Tonight's Episode – Absolute Justice
Well, it's finally here! What began as a single episode grew to a two part episode and finally became a single two hour TV movie event!
Geoff Johns returns tonight to Smallville and he has brought the Justice Socety of America with him!
Fair Warning: We are expecting more than the usual band of regulars around here tonight and everyone is welcome to join in… unless you are here specifically to cause trouble or to make fun of the show and its fans. People who aren't here to enjoy the show and just want to ruin everyone else's fun will find their comments deleted.
As always, I look forward to your thoughts, opinions, gripes, live-blogging, etc.
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I have an unexpected and last minute dinner meeting that I have to go to, but I will do my best to make it back in time for the show. I might be a bit late. Paul is going to try to make it but he has some family business to attend to and he will be late.
So you guys might have to run with things yourselves when the show starts.
Can I watch this even though I’ve only watched up to the end of Season 2?
Agh, I won’t have time to watch the show tonight. But I DVR’d it so I will bring my thoughts later. Have fun guys!
Yep, hoping to be here for the second half or so. If not, I’ll definitely post my thoughts when I do get to watch it.
I will be here….cause I have nowhere else to go.
Great Rao! I’ll be stuck in traffic on the way to Lake Tahoe but my DVR=JSA. Have fun!
@GhostGrifter Thats where Ive gotten up to as well and I plan to watch.
I’ll be approaching this as a relative newbie to Smallville, but I have high hopes.
I changed my mind. I’ll watch it with you guys tonight! 🙂
I have not been this geeked to watch something in awhile! Watchmen maybe? The Dark Knight??
After seeing no LOST discussion this week I was scared that there would be no Smallville talk either! Glad to see that’s not true.
I’ve been waiting for this episode since, well, the Legion episode. Countdown is on! 5 minutes!
popcorn aat the ready!
I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.
Star-Spangled Kid!
I thought that was Starman for a second there…
Better way to go then getting touched by Mr. Bones on accident.
awesome start
I’m hooked!
Who’s the villain? Not Captain Cold… is it?
@TNC I imagine that’s what they were going for.
@Crippler
My guess would be the Icicle…has old ties to the JSA
A solid start.
Yu-Gi-Oh? Oh dear….
@Crippler, Tom Yeah. Johns has a liking for Icicle, too. He wrote a great Ultra-Humanite alt-universe story where Icicle becomes an honorary JSAer.
i listened to geoff johns interview with comic geek speak today it was quite good. i guess there will be plenty of easter eggs for us. was the coffee shop chloe walked out of calle radu’s ? from the kyle raynet gl run?
Thanks Tom!
This is exactly what I wanted to see. Lots of characters. Classic JSA style.
i already hate clark in this episode
that was out of left field
Wait, is there a ‘World of New Krypton’ lite story into this series?
I just saw Alessandro Guilani’s name in the credits! It’s a Sci-Fi.
star girl!
No it should be a job for Superman…
Now taking bets on who else we might see tonight that hasn’t been featured in the promos.
Sandman is in this? That’s amazing.
Sandman!
Now is this the old school one or the new school? Or a mix of the two?
I love that mask, I love his costume.
nice! that mask is perfect!
wesley!
I’m picking… Psycho Pirate. He’s a JSA villain, right?
and just like that he’s out of the picture (maybe)
boo-urns.
So Chole’s essentially Oracle?
@Prax – yes she is
Blue Valley!
I don’t like it that the old JSA members are getting killed…..or this easily.
first clue!
I mean I know it’s TV and not comics but, I would think Geoff Johns would have more respect for these characters. Especially the Golden Age heroes.
i like star man…
I think the point is these are the OLD JSA member, as in they are all kind of old and the ones they are killing off have been dead in the comics for a good while now. Its a clever way of having high stakes without alienating fans of the current JSA.
@thenextchampion yea it is kind of wired that they are so easy to kill. You would think they would put up more of a fight
I really hope Pat Dugan shows up.
