Smallville bows this week — with Stargate‘s world record
As the lights go out at The Bridge Studios in Vancouver, that other venerable production in the city is also saying goodbye. Smallville will air its series finale this Friday (8/9c on The CW in the U.S.), in which (spoilers!) Clark Kent becomes a real superhero. We won’t tell you which one.
The show has run for 10 seasons, matching Stargate SG-1 for the number of years in production — a record for a science fiction / fantasy show produced in North America. (Yes, Doctor Who fans, we see you there.) But on its way out the door, Smallville is snatching the Guiness World Record off of SG-1‘s shelf.
Last month Smallville surpassed SG-1 with the most number of episodes, airing its 215th hour. Stargate SG-1 aired 214 episodes — five years on Showtime, five on Syfy Channel. When Smallville bows this Friday, the new North American record will stand at 218.
Why the difference? As a cost-saving measure Syfy reduced its standard episode order from 22 to 20 per year, beginning with the eighth season of SG-1. The CW, meanwhile, has continued the more industry-standard practice of 22 episodes each year — except for Smallville‘s seventh season, when the WGA strike shortened it to 20.
Like the Stargate franchise, Smallville is a veritable Who’s Who of the Vancouver film community. Rarely does an episode go by without the familiar face of an actor who have appeared in Stargate over the years. Only one of the show’s regulars ever crossed over, though: before she was Lois Lane, actress Erica Durance was Teal’c's next-door neighbor, Krista.
Smallville did have a go at a spin-off series. Creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar wrote and produced an Aquaman pilot for The WB in 2006. It was a bit rough around the edges, and the network decided not to pick it up in the midst of its merger with UPN. The lead actor — Justin Hartley — was then recast as Green Arrow and would go on to become a Smallville regular.
Congratulations to Smallville for its world record, and for 10 years of a solid and consistently entertaining show!
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All my favorite shows have and are ending to quickly.
Stargate SG-1
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Universe
LOST
Smallville
Terminator TSCC
Doctor Who and Torchwood have an uncertain future beyond their current seasons. Pretty soon, there will be nothing good on TV anymore.
:(
Billz | May 10 @ 9:40 amChuck also has an uncertain future. I should’ve put that in my earlier comment.
Billz | May 10 @ 9:40 am:(
Not sure how it can be a World Record when Doctor Who has been running 48yrs, now surly that is the world Record
colej2k | May 10 @ 9:52 amIf it is any consolation while Torchwood’s future is uncertain Doctor Who isn’t. It got ratings of 8 and 7 million for its first two episodes (when timeshifting was taken into account (but I don’t know if the BBC’s Iplayer was also included)) in the UK and it also did very well for BBC America over there.
With it’s 50th anniversary coming up in two years the world’s longest running SF show is safe.
alberon | May 10 @ 10:02 am@Billz Chuck has an uncertain future?! I love the show! :( :O
jonah1956 | May 10 @ 10:03 amDoctor Who, uncertain future? Are you kidding me
its doing better than all of those shows combined, its just not showed in America for some stupid reason
Rivyn | May 10 @ 10:24 am@Billz Dr Who isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It’s just insanely popular in the UK.
Tanith | May 10 @ 10:26 amI thought Smallville had already passed SG-1 like a couple years ago….?
Where did I get a silly thought like that?
Greenfire32 | May 10 @ 10:48 amAt least there is a network out there that cares enough to let the writers finish the story! Thanks CW!!
aussuu | May 10 @ 10:58 amYeah, a lot of shows I watch are ending this year, but thankfully I found a few new ones to follow. Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead are both phenomenal shows that any fan of the sci-fi/fantasy genre should check out. Both are highly sucessful and have already received a season two pickup.
Chuck has an uncertain future, but I think it’ll end in a good place like SGU did. Four seasons is a good run if it was canceled.
Browncoat1984 | May 10 @ 11:00 amI have no more “set in space” sci-fi’s left. Doctor Who is the only one that comes close.
Supertrinko | May 10 @ 11:20 amIt’s a long time and a good show. Congrats and farewell, Smallville :)
hyndara | May 10 @ 12:51 pmWay to pour salt on the wound, Darren. Stargate just died, and this superhero show (note: not scifi) illegally snags SG1′s longest running award. You just have this desire to keep reporting more bad stargate news even when there’s no more stargate.
The Admiral | May 10 @ 2:44 pmCongrats Smallville!! An Amazing show,an amazing record for an amazing American and world’s superhero and amazing quallity consistence throughout all ten years of it’s run! A really rare tv gem,with awesome actors,writers,directors..many of them already legends in their own right!And most of them legends now after Smallville!
Jim | May 10 @ 2:55 pmAnd since you’ve mentioned one of Smallville’s main cast members Erica Durance/Lois Lane as Krista in season 8 of Sg-1,it’s only fair to mention one of SGU’s main cast members Allaina Hoffman/Lt.Tamara Johanssen,our TJ as Black Canary,one of the main JLU members in Smallville!
