Michael W. Watkins Movies

A dying man entrusts a straight-shooting police detective with the key to a timeless mystery, thrusting the unsuspecting lawman into a deadly world where everyday objects have an unusual influence over reality as the result of an inexplicable rift in time and space. By all accounts the Sunshine Motel was one indistinguishable from any one of the countless other roadside lodges which dot Route 66. On the typical morning of an otherwise ordinary day, however, the contents in room ten of the Sunshine Motel are suddenly transformed into indestructible objects of immeasurable value. There's a comb with the power to stop time when the user runs it through their hair, and a pair of glasses that can inhibit combustion anywhere in a twenty-yard radius. When Police Detective Joe Miller (Peter Krause) is given the most powerful of all the objects - the key to room ten - he is quickly targeted for death by the various cabals that seek to collect the objects; some of the cabals want to collect to objects to achieve their own nefarious means, others simply to prevent them from falling into the wring hands. Things go from bad to worse for Detective Miller when his young daughter disappears in the room and he must race to solve the mystery of this strange phenomenon before he is caught in the crosshairs and his little girl disappears forever. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Tom is startled when he awakens in an alternate world in which he's married to a new wife and Kyle is a well-adjusted medical student. Most jolting of all is his discovery that the 4400 don't "exist" there. ~ Jeanette Martin, All Movie Guide

Season three of Smallville brought several more hidden facts about the Kryptonian heritage of young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) to the forefront -- and also provided a few additional links to Clark's future life as Superman. The series also found the unsavory past of billionaire industrialist Lionel Luthor (John Glover) catching up with him, profoundly affecting his mixed-up son, Lex (Michael Rosenbaum), who had already been battered about when a team of doctors attempted to purge him of his "delusions" (read: his memories of Lionel's perfidy). The season began with Clark, still under the addictive influence of red kryptonite, angrily renouncing his friends and family in Smallville and exiling himself to Metropolis, where he briefly entered into a life of crime under the tutelage of sinister Morgan Edge (played variously during this season by Rutger Hauer and Patrick Bergin), who, like many villainous characters on the series, was an associate of the redoubtable Lionel Luthor. In order to rescue Clark, the boy's adoptive father, Jonathan Kent (John Schneider), entered into a strange bargain with Clark's Kryptonian birth father, Jor-El (Terence Stamp), the ramifications of which would permeate the action for the remainder of the season. Once safely returned to Smallville, Clark underwent the by-now-standard curious experiences wherein he was obliged to utilize his unique powers wisely and without giving his dual identity away. He also discovered a few new powers, among them super-hearing and (it was implied) the ability to fly. On the romantic front, Clark's relationship with Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) went through a variety of ups and downs -- especially during a rather harrowing story arc involving a mercurial young man named Adam Knight (Ian Somerhalder) -- reaching a climax of sorts at season's end when Lana decided to leave Smallville in order to study art in Paris. Meanwhile, another of Clark's female acquaintances, budding girl reporter Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) drew ever closer to unearthing a number of secrets involving both Clark and Lex. She also revealed something that many viewers had long suspected: she was related to a certain high-profile Metropolis reporter named Lois Lane (who would become a regular character in season four). Not satisfied with dangling this tantalizing foretaste of things to come for young Clark Kent, the Smallville producers also used season three to introduce Clark's future boss, Perry White, here played by Michael McKean -- the real-life husband of Annette O'Toole, the actress who played Clark's adoptive mother, Martha Kent.

As season three drew to a conclusion, Clark had come face to face with another refugee from Krypton, a superpowered girl named Kara (Adrianne Palicki), who urged our hero to renounce his earthly ways and fulfill his "destiny." Meanwhile, the true nature of Lex Luthor was exposed in all its tawdry glory, and two of the series' most stalwart characters, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross (Sam Jones III), were poised to make their respective exits -- and it was painfully clear that at least one of them would never, ever return. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season two of the WB network's popular Smallville upheld its excellent ratings by adhering religiously to the same mixture as before: combining tantalizing elements of the Superman legend with the sort of "teen angst" indigenous to such series as Beverly Hills 90210 and Dawson's Creek, all the while effectively weaving a mythos of its own. The first episode of the new season resolved the cliffhanger left over from season one, with teenager Clark Kent (Tom Welling) -- who 13 years earlier had crash-landed in a spaceship in the tiny Kansas farming community of Smallville -- rescuing local high school homecoming queen Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) from a devastating tornado. At the same time, local playboy and aspiring business mogul Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), heir apparent to the billion-dollar LutherCorp firm, forgot his differences with his ruthless CEO father, Lionel Luthor (John Glover, graduating from "recurring" to "regular" status), long enough to rescue his dad from a certain-death situation. Also returning to the series were John Schneider and Annette O'Toole as farming couple Jonathan and Martha Kent, adoptive parents to Clark; Allison Mack as budding journalist and teenaged paranormal specialist Chloe Sullivan, who by now had resigned herself to being merely Clark's friend rather than his sweetheart; and Sam Jones III as Clark's best bud, Pete Ross, who a few episodes into season two became the only person other than Jonathan and Martha to be apprised that Clark was actually a "visitor" from the planet Krypton. Gone were Eric Johnson as Whitney Fordham, Clark's rival for the hand and heart of Lana Lang; and Tom O'Brien as unscrupulous reporter Roger Nixon, who was conveniently killed off just as he was poised to reveal Clark's true identity to the world.