Jay and Alan would give me a nerdgasm if the show up.
To those who find that the fights are too short or too easy:
This is Smallville. There are no fights that last longer then 1 punch, push or shove.
And the commercials continue….
Ok, I am also betting that someone punches through the JSA table at some point. Seems like it happens pretty regularly….
Gaeta!
Checkmate!?!??!
Gaeta! That damn mutineer! lol
for those that dont know, thats Dr. Hamilton
Is this doctor like a homage or something?
Holy shit…..checkmate?
WHOA! Checkmate!?
these jsaers arent old enough to have been ww2 era
checkmate?!
I am having a crazY nerdgasim right now
Terry Sloane!
Weird that they all had criminal….
Old millimeter film! Yes!
amanda waller will be later this season
Al Pratt with that fantastic mustache!!!
grant’s gym!
GARRRRRICCCCKKKKK!!!!!
ALLLLLAAAANNNN!!!!
Oh very nice! MA HUNKEL!? YES!
I can die happy at this point
Aha. I am loving Dr.fate
That black and white montage thing was awesome. I got chills as they introduced everyone.
Playing a muscular, slightly-off archaeologist was a real stretch for Michael Shanks. :-p
i like how the newsreel photog was at grants gym before the cops
……Is that Starman?…
did he say mr. terrific?
Oh well, Dr. Fate certainly has had some problems.
the helmet!!
Oh yeah just carrying this rod, nothing to see here.
nice!
Man, Green Arrow is kind of a dick in every incarnation.
travolta looks horrible
There was so much comic book nerdiness in those 10mins. Hard to contain self.
who the bad guy….how is he working with checkmate
These other shows on CW look horrible!
He loves America…
I love that car!
I love this guy playing Nelson. Great acting.
My excuse?
Well when you see me in my costume, you’ll see what it was.
low blow girly
Odd coincidence: Chay-ara and Sha’re are similar names!
That was a AMAZING.
Who is this Jor guy?
It’s like the Others with the whispering
yaaaaa hawkman reference to his eternal life
@TNC The Golden Age Icicle.
the music for this episode id pretty good
@prax: Thanks
Aw yeah! Dr. Fate! Great CGI for that.
@ Matheber …no That was amazing
THAT was bad assssssssssssss!
sweeeeeet
Awesome.
"It’s been a long time since I made someone bleed…time to go hunting"
badass
mace!
*its been a long while since i’ve made someone bleed.* 🙂 🙂 Great line!
Im starting to think im like 5 minutes ahead of all of you…
Johns was always great at writing Hawkman and I think they found an actor who is killing with it. This feels exactly like how I always imagined Hawkman would be.
Guess that will be the closest we will ever get to seeing supermans costume in this show.
That fight was pretty epic.
pam grier is amanda weller….
what the next dcu movie is the specture …..are u kidding me……what happend to the judas contract????
There was a cape! Now if only he could actually wear it..
the cape!!! havent seen that since season 1 or 2??
THAT WAS MIND BLOWING!
@jets4life im pretty sure its just an animated short, but i could be wrong.
Does Arrow make his voice deeper when he’s in costume?
@jets4life The Spectre story is a short included with Crisis on Two Earths.
Ah…..that was a HORRIBLE line. lol
It’s not often you see a bow staff fight on TV.
@nxtchamp – yes he always makes it like that when he’s GA
fight fight fight
This show can do fights…..not the best but still decent.
Let’s see more of them!
Best fight scene this series has ever had.
Ah well that’s gonna leave a mark.
damn
Hey that costume didn’t look that bad.
o shit
SPEECHLESS
Err… the voice changing is kind of annoying.
I can’t hawkman’s wings seriously. They look so fake.
The Hawkman-GA rivalry begins! Awesome!
why do it look like carter don’t need the wings…cause they did not move
I prefer hairy, bare chested Hawkman but then again I am girl.
Yay its our favorite martian!
im calling it now jsa jla fight!
GL!
Gah I wish Alan and Jay were alive! Cause it clearly looks like they aren’t.