Did you purposely left Michael Shanks out of this news? He was cast as Hawkman.
steelbox | May 10 @ 3:16 pm@steelbox: Since the story’s focus is Smallville, I’m calling attention to members of that show’s main cast that did Stargate — not vice versa. I don’t know why anyone would take that as a slight to Michael, who did a terrific job as Carter Hall in a half-dozen episodes of the show.
@The Admiral: Illegally? Let’s not have the “Smallville isn’t science fiction” argument again. Alien + alien technology + superpowers + time travel + parallel universes … need I go on?
Darren Sumner | May 10 @ 4:40 pmthe 8th season of Smallville was normal. It was the 7th that was cut short due to the writer’s strike.
crhale85 | May 10 @ 7:40 pm@Darren Summer: U missed “+ Magic”. If it has magic in it is not scifi anymore, next thing will be Lord of the Rings being scifi too.
Cybersokar | May 10 @ 8:25 pm@Cybersokar Smallville is a GENRE show if you’re familiar with a concept and the concept of magic is also very fluid.I’m assumong you’re talking about one,or two episodes of Smallville out of over 200 and the witches thing.But then explain to me how is a space vampire who sucks out “life energy” called Wraith any less magic,or any more sci-fi,whatever is easier on your brain!
Jim | May 11 @ 1:01 amAnd it’s Darren Sumner,not Summer.
I was not intending to start the Smallville arguement up again, Darren, I believen any right minded SG1 fan would side with my opinion of it. The main gist of my message was you rubbing salt in the fresh wound of Stargate’s death with this news of SG1 loosing one of its most important titles. Coupled with the status of Smallville’s real genre in doubt by many, having this show snub SG1 so soon after Stargate’s demise is just news us fans didn’t need to hear.
Obviously if you want to change your format and report on news that has nothing to do with Stargate, then you’re as free as SyFy was, to do so. Lord knows any real Stargate news won’t be coming in for the forseable future. At least if you changed your format you’d be more justified then SyFy was when it switched its own.
The Admiral | May 11 @ 1:19 amWell everyone in the world is well aware of how american’s love to rewrite history but seeing it done about actual events of the moment… shame. Sorry you cant change the ‘conditions’ of how something is measured – just to make the usa version the winner. If a person comes 2nd or 3rd in the 100m sprint in the olympics, they get silver and bronze. Oh wait, someone decided that if it is run on a saturday and the runner was the fastest one wearing Nike shoes so that makes him the fastest person in the world (in Nike’s). So yeah to the Whovian’s of the world, your comment about a world record stinks of revisionist history. Dr Who existed years before Star Trek and yes there was a break but it had been in production for almost 3 decades. I doubt GW will be rejoicing as loudly when in the very near future we will have the 50th Golden Anniversary of Dr Who.
aquaman | May 11 @ 2:55 amps. Farewell Lis Sladen, may your final SJA episodes be a tribute to all who watched her weekly in our childhood.
This just adds salt to the wound.
AscendedTauri | May 11 @ 3:19 amSince Stargate is a franchise, the total should be taken from SG1 SGA and SGU combined
Rivyn | May 11 @ 4:09 amI agree its 17 seasons long, not 10, 5 and 2. My opinion and just an opinion… Smallville Blows compared to Stargate on 218 episodes that all blow. Where Stargate has 3 series, 5 movies (Counting Children of the Gods and Atlantis’s Rising) Suddenly smallvile is looking rather small……… If you like Smallville and enjoy the show, then good for you. This was just my out spoken opinion, still angry that SGU ended like it did… it ended… Not cool.
acey916 | May 11 @ 4:23 amAlso SG-1 Totally could have been renewed for a season 11. THey had the ratings and the support, money and time. But the MGM GRAND canceled them. They could have kept going. Thanks a lot MGM always speaking too soon or not enough. MGM you fail.
acey916 | May 11 @ 4:26 amWow, instead of congratulating another genre show on this milestone, it’s all bile and poison here again. And Smallville is just as much sci-fi as SGU. Alien on Earth vs. humans locked on a ship. Where’s the difference?
katikatnik | May 11 @ 6:52 amI’m curious how many people think of Smallville as science fiction? I’ve watched it since it started but have never once thought of it as science fiction. Nor did I think that of any of the other previous incarnations of Superman. I’ve always thought of it as fantasy. Of course, I don’t think of SGU as science fiction either. But I think no less of it for it. I actually liked the later episodes.
Would the same people whom think of Smallville as science fiction because it involves an alien think otherwise of other superhero stories? The Hulk? The X-Men? The Fantastic Four? Batman? Does anyone think of any of them as science fiction? Each of them has, at some point, involved an ‘alien’. But I’ve never thought of any of them as science fiction.
mythos | May 11 @ 1:01 pmCongratulations to Smallville, i never watched it, but 10 years and 218 episodes is a milestone achievement. (Even if its not actually a world record. Fix the title plz.)
