I read the premise behind Fox's adaptation of the DC comic and, well, it's rediculous. Instead of using his makeup and impersonation skills to assume the identidy of someone targeted for an assasination (as the title implies), he's posing as someone close to the intended target. Why even call it the Human Target if he's going to be some bodyguard? And any drama regarding the issue of multiple personalities (which Vertigo comics exploited with superb results) is pretty much shot to hell. I know I shouldn't judge a show before it airs, but you know a show is going to have problems when its going to betray the very premise it's supposed to establish. Just call it the Bodyguard or Human Shield or something like that and be done with it.
Fox's Human (standing next to the) Target.
- Thread starter blockaderunner
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I guess in this case the human target is still the client, rather than Chase. I'll still give it a shot, but this change does make it much less interesting. Really the best way to adapt the comic would be as an HBO series where you don't have a series lead. You'd have have a different star come in for each story arc as Chase completely changes his appearance, with maybe three or four story arcs per 13-episode season.
Or they could go the Quantum Leap route and have the lead appear as himself to the viewers and occasionally have him look at his reflection and see his client's face.
True, although I think it could be fascinating to see different actors play the same character, especially if they incorporated the psychological themes of the Vertigo comics.
I wonder if Fox thought that the original premise was too similar to Dollhouse. I'm not familar with the original comic and haven't seen any of Dolhouse (which I'll be recording tonight when the pilot airs on the UK sci-fi channel), so perhaps I'm way off the mark. But the idea of assuming the identity of someone seems common to both.
Still, I have to agree with the original comment that there seems to be little point in adapting a comic, then ignoring the premise in favour of one of your own ...
Still, I have to agree with the original comment that there seems to be little point in adapting a comic, then ignoring the premise in favour of one of your own ...
Fascinating with the right execution. Like I said before, a direct adaptation of the comics wouldn't have a lead actor at all. You would never see Chase in any form other than in the guise of his client. And to really make the idea fly it would need to be a cable show that could deal with adult themes and have multi-episode story arcs. Otherwise it would just be an episodic procedural with a different guest star in each episode (such as the Springfield series), which would indeed be uninteresting.
Reminds me of how the '90s animated Spider-Man series handled the Chameleon. We saw his "true" face, but he never spoke in that form, only when he was in disguise. So there was never a specific voice actor assigned for the character -- 100% of his dialogue was delivered by the actors who played the people he impersonated.
And it's Christopher Chance, not Chase.
I can understand the rationale of changing the format, although it does undermine the whole "Human Target" premise. You want to have your lead's handsome mug on camera a lot, and the kind of flawless mask technology and voice mimicry the premise requires would be hard to take seriously (though I think the '92 series handled it reasonably well). But based on the preview clips, I won't be watching this show. The Chance I knew from the '92 series was a man who was dedicated to preserving life to atone for the lives he'd taken in Vietnam; he refused to kill, and that's the kind of hero I like to see. This Chance is a cold-blooded killer, not so much a bodyguard as an assassin for hire. I hate that. And it looks like the show is going for a big-action, macho, Die Hard kind of approach, noisy and stupid and explodey. Not interested.
Sigh... what a waste of Chi McBride. I miss Emerson Cod!
Right you are. Don't know why "Chase" got stuck in my mind.
Looks like a cheap knock off of Burn Notice. 
I thought this show would be different. Tricia Helfer must be paying her agents extra now!
I thought this show would be different. Tricia Helfer must be paying her agents extra now!
Look on the bright side. Judging from this preview, the show will be so utterly pedestrian that it will probably be cancelled by the second commercial break.
Sucks that they'd take a nice premise and just do nothing interesting with it. The guy didn't have to be a shapeshifter - just make him Lon Chaney! Is that so hard?
Blergh, poor guy, he's playing the same role but without the writers providing any witty lines or style...
Sucks that they'd take a nice premise and just do nothing interesting with it. The guy didn't have to be a shapeshifter - just make him Lon Chaney! Is that so hard?
Pretty similar, but without the boo-hoo-poor-little-Echo's-a-victim crap that makes that show so intolerable. I wouldn't have minded Fox trying the concept again and doing it right, but they missed by a mile.
Blergh, poor guy, he's playing the same role but without the writers providing any witty lines or style...
Yeah... the old, good Human Target TV series lasted all of seven episodes; I'd rather not see this one outlast it.
I don't see much similarity in the character, unless you're referring to being a long-suffering, skeptical straight man to the other, more eccentric characters.
With the choice timeslot, I'd be very surprised if it didn't.
