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erikab1123
Operation Save Clark Kent - Mission Successful…Almost
By Operation Save Clark Kent founder, Erika Blake
Operation Save Clark Kent was created by an impassioned group of Smallville fans concerned about the show’s ethical stance in portraying Clark Kent. This group, The Red Jacket Defenders, believes that the character portrayed on SMALLVILLE currently bears little resemblance to the character defined for over 70 years in American popular culture. They believe that SMALLVILLE’s Clark Kent can be written to restore faith in the character and give hope, a staple of the SUPERMAN character, to future generations of SUPERMAN fans.
This was the mission statement that our group created last fall when we heard that yet again Millar/Gough were planning on, yet again, force choking us another season of soapy-angst crap. From that mission statement spawned a movement and our group sent hundreds of letters along w/ pencils and ripped red capes to Millar/Gough and the head of the Superman franchise over at DC Comics signaling our disgust with the direction that the show had taken. When I first started this campaign with two other angry Superman fans last fall, I never expected anything to come of it. Then as word started getting out of our cause, over 500 folks who were as sick of the mess that Millar and Gough had made of SMALLVILLE joined our campaign and our little idea grew into a movement.
Our members put aside all of our infighting and shippers of varying camps joined together to build a campaign and to get our message out to the masses. Superman fans who have often been looked down upon by those in charge of the show banded together and took a stance. Even though our forums sometimes looked like a ghost-town, that didn’t mean that our message had been silenced, quite the contrary. Our members spent months pounding Superman fansites, shipper boards, and the CW Lounge demanding that change needed to be brought to the show, and that our faith in those in charge was wavering. We put banners in our signatures that were created by our talented artists in our forums to spread our message and slogan, we posted artwork all over the CW VIP lounge, we had individuals send in their own letters championing the principals behind our cause. We held video contests and our members created campaign videos that spread our message all over YouTube and other video boards, letting people know that we missed seeing our hero acting super. Our members submitted critically biting questions to Millar and Gough in open interviews and made them face the plot-holes that they left wide open this season. In the end it appears that our efforts have not been in vain… Millar and Gough will no longer be a part of SMALLVILLE after the end of the this season.
Neither man were Superman experts before they started this show and their ignorance in the mythos was blindingly apparent this season by several HUGE glaring inconsistencies - like Blue Kryptonite stealing Clark’s powers, when in fact he is immune to it, and it only hurts Bizarro, or Bizarro falling madly in love with Lana when he has always fawned over Lois. The most successful years of Smallville were when DC’s Jeph Loeb helped to helm the story. Then when he stepped aside, Steven DeKnight fought to keep the show true to it’s mythos roots. When his cries hit against brick walls, he opted to leave. In the end, we were left with a mess, a show where the creators and writers appeared to be at odds with how this season should be told and no one seemed to have an exit strategy in place on how to stop the dirt from caving in on the huge hole that they had created.
Millar and Gough LIED to everyone at Comic Con 2007, they said that Kara would help Clark towards his destiny, instead they made Clark even weaker - stealing items from her and lying to her face. They said that Lois would constantly investigating Lex and get herself constantly in trouble, causing Clark to worry himself silly about her, and try to protect her at all costs…never happened. They said that we’d get more Justice League action in the second half of the season…we got one JLA episode. Instead it became the season of Lana Lang - her anger at Lionel for tricking her into marrying a billionaire, her spying on Lex, her constantly screwing up, and the producers never gave Clark enough of a backbone to realize what a putz he was being by forgiving Lana for all of her messy mistakes (sleeping with Bizarro and NOT knowing the difference??? Hello….what man in real life would ever take a woman back who didn’t realize that she was sleeping with the WRONG person??)
Kelly Souders, Brian Peterson, Todd Slavkin, and Darren Swimmer have their work cut out for them next season. Clark as he’s currently written on SMALLVILLE is emotionally stunted and horribly insecure. The writers and producers have a lot of work ahead of them to make us believe that the emotional damage that they’ve inflicted on Clark since mid-season 6 can be reversed before we will fully believe that he’s worthy to become Superman.
