Smallville can probably expect a big drop in viewership now that The CW has moved it to Friday nights, but fans won't want to miss this week's premiere to see the show move closer to Superman territory than ever before.

Friday's season opener finds Clark doing super good deeds, but he's also growing dark and distant from his friends, especially Chloe, who asks him for a very, very big favor. But Clark does manage to make some time for Lois, who – surprise! – needs a bit of rescuing after returning from her time-traveling trip.

And then there's Zod. In one of the clips below, Dead Like Me's Callum Blue does his best Terrence Stamp impression – and it's a pretty good one – while attempting to raise up an army full of ripped soldiers in tight outfits.

Head after the jump to watch the clips.





As some Squad readers might know, Smallville is one of my biggest guilty pleasures. In the age of incredibly well written and realistic shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad, Smallville stands out as pure unabashed fantasy entertainment, but it's steeped in a mythos/storyline that's near and dear to my little nerd heart. Is it a great show? Not even close. Should it have been canceled years ago? Yeah, probably. But it's still better than Heroes, and the first half of season nine looks like it's gonna be a blast with the addition of Zod and Brian Austin Green as Metallo. (Let's not talk about the Wonder Twins, OK?)

The CW will air the first nine episodes of the new season straight through. That means we'll get 9 weeks of fresh Smallville before it goes on hiatus (and eventually returns to end the season with the usual batch of disappointing episodes).