Fox Developing "Gotham" Young Jim Gordon Series

[Trekker4747]

It does look like a police procedural that happens to take place in Gotham and with Gordon as a beat officer. But, still, showing "early" versions of Gotham criminals (like The Penguin) could still make it interesting. Even making Alfred and young Bruce Wayne part of the usual cast could prove to be interesting. But I don't see the sense in younger versions of certain other Batman characters like Poison Ivy and Catwoman, that just seems a bit needless. I mean, do we really need a 12-year-old Catwoman in semi-fetish gear committing high larceny and doing cat puns?

 

[Reverend]

It looks like the pilot could be good, but I'm not sure where the series is going to go with this. Would we be getting five seasons of a CSI rip-off with DC comic references as a backdrop to a grieving child becoming a broody angst filled teenager? Because that would suck.

Mind you I had similar doubts about Arrow and that's turned out...not terrible.

 

[Kelthaz]

It looks like the pilot could be good, but I'm not sure where the series is going to go with this. Would we be getting five seasons of a CSI rip-off with DC comic references as a backdrop to a grieving child becoming a broody angst filled teenager? Because that would suck.

Yeah, those are my thoughts too. I suppose this could be a good show and I will give it a fair shot, but I don't see it happening. Jim Gordon busting generic criminals while Bruce watches "The Mad Bomber" with Alfred and The Joker pranks his classmates in high school?

 

[JD]

Looks like it could be good, possibly even very. At the very least it doesn't appear to be the complete disaster it had great potential to be.
Is this the first we've heard about a young Pamela Isley? I don't remember hearing any announcements about Poison Ivy before this.

 

[Relayer1]

I think this is a terrible idea. It looks as if a whole cast of Barman friends and foes will be passing through with no-one going near a costume. Lots of Easter eggs, nods and winks, but grafted onto a cop show. I just can't see the point or the attraction.

I shall (perhaps surprisingly) give it the benefit of the doubt and watch it, but as I've already bailed on pretty much every new genre show in the last five years I'm not hopeful...

 

[thumbtack]

It looks as if a whole cast of Barman friends and foes will be passing through.

It could get ridiculous, yes.

 

[Lapis Exilis]

Just saw the trailer - intriguing, but the kid versions of villains is fairly odd. I can roll with kid Bruce Wayne because that's always been interesting, but kid Catwoman and Poison Ivy is just kinda weird. Possibly they are just teases for the trailer, with only passing nods to them in the series?

Whether or not it's any good will fall to how well it is written, and if it can find its own identity or as has been said is just a standard police procedural with comic references grafted on. Who would have thought Gotham Central would work, but it did because it became its own thing with its own trajectory and character development.

Will watch just to see...

 

[Gaith]

Honestly, that looked and felt like a fan film trailer to a non-existent show, full of obvious mattes and gratuitous fanwankery. "Before Penguin, there was"... some white dude in a button-up white shirt? What, am I supposed to give a damn? How many members of the general public give a crap about the Penguin, anyway? Was this trailer really supposed to impress them? Or are we online nerds so easily herded that the mere appearance of a high school Poison Ivy has us giddy with excitement?

We already have a Batman show without Batman. It's called Arrow, and I see no reason to believe this'll be anywhere as good. It can't be too realistic or insightful about contemporary America, because it's a comics-related show, but it can't be too zany or cartoonish, because then people'll be actively cursing the lack of a Batman.

 

[Christopher]

But then, what might be this show's saving grace is that it's not a Batman show, it's a Jim Gordon show. Gordon's always been one of my favorite characters in Batman (well, except for the useless Pat Hingle version). And the Nolan films elevated him to almost a second-lead level, creating more audience interest in the character. Here, Gordon is officially the lead character, and it seems the bulk of the series is meant to revolve around him. This is something that was done to critical acclaim in the comics with Gotham Central. So I think it could potentially work -- if they don't get too carried away with the foreshadowing of Batman lore.

 

[Kelthaz]

But then, what might be this show's saving grace is that it's not a Batman show, it's a Jim Gordon show.

And that's why we have Bruce, Alfred, The Penguin, and Catwoman as main characters? Because it's not a Batman show?

