Smallville Goes Back To Basics
27 December 2004
In a fairly new interview for issue 124 of Dreamwatch Smallville writer and producer Al Gough reveals how the production has attempted to augment the show by going back to basics.
Smallville over the last couple of years has suffered a similar fate the Star Trek: Enterprise, the show started out life as the WB's star attraction on a Tuesday evening and was subsequently moved during it's third season to a Wednesday evening time slot which put the adventures of a teenaged Clarke Kent head to head with the struggling Science Fiction show Star Trek: Enterprise. Gough though is adopting the back to basics approach in order to try and regain some of the people that the show has lost over the last two seasons.
“What we've tried to do this year is get back to some of the basics. It's a young teen with superpowers learning how to grow up and accept his destiny. In season three Clark [Tom Welling] was running away from his destiny and in season four he's ultimately moving towards it, accepting it and growing up. It all comes down to graduation at the end of the year, making that next leap into young adulthood.”
Of course Clark Kent is not the only character growing up in the small fictional town of Smallville, over the last two years we have seen the slow evolution of Lex Luther who will as many fans know, eventually be Supermans arch nemesis. Gough reveals that this season will see Lex mover ever closer to the darker side of his human nature.
“We also see Lex [Michael Rosenbaum] begin moving more to the dark side. And then Lionel [John Glover] is going to be getting out of prison about halfway through, but when he comes back he claims to be a changed man. He's seen God and changed his wicked ways, which completely throws Lex off. So now how does Lex deal with his father in this new incarnation?”
A new addition to the Smallville cast is ‘The Flash' (Kyle Gallner) who appears in the season four episode ‘Run'. Gough is hoping that this new guest star will get to make further appearances throughout the remaining run of the series. The producer and writer is also hoping to add other DC Favourites to the tapestry that is Smallville.
“Yes, we'd certainly like to bring The Flash back this season,” Gough admits. “That's out plan at the moment. We're just looking at how the rest of our season lays out and where we could potentially do that.”
As ever the writer and producer is hoping to give the audience a bit of humour and fun utilising various different characters from the DC Universe. Perry White will be returning for the 4 th season and Gough also revealed that he will be introducing Krypto Supermans dog into the Smallville universe. But of course the producer would like to add other iconic DC Characters to the Smallville universe.
“With Wonder Woman and Batman movies coming out, it's hard to go after the big two. It's about finding characters that we feel can fit into our show and we have a story to tell about that character, and then getting the approval from the feature and comic divisions.”
You can read much more of this interview with Smallville creator Al Gough in issue 124 of Dreamwatch magazine.
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