Now into its ninth and penultimate season, belated showing on E4 in the UK, ‘Smallville’ is definitely not fresh produce.

Old ‘Superboy’ comics are rubbish. The ‘Superboy’ TV series is rubbish. Prequels are usually rubbish. So why is ‘Smallville’ actually good?

‘Rush’ demonstrates, conveniently, all the strengths and weaknesses of the series as a whole and is thus a fine example of the series to pick in isolation.

Some things are worth travelling for. Take this first Smallville DVD release, for instance, which is only technically available in Canada. It’s well worth finding a friendly importer to get your hands on one…