"Krypton" coming to SyFy from David Goyer

Perhaps going back a couple of generations will given the a bit more leeway in that could explore factors that perhaps lead to Krypton being the stuffy buttoned-up culture that's generally portrayed - perhaps even looking events that would later result in Jor-El's warnings about of impending demise.

 

SPOILERS:

Spoiler: Krypton

Their planet blows up and they all die.

You were warned.

 

Plus, of course, there's no reason a new adaptation has to be bound by how something has been "generally portrayed" in the past. Heck, John Byrne's sterile, dehumanized reboot version of Krypton was radically different from the much more inviting and lively pre-Crisis version. So they have plenty of options. (Although it does seem that this is meant to be set on the DCEU/Man of Steel version of Krypton, so that puts some limitations on it.)

 

Oh, you just meant appearance. I thought you were saying that you thought Killjoy was bad and that this would be too.

 

The point is that there's nothing intrinsic about the concept of Krypton that makes this an attractive proposition. If you want to make an imaginative sci-fi drama with a wholly original setting...then do that. Don't try and cram it into some other franchise because it won't do either party any favours in the long run.

You'd have to go back a lot more than *few* generations. Try a few *hundred* generations. Remember, Krypton is meant to be a decadent, stagnant civilisation. An isolationist planet mostly though sheer languidity. A culture capable of inter-galactic travel, but stopped exploring space because they decided they've already seen it all and it bores them now.
This is not the kind of thing that happens in a matter of a few decades and Jor'El was always characterised as a rebellious throwback to a much earlier time in their history.

 

As with ANY adaptation, the makers of the show will do whatever they like and hope for the best--as it should be in any such endeavour.

 

I agree completely! I think that is why I said Gotham just makes me yearn for Batman because the city is so well done and it is a character all it's own and I think Batman would fit in that city nicely.

One of the very reasons for Batman's existence is to clean up Gotham. In Superman Krypton is just the launching pad for the character and not as essential as Gotham is.

 

Which is why it's important for the show to be about more than just setting up the Superman myth, to define its own reason for existing. Again, it's like Caprica. Sure, it was ultimately about showing what led to the rise of the Cylons and their revolt against the Twelve Colonies, but it was also a cyberpunk story about the evolution of AI, a crime drama about a mob family, an exploration of an alien society's polytheistic religion, and so on. The Superman myth is just their foundation; the question is, what do they build on top of it?

 

Good points.

The main thing I can think about is watching a society crumble. Like good science fiction, which can serve as a warning of a mirror for humanity, Krypton could be about the struggle for power that leads to corruption and how they have a hand in their own demise. They could tackle some of the issues humanity faces today.

The show Gotham is setting up the need for Batman and his arrival. Krypton really isn't about Superman but the planets destruction.

 

Exactly. People have been talking here about how Krypton is incidental to Superman's story, but the flipside of that is that Superman is incidental to Krypton's story. Krypton's story is of a society failing to recognize its impending doom and making bad, shortsighted choices, which is definitely a relevant idea today. Plus, one of the reasons I compare it to Caprica is that it seems to be riding a lot on the family drama, the saga of the El family battling to regain its place or whatever.

Really, that's where I think Gotham went wrong. When it was originally announced, I got the impression that it was meant to be a show about Jim Gordon battling corruption in the GCPD, with the Wayne murder investigation being a side element to a Gordon-centric crime drama. It seemed to me that the network panicked that that wouldn't be Batmanny enough to hold the audience and insisted on prematurely cramming in a ton of proto-supervillains. The thing is, if the story happens when Bruce is just a boy, then it shouldn't be a show about Batman and his foes. It should be a separate story that precedes them and at most foreshadows them. I just hope that Krypton avoids making the same mistake and finding contrived ways to cram Superman-related elements into the story prematurely. (Although there are one or two things that could work, like showing Brainiac's capture of Kandor -- but if this is in the DCEU, they'd probably want to avoid Brainiac lest the movies want to portray him differently.)

 

Then you better hope Kryptonsite is mistaken in their reporting. They say they learned at the Krypton press room at SDCC that the show will feature Superman villains going back in time to Krypton to stop Kal-El from ever being born (I literally facepalmed when I read that). I can't find this being reported anywhere else, though I can't imagine why they'd lie about it.

 

That is so stupid I'd actually watch at least the first episode just to see it, and I'm not currently planning to watch even the first episode at this point.

 

"Modern day" characters headed to Krypton include villains Doomsday and Braniac, as well as heroes Adam Strange and Hawkwoman who go back to try and stop them. Additional characters from present-day will appear as the show progresses.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/li...adam-strange-hawkwoman-comic-con-2017-1023589

 

That's disappointing. Why can't any of these prequels ever have faith in the time periods they're exploring, instead of feeling the need to play it safe by forcing in more familiar elements? I'd be more interested in the history of the El family if it were just history playing out organically, rather than "Listen to me, you have a Destiny that must be made to happen as pre-Destined!"

That is the same rationale that led to the Temporal Cold War plotline in Star Trek: Enterprise. Indeed, it's basically the same idea, people from the future trying to change the past and others trying to stop them.


The statement that it will "stand on its own and exist in its own universe" suggests it isn't a Man of Steel prequel after all, despite Goyer's involvement and the use of similar design elements. Indeed, if it crosses over with the present day, it's probably better off not being bound by the movies' continuity.

So this is an almost completely different entity than I thought it would be. It also has more overlap with Supergirl and the Arrowverse than I would've expected. A direct connection to the Superman mythos; a version of Brainiac; a version of Hawkwoman. And this means we're probably not going to get a Berlantiverse version of Adam Strange, which is kind of disappointing, since he seems like a good fit there.

 

Some pretty major plot details have been revealed, including the presence of major, non-Kryptonian, DC characters.
The first is Adam Strange who will be played by The Vampire Diaries' Shaun Sipos, and according to Geoff Johns he will have come from the present, along with Hawkman, to deal with a conspiracy to "prevent Superman's legacy from ever happening".
The series will also involve Doomsday, possibly Brainiac, and other "classic DC characters". He also said that there are "others from Earth already on Krypton".
This definitely has me a bit more intrigued than I had been when it was purely about Kryptonian politics.
Will this be the first live action version of Adam Strange?

 

I didn't think a show focusing on Krypton hundreds of years before Superman could really work. based on this, it seems I was right since they're shoving about a billion other DC things in. Still, Adam Strange and Hawkman appearing actually make me want to try the show, so that's something.

 

Due to Krypton's much higher gravity, they probably can't move too well.

 

A show just about Krypton's past really sound boring. I never found that premise appealing. It is just so pointless when you know that the planet will blow up some years later and everything the heroes and villains might do won't matter in the long run.

This whole time travelling aspect they have added though doesn't make it much better. It is still a stupid premise.

Why not just make a Superman series in the first place? People want to see Superman himself and not his forefathers. This time travelling nonsense is not a proper replacement for the absence of Superman. Just get the rights to Superman himself for a series and if DC doesn't comply, why not just make a series with a lesser known DC or Marvel superhero and put them in their usual environment and not on Krypton. It worked for other channels. They could be even really innovative and just create a superhero themselves.

 

Hm. I found him underwhelming on Dark Matter.

Well, yes and sorta technically no. He's never appeared in live action, but there was an episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (written by comics writer Alan Brennert) where he was paged over a spaceport PA as an in-joke.

Sipos will also be only the third actor to play the role, after Michael T. Weiss in Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Michael Trucco in Young Justice. Honestly, I'd have preferred Trucco in the role here.