Real Reason For Backlash
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steviebhoy719 — 13 years ago(January 31, 2013 04:33 AM)
"you should have simply been honest and confirmed 'no flights, no tights' upfront."
They were upfront about this. It was the whole premise of the show. We were lucky to see what we did, coz it was actually more than we were promised and we should be thankful for that! -
Grumftheld — 13 years ago(February 23, 2013 03:45 PM)
It was at the beginning, but the point of it was not to specifically say 'we'll never show the suit or flying' it was to explain to people not to expect those things to turn up regularly, to, in short, not expect it to be a Superman show, but a show about Clark Kent.
Now then, if this whole show had only ever been Clark Kent, and they'd never touched on the transition into Superman, there wouldn't be a problem, but they DID go there and as the seasons rolled by and the end moved closer, the whole DC universe became more and more involved, we saw every aspect of a complete DC universe on TV that we could, except 1, Superman. That was OK because it was a "Clark Kent show"? Sorry, that doesn't hold water. If the show had ended after 6 or 7 seasons before it became a DC universe show, then yes, people could buy it as in those seasons, whilst there were some additional DC elements, it was still the story of Clark Kent, but the problem the OP referred to, which is still a legitimate complaint even now, is that the last 3 seasons set us up for a grand finale with Clark finally realising who he is, becoming Superman and facing off against a big bad in a big throw down (OK, that last bit was just wishful thinking really) and that is what we got, except rather than letting it all out as a final thank you to loyal fans, they deliberately filmed all the 'Superman' parts so as not to show Tom in the suit like people wanted. People have a legitimate reason to feel.betrayed.hurt.angry? Whatever emotion you want to ascribe them, they have a legitimate reason to feel that way.
As the OP says, if they hadn't have made a point of teasing that finale for so long, then not providing it, people wouldn't have minded so much. There were a lot of options they could have done instead, options that people would have accepted and carried on following the show because they were invested in it, but they deliberately decided to focus on a long reveal of Superman-suit et al, purely because they know it would keep fans talking and invested more than the storylines they were providing.
I'm not sure the OP is right to blame Tom Welling, we'll never really know how strict certain rules are and who made what decision, but the bottom line is that they deliberately made the fans believe they were going to see the final transition into Superman and a full suit reveal etc, and didn't provide it. People feel cheated and I can understand why. Today it still annoys me, and I find it hard to watch the last episode, but more now because it's actually just a plainly bad episode and a poor way to finish such a fantastic series than anything else. It also bothers me more that they chose to go the route they did than stand up and say 'this isn't happening' because I think they could have done some much much better episodes without having to continue that whole charade.
Also, just as a passing thought, people use the argument that 'it was the story of Clark Kent's journey', which is true, it was, but one point those people overlook- every journey has an end, it can't be a journey without a destination, for Clark Kent, that Journey ended at Superman, you couldn't have that journey without him. Following that analogy, I agree with ending on Superman, but Superman it has to be. -
silvertron — 13 years ago(February 25, 2013 03:10 PM)
Backlash? I guess I'm not reading IMDB and other such boards enoughI didn't know there was any kind of backlash against Welling.
I was only an occasional viewer of Smallville, but I did enjoy the series ending as the old Superman score welled up and the big red S was revealed. -
Grumftheld — 13 years ago(February 27, 2013 04:57 PM)
It's largely blown over now. It's been a good 18 months or so since the finale, all you get now is people occasionally like to crop up and chat about it and some like to still air their grievances over how it ended. That's the nature of the beast really, when you work hard to get people invested in something, then the investment doesn't pay off in the way they were promised, they get very upset about it and it lingers.
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WackyKacky — 13 years ago(April 02, 2013 10:47 AM)
I too was disappointed not to see Tom Welling in the full suit. At first I chalked it up to his being older and not quite as buff, although just as handsome. However, a few posters here I think were accurate. There were limits on what they were allowed to do. We often think it's the actors choices when in fact they have the least say. They don't write the scripts (usually), they don't decide what they can legally do with an icon that other people have the legal rights to, etc. I think Tom Welling delivered to the best of his ability. We didn't see it all, but the show ended with him arriving at being Superman. And don't forget, they did a great job with him flying in Season Four, albeit as Kal-El. As for me, I was always more interested in the Clark Kent than Superman aspect. I loved seeing that in Lois & Clark, The New Adventures of Superman, and was very pleased to see it dealt more with Clark Kent and his coming of age.
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clarksmommy — 12 years ago(April 28, 2013 09:53 PM)
Ok. I watched the show from day one. And from day one I knew that Tom Welling would never wear the suit. He had no say in it but it had every thing to do with WB and their ownership of Superman. Al and Miles had never intended for Smallville to go as long as it did and nor did they ever intend for him to put on the suit.
As a Smallville fan and a Superman fan I was satisfied with the way the series ended. So there is no backlash. Although I must agree that it is a crying shame Tom is hiding behind the camera instead of showing his handsome face in front of it. -
spfreak93 — 11 years ago(August 15, 2014 06:14 PM)
Im sorry to dissapoint you further but whatever you thought it IS about Clark Kent and it has always been . Its your problem if you dont accept it stop bothering others with your issues . Show started with Clark and ended with Clark and thats how it should be . Ive watched it for 10 years and there wasnt single thing that i didnt like in finale and i watch it every few weeks still . Maybe presence of the suit made some people like you thought they disregarded ''no tights no flights policy'' but they never really did . Its all about Clark word ''Superman'' was only used once regarding Clark when Hawkman and Lois talked about him .
Regards ,
not-bitching fan . -
cornetto-yt — 11 years ago(October 30, 2014 02:54 AM)
If you want to know what happens after season 10 ep23 and you want to "see" him as Superman incl. the suit and the flying - just read season 11. There's a comic continuing the series
Cheers!- I like to sleep. I like to do nothing. Nothing is my favorite kind of something. -
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courtneystjohn — 10 years ago(September 10, 2015 04:33 AM)
I spoke to him about this when we were at Telluride.
He had nothing to do with it. The company was not granted rights to the suit and from the forst episode it was made perfectly clear to the audience that it was not about the suit and him flying towards the screen.