One of my favorite things about the TV show Smallville is that Tom Welling is hot.

I’m kidding. What I really like about Smallville is that the producers have used former Superman characters in the story. First, there was Christopher Reeves, who was “Clark Kent/superman” in the 1978 version of the movie, and then Superman 2, 3, and 4. On Smallville, he showed up as Dr. Virgil Swann in the episodes “Legacy” and “Rosetta.”

Then, there’s Dean Cain, who played Superman in the “Lois and Clark” TV show for four seasons. If you haven’t seen it, you should. Amazing. In Smallville, he showed up as Curtis Knox, M.D. in the episode “Cure.”

And the most recent? The original Supergirl, Helen Slater, made an appearance a couple of weeks ago (episode “Lara”) – and then again last night (episode “Blue”) as Clark Kent’s long-lost mother, Lara.Last night I was stunned by how much she and today’s supergirl, Laura Vandervoort, look alike. It was pretty cool.

Here’s a clip of Helen Slater as Super Girl: