First premiering on the WB on October 16, 2001, Smallville has survived eight seasons on a network that has not survived. During its fifth season, WB and UPN merged to become the CW, and Smallville went with the new network. While CW continually struggles to find its place within the mainstream networks with most of its shows coming in last in the Nielsens, Smallville continues to be the flagship program that keeps their network alive. Now Smallville will continue for two more seasons and keep the CW alive just a little bit longer.

For those who have never watched the show, Smallville focuses on the early years of Clark Kent before he becomes the legend of Superman. Throughout the years, various supporting DC supporting characters have come and gone like Lex Luthor, Martha and Jonathan Kent,  Jimmy Olsen, Lana Lang, and Clark’s long time love interest Lois Lane. Other character’s have been introduced and explored including Lionel Luthor, Pete Ross, and Chloe Sullivan, whose character has become so popular the DC comics has thought of adding her to the comic book series.

The continuation of the series came in question when the series developers Gough and Millar departed after the seventh season and Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor) and Kristen Kruek (Lana Lang) also departed as regular characters. But the show continued to survive and according to Kryptonsite.com, Tom Welling (Clark Kent) has signed on for two more seasons.

What makes Smallville special?

There has never been a show based off of a comic book superhero that has had this level of longevity on television. Smallville has done this by occasionally allowing the directors and the producers to go in their own direction, separate from what has transgressed in the comic books without alienating the fan base of Superman. At the heart of the series is a young Clark Kent, the typical supporting cast from the DC universe, and the general appeal of comic book formulae. But this series has its own heartbeat , its own rhythm among the mythos of Superman and has been very successful with taking this character to places never gone before in the comic books.

Sure, there are other shows that deal with superheroes that are better like Heroes, but Smallville existed before the current move to serialized television and still holds to the stand alone episode concept with short story arcs that most television programs adhered to in the past. If Smallville had been born in this modern era of television, you would probably see a radically different show, one that would probably be better than Heroes.

Shows like Heroes or Lost are great for the first couple of seasons, but eventually lose their steam as people no longer want to have to follow along week to week. These types of shows make it harder to pick up new viewers, too. With Smallville, you can miss an episode or two and jump in because each episode is self contained as well as expanding on that season’s storyline.

The Smallville Mythos

In the early years, Smallville focused on Clark Kent’s high school years and the discovering of his powers and where he came from.  The interesting thing about the series when it began was it had X-files-like storylines as the same meteor shower that brought Clark Kent (Kal-el) to earth, also brought green meteor rocks with them that turned citizens of Smallville into “meteor freaks”.  During the first season, most of the episodes followed a pattern of discovering a meteor freak and Clark having to deal with them.

While Season One is not the best season, it is a great start for the series. In Season Two, Smallvile began to understand the direction it was going and began exploring the relationships between Clark and the rest of the supporting cast. This season also began exploring Clark’s destiny on earth and his doomed relationship with his future nemesis Lex Luthor. It also brought on Lionel Luthor (John Glover) as a more active character and his relationship with his son Lex Luthor made this a great show for several seasons. Season Two also introduces us to the effects of red Kryptonite on a young Clark which makes him lose all his inhibitions and these episodes are probably the most popular in the series.

Season Three will probably be considered one of the best seasons as it went in a completely new direction in the mythos of Superman and connected his origins to early American Indian myth. This season also saw the rise of Lionel Luthor as a major villain for Clark Kent and saw Lex Luthor put away in an insane asylum. Also, Christopher Reeves had a guest spot as Dr. Virgil Swann and had a message for Clark Kent from his father, Jor-el.

Season Four went a little bit off the regular path and made Lana Lang a witch, introduced a secret society of those waiting for the return of the Traveler and had Clark deal with the destiny brought on by his biological father. This season also let Clark explore a future as a star quarterback and began the demise of Clark and Lex’s friendship. This season also introduced several characters from the DC universe including the Flash, Krypto, and the villain Mxyzptlk reimagined as sports booker with the power to jinx the bets.

Season Five could be considered one of the best seasons next to season three. It brought us the Fortress of Solitude and the coming of Zod. More DC characters began showing up including Aguaman, Cyborg and the introduction of Lois Lane to the series. Another villain to enter the series this season was Brainiac who takes the form of one of Clark’s college professors. A relationship begins to develop between Lana and Lex and Clark loses his father after making a difficult choice relating to his biological father.

