SMALLVILLE 9/13/09, "Idol", with spoilers (and a couple questions)

[gastrof]

Can someone explain to me how in the world the twins knew what was going on with Lois at that very moment, and managed to do what they did to save her?

Also, WHAT did they do to the DA? Did they tear him apart? That "The D.A. is D.O." was a little unsettling. D.O. as in DOA?!?!?

Oh, NEAT that he's apparently going to start wearing the glasses. REALLY looking forward to next week to see if they stay with it.

[Peter000]

The date is wrong in the thread title. Should be 11/13.

[busyba]

Originally Posted by gastrof

Can someone explain to me how in the world the twins knew what was going on with Lois at that very moment, and managed to do what they did to save her?

The female twin was tailing Chloe in the FORM OF... A LADYBUG!, and then switched to tailing Clark when she saw their conversation.

Also, WHAT did they do to the DA? Did they tear him apart? That "The D.A. is D.O." was a little unsettling. D.O. as in DOA?!?!?

Yeah, I don't know what they did, but according to the closed captioning, she said "The D.A. is T.K.O."

[busyba]

I had seen the actress playing the female wonder twin before on SyFy's Warehouse 13, but it wasn't until seeing her on Smallville that I noticed the similarity between her and Allison Mack. It's like she could be her younger sister.

[Thom]

When I first saw her, I thought it was Mack in dual role. Then I thought it was Chyler Leigh. Took me awhile to remember her from Warehouse 13.

Is Warehouse 13 returning or was it canceled?

[Peter000]

Originally Posted by busyba

I had seen the actress playing the female wonder twin before on SyFy's Warehouse 13, but it wasn't until seeing her on Smallville that I noticed the similarity between her and Allison Mack. It's like she could be her younger sister.

THANK you. She looked so familiar, but I couldn't place her.

Same with Zan. I knew his face, couldn't place the program until I looked him up... Simon from 7th Heaven!

[atrac]

Well, I was skeptical, but for what the characters were originally (high cheeseball), I think they pulled it off. If they had said "Wonder Twin powers....activate!" I would have rolled my eyes, but they toned it down well enough. Oddly, I wish they hadn't taken the backseat so much in the episode. Did they have rings though?

I liked that the first time we get to see them "activate" Clark "shock blocked" them.

Didn't quite get Jayna's outfit though...I mean, what was that she was wearing? All she needed was a tray around her waste and she could have auditioned for the Playboy club.

The music for the Wonder Twins had a "John Williams-esque" quality to it -- I kept thinking of "Hook" whenever it played.

Gleek, you've become a cellphone!!!

And yes, "Jay" and Allison Mack definitely resemble each other.

[Test]

It was a little heavy on the dark knight references and I blurred through Lois in therapy, but it was an entertaining episode overall

[JYoung]

Originally Posted by atrac

Well, I was skeptical, but for what the characters were originally (high cheeseball), I think they pulled it off. If they had said "Wonder Twin powers....activate!" I would have rolled my eyes, but they toned it down well enough. Oddly, I wish they hadn't taken the backseat so much in the episode. Did they have rings though?

The Wonder Twins never used rings.

I am amazed at how well Allison Scagliotti plays annoying characters.
I find her character annoying in Warehouse 13 and I find it annoying here.

I did realize that in Lois' "visions", Earth's sun appears to be red.
That means Clark has no superpowers.

[Vendikarr]

Originally Posted by Test

It was a little heavy on the dark knight references and I blurred through Lois in therapy, but it was an entertaining episode overall

Since the therapist was speaking with an English accent, I was waiting for them to reveal her as a Kandorian.

[Peter000]

Originally Posted by JYoung

I did realize that in Lois' "visions", Earth's sun appears to be red.
That means Clark has no superpowers.

Hopefully that means Zod and his followers have no superpowers as well.

The whole "keep the identity a secret from Lois" is becoming tiring already. I never really enjoyed it in the comics and I don't here.

[Peter000]

Originally Posted by Vendikarr

Since the therapist was speaking with an English accent, I was waiting for them to reveal her as a Kandorian.

I was thinking that too. Or she's going to have some sort of superpower.

[gastrof]

Originally Posted by Vendikarr

Since the therapist was speaking with an English accent, I was waiting for them to reveal her as a Kandorian.

Sorry, but only male Kryptonians have British accents.

[atrac]

Originally Posted by JYoung

The Wonder Twins never used rings.

D'oh! My childhood memory of cheeseball superheroes is faulty!

[cheesesteak]

Originally Posted by JYoung

I am amazed at how well Allison Scagliotti plays annoying characters.
I find her character annoying in Warehouse 13 and I find it annoying here.

+1. She's probably annoying in real life too.

I was kinda touched in the scenes where Lois thought she knew Clark's secret. I wish they had just gone with that instead of having Chloe's phone call change her mind.

[scooterboy]

Originally Posted by gastrof

Oh, NEAT that he's apparently going to start wearing the glasses. REALLY looking forward to next week to see if they stay with it.

I guess that will be their ultimate explanation of how no one will recognize him when he goes public. Clark wore glasses for a few months so no one will have any recollection what he looked like without them. Makes perfect sense.

[Rob Helmerichs]

Originally Posted by scooterboy

I guess that will be their ultimate explanation of how no one will recognize him when he goes public. Clark wore glasses for a few months so no one will have any recollection what he looked like without them. Makes perfect sense.

To be fair, that's a question the comic book writers have struggled with in vain for, what, 70 years now?

[cheesesteak]

If he's going to wear glasses, I hope he gets a more stylish pair.

[scooterboy]

Originally Posted by Rob Helmerichs

To be fair, that's a question the comic book writers have struggled with in vain for, what, 70 years now?

Yes, but didn't teenage Clark Kent wear glasses all the time? At least in the comic book "glasses make you look completely different" world, it was consistent.

Smallville didn't even bother having him wear glasses all this time. So people are much more used to seeing him without them, making the disguise even more nonsensical even in the comic book world.

[Rob Helmerichs]

Originally Posted by scooterboy

Yes, but didn't teenage Clark Kent wear glasses all the time? At least in the comic book "glasses make you look completely different" world, it was consistent.

Smallville didn't even bother having him wear glasses all this time. So people are much more used to seeing him without them, making the disguise even more nonsensical even in the comic book world.

But you're talking about the difference between 99.994% idiocy, and 99.993% idiocy.

[scooterboy]

Originally Posted by Rob Helmerichs

But you're talking about the difference between 99.994% idiocy, and 99.993% idiocy.

Hey - that's where I draw the line.

[gastrof]

Originally Posted by scooterboy

Yes, but didn't teenage Clark Kent wear glasses all the time? At least in the comic book "glasses make you look completely different" world, it was consistent.

Smallville didn't even bother having him wear glasses all this time. So people are much more used to seeing him without them, making the disguise even more nonsensical even in the comic book world.

Original comicbook timeline-

The Kents, already up in years when they adopt Clark, die.

Apparently a young adult, he moves away, and creates the Superman identity, with Clark wearing glasses as a disguise. Nobody in Metropolis has seen him without them.

Second comicbook timeline-

When Clark is fairly young (7-10 yrs old) the Kents start putting glasses on him. He then begins going out in the costume as "Superboy" but moves so fast during his saves and such, nobody gets a good look at him. Clark continues wearing the glasses. Eventually, after his looks have changed a bit (a few years) Superboy begins allowing people to see him. Superboy/Clark grows up to be Superman/Clark.

Third comicbook timeline ("post-Crisis")-

Clark never becomes Superboy. He never wears glasses as a kid. After high school, he begins traveling the world and is away from home for about seven years. Nobody from Smallville sees him, and his looks change to the point where they wouldn't recognize him if they did. He decides to go public (tired of having to use his powers secretly), and returns home to Smallville to get help from the Kents (who are much younger than in previous timelines).

