Anyone excited for Krypton?

[Tuvix5675]

Scyfy channel's Superman prequel series will deal with time travel, Superman villain Brainiac, and Superman's grandparents when they were young. The series is being executive produced by David S. Goyer of Dark Knight fame. There are a few trailers out already. It looks pretty interesting. I burned out on other DC shows early like Arrow, Gotham, and The Flash. Never got into Legends of Tommorrow, and only caught the occasional Supergirl episode.

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[MacLeod]

Looks like your video is geo-locked. So here is another one that might be more accessible

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I might give the pilot a go when it makes it the UK and see where I go from there.

 

[auntiehill]

This should probably be in the Sci-fi forum.

 

[Smoked Salmon]

Personally I am tired of Superman shows without Superman. Is it so hard to do a good Superman show? I don't think so with today's technology. It would also offer an alternative for those of us not convinced by mopey Snyderman.

I will watch Krypton to give it a try, but much like Supergirl and Smallville I suspect I will turn off after a while. I just want a good show with the Man of Steel himself.

 

[Christopher]

Personally I am tired of Superman shows without Superman. Is it so hard to do a good Superman show? I don't think so with today's technology.

It's not about technology; Supergirl has certainly shown it can be done. It's more that Warner Bros. is invested in the movie version of Superman and apparently doesn't like having a live-action TV version of a character who's currently driving a movie series. (The Flash is an exception because his TV series started first and was successful.)

I will watch Krypton to give it a try, but much like Supergirl and Smallville I suspect I will turn off after a while. I just want a good show with the Man of Steel himself.

I wouldn't mind seeing more of Tyler Hoechlin's Superman on Supergirl. But we've had several Superman or Superboy series in the past. Between George Reeves, John Haymes Newton, Gerard Christopher, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, and Hoechlin, Clark Kent has surely been depicted far more on live-action television than any other American comic-book superhero in history. (Indeed, how many others have even had more than one ongoing live-action portrayal in US television? Barry Allen in two versions of The Flash, Oliver Queen and Dinah Laurel Lance in Smallville and Arrow, Barbara Gordon in Batman '66 and Birds of Prey, Bruce Wayne in Batman '66 and Gotham -- those are all I can think of.) Granted, all those past Superman shows had their weaknesses, so I can understand the desire to see it really done right; but at the same time, it's not a bad thing that we're getting shows exploring other parts of the Superman mythos for a change.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Personally I am tired of Superman shows without Superman. Is it so hard to do a good Superman show? I don't think so with today's technology. It would also offer an alternative for those of us not convinced by mopey Snyderman.

Poor, deliberately underplayed knock offs (like the Hoechlin version on Supergirl) are never seen as the official live action adaptation by any stretch of the imagination, so it is clear the movie version is considered the official, live action model, which means TV is (more than likely) not going to have a "competing" Superman series.

I will watch Krypton to give it a try, but much like Supergirl and Smallville I suspect I will turn off after a while. I just want a good show with the Man of Steel himself.

At this early stage, I expect Krypton to go the Star Wars prequels route: endless hints or Easter eggs/fan service always pointing to an era where you-know-who would exist or be needed. A weekly tease session, if this is not handled with any sense and originality.

 

[Borgminister]

When you already know how something ends or where it leads to, it's tough to get excited about. Not to enamored with the trailer, frankly. I'm already ashamed at my fondness for the Gotham prequel, which has carved out quite a campy and cheesy niche for itself, doesn't take itself very seriously or care that it's uncorking plot points at a 7th grade level. Off topic, sorry.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I'm not particularly excited. Will check it out, though.

 

[Greg Cox]

I'm intrigued. Brainiac, Adam Strange, Rann, Thanagar. Sounds like lots of nifty DC goodness.

 

[Christopher]

When you already know how something ends or where it leads to, it's tough to get excited about.

Except this isn't a show about Jor-El, it's a show about Jor-El's father. The death of Krypton is so far in the future that it wouldn't matter to the story at all if not for the time travel element. So I don't understand this objection. Was it tough to get excited about Spartacus or Rome because we knew the Roman Empire would eventually fall? Is it impossible to get invested in a WWII movie or a Cold War spy drama because we know how those conflicts ended? What matters is what happens during the story itself. Even if you know the long-term outcome, the interest in the story is in seeing how the characters get there. Like the promos say, this isn't the story of how they died, it's the story of how they lived. And that's an aspect of the Kryptonians that's rarely been investigated onscreen, though it's been a recurring subject in the comics for over half a century.

 

[Borgminister]

Except this isn't a show about Jor-El, it's a show about Jor-El's father. The death of Krypton is so far in the future that it wouldn't matter to the story at all if not for the time travel element. So I don't understand this objection. Was it tough to get excited about Spartacus or Rome because we knew the Roman Empire would eventually fall? Is it impossible to get invested in a WWII movie or a Cold War spy drama because we know how those conflicts ended? What matters is what happens during the story itself. Even if you know the long-term outcome, the interest in the story is in seeing how the characters get there. Like the promos say, this isn't the story of how they died, it's the story of how they lived. And that's an aspect of the Kryptonians that's rarely been investigated onscreen, though it's been a recurring subject in the comics for over half a century.

