Trivia: Michael McKean, who guest stars as Perry White, is married to Annette O'Toole, who plays Martha Kent.
Trivia: Jor-El's voice is provided by Terence Stamp, who played General Zod in "Superman II."
Trivia: During the recording of Jor-El and Lara-El, Jor-El (played by Julian Sands) pronounces Krypton the same way Marlon Brando did, who played Jor-El in the 1978 "Superman" film. That is he says it more like "Kriptin."
Trivia: This episode bares some resemblance to the story of Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam. In it, young Alec Abrams magically turns into an adult, Steven Swift who is the superhero Angel Warrior. Stephen Swift is played by Carlo Marks. Marks appeared in season 7 as Chloe's fiancé in an alternate reality where Kal-El never came to Earth.
Trivia: Tahmoh Penikett appears in this episode, and "Nemesis" as Wes Keenan, who gained super powers after being injected with the DNA of kryptonite-infected humans as part of Project Ares. Penikett also appeared in season 3 as Vince Davis, who came back to life after being given the Lazarus Serum, which was made from the blood of Clark Kent. The Lazarus Serum was a project by Lionel Luther and Project Ares was a project by Lex Luther.
Trivia: When Clark is on the computer, there's an article about a teen becoming the fastest man alive, normally a title for the Flash. The article names the teen Scott Higgs though, who isn't the Flash. The article says he ran the 100-m dash in 2.4 seconds, which is about 93 miles per hour. In the article it said the old record was 8.5 seconds. In real life, the record in 2001 was 9.79 seconds, so it seems the Smallville universe has several fast metahumans.
Trivia: Justin Hartley, who plays Oliver Queen and joined the show in 2006, also starred in the unaired pilot of "Aquaman" (2006) as Arthur Curry. "Aquaman" was created by "Smallville" creators Gough and Millar. They didn't want "Aquaman" to be a spin-off "Smallville" so they didn't use Alan Ritchson, who had already played Arthur Curry in "Smallville." The show was scheduled to air on The WB, but when The WB and UPN were shut down, The CW was formed. The CW opted not to pick up the series.
Trivia: Additional references to the show "The Dukes of Hazzard"; Senator Jennings (Tom Wopat) drives a '68 Dodge Charger, similar to the '69 Charger in DoH. Jennings mentions Jonathan outrunning cops when he was younger by driving through Chickasaw County, a fictional county in DoH the Dukes often weren't allowed to enter because of their probation, and were sometimes chased by the sheriff. And Jack Jennings' name is a nod to Waylon Jennings, who wrote the DoH theme song and was the Balladeer.
Trivia: The role of General Sam Lane, Lois Lane's father, is played by Michael Ironside. Ironside voiced Darkseid in "Superman: The Animated Series" and in the "Justice League" series.
Trivia: Chloe's mom in this episode is played by Linda Carter. Carter is known for playing Wonder Woman in the 1970's. Wonder Woman was one of the original members of the Justice League, but, like Batman, never appeared in "Smallville" and was only alluded to a handful of times.
Trivia: Aaron Ashmore appears for the first time as Jimmy Olsen. Aaron's twin brother, Shawn Ashmore, played Eric Summers in season 1 (and again in season 3). Aaron appeared throughout season 6,7, and 8, until Jimmy's death. Aaron would later play Jimmy's younger brother at the end of season 10. Incidentally, it was Shawn who played the superhero Iceman (Bobby Drake) in the X-Men films.
Trivia: This episode is a nod to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." The episode was written by Steven DeKnight, who also wrote for and worked on the Buffy series and the spin-off "Angel." James Marster (who plays Milton Fine) starred in the Buffy series. The head vampire is name Buffy Sanders, a nod to Buffy Summers. We also learn that Buffy isn't the girl's real name but changed by Chloe in her story. At the end, Ms. Kahn says people don't want to read about "slaying Buffy the Vampire."
Answer: The kryptonite only creates mutations when it reacts with the environment and an individual. Remember, the FDA and several environmental groups did check out Smallville after the meteor shower, but found no danger in the rocks. Obviously they're not always emitting mutating rays, or all the flora and fauna of the surrounding area would be horribly mutated.
Phoenix