Jay’s helmet and Hourman’s hour glass!
This is like, the best DC porn ever.
I have this sneaking suspicion Chole is Hawkgirl.
I want that painting but apperently Johns owns it now.
That painting almost makes up for sad sack Clark.
I want that table
I wish the spectre makes a cameo in this episode. But I doubt that will happen.
Damn! Giving me goosebumps here.
i want that painting
Oh, the classic "Jump off a box" to land from Advs. of Superman!
Okay…..Hawkman needs to not do that gravely voice.
Beginning to geek out just a little…want to see Garrick. Maybe a cameo of Jay Garrick and John Wesley Shipp together…lol
That’s an awesome and random enterance for John!
lame line Martian.
This is just too awesome. If this show was always like this I would go out and by it all right now.
@boomergirl: Better then "Want some Ice Cream" lol
that hawkman throwing ga on the table was awesome
wish it had limited commercial
Cry for Justice?
@TheNextChampion: true, I take it back
Johns just had to make a nod to Superman: The Movie.
LOIS!
Michael Holt!
There’s Lois, I wasn’t even caring of her not appearing.
Erica Durance seems more Lois Lane less Lana Lang than the last time I watched this show.
damn she nosey
I guess this is a season wide plotline, what is going on with these two girls?
I often exclaim the first and last name of somebody when they speak to me with my back turned.
It’s funy how I don’t want to laugh at Dr. Fate’s voice. Cause everyone else hiding their voice, or changing it, it pretty lame and hilarious.
Dr. Fate’s eyes are haunting. Great acting!
"Haven’t quit? You haven’t put on a silly costume!"
JAY AND ALAN ARE STILL ALIVE!!??
YES!!!
yay jay and alan are alive!!!
Chloe really doesn’t need a music swelling entrance.
AHAHAHA.
Ha! I knew in an old timey place they wouldn’t have a modern computer
The Checkmate side story thing is detracting from the awesomeness of the rest.
i like the 1st half better
I love it Checkmate is involved. Do you think Suicide Squad will make an appearence?
Was that a Commodore 64?
Shame conor and paul couldn’t make to do this live. They are missing a hell of a show.
Damn windows and your errors!
That little flight from one side to the next seemed unnessicary.
I love the banter between Arrow and Hawkman. Great writing for them.
"but with a mace" Everything’s better with a mace
Every thing Hawkman says is just hilarious.
Lex is coming back?
GAH! That Silver Age line was corn-tastic.
"This future Clark……will never happening because we don’t have the budget for it"
Pam Grier should really take off the neck brace before acting on camera…especially when walking around the set…
that was awesome thank you dr fate
I love how casual this is.
AMANDA WALLER!!!!
pam
hahaha yes chicago love
Im guessing Amanda waller is going to be the villain for the rest of the season.
So wait, has he killed everyone so far or just who we’ve seen?
no he ment wat they assigned him too.. he is killing jsa on his own vendetta
the Hawkman voice is kind of annoying. almost too batman-like. but the carter ollie bickering is classic. This really is DC porn, ha.
Only Johns can get away with some of these cheesy lines and making them sound good. Hopefully the final battle will rock as hard as the rest of the episode.
yea and i call that Lex appears at the end of this.
I wonder if Amanda Waller could lead to a Maxwell Lord appearance…
i miss lex
I have no idea who this woman is. lol
@abstract ,
yea me too, this show needs lex back
Geoff Johns loves referencing ‘Lois and Clark’
OH NO! I napped through the first hour. FUCK.
Suicide Squad? Eh….Eh?
oooh Suicide Squad too, damn Johns is working it ALL in.
I don’t think I pronounce Nabu like Naboo.
i just realize jonn is wearing the red belt…
I love it how they have MM’s costume but not really.
aid of a helmet from naboo?
whoa Jonn with the cannons!
Speaking of which, John is packing some heat!
HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!
Green Martian Manhunter! :0
Holy CRAP! full on MARTIAN!
