Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Legion on Smallville

Just finished the Smallville commetary track of "Legion" with Johns. Nothing too astouding but he

Notes that the Legionnaires were originally meant to start fading away with pain ala "Back To The Future"

Wanted a coda set in the 31st Century with more Legionnaires

Wishes he could have written for Lois and Jimmy

Actually explains the "Sub" comment made by Rokk

Reveals he has the baseball signed by Clark for Garth at the end

Gives a shout out to Levitz

Wishes for more Legion episodes, but does not elaborate on the "Braniac Five" comment...

Well, we haven't seen much with the new season yet, that I can tell, but I missed the very first episode, so I don't know how Lois 'got back'.

She seems to have a memory issue about it, though, with a few blurry flashbacks.

Well, I'm a little late to the party, but I finally watched the Legion ep of Smallville thanks to Netflix. Gotta say, I wasn't impressed.

First of all, the Legion's near eagerness to kill was incredibly out of character. Say what you want about early Adventure stories, but the Legion I've always known has been firmly against the taking of a life under almost any circumstances. And it wasn't just based on Superman's example; it was just because killing is wrong. I firmly believe that that's a core principle of the Legion and seeing the founders so ready to take a life without exploring other options turned me off totally. The fact that Garth and Rokk knew to disable Brainiac with an EMP, but didn't think to use a similar effect to remove or destroy it rang totally hollow to me. (Also, the shot of Clark stopping Rokk from stabbing Chloe was telegraphed so far in advance that I started wishing they'd just get on with it already so the story could get moving again.)

I was not thrilled by the casting of the Founders. Garth as awkward fanboy was totally lame. I'm all for seeing Garth display the kind of self-esteem issues that we saw in the early '80s (i.e. Garth coming to grips with the fact that he's just not the leader that either Rokk or Imra are), but to see him as the apparent novice next to the other two was really grating. The actor playing Rokk couldn't have been stiffer if he'd been dipped in plaster. Did that guy even smile once? I know Rokk has a kind of stodgy image with some Legion fans, but my earliest exposures to Rokk were in the Grell bustier (no pun intended on "exposures"). I just can't see a guy who would wear that costume as being that humorless and uptight. I thought the actress playing Imra was totally wrong for the part. Partly it was the makeup job, but honestly she was just too cutesy. I've never seen Imra as cute. She looked like a cheerleader when she should have come across as class president.

Persuader's appearance was fun, but how much cooler would the Legion's appearance on the show have been if this had been a one-off episode of them chasing the Fatal Five into the 21st century? Run it after the Brainiac arc was totally over and feature Brainiac 5 in the story as a tension point with Clark and bring another Legionnaire or two along for the ride. That would have entertained me far more than the three founders jumping to murder as the first solution to a problem.

I don't know. Call it an Elseworlds Legion if you like, but they sure weren't any Legion I recognized beyond the names and powers.

Has anybody heard of any more Legion appearances for this final season? I read the Smallville website and they only give teasers for the first 6/7 episodes or so, nothing on the Legion yet. With it being the final season I hope they don't forget the Legion and their importance to Kal-El's development into Superman.

I have to say that Director Lad's post makes a lot of sense. He's particularly right that the Legion should have a core principle of not killing regardless of their association with Superman. (I did think it worked within the context of the story, however, that the Legion came to understand that they shouldn't kill because of Clark; it provided a nice character arc and illustrated the impact Clark has and continues to have on the Legion.)

Yes, it's an "elseworlds" Legion, just as Smallville is an "elseworlds" version of Superman. I'm so used to TV shows and movies changing aspects of source material that I could accept the Smallville LSH for what it was. The fanboy in me is thrilled when the Legion gets any kind of film exposure at all, and, in truth, the Smallville depiction wasn't bad, though it's not what we're used to. In some ways, Smallville LSH seemed truer to the spirit of the original LSH than the last few comic book versions have been. At least Smallville captured the gosh-wow enthusiasm of being teenagers with powers and getting to interact with their icon, Superman.

Comics Continuum has a few pics from Smallville's 200th episode featuring James Marsters as Brainiac Five, unfortunately the producers opted not to go green...
http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/1010/02/index.htm

B5 not green = EPIC FAIL. I'll pass on this episode.

Not a problem for me. If Brainiac's not green, why should Brainiac Five be green?

Well, because Brainiac 5 is from Colu, where a thousand years from now people from that planet are a greenish colour.

Maybe this Brainiac 5 is using a "face inhibitor" or something that masks his true features (on a count of 21st century Earth people would freak out if they saw an honest-to-goodness green man from another planet).

