Spoilers Titans - DC Universe Series

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by dahj, Jul 19, 2018.

  1. DarKush

    DarKush Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2005
    I've seen the three episodes that are out. Glad HBO Max put three episodes out at once. I think it's a decent start, however I do think they have really sped up the "A Death in the Family" and "Under the Red Hood" storylines. I agree with those who suspect that Scarecrow is the mastermind behind Jason because I'm finding it hard to buy this version of the character being as cunning as we've seen thus far.
     
    Commander Troi likes this.
  2. Commander Troi

    Commander Troi Geek Grrl Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2021
    Location:
    Phoenix AZ
    Something kind of funny to me - Vincent Kartheiser, who is playing Scarecrow, is best known for being in Mad Men (which I have never seen). But *I* know him from Angel, where he played Angel's son Connor, back in 1992.

    Good heavens, I'm old! :crazy:
     
  3. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

    Joined:
    Nov 4, 2001
    Location:
    AI Generated Madness
    But are old enough to see something in a Mad Men episode and say "Hey, my family had one of those.". ;)
     
    Ovation likes this.
  4. Commander Troi

    Commander Troi Geek Grrl Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2021
    Location:
    Phoenix AZ
    Dude, I really hope not. :ack:
     
  5. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

    Joined:
    Nov 4, 2001
    Location:
    AI Generated Madness
    The Sixties were my first decade. The entire decade!!!! :lol:
     
    Commander Troi likes this.
  6. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2000
    Location:
    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    2002.
     
    Commander Troi likes this.
  7. Commander Troi

    Commander Troi Geek Grrl Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2021
    Location:
    Phoenix AZ
    Oh good! I read it wrong. :whew:
     
  8. Xerxes82

    Xerxes82 Captain Captain

    Joined:
    May 10, 2007
    At least the show did a good job of establishing that the bomb couldn't be removed without also killing Hank. Big old barbs in the heart region doesn't sound like fun, regardless of explodey.
     
    Commander Troi likes this.
  9. FreezeC77

    FreezeC77 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2002
    They could have done a better job explaining the 0% thing or just delivering it in a different way. Like just show 'failure' instead of "chance to fail" because Is a 98% that you won't die really that bad? I know plenty of surgeries where the person has worse odds.
     
    Commander Troi likes this.
  10. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

    Joined:
    Nov 4, 2001
    Location:
    AI Generated Madness
    Yeah was thinking Connor would go "close enough" when it it 2%.
     
    Commander Troi likes this.
  11. Xerxes82

    Xerxes82 Captain Captain

    Joined:
    May 10, 2007
    Meh. It was just another trope. Just a way to build false drama around another pseudo countdown. The real meat is in the ending anyhow, though I'll be curious how they handle that. This group has a penchant for going more grimdark and hard angst than I can enjoy.
     
  12. Commander Troi

    Commander Troi Geek Grrl Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2021
    Location:
    Phoenix AZ
    I watched it last night and I was wondering that too. However, by Jason making Dawn (poor woman!) activate it early, this gets to be something that will surely haunt Conner. If Jason hadn't done that, Conner would have made it. BUT, if they'd gone with 3% or 2%... Conner would've made it. Very nasty.

    All the actors did a great job, but big shout outs to Alan Ritchson and Curran Walters. In particular, I thought Alan really captured Hawk's character - I loved how he was all "we have to forget it's Jason" but then didn't take his own advice. Classic Hank, in both the show and the comics. Also, I loved how Krypto stayed by his side through it all. Good dog. :sniffle:

    (FYI: Krypto is a rescue dog named Wrigley and I am in love with him. https://www.instagram.com/wrigley.the.rescue/)

    The next episode is titled "Blackfire", so that's going to be interesting. Kory's sister was a hot mess in the comics and then actually grew up and became a good leader. They've done a LOT of changes to Kory's background in this show though, so I'm very curious to see what they do here.

    Oh yeah, almost forgot... totally agree that Scarecrow is pulling Jason's strings. :)
     
  13. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2017
    A rather odd episode. The Blackfire scenes were rather strange. She’s just locked up with one guy looking after her.
    They are sure picturing a very dark version of Batman here. More in line with the Frank Miller version.
    And people moaned that the Snyder one was too dark. :)
     
  14. Enterprise is Great

    Enterprise is Great Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2004
    Location:
    The Island
    The guy in that facility reminded me of the scientist from Area 51 in Independence Day. He’s weird and doesn’t get out much.

    Is Scarecrow pulling Jason’s strings or is there someone behind Scarecrow pulling his? How could Crane resurrect Jason on his own?
     
    Commander Troi likes this.
  15. Xerxes82

    Xerxes82 Captain Captain

    Joined:
    May 10, 2007
    You're presuming that Jason was ever ACTUALLY dead. I'm not sure we're there yet. Crane's toxin would help make it relatively easy to fake a death, considering anyone seeing the body could be manipulated with their own fears over who it's supposed to be.

    I'm waiting for the series to elaborate more on the actual mechanisms in play here, if they ever do. Could still go either way as far as I'm concerned.
     
  16. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 9, 2001
    Location:
    Mr. Adventure
    Did Conner have razor burn? Probably didn't help I was watching this in bed on a TV that is too big and close for its purpose.

    I did like Dove's statement about what mattered is that they tried. The series is pretty rough sometimes but I like the slick look and have given it a lot of slack, probably more than I should but a few nice lines and moments interspersed in this one.

    Not the fault of the show but naming the girls Commander and Coriander always makes me laugh.
     
    Commander Troi likes this.
  17. Xerxes82

    Xerxes82 Captain Captain

    Joined:
    May 10, 2007
    Ok, so I have a couple of thoughts on episode 4. Because I thought this was mostly terrible.

    The lab guy says the US government doesn't have the capability or resources to recapture Blackfire. But then how they hell did they capture her in the first place? And shouldn't Starfire and Beast Boy both be federal fugitives now? I suppose we can justify it that they won't push them because it was likely an illegal detention anyway, but the heroes constantly doing the terrible things in this show continues to rankle.

    Dove faces absolutely no repercussions for her gold heist. And she seems to have gotten over murdering her ex pretty quickly, all things considered. At least we tried, right? Off to Paris! I realize that this is just the character being written out expediently, but it was dumb. Conner's response was much more believable.

    There is no way Grayson's ID can possibly be a secret anymore. Dude assaulted multiple prison guards/law enforcement personnel outside his costume and was caught on camera doing it! And then he used his own car to escape with Crane. But then when the GCPD goes to the place they tracked Grayson, it's Nightwing who gets shot by the sniper. Everyone who reads these reports should easily figure that Grayson is either Nightwing or Red Hood, and it wouldn't be hard to know which considering Barbara was free with information that Dick moved to SF. Nightwing being Dick Grayson not being public knowledge at this point strains all credulity. And would have been easily fixed by just having it be Nightwing who broke out Crane. How is that not obvious to everyone involved in this project? Barbara would still have known to track Dick, but at least there would have been a barrier between that knowledge and everybody else.

    On the plus side, however, Dick proved smart enough to figure out Crane's involvement with Jason almost as quickly as the audience did. Which was a genuine and pleasant surprise. It's a rare moment of competence from the "heroes" in this world. And whoever wrote the dialogue for the Nightwing v Hood fight at the climax did an excellent job. Jason's snark was on point. Jason remains my favorite character in this cast. Anna Diop tries so hard with what she's given, such as it is, and Brathwaite does a good job when he actually gets to be Dick Grayson and isn't stuck being Sad-Man. But nobody else connects.

    I don't hate this show, but I'm so disappointed in it so often. And I'm starting to think that everybody involved believes the so-called heroes are actually the real villains, because that's how they are most often portrayed.
     
  18. Noname Given

    Noname Given Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 22, 2001
    Location:
    Noname Given
    IDK - I thought S1 of Titans was sub par, S2 a little better; but I really enjoyed these first 4 episodes. The 'Red Hood' storyline I never read, but saw the DC animated movie - which I enjoyed more than the majority of live action DCEU films - and I enjoyed the twist they put on it here - and really liked how they made it a Scarecrow plot.

    I was also actually a bit surprised when they killed Hawk and loved the way they did it too. As for the way some of the characters are handling grief - everybody's different - and yes, you can see it as a bit too pat, but overall, I didn't have an issue with it. Dick of course is a hypocrite as they didn't even have a funeral (something he got after Bruce about when they thought Jason was killed), but that also works story wise as it shows when the shit hits the fan Dick Grayson IS more exactly like Bruce Wayne in many respects than he wants to admit to himself.

    The 'Blackfire' subplot I'm 'meh' on so far though, but at least they gave the Starfire actress Anna Diop more of an actual 'Starfire' look (much better than the first two seasons IMO).

    One thing I think they may eventually do (although I actually hope not); is we'll find that Bruce Wayne DIDN'T kill the Joker - it was someone expertly made to appear to be the Joker to everyone; but the actual 'act' was Bruce under the influence of something from the Scarecrow, and we find the actual Joker is still out there, and Bruce returns to take up the mantle of the Batman once again (especially since they made it a point to show Batman fan Tim Drake in S3E1)-- but we'll see.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2021
    Commander Troi likes this.
  19. thribs

    thribs Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2017
    The animated movie is more or less the same as the comic one, just with some other material cut. They were both written by the same guy
     
    Mr. Adventure likes this.
  20. Commander Troi

    Commander Troi Geek Grrl Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2021
    Location:
    Phoenix AZ
    Heyheyhey! That's Komand'r and Koriand'r! :lol:

    Yeah, Wolfman was a *little* on the nose there...:biggrin: But in the comics, Komand'r is actually the oldest and was heir to the throne until a disease robbed her of the ability to fly and she was declared "unfit" (seriously). So maybe her name is her parents' fault.

    I seem to recall a baby brother too... Ryand'r? @Nerys Myk ?