Season of television series
Season of television series
Smallville
|
---|
|
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2f/Smallvilleseason7DVD.jpg/220px-Smallvilleseason7DVD.jpg) DVD and Blu-ray cover
|
Starring
| |
---|
No.
of episodes
| 20
|
---|
|
Original network
| The CW
|
---|
Original release
| September 27, 2007
(
2007-09-27
)
?
May 15, 2008
(
2008-05-15
)
|
---|
|
|
List of episodes
|
The seventh season of
Smallville
, an
American
television series
, began airing on September 27, 2007. The series recounts the early adventures of
Kryptonian
Clark Kent
as he adjusts to life in the fictional town of
Smallville
,
Kansas
, during the years before he becomes
Superman
. The seventh season comprises 20 episodes and concluded its initial airing on May 15, 2008,
[1]
marking the second season to air on
The CW
television network. Regular cast members during season seven include
Tom Welling
,
Michael Rosenbaum
,
Kristin Kreuk
,
Allison Mack
,
Erica Durance
,
Aaron Ashmore
,
Laura Vandervoort
, and
John Glover
. In addition to bringing in new regular cast members this season, the
Smallville
team brought in familiar faces from the
Superman
media history, old villains from the show's past, as well as new
DC Comics characters
Kara Zor-El
and
Dinah Lance
.
This season focuses on
Clark Kent
meeting his biological cousin
Kara
(Vandervoort), and teaching her how to control her abilities in public;
Lana Lang
's behavior toward her friends,
Lex Luthor
, and after it is discovered that she faked her own death;
Chloe
coming to terms with her newly discovered kryptonite-induced ability; and the secret of the
Daily Planet's
new editor Grant Gabriel. Towards the end of the season, Clark faces the dual threat from returning villain
Brainiac
(
James Marsters
), and Lex's discovery of
his father's
secret society who possess the means to control Clark. The season culminates with a showdown between Lex and Clark at the Fortress of Solitude, wherein the fortress is brought down, setting the series up for the
following season
.
Smallville
'
s season seven, along with many other American television shows, was caught in the middle of a contract dispute between the
Writers Guild of America, East
(WGAE),
Writers Guild of America, west
(WGAw) and the
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers
(AMPTP). The dispute led to a strike by the writers, which has caused this season to end prematurely with only twenty episodes being produced, instead of the standard twenty-two episodes. The strike also forced
The CW
to push back airdates on several episodes, and cost Allison Mack her directorial debut.
[2]
Smallville
'
s Season seven slipped in the ratings, averaging 3.7 million viewers weekly, and the series ranked as the 175th most-watched television series, out of 220, for the
2007?08 television year
.
Episodes
[
edit
]
- In Canada, all season seven episodes originally aired one day earlier than their normal United States airings.
[3]
Production
[
edit
]
Writer's strike
[
edit
]
The Writers Guild form picket lines as they protest their contracts with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
On November 5, 2007, a
strike began
between the
Writers Guild of America, East
(WGAE),
Writers Guild of America, west
(WGAw) and the
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers
(AMPTP). A prolonged strike would have forced television shows to end their seasons early, because no scripts could be written until a settlement had been reached.
[24]
The strike pushed back
Smallville's
scheduling, as the episode "Siren", which was originally intended to be aired on January 10, 2008,
[25]
was moved to a February 7 airdate.
[26]
According to Gough and Millar, they were able to complete the scripts for 15 episodes and the studio planned to produce all of them. They also explained that the fifteenth episode would have had a cliffhanger ending.
[27]
The shortened schedule also meant
Allison Mack
would not see her directorial debut for the season's 20th episode as was originally planned.
[2]
On February 12, 2008, after a 48-hour vote by the guild members, the strike came to an end.
[28]
This allowed the shooting of five new episodes that began airing on April 17. This was in addition to the episodes that had already been filmed, leaving the season total at twenty episodes.
[29]
[30]
Characters
[
edit
]
For season seven, the
Smallville
team would bring in two new regular cast members, Jimmy Olsen, who first appeared as a recurring guest in season six, and
Kara Zor-El
, Clark's biological cousin.