BTW, James Marsters is TOO OLD to play Brainy anyway, just like Tom Welling is little too "long in the tooth" to be playing Superboy compared to the three actors they got to play the Founders a year and a half ago.

Between the cartoon and the reboot, I've come to prefer the idea of a younger-than-normal Brainy. His petulant and immature attitude (which, granted, is more prevalent in his older incarnations, as if Coluans get more bratty and behaviorally inept as they age), which can be fun in a younger character (like Damian Wayne), comes off as curmudeonly and just Oscar-the-Grouch-y when he's older.

So, I think I'd rather see someone younger than James Marsters as well. The kid from Sixth Sense and A.I. would probably make a rocking version of the cartoon Brainy...

Marsters was the original Brainy, so it's not unusual that he would be again, like Malvolo said.
AND I agree with future king about the inhibitor.
(We might see him green during the story, at some point.)

We also don't know what era this Brainy is from.
The Legionnaires DO have a history of coming in to Clark's time from any period in the Legion's existance.

And in 'Smallville' there never was a SuperBOY.
Clark has been acting as a SuperMAN for a long time, now, just on a smaller scale (Metropolis and Smallville) and without the tights.

We just saw him in a Legion (Smallville style) outfit with a red leather jacket, which I liked.

I've never liked the tights look much, especially in 2010.

My confusion stems from how the Founders realted to "Kal" during that whole episode, acting like they already knew him (hinting that they had had adventures together already) and reacting surprised that he didn't recognize them. Garth even ribbed Clark about not being able to fly.
It all made me, as a viewer, think these kids came from a time AFTER this episode's timeline ... meaning that Kal-el had yet to become a good friend and fellow "Legionnaire" (and learn to fly) and so that would mean that the befriending would happen after that episode, in the future of that timeline and Clark would therefore be even a bit OLDER then ... no?

Eeeek!

Like I said, I'm so confused!
I know the show takes many liberties with history, but at the very LEAST they should have cast three actors a lot closer to Welling's age.
That's all I'm saying.

P.S. I agree with you about the not liking tights!

i think i will be okay with the lack of green skin, i will pretend that he using makeup to make himself look 'human'. after all Brainy has done that before and usually does a good job of it, im more pissed he's not in purple and doesn't look like he has a force shield belt, as for the age thing every one in that show looks like they are pushing 30 so im okay whit them using James Marsters. (cause James Marsters is a good actor so better chance at a good performance )

What? He won't wear the purple jumpsuit? Well, then I refuse to watch it!

it doesn't need to be a jumpsuit but come on it needs to be purple clothing that is his Costume not green and black

I thought that Garth acted surprised that Kal didn't fly and then said that he(Kal) couldn't fly.
Then, Cos shushed Garth when he started to comment/rib Kal about it.
Yes, they acted like they knew him.

Actually, I think you're pretty right on, except, I do't know that they had actually had a relationship with Clark before. It seemed to me, and I am often wrong, that that just knew about all of them from historical accounts, mostly.

Since there was never a SuperBOY in this reality, the Legion doesn't have the same relationship with Kal-el as in THIS timeline.
I only saw the episode once, though.


Yes, a differant era, indeed.

Welling and Marsters are both so delicious. I hope they make out.

Are you sure it is black? On my monitor the jacket is a very, very dark purple (but the shiny areas show that it is purple, not black), and the pants look to be a similar color. With the green t-shirt, that makes him purple and green.... 2 of the 3 primary colors of his usual costume (hope he isn't wearing yellow/gold footwear though). It would seem to be the typical Smallville-ized re-imaging of the character.

P.S. I bet if Cham showed up he would be wearing an orange t-shirt and if Shady showed up she would have a blue shirt or bikini top.... don't you think?

I'm thinking that green make-up might look pretty cheesy on a live actor, so maybe it's better this way??

As cheesy as it might be (if they do in fact use green makeup) I am going to watch this episode if only for the Legion reference it will provide.
I'm assuming this Brainy is actually the Legion's Brainiac 5 (humanoid)... not some future descendant of the robotic Brainiac that the founders came back to destroy in that season 8 episode.

if any thing its blue not black....are you sure the montior colors on your computer are okay???

Yep, monitor colors seem fine. Also, it looked the same on last night's preview for next week: very dark purple pants and jacket, green shirt. Still couldn't see the shoes, but if they are yellow/gold I'll laugh my butt off.

From a 'Legion' point of view it was a little disapointing. However, as someone that has watched this usually dreadful show off-and-on, it was great to see Brainiac 5 tell 'Kal-El' to stop moping and get on with being a hero. If only this had happened 9 seasons ago....

I agree with you Iam Legion.
See my post on the other Legion back on Smallville thread.