What the fuck. Why would he kill him off?
That’s just stupid.
noooooooooooooooo that was awesome gilmspe of jon
I’m finally home!
What’d I miss?
wow that scene rocked!
I’m sorry, again I know it’s TV but…..Dr. Fate doesn’t die like a bitch like that.
He isn’t fodder.
@conor – lol ALOT
If this ends up being, everyone dies in the JSA exepect Stargirl, I anit gonna be too happy.
"Who are you?" "Foxxy Brown!"
alot
@ too much to even start listing Conor. It’s been geek-tastic lol.
I’m tired of this guy crying. Just go after them!
Has anyone else noticed Clark hasn’t really contributed anything to the plot of this episode?
checkmate, suicide squad, all the JSA, Green Jonn…
Some wanna be super villian shouldn’t be able to take down all these hero’s.
@Prax He has basically done jack and shit. He’s more like a reason to have this a ‘Smallville’ episode and not just a JSA pilot.
and when does Clark start actually leading the new gen and carrying the torch himself. instead of telling the young girl to do it.
they are all rusty
I’m still pissed over that death of Fate. I hope it’s either a clever ruse, like it wasn’t his real body or something, and not just a weak way to kill him. Dr. Fate has been shown to be too poweful and all knowning to die that quickly.
I think part of the point is that most of these heroes are past their prime, and he is picking them off individually.
i want sasha
"Shearwood?" What is Shearwood?
Dr Fate is still in the helmut, along with some element of Kent. And the HAwkman voice is now ALWAYS annoying.
Gee I wonder what will happen to Hawkman during this fight?
THIS Hawkman/GA convo is classic!
we all thinking he dies? lol
The way this D level villain is going; it’s gonna take more then Hawkman and Green Arrow to stop them,
So Clark is Neo?
I still don’t understand why GA has to change his voice, they all know how he sounds like.
A toned down Superman isn’t going to make this any better.
MM got his groove back!!
FUCK YEAH MARTIAN MANHUNTER!!!
ooooh NICE Jonn.
The guy who’s playing J’ohn, did he provide the voice on JL and JLU? They sound alike…
Well…..that was WAY too easy.
crappy internet connection. I missed out on soo many possible comments.
Aaaand back in time for the last ten minutes. How’s the show been so far, guys?
Has J’onn ever gone intangible in Smallville before?
teamwork works everytime yo
yea clark goes with that Neo look. weird, i have no idea why, i havent watched this season.
A little disappointed with that. I mean even if he was a punk, Icicle was doing a great job killing everyone. Even with a Dr. Fate helmet he couldn’t beat them up. Kinda sad really…
@Paul It’s been stellar
@Paul/Conor You missed a great 1hr and 40min show. The last ten so far……eh not so much.
hawkman aint dying he got to
I dont think Jonn has done the intangible ability. I saw him fly, and use heat vision. Obviously he shape shifts too.
@Mike – he got dark and cut off from everyone to embrace his destiny and train in the Fortress with Jor-El after the death of Jimmy Olsen…
"Cause of you?"
What has Clark done to shown he is bogging the team down? The fact he doesn’t do anything?
ooh right i think i caught some of that. thanks superyan
It seems like everytime someone talks about Clark’s fate it sounds like:
"Whenever we end this show, your life is gonna be awesome!"
If the JSA was really back together they would’ve made the other guys show up. Just as a cameo…
ok so waller is still out there, and the jsa and the sucide squad is till out there.
This has been an awesome episode. Except that Ted Grant got dragged out of that room a bit too easy. Cops or no cops, one of them should have hit the floor.
suicde squad! That would be awesome, Cookie reference!
MARTIAN MANHUNTER! COOKIES!!
Next time I’ll do something for 2 hours…
i still felt the King on Tess’ desk was a Lex hint.
WHO WAS THE JUSTICE SOCIETY? Lois really can’t spell. It should either be What was or Who were?
@Mike It was a White Queen.
