But there might be millions of other fans who loved a show like that and didn't give a damn whether it was faithful to some prior work of fiction. (Indeed, some would say what you describe is a lot like the 2009 ST movie, and that was the most successful Trek movie ever made.)
That was a revitalization that was needed (the Trek franchise was dying to begin with)-Superman wasn't like that, and neither is Wonder Woman. People (including many feminists) expect Wonder Woman to be heroic, powerful, and amazing, and they expect that
when she's wearing the suit. NOT when she isn't.
And really, I doubt it would be "millions" of fans who were angry about it.
You'd be surprised how many people there are who want Wonder Woman to be like she is normally, and who are tired of the same thing from
Smallville. Those fans should not be underestimated at all.
The most dedicated fans, maybe tens of thousands of people, would be upset, but most of the audience of millions who watch ST shows or movies are far more casual about it and don't care about how "pure" it is. The thing that purists never understand is that most people are not purists. It's not holy gospel to them, it's just an entertaining way to pass the time.
Then let's see how they respond when and if their favorite shows are changed and made different, then.
Like it or not, Smallville works.
Only for the mundanes who watch it; those of us that really love and appreciate the Superman franchise think that it's shit.
It's in its tenth season. How many shows have lasted ten seasons on a single network?
Ten seasons of crap is still ten seasons of crap. You've used the same yardstick when judging
Voyager and
Enterprise, why can't I?
It's been an astonishingly successful show -- far more successful than other, more "authentic" adaptations of Superman.
Only time will tell how much; I think that if something comes along that's more true to the spirit of Superman,
Smallville will be left in the dust.
If the film failed critically, it's because it was boring and unimaginative. It was more of an extended homage to a pair of movies made over two decades earlier than an innovative film in its own right, and it was overlong and understated.
You mean it wasn't an angst-driven POS movie where Superman/Clark/Kal whines his ass off about his powers, but a movie where Superman does what he does like he's supposed to. That's what critics and film-goers responded to, my own darn self included.
On the issue of Wonder Woman's costume, I think the show would do well to emulate the '70s series' practice (and the comics' practice, at times) of giving her multiple costumes for different occasions. For one thing, it would be good for the toymakers.
That
might work-notice, I said
might.
Wait a minute here, let's be serious for a minute, "Smallville" may "work" as a series but it has been well known that for the past several seasons that they've been sitting on their seat of their pants in May waiting for the news to be renewed. The fact that they've had to wait on occasion for the last hour for that news says volumes about CW not having a replacement show in place that they liked or thought would do well. "Smallville" does average ratings at best but is one of THEIR strongest rated shows and this is why it has been renewed.
Now again I must reiterate that I'm a big "Smallville" fan but let's not pretend that it's Emmy worthy here folks. It has tremendous amount of flaws that we point out every week in the threads, and if one went in there and read through the majority of responses in those threads one would recognize and acknowledge that fact. The argument that this show is the freaking bees knees of superhero shows is flawed at best and one would know that if one were truly being critical about it. I bitch because I care and demand quality and entertainment and there is no denying that "Smallville" has accomplished this to some degree but let's not pretend that it's won multiple Emmy's or something. I'm done.
Chief among them a total disregard for the source material (not even
Lois & Clark was like that), a 'hero' who was nothing like the word, and a constant drumbeat of emo angst bullshit from the main character. This is Superman? This is Kal-El, the last son of Krypton? Sorry, but no, it isn't; it's a post-modern version who mopes about his powers-kind of like Matthew Star on
The Powers Of Matthew Star-and look how that show turned out; did anybody really watch it or like it? No. Today, however, people will watch a whiny young man with powers who's supposed to be the greatest hero someday heap around Smallville in a funk. This is progress?
I don't think anyone's been saying the show deserves Emmys or is the most high-quality superhero show ever, or even that it's a ratings success on the order of, say, AMERICAN IDOL. Hell, I haven't been talking about the show's artistic merits at all, just whether, on a pragmatic level, it found a large enough audience to survive. And ten seasons, even of moderate ratings, is nothing to sneeze at. That's longer than any previous superhero show, every Star Trek series, Buffy, Lost, or even the old Lynda Carter version. Any new WONDER WOMAN series would lucky to run even half as long as SMALLVILLE has . . .
If it does the same thing with Wonder Woman that it did with Superman, then it deserves to die quickly-and I predict that it will if it does what you want it to. As for longevity-see my post above and read it again.
What I keep being puzzled by is this insistence that somehow the general public would rise up in revolt, and abandon the show in droves, if this same approach was applied to WONDER WOMAN--despite SMALLVILLE's proven track record.
Fans grumbled about SMALLVILLE from Day One. Didn't make a bit of difference.
Eventually those fans stopped watching the show, like I did (I NEVER started-the only episode I watched was the one with Chris Reeve as Dr. Swan, and that was only because it was announced on
Entertainment Tonight; were it not for that, I might not have bothered.)
I think that if you are hoping to hold on to long time fans that have stuck with the series throughout it's entire run and are expecting some kind of payoff and you're using source material as the basis for telling your stories (even if you are doing your own twist on those stories) and it hasn't come yet then you will inevitably have drop off. To a degree "Smallville" has attained it's audience but again I see posters on the board who pop in and friends online on Facebook who mention that they haven't seen "Smallville" in years because they lost interest. I was very close to dropping the series altogether after last season. The fact is that a lot of fans have become disgruntled with their rigid embracement of "No Flight, No Tights" even in the final season. This is no longer about Clark Kent's 'formulative years" he's not even in Smallville any more. I think their milking of stories and refusal to have Clark fly for whatever reason has cost them a bulk of fans. They've been faithful to a degree but it is time for some pay off and finally we're getting it...
Correctamundo and exatamundo! And as I said, if this is done with Wonder Woman, the same thing will probably happen, only worse.
