Fox Developing "Gotham" Young Jim Gordon Series

I'm coming around - I will give it a shot.

I've been surprised before, it's not that hard.

 

pics of young Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle

 

A-huh. Selina is stealing... milk. Heh-heh.

I'm sure that shot of Mazouz with the Batman mask was just for the press photographers, but I'm sure we're due for an entertaining freakout from fans who assume it's a scene from the actual show.

And it's going to take me a while to get used to the fact that the actress playing Selina is named Camren rather than Carmen. I bet we'll be seeing that name misspelled a ton in Internet posts and articles to come.

 

more pics from the set

 

Is that Thomas Wayne or Mitt Romney?!

I'm looking forward to being able to compare Sean Pertwee and Jeremy Irons as Alfred. Assuming that this show is still on the air when BvS airs (the two will at least overlap in production to some extent, I assume), it will be the first time we've had two concurrent live-action takes on the Batman mythos, that I can think of.

 

Selina Kyle promotional picture

 

I have to admit, seeing these pics, I'm slowly starting to come around to the idea of this show now. And thinking it might actually be interesting to follow these two ordinary detectives as they deal with a city full of crazy masked villains and lunatics-- while not yet having a Batman around to help them out.

And plus the slightly gritty 70s vibe is really coming through strong in these pics as well, which I like.

I just hope the storytelling is equally rich and interesting, and this doesn't end up being just another glorified procedural or supervillain-of-the-week show...

 

Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen it spelled that way.

 

The pilot I read was very hamfisted and over-the-top, but it had potential. Fortunately, I read an early draft so I hope it has been since revised. It definitely felt like your standard procedural but with the comic-book elements shoved down your throat, but I am hopeful that was finessed through rewrites.

I will say, though, that it seems there will be a running story arc that drives the show. So while I am sure we'll see Gordon and Bullock deal with reoccurring threats like Fish Mooney and Copplepot, it seems there will be a mystery that will be at the very least driving the first season (although anyone who is familiar with Batman canon will be able to figure it out before the opening sequence).

 

^Well, they could reveal that Joe Chill's murder of the Waynes has a deeper story behind it. The comics did that way back in 1956 when it was revealed that gangster Lew Moxon had hired Chill to murder Thomas Wayne in retaliation for Wayne's actions leading to Moxon's arrest.

 

I'm a bit surprised that they're releasing photos of the Wayne murder so openly. I mean, yeah, it could hardly be considered a spoiler, but it's bound to be a centerpiece of the pilot, so you'd think they'd want to build more anticipation rather than just showing us the whole thing up front.

 

It was reported early on that the Wayne murders would be a critical and focal point of the pilot and something that haunts Jim Gordon throughout the course of the series. In fact I believe one of the reports stated it would be unsolved. This could have changed, but I'm not surprised that we're seeing this set photos as we are.

By the way, everything looks fantastic. I'm pretty impressed with what we've seen so far.

 

I hope they at least went and saw Zorro and not that horrid opera from Batman Begins.

 

Sean Pertwee as Alfred: http://batman-news.com/2014/03/24/first-official-photo-sean-pertwee-alfred-pennyworth-gotham/

 

Hmm, if this show goes to series, I guess we won't be seeing much of Pertwee's Gareth Lestrade on Elementary anymore.

Obscure trivia: Pertwee will not be the first actor to have played both Alfred Pennyworth and Inspector Lestrade. Ian Abercrombie played Lestrade in a 1982 Fantasy Island episode and starred as Alfred in Birds of Prey. And Alan Shearman played Lestrade in Star Trek: TNG's "Elementary, Dear Data" and voiced Alfred in a student film short called Batman: New Times. This has been another... Useless Fact.

 

^ I like useless facts like that though.

Michael Caine hasn't played Lestrade but he played Sherlock Holmes (well, an incompetent actor hired to play Holmes by Watson, the real brains of the operation) in Without a Clue.

 

It amazes me how easy it is to play these kinds of Six Degrees type games with actors and other people in Hollywood. I guess it's evidence of just how often they go back to the same sources for their stories.

 

Yeah that's what I was afraid of. More than anything, though, I just hope it doesn't feel like another Smallville or Arrow (or any of those other glorified soap operas on CW, for that matter).

Hopefully, being on a different network, it'll at least have a different tone and feel.

 

It'll probably feel like The Cape.