Smallville (season 7)

Infobox tvseason
season_name = Smallville Season 7
bgcolour = #0000CD


caption = DVD cover art
dvd_release_date =Region 1: September 9,2008 [cite news|author=David Lambert |url=http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Smallville-Season-7/9670|title=Smallville ;— Release Date, Package Art & Extras for 7th Season DVDs and Blu-ray Discs!|publisher=TVShowsOnDVD|date=2008-05-21|accessdate=2008-05-21]
Region 2: October 13,2008 [cite web|url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smallville-Complete-Seventh-Tom-Welling/dp/B001CD3PME/|title=Season 7 (Region 2)|publisher=Amazon|accessdate=2008-09-09]
Region 4: TBA
country = USA
network = The CW
first_aired = September 27, 2007
last_aired = May 15,2008cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/detail/tv-show.aspx?tvobjectid=100398&more=ucepisodelist|title=Smallville Episodes | TVGuide.com|publisher=TV Guide|accessdate=2007-07-09]
num_episodes = 20
prev_season = Season 6
next_season = Season 8|

Season seven of "Smallville", an American television series, began airing on September 27, 2007. This is the second season to air on the CW television network. Season seven regular cast members 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.

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, and Lex Luthor, 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.

"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.

Episodes

*"In Canada, all season seven episodes originally aired one day earlier than their normal United States airings.cite web|url=http://www.achannel.ca/london/tvshows_Smallville.aspx|title=A-Channel scheduling|publisher=Achannel.com|accessdate=2008-02-27] [Original US airdate, per the MSN episode guide.]

New and returning characters

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.cite news|author=Rich Sands|url=http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Tv-Guide-News/Exclusive-Supergirl-Soars/800016740%20|title=Exclusive: Supergirl Soars Into Smallville|publisher=TV Guide|date=2007-06-11|accessdate=2007-06-11] On July 11,2007, Canadian actress Laura Vandervoort was officially announced to be portraying Kara. [cite news|author=Cynthia Wang|url=http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20045784,00.html|title=Supergirl lands in "Smallville"|publisher=People|date=2007-07-11|accessdate=2007-07-11] 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. Gough iterated that Kara will not wear any version of the Supergirl costume. [cite news|author=Anthony C. Ferrante|url=http://ifmagazine.com/new.asp?article=4569|title=Alfred Gough Speaks About Supergirl on Smallville|publisher=iF Magazine|date=2007-06-12|accessdate=2007-06-13] On July 6,2007, it was announced that 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. [cite news|author=Michael Ausiello|url=http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Exclusive-Smallville-Snags/800018129|title=Smallville Snags Hidden Hunk|publisher=TV Guide|date=2007-07-06|accessdate=2007-07-07]

"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. [cite news|author=Matt Webb Mitovich|url=http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-News-Blog/Todays-News/Smallville-Supergirl-Supermans/800019943|title=On Smallville, Supergirl Is Superman's Mom. Got it?|publisher=TV Guide|date=2007-08-06|accessdate=2007-09-11] She made appearances in episodes six and eight, titled "Lara" and "Blue" respectively. During the 2007 Comic Con, it was revealed that Dean Cain, who played Clark Kent/Superman in "", would have a guest role as a "the evil Dr. Curtis Knox" in the fourth episode "Cure". [cite news|author=Gary Strauss|url=http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-08-30-falltv-smallville_N.htm|title=It's trouble for "Smallville" when Supergirl flies in|publisher=USA Today|accessdate=2007-09-12] 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". [cite episode|title=Persona|series=Smallville|credits=Don Whitehead, Holly Henderson (writers) & Todd Slavkin (director)|network=The CW|airdate=2008-01-31|season=7|number=10] [cite web|url=http://www.superheroflix.com/news/44/26244.php|title=James Marsters Is a Bad Man in Dragon Ball and Smallville|publisher=SuperHeroFlix.com|date=2008-02-02|accessdate=2008-02-11] James Marsters was brought back to reprise his role as Milton Fine/Brainiac in a four-episode arc slated for January 2008; [cite web|url=http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/detail/index.jsp?uuid=f3d3a26b-7933-4ff1-8b4c-fbdf1ac1a737&sid=fd-hot2-txt|title=Exclusive! James Marsters Returning to "Smallville"|accessdate=2007-09-26|publisher=E! Online] 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.cite web|url=http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-News-Blog/Tv-Guide-News/Exclusive-Black-Canary/800026218|title=Exclusive: Black Canary Swoops into Smallville|publisher=TV Guide|accessdate=2007-11-06] This season also saw the return of Sam Jones III as Pete Ross, after a four year absence from the show. [cite news|author=Rob Salem|url=http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/article/339493|title=Hot Box: Television to talk about|publisher=The Star|date=2008-03-12|accessdate=2008-05-12]

