Smallville Week: Finale Countdown

So despite an unforeseen fuck-up on the ENTIRE BLOGGER PLATFORM that kept us from posting the past two days or commenting on other posts...we're back! In case you missed it because Blogger deleted it the first time round, we've got a round up of some of our past Wizard "Smallville" writing here and some more news for the finale (which is less than five hours away. Woof.) below!


Thanks to my former Wizard web bossman Rick Marshall, I got to take part in an MTV video round up on the finale as one of the "experts" on the show. God, this is what I'm an expert in now. Watch the full vid below:

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Beyond that, I also did a quick feature for CBR with three past and current "Smallvile" writers: Jeph Loeb, Michael Green and Ben and I's Uber-crush Bryan Q. Miller. Here's an excerpt:

CBR News: So "Smallville" is wrapping this week after ten years. That accomplishment is more astonishing every time I say it out loud. As a writer for the show, did you have any inkling that the concept of a young Clark Kent would have so much life in it on TV when you first started working with the team?

Jeph Loeb: No, I don't think any of us did. It was such a miracle, right from the pilot, seeing this show that Al Gough and Miles Millar have so generously spoken of "Superman For All Seasons" as one of their inspirations for the series. Such a great cast, crew and writing staff.

Michael Green: I came on just when the pilot was picked up and worked on the first season. We felt very grateful that we got to play with the greatest comic book character out there and felt grateful to be the custodians of a mythology that people are so emotionally attached to. But also, we were very grateful that this was a version of the mythology that Al Gough and Mies Millar put together that was so fruitful. That pilot put so many worms on the table that could wriggle around forever, and it was just too much fun to do that job and get paid for it.

It was a great group of writers. Over time that room has had a lot more writers and incredibly talented people season after season, and the amazing thing is that with each new season, those writers came in and did different things. What we focused on in the first year – mostly on the WB's request – was standalone "Monster of the Week" stuff. We wanted to do a lot of serialized stuff, and knew that would be the reward for sticking it out. It was great to see the show evolve into something that was serialized and took on much larger arcs. That is what I think kept it so energized for so long – the big stories, mythologies and bad guys that played out episode after episode.

Bryan Q. Miller: I came on in Season Five, so it had already proven to have legs. I honestly don't think anyone was expecting over 100 MORE episodes at that point, however. 218 total. Pretty awesome.

During your time on the series, what was it that made the show connect with you creatively? In other words, what was the core component of the "Smallville" world that you were interested most in playing with?

Green: The world of Smallville was always really intriguing because it was this microcosm where the whole town was a school where Clark could learn how to be this man we all know he's going to grow up to be. What was most fun for me was playing with a Clark who was not yet that man – he wasn't brave, he wasn't strong, and he wasn't wise. He hadn't learned yet the values that were going to make him Superman. It was the ongoing process of teaching him to be that guy. It was really seeing him in his formative years and watching him get molded by experience, by friendship, by trust and mistrust to become Superman.

Loeb: The relationships were things I understood -- so much of it for me was about a boy growing up and not understanding his world or what was happening to him and how Clark related to Jonathan and Martha. And then later, the fun and savvy wit that Erica brought to the show as Lois.

Miller: It was Clark Kent and the long march up that hill to becoming Superman. Also, the challenge of finding ways to translate DCU characters to fit the world of the show. Wildcat and The Question (both versions) came up CONSTANTLY...from me. So did Lobo. There's so many more that we never had a chance to introduce to the world. Even a best-selling comic (at best) only hits 100k readers a month – the show reached (per Nielsen) around a million and a half screens per WEEK. Sometimes more. "Smallville" is/was a great tool for expanding the DC brand to viewers who don't follows comics.

Read the full thing here on CBR.

And since we got waylaid by Blogger, we won't get the last two pre-finale reviews up until over the weekend, but stick around for those and a few more posts into Monday and Tuesday!

And follow us on Twitter where I'll probably be blabbing during the finale while drinking tonight.