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They tried to be friends. But their chosen paths set them
on a collision course. The Clark Kent - Lex Luthor rivalry
explodes into the fierce good-versus-evil battle fans have
long expected in Season Six of the Smallville
series. Adding to the rivalry Lana Lang prepares to become
Mrs. Luthor; Green Arrow forms a superhero league; Phantom
Zone escapees menace Earth; and Luthorcorp expands its dark
experiments...
Season
Six of Smallville starts to shape the characters
of Clark, Lex and Lois into the adult figures that fans know
from the comic books. Lex is becoming more and more ruthless,
Clark is starting to realise that his powers could be used
to help other, rather than just the people he cares about,
and Lois embarks on a journalistic career - even if she's
not a particularly good at sniffing out a hot story.
It's
difficult to give a fair review of this collection without
offering up any real spoilers. But, without giving too much
away, in Season Six there are less "monster of
the week" episodes, as the series gathers momentum and
offers ongoing story arcs. These include Oliver Queen working
out where he fits in the overall superhero scene; Lana and
Lex's ongoing relationship; Clark having to hunt down the
creatures that escaped from the Phantom Zone; Lionel Luthor's
real reason for protecting Clark's secret identity; Martha
Kent's political career; Chloe's mysterious secret; and Lex
slowly becoming more and more dark.
The
introduction of Green Arrow, Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg in
this season brings a lot to the table. It's interesting to
see how younger versions of these characters are handled (impressively,
to be honest). The ongoing Lana/Lex relationship is also well
handled. The twists and turns really tug at the old heart
strings, especially when Clark is added to the mix.
As
I mentioned before, the "monster of the week" episodes
are kept to a minimum. When they are used, there's a much
better explanation than there used to be in earlier seasons
of the show. In Season Six the one-week-only monsters
are either beings that escaped from the Phantom Zone, or have
something to do with Luthorcorp and the ongoing project that
Lex has taken a keen interest in.
Of
course, a lot the jeopardy that revolves around the main characters
is a little false as we already know that nothing can happen
to Clark, Lana, Lex or Lois - we know that they all go on
to be part of Superman's life in the future. So as this season
concludes, we know that at least one of the cliff-hanging
fates of the main characters will resolve itself. Of course,
how that will be achieved is another matter.
Because
we poor reviewers don't have the luxury of watching these
episodes at our leisure, I was placed in solitary for three
days (watching all 22 episodes back to back) and to be perfectly
honest, because of the story arcs, this is probably the best
to watch this season. The hours fly by and before you know
it you've watched all 22 episodes - and are definitely left
wanting more.
Lynda
Carter (who played Wonder Woman in the '70s TV series)
cameos as Chloe's mother in the episode Progeny. While
far from the best episode in this collection, it's great that
we get a little more information on Chloe's background. Personally
I thought Carter was under used in the episode, but the conclusion
hit just the right level.
Noir
is another episode worthy of note. Basically it's an episode
where all the main actors get to have fun with their characters
as the majority of the episode is told as a black and white
dream after Jimmy Olsen is knocked out cold. So we get a slice
of film noir Smallville style.
Freak
is about the only "creature of the week" episode
that harks back to the show's early years. Here a young man,
blinded by the recent meteor shower, is able to see other
people who are also meteor infected. Of course, Luthorcorp
is using him to find other freaks, so they can experiment
on them. The most important thing about this episode is that
it opens up a new can of worms for one of the regular characters.
Extras
include Green Arrow: The History of the Emerald Archer
(25 minute featurette that looks at the history of Green Arrow
in comics up until his appearance in Smallville. This
documentary is narrated by Star Wars's Mark Hamill
and includes interviews with comics writers and illustrators,
as well as director Kevin Smith); Smallville: Big Fans
(30 minute look some of the die-hard fans of the series. We
get to look into the lives of some of the fans, as well as
listen to some of the the stars' reactions and the woman whose
job it is to deal with all the fan mail that comes into the
show); Smallville Legends: The Oliver Queen Chronicles
(24 minutes look at the origins of the Green Arrow through
six animated parts. These animated mobisodes were originally
designed to be viewed on mobile phones. Sadly they look incredibly
poor on a normal sized TV, but it's still interesting to see
this take on the character's origins); The Making of Smallville
Legends: The Oliver Queen Chronicles (9 minute behind
the scenes look, split into three parts, at how and why the
mobisodes were originally created); Smallville Legends:
Justice & Doom (10 minute collection of animated comic
book stories. Sadly the text appears on screen for slightly
less time than most people will be able to read it comfortably
(especially when you'll want to look at the illustrations
too to work out what is going on); and finally we get loads
of Deleted Scenes (which are included on the disc with
that episode on it. These are well worth watching as in a
lot of cases they actually give a lot more depth to an episode.
With
a retail price of under £50, this is one of the best
value for money DVD collections on the market at present.
Smallville fans won't be disappointed.
Pete
Boomer
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