Smallville: Superman Begins!

Episode 6.10: Hydro
Airdate: January 11, 2007

After Lana confesses to Chloe she has reservations about marrying Lex due to her lingering feelings for Clark, The Daily Planet gossip columnist, Linda Lake (Tori Spelling), runs a story detailing their exact conversation. Determined to prove she didn't give the story to Lake, Chloe investigates her fellow co-worker and discovers she has the ability to turn herself into water and uses it to secretly overhear conversations for her column. Meanwhile, Lois begins to suspect Oliver (Justin Hartley) is the Green Arrow and enlists Clark's help to prove it.

Season 3
The show focused on more character development, loyalty, betrayal, and new revelations involving Jor-El. Early in the season, Michael McKean, portrayed Clark's future Daily Planet editor Perry White; from this point on, other characters relevant to the Superman mythos and the DC Universe were introduced to Smallville. To the chagrin of fans, however, Pete Ross was ultimately written out of the show, explanatorily through his inability to deal with keeping Clark's secret and the desire to move to Wichita, Kansas with his mother after his parents had divorced. Gough has stated that the actor wanted to leave the show due to lack of screen time.

Season 4
The arc involved Clark seeking out three Kryptonian stones (at the instruction of his father Jor-El) that supposedly unlocked the infinite knowledge of the universe. The majority of this season revolved around Lex trying to rekindle a strained friendship with Clark, Lana dating a young Jason Teague, Lionel's ambiguous transformation into a good father and person, and Clark and numerous other characters vying with one another in attempts to obtain the stones. This season was also a milestone because it introduced Lois Lane (Erica Durance), Superman's future wife.

Season 5
Season 5 introduced several classic mythos elements such as the Fortress of Solitude, Professor Milton Fine, also known as the villain Brainiac, the Phantom Zone, and General Zod. Fine would become a recurring antagonist for Clark throughout the season with the central plot revolving around Clark using the knowledge obtained in the Fortress of Solitude to train for an impending doom that was to befall Earth. It was revealed that this doom was the release of General Zod from the Phantom Zone due to the machinations of Milton Fine. Season 5 also allowed Clark and Lana to explore their first real adult relationship with each other. This helped organize the blueprint for what would eventually become the series' most sought after love triangle between Clark, Lana, and Lex. As with Season 4, Season 5 featured a gradually unveiling plotline in conjunction with multiple minor story arcs running in parallel, mid-season and season finale cliffhangers, and cameos from other notable DC characters.

* Justice - The Green Arrow, the Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg try to destroy LuthorCorp's secret laboratory, but the Flash (Kyle Gallner) is captured and tortured by Lex, prompting the formation of the Justice League to rescue him.

* Clark admits to Chloe that he has considered a relationship with her in the past, and that is what breaks her up with Jimmy. Also, the red-K induced Clois might go away as soon as something more interesting comes along for Clark.

* 12/07 - Alfred Ghough reveals: Jonathan Kent will probably not appear again. We may bring Green Arrow back... we sort of have an arc, and he may pop up again, but that's going to be determined upon whether or not Justin gets a pilot, and my guess is he will. So, he's definitely a character that we can certainly revisit, and if not later this season, perhaps next season. Ultimately, Lionel and Martha will not become a couple, because I think that Martha is too good and pure and sees Lionel for what he really is, and the question really being - when is Lionel going to really show his stripes again, which we'll see in the latter half of the season. If we get a 7th season, we'll just keep moving Clark's journey towards Superman further and introduce other DC comic characters.

Smallville is an American television series that follows the adventures of a young Clark Kent (Tom Welling), as a teenager living in Smallville, Kansas, during the years before he becomes Superman. Created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, Smallville debuted on October 16, 2001 on the WB Network, though it now airs on The CW (following the merger of The WB and UPN after the respective networks ceased operations) and is currently in its sixth season. Viewers will often observe of dialogue, guest stars, character wardrobe, musical scores, and scenic design used as allusions to the Superman comic books and films.

The series follows the life of a teenage Clark Kent living in the town of Smallville, Kansas, that is set at the start of the 21st century. It shows Clark Kent coping with adolescence while he is developing superpowers (x-ray vision, superhearing, etc.), exploring his extraterrestrial origins, and struggling to find his destiny in life.

The series often deals with the people in Clark Kent's life: the trials and tribulations of his adoptive human parents, Jonathan Kent and Martha Kent; friendship with his peers Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross; his attempts at a relationship with his sometime love interest Lana Lang; and especially his peculiar friendship with a young Lex Luthor and how it gradually decays into their mutual enmity of legend.

The element of kryptonite is used as a recurring plot device throughout the series. Kryptonite is shown to have bizarre and lingering effects on human physiology and the young superhero often encounters mutated villains who have developed bizarre powers, such as psychic abilities, shapeshifting, and other paranormal abilities (for this reason, the show is often criticized as being predominantly a "villain of the week" series).

Regarding Kryptonians like Clark, though, kryptonite has very different effects; the general premise is Clark is virtually invincible except when around it. Different colors affect Clark differently: Green kryptonite physically weakens him and could possibly kill him if he is exposed to it for too long. Red kryptonite causes him to set aside moral compunctions and act out on his impulses and dark desires. Black kryptonite splits Clark into (and merges him back together from) two separate beings exhibiting two personalities (Clark Kent and the apathetic Kal-El). Silver kryptonite causes hallucinations and paranoid delusions.

Premiered: October 16, 2001

When is it on?: Thursdays at 8pm ET on The CW (Check local listings). Also in syndication on the ABC Family Channel.

Starring: Tom Welling as Clark Kent
Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang
Annette O'Toole as Martha Kent
John Glover as Lionel Luthor
Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
Erica Durance as Lois Lane
Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan

There are a number of allusions and themes which relate to the Superman franchise in a number of ways, including references to the Superman name, colors or costume. One of the most obvious of these is that Clark is almost always seen wearing combinations of red, yellow and blue, an allusion of his costume to come. In addition, Clark is frequently told by other characters he looks good in either blue or red. Clark's surroundings maintain a similar theme; the Kent farm has objects which colors are either red, yellow or blue. For example, their house is yellow, the barn is red and the truck is blue.

In addition to the Kent Farm, in seasons one through to four, Smallville High School represents many of these allusions as well. The school mascot, which is a crow, wears a red cape, with a crest on its chest that has the letter S (for Smallville). Also, two of Superman's colors-red and yellow-are abundant in the school. As well as the references to the Superman character, the series makes numerous references to other Superman lore and media. It should also be noted that the Superman films has some reference as well through the cast, as Annette O'Toole (who plays Clark's mother) played the role of Lana Lang in Superman III in 1983 and Terence Stamp (who voices Clark's biological father, Jor-El) played General Zod in both Superman and Superman II.