Rome is fascinating because it's a crucial part of human history. Krypton is fictional, as is Gotham, and so I guess it'll all depend on the execution. Like I said, I didn't think Gotham would keep holding my interest, but it finds a shameful way of doing so. The teaser for Krypton was too rote and generic to me, sort of like the latter part of Battlestar Galactica, but on a planet, not a ship. And the lead seemed rather bland too. All of this just based on the trailer, of course. Could surprise me!

 

[Christopher]

Rome is fascinating because it's a crucial part of human history.

And Krypton's a crucial part of DC Universe history. It's literally the beginning of DC Universe history, the setting of the very first panel of the very first Superman comic. It should be fascinating. It certainly fascinated Silver Age comics readers and writers enough that DC kept returning to Krypton's past over and over in various ways.

Krypton is fictional, as is Gotham, and so I guess it'll all depend on the execution.

Exactly. That's why I don't get it when people say "We already know how it turns out." We don't know anything. We know the planet's fate a generation or two later, but when it comes to this generation of Kryptonians, we know virtually nothing. It's an open book and it could be about anything. There's far more flexibility to this concept than there is to Smallville or Gotham, because there are no real constraints. We know Seg-El will eventually have a son named Jor-El, but that's pretty much all we know. Beyond that, the possibilities are limitless. Especially with time travelers trying to alter what little we know about the planet's future.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I'll give it a go.

 

[tomswift2002]

I saw a 15 second commercial on CTV (it’s going to air on SPACE here in Canada). I wasn’t impressed by it and it really didn’t give me an idea of what the series was about. It reminded me of “Smallville” and the Fortress Of Solitude scenes and I really must say that visually it looks more like a copy of all the set designs that we have seen since the first Christopher Reeve film. I know that Krypton is suppose to be made out of crystal, but do they need to keep copying the design of the 77 film? The 77’s design was different from the design made for the 51 TV series pilot.

Also Warner’s recent Superman movies have been dull and boring—-actually worst than that. Supergirl’s been alright, “Gotham” is so-so, but unfortunately Warner’s keeps putting subpar material.

 

[Christopher]

It reminded me of “Smallville” and the Fortress Of Solitude scenes and I really must say that visually it looks more like a copy of all the set designs that we have seen since the first Christopher Reeve film.

Odd that you got that impression. Here's an article that takes a look at the set designs -- they're nothing like the boring crystal architecture of the Reeve movies, and I think they're very imaginative.

Also Warner’s recent Superman movies have been dull and boring—-actually worst than that. Supergirl’s been alright, “Gotham” is so-so, but unfortunately Warner’s keeps putting subpar material.

The movie and TV divisions are different entities within the corporation. While WB's DC-based television output has been of uneven quality, on the average it's been far better than the movies to date. True, Krypton does have Man of Steel's David Goyer behind it, but then, the Krypton sequence was one of the better parts of that movie.

 

[Tuvix5675]

It seems like there's a lot of skeptics on this board. I'm really curious about the series, I've always wanted to know more about the history/society of Krypton. I'm rather fond of the Richard Donner Superman films' take on Krypton, it seems more alien than an urban sci-fi setting like we've seen countless times in various sci-fi franchises. But they are drawing their inspiration from "Man of Steel", as far as the "we know how its going to turn out" argument. The writers dispelled that criticism and have come out saying, You don't know this story, or how its going to turn out. The plot involves time travelers attempting to prevent Superman's birth. Why they go back two hundred years to do it is a question I hope they answer.

 

[Christopher]

I think the interesting thing to do would be to have the villainous time travelers attempt to prevent Superman's existence by saving Krypton. If the planet's never in danger of exploding, then Kal-El would never be sent to Earth and would probably just grow up to be a mild-mannered reporter for a great Kryptonopolitan newspaper or something. Then the heroes like Adam Strange would be faced with a wrenching dilemma. Is it worth bringing about the death of a whole world just to ensure the existence of one superhero?

 

[tomswift2002]

Odd that you got that impression. Here's an article that takes a look at the set designs -- they're nothing like the boring crystal architecture of the Reeve movies, and I think they're very imaginative.

I didn’t see those side shots, but the shot that I did see was from the Fortress (you can sort of see the “S” logo in that link) but it was from up above and, aside from the “S”, it looked like “Smallville” or the 70’s Fortress.

The movie and TV divisions are different entities within the corporation. While WB's DC-based television output has been of uneven quality, on the average it's been far better than the movies to date. True, Krypton does have Man of Steel's David Goyer behind it, but then, the Krypton sequence was one of the better parts of that movie.

That’s terrible news. The Krypton sequence was nothing but boring CGI trash.

 

[Christopher]

I didn’t see those side shots, but the shot that I did see was from the Fortress (you can sort of see the “S” logo in that link) but it was from up above and, aside from the “S”, it looked like “Smallville” or the 70’s Fortress.

The only similarity I see is that the ground is icy. The architecture is completely different. For one thing, it includes the iconic statue of a man and a woman holding up the globe of Krypton, a common image in the comics that was never used in the Reeve films or Smallville, though it is featured in the Supergirl version of the Fortress, which is a hybrid of the comics and Reeve versions. Traditionally, that's a statue Superman made to honor the memory of Jor-El and Lara, but it looks like Krypton is retconning it -- as well as the idea of the Fortress of Solitude overall -- as a much older House of El tradition.

 

[tomswift2002]

Well, I’m not impressed, and I’ll probably just buy the SD DVD version when it comes out to see how Season 1 was.