[31]
In July 2007,
Canadian
actress
Laura Vandervoort
was cast to portray Kara.
[32]
According to Gough and Millar, her backstory is that she was sent to look after Kal-El (Clark), but was stuck in suspended animation for eighteen years. When the dam broke in the season six finale "Phantom" she was set free. She will have all of Clark's abilities, as well as the ability to fly.
[31]
Gough iterated that Kara will not wear any version of the Supergirl costume.
[33]
At the same time,
Michael Cassidy
was cast as the new editor of the
Daily Planet
, Grant Gabriel. Cassidy's Grant Gabriel is designed to be Lois' new love interest; he appeared in seven episodes this season.
[34]
Smallville
also brought in more actors with previous connections to the Superman lore this season.
Helen Slater
, who portrayed
Supergirl
in the 1984 film
of the same name
, was cast as
Lara
, Clark's biological mother.
[35]
She made appearances in episodes six and eight, titled "Lara" and "Blue" respectively.
Dean Cain
, who played Clark Kent/
Superman
in
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
, had a guest role as "evil Dr. Curtis Knox" in the fourth episode "Cure".
[36]
Marc McClure
, who portrayed Jimmy Olsen in all of the
Superman
films as well as in
Supergirl
, was brought in to play a Kryptonian scientist named Dax-Ur for the episode "Persona".
[37]
[38]
James Marsters
was brought back to reprise his role as
Milton Fine/Brainiac
in a four-episode arc slated for January 2008;
[39]
Marsters had not appeared on the show since the season five finale "Vessel". Another character from the
DC Comics
universe arriving on
Smallville
is the
Black Canary
. The character was intended to be featured in the January 10, 2008 episode "Siren", but the Writers' Strike pushed scheduling back to February 7. Black Canary was portrayed by Canadian actress
Alaina Huffman
, and the episode featured the return of
Justin Hartley
as the
Green Arrow
.
[25]
This season also saw the return of Sam Jones III as Pete Ross, after a four-year absence from the show.
[40]
Tie-ins
[
edit
]
In 2008, The CW entered into a partnership with the makers of
Stride
brand chewing-gum to give viewers the opportunity to create their own
Smallville
digital comic, titled
Smallville: Visions
. The writers and producers developed the comic's beginning and end, but allowed viewers to provide the middle. The CW began this tie-in campaign with the March 13 episode "
Hero
", where Pete develops superhuman elasticity after chewing some kryptonite-infused Stride gum. Going to The CW's website, viewers vote on one of two options?each adding four pages to the comic?every Tuesday and Thursday until the campaign ended on April 7.
[41]
For season seven,
Smallville
again worked with Sprint, bringing its customers "mobisodes" featuring Clark's cousin Kara, titled
Smallville Legends: Kara and the Chronicles of Krypton
.
[42]
Reception
[
edit
]
The season premiere, "
Bizarro
", was watched by 5.18 million viewers, marking an increase from the previous season finale, "
Phantom
", which was viewed by 4.14 million.
[4]
[43]
"Bizarro" and "
Cure
" were also the highest-rated episodes of the season, both being seen by 5.18 million viewers and scoring a 1.8 in the
Nielsen rating
in the 2 year old and up demographic.
[4]
[7]
Nielsen ratings are
audience measurement
systems that determine the audience size and composition of
television programming
in the United States. This means that the episodes were seen by 1.8 percent of all viewers in the United States watching television at the time of the episode's airing that were older than 2 years old. The season hit a low with the fourteenth episode, "
Traveler
", which was watched by only 3.44 million viewers.
[17]
The season finale, "
Arctic
", was viewed by 3.85, marking a decrease from both the season premiere, and the sixth-season finale.
[4]
[23]
[43]
Smallville
'
s season seven slipped in the ratings, averaging 3.7 million viewers weekly.
[44]
[45]
Smallville
ranked as the 175th most-watched television series, out of 220, for the
2007?08 television year
.
