Starring:
Tom Welling as Clark Kent
Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
Erica Durance as Lois Lane
Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang
Annette O’Toole as Martha Kent
John Schneider as Jonathan Kent
John Glover as Lionel Luthor
Special Features:
22 episodes on six discs
Commentary by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Ken Horton, and Steven S. DeKnight on Thirst
Commentary by Steven S. DeKnight, James Marshall, and James Marsters (Prof. Fine) on Splinter
“Smallville’s 100th Episode: The Making of a Milestone” featurette
Unaired scenes
Excerpts from the documentary Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman
“Vengeance Chronicles”: promo webisodes
Other Info:
Widescreen
Dolby Digital Surround Stereo
French and Spanish Subtitles
Running Time: 925 Minutes
Synopsis:
The following is from the DVD cover:
“An astonishing season of destiny! Clark Kent now carries a full load of classes at Central Kansas U., but that’s not all he carries. He carries the full weight of his – perhaps the world’s – destiny. “We call this season Superman in Training,” series co-creator Alfred Gough says. “Clark is going to accept his destiny.” During this exciting pivotal season: The Fortress of Solitude rises. A spaceship mystery unfolds. A dark tragedy – one even Clark’s powers can’t prevent – strikes. These and more key elements of Superman lore fall into place.”
“Smallville: The Complete Fifth Season” is not rated.
Mini-Review:
I’m a huge Superman fan and I followed the first season religiously, but it has been a while since I’ve checked back in with the series. Needless to say, a lot has changed. Most interesting to me is the fact that the series seems to be tying in more and more with its comic book roots. This season has guest appearances by Aquaman, Cyborg, and other characters. Lois Lane, played by the beautiful Erica Durance, is now a regular character. We also see more of Metropolis and the Daily Planet. I was particularly impressed to see Zod become a factor in the show. While he’s quite different than his Superman II incarnation, he’s here nonetheless. (Ironically, Terence Stamp, the movie General Zod, plays the voice of Jor-El in the series.)
Despite having been out of it for several seasons, I found it relatively easy to jump back into the storyline. While there were a number of changes over the past seasons, it was straightforward to follow. You could jump in with minimal knowledge of the first four seasons. However, I was shocked by just how much changed in the course of season five. A major character dies, Clark reveals his secret to several people, good guys become bad, bad guys become good, and you learn a lot more about Krypton and Superman’s dad. In short, if you try to jump in on season six, you’ll be hopelessly lost. This is the season to get back in the swing of things.
I highly recommend this series to Superman fans, comic book fans in general, and anyone that likes sci-fi/supernatural TV series. And anyone that loves a good soap opera should enjoy it, too.
This DVD has a satisfying set of bonus features. Besides your standard offering of commentaries and deleted scenes, you’ll find a 45 minute feature on the making of the 100th episode. It follows the creation of the show from script writing all the way through sound mixing. It’s incredibly detailed and there’s a ton of behind the scenes footage. You see the cast members clowning around, the crew setting up fake snow, and all sorts of goodness. Also included are short videos from the internet entitled “Vengeance Chronicles”. They follow the further adventures of Vengeance, a vigilante Clark tangles with in Metropolis in one of the episodes. Chloe also has a prominent role. While they’re cheesy, they represent a great effort to offer something new to Smallville fans. Finally, there are excerpts from the documentary “Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman”. It’s a great documentary and well worth checking out.