@Mythos
Dr. Bruce Banner (physicist) is the Hulk because of a Science experiment gone wrong, the X-men involves Genetics, Fantastic Four were all Astronauts, and Superman is an Alien from OUTER SPACE. All these superheroes with “super” powers are all the result of some Sci-Fi element or another. (Batman less so, but still not parked in any other genre other than Sci-Fi)
Sci-Fi doesnt have to involve aliens at all.
@Rivyn & @acey916
Which ever way you look at it Stargate would still loose the Record. If its most episodes its still Smallville, if its most series in a francise, its Star Trek (28 seasons).
The Genre is, to the best of my knowledge, usually titled; “Sci-Fi/Fantasy”.
SomeVeryRandomStuff | May 11 @ 4:30 pm@SomeVeryRandomStuff – The ones I listed were for very specific reasons. Superman is actually the least science fiction in my eyes because there’s nothing scientific about him. His powers weren’t the result of any scientific activity or element and even the stories of him that involve scientific elements are fantastical rather than science-driven. Of those on the list, Batman, as the one who had to create all of his technology that gives him his abilities, is the most scientific among them. And yet he’s the one who gets the nod as ‘less so’.
Scifi doesn’t have to involve aliens but it does need the science to be a focus. Which I see Superman as doing the least of all. Not that such detracts from it or makes it lesser in any way. But to me, scifi isn’t about there being things that don’t exist in our current world, it’s about focusing on the science, whether or not it’s real science from our world or the science of the world the story exists in.
mythos | May 12 @ 2:36 pm@mythos Will you please get of that high horse of ours,just for once please.We all know that you are the smartest man in the universe and that nothing is scifi to you,we GET IT already!!!
Sf includes both science and fiction and the fiction part doesn’t always go hand in hand with science.According to your “definition”,neither of the sg franchise series is SF.
Dr.Who sure as hell isn’t!
And another thing,please inform yourself about Superman lore,before making such statements,cause you obviously have no idea about it.It IS based on science fiction,even the explanation of his powers and their source.
Menwhile,give us all a break and go watch Science Channel(not that there is anything wrong with it),or go and read a tech manual!!
Otherwise in every sf story that isn’t a Discovery documentary,a human experience,characters and a human condition in general always takes precedance,even reg. science,it’s always about how it,everything(yes,science too) affects me as a human being,individually and socially.
And Smallville rightfully so takes the record,because it hasn’t even been said anything about SF,but a longest continually running GENRE show,a broader therm..look it up if you don’t understand and it has the most episodes in ONE series,not three,those were the criteria!
Jim | May 13 @ 3:46 amHow is smallville/superman the least syfy he is an alien who comes from another planet in a spaceship just that one sentance was enough to put it in sci fi genre as it is but wait theres more he comes from planet krypton which is a planet of scientists whos religion is science his fortress was made by a scientist as was his ship his heritage is science his powers are from the effect the yellow sun has on his species and effects things have on peoples bodys is explained by science to say none of this is sci fi is and would make me think nothing at all can be sci fi both stargate and smallville are great shows congrats to both
frawldogg | May 14 @ 3:21 pmIt would be cool if BBC America picked up SGU or even Showtime. Lots of my favorite shows are ending too soon.
starfangate86 | May 15 @ 12:45 amSGU
Smallville
The Chicago Code
Lie to Me
LOST
Breaking In
Knight Rider
Las Vegas
Numbers
Without a Trace
Dollhouse
Terminator: the SCC
I think they should make a network channel just for Stargate and STARGATE ONLY
starfangate86 | May 15 @ 12:47 amYea that would be cool
frawldogg | May 15 @ 8:03 amI will miss Smallville………
So many good tv shows going off the air…
It’s rather depressing…
At least there is Doctor Who! (which in my opinion will last a verrrrrry long time: key word= regeneration!)
It’s such a success!!!
Am I reading correctly that the US can’t watch Doctor Who??? Man, I feel terrible for them… I hope for the fans in the US that they will get their fill of Doctor Who!!!
Anyway, Smallville, you will be missed!!! (at least by me.)
Ancient Scientist | May 15 @ 11:04 pmAncient Scientist : people in the US can watch Doctor Who if they get the BBC America Channel on there cable or satelight..
[SMALLVILLE SPOILERS]
starfangate86 | May 16 @ 2:03 amI notice at the end of Smallville that it showed Lex running for the 2018 Presidental Elections when we do not have one for 2018 unless it was for 2016.
@Jim – I’m sorry you misunderstood.
mythos | May 16 @ 3:35 pm@ Cybersokar
Uhm, you do realize that magic is still a science fiction element, don’t you? You know. The idea that magic is based in science. What the Nox do can be considered magic, for example. They deal in illusion and power of the mind. In other words, they deal in magic. What the Ancients and Ori have done can be considered magic. The powers they receive for ascending is, basically, magic. Magic is just another element of science fiction shows. Maybe you just don’t understand what science fiction is.
etirvan | May 17 @ 9:22 pm