Smallville: How does the series start?

Cafe Society
1

I’ve been watching Smallville for a while now, but I never got to see how the series began. Can anyone give me a synopsis? Esp. re:

  • did Clark arrive as a baby from outer space along w/ the meteor shower?

  • What’s up with Lex? Was he affected by the meteorites? Is that why he’s bald? Any superpowers we’re not seeing? How much older than Clark et al. is he?

  • How much do Clark’s parents know? Did they just find him in the fields, or do they know he’s an alien?

  • When did Clark’s powers begin to manifest themselves?

2

  • I missed the first few minutes of the first episode, but my impression was that Clark is first shown as a (very large) high school freshman.

  • He is bald because of the kryptonite. No superpowers thus far, but very smart and athletic. He is several years older than Clark, I don’t recall if they’ve said he attended college but he is working and running his father’s business. Clark rescues him from drowning after his car crashes into a river in the first episode. I think this is the first that Clark notices his own abilities (how did I do that… reaction versus thinking about his actions)

  • The Kents have Clarks spacepod somewhere in the barn. They knew he was special. They encourage him to develop his powers in one episode when he notices he is beginning to get the ability to see through solid objects.

  • At puberty/adolescences. Part of this show is his learning to deal with his abilities, his emotions, etc. (that’s the kind hearted view)

3

The first few minutes of the first episode showed the meteor shower. Lana’s parents dying, Lex losing his hair as he sees the “Scarecrow,” and Clark coming down in his craft and Jonathon and Martha find him. IMO it was a pretty darn good episode, probably the best first episode of a TV show I’ve ever seen.
It is coming to DVD with commentary soon.

4

Lex is about 8-10 years older than Clark and his high-school contemporaries. I’m guessing based on the fact that the young Lex (when he discovers the “scarecrow” seconds before a meteor chunk costs him his hair) appears to be 12 or 13 while the newly-landed Clark looks like a 3- or 4-year old. This would also make hm old enough to have received a university degree and return to Smallville before Clark graduates high school.

I watch this show whenever I can and I’m glad somebody thought up the “kryptonite mutates normal humans” angle. If it had just been about Clark and his developing powers, it would have turned into another variant on (blech) Roswell.

5

IIRC, they have his little space ship in the cellar (did someone say Roswell?) so, yeah, I think they know he’s an alien.

They appear to be manifesting over time. For example, Clark was introduced as already being super-strong and super-fast, and those were presented (again IIRC) as things he’s been able to do for a long time (forever?). On the other hand, he just developed his X-ray vision, which he’d never had before, and which they did a nice episode about – the wonder and horror of suddenly realizing he could see through things.

6

…Yeah, now it’s a variant of Buffy… I guess an improvement.

I really liked the pilot… despite the very obvious attempts by the editors and director to make me feel otherwise.

Will the DVD have what I assume was cut out? (IT ran over an hour but was so clunky towards the end they had to have cut something)

7

This makes the show interesting except I think they’ve over done that whole evil kryptonite-altered villain of the week. I’m hoping this format isn’t something we will always see.

8

It’s true, this premise can get lame, turning into “freak of the week”. I’m hoping for more developments concerning Lex Luthor, who is easily the most interesting character on the show. The ending of the episode with the blind psychic was brilliant, and I normally hate blind psychic characters.