p) are included: - One deletion from “Rabid”. Oliver and Lois in the safe room. 14 seconds. - One deletion from “Roulette”. Oliver gets his gun. 27 seconds. DISC TWO: Two audio commentaries are included on this disc as well. “Kandor” features commentary from co-executive producers and episode writers Turi Meyer and Al Septien, and actor Callum Blue; next, “Idol” features commentary from executive producers Brian Peterson and Kelly Sounders, and actress Erica Durance. “Kaldor” is the superior track, if only because the 42 minutes of discussion on the (re)creation of the Zod character, the lost city of Kaldor, the war and countless other topics are simply more interesting than anything discussed on the “Idol” commentary (which focuses on the Clark-Lois dynamic waaaay to much). That’s not to say that the latter track doesn’t at the very least have an affable quality and that hardcore fans should skip the second track… just that the first discussion is better. One deleted scene (1080p, 1 minute 48 seconds), in which Clark confronts Mia, is included on disc two. DISC THREE: Four deleted scenes (1080p) are included on disc three: - Two cuts from “Persuasion” (1 minute 19 seconds). Chloe realizes the satellite’s link and Alia’s body is prepared for her funeral. - Two cuts from “Conspiracy” (2 minutes 30 seconds). Clark talks to Chloe, and Clark talks to Vala and Faora. DISC FOUR: “Kneel Before Zod” (1080i, 15 minutes 14 seconds) is a featurette in which executive producers Brian Peterson and Kelly Sounders talk about the perceived origins of the Zod character as told via “Smallville”. This gives way to a greater discussion on the character as seen in the comics and the Richard Donner (or Richard Lester) film. DC Comics publisher Dan Didio, director Richard Donner (wearing a “no fur” pin), actor Terrence Stamp, DC Comics Group Editor Matt Idelson and others share their thoughts via interviews. “Absolute Justice: From Script to Screen” (1080i, 29 minutes 32 seconds) is a rather thorough making-of featurette about the larger-than-life two-part episode “Absolute Justice.” Via interviews with executive producers Brian Peterson and Kelly Sounders, episode director Glen Winter, many of the main cast and several others – as well as episode clips and behind-the-scenes footage – we learn of the difficulties with making the dense plotting and vast cast of characters easily digestible for non-comic-book fans, the epic nature of the original draft of the script that had a “feature film” quality about it, keeping the budget in check, the costuming and transforming Lex’s mansion into the Museum Brownstone. Four deleted scenes (1080p) are included on disc four: - Two deletions from “Upgrade” (1minute 25 seconds). Lois leaves Clark a voicemail, and Corben makes a decision. - One deletion from “Charade”. Tess discovers the watchtower. 32 seconds. - One deletion from “Salvation”. Lois receives a note from the Red-blue Blur. 13 seconds.
Packaging
“Smallville: The Complete Ninth Season” comes to Blu-ray in a thicker Elite style case that houses 4 dual layer BD-50's (and a booklet). This is further covered by an outer slip-box made of thick cardboard that slides sideways over the standard Blu-ray case. Like most Warner Blu-ray product, “Smallville: Season Nine” is region free.
Overall
At this point I don’t think much can really be said about “Smallville” that hasn’t already been said. It’s an aging series that will be put to bed soon enough, and the sooner that happens the better (just half a season left – hooray!). Don’t mistake me, the ninth season is decent enough – it’s certainly not completely awful – but despite a mild resurgence with last years season eight, the show and its formula has gone stale. Half the season is very typical of the show – meaning, it’s crap – weird standalone episodes, repetitive storylines and incredibly mishandled melodrama are among the (usual) negatives of this season. However, the re-introduction of the Zod character through the filter of Clark Kent’s pre-Superman years is done well and makes the season at least worth it for fans. Likewise Warner’s Blu-ray is solid, but not without disappointments. The 1080p high def image is satisfying but, mostly due to stylistic decisions, less than perfect. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is… not bad, but certainly not as good as it likely would have been had the distributor given the show lossless sound. The extras include two informative commentaries and two well-produced featurettes. I can’t say “Smallville: Season Nine” is something that will appeal to anyone other than those fans of the show that have stuck around for the eight previous years, but for those diehard fans, this is the best option on the market.
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