Writers strike

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. [cite news|author=Michael Cieply|coauthors=Brooks Barnes|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/business/media/02cnd-hollywood.html?_r=1&oref=slogin|title=Writers Say Strike to Start Monday|publisher=New York Times|dates=2007-11-02|accessdate=2007-11-06] The strike pushed back "Smallville's" scheduling, as the episode "Siren", which was originally intended to be aired on January 10,2008, was moved to a February 7 airdate.cite web|url=http://tv.msn.com/tv/episode/smallville/siren|title=Siren episode info|publisher=MSN|accessdate=2007-01-19] According to Gough and Millar, "We were able to complete scripts for 15 episodes [...] To the best of [our] knowledge, the studio plans to produce all of them." They also explained that the fifteenth episode would have had a cliffhanger ending. [cite web|url=http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Strike-Watch-Season/Smallville-Ready-Fly/800026667|title=Smallville Ready to Fly with 15 Episodes|publisher=TV Guide|accessdate=2007-11-06] The shortened schedule also meant Allison Mack would not see her directorial debut for the season's 20th episode as was originally planned. [cite news|author=Allison Mack|url=http://www.allisonmack.com/modules/wordpress/?p=16|title=Branching Out|publisher=AllisonMack.com|date=2007-07-23|accessdate=2007-09-09] On February 12,2008, after a 48-hour vote by the guild members, the strike came to an end. [cite news|author=Lynn Elber|url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iE0uIqtrdPXiNMr1qniAIsCAa0fwD8UP6EOO2|title=Writers Vote to End 3-Month Strike|publisher=The Associated Press|date=2008-02-12|accessdate=2008-02-12] This allowed the shooting five new episodes that began airing on April 17,2008. This was in addition to the episodes that have already been filmed, leaving the season total at twenty episodes. [cite news|author=Brian Stelter|url=http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/strike-news-cw-announces-gossip-return/|title=As Hollywood writers strike end nears, a status report on TV shows|publisher=The New York Times|date=2008-02-15|accessdate=2008-02-16] [cite news|author=Michael Ausiello|url=http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Wga-Strike-Favorite/800032698|title=After the WGA Strike: When Will Your Favorite TV Shows Return?|publisher=TV Guide|accessdate=2008-03-17]

Awards

"Bizarro" was nominated for a VES award in Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program or Commercial, specifically for the flood scene; [cite web|url=http://www.visualeffectssociety.com/downloads/NomineesPressRelease2008.pdf|title=VISUAL EFFECTS SOCIETY (VES) ANNOUNCES NOMINEES FOR 6TH ANNUAL VES AWARDS|publisher=VES.com|date=2007-01-07|accessdate=2007-01-07] it was also nominated for, and won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series. [cite web|url=http://cdn.emmys.tv/downloads/2008/CTA08winners_pressrel.pdf|title=2008 Emmy Winners|publisher=Emmys.tv|date=2008-09-13|accessdate=2008-09-24]

References

External links

* [http://www.cwtv.com/shows/smallville Official website]
* [http://www.kryptonsite.com Kryptonsite]
*imdb title|id=0279600
*Tv.com show|id=1718
* [http://smallville.wikia.com/wiki/Season_7 Season 7 on Smallville Wiki]