Spoilers Stargirl - Season One Discussion Thread

[Christopher]

Hey, I was right about the on-set Cosmic Staff being just an LED rod for interactive lighting, with the Staff we see being all-digital. You can see it in behind-the-scenes footage starting at about 1:50 in the below video:

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Although I assume they have a practical Staff model for when it isn't lit up/moving.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I try to roll with this show because I think it's aimed at a younger, casual audience and it does has a lot of charm to cover flaws but like I have no idea why they’d let Sportsmaster and Tigress go free, for example. The master plan only affecting adults, well, I've heard worse contrivances.

I *was* surprised to see Mike go in with the drill! That was pretty hardcore. Sportsmaster is lucky he didn't have a bigger bit.

It's nice that Amy Smart is getting more to do. I don't think they needed to thoroughly explain the New Kids joke, kind of flattened it. Was it just me, or did Beth's AI's voice change? Seemed different to me.

They need to get Cindy out of that dungeon, her turn as villain was way too brief and I think the actress is fun.

 

[Christopher]

I try to roll with this show because I think it's aimed at a younger, casual audience and it does has a lot of charm to cover flaws but like I have no idea why they’d let Sportsmaster and Tigress go free, for example.

I don't think it was "let them go free" so much as "get away before they recover." And really, where could they detain them? Who could they turn them over to when the ISA runs the town? The heroes are not the one with the authority and resources here.

Was it just me, or did Beth's AI's voice change? Seemed different to me.

It's still Henry Thomas (yes, the kid from E.T.).

They need to get Cindy out of that dungeon, her turn as villain was way too brief and I think the actress is fun.

I do wonder where they're going with her. Will Stargirl manage to flip her to the good guys' side after the bad guys rejected her? Or will she break out and have a final confrontation with the Junior JSA to prove herself to Daddy Dragon? The latter seems more likely to me.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I don't think it was "let them go free" so much as "get away before they recover." And really, where could they detain them? Who could they turn them over to when the ISA runs the town? The heroes are not the one with the authority and resources here.

I don't know, tie them up? After Pat knocked out Sportsmaster he just sat there and talked to Mike as he lay there so he wasn't too worried about getting away. I would probably do something to prevent highly skilled killers from coming back after me and my family.

 

[Christopher]

I don't know, tie them up? After Pat knocked out Sportsmaster he just sat there and talked to Mike as he lay there so he wasn't too worried about getting away. I would probably do something to prevent highly skilled killers from coming back after me and my family.

Okay, fair point. But let's face it, it's not like any of these guys have been particularly good crimefighters at any point in this season.

 

[E-DUB]

That "forced perspective" effect was used in Casablanca when you saw a crew working on an airplane. They used midgets and a smaller mock-up of the plane because the set was too small for the real thing.

 

[Kirk Prime]

I'm getting a little tired of stories where the villains are on the "good" side ideologically/politically but are using extreme and mass-murdery means to bring about reform by force. It sends kind of a mixed message.

They weren't on the good side. I actually got a kick out of it.

I love the action on this show. The opening fight scenes were terrific. But I have a question--is Sportsmaster a meta? I always thought he was just this olympic level athlete that kicks ass with a sports related theme, but the man took a drill to the back and was fine.

I also thought the mind control machine was straight out of X Men.

 

[JD]

Yeah, I was wondering about Tigress and Sports Master too. I had thought they were regular humans, but they both seemed to be knocking everybody around a lot more than a normal person could, and doing some moves I don't think a normal person could do. I wasn't sure if they were supposed to be metas, or if it was all just a case of exaggerated comic book action.
The fight scenes were pretty cool, and I especially liked that Mike actually got his own hero moment when he saved his dad.
My mom and I both immediately thought of Cerebro the moment they first showed Ito's machine.
I'm guessing if the machine is going to need to be stopped within half an hour that there is going to be more to the finale than just stopping it.
It was pretty fun actually seeing everyone, execpt Mike, get to play a part in the plan to stop the machine.
Having the machine not work on kids is a nice way to leave it up to Courtney and the her friends to stop the ISA.

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, I was wondering about Tigress and Sports Master too. I had thought they were regular humans, but they both seemed to be knocking everybody around a lot more than a normal person could, and doing some moves I don't think a normal person could do. I wasn't sure if they were supposed to be metas, or if it was all just a case of exaggerated comic book action.

I suppose it's the comic-book category of "peak human," where years of intensive training supposedly enable endurance and abilities that are beyond realistic human limits (see Batman or Green Arrow).

 

[Guy Gardener]

It's not hard to get superpowers if you're just going to copy someone elses horrifically tragic accident.

I'm looking at you Dr Langowski.

idiot tried to become a hulk on purpose, he gamma nuked himself, but ripped a whole to native american heaven and got possessed by an elder bigfoot god.

You missed the basket buddy.

Later he accidentally gave himself a gender reassignment.

What a fu**ing genius.

How many super-apes did the Red Ghost rocket upwards into a bath of cosmic rays?

 

[Nerys Myk]

I suppose it's the comic-book category of "peak human," where years of intensive training supposedly enable endurance and abilities that are beyond realistic human limits (see Batman or Green Arrow).

