The Show
For the most part, Clark Kent has left behind his adopted hometown of Smallville, opting for the bright lights of Metropolis and a job at The Daily Planet. But the legacy of the dead planet Krypton has a strong impact on the events of The Complete Ninth Season, most notably the return to power of the malevolent General Zod, who with his army of refugee Kryptonians prove more than a match for the not-yet-Man-of-Steel, still known around town simply as "The Blur." (No costume to speak of, and he does his good deeds really fast.)
Along the way, we are introduced to The Justice Society of America in the two-parter, "Absolute Justice," and its member heroes are depicted a lot less lamely than I would have expected at this point in the show's long run. This mini-movie was written by noted comic book scribe Geoff Johns, but in general the dialogue on Smallville can be pretty awful at times, and frankly some of the acting could be better, too. But for a weekly fix of Superman-ultra-light, it'll do.
The Picture
Although the season is spread across four discs, the video bitrate is typically in the teens (less than 20 megabits-per-second), sometimes down to single digits, sometimes higher. I suppose that the 1.78:1 image is clean enough, not noisy per se, but it is soft, perhaps in a deliberate attempt to help forgive the Gouda-esque non-quality of the special effects. We can at least freeze-frame to some decent stills of the bona fide Man of Steel in costume, albeit in a future/dream sequence in the final episode.
The Sound
The season opens with an elevated train crash... and I needed to do a system check to see if there was something wrong with my gear (there wasn't) to explain the lack of bass and surround involvement. Turning up the volume above the usual levels certainly helped, but when Clark is enveloped in a column of data inside the Fortress of Solitude, how great would it be to hear the detailed swirl along with him? Or to simulate his super-hearing disseminating everything going on in Metropolis at once? Or to really feel the effect of futuristic weapons that create energy cocoons and shatter glass during a fight with a super-powered cyborg? Or experience being inside a dumpster while a 360-degree battle with an ice-villain rages outside (because we wouldn't actually want to see that, after all), or a mystical energy that... ah, you get the idea. There's something in the rears, music has a decent spread, but did I mention that the audio is Dolby Digital 5.1, not one of the modern formats? Meh.
The Extras
Deleted scenes are included for a total of eight episodes, in high definition but with unfinished audio. Commentaries are provided for two episodes: "Kandor" with actor Callum Blue and writers Turi Meyer and Al Septien, and "Idol" with actress Erica Durance and executive producers Brian Peterson and Kelly Souders.
"Kneel Before Zod" is a fun 15-minute featurette that explores the return of the great movie super-villain, complete with film clips and new interviews with director Richard Donner and actor Terence Stamp. A half-hour behind-the-scenes program also lays bare the making of the very big, very comic book-y "Absolute Justice." Both of these are in HD as well, and all four discs in the set are BD-Live-enabled.
Final Thoughts
The season ends with quite a nail-biter to set up the tenth (and final) season of Smallville. Here's hoping that they go out with a bang, one that we can actually hear in the subsequent Blu-ray release.
Product Details
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