GAMES ON FILM # 15 SMALLVILLE

TODAYS PINS/CONSOLES/GAMES ON FILM ARE…

Nine Ball, PINBALL, Stern (1980)

JUNGLE LORD, PINBALL, Williams (1981)

Cool Boarders 2001, Idol Minds, PS2 (2001)

NINTENDO GAMECUBE (2001)

MIRCOSOFT XBOX (2001)

MADDEN 2002, EA, GameCube Ver. (2001)

Genma Onismusha, CAPCOM, Xbox Ver. (2002)

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? NO, it’s the first 3 seasons of Smallville on Games on Film.

Smallville 2001- 2011. Follows the early adventures of a young Clark Kent before he “becomes” Superman. Clark grows up in Smallville, and for a small Kansas town, a lot of weird sci-fi stuff sure happens, seemingly every week. Clark begins to learn about his superpowers and his origins while navigating high school life, and later the real world.

Alfred Gough and Miles Millar developed the concept for the show Smallville, based on Superman and other characters originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show took several liberties with the established canon to this point.

If you’ve never seen it, well, it’s kind of like the monster-of-the-week X-Files episodes crossed with over-the-top comic book action, wild superpowers,teen drama and soap opera-style antics. Along with a memorable cameo from the late great Christopher Reeve, and somehow all this put together, works.

The Pinball machine Jungle Lord (1981) is frequently seen in the background of scenes at the Beanery (the main hangout for the characters in season 1). However, the first episode to feature the Beanery has a Nine Ball, Stern, 1980. That is only seen in this one episode (as far as I can tell.)

Hothead EP 3 (Original air date: October 30, 2001)

Nine Ball appears in the background, surrounded by extras. None of the main cast interacts with it. As mentioned, this seems to be Nine Ball’s only appearance in Smallville, before it was replaced with Jungle Lord. Why was it changed? A possible reason could be a licensing issue, or more likely, a creative decision to find a machine that fitted more thematically with the series. Admittedly, it’s quite hard to spot in the episode, and even took me some sleuthing to figure out what machine it actually was. Okay, not exactly a good start for Jungle Lord.

Cool EP 5 (Original air date: November 13, 2001)

Jungle Lord (1981) replaces Nine Ball (1980) in the corner of the Beanery.

Hourglass EP 6 (Original air date: November 20, 2001)

The only time there isn’t any sort of Pinball machine in its usual corner of the Beanery. Instead, it’s replaced by a piano!? A character does play the piano in the episode, but was it really worth it?

(Answer: No)

Rogue EP 9 (Original air date: January 15, 2002)

In this episode, Jungle Lord is back in its corner in full force. Actually, we get a really good look at the play field and can see that it’s 25 cents to play.

Shimmer EP 10 (Original air date: January 29, 2002)

Jungle Lord appears again in the background throughout the episode, allowing another good look at the back glass art.

Hug EP 11 (Original air date: February 5, 2002)

The last appearance of the pinball machine, well, in the Beanery at least.

Kinetic EP 13 (Original air date: February 26, 2002)

In this episode, a group of thieves get temporary superpowers, and it is up to Clark to stop them. Later, in their hideout, Jungle Lord can be seen in the background. Did they steal it from the Beanery!?

There are also multiple TVs in the hideout, playing footage of a snowboarding game, which appears to be Cool Boreaders 2001, PS2, May 22nd 2001 (NA) (Developed by Idol Minds)

No one is seen playing, and from a quick glimpse we get of the screen, the time has been set to infinity. This is, without doubt, pre-recorded game footage. I can’t imagine there’s someone off-screen playing…

Also why display it on so many TVs? Is this really what we thought being extreme was back in 2001, watching the mediocre game Cool Boarders on multiple televisions in a garage? I wonder if they wanted real snowboarding footage, but couldn’t get a license or something. It seems so random; why not a car racing game? That would make more sense as they were in a garage.

PIN PALS

Nine Ball’s connection to Superman seems even more tentative than the Jungle Lord’s. While Nine Ball does have a loose space theme, that could be connected to Superman’s origins being from outta space, and that later he can fly through space. The Pin leans more into a magical fantasy sci-fi “space pool” theme with a depiction of a wizard on the back glass (perhaps a take on the idea of Pinball Wizard?)