Pretty much. Tigress was doing moves that Wildcat needs a suit for. Though I thought her aim would have been better.

 

[Christopher]

Tigress was doing moves that Wildcat needs a suit for.

Wildcat/Yolanda needs the suit because she's only been a "superhero" for a few weeks and isn't trained to do it all on her own. Tigress has been doing this for more than a dozen years, apparently. Again, the idea behind "peak human" is that any sufficiently advanced training is indistinguishable from low-level superpowers.

 

[JD]

That does seem like a good possibility. I can't help but wonder what it would take to bounce a baseball bat off the ground like Crusher did during his fight with Pat. I would think that would take an insane amount of precision and strength.

 

[Aragorn]

I feel like they blew through too much in one season -- how quickly Courtney became Stargirl, how she basically handed out superhero powers to teens she barely knew who had no interest (or character development) in becoming superheroes, how Henry Jr. turned bad then good then died, how Jordan developed a thing for Barbara but then wanted her dead the next day. And what was the deal with The Fiddler? Was she there just to get killed by her own team?

But clearing out the bad guys for season 2 will help with that CW budget when they fight a single villain who has the ability to turn off their superpowers for several episodes.

 

[FPAlpha]

I feel like they blew through too much in one season -- how quickly Courtney became Stargirl, how she basically handed out superhero powers to teens she barely knew who had no interest (or character development) in becoming superheroes, how Henry Jr. turned bad then good then died, how Jordan developed a thing for Barbara but then wanted her dead the next day. And what was the deal with The Fiddler? Was she there just to get killed by her own team?

But clearing out the bad guys for season 2 will help with that CW budget when they fight a single villain who has the ability to turn off their superpowers for several episodes.

That's sometimes the drawback with short seasons, unlike 22-26 episodes which was the norm until the early 2010s (or a little before) when streaming services took off and mostly did 10-13 episodes per season.

It can be done but it really needs a good writing/producing team to make it work, otherwise you leave gaps which viewers notice and get annoyed by. Maybe superhero shows are regarded differently - they are already out there logic wise ( explaining pro level combat/hand to hand skills for a 15 year old girl by saying she was good at gymnastics) so this may just fall under the whole comic book umbrella.

 

[Aragorn]

So.... Just how awful was the original Justice Society at fighting crime?

 

[Marc]

So.... Just how awful was the original Justice Society at fighting crime?

I guess if they'd been any good they would have been the Justice League

 

[thribs]

So Eclipso is next. That’s a Justice League level villain and so I imagine he will be nerfed extensively. So the Magician is still alive. Who was the other chap who said that Anubis’ son’s plan was futile?
Relieved that Pat didn’t die at the end. I was expecting it considering the actor being a big name. One change I would have had was Courtney saying “merry Christmas Dad” instead of Pat at the end.

 

[Christopher]

Weird finale in a number of ways. So Yolanda tries to talk Rick out of killing Grundy (who isn't technically alive anyway), then she becomes the cold-blooded killer and Rick can't go through with it, and this is barely addressed afterward. Somehow the project that Brainwave was utterly vital to achieve is able to continue on a "loop" without him, so by the time the heroes get to Cereb-faux, there's no opposition left and they can just start smashing. And the final boss is defeated by... the 14-year-old kid driving the truck into him and apparently committing vehicular homicide, which has no impact on him psychologically. Really sloppy and superficial writing on a number of levels.

Who was the other chap who said that Anubis’ son’s plan was futile?

That was Shade.

 

[FPAlpha]

Weird finale in a number of ways. So Yolanda tries to talk Rick out of killing Grundy (who isn't technically alive anyway), then she becomes the cold-blooded killer and Rick can't go through with it, and this is barely addressed afterward. Somehow the project that Brainwave was utterly vital to achieve is able to continue on a "loop" without him, so by the time the heroes get to Cereb-faux, there's no opposition left and they can just start smashing. And the final boss is defeated by... the 14-year-old kid driving the truck into him and apparently committing vehicular homicide, which has no impact on him psychologically. Really sloppy and superficial writing on a number of levels.




That was Shade.

I agree mostly - they do realize it's a comic book universe and some logic and realism has to leave immediately once you enter the realm but there is also a limit to this after which it just becomes lazy writing.

I still enjoyed it and actually laughed and clapped at the kid commiting murder with the pickup truck (it was that ridiculous and unexpected) but the fight was kinda a bust.

Kids outplaying seasoned villains that fast? First they're getting their ass kicked, leader teenage girl just takes a quick tactical assessment and then jumps in superninja style and turns the battle around, it looked cool though.

Yolanda killing Dr. Mindfreak (still after 13 episodes i can't remember names) just because he misspoke a small detail was a really bold move - what if he really "died" a comic book death and it was actually true? She just would have killed her ex boyfriend who was on the road to redemption (though nice twist i have to say).

Since i have absolutely no clue what the endings mean that set up the 2nd season and am too lazy to research it i'll hope the 2nd season will be as fun as the first one is, flaws included.

One last nitpick - nice that Dr. Mindfreak made all car drivers stop their cars safely, wouldn't want to have accidents, would we?