Being Superman isn’t only about flying and wearing tights - it’s about Clark knowing right from wrong (there’s no gray area with him which is something that ALWAYS pisses off Batman in the comics) - from him being so staunchly moral that anyone who does wrong around him will cower under his blistering, self-righteous gaze. Above all else, our hero must constantly display unending depths of compassion…to be willing to put other people’s needs before his own, and be able to live with the consequences of doing so because he knows that their needs come first.
Long ago Clark used to actively pursue helping people in need - he needs to get back to doing that and feel good about using his gifts. Season 8 must be about Clark embracing who he is and no longer shy away from his powers. Finally, we need to see him develop a thirst for knowledge and realize that journalism is the key to helping to make him a whole person, that his human side can pontificate through words the truth while his superhero side battles to fight real evil.
Perhaps we have one more letter campaign to write, we need to welcome the new Executive Producers into their new roles and let them know that we put into their hands the one thing that Clark Kent holds the dearest of all….we trust that they will RESPECT THE LEGEND, AND RESTORE HOPE.
Filed under: Essays, Smallville | Tagged: clark kent, millar and gough resign from Smallville, operation save clark kent, Smallville, Superman
I have mixed feelings. I think that they should have gone season 4/season 5… their leaving now may not alleviate the stinking mess they have created… but I am glad that something was done before the last season.
You didn’t have to go through such drastic action; Millar and Gough worked incredibly hard to bring the show together as it is today. It has offered lots of exciting stories and intriguing relationships and the Clark Kent character is great. If you want a Clark Kent with full confidence, try the Superman films - leave Smallville alone. Poor Al and Miles were just creating a show in their vision and you influenced them, no scared them, into resigning!
A man by the name of Tim McCanlies originally created a treatment for a series about a young Bruce Wayne. Since Batman was tied up in the Nolan movies, a closer look was taken to one episode entitled Smallville, where Bruce crosses paths with a nameless alien boy (Clark). It was then decided that a series about a young Clark Kent would be lucrative (it’s all about the money–we’re talking big studios who own the property and an infant tv network). Tollin and Robbins (check the credits at the end of Smallville) hired Millar and Gough. They wanted to make the series a teen soap opera, which McCanlies disagreed with, so he wasn’t invited to play along. He does collect royalties, however. Hey, it was his idea in the first place!
FOX made a bid on the show but Warner Brothers wanted to keep it on their network. So they canceled out the competition. The producers got paid a record rate for a debuting drama. (that means not poor)
After three seasons of the popular Smallville, WB-tv reported its first-ever profits in 2003. After season 3, DC released its restraints on its characters (that’s characters DC owns) and Lois Lane, Aquaman, Flash (only to be called Impulse), Green Arrow, etc appeared on the show.
Millar and Gough tried to get an Aquaman series sold. The pilot was refused even with the recast of Justin Hartley. Bird of Prey, a Tollin and Robbins production, had already fell to poor ratings. Supergirl was introducted in season 7 with rumors there would be a spin off — so Millar and Gough were under scrutiny with Smallville’s falling ratings and the question of how lucrative would another series by this duo be.
They were probably called to Comic Con by The-Guys-In-Charge (Warner Brothers and DC) — and did well. DC introduced their Smallville Justice League action figures and it was all good. But later . . .
Television is not only a form of entertainment, but a business. Especially commercial television. In big business you are asked to leave, but the public is told you resigned. This may or may not be the case as to what happened to Smallville’s “creators/producers.”
The Guys in Charge decided The- Powers-That-Be’s fate. Not OSCK. We were just voicing our concerns for the show and the direction it was taking. It has a 70 year history and we didn’t want it damaged to the extent that we would never buy, watch, or love anything Clark Kent again. That means dollars to Warner Brothers and DC. And survival for the CW network.
If you’re interested in some of the statements made, read “Superman Vs. Hollywood. How Fiendish Producers, Devious Directors, and Warring Writers Grounded an American Icon” by Jake Rossen. It has a Smallville chapter in it. Clark has had trouble with Hollywood for decades. :)