The episodes of the Smallville TV Series generally start with a short introduction (or flashback), followed by the opening credits. These opening credits differ from season to season. In the opening credits of each season, the regular cast members of the season are indicated. Also credited are Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman, as well as Alfred Gough and Miles Millar who developed the Smallville TV series.
General form[]
The opening credits start with the title card of the show, followed by short clips from episodes of this or earlier seasons in which a specific character appears. The head of the character and the name of the actor are then superimposed to one of the clips. From season 5 on, the background settings for the actors' credits have a red margin on both sides.
Generally, 7 or 8 regular cast members are presented in each season, only seasons 9 and 10 have less credits. The main cast changes from season to season, only season 3 has the same main cast as season 2. In total, 17 actors are presented in the opening credits of the 10 seasons.
The music underlying the opening credits is the song Save Me by rock band Remy Zero which is performed live by the band in the season 1 finale "Tempest" and was shortened to 50 seconds for the opening credits.
A shorter version of the opening credits exists where only the title card of the show. It is accompanied by the voiceover: "Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode." This was absent on UK airings.
Character appearances[]
Even if the opening credits are the same for each episode of a season, this doesn't not imply that the main characters portrayed by the credited cast members appear in each episode.
Some main characters appear only in a bit more than half the episodes in which they are credited. Further, a main character may already have been appeared in earlier or still may appear in later episodes than the seasons in which he is credited.
For a more detailed explanation of the appearances of the main characters in the episodes of each season refer to the articles Character appearances and Main character absences.
Season credits[]
The following table shows which cast members appear in the opening credits of each season. For a more detailed description of the opening credits use the link to the opening credits article of the corresponding season at the top of the table.
Actor & character | S. 1 | S. 2 | S. 3 | S. 4 | S. 5 | S. 6 | S. 7 | S. 8 | S. 9 | S. 10 | Seasons |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tom Welling as Clark Kent | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 10 |
Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 7 | |||
Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 7 | |||
Eric Johnson as Whitney Fordman | X | 1 | |||||||||
Sam Jones III as Pete Ross | X | X | X | 3 | |||||||
Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan | X | X | X | X[1] | X | X | X | X | X | X[2] | 10 |
Annette O'Toole as Martha Kent | X | X | X | X | X | X | 6 | ||||
John Schneider as Jonathan Kent | X | X | X | X | X | 5 | |||||
John Glover as Lionel Luthor | X | X | X | X | X | X | 6 | ||||
Jensen Ackles as Jason Teague | X | 1 | |||||||||
Erica Durance as Lois Lane | X | X | X | X | X | X | 5 | ||||
Aaron Ashmore as Jimmy Olsen | X | X | 2 | ||||||||
Laura Vandervoort as Kara Kent | X | 1 | |||||||||
Cassidy Freeman as Tess Mercer | X | X | X | 3 | |||||||
Sam Witwer as Davis Bloome | X | 1 | |||||||||
Justin Hartley as Oliver Queen | X | X | X | 3 | |||||||
Callum Blue as Major Zod | X | 1 | |||||||||
Number | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 |
Gallery[]
→ see also Category:Screencaps of opening credits
Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
Eric Johnson as Whitney Fordman
Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
Annette O'Toole as Martha Kent
John Schneider as Jonathan Kent
Laura Vandervoort as Kara Kent
Cassidy Freeman as Tess Mercer
Justin Hartley as Oliver Queen