Since Waller is still around, hopefully we will see the Squad soon.
he’s still alive?
Oh no… Apokolips?
WHOA WALLER RULES !
Apocolypse?….I wonder….if we spell that a bit differently….
SUICIDE SQUAD REFERENCE!!!
hot damn
tess….checkmate….Johns is freaking awesome!
Suicide Squad! Fantastic. This Icicle was a punk anyway. Good riddance.
@PRax, oh yea it was a queen. WOW was that an Apokolips reference? Geez.
awessome ending! tess was in Checkmate!?
woooohooo! Zatanna’s back next episode!!!!!
zatanna next week!
So did Smallville just turn into the JSA-JLA Show? I hope so!
granny goodness in Smallville? Some how I don’t see that working. New Gods however….
That was great. I have never participated in one of the live chats before now, but this drove me to it.
That was just thrilling.
Episode got me motivated to pick up some geoff johns JSA books.
@Flounder, me either, this was the first time I did this. Made watching this even more enjoyable. Thanks guys.
I am really looking forward to how they utilize the JSA, Checkmate and Waller’s Suicide Squad later on in the season and hopefully a return for Cyborg, Impulse, Aquaman and Canary
I have to admit, there was a lot of the main storyline at work in this episode that makes me want to continue with the show.
@prax yea me too. if they follow up on all those DCU elements I would watch. But if next week returns to the "Clark wallowing" Show, i wont watch it past that episode.
I dont know about everyone else but I just spend the last 10 mins ordering every single trade of Geof John’s previous run on the JSA.
This was very good, better then I expected it to be. The acting was top notch, for the most part and so was the production. The costumes actually looked great and not very cheesy. Well Hawkman was still a bit of a giggle at first but once we got used to it I didn’t think of it as a joke anymore.
Just knowning that Suicide Squad/Checkmate is a real makes me giddy. If they are going to be the villains for the rest of this season or the future, I’m done to watch more of these episodes. This was also just great, DC porn. Everything from the JSA HQ, to the little homages to each character, or cameos; they all worked. Still a shame that the living JSA members couldn’t make a cameo in their outfits…..at least they are all alive just in case.
I only really had two big problems with this thing. A) Clark Kent is absolutely useless which is a big problem considering he’s the lead. What on earth did he do in this special that made this considered a ‘Smallville’ production? This felt like a JSA pilot with Clark Kent added just for the hell of it. B) This felt really rushed towards the end. I think Johns got a bit swept up with the nostalgia and forgot that there had to be a ‘final’ fight to this. Icicle was lead to be a pretty formible villain (even if he would be a D level villain in the comics), but he comes out and in no time at all gets quickly knocked out. Boring. Don’t get me wrong, the majority of this was written well and when the fight was over (the last 10mins or so) it was fantastic. But still, it definitely felt like Johns forgot there was a time limit to this. Oh and a tiny nitpick…..Dr. Fate doesn’t die like a bitch.
Overall this really impressed me as a whole. It wasn’t as cheesy as I expected to be and it was quite serious. Johns is a pretty damn good tv writer even if he is writing what he’s perfect at. If this was sorta a test or pilot (as mentioned earlier) for a JSA spin off…..Why wouldn’t that work? Cause it worked for me and I think we need to see a bit more TV experiments like this 2 hour special. If I had to grade it……B+ for sure.
@ jackie they were great storys man. you will dig em i bet. I have them all in issues, and I will spend some time tomorrow digging through them too.
Does my heart good to hear people are gonna be checking out some JSA for the first time! You’re gonna love it!
Gonna check out the full episode in the morning, but I liked what I saw. I seriously feel like a kid on Christmas seeing my favorite team in live action!
@mikefromgotham I read/own the first three trades (Robinson, Johns) and somehow I didn’t feel the need to get the rest, but now..fuck yes. According to Amazon, they will arrived sometims next Wednesday.
The Doctor Fate death didnt bother me, because he said it wasnt Jonns time to die, so he saved Jonn knowing he would bite the bullet. I;m thinking Fate knows/knew that his son will be next in the helmut.
