CRISIS O'BSERVATION - SMALLVILLE

CRISIS vs. TOOBWORLD
THE WORLD OF SMALLVILLE

According to the Arrowverse, the Multiverse designation for the world on which ‘Smallville’ took place was Earth-167.

From the Arrowverse Wiki:
Clark Kent lived in Smallville with Lois Lane and their daughters. While chopping wood, Clark was visited by Clark Kent and Lois Lane of Earth-38 and Iris West-Allen of Earth-1, who attempted to ask him to join them to stop the Anti-Monitor. However, Lex Luthor of Earth-38 appeared and sent them away, before attempting to kill Clark. He realized that Clark no longer had his powers, before Clark punched him and Lex disappeared.

This universe is (supposedly) home to the ‘Smallville’ television series. In addition, the number 167 is a nod to the show's producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar both being born in 1967.

However, this Earth being part of the Arrowverse multiverse stands in contrast to Season 10 and the comics continuity of ‘Smallville’, in which the prime earth is Earth-1, while there are others such as Earth-2 and Earth-Majestic. Also, in the comics continuity of ‘Smallville’, the heroes face a species named Monitors, dedicated to erase the multiverse using a form of anti-matter nicknamed "The Bleed".

In the DC Comics, Earth-167 is the universe where best friends Lex Luthor and Clark Kent are Superman and Batman respectively.

Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld, has nothing invested in ‘Smallville’.  It couldn’t take place on Toobworld because that had its own Superman already – to be found in the 1950s series ‘The Adventures Of Superman’.

So far, the “Crisis On Infinite Earths” mini-series hasn’t acknowledged the existence and/or the destruction of that Earth, except in the blanket announcement that only their concept of Earth-1 was left.

In the overall concept of the Toobworld Dynamic, not every TV show can exist on the same Earth.  If they did, ‘Bob ❤️ Abishola’ would have been overrun by ‘The Walking Dead.’  Showrunners who are focused on their own shows can’t afford to recognize the existence of other series unless they’re explicitly tied into their show with an official crossover.

But now, if the CW is going to stand by the events of the Crisis, then they’re basically saying that all the shows on their network take place on the same world as their superhero shows.  And I’m okay with that.  It just seems like a shame that we’re going to lose the possibility that they could theoretically interact with other TV series on other networks.

Getting back to ‘Smallville’, after seeing how filled out Tom Welling has become since his show went off the air (plus the fact that his Clark Kent no longer has his powers), it’s a shame to think that we’ll never get the chance to see him outfitted in the blue suit and the big red “S”.  By claiming that his world has been destroyed, they’ve robbed themselves of one day making some gelt off TV reunion movies.

I would think DC – with its own DC Universe establishing itself – might not like losing that option.  Just sayin’….

When we last saw the Clark and Lois of that world, they were happily walking off to be with their daughters.  Clark had to keep up the pretense of being in the moment even though he knew what was coming.  And I’m sure he had regrets as the sky turned red that he had given up his powers… not that there was much he could have done to save his family.

This has only been a Toobworld theory in the past, but ‘Smallville’ shared its dimension with three other TV series, as well as a movie:

• ‘The West Wing’
• ‘Mr. Sterling’
• “Minority Report” – the movie
• ‘Minority Report’ – the TV series

I got some splainin to do as to why…..

‘The West Wing’ – Both shows depicted a presidential election race in an off-year during the same TV season. That may not seem like much, but the possible connection led me to wonder why the world of ‘The West Wing’ – which can’t be Earth Prime-Time because the main Toobworld must have the same POTUS as the Real World – didn’t have its own Superman to come to the rescue whenever he was needed during ‘West Wing’ episodes (like when that Navy ship was going to be caught in the hurricane.)

Well, in ‘Smallville’ Clark Kent didn’t reveal himself to be wearing that big red “S” until the last few seconds of the series!  ‘Smallville’ ended in 2011; ‘The West Wing’ ended in 2006, long before “Superman” made his debut in that world.

Furthermore, as of 2019, Lex Luthor – as played by Michael Rosenberg – was the POTUS of the United State of America on Earth-167.  So President Matthew Santos could have served until 2015, and Lex Luthor either was elected as the next President, or was the Vice President and succeeded his POTUS.  Whether he engineered the President’s removal from office one way or the other….?

‘Mr. Sterling’ – This was loosely spun off from ‘The West Wing’ allegedly.  But there were no crossover characters and no real references to events from that series.

‘Minority Report’ (The TV Series) – This takes place in 2065, eleven years after the movie version.  In the pilot episode, a scene takes place in Bartlet Plaza, named after the President of that world at the turn of the Millennium.

“Minority Report" (The Movie) – With the TV series taking place eleven years after the movie, that’s plenty of time to flush out the characters of the movie and set it elsewhere.  No problem in absorbing it into the TV Universe.  Besides, with it taking place in 2054, after I’m gone, who cares?  LOL

So with the destruction of Earth-167, we lost not only all the characters from ‘Smallville’, but also Jed and Abby Bartlet, Josh Lyman, Toby Ziegler, Matthew Santos and CJ Cregg. (Sadly, we lost Leo McGarry before the series ended.)  And we lost characters who might not even be born yet since ‘Minority Report’ as just the movie wasn’t going to be happening for another 35 years from now.  Now it won’t.

But speaking of the future timeline for Earth-167, the past of that world’s timeline was altered.  As the Trueniverse audience, we might be left with our memories of what once happened on that world, but with its destruction some of those memories should be wiped out as well.

Clark Kent interacted with the Legion of Superheroes in at least one episode, “Legion”.  At least in the comic books and the CW, the Legion exist far in the future of Earth.  But with that far future now wiped out, the Legion of Superheroes doesn’t exist and ther interaction with Clark Kent never happened.  Who knows what ripple effects that might have triggered… to the point where Clark wasn’t on his Smallville farm to greet his visitors in those last moments of Earth-167.

Well, we shall see what we shall view when the Crisis crossover event returns in January.

Excelsior!