Among the more prominent of the new cast members was Emmanuelle Vaugier as Dr. Helen Bryce, an anger-control specialist hired by Lionel Luthor to curb Lex's violent temper. Ultimately, Lex and Helen would fall in love and marry, but this union was sorely threatened by events occurring in the second season's cliffhanger finale. New plot complications involved another of Clark's newly emerging superpowers, "heat vision," and the introduction of red kryptonite, a mineral indigenous to Clark's home planet, which in true hallucinogenic fashion had the capability of transforming our straight-arrow hero into a violently rebellious teenaged punk. In other developments, the orphaned Lana Lang discovered that her biological father was still alive, while Martha Kent went to work for LutherCorp as Lionel Luthor's personal assistant. In the extraordinary season-closing cliffhanger, Clark Kent received mystical messages from his late Krypton-dwelling father, Jor-El, informing him that he was destined to rule the world. Choosing instead to continue striving for "human" normality, Clark was moved to a desperate act that had devastating consequences on his friends and loved ones -- and pushed him into a dangerous dependence on the addictive red kryptonite, which led him into a life of crime in the wicked city of Metropolis. Hoping to retrieve his adopted son, Jonathan entered into a bargain with the spirit of Jor-El, briefly developing superpowers of his own, while wife Martha mourned the death of her unborn child (one of those aforementioned devastating consequences). And as if that wasn't enough, Lex Luthor found himself on a plane that was doomed to crash -- a disaster that may or may not have been engineered by someone very, very close to him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"What was life like for Superman before he grew up to be Superman?" That was the questioned posed, and brilliantly, answered, on the weekly sci-fi/adventure series Smallville, the WB network's most successful new program of the 2001-2002 TV season. Without wreaking undue damage on the sacred Superman legend, as set down by 65 years' worth of comic books, radio series, TV shows, and movies, Smallville artfully wove its own mythos concerning the early years of Clark Kent -- not yet "the man of steel" Superman, but born Kal-El, "strange visitor from another planet" (namely, the doomed planet Krypton). The first episode, telecast October 16, 2001, rapidly established the fact that the child Kal-El's arrival on Earth in the year 1989 profoundly affected virtually the entire population of Smallville, a tiny Kansas farming community. The spacecraft bearing the alien toddler arrived at the same time as a cataclysmic meteor shower, which all but devastated Smallville. Among other things, the meteor bombardment brought about the deaths of the parents of little Lana Lang, and rendered completely hairless nine-year-old Lex Luthor, son of ruthless billionaire businessman Lionel Luthor. Though Lana was able to put the tragedy behind her thanks to the loving care of her aunt Nell (Sarah-Jane Redmond), Lex's sudden and spectacular hair loss left him cynical and suspicious of humankind in general, and his grasping father in particular. On a happier note, childless farming couple Jonathan and Martha Kent (John Schneider, Annette O'Toole) rescued Kal-El, renamed him Clark, and raised him as their own son.

As the years passed, it was painfully obvious that Clark (played in his teen years by Tom Welling), possessed Herculean strength and other powers "far beyond those of mortal men." To protect their adopted son from being exposed as an alien, and to prevent others from being accidentally injured by the boy's superstrength, Martha and Jonathan kept Clark from indulging in youthful horseplay, and refused to allow him to participate in contact sports. As a result, Clark earned a reputation as something of a namby-pamby nerd -- and his own growing realization that he was different from his peers kept him perpetually on the outside looking in, a natural-born loner. Which is not to say that Clark didn't have his own circle of friends at Smallville High School. Lana Lang (played as a teen by Kristin Kreuk), who had matured into the campus queen, regarded Clark as a loyal and faithful friend -- but, much to Clark's dismay, she reserved her romantic feelings for high school jock Whitney Fordman (Eric Johnson), who, thanks to a series of neat coincidences, tended to get the credit for the heroics performed by Clark (which of course, young Mr. Kent was bound not to claim as his own lest his secret be revealed). Conversely, fellow student Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack), a budding paranormal investigator who wrote for the Smallville High newspaper, the Torch, harbored a hidden crush on Clark. Our hero's best bud was the shy and self-effacing Pete Ross (Sam Jones III), who like everyone else in Smallville could not help but notice that strange things happened whenever Clark was around, but who seldom questioned these happenings for fear of damaging their friendship. As for Lex Luthor (played as an adult by Michael Rosenbaum), several years Clark's senior, he lived the life of a swinging bachelor in his family mansion, while dad Lionel (John Glover) wheeled and dealed from his headquarters in the city of Metropolis. A firm friend of the young Kent since Clark saved his life, Lex had his share of good and noble impulses, but they were often mitigated by his inbred avariciousness and lust for power -- and his overpowering desire to wrest the family business from the grasp of his father.

