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thatcrazycajunTonight's episode of Smallville puts Clark in the old It's A Wonderful Life scenario by showing him what an Earth where he never landed would be like, courtesy of a time-traveling Brainiac (James Marsters), who's prevented baby Kal-El from leaving Krypton before the Big Blow. One key change in the Clark-free world: Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) is President of the United States, echoing a storyline from the Superman comics of a few years ago.
Just one rather big hitch: In the TV show, Lex is barely 25 years old. Article II, Section 1, paragraph 5 of the US Constitution clearly states that one must be two things to become POTUS: (a) a native-born US citizen (naturallized immigrants need not apply—sorry, Ah-nuld) and (b) at least 35 years of age. And nowhere in the ep is any mention made of any Constitutional amendment having been passed to lower the age requirement, nor is there any other explanation given.
Normally, Smallville's writers don't make goofs this egregious—and I can't believe I'm the only one who's noticed. Suspension of disbelief is one thing...but making a factual error this bad kicks my disbelief off a cliff.
UPDATE, 5/3, 11:04A: Okay, sure, it turned out to only be a fantasy Jor-El's "spirit" cooked up for Clark to persuade him to use the portal, but still... (And what the heck is Jor-El in this show, anyhow? A ghost haunting the Fortress? A computer program stored there, replicating the real [and very dead] Jor-El's memories and personality? What? You'd think the writers would have clarified this by now, after seven seasons.)
Just one rather big hitch: In the TV show, Lex is barely 25 years old. Article II, Section 1, paragraph 5 of the US Constitution clearly states that one must be two things to become POTUS: (a) a native-born US citizen (naturallized immigrants need not apply—sorry, Ah-nuld) and (b) at least 35 years of age. And nowhere in the ep is any mention made of any Constitutional amendment having been passed to lower the age requirement, nor is there any other explanation given.
Normally, Smallville's writers don't make goofs this egregious—and I can't believe I'm the only one who's noticed. Suspension of disbelief is one thing...but making a factual error this bad kicks my disbelief off a cliff.
UPDATE, 5/3, 11:04A: Okay, sure, it turned out to only be a fantasy Jor-El's "spirit" cooked up for Clark to persuade him to use the portal, but still... (And what the heck is Jor-El in this show, anyhow? A ghost haunting the Fortress? A computer program stored there, replicating the real [and very dead] Jor-El's memories and personality? What? You'd think the writers would have clarified this by now, after seven seasons.)
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and people
Date: 2008-05-02 01:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-02 01:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Put it down to television aging, where after a while established characters are as old as the writers need them to be for a particular episode's plot regardless of whatever was set in previous episodes.
Unfortunately, it's also one of the signs of story exhaustion on the part of the writers, which generally means the show's been on too long. In the '60s comics it was stated that Kal-El made the transition from calling himself Superboy to Superman during his sophomore year of college, which would have been last season; instead there's going to be a season eight, very possibly without Michael Rosenbaum according to rumor, which makes no sense at all given the importance of Lex in the ongoing established story-line.
Clark has been given a butt-load of not-very-subtle hints from other characters that he should put on a costume already and get it over with, but he's written to have the mental density of granite and the whole thing's been dragged out far too long. Another half-season is more than enough to wind up the current plot-threads and have the last scene of the last episode showing Clark in costume leaping into the sky to fulfill his destiny as the Last Son of Krypton and Earth's Greatest Champion.