Smallville Destiny

I started watching Smallville when it first came out. I loved the show. Although I would get the occasional ribbing from friends (but i had the perfect retort “What guy doesn’t wish they were Superman? What guy wouldn’t want to date Lana Lang?!”). Anyway, I stopped watching around Season 3 or 4 and then periodically tuned in every now and then when Green Arrow showed up etc. But I really did enjoy the early episodes of the series so I was excited to hear about LastSurvivor’s fanedit.

DVD Design: I really liked the DVD Menu Design. Music, Animated Scene Selection Menus. Great Job!

The Edit: I really have to applaud LastSurvivor’s efforts on this edit. I can’t begin to imagine what a huge undertaking this was. To sift through 20+ (or however many) episodes and distill it into a coherent and entertaining story. Although knocking out the majority of the “Freak of the Week” storylines was a major part of the edit, the decisions of the storylines to keep in were more interesting (and i imagine the harder part of the edit to do). I liked the choices that LastSurvivor made (the elderly woman who was psychic, Ryan’s storyline – a nice way to end part 1 btw!). The merge of the Season 1 finale and Season 2 premiere was very well done too. And wrapped up with a nice ending. This was an extremely enjoyable fanedit! Great job.

Technical: The video editing was well done but what really stood out to me was the audio editing. In my opinion it was nearly flawless. And I always read on the forums, or read about rejected edits and it almost always has to do with shoddy audio editing. Audio editing is arguably the most difficult part about fanedits. So great job on that!

Excellent firstling! I look forward to LastSurvivor’s future fanedits.

Wow. Who would've thunk that a Supes serial with almost no physical conflict and almost no superhuman stunts would be more fun to watch than the Boy of Steel dodging bullets and tossing people around?

By removing the freaks-o'-the-week, a lot of the action is gone as well, but therein lies this fanedit's strength: the fine character moments are pretty much all that remain. You get to see not only Clark Kent's growing pains, but those of his friends. And his earthly parents aren't the abstractions they were in the comic books and most of the theatrical versions.

A fault of the series itself and not of the fanedit: Lex and Clark know each other rather well, which means that their future selves should recognize each other, allowing Lex to blow Supe's cover.

LastSurvivor's edit is really entertaining, the best Superman experience I've had since watching Christopher Reeve in the theaters.

Review by jelio — June 14, 2011 @ 3:08 am

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

Review by BigDamnHero — May 4, 2011 @ 3:47 am

I’ve been watching this show since I was 13, and I’m now 24. Having grown up with it, I’ve become more and more aware of it’s weaknesses, but at the same time I still feel that it has some very good moments where the Clark Kent we all know and love shines through. Unfortunately, those moments are few and far between in the series. I’ve always thought that those quality moments could be strung together in a way that gave us a glimpse into what Smallville could be at its greatest, but it was always just a dream.

Now, thanks to Last Survivor and Smallville Destiny, that dream is a reality.

When I first started watching this I expected it to be an intriguing idea, but not much more. Well I was in for quite a surprise. Smallville Destiny is great! I can’t believe how good this edit is, from both a technical and entertainment standpoint.

First of all, the intro and new theme were amazing. I loved the parallels between Clark and Lex, and the song was perfect. In fact, all of the soundtrack was vastly improved. It went from a really good TV show soundtrack to an epic movie soundtrack. I feel that it was one of the best things about the edit.

The episodes used to create this edit were great choices I have to say. I especially liked Ryan’s arc at the end of part 1 – it was a perfect episode to show Clark growing into his Superman persona, especially with the allusions to Warrior Angel. And what an ending! I always felt they wasted that song in the series, it’s so much better here – I got goosebumps!

Like BionicBob said, we don’t get to see a lot of Clark in action, but that never really bothered me. In the series, it was always the same thing anyway – he runs in at the last second and saves the victim who just happens to pass out/not see him. Now, Clark’s heroic moments are saved till the end of each part, and the payoff is much better. This is especially true for the second part, with such a phenomenal apex and Clark at his most Superman-esque. Plus, the edit holds up to it’s name: it’s about Kal-el’s destiny, and how he becomes the man of steel, not an action romp.

While it doesn’t replace the show, Smallville Destiny is a wonderful compliment to it – and in many ways it’s better. You can really feel the parallels between Clark and Lex far more than in the original, 22 episode season. And you can see more clearly how their lives are shaped, and what events lead to them taking the paths they eventually do. In the end there is still a lot for us to wonder about, but that last little post-credit scene gave me hope for a SD:2! :D

I can’t recommend this edit highly enough, whether you’re a fan of the show, or even just a Superman fan in general. Maybe it’s nostalgia, but it was the most fun I’ve had watching a TV show in a long time. Thanks, Last Survivor!

9/10

Review by DwightFry78 — May 30, 2011 @ 5:08 am

Unlike many people around here, I never really followed Smallville loyally, and the first season has a lot to do with it. Frankly, my opinion of it is that it, with its dreadfully lame and repetitive “freak-of-the-week” structure, was so bad overall that it’s a wonder it even got renewed for a second one. Okay, I may be being too harsh, but I got the feeling that every single episode was the same.

However, beneath that surface there happened to be a surprisingly engaging dose of human drama, and it took Last Survivor to reveal it in his firstling by removing all the rubble and putting together a story about people, which is what all great stories are about. It does not turn it into The Godfather, it’s still a whinefest and the dialogue is more akin to what a teenager would write than to what they would say, but the relations between the characters are highly enjoyable and you get to like them all (yes, Whitney too!) It’s true that it could have been trimmed a little further, and it’s true that the limitations of the material sometimes prevent some points to be well-rounded (I’m referring specifically to Clark’s quite out-of-character avoidance of Chloe when their quasi-affair starts developing, caused by the removal of that episode’s freak), but for what LS had to work with, the result is more than solid. Do not expect an action movie, though, there’s precious little of that, this is Smallville as pure drama. The action/adventure excitement, however, does kick in for the last hour of the ride, which might be the best of it.

Technically this is pretty much flawless, with no hard cuts whatsoever, and audio and video quality being consistently fine. I had the chance to see an earlier workprint by LS that showed great promise, which the final version more than fulfilled. This was a very good firstling that has me joining the popular acclaim for similar LS edits of further seasons of the show. 9/10 overall.