When Superman first hit the newsstand in 1938 as part of Action Comics, who would have imagined that his alter ego, the bumbling and clumsy Clark Kent, would have saved the world as the king of adolescent teen that the original comic books appealed to? Well, in 2001, Al Gough and Miles Miller dared to tell the ambitious tale of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's blue boy scout growing up in a time much different than 1938 in the small Kansas town of Smallville.

When the series first launched on The WB, I initially tuned in because I wanted to see how the Man of Steel would fair in a modern adaptation with a fairly decent production budget. I wanted to see how Superman became Superman, how he learned of his heritage and how he and Lex Luthor came to be mortal enemies. In short, I wanted everything Lois and Clark was never able to achieve.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that what promised to be an original take on the superhero-to-be turned out to be something of a rip-off.

You have the hero, an alien from another world and his two trusted companions (one male, one female). The hero falls in love with a beautiful human girl, and while simultaneously trying to deal with her football jock boyfriend with a bad attitude and other teenage problems, our hero is forced to look at his own alienness and fend off a local obsessive determined to unravel his secret.

Sound familiar? It should, because that happens to be the show description for Roswell, a series that only lasted three years and went through a few reinventions of itself while trying to find a stable audience. So why then has Smallville managed to outlast Roswell as a series? The answer: It has more to offer than Kryptonite mutants and Lana Lang stalkers.

Yes, the early episodes were particularly bad. Ludicrously bad in fact, as some kid that nobody likes is mutated by kryptonite and then go on a killing spree with Lana Lang as the final prize. It could have worked once, maybe even twice, but the idea was just not strong enough to sustain an entire series.

The first year was plagued by such storylines, and if you happen to even read through the accompanying booklet to the DVD collection, youll see just how dependant the show was on Krypto-freaks. Hothead, Kinetic and Reaper are only a few examples of this overused formula in action.

One episode in particular springs to mind -- Ice -- where a member of the Smallville Crows football team falls through a frozen crater lake and into a patch of Kryptonite meteor fragments. He is very quickly transformed, requiring the suck the body heat from his victims just to survive, leaving behind a crystallized corpse in the process.

Thankfully, however, the series outgrew its dependency on the freak-of-the- week approach and instead turned its attention to some of the real reasons people were tuning into the show in the first place. Taking a dark turn, not only did the show embrace as much of the Superman mythology as it was contractually allowed to, but by introducing more prominent villains (namely the disembodied Jor-El and sinister billionaire Lionel Luthor) and sending Clark on his quest to discover his Kryptonian heritage the series firmly established itself as another teen drama that adults love to watch.

Season 3, in what was perhaps the most sinister of all, opened with Clark Kent high on red Kryptonite and trying to forget his troubles and expel his guilt for causing the death of the Kent baby. Those elements cast deep shadows and soon the entire cast was completely engulfed. Would Chloe betray Clark to enhance her standing with Lionel Luthor? Does Lex really have what it takes to become a villain? And just what is Jor-Els devious plan for the last son of Krypton?

And each year after that, the series got a little bit smarter still. Sure, there were a couple more meteor freaks along the way, but that was most likely a response to Warner Bros. embargo on including other Kryptonians so Krypto-mutants became the only way to create the fantastical world of the comic books without stepping on any toes. You see, back then, a Superman project had been in and out of production with a number of directors attaching themselves to the project and then subsequently dropping off the radar. That project of course turned out to be Superman Returns, and because the studio was sinking so much into that development, they wanted Smallville to steer clear of anything that could potentially complicate things later. "No Kryptonians" was the watchword for the series.

Although the scripts became that little bit sharper with each year, it wasnt until the dawning of the fifth season the show (much like Clark Kent) really took off, as that was when Smallville really became Superman in training. Superman Returns had already been filmed and Al Gough and Miles Millers hands were finally untied as to what comic book elements they could include. The Fortress of Solitude, Aquaman, more of Lois Lane, and the rise of Lex Luthor all helped usher the series further into the DC Universe and into its current sixth season which is choc-full of comic book goodness.

Meteor "freaks" became "infected," and were eventually replaced by Phantom Prisoners released from the infamous Phantom Zone or were limited to the slightly more nefarious 33.1 stories (which in themselves gave Lex more weight as a villain than ever before), Lois fell for the Green Arrow and the Justice League was formed. But amongst all the weird and wonderful was some hardcore drama and some very real issues that nicely play out.

Some might say its too little too late, some might even think that the series is a bubblegum teen drama. But the truth is Smallville has always had a great deal of potential and it is only now starting to realize just how great it can be.

SyBits
I know most of you are expecting to read the usual SciFriday with Michael Hinman, so I hope it is not a huge disappointment to find me here instead. No, Im not replacing him and no, he hasnt turned his back on the SciFriday column. Michael will be back in his usual spot next week. But don't let that stop him from getting his two cents into this column. See what he filled the mailbag with:

Why is it that SciFi Channel shows a bonus scene at the end of each episode? If there's enough time to show that scene as well as at least three 5-second spots promoting that ... why not just include the scene in the damn episode? Case in point in "The Son Also Rises," the scene between Athena and Cally would've worked great in the episode. Why is it instead a "bonus" scene?
-- Michael Hinman, Tampa, Fla.

That is an excellent question, Mike. Unfortunately, I just dont have an answer to it.

Scenes are removed from shows (and movies) all the time for various reasons. It could be to prevent a particular character from stealing the show (this episode was, after all, Apollo-centric), it could be to set the mood, and as you suggested even for length purposes.

But at the end of the day, SciFi is actively taking steps to bring us Battlestar Galactica material beyond the usual 1-hour fix. Its definitely a lot better than waiting for the eventual DVD release.

My own feelings about why "Lost" is losing ratings are that by the end of Season 1, I was looking forward to exploring the hatch and the show didn't disappoint. I expected a lot out of Season 3 and the visit to The Others camp, and basically, it has been a let down. The stories are so slowly paced they have almost ground to a halt, and the flashbacks have been, on the whole, below par. The Others have been reduced from the murderous threat of the first and second season to a minor irritant. "Mr. Friendly" has become just that!
-- Stephen Dray

I have to say Stephen, I completely agree with you. At the beginning of the third season, Lost took on a split-story telling approach in which the majority of stories focused on the adventures of Jack, Kate and Sawyer in The Others encampment with only a couple of episodes taking place on the island with the rest of the Oceanic Flight survivors.

Lost has always been an ensemble show and is at its best when dealing with the issues of the larger group. As far as I know, only one other show has tried the split story type approach with a relative degree of success, and that was "Farscape." Of course, as you know, it was cancelled only a year later at the end of its fourth season.

But you are right. The episodes are very slowly clawing their way back, and if some spoilers are to be believed, then the series should turn out to be a welcome addition to the Lost saga.

The real question remains ... can the series ever manage to top its debut season?

One last thing before I go and let you sit a week waiting for Michael to return, the parent organization of Airlock Alpha -- The SyUniverse Group -- is now officially a Florida-based corporation. The final paperwork was filed Wednesday, and now Airlock Alpha is owned by SyUniverse Group Inc.

It's a real big step for the site, and proves that things are getting bigger and better here as we watch. Michael wants to thank all of you, our readers, for helping to make it happen!

Why not take a few minutes and share your opinion with me. Just send an e-mail to mhinman@airlockalpha.com, and if you're lucky, I could use it in an upcoming column. Please include a name we can use, as well as where you're writing from.

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Alan Stanley Blair is a staff writer for Airlock Alpha, writing out of Scotland. You can write to him at ablair@airlockalpha.com.

Regular SciFriday columnist Michael Hinman will return next week

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