Wednesday, September 27, 2006

What's wrong with Smallville - Late September '06 edition:

The whole «feel» of the series is wrong.

There should have been no violations of the mythos.

That means no lex, no lois, no chloe in smallville.

Practically everybody in smallville will recognize Superman.

Clark should have been made long ago. People in smallville are very, very stupid.

In my eyes the very foundation for the story is wrong.

The story should be story driven, not event driven.

They've jacked up the drama for every end of season, and we thought they would finally arrive at something, and everything just fizzed time and time again.

I would have simplified it from the start. Made it story driven. Made Clark less normal. «Normality is overestimated». Story arcs turning into one single story arc.

No meteor shower. He should have arrived in the space ship, totally silent and unnoticed.

Lana should have been done totally different.

A lot less emphasize on relationship and more on the story.

In other words: no soap opera and more story.

Worked out much better dialogue. Worked more with the actors.

Told them this is real. This is really happening.

I would have strived for realism. Instead of hundreds of weird incidents, I would have settled for a few, and worked more with them, to make them work.

«Less is more».

He should have flown fairly early, during the second season or so.

There should have been no Jor El, except as a voice, a recording, played once.

Most of the extensions should have been dropped. Too much is happening, too many distractions from the actual story.

«Less is more».

It's all too neat. Lex Luthor is wrong. Everyone is off from what they should be.

The only one that isn't, is Lois, really.

Instead of writing one and one episode separately, they should have written the entire story before even starting the series, the story and the various arcs within the story.

It seems to be like they're sitting in a chair throwing the dice often, way too often.

One writer or at least a group of writers should do everything in advance, making it into one, cohesive story. Of hundred episodes perhaps about ten should have been «breathers». No more.

And they, too should have moved the story forward one way or another. As it stands now, it's the other way around. Most of the episodes are totally unnecessary. If I had a time machine and went back in time for the sole purpose of remaking smallville (stupid, I know, I would have done something far more important), I would have kept only ten episodes and discarded the rest.

So, about ten percent is good, as I see it. The rest is totally forgettable.


The sixth season began as all seasons before it: with the resolution of an impossible situation (a cliffhanger) set up at the end of the previous season that should have taken countless episodes to resolve or remained a somewhat permanently new status quo. Yet another nail in the coffin. These people don't even have basic storytelling right. Incredible.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Poetic Justice

One piece of news that brightened my morning and made my day. I laughed and laughed and kept laughing. I still do.


From BBC News Text-TV:


Filmmaker knocks out his critics

A German filmmaker repeatedly panned for his work has quite literally hit back at his critics… in a boxing ring in the Canadian city of Vancouver. Director Uwe Boll took on four of his critics in a boxing match after he became so annoyed at their criticism. One said the horror moviemaker was «one of the most inept filmmakers ever». But it was the director, now dubbed Raging Boll, who emerged victorious in the boxing ring, watched by a crowd of 600 people.

Boll is just one of several filmmakers that in various ways has hit back at the critics lately. Among them is M. Night Shayamalan that incorporated the theme into his latest great film Lady in the Water.

Critics are basically the leeches and parasites of art, and they deserve all the payback they get…

Boll’s films are not great, but they are fairly good, and he does in no way deserve his bad reputation.