@jackieteam I already got’em. If you’re liking the JSA, I’d also suggest JSA: The Liberty File which is a fun Elsewords and The Justice Society Returns! (which reintroduced the golden age iterations right before the launch of the new book.)
@praxjavin. Yeah I read JSA: Liberty Files, very good. Thanks for the The Justice Society Return suggeston, I might check that out.
The difference between this episode and a normal Smallville episode was that this was written with vigor. No moping, no dragging your feet, no forlorn looks. Just go baby. I understand that it also probably had a huge budget compared to a normal episode, BUT, this is what I want to see. Let’s hope the rest of the season stays in high gear.
@ron, josh and conor I think it’s time for a JSA video show.
So, how bad did Pam Grier look?
I had avoided spoilers on the episode and was like, holy fuck, Foxy Brown! Then I was like… um, what’s wrong with her neck? She’s bobbing like an awkward bobble head.
Yeah seriously what’s up with her neck?
Just wanted to say that I really dug the MM costume.
It wasn’t as bad as the pictures and other promos depicted to be. Same with Doctor Fate and Hawkman’s chest plate. Worked out pretty well.
I absolutely loved this episode! This is the first show in over a year I did not record with my DVR, I watched from beginning to end and endured the commercials!
In regards to an earlier comment that Clark was "useless" I disagree with respect.
Smallville is the ascendancy of Clark Kent to the Red & Blue. He, as well as the others, has not gotten to the point he can both comprehend and embrace what he must be. This episode IMO advanced that a whole lot.
Leaving this open-ended was more than I hoped.
Now we have Zod and the Kandorians, established heroes, Checkmate and Luthor all in the stew. The only thing missing is Gotham and a Bat.
A bunch of kudos to all involved, great show!
Unfortunately, it was a joke. Terrible acting, laughable costumes. Geoff Johns should keep his regular job. Typical teen dreck.
it was everything and more than i was hoping for.. Geoff Johns and Smallville= AWESOME!!!
HOLY WOW!
That was better than I honestly even hoped for. I thought about writing out everything that was great, but my mind is too blown at the moment. Everything was top notch.
They can’t really be prepping an appearance by Darkseid, can they? I would be shocked if they did. I’m assuming that the upcoming war that needed all of the heroes is something that would be years away and thus beyond the life of the show.
Whew. Wow, that was good. I’m gonna keep that one on the DVR for a while for a rewatch.
My one hope is that the season doesn’t take a dive like it did last season immediately after a Johns-written episode. Zatanna coming back next week is a good sign, her last episode was great.
Aww man this was just AWESOME as i thought it was gonna be.
Dont know why people were hating on it when the trailer came out.
First time watching Smallville since the first couple of eps. from season 7 but im def. gonna go watch season 7 and 8 and also have to check out some JSA, checkamte and suicide squad books!!!
Everyone sounds so excited, now I have to go see if CW has some kind of Hulu equivalent.
@jimski I may know of a truck the episode fell off of, e-mail me 😉
I had not watched Smallville in years, but I found this fun and entertaining. To those of you who felt that Clark was under used in the episode, it’s a valid complaint but may have a lot to do with the fact that Tom Welling directed the second hour. I thought he did a great job. That bullet time-style fight scene was particularly stellar. Though I’m not a big DC guy, there were still many aspects that I recognized and enjoyed as DC porn, mostly thanks to the early animated works of Bruce Timm. 🙂
One final thought: I really enjoyed the score for this episode. Though I like Mark Snow, I never thought his music really fit with the look and feel of Smallville, but I like this new composer. Also, though I haven’t watched Smallville in ages, I’ve always felt that the show has been consistently gorgeous to look at. The cool, blue/silver look during the Icicle scenes especially reminded me of my favorite cinematographer, Adam Greenberg, specifically his work on T2.
