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Released by: Warner Brothers
Released on: 9/7/2010
Director: Various
Cast: Tod Welling, Callum Blue, Kristin Kreuk
Year: 2009
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The Series:
For those who haven't ever watched Smallville, think of the series as Superman meets The Wonder Years. The series is set in the titular town in the years before Clark Kent (Tod Welling) adjust to his life and figures out just how exactly this whole superhero thing is going to work. Early in the series the love interest was Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), the perfect girl next door who has all the compassion and understanding you could hope for, but now Clark's moved on to Lois Lane (Erica Durance), a completely different type of woman. Previous seasons established the core characters well enough that by the ninth time we hook up with Clark and Lois, characters are doing their own thing and plots are moving along quite quickly.
The emphasis this time around is on the presence of Zod (Callum Blue), a perfectly sinister criminal from Clark's home world of Krypton who, if you've seen Superman II you'll know, was exiled from his planet to The Phantom Zone. This ninth season really brings Zod, referred to as Major Zod and not General Zod, to the forefront of Clark's various dilemmas and wisely opts to flesh out his character's background and at least give us some insight into why he is the way he is and just what exactly that big chip on his shoulder is all about.
Zod's presence is interesting in and of itself but the series also brings characters from The Justice Society Of America into the show. Here we get to meet Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Sandman, and Star Girl and the episode also brings in Green Arrow and even The Suicide Squad.
The complete list of episodes that make up this set are presented in the following order:
Savior / Metallo / Rabid / Echo / Roulette / Crossfire / Kandor / Idol / Pandora / Discipline / Absolute Justice / Warrior / Persuasion / Conspiracy / Escape / Checkmate / Upgrade / Charade / Sacrifice / Hostage / Salvation
The writing this time around isn't quite as strong as some of the more impressive first seasons were. There's some good stuff here to be sure and the introductions of various characters helps to keep things a bit more fresh than they could have been, but many of the storylines and plots are a bit formulaic and occasionally fairly predictable. Thankfully Zod is interesting enough that he basically carries the season. Blue is really well cast in the part, bringing a great sense of menace and danger to the part and hamming it up just enough that he works as a supervillain without ever feeling too corny (though at times coming right up to that line). The rest of the cast are all fine in their respective roles, and Erica Durance sure is easy on the eyes in all the right ways, but this season basically belongs to Zod and for that, Callum Blue deserves a lot of credit.
Effects wise and costume wise the series ramps it up a bit compared to previous seasons, particularly when the Justice Society show up (how cool does Dr. Fate look on TV? Pretty damn cool, really!) and appearances from Zantanna and even the Wonder Twins (yes, those Wonder Twins) add to the fun. This might not be classic television, but it's good entertainment nonetheless.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The VC-1 encoded 1.78.1 1080p anamorphic widescreen transfers given the episodes in this set do a really good job of showing off the series' intended look. Detail is very strong, better than the broadcast versions ever were. There are some minor problems with mpeg compression artifacts and aliasing but no heavy edge enhancement while black levels stay strong and shadow detail remains consistently impressive. Skin tones look nice and lifelike, never too pink or waxy, and never showing off any problems with the authoring or encoding. The discs have been encoded quite well, generally speaking, and the picture quality is strong enough.
Smallville arrives on Blu-ray with a standard definition English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix, with an optional Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo tracks provided in Portuguese. Subtitles are offered up in English SDH, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. It would have been nice to see a lossless option provided here, but at least the 5.1 track has some good ambience. Channel separation isn't a constant but there's enough of it here to ensure that you'll notice it. Dialogue is clear enough and the levels are well balanced. There aren't any specific problems with the mix to note, but as you listen to it you'll notice instances where a lossless track probably could have offered up more punch.
Fans will appreciate the two commentary tracks that are included here, which appear over top of the Kandor episode with input from actor Daniel James Callum Blue and co-writers Turi Meyer and Al, and the Idol episode with input from actress Erica Durance and executive producers Brian Peterson and Kelly Souders. Both tracks are fairly casual, covering their specific episodes with some interesting behind the scenes stories and interesting facts and figures. We learn about some of the script ideas that didn't make it into the final shot version of the show and about casting choices and effects work. Neither one is all that deep, but they're interesting enough if you dig the show.
From there, check out two featurettes, the first of which is Kneel Before Zod!, a fifteen minute segment in which Richard Donner and Terence Stamp from Superman II join a few DC Comics luminaries to talk about the character of Zod and his various incarnations, how his story connects to Superman's, and how he works in the context of Smallville. The second featurette is Absolute Justice: From Script To Screen and it's a half hour look at how the Justice Society made their way into the series which compares their four color versions to their boob tube incarnations. Both of these featurettes are pretty interesting, particularly if you're a comic book fan and familiar with these characters from before they made their way to television.
Rounding out the extras in the set are nine minutes worth of inconsequential deleted scenes spread across the four discs in the set, animated menus, and episode selection. This release also features some Blu-ray Live connectivity. All of the extras included in the set are in high definition.
The Final Word:
If you've stuck with the series through nine years worth of material, you'll appreciate this release. Some tired and uninspired storylines find a bit more new life thanks to the involvement of some interesting and unexpected characters from the DC universe making their way into the show. This isn't the best season in the shows run, but it's entertaining enough. Warner's Blu-ray release looks great, but like so many of their TV releases, features standard definition audio. The extras are interesting, and established fans of the show will want to add this one to their library.