[46]
Awards
[
edit
]
"Bizarro" was nominated for a
VES award
in Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program or Commercial, specifically for the
flood
scene;
[47]
it was also nominated for, and won the
Emmy Award
for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series.
[48]
In 2009, the season received five
Teen Choice Awards
nominations. The nominations include Choice TV Show: Action Adventure, Choice TV Actor: Action Adventure for Tom Welling, Choice TV Actress: Action Adventure for Kristen Kreuk, Choice TV: Villain for Michael Rosenbaum, and Choice TV: Sidekick for Allison Mack.
[49]
Home media release
[
edit
]
The complete seventh season of
Smallville
was released on September 9, 2008, in North America in both DVD and Blu-ray format.
[50]
[51]
The DVD and Blu-ray box set were also released in region 2 and region 4 on October 13, 2008, and March 3, 2009, respectively.
[52]
[53]
[54]
[55]
The box set included various special features, including episode commentary, a documentary on the Supergirl character, a featurette on the different actors to portray Jimmy Olsen, as well as
mobisodes
for
Smallville Legends
.
[56]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Smallville Episodes"
.
TV Guide
. Retrieved
July 9,
2007
.
- ^
a
b
Allison Mack
(July 23, 2007).
"Branching Out"
. AllisonMack.com. Archived from
the original
on August 4, 2007
. Retrieved
September 9,
2007
.
- ^
Bill Harris.
"Vandervoort takes off on 'Smallville'
"
. Sun Media. Archived from the original on January 1, 2013
. Retrieved
August 1,
2010
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link
)
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. October 2, 2007
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. October 9, 2007
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. October 16, 2007
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
a
b
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. October 23, 2007
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. October 30, 2007
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
Calabria, Rosario T. (November 2, 2007).
"Broadcast TV Ratings for November 1, 2007"
.
Entertainment Now
. Retrieved
April 19,
2008
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. November 13, 2007
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. November 20, 2007
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
Gorman, Bill (December 19, 2007).
"Top CW Primetime Shows, December 10?16"
.
TV by the Numbers
. Retrieved
November 22,
2008
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. February 5, 2008
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. February 12, 2008
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. February 20, 2008
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. March 18, 2008
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
a
b
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. March 25, 2008
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. April 1, 2008
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. April 22, 2008
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. April 29, 2008
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. May 1, 2008
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. May 13, 2008
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
a
b
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. May 20, 2008
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
Michael Cieply
; Brooks Barnes (November 2, 2007).
"Writers Say Strike to Start Monday"
.
New York Times
. Retrieved
November 6,
2007
.
- ^
a
b
"Exclusive: Black Canary Swoops into Smallville"
. TV Guide. Archived from
the original
on November 2, 2007
. Retrieved
November 6,
2007
.
- ^
"Siren episode info"
. MSN. Archived from
the original
on February 2, 2008
. Retrieved
January 19,
2007
.
- ^
"Smallville Ready to Fly with 15 Episodes"
. TV Guide. Archived from
the original
on November 9, 2007
. Retrieved
November 6,
2007
.
- ^
Lynn Elber (February 12, 2008).
"Writers Vote to End 3-Month Strike"
. The Associated Press. Archived from
the original
on February 18, 2008
. Retrieved
February 12,
2008
.
- ^
Brian Stelter (February 15, 2008).
"As Hollywood writers strike end nears, a status report on TV shows"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
February 16,
2008
.
- ^
Michael Ausiello.
"After the WGA Strike: When Will Your Favorite TV Shows Return?"
. TV Guide. Archived from
the original
on May 20, 2008
. Retrieved
March 17,
2008
.
- ^
a
b
Rich Sands (June 11, 2007).
"Exclusive: Supergirl Soars Into Smallville"
.
TV Guide
. Archived from
the original
on June 12, 2007
. Retrieved
June 11,
2007
.
- ^
Cynthia Wang (July 11, 2007).
"Supergirl lands in
Smallville
"
.
People
. Retrieved
July 11,
2007
.
- ^
Anthony C. Ferrante (June 12, 2007).