This was the most enjoyable episode I’ve watched in a long time. I did not expect for Checkmate to get introduced into smallville. Also loved the fact that teh girl who played stargirl looked exactly like the comics. To me at least.
Obviously the focus on this entire special was the JSA. So if Clark wasn’t the focal pointl then I would understand. But he really had no purpose in this entire special. For the character he learned about his destiny and fate; but how many times have they done that already on the show? His friends did more work and moved the plot along further then he did. Hell even a late comer in Lois Lane did more to advance the plot.
In the end it doesn’t really hamper that much into this special, but it was a bit of a nagging issue sometimes.
there was so many great things in this episode. my favorite being freakin’ Martian Manhunter and a little tease of Superman’s cape. now i’m curious to see if we can get Darkseid out of this show
I know Chloe is supposed to be Smallville’s Oracle, but am I the only one that noticed the hints that she might be the female Dr. Fate? Fate himself stated that she was on a similar path to him and then later Martian Manhunter warned Chloe against her want for information, lest she follow the same path as Kent.
Pam Grier physical state bothered me on a personal level, (it’s been a while since Jackie Brown) but as Amanda Waller, it makes sense. The Wall and George Lucas can have a battle of the necks.
I’ve never been a steady Smallville watcher, but this right here has me excited for the show’s possibilities. I’ve never expected quality writing, direction or special effects from this show, but tonight was a success on all fronts.
Geoff Johns should write/plot Smallville Season 10. ‘Nuff said. No one has really commented on how fantastic Justin Hartley was. They introduced a lot of new plot points this episode, none of which related to the season’s Zod and the Kandorians plot…I really hope they havent broken off more than the can chew. As for when Clark finally dons the red and blue, after seeing the costumes in tonight’s ep, I have complete faith. I really hope The CW doesn’t dick us fans around and suddenly cancel the show. Smallville deserves a "Final Season" advertising campaign. This will definitely go down in comic book history as one of the greats (Hell, this show is better than 3/4ths of the comic book movies this decade).
I’d say this was the best episode of Smallville ever. They need to have Johns work on more episodes. Also proved they can do costumes without it looking cheesy. Although, Hawkman’s voice when he was wearing his mask was too gravelly, like he was trying to be Christain Bale’s Batman.
Also, I would have preferred CCH Pounder as Amanda Waller, I’ve always thought she’d be perfect for the role.
I tried watching it, but got turned off by the really really horrible acting. That guy who plays Green Arrow is very bad. Still haven’t finished it. May be tomorrow.
I think a special review episode is in order.
Its snowin all over the east coast. Just fire up ustream and DO IT!
Surprisingly, Dr. Fate actually looked very cool. Hawkman looked absolutely horrible. Shanks was overacting the shit out which is crazy because he is usually a good actor.
@RKB – I agree with just about everything you said.. Hartley was really good in the episode. Everyone focused on the JSA’ers but he was good. Im with you on it being better than 3/4 of the comicbook movies too! I look forward to every episode! I REALLLY hope we get the 10th and final season. When its gone, I’m not sure what I’ll look forward to on TV anymore..
dr fate was absolutly amazing…………it was sooo incredible to see these charater come to life ……….i hope they do something like this again
This was the first episode I’ve watched of Smallville in years. Overall it was fun, but I agree that Clark was pretty useless. He didn’t do much in the fight, and Lois got all the info he and Chloe spent half the episode gathering in like five minutes.
What the hell is with Green Arrow’s voice? Why does it get all deep for no reason?
Stargirl’s mask looked bad. They should have been a little less faithful there and given her a small diamond mask or something. Her fight with Icicle was pretty cheesy, with some really cringe-inducing lines.Her acting in general was pretty bad, but the rest were okay.
Dr. Fate was great. Hawkman was pretty good, except for his strange raspy voice thing when he was trying to sound bad ass.
Enjoyed the story and how they presented the JSA. The stuff with Checkmate and the Suicide Squad was awesome and almost makes me want to come back to the show.
It would be great to see all of the Suicide Squad members from the comics show up. Like Deadshot and Captain Boomerang.
