What's My Line?

A fandom blog that covers BtVS Ats and Firefly. In a permanent rewatch. It's a side blog so i can't follow back but i live in the tags and probably comment all that you share (meta, gifsets, pics, vids) if you are active in the fandom.

[motion-of-love]

I can't live in a world where you don't love me.

Smallville - Luthor - 10x10

[smallvilleandclois]

[smallvillecentral]

OLIVER QUEEN SMALLVILLE | 9.10 “Disciple”

[sakuraonlyfans]

JOR-EL Smallville | 03x06 | Relic

[sakuraonlyfans]

CLARK LUTHOR Smallville | 10x17 | Kent

[sakuraonlyfans]

CLARK LUTHOR Smallville | 10x10 | Luthor

[sakuraonlyfans]

TESS MERCER Smallville | 10x10 | Luthor

[sakuraonlyfans]

—Smallville, “Luthor”

[smallcloisville]

When I first watched this scene, I thought why didn't she stay? And then later realized oh right, he needs to tell her on his own accord.

[lscallop]

— kyle gallner as bart allen (impulse) in "smallville" S4X05 (2004) icons !

please like/reblog if u save or use it!

[sakuraonlyfans]

—Smallville, “Hothead” + “Luthor”

[sakuraonlyfans]

—Smallville, “Mercy” + “Luthor”

[argentnoelle]

ok as a fan of noir? the smallville noir episode was *so good.* miles better than i expected, they didn't just film in black & white & be done with it they put in the effort!!

spotlight on the girl's eyes (with Lana)

speaking of the lighting, they lit it for black & white & specifically noir! people's profiles were lit but they made of of all the chiaroscuro, they used the smoke in the air to beautiful effect, 2-point lighting my beloved

the period costumes & set-pieces were nicely done here, the hair styling & slightly different accents/ways of speaking everyone was trying (some managed it better than others, but everyone was giving it a shot!)

the blocking!! i always love the blocking in smallville, i think it has the most efficient & beautiful blocking of any tv show i've seen, it reminds me of a stage play, but in this episode it was especially sleek—the scene for instance where everyone's in the talon and the camera moves from one talking scene to another then follows clark to jimmy, then lionel moves in right as clark moves away—there's always someone in motion, moving in or out of the frame, always economizing and framing the conversations with not a moment of cinematographic dead space

they used the old-style sfx (rain, gunshots), transitions (the wipe, circle in/out, split screen while using the telephone, visual effects (when lex & jimmy were in the car chase the closeups were filmed on them in a still vehicle with the "street" behind them displayed on a projector that gives it that unique look—they didn't have to do that! that was a choice they went for just for the versimillitude)

the way they reused the usual interior sets with different exteriors & dressed the sets differently to create different spaces—the talon being a nightclub, clark's barn being an abandoned building where lex & lois have their tryst, giving that whole section of the episode that weird dreamy sense of unreality

the moments of humor (jimmy leaping out to take that photograph of the tryst), pretty much everything lex did (especially his & lionel's conversation), the clark & chloe first meeting in the planet

oh yeah speaking of—the lighting of the cigarette!! wonderful moment with lionel lighting lex's for him, beautiful closeup, really great intro into their scene

clark acting classic "clark kent" at the daily planet

so many "noir moments": the car chase ending with the car crash, the faceoff in the rain where lex is shot in dramatic irony—jimmy thinking he's pulling a gun when he's not—lana at the end, hidden behind the divider then turning to reveal her, wearing that fedora, the whole shootout at the end & the way jimmy goes down for it but clark gets away scot-free, use of the manor set/lana as the femme fatale giving jimmy that gun, the line of reporters all at the phone talking about the news of lex's death, the gorgeous musical number in the nightclub that lois got to star in, luthors as (implied) mob bosses!

about that musical number specifically: like that is *such* a staple of noir & it was done so well, erica durance did a great job acting the singing/dancing style that imitates that specific type of singer that she was being!! & she did a good job singing that song too

the way they directed the kisses (they very much lampshaded this too with the intro/end of the episode)—but like, where you have the pose/grab/quick pull in then pull away that's such a thing in old movies! they really went & directed the kiss scenes to look like they were in a period piece like...!!! YES

many direct references to specific noir movies

special mention to lex luthor's absolutely ridiculous hat. not because it's noir just because he looks so ridiculous in it. like, you can tell it's on purpose on the filming end too <3 pathetic guy (affectionate). has the worst luck of any character ever. gets to cheat (w lois!!!!) but also gets cheated on by lana with clark, which really should've happened in main canon episodes ago. yay

noir!clark being pretty much useless & doing nothing in the episode except to ~be mysterious~ i love it

idk they just had the vibe. like. as someone who's really into noir you can tell the people on this set loved noir & knew what they were doing & really put so much work & effort into making it a faithful recreation of the genre

[karlcagathon]

Smallville

9x01 │10x02

[jetslay]

Lois Lane's introduction. (Scripts)

[kasbreker]

LOIS LANE in SMALLVILLE | 7.08 - Blue

[shanebuffys]

I’m a Millennial who watched the show as it was on, and have been obsessed with it ever since. I’m really enjoying the perspective of a younger fan. What are some of the things about the show that feel suuuuuuper dated?

This is such a great question!! Thank you for asking!!

1) phones: As a child of the 21st century, the obvious answer is phones. I’m in the middle of season 3 for my rewatch and there are a couple of times where I find myself going “if they had cell phones this would be much easier.” Like in “Homecoming” when Cordelia and Buffy are in the woods if they had cell phones they could have called Giles right away. Or in “Lover’s Walk” Oz had to go get help for Cordelia if they had cell phones it’s just hello 911. But I actually love the lack of cell phones I think it’s interesting to see what people would do before them.

2) Consent Issues: This could be its own post. Because holy heck the consent issues in btvs are vast. I think compared to tv shows today that seem to place an emphasis on consent and rightfully villainize people who break consent (I’m thinking Riverdale and Nick St. Clair which was the first real teen show where I watched as it was airing) it is jarring. I think that’s why I put off watching btvs for so long because I knew about certain plot points. But, looking back there is not really one person in btvs who either doesn’t violate someone’s consent or doesn’t have their consent violated in someway. The examples of Buffy/Angel and Buffy/Spike are heavily talked about there is also Willow erasing Tara’s memories, Faith assaulting Xander, Faith in Buffy’s body having sex with Riley (a violation for both Buffy and Riley). It’s really a show that doesn’t handle consent well, but I chalk that up to Joss Whedon’s grossness.

3) Tropes: I don’t necessarily think the tropes feel dated but is interesting to be like “oh I’ve seen that before” and then I realize Buffy invented it. The show invented so many tropes that’s it’s honestly insane. Came back wrong being the biggest one (which as some people have pointed out if funny because Buffy actually didn’t come back wrong. But, also so many shows have ripped off Buffy. The TVDverse is the biggest offender with Legacies (ew) they steal the entire wish episode and the scene where the main character kills her boyfriend like I’m pretty sure they directly quote Buffy. Here is the link to a buzzfeed article about everything TVD specifically stole from Buffy it’s pretty extensive.

Sorry this was so long but I just loved this question!