That Girl with the Curls – Episode 71 – The MCU and Whatnot