Pilot
- Episode aired Oct 16, 2001
- TV-PG
- 50m
IMDb RATING
8.4/10
2.5K
YOUR RATING
Baby Clark (Kal-El) arrives on Earth. Teen Clark starts high school, saves Lex's life after a car accident, and finds out about his past and birth parents.Baby Clark (Kal-El) arrives on Earth. Teen Clark starts high school, saves Lex's life after a car accident, and finds out about his past and birth parents.Baby Clark (Kal-El) arrives on Earth. Teen Clark starts high school, saves Lex's life after a car accident, and finds out about his past and birth parents.
Sarah-Jane Redmond
- Nell Potter
- (as Sarah Jane Redmond)
Adrian Glynn McMorran
- Jeremy Creek
- (as Adrian McMorran)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis episode broke The WB's record for number of viewers for a debut series.
- GoofsLana rides up to the cemetery on a horse but later walks home with Clark, leaving the horse behind. However, the cut is actually directly from the cemetery to a scene showing Clark and Lana walking towards Lana's house from the stables. Obviously they walked to the stables, with the horse, and left it there.
- Quotes
Jonathan Kent: Are you okay?
Clark Kent: Can I answer that in about five years?
Jonathan Kent: Yeah.
Clark Kent: Dad I'm glad you and mom are the ones that found me.
Jonathan Kent: We didn't find you, Clark, you found us.
- Alternate versionsScenes deleted from the Pilot which can be viewed on the Season 1 DVD include:
- When Young Lex Luthor is first introduced in the helicopter, his father Lionel Luthor tells him he won't tell the pilot to land the copter until Lex looks out of the window, which he does only to start panicking and uses his inhale.
- There is a scene in which Pete Ross's father, Bill Ross, and uncle, Dale Ross, have a debate on Lionel Luthor's intention for buying the factory from them as they don't know why the "pesticide king of Metropolis" would be interested in a creamed corn plant.
- After they first arrive at school, Clark Kent, Pete Ross, and Chloe Sullivan watch as Whitney Fordman and two other jocks park their trucks (the same ones that Clark piles up at the end of the episode), Chloe refers to them as the "3 ass-keteers".
- Principle Kwan sees Jeremy Creek break into the trophy case. When Kwan, who mistakes Jeremy for a current student at the school, orders him into his office, Jeremy throws Kwan into a display case behind him.
- Gabe Sullivan tells some factory workers to be on the lookout for Lex Luthor, referring to him as "Daddy's little boy", unaware that Lex is behind him. Gabe starts to worry because the plant isn't returning much profit, but Lex assures him that he isn't going to fire any employees at the fertilizer plant.
- Pete Ross and Chloe Sullivan are waiting for Clark Kent to show up at the dance. They decide to dance together, but only as friends (even though it's obvious in the scene that Chloe likes Clark and Pete likes Chloe).
- ConnectionsFeatured in Smallville: Lineage (2002)
Featured review
Pretty much perfection for a pilot
Do you recall the joke about the two guys being chased by a bear, and as they run, one guy says to the other, I don't think you're fast enough to outrun the bear. To which the other fellow answers, I don't have to, I just have to outrun YOU.
We already know from Hollywood history that Miller and Gough cut their teeth on this series, became film legends, ran it for 10 years (wow!) and went on to do other work.
But what often gets overlooked is that, when this aired, no one asked what the true "competition" to this pilot was or would be? I suggest to you, as reviewer who has watched all things "Superman" from the 1950s to the present, that this pilot was directly or indirectly competing with all the Superman TV shows and movies already done -- or even to be done in the future.
And beat them all.
Meaning that, as a proper viewer, when you watch this, you are comparing it to everything from the 1950s kids TV show, to the Chris Reeves movies, to the more recent (and often very strange) re-imaginings of the DC library (including among others, Superman Returns, and Superman Vs Batman.) And in my view, this is the best of the bunch!
In beautiful color we get to see Superman arrive, start his crush on Lana, began a dysfunctional relationship with Lex, and generally have a super time ... it does not get any better than this!
Now, it may be that I have some issues with the direction the show took toward the end of its run. (Notice how bright and sunny Smallville is in this pilot? By Season 5 or so, it looks like the sun has completely disappeared from Kansas which, I suspect, is more a reflection of the very dark turn the story arcs took than a simple meteorological issue.)
But let's not get ahead of our ourselves. As a possible candidate for the best Superman "origin" story ever done, I suggest this is a masterpiece. One that will stand the test of time.
We already know from Hollywood history that Miller and Gough cut their teeth on this series, became film legends, ran it for 10 years (wow!) and went on to do other work.
But what often gets overlooked is that, when this aired, no one asked what the true "competition" to this pilot was or would be? I suggest to you, as reviewer who has watched all things "Superman" from the 1950s to the present, that this pilot was directly or indirectly competing with all the Superman TV shows and movies already done -- or even to be done in the future.
And beat them all.
Meaning that, as a proper viewer, when you watch this, you are comparing it to everything from the 1950s kids TV show, to the Chris Reeves movies, to the more recent (and often very strange) re-imaginings of the DC library (including among others, Superman Returns, and Superman Vs Batman.) And in my view, this is the best of the bunch!
In beautiful color we get to see Superman arrive, start his crush on Lana, began a dysfunctional relationship with Lex, and generally have a super time ... it does not get any better than this!
Now, it may be that I have some issues with the direction the show took toward the end of its run. (Notice how bright and sunny Smallville is in this pilot? By Season 5 or so, it looks like the sun has completely disappeared from Kansas which, I suspect, is more a reflection of the very dark turn the story arcs took than a simple meteorological issue.)
But let's not get ahead of our ourselves. As a possible candidate for the best Superman "origin" story ever done, I suggest this is a masterpiece. One that will stand the test of time.
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- A_Different_Drummer
- Sep 6, 2016
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