The Superman identity is created (strong sounding voice, tight costume to show off his muscles, "sturdy" posture), with Clark being "reinvented" (glasses, milder voice, slight slouch, clothes that don't show off his build, etc.). By the time anyone in Smallville sees Superman, his looks are so different from Clark's of 7-8 years earlier, they make no connection, especially with the "reinvented" Clark most likely having been seen occasionally.

Current comicbook timeline-

The Kents put Clark into glasses when he's still fairly young, at least in part to make him look more like an average kid. He grows up wearing them, so after Suoerman's debut, if anyone from Smallville sees Superman in print or on TV, they make no connection between him and Clark.

In the meantime, he does some "super-boy" saves and such all over the midwest while growing up, creating an urban myth which people later realize was no myth at all. He never lets anyone get a good look at him, apparently, and it seems only wears the costume when he visits the Legion in the 31st century as a teen. In the modern day, it seems the public don't see the costume until Superman's debut.

SMALLVILLE's problem is the show began to air during the period of the "post-Crisis" timeline, with young Clark not wearing glasses and having his looks change during the years he traveled after high school, so the show never showed him in glasses as a kid. Problem is, after high school he never left home, and it would have been pretty hard to change Welling's looks enough to explain Superman not being recognized as Clark when he finally goes public. To add insult to injury, the "wore glasses as a kid" thing then got restored to the comicbook timeline. SMALLVILLE's now totally on its own in explaining things.

Funny point here-
Take a look at the "Clark almost tells Lois the truth" scenen in the first Chris Reeve movie. No makeup or special effects. Just acting, and Reeve pretty much pulls it off. You see him somehow CHANGE onscreen from Clark to Superman. Singer Art Garfunkle once admitted that he can go out in public and not be recognized if he wears the right pair of glasses. If anyone says "You look sort of like..." he laughs and says he hears that all the time. In the comics, Superman and Clark have been seen and photographed together in public (using various tricks). Everything together, it works for him.

[busyba]

Originally Posted by gastrof

Singer Art Garfunkle once admitted that he can go out in public and not be recognized if he wears the right pair of glasses.

Art Garfunkel? I'm pretty sure he's just trying to convince himself that the glasses are why he's not recognized.

[WinBear]

Originally Posted by cheesesteak

If he's going to wear glasses, I hope he gets a more stylish pair.

Clark had a reasonably stylish wire-rim frame glasses in a couple of episodes, post-high-school and pre-Senator Kent because I remember Martha commenting on them. I was expecting them to bring those back or at least use today's chunky black frames instead of those seriously old-school ones.

[JYoung]

Originally Posted by Rob Helmerichs

To be fair, that's a question the comic book writers have struggled with in vain for, what, 70 years now?

He could also slouch, wear suits two sizes too large, and raise his voice an octave.

[Honora]

[quote=gastrof;7611142

Funny point here-
Take a look at the "Clark almost tells Lois the truth" scenen in the first Chris Reeve movie. No makeup or special effects. Just acting, and Reeve pretty much pulls it off. You see him somehow CHANGE onscreen from Clark to Superman. [/QUOTE]

After Lois figures out his secret (he touches a hot fireplace hood or something in the hotel room) he's standing with his back to Lois (and us) and he changes, just by changing his posture. I thought it was amazing.

Long ago I came to the conclusion that if you don't get Clark right, it isn't going to work no matter how good your Superman is. I was knocked out by Chris's Clark.

[Eddief66]

Speaking of the glasses, Lois should have noticed that they were plain glass when she put them on.

[Rob Helmerichs]

Originally Posted by Eddief66

Speaking of the glasses, Lois should have noticed that they were plain glass when she put them on.

I don't think they were...her eyes looked distorted. (Which I noticed because usually they do use plain glass, which doesn't distort the eyes.)

I doubt Clark would have any problem looking through prescription glasses, if he can look through solid walls!

[Mars Rocket]

Don't forget the hair. Doesn't Superman's hair have a little curl in the front that Clark doesn't have?

[chestnu1]

At some point he is going to have to tell lois his secret especially after he starts being seen in public. Because at some point it just becomes insulting to her intelligence they sit at the same desk right across from each other.