Monday 29 November 2004

Pic of the day: Thanks to the miracle of modern techology, I can hold the complete first season of the TV series Smallville in my hand.

It's a small ville after all

I don't have a TV. This may not be obvious, since I don't do the whole "alternative" thing with food grown without factory-produced fertilizer and harvested under a waxing moon or whatever. More to the point, I have a computer, so why not a TV? Well, in part because I have very little respect for the medium, and in part because my day already ran full before I got around to get a TV, and I have nothing less interesting than it to sacrifice. As a matter of fact, I barely even sleep as it is.

As for the sleep thing, it hardly helps that I bought a boxed DVD set with "Smallville – the complete first season". I have heard good things about the show from very different people. Let us just say that if a demon and an angel recommend the same restaurant, I am a lot less hesitant to order there. So I forked over the money and went home and watched the thing. Later I found out that you can get it from Amazon for a lower cost, probably even when freight and sales tax are added. I ordered the second season that way, but it won't show up for a week or two, I suppose. This is good, as I get some time to recover.

When I watch DVD full screen, I get many of the same symptoms as when I go to the movies (which I very rarely do since I don't go alone and I usually am alone). I grow cold and may start shaking for a while, but my face grows very hot. (Luckily it is a dry heat...) Also for some reason I produce a lot more urine than usual, even if I have not drunk beforehand. If I watch for too long, I get a headache. It is not like muscle pain, I guess it is a hangover. (Hangovers don't actually come from alcohol poisoning, but from dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, or so I've been told.) My body really shifts its chemistry. I think of it as my brain burning the movie to memory. This also happened with Smallville, although it took a little time before I noticed.

***

So how was the actual show? Well, the topic itself was a hit with me. Some years ago I read John Byrne's reboot of the Superman series, and I loved the first part where Clark Kent starts off as an almost normal kid but gradually discovers more and more powers. That and his friendship with Lana Lang, and finally her realization that a Superman cannot be only for one, he belongs to the whole world. I wish they had stuck with that, honestly. But that may be just because I identify ... ^_^*

Anyway, Smallville has the same perspective. Clark is super, but not mountain-moving super. Only superspeed is very highly developed yet, which makes sense since kids tend to run a lot. He is also pretty invulnerable already, and this grows noticeably over the course of the year. He discovers x-ray vision, although it takes some time to control it (and in the meantime he gets random flashes of the girls changing, as is to be expected). He cannot fly yet, although one morning he finds himself hovering ... and promptly crashes as he discovers it.

In fact, my main gripe is that Clark is already too super by now. Thus the need for freaky mutants to combat, and the plenty of kryptonite meteors spread across the Smallville landscape to hold him in check. (In this continuity, a meteor swarm followed the spaceship rather than a single meteor in the Byrne story. As a bonus, we get a wonderful meteor scene complete with exploding cars and buildings.)

Much of the time is however spent on relationship issues, and here Clark is no more super than anyone else. Rather the opposite. He is chronically infatuated with the pretty Lana Lang, even though she already has a boyfriend. Lana doesn't mind the attention, but her boyfriend is naturally less than happy. Then he also likes Chloe, who is a geek girl but not ugly or with any odious personal habits. I can't remember her from DC comics. Pete Ross is now black and the only boy who is not awesomely hot. (Not that I got the hot for them, mind you, but I recognize competition when I see it.) This and the pervasive relationship slant has led me to believe that the series is actually targeted at a female audience, despite the comics being preferred by male readers. I guess the two media simply are better suited for different purposes?

Be that as it may, I found Smallville the first season to be fascinating and enjoyable despite its flaws. The proof of the pudding is in the eating – I watched it all over the course of less than two days. That, and I have already ordered season two from amazon.co.uk.