They Just Don’t Get It

Really lame special effects and “The Department of Paranormal Something,” lends a light touch to the CBS series. But it stinks of camp and, while it may appeal to (they hope) some younger people, the core DC fans–or, maybe just me– are likely to be a little insulted by this, which seems to mock superhero fans in an attempt to appeal to them. But, then again, that’s what The Big Bang Theory does, so what do I know. Disappointed. I figured, surely by now, Hollywood understands the more seriously you take this genre, the more money you make.

17 Comments

  1. Trev Trev says:

    I don’t know, I think it looks OK. Yes, it’s a bit campy but it appeals to a wider audience, perhaps those who watched Ugly Betty and, as you a mentioned, The Big Bang Theory. Now if this was Spider-Man, Hulk, Superman, Captain America,etc. then taking the subject matter seriously would be the best option as I believe the majority of the audience would be comic book fans — lose them and the game is over.

    As it stands I don’t think there are too many people who know much if anything about Supergirl and the portion that do will be tiny, so why not just make this a fun series and try and get as much people on board.

  2. Thad says:

    Berlanti et al have done pretty solid work on Arrow and Flash, for my money (especially Flash; if I have a complaint about Arrow it’s that it takes itself TOO seriously). As for Supergirl…well, it’s got potential; time will tell. Arrow’s sure come a long way from where it was in its pilot.

    The trailer didn’t wow me (except the costume, which I really like), but I’ll give it a look, catch the first few episodes, see what I think.

    Lucifer, on the other hand, is a DC adaptation whose trailer I couldn’t even finish sitting through. Not everything has to be turned into a supernatural police procedural, guys. (Though I admit that I’m really enjoying iZombie despite it doing exactly that.)

    • Priest Priest says:

      I think it’s the cheesy effects I’m reacting to; the suspicion that the effects are deliberately made to look cheesy. Even on a budget, they could do better than that. And the wide-eyed deer-in-headlights look Linda seems to have all the time, and I continually brace at the wrongheaded and deeply irritating portrayal of Clark Kent as a clutzy stumbling idiot. way too campy, and Benoist’s Danvers echos that Clark-as-idiot business. Toss in what I suspect are deliberately silly-looking SFX, and this looks much more like My Girlfriend The Superhero or some other such silliness. Pass.

  3. The thing about Supergirl is that, well, she’s long suffered from concept flail, almost as badly as Power Girl, and for many of the same reasons. Pretty much no matter what tone the show sets, I bet you could find an extended run of her comic somewhen that mirrored that tone.

    Personally, I’m looking forward to this. There’s a few unfortunate optics here and there (like having to get permission from a guy to go fight crime), but those may not be as bad in context.

  4. Ralf Haring says:

    I much prefer that they go this route than dreary grimdark self-serious Arrow (and their movies). This doesn’t look particularly great, but the direction The Flash and Marvel’s movies charted is the way to go.

  5. Trevo Trevo says:

    DVD, are you telling us that Supergirl is going to be a great show? 🙂 Supergirl looks like it will appeal to the masses which is a good thing, no?

    I’m taking a slight detour, here but I’d like to see a Spider-Man TV series as long as it’s not Miles Morales.
    Maybe — and I’m just thinking out loud, here — a Ghost Rider TV show…

  6. Trev Trev says:

    Whoops, I’ve seemed to have posted as Trevo. Trev, Trevo, I’m fine with both 🙂

  7. circ says:

    I passed on the trailer and jumped straight in. The pilot was an odd nigh-50min experience…

    Don’t mind the less-than-stellar efx. Wasn’t expecting them to book SG as they would their top-tier chars. Detective Comics Comics has been dropping all sorts of balls with her for a looooong time. Benoist’s portrayal reminded me of Mary Marvel from Superbuddies (Formerly Known as the Justice League comic), but less interesting.

    Henshaw and Olson choices were intriguing. Fantastic Four and Sinestro would be proud. (JORDANNNNN!)

    A couple of odd things I saw:

    1.) The most calm airplane passengers on a bird losing altitude I have ever seen in a show.

    2.) The flex finger axe grip.

    To sum it up: It’s cotton candy, not steak.

  8. Not sure what I make of it yet. Pleased to see one of the creations of Dan Johnson and JH Williams III (the latter no relation) – specifically the Department of Extranormal Operations from Chase – get adapted for TV, although Henshaw…?

    • circ says:

      “Not sure what I make of it yet.”
      ———————————
      It’s early, sure. Reminded me of my first watch of Superman the movie. It’s light. So light, it makes Scandal seem to be on the same platform as BBC’s Sherlock.

      What about Henshaw? The name? The odd story choice? Is yet another continuity change of teh Cyborg not palatable? Smells like a set-up for an eventual turn.

