John William's Krypton and Superman themes on Smallville

[Guest]

Hey I was just watching Smallville, now I dont usually watch the show, but I thought I would catch it tonight cause The original Superman Christopher Reeve made a guest spot.

Anyway in the scene where Clark Kent meets Dr Swaan they play the Krypton theme and the Superman themes and in the following scenes they play both themes prominently and many times.

It was a plesant surprise.

Ronald C

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Hah! I beat you with the news. It was cool to hear, I agree.

Ray Barnsbury

[Morn 8]

Hmm, people actually do watch this show!

[Guest]

I regularly watch "Smallville" now after they toned down the kryptonite-villain-of-the-week crutch. Despite that and as a comic book reader for many years, I've really grown to enjoy the cleverness with which the producers' re-write Superman canon as the general audience may know it.

That said, I think they again were very clever to use John Williams' themes so prominantly within the scenes where young Clark's two "fathers" play important roles. The first father scene being when Christopher Reeve explains Kal-El's Kryptonian origins, using the Fortress of Solitude and Planet Krypton themes. The second father scene is at the end with Jonathan Kent, who hugs his adopted son as the iconic Superman theme swells.

As a 39-year old who grew up on Christopher Reeve's movies, it was just plain nostalgic and with a more than enjoyable story behind it, I really commend Smallville's producers for choosing to use it. One question tho', I didn't see John Williams credited in the end credits, just Mark Snow. Was this perhaps an oversite or does Warner Bros. own the rights to the music and get to decide if his name should appear and pay him for it? He should, imo, get the credit.

Frank Pepito

[Jango Fett 0]

Hmm, people actually do watch this show!  

One wonders why?

KraMB

[Guest]

I really loved how they integrated the Superman fanfare (particularly when they had the close-up of Chris Reeeve before the commercial break) and the Krypton motifs as Clark comes to terms with his origins. It was very stirring, and on top of that, you have Clark feeling conflicted about his biological father and Jonathan Kent. The moments Clark has with his parents were very well done, much in the mold of the Smallville sequences from Superman: The Movie.

This has to be one of the best episodes of the season, if not of the series thus far.

[Eplicon 53]

Hmmph, the board didn't log me. (That was my post above.)

In any event, I thought the ending had a nice twist, with Clark thinking he was really sent to Earth to conquer it.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

I agree Frank, the show is much better than when every week was like, "Something's wrong in Smallville . . . it couldn't be [gasp] . . . . KRYPTONITE?!?!?!!" I actually find the storyline about Clark and Lana to be one of the most enjoyable; it's so frustrating how close they always come to being together. Plus it's interesting because you know it's never going to be anything lasting - Clark eventually goes off to Metropolis and finds Lois.

Ray Barnsbury

[UCFKevin 0]

Well, the thing is, are the Smallville people going to go against fifty-whatever years of history and have Clark and Lana actually get together? To the best of my knowledge, I'm pretty damn sure they never have before, so I dunno.

I for one am getting pretty tired of the whole "Will they? Won't they?" thing. It's cute on Friends but not on Smallville, it's just getting really old. Lana's such a ridiculous bitch about some things, even though Clark is ALWAYS there for her and ALWAYS saving her life, but the second he's late for a date, whoops, he's Satan, to hell with him. And Chloe...ugh. Don't get me started!

[CYPHER 1]

Am I the only one who thinks Clark and Lex would make a much better couple than Clark and Lana/Chloe? I mean, sometimes the way they look at each other, you've just gotta suspect something... LOL

CYPHER

[Justin 2]

Hmm, people actually do watch this show!  

One wonders why?

Nothing else on?

Justin

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Well, the thing is, are the Smallville people going to go against fifty-whatever years of history and have Clark and Lana actually get together? To the best of my knowledge, I'm pretty damn sure they never have before, so I dunno.  

I for one am getting pretty tired of the whole "Will they? Won't they?" thing. It's cute on Friends but not on Smallville, it's just getting really old. Lana's such a ridiculous bitch about some things, even though Clark is ALWAYS there for her and ALWAYS saving her life, but the second he's late for a date, whoops, he's Satan, to hell with him. And Chloe...ugh. Don't get me started!

Well you would know better than most I guess.

If they are going to make Lana an oriental dark haired girl(not that she's not a beauty 'cause she is) then I suppose they will cross the line of will they wont they.

Joe, who sometimes wonders if the producers of Smallville actually know the history of Superman, and the fact that Lana was a redhead, truely the most beautiful of all womenly types.

[Guest]

Continuity changes from comic book lore to film and television translation is a constant, starting with, in recent history. with "Superman: The Movie" itself. The brilliant, silvery Kryptonian robes and the El family crest looking suspiciously like our 40-year old (at the time of the film's release) logo of the Man of Steel were blatant differences from the Wayne Boring and Curt Swan drawings I grew up with reading Superman and Action Comics. But "The Movie" rocks, despite the changes.

"Smallville" rocks, as does Kristen Kreuk as Lana Lang, despite the fact that she's not raven-haired. Despite Lex being young Clark's best friend. I once worried over comics to film translations, but now, I just see what a new creative group (the director and his/her team) gets to put up on the screen and hope it's as good as what Richard Donner did. Sometimes it's "Smallville", sometimes it's "The Lone Ranger" (the unsold pilot that aired on the WB this week).

Back to "The Movie" and the preference to maintain what has been established before over changing to serve the new incarnation, imagine if they went back to Superman's cinematic roots with which to score the film instead of creating new music, using say the theme music from 1950's "The Adventures of Superman" TV series. If that were the case, this topic would never have been posted at all because John Williams would not have composed the Main Title March from Superman, that music that we all heard anew last Tuesday night, and IS The Sound of Superman to many of us, and inspired the creation of this message board topic.

Frank Pepito