Smallville (Season 1)
From Iwe
| Smallville Season 1 | ||
| DVD box cover art | ||
| Country of origin | United States | |
| No. of episodes | 21 | |
| Broadcast | ||
| Original channel | The WB | |
| Original run | October 16, 2001 – May 21, 2002 | |
| Season chronology | ||
| Next → Season 2 | ||
Season one of Smallville, an American television series developed by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, began airing on October 16, 2001, on The WB television network. The series recounts the early adventures of Kryptonian Clark Kent as he adjusts to his developing superpowers in the fictional town of Smallville, Kansas, during the years before he becomes Superman. The first season comprises 21 episodes and concluded its initial airing on May 21, 2002. Regular cast members during season one include Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Kristin Kreuk, Annette O'Toole, John Schneider, Sam Jones III, Allison Mack, and Eric Johnson.
The season's stories focus on Martha and Jonathan Kent's (O'Toole and Schneider) attempts to help their adopted son Clark (Welling) cope with his alien origin and control his developing superhuman abilities. Clark must deal with the meteor-infected individuals that begin appearing in Smallville, his love for Lana Lang (Kreuk), and not being able to tell his two best friends, Pete Ross (Jones III) and Chloe Sullivan (Mack), about his abilities or his origins. Clark also befriends Lex Luthor (Rosenbaum) after saving Lex's life. The season also follows Lex, as he tries to assert his independence from his father, Lionel Luthor (John Glover).
The episodes were filmed primarily in Vancouver and post-production work took place in Los Angeles. Gough and Millar assisted the writing staff with week-to-week story development. "Villain of the week" storylines were predominant during the first season; physical effects, make-up effects, and computer generated imagery became important components as well. Limited filming schedules sometimes forced guest actors to perform physical stunts, and the series regulars were more than willing to do stunt work. Episode budgets ultimately became strictly regulated, as the show frequently ran over budget during the first half of the season. The pilot broke The WB's viewership record for a debut series, and was nominated for various awards. Although the villain of the week storylines became a concern for producers, critical reception was generally favorable, and the series was noted as having a promising start. The first season was released on DVD on September 23, 2003, and included various special features that focused on individual episodes and the series as a whole. It has also been released on home media in regions 2 and 4 in the international markets.
Contents |
Episodes
- See also: List of Smallville episodes
| No. | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | U.S. air date | Production Code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Pilot" | David Nutter | Alfred Gough | October 16, 2001 | 475165 | 8.4 |
| In October 1989, a meteor shower hits Smallville and with it arrives a little boy. The child is adopted by Martha and Jonathan Kent, and named Clark. Twelve years later, Clark struggles to understand his identity. After Clark saves Lex Luthor's life after Lex drives his Porsche off a bridge, the two become fast friends. After sharing an intimate moment with Lana Lang, Clark is forced into a school hazing ritual led by Lana's jealous boyfriend Whitney. Meanwhile, Jeremy Creek (Adrian Glynn), a teenage boy who was left in a coma after the first meteor shower, wakes up and sets out to get revenge on those that hurt him. Afterward, he prepares to do the same to the rest of the Smallville High students, but Clark arrives in time to stop him. | |||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Metamorphosis" | Michael Watkins & Philip Sgriccia | Alfred Gough & Miles Millar | October 24, 2001 | 227601 | 7.3 |
| Greg Arkin (Chad Donella) gets into a car accident with his meteor rock-enhanced insects, which escape from their containers and begin stinging him. The resulting attack transforms him into a half man/half insect creature. Rapidly going through a metamorphosis, Greg kidnaps Lana so he can mate with her. After talking with Whitney, Clark realizes where Greg has taken Lana and leaves to rescue her. During the fight, Greg accidentally crushes himself under some mechanical equipment, resulting in a mass of insects flooding out from underneath. Before Clark can return to Lana, Whitney arrives and receives credit for her rescue. | |||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Hothead | Greg Beeman | Greg Walker | October 31, 2001 | 227603 | 6.0 |
| A meteor rock infused sauna endows Coach Arnold (Dan Lauria) with pyrokinesis. After several football players are caught cheating, Chloe discovers that Coach Arnold assisted the players when they cheated. Coach Arnold asks Clark to join the football team, and Clark agrees against his father's wishes. Clark confronts Coach Arnold before his first game, after Arnold attempted to kill Chloe and another football player for exposing the truth about the cheating. The coach's fury gets the better of him as he engulfs himself in flames while battling Clark. | |||||||
| 4 | 4 | "X-Ray | James Frawley | Mark Verheiden | November 7, 2001 | 227604 | 6.6 |
| Clark begins to develop X-ray vision when he is thrown through a window by Lex Luthor, who has just robbed the local bank. Clark accidentally x-rays "Lex's" body and discovers a green glow around his skeleton as Lex is running away. When it turns out someone was impersonating him, Lex is cleared of all charges. After gaining control over his X-ray vision, Clark discovers that Tina Greer (Lizzy Caplan), a young woman infected with meteor rock radiation, can morph into anyone she wants. He also learns that she robbed the bank when he X-rays her locker and sees the money from the bank. After a brief battle, Clark knocks Tina unconscious so the authorities can arrest her. Meanwhile, Lex hires Roger Nixon (Tom O'Brien), an Inquisitor reporter, to find out how he survived driving his Porsche off a bridge. | |||||||
| 5 | 5 | | "X-Ray" | James Frawley | Mark Verheiden | November 7, 2001 | 227604 | 6.6 |
| During a party at Crater Lake, Sean Kelvin (Michael Coristine) falls into the frozen lake and emerges with an insatiable hunger for heat, thanks to the meteor rocks on the lake bottom. In an effort to stay warm, Sean sucks the heat from anyone he can. Sean goes after Chloe, but Clark is there to stop him. Clark finds Sean, who is headed to Luthor Mansion, but is left frozen when Sean sucks the heat from his body. Clark's body reheats itself, and he arrives at the mansion just as Sean is about to attack Martha, who came with Jonathan to discuss their financial troubles with Lex. During the fight, Clark throws Sean into a lake, which immediately freezes with Sean inside. | |||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Hourglass" | Chris Long | Doris Egan | November 21, 2001 | 227606 | 6.4 |
| Clark meets an elderly, blind woman, named Cassandra Carver (Jackie Burroughs), who receives precognitive visions by touching someone. When she touches Clark both of them see Clark surrounded by the tombstones of everyone he loves. Lex visits Cassandra, after listening to Clark, and her vision of him entails blood raining from the sky. Harry Bollston (George Murdock) an elderly man at a nursing home, falls into a meteor rock filled pond, which reverses the aging process. Harry (Eric Christian Olsen) uses his new youth to get revenge on the children of the jury members that put him away for murder decades earlier, one of whom was Jonathan's father. Clark stops Harry before he can kill Martha, who happened to be home when Harry came looking for Jonathan. | |||||||
| 7 | 7 | "Craving" | Philip Sgriccia | Michael Green | November 28, 2001 | 227607 | 7.4 |
| Jodi Melville (Amy Adams) is tired of being overweight, so she creates her own diet, which consists of meteor rock-infected vegetables. The new diet causes her to shed weight faster than she can handle, which forces her to suck human fat to satisfy her hunger. When Pete arrives to pick her up for Lana's birthday party, her hunger gets the better of her, and she tries to feast on Pete. Chloe and Clark discover the truth about Jodi's weight loss, and Clark rushes to her house to save Pete. Clark stops Jodi from killing Pete, and gets her the help she needs to maintain a healthy weight; in the process, however, Clark misses Lana's birthday party, but makes it up to her by giving her his present: a makeshift drive-in theater complete with the classic Bugs Bunny cartoon High Diving Hare. Meanwhile, Lex becomes interested in the effects of meteor rocks, and funds a study on the green meteor fragments. | |||||||