  9. I didn’t have regular access to comics by the time the original Supergirl was killed in the Crisis, but I had nominal awareness of her through infrequent back issues I came across, and seeing the various promotional merchandise. (but of course, never buying it– hey, I was a boy.)

    Some years later, the “purple alien” era threw me off in a major way. I was like, “What the…..!?!?” It was a total turn-off. (I apologize if that retroactively comes across as transphobic. I guess.)

    I read quite a bit of the Peter David reboot, though the origin with human Linda being hooked up with some freaky cult was creepier than I was prepared for..

    There was a Superman/Aliens one-shot by Dan Jurgens that introduced a “version” of Kara that was intriguing.

    I dug the reintroduced Supergirl in the Jeph Loeb written storyline, though by then, my comics purchases in general were waning. (RIP, Michael Turner). I haven’t bothered reading the New 52 reboot. I’d say Supergirl needs a rogues’ gallery of her own villains. The TV producers should be given free reign to create new foes, including her own Lex Luthor nemesis. I’d also suggest giving Kara some new powers or alter how they work for the female of the kryptonian species. Then again, “most” people want a Supergirl who does exactly what Clark does, and you’d get a bunch of “why can’t SG blow-up stuff with heat rays like her cousin?” web-essays.
    I’ll also assert that a boat was missed by making her a neurotic ‘woman-child’ college grad instead of focusing on a teen girl. If I were pitching, I’d suggest some contrasts to Clark’s upbringing: have Kara’s adopted folks be rich, dysfunctional blue-bloods, send her to a preppy private school, and take cues from Dynasty for lots of soap opera intrigue.

  10. ireactions says:

    Dear Priest: When did you become an such an @$$ hole?

    Judging the SUPERGIRL series from a *trailer*? Dismissing BATMAN VS. ROBIN from a position of near-total ignorance where you criticized Robin for sounding 10 when this version of the character is 10? Mocking plots and stories that you fully admit you have not read? How are those plot developments, taken out of context, any crazier than: “Quantum and Woody in their mid-fifties get reset to being in their twenties!”

    I think you must be in a dark and bleak place to have become so ungracious and disrespectful and fundamentally *unfair* to your colleagues and fellow creative professionals. I hope nobody ever judges your work the way you judge others here: with the scantiest scraps of information and a lot of prejudice and contempt before viewing.

    P.S. Q2 was awesome, I still like you, but this recent burst of groundless negativity is disappointing.

    • Priest Priest says:

      Are you kidding? I became an asshole around age 10 or so (I’m pretty sure Nixon was president 🙂 And you must be new here; virtually all I talk about is the dark and bleak place I’m in. Groundless negativity is what I *live* for. Welcome to the party, pal! LOL! Thanks for the note –cjp

      • ireactions says:

        We’ve exchanged a couple E-mails and comments now and then since the brief revival of Q&W at Acclaim.

        Sure, you were down on STAR TREK and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES — but you’d seen them, not their marketing campaign! You didn’t review them based on someone else’s blog comment about them.

        Laughing at Grant Morrison and Peter Tomasi for a few snippets of out-of-context plot is bizarre to me — the equivalent of someone declaring BLACK PANTHER to be worthless because there was a crazy plotline where the silly Jack Kirby Panther shared scenes with a grim and serious Black Panther. You’re better than that.

        • Priest Priest says:

          “Laughing at Grant Morrison and Peter Tomasi…” Huh? When did I do that?

          Dude: I looked at a trailer and didn’t like it. I’m really not sure why that bothers you; that’s what trailers are for. People look at a trailer and, based solely upon the trailer, choose to watch or not watch the film or series. You seem to be taking my comments very personally for some reason.

          I’ve been in the business for 37 years which means every month for 37 years somebody somewhere tells me I suck. It’s an occupational hazard for the biz. Presuming Grant, whom I do not know, and Peter, whom i do know (Hi Peter) had something to do with one or both of the trailers, I’m sure they know I was not attacking them personally. I wasn’t even attacking the series or feature; I was saying it wasn’t my cuppa– I don’t do cartoons. Others have chimed in to disagree–that’s what “blogging” means. 🙂

          Past that I honestly don’t get why you seem personally offended. Why am I not allowed to say I don’t like something?

          BTW: I really wouldn’t care if someone judged my entire PANTHER run on Happy Pants Panther; I’d just assume the series wasn’t for them. *shrug.*

  11. Trev Trev says:

    I’ve watched a few episodes of the series and starting to find it boring. At first I enjoyed the happy-go-lucky feel of the first two as it makes a change from all the grim ‘n’ gritty super hero shows that seems to be the norm these days; but I think the lack of any truly dangerous villains or interesting character developments has hurt it somewhat.

    I really wanted it to be an uplifting show with a strong female character but it’s quite bland. I don’t know if this is common in most US shows but the first season can be a bit of a slog as writers tend to do a lot of set-up for the second season.

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