Season Six brought us Lex Luthor as Zod and also the most expensive episode in the show’s history as Metropolis is devastated. This season, Smallville moved away completely from the small town and focused more on the city life of Clark and his friends which now included Jimmy Olsen. Clark’s mother was now a senator and had pretty much left the series completely. It could be said that the show started its new direction in this season and many felt it should have no longer been called Smallville, but instead Metropolis. Another DC superhero becomes a regular character as Green Arrow is brought in to teach Clark Kent that he has to do something with his powers and Martian Manhunter is also brought in as a mentor to Clark’s Kryptonian destiny. Lana’s relationship with Lex crumbles as Lois’s relationship with Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) begins. Clark spends the season hunting down the Phantoms that escape from the Zone as Lex descends further into madness even though he marries Lana. The season also brought the first team up of heroes that represent the future Justice League.

Season Seven should have been the end of the series as several storylines were brought to an end. This season saw the death of Lionel Luthor and the last season for the series producers, and cast members Michael Rosenbaum and Kristen Kruek. This season also brought an end to the Milton Fine storyline, the end of the Veritas/Traveler theory, and also introduced us to another DC villain in Bizarro and another hero with Black Canary. Kara, Clark’s cousin becomes a regular this season and Grant Gabriel is introduced but quickly gets killed once we realize who he really is. Lex becomes the monster we all know as he pushes his father to his death. Clark and Lex finally have their showdown in the Fortress.

Season Eight brought in new directors, new characters, and completely new storylines. This season kind of had sea legs as it wobbled a lot between ending previous story arcs and trying to find a new voice for the series. Sometimes, the episodes were slow with very dark filming and tended to leave a lot of the action off screen (this might have been a budget issue), but season eight can be said to have taken Clark completely out of Smallville and placed him just steps away from becoming the Man of Steel.

This season had the highest relationship to the actual DC universe and I feel this might be the formula for the next few seasons. A lot of DC characters showed up including former Justice Leaguers from last season plus DC villains Plastique and Parasite and several heroes from the futuristic Legion of Superheroes. Also, this season offered the story arc of the development of Davis Bloome, a young paramedic who eventually becomes Superman’s greatest villain, Doomsday.

The beginning of the season brought us Tess Mercer, the mysterious femme fatale who takes over Luthor Corp. Several story arcs come to a conclusion including the death of Lex Luthor, the farewell of Kara, and the end to Lana and Clark’s relationship.

Midseason, during Chloe’s wedding to Jimmy Olsen, Doomsday appears in a Cloverfield-style episode. The rest of the season was spent kind of putting all these pieces together and several of these episodes failed to deliver the same level of action shown in previous seasons.

The final two episodes, one called Injustice and the other Doomsday, failed to deliver on an expected level of hype with the Justice League battle against Tess’s army and the final showdown between Clark and Doomsday.

At the end of Season Eight, we find Clark giving up on his human heritage and the disappearance of Lois into the future. Two major characters die, Davis Bloome and Jimmy Olsen, and Tess Mercer meets the reincarnation of Zod.

What does the future hold for Smallville?

According to Kryptonsite, Season Nine will have a whole new set of producers and this could be good or bad for the series. I don’t think fans will appreciate another year of the series trying to figure out where it wants to go now. Will it continue the formula of adding more characters from the DC universe? Will it finally bring Clark Kent into the world as the Man of Steel? Will Lois and Clark finally begin their romance?

The only thing known for sure is that there is a new character called Mason and he has ties to Tess Mercer. Some speculate this might be a lame attempt of reinventing Lex Luthor since Michael Rosenbaum has left the series.

I think the Smallville has run its course and CW needs to find another DC character to fill the reigns of what Smallville has done for the superhero genre. Twice, the network tried with the failed series Birds Of Prey and the pilot episode of Aquaman that had great buzz but the WB refused to pick up.

On Friday, September 25, Smallville returns with Season Nine.

In this season, count on Clark embracing his Krytonian side as he starts the training his father, Jor-El asked him to do. While away, Zod finally comes to Earth in a new form and body and begins his conquest of our planet.

Green Arrow begins to turn to a darker time and we begin to see the him become the current incarnation of the DC character with the addition of his female HIV positive sidekick, Speedy.

Clark and Lois's relationship draws closer as his relationship with Chloe disintergrates.

Dc heroes and villains share a lot of screen time this year. Metallo, Toyman, the Justice Society of America and the most annoying characters in fiction (more annoying than Jar Jar Binks) come to Smallville.

In unison, can everyone say, "Wondertwin powers activate!"