Big day in "Smallville" for a teenage super fan

BURNABY, B.C. — "I think we have time for one more question," says Kendra Voth, a production executive on "Smallville."

"Um, I think I've asked all mine." No, I haven't, why did I say that? This is my last chance!

"Oh, come on, you've come all this way," says star Tom Welling with a smile. "Ask me one more question."

OK, this was it; whatever I asked, it had better be good.

"Will we ever see Clark Kent don the red cape and become Superman?" It was one of the questions I had been dying to ask the whole time — the whole time I've watched the show, in fact. And much to my surprise, I got a very direct reply, and not the one I had been expecting.

It's a bright September Monday outside Vancouver; I've been invited to the set of "Smallville" after writing an appreciation of the show ("Why 'Smallville's' Clark Kent is way cooler than 'Superman,' " July 19). Voth walks a friend and me up a warehouse ramp and into a short hallway, at the end of which are two massive wooden doors. As Voth opens one, we hear two male voices.

"They're rehearsing," Voth whispers. We take this as an immediate cue to be as silent as possible. We pick our way over cables, wires, cords, all snaking their way to various pieces of equipment. We emerge in front of the Green Arrow's penthouse, a beautifully built, very modern, angular-looking apartment, set behind a huge clock, which can be seen from the inside.

This is season 6's newest set, and home to "Smallville's" latest superhero, Green Arrow, played by former soap star Justin Hartley. But unlike the other heroes and villains in "Smallville," Green Arrow doesn't derive his powers from meteorites; in fact, he doesn't even have superpowers.

"Green Arrow is the closest to Batman we get," Voth whispers. Like Batman, Green Arrow is not exactly lacking financially and he's extremely enigmatic. He has a huge company devoted to making arrows and other weapons, some of which he stores in his secret lair, behind that giant clock — and like Batman, as soon as darkness falls, he undergoes a transformation, all to fight the powers of evil.

Around 10:30 a.m., director Jeannot Szwarc, who has been with "Smallville" for many seasons, decides he's ready for filming. As the crew sets up, Hartley darts off the set for a one-on-one interview, which we do in the nearby set of The Daily Planet (perfect for an interview!). I try to keep myself composed: It's your first interview; don't blow it. You'll be fine, just stay calm. Keep breathing, in, out, in, out, in... .

"Nice to meet you," Hartley says graciously.

"Nice to meet you, too." Thank goodness, my voice still works! In the interview, Hartley seems absolutely ecstatic about everything to do with the show. Asked how he feels about being the newest "Smallville" cast member, he replies, "When you see someone at 6 in the morning with a smile on their face, you know they're having fun."

This upbeat attitude shines through everything Hartley says. He gives some background on how Clark and Green Arrow — also known as Oliver Queen — met. Oliver had come to Metropolis for a class reunion, but all of his classmates seemed to be meeting untimely deaths. His suspicions for the cause of the deaths rest on (who else?) Lex Luthor. So Oliver begins his quest to form a team of heroes to fight back. First recruit: Clark Kent.

Hartley says being the new person on the set has been pretty painless. "It's smooth running, [after five seasons] the people know what they're doing, and can welcome the new guy more."

And, says the former "Passions" actor, it's a great change from soap operas. With soaps, he says, he could have 30 to 40 pages of lines to memorize per night. But on "Smallville," "there's less to memorize, and we're allowed to be more creative with our characters."

The only down side: "My family is not with me." Justin's wife, Lisa Hartley, and their 2-year-old daughter, Isabella, are back home in Los Angeles. Hartley's eyes sparkle as he tells how when he calls his wife, he can always hear the "Aquaman" pilot, of which he is the star, playing in the background.

"Aquaman" was never picked up, but that doesn't stop little Isabella from using the name for her daddy. "She calls me Aquaman, which is kind of embarrassing, having your daughter call you the name of a canceled show. When she's being a little smarty-pants, she calls me Justin."

We go back to the set and watch Hartley and Welling rehearse some emotional scenes, as the crew and the cast members get used to their gorgeous penthouse set. (Green Arrow has an amazing collection of colorful furniture, art and books. And high-tech arrows, of course.)

Late in the afternoon, I finally get my chance to interview Welling, and we walk back to The Daily Planet set.

I sit only a few feet from Welling. He looks exactly like the farm boy from Kansas we see every Thursday. His smile is that perfect movie-star smile no mortal can achieve, and his eyes are such an intense blue that they nearly match the trademark Clark Kent blue shirt he's wearing.

About those shirts: It seems like Welling, after all these years, would go through a lot of them. So how many has he actually worn? "Thousands — not hundreds, thousands," he says.

"We have a whole trailer full of them. And it's funny, because if I get a stain or something I go and say, hey, can I get another shirt? And they're like, sure, just a second, and they actually go through the shirts before giving me one, even though they're all the same!"

This season, Welling says, he is most excited about seeing the forming of the Justice League, with Green Arrow and Jimmy Olsen.

Welling also expresses relief that the show has finally come to the point where "characters are making choices and leaving the whirlpool of drama," much of which centered on Clark's high-school experience.

Can Welling relate to Clark's adolescent angst?

"I think anyone who has been through high school can associate with Clark's journey," he says. "People eventually grow up and realize that there is no normal, there is no cool group."

Welling is perfectly charming, though his answers are more guarded than Hartley's. I ask him if it's ever difficult to play someone who is so purely good all the time.

"So purely good?" he asks, surprised. "I don't know if Clark is purely good. He battles with what's right and wrong. He causes a lot of collateral damage, and he does go through a lot of inner turmoil."

Then Voth reminds me that I have time for one more question. With Welling's encouragement, I ask it: "Will we ever see Clark Kent don the red cape and become Superman?"

"No," he says emphatically. "This show will always be about Clark Kent. The transition to Superman is so catastrophic that it's a whole new show once he starts flying around."

And with that, Tom Welling and Clark Kent disappear, back to Smallville. All is right in the world, for now.

Julia Waterhous is a high-school student in Corvallis, Ore.: jsw_618@yahoo.com