 

[Christopher]

And that's why we have Bruce, Alfred, The Penguin, and Catwoman as main characters? Because it's not a Batman show?

It's an ensemble cast, of course, but I'm talking about where the ensemble's center of gravity is intended to be. Yes, the trailer focuses on Bruce and the villains, but if you look at the actual cast list, it revolves mainly around Gordon and his life and work -- the man himself, his fiancee, his partner Bullock, his boss, the newly created crime boss character played by Jada Pinkett-Smith, etc.

And it should be self-evident that child actors are not going to be lead characters on a FOX prime-time police drama. As I said, it would be illegal to give them as much screen time as the adult actors, so of course Bruce's and Selina's roles are going to be supporting -- although, yes, Sean Pertwee's Alfred is evidently part of the main cast and the show will establish a relationship between Alfred and Gordon. As for Cobblepot, he's a subordinate of Pinkett-Smith's character; she's the main antagonist.

Anyway, all we really know at this point is who's appearing in the pilot. We don't know yet which of the supporting characters like Selina, Nygma, and Ivy (who's billed on IMDb as "Ivy Pepper" rather than Pamela Isley) are regulars and which are recurring.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Here's what Gary Oldman thinks of all this:
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqpIJHic924[/yt]

 

[Captaindemotion]

But then, what might be this show's saving grace is that it's not a Batman show, it's a Jim Gordon show. Gordon's always been one of my favorite characters in Batman (well, except for the useless Pat Hingle version). And the Nolan films elevated him to almost a second-lead level, creating more audience interest in the character. Here, Gordon is officially the lead character, and it seems the bulk of the series is meant to revolve around him. This is something that was done to critical acclaim in the comics with Gotham Central. So I think it could potentially work -- if they don't get too carried away with the foreshadowing of Batman lore.

It helps that Gordon is played by an actor who proved himself quite credible and charismatic as a rookie cop in Southland.

 

[Trekker4747]

But then, what might be this show's saving grace is that it's not a Batman show, it's a Jim Gordon show.

And that's why we have Bruce, Alfred, The Penguin, and Catwoman as main characters? Because it's not a Batman show?

I could see having The Penguin and other Batman villains in the proto-forms in the series given how ingrained the crime in Gotham is supposed to be and the powerhouse of villainy The Penguin is supposed to be (forget that shitty Burton version!) I could almost see having Alfred and Bruce in it to some level considering how important the Wayne Family is supposed to be in Gotham.

But I don't understand a pre-teen Catwoman or Poison Ivy.

 

[Christopher]

But I don't understand a pre-teen Catwoman or Poison Ivy.

It's hard to understand the reason for something in a story you haven't seen yet. Indeed, you're not really supposed to. The explanations come from the story itself.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Is this the first we've heard about a young Pamela Isley? I don't remember hearing any announcements about Poison Ivy before this.

It was news to me and I've been keeping paying close attention to Gotham's development.

 

[Trekker4747]

But I don't understand a pre-teen Catwoman or Poison Ivy.

It's hard to understand the reason for something in a story you haven't seen yet. Indeed, you're not really supposed to. The explanations come from the story itself.

Eh, I really don't see the point of it beyond a sort of fan-service. (And not in the usual way, but in a "name dropping" sort of way.)

I'm not sure at all how the series' story will benefit from a 12-year-old girl running around in a cat costume making cat puns. I think it'll just come across as precocious but, then again, I'm not a huge fan of kids in shows that are supposed to be centered around adults.

 

[Christopher]

Eh, I really don't see the point of it beyond a sort of fan-service.

Again: Of course you can't see the point, because you haven't seen the show yet. That's how it works. If you see the episode and don't understand the point of something afterward, then you have cause to complain. But to complain that you don't see the point of something in a story before you've seen it is just silly. It's like complaining that your meal wasn't filling before it's even been brought to you.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

'Gotham' showrunner breaks silence, answers burning questions on Batman prequel

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ive just read it and was about to post the link but you beat me to it. Great interview and really whets the appetite for the show. Or sets up unrealistic expectations!