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DC launching digital service with Titans and Young Justice

That article was for the casting of Robotman on the Titans episode featuring the Doom Patrol. This news is casting for Robotman as a regular on the Doom Patrol series. Most of the same actors from the Titans episode are doing the DP series, but since this is a full-costume role where the actor's face isn't seen, it's no wonder they recast.

The Titans episode is the Backdoor Pilot for Doom Patrol the Series, and I hate it when recastings happen or characters get dropped between a Backdoor Pilot and a Series Premiere because it ends up making the former pointless.
 
The Titans episode is the Backdoor Pilot for Doom Patrol the Series, and I hate it when recastings happen or characters get dropped between a Backdoor Pilot and a Series Premiere because it ends up making the former pointless.

That's a odd statement... why would recasting make it pointless? :shrug:
 
That's a odd statement... why would recasting make it pointless? :shrug:

Especially when they're presumably just recasting the suit performer, whose face wouldn't be seen anyway. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they redubbed the Titans episode with Brendan Fraser's voice now.


But in general, of course it doesn't make it pointless. A pilot, backdoor or otherwise, is a trial run, an experiment to see if a show works. So naturally there are going to be ideas, characters, or casting choices that don't work out as well as hoped and need to be redone for the series proper. Heck, Star Trek recast all but one of its pilot cast members, and it turned out okay.
 
That's a odd statement... why would recasting make it pointless? :shrug:

Because a Backdoor Pilot is meant to serve as the first episode of a series even if it's not always presented as such directly, and recasting characters or dropping characters entirely between a Backdoor Pilot and the first Season Premiere of a series takes an episode that should have been integral - the Backdoor Pilot - and makes it superfluous and unimportant.
 
takes an episode that should have been integral - the Backdoor Pilot - and makes it superfluous and unimportant.

Again, how?

Is Iron Man superfluous because Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard later on? Is the pilot episode of Arrow unimportant because a different actress played Sara and not Caity Lotz? Are the first two seasons of Supergirl now null and void because Erica Durance replaced Laura Benanti in the third, just to name a few examples... :shrug:
 
Because a Backdoor Pilot is meant to serve as the first episode of a series even if it's not always presented as such directly, and recasting characters or dropping characters entirely between a Backdoor Pilot and the first Season Premiere of a series takes an episode that should have been integral - the Backdoor Pilot - and makes it superfluous and unimportant.
As long as the characters, regardless of actors, and/or the story is the same, I don't see where it's a problem. They made some pretty massive changes between the pilot of Babylon 5 and the first regular episode, and that was still a part of the show. Hell, Star Trek even found a way to work The Cage into the regular series.
 
Check out the pilot for Happy Days that appeared on Love American Style. I think only Richie, Potsie and Mrs. C were played by the same actors.
 
They made some pretty massive changes between the pilot of Babylon 5 and the first regular episode.

And a person can watch the entirety of Babylon 5 and get the complete story without ever needing to watch The Gathering.
 
Casting has absolutely nothing to do with the story, and that tends to be the most important thing in shows like B5.
 
The recastings that happened between The Gathering and Midnight on the Firing Line did impact the story of Babylon 5, because they resulted in JMS dramatically changing that story, thus rendering what happens in The Gathering obsolete save for some oblique references that are only important insofar as they explain certain characters' backstories.
 
The recastings that happened between The Gathering and Midnight on the Firing Line did impact the story of Babylon 5, because they resulted in JMS dramatically changing that story, thus rendering what happens in The Gathering obsolete save for some oblique references that are only important insofar as they explain certain characters' backstories.
Those were character changes, not, what has been under discussion, cast changes, and the changes between the B5 pilot and series went beyond character line-up and cast. Yet again: cast changes between pilot and series do not necessitate character changes, and nor do they render pilots pointless. JMS certainly didn't consider The Gathering to be pointless, or he wouldn't have done more work on it, none of which reversed the differences between pilot and series under discussion, to make the special edition of it that was shown when B5 moved to TNT.
 
Those were character changes, not, what has been under discussion, cast changes, and the changes between the B5 pilot and series went beyond character line-up and cast. Yet again: cast changes between pilot and series do not necessitate character changes, and nor do they render pilots pointless. JMS certainly didn't consider The Gathering to be pointless, or he wouldn't have done more work on it, none of which reversed the differences between pilot and series under discussion, to make the special edition of it that was shown when B5 moved to TNT.

I disagree.
 
The recastings that happened between The Gathering and Midnight on the Firing Line did impact the story of Babylon 5, because they resulted in JMS dramatically changing that story, thus rendering what happens in The Gathering obsolete save for some oblique references that are only important insofar as they explain certain characters' backstories.

But no one was recast. Characters were changed, some were dropped, others added. But that’s not recasting.

Na’Toth, G’Kar assistant, she was recast during the series, but it was the same character and didn’t render her appearances obsolete.
 
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