Did anyone else notice how Courtney’s civilian outfit was Stripesy outfit?
And how come they totally glanced over the fact there’s another Flash and Black Canary?
Black Canary I?? Did not see that. Jay Garrick, yes. Maybe someone will make the connection that Bart was using that as an alias in his first episode. I am DYING for Wildcat to make it into an episode. I just love that character and how he has been a mentor to so many heroes and he is basically just a boxer. I hope they have someone like Chad Everett play him or something.
Sidebar: To those who keep asking about Oliver’s voice, he keeps a modulator on when he is patrolling. It was introduced in his first episode.
Black Canary is in the portrait next to Mr. Terrific I
My first episode of smallville. Looks like I’ll be starting at the beginning.
Just watched it and thought they did a great job. Also realized Joe much I don’t know about the DC universe. The whole Clark didn’t do much thing makes sense to me just because I wanted to spend more time with JSA and not Clark, who I see every week. It will be interesting where they go from here, with Zod still out there and now Checkmate.
*meant how much I don’t know about DC. Damn iPhone and not paying attention to what I actually type.
Was pretty good. Wish I could have seen more members of the JSA in action but that’s purely a fanboy gripe.
I’ve only watched the occasional Smallville episode and haven’t read much DC so many of these characters are relatively new to me – that said, I thought this episode was, by far, among the best comics books to screen I’ve ever seen done (including movies) and was really fun.
If Smallville can keep this up I may start watching it more often – really engaging and a great sense of past & future.
Take note CW this is how I want my Smallville. Costumed and Superheroic.
anyone know how this episode did raitings wise?
It scored 2.8 million viewers, it’s highest of the season; and gave the CW it’s best Friday night in over a year.
Oh wow. That’s interesting. I wonder what the cost vs. payoff for the episode was? It clearly had a bigger fx budget then some other episodes.
@Crippler – they had more money to spend because it was essentially two episodes, so the had the budget of 2 instead of one. So they could spread the money more.
As far as ratings, i think thats awesome, but i as hoping it’d be more. Being that its Friday, I’m sure final #’s will go up cuz of dvr’s and I’m sure iTunes sales will be big as well.
This week’s ish of TV Guide mentions that the CW is leaning toward bringing back Smallville and Supernatural for another season each next year. No official word yet though.
I really enjoyed the show, it was great to see all the JSA stuff on TV. The only thing that didn’t work for me was hawkman flying and his wings
I thought the episode was better than anything we’ve seen from Smallville in a while (but that is not saying much). I thouht the poor acting from alot of the guest characters and the ridiculusly bad fitting costumes made it seem like a fan film and it makes me apprehenisive about putting Tom Welling in costume on this show. Plus it really had nothing to do with the whole zod thing that is going on this season. Smallville shoud have ended 5 seasons ago when it wasn’t relying on the JSA/Johns for ratings and interest.
@Mxyzptlk: Thank god these episodes had noting to do with Zod.
I was disappointed in this episode. For all the hype, it seemed to add only a couple fancy camera angles and a slightly-larger effects budget. Storywise is just sort of plodded along and there wasn’t any real combat to speak of.
As someone who has a basic familiarity with the DC canon, it didn’t evoke any deep nostalgic twinges seeing the JSA brownstone. Rather, I was just hoping they’d get on with the story. They never did explain how these people have never been referenced before when clearly they were a big deal, running (and flying) around the city just a generation earlier.
And what was that weird Batman-voice Michael Shanks was doing?
On the plus side, the Dr. Fate helmet was very cool and the Star Girl actress was plenty spunky, even if she didn’t have much to do other than drop the info-dumps.
Rating were up less than 10% from the previous week. Creative failure. Ratings failure. Are we sure Geoff Johns really wrote it? Could he have been totally rewritten? It was soooooo bad!
@fnord: The highest ratings of the season and the best numbers for The CW on a Friday night in over a year is an interesting definition of "ratings failure."