During season one, Lex had a fling with sexy Victoria Hardwick (Kelly Brook), but their romance fell victim to his self-absorption. And though Clark generally got along with Lex, the same could not be said for Jonathan Kent, who (not without reason) felt that the Luthor family's business ambitions posed a threat to Kent and his fellow farmers. Also muddying up the Luthor legacy was the cache of kryptonite -- the green, glowing element indigenous to Clark Kent's home planet -- which was kept on the premises of Smallville's LutherCorp plant. As everybody familiar with the Superman canon knows, kryptonite has an adverse and possibly deadly effect on Clark; in this series, the mineral also brought out the worst in everyone else who came in contact with it. The first season of Smallville studiously avoided any mention of Clark's future alter ego, Superman, though the viewers would see the young misfit painfully adjusting to his awesome powers, some of which (such as his x-ray vision) were brand-new to him. Also, several episodes placed those closest to him in dire jeopardy, forcing him to utilize his powers without giving himself away -- and in at least a couple of cases, Clark's friends would themselves develop temporary superpowers that they too had to learn to properly deploy. Along the way, Clark's campus rival, Whitney Fordham, would leave Smallville after a series of daunting personal setbacks, joining the Marines to see the rest of the world. Like many another network series of its ilk, Smallville closed out its initial season by setting up a cliffhanger, to be resolved at the beginning of season two. In this case, the "to be continued" elements involved the first kiss between Clark and Chloe, a potential unholy alliance between Lex and Lionel Luthor, a startling discovery made by an unscrupulous big-city news reporter named Roger Nixon (Tom O'Brien), and a devastating tornado that threatened to bump off the helpless Lana Lang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Coming upon a street shooting, Andy (Dennis Franz) fires at what he thinks is the perpetrator's car -- but cannot prove that he fired correctly when the only eyewitness, the original shooting victim, disappears. As Andy nervously awaits an Internal Affairs investigation, the other detectives begin to suspect that newcomer Connie McDowell (Charlotte Ross) is a spy from the IAB. And in another development, a videotape shot in the bathroom of a bar may nail a rapist. With this episode, Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon graduates from "recurring" to "regular" cast member as ADA Valerie Haywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Part one of a two-part X-Files story, "Sein und Zeit" begins with the disappearance of little Amber Lynn LaPierre (Megan Corletto), who was apparently abducted while sleeping in her own bed. The girl's father (Mark Rolston) suffered visions of the child's demise, while the mother (Shareen J. Mitchell) received a cryptic ransom note, which she well might have written herself (shades of the JonBenet Ramsey case). Investigating, Mulder and Scully follow the evidence to an imprisoned woman (Kim Darby) who'd been convicted of a child's kidnapping and murder back in 1987 -- while Mulder comes across clues that may lead to solving the long-ago disappearance of his own sister. Originally telecast February 6, 2000, "Sein und Zeit" was written by X-Files producers Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the wake of the death of rookie criminalist Holly Gribbs, Brass (Paul Guilfoyle) is sent back to the homicide division and Grissom (William L. Petersen) is appointed head of the CSI. Having assumed that she would be assigned to investigate Holly's killing, Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) is upset when the case is put in the hands of a newcomer to the unit, Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox, in her first series appearance). And in other developments, Nick (George Eads) checks into the apparent suicide of a high-rolling winner and Warrick (Gary Dourdan) is suspended. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Three married couples have suddenly and inexplicably vanished from the exclusive gated suburban community of "The Falls of Arcadia." To get to the bottom of things, Mulder and Scully show up at the community posing as a pair of husband-and-wife yuppies named Rob and Laura Petrie. The answer to the mystery lies in one of the residents' mania for total and absolute conformity. Written by David Arkin, "Arcadia" was originally telecast March 7, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An angry and unstable youth lashes out against the school he believes has destroyed his future in this made-for-TV drama inspired by a true story. Jason Copeland (Rick Schroder) is a teenager teetering on the edge of emotional collapse; he was kicked out of high school for poor grades, he hasn't been able to find a job, and living at home with his bitter and demanding mother has become intolerable. One day, Jason snaps and decides to take revenge against the teachers who he believes ruined his life. He grabs a couple of guns and a stockpile of ammunition and invades his old high school, killing several teachers and students and then taking 62 kids hostage. Among the students being held at gun point are Aaron (Freddie Prinze Jr.), a bright but rebellious student who is having his own problems at school, and Samantha (Katie Wright), whose father is a deputy with the local police department. As Skip Fine (Henry Winkler), generally regarded as less than the brightest penny in the local police force but the only one with training in hostage negotiation, tries to talk Jason out of taking any more lives, Aaron and Samantha try to convince Jason from the inside that letting the students go and giving himself up would be the best thing to do. Hostage High was originally screened on American television under the title Detention: The Siege at Johnson High. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide