Tom Welling opens up about the one some Smallville episodes did not stand out as much as other, stronger installments. More than a decade after the show's conclusion on The CW, it appears that one Smallville episode, in particular, from one of the later seasons had to be significantly changed, thanks to the Man of Steel himself.
On the latest episode of Welling and Michael Rosenbaum's TalkVille Podcast, which featured Smallville star Aaron Ashmore (Jimmy Olsen), the trio talked about one of the later season 6 episodes, "Noir." For this installment, the former Superman actor had an interesting story. Originally, "Noir" was going to be a Smallville musical episode, as Welling shared the following:
That episode was supposed to be a musical, a musical noir. When they brought it up to me, I literally was like, 'I will not show up to work. You can film it, but...'
What Tom Welling's Smallville Musical Episode Comments Mean
For fuller context, the Smallville season 6 episode, "Noir," which is episode 20, sees Jimmy at one point getting knocked out, and he suddenly starts to dream that he lived in 1940. All the scenes from "Noir" in Jimmy's dream were fully black-and-white, exploring 1940 takes of various Smallville characters, including Clark. As many fans have called "Noir" one of the worst Smallville season 6 episodes, Welling's refusal to do the musical version of it may have saved episode 20 from being even weaker.
Prior to the airing of "Noir," there had never been any Smallville musical episodes, and it was unknown if most of the cast, if any of them, had singing experience. To throw that into the show at that point would have potentially been incredibly distracting and likely not well-received, as there was no need for it in of the overall plot. To have Jimmy dreaming that he is in 1940 while also having characters singing around him wouldn't have moved the storyline forward in the actual episode either.
Why Smallville's Musical Episode Changes Were For The Best
While there could have easily been a version of Smallville where a musical episode would have made sense, Welling's protests were for the best when it came to "Noir." It's key to that season 6 was the first season when it was airing on the newly-formed The CW (merged between The WB and UPN), which opened the door for a new audience to tap into a channel that had just launched. Given that Smallville had been established for half a decade at that point, making a musical episode in a season that is very much experimental could have been too risky.
Even though there were definitely lackluster Smallville episodes during the DC TV drama's long run, Welling's superhero series was fairly serious with most of its storytelling, which could have clashed with this premise. While later Arrowverse shows The Flash and Supergirl did have a musical crossover episode, it was well-established that they had actors with singing experience. To have Jimmy dream of a 1940s-based musical with the people he knows would have felt like it came out of nowhere.
Time will tell if the Smallville creative team that was attached to the show at the time will ever expand more on what the musical version of "Noir" could have been, if it had actually happened as planned. But "Noir" was better off not having to add the musical concept in an episode that was already a mixed bag. Nevertheless, seeing The Daily Planet with a more old-school vibe was an experiment for Smallville, which is normal with any series that ran for as long as it did.
Our Take On Tom Welling's Smallville Musical Episode Comments
Hearing that Welling put his foot down on Smallville trying to do a musical episode is understandable, especially if he has no singing experience himself and wasn't comfortable taking part in it. Nevertheless, even with the musical concept being removed from the season, there were plenty of weird Smallville storylines before and after "Noir" to the show's overall legacy. For anyone who wants to relive every single season of Smallville, the show is always available via Blu-ray/DVD and on streaming.
Source: TalkVille Podcast
Smallville
- Release Date
- 2001 - 2017-00-00
Cast
Sam Jones III
Annette O'Toole
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