"Alfred Gough Speaks About Supergirl on Smallville"
. iF Magazine. Archived from
the original
on June 16, 2007
. Retrieved
June 13,
2007
.
- ^
Michael Ausiello
(July 6, 2007).
"Smallville Snags Hidden Hunk"
.
TV Guide
. Archived from
the original
on July 11, 2007
. Retrieved
July 7,
2007
.
- ^
Matt Webb Mitovich (August 6, 2007).
"On Smallville, Supergirl Is Superman's Mom. Got it?"
. TV Guide. Archived from
the original
on November 4, 2007
. Retrieved
September 11,
2007
.
- ^
Gary Strauss (September 4, 2007).
"It's trouble for
Smallville
when Supergirl flies in"
.
USA Today
. Retrieved
September 12,
2007
.
- ^
Don Whitehead, Holly Henderson (writers) & Todd Slavkin (director) (January 31, 2008). "Persona".
Smallville
. Season 7. Episode 10. The CW.
- ^
"James Marsters Is a Bad Man in Dragon Ball and Smallville"
. SuperHeroFlix.com. February 2, 2008. Archived from
the original
on February 6, 2008
. Retrieved
February 11,
2008
.
- ^
"Exclusive! James Marsters Returning to
Smallville
"
. E! Online
. Retrieved
September 26,
2007
.
- ^
Rob Salem (March 12, 2008).
"Hot Box: Television to talk about"
.
The Star
. Toronto
. Retrieved
May 12,
2008
.
- ^
"The CW, Warner Bros. Television Group, and Stride Gum offer fans the opportunity to create their own
Smallville
digital comic book"
. The Futon Critic. March 14, 2008
. Retrieved
March 23,
2008
.
- ^
T.L. Stanley (April 7, 2008).
"Sprint, CW Mobilize Supergirl for Mobisodes"
. Media Week. Archived from
the original
on April 17, 2008
. Retrieved
April 19,
2008
.
- ^
a
b
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC Medianet
. May 22, 2007. Archived from
the original
on May 28, 2010
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
Geoff Boucher (October 29, 2008).
"
'Twilight', Robert Pattinson, 'Smallville' and Christian Bale in Everyday Hero headlines"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
March 27,
2009
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
.
ABC
Medianet. May 28, 2008
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
"Weekly Program Rankings"
. ABC Medianet. May 20, 2008
. Retrieved
March 28,
2009
.
- ^
"VISUAL EFFECTS SOCIETY (VES) ANNOUNCES NOMINEES FOR 6TH ANNUAL VES AWARDS"
(PDF)
. VES.com. January 7, 2007. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on February 7, 2009
. Retrieved
January 7,
2007
.
- ^
"2008 Emmy Winners"
(PDF)
. Emmys.tv. September 13, 2008. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on September 20, 2008
. Retrieved
September 24,
2008
.
- ^
Kelly West (June 15, 2009).
"Nominations Posted For 2009 Teen Choice Awards"
. CinemaBlend
. Retrieved
June 16,
2009
.
- ^
David Lambert (May 21, 2008).
"Smallville ? Release Date, Package Art & Extras for 7th Season DVDs and Blu-ray Discs!"
. TVShowsOnDVD. Archived from
the original
on May 25, 2008
. Retrieved
May 21,
2008
.
- ^
"Smallville ? The Complete Seventh Season ? Blu-ray"
. TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from
the original
on November 4, 2008
. Retrieved
March 22,
2009
.
- ^
"Season 7 (Region 2)"
. Amazon
. Retrieved
September 9,
2008
.
- ^
"Season 7 (Region 4)"
. Ezydvd. Archived from
the original
on December 18, 2008
. Retrieved
December 30,
2008
.
- ^
"Smallville ? The Complete Seventh Season (Blu-ray)"
. Amazon.co.uk. October 13, 2008
. Retrieved
November 11,
2009
.
- ^
"Smallville ? The Complete 7th Season (3 Disc Set) (Blu-ray)"
. ezydvd. Archived from
the original
on October 7, 2009
. Retrieved
November 11,
2009
.
- ^
Details from the back of the DVD box set.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Smallville
.