So, Jungle Lord replaced Nine Ball, but why this particular Pin? The Beanery set had somewhat of an Americana, pop culture vibe, so a pinball machine would fit in quite well along with movie posters and abstract modern art. Jungle Lord has a Tarzan-type theme to it. When Superman was being created, actor Johnny Weissmüller’s appearance was used as a reference. Wessimüller was well known for playing Tarzan, though out the 30s and 40s, appearing as the character in 12 films. So the inclusion of Jungle Lord could be a nod to this inspiration.

Another Tarzan connection to Superman could be Goober the Mighty, a spoof comic of Tarzan created by Jerry Siegel for his high school newspaper (The Glenville Torch). Shuster also reportedly did some of the artwork for Goober the Mighty. Another interesting thing of note is that the name Glenvillie Torch might have served as inspiration for “The Torch”, the high school newspaper Clark helps with, in the Smallville series.

After the Talon (the new hangout) was introduced, the Beanery was phased out of the series, along with the pinball table. (Where’s that Pin now, safely stored away somewhere at Warner Bros. or vanished to the phantom zone?)

SEASON 2

Game: Madden 2002

Developer: EA Tiburon

Publisher: EA Sports

System: GameCube

Release Date: Aug 2001

RED EP 4 (Overall EP 25)

The Game Cube (Sep 14th, JPN) would have been a little over a year old when this episode first aired.

The game Clark is playing is most likely Madden 2002, August 14, 2001. This would have been the most recent Madden game, given the time of the episode’s production. The episode aired on October 15th 2002. The next game in the series, Madden 2003, came out on August 12, 2002, in North America.

Clark uses a standard black GC controller. This might suggest the GameCube he’s playing on is also the black variant. (The console isn’t ever shown) When the GameCube first launched in North America, it came in two colours: Indigo and black.

Why was this game chosen?

At this point in the series, Clark’s still not playing American Football on the high school team, something he wanted to be a part of. Seeing as he can’t play for real, he does the next best thing and plays a video game simulation of the game. (Why not just play baseball, arguably the king of all sports?)

Are they playing?

Prodigal EP 15 (Overall EP 36)

Lionel Luthers, estranged son, Lucas plays Genma Onismusha on the (Original) Xbox. He even uses the big ass duke controller. Unlike with Clark playing the GameCube, the Xbox console can clearly be seen on the table.

Are they playing?

Similar to Madden 2002, the game is actually on the TV and not a post-effect. However, actor Paul Wesley’s video game “playing” is more exaggerated. Also, when his father, Lionel Luther, asks him to stop playing, he seemingly pauses the game, but the screen appears frozen, not paused. Usually, pausing would bring up the game’s menu. This would suggest that this is pre-recorded game footage. So is he playing? NO, probably not.

A brief look at gaming in the early 00’s

This era of gaming saw a major shift when Sega officially discontinued the Dreamcast in 2001 and left the console market.

Sega turned into a third-party publisher, meaning its games appeared on other systems, including Nintendo. Today, with game companies becoming more and more open to the idea of multi-platform releases, such as Microsoft games like Forza Horizon 5 appearing on Sony’s PS5. This idea may not seem as radical, but back in the day, this was a big deal.

Sega’s crown jewel mascot, Sonic, would now be on Nintendo systems. This was a true end of an era moment for the two companies that defined gaming in the 80s and especially the 90s. If the console wars were ever really a thing, this would be when they ended.

Online gaming is now an integrated and expected part of the video game industry. Back in the 90s, video game companies had tentatively experimented with this new thing called the internet, such as with a modem for the Sega Mega Drive.

The fifth gen systems introduced more internet connectivity, like the Sega Saturn’s Net Link. It wasn’t until the next generation that online gaming was pushed more heavily. The Sega Dreamcast came out of the box online-ready, with many of its games having online multiplayer. The PlayStation had Net Play, and Microsoft had Xbox Live, although not as prolific as its competition. Nintendo also had a modem for online games, most notably with Phantasy Star Online. Now, for better or worse, online gaming has become tied to modern gaming.

One question still remains: who’s faster, Superman, or The Flash?

Smallville ran for 7 more seasons. Are there more games hidden in the background? Maybe, but if there are any, they’ll have to wait for another time and another Games on Film.

This October, Games on Film will be taking a look at games that appear in horror films. What films are they? This will remain a mystery until they come out….

Smallville:Tollin/Robbins Productions,Millar Gough Ink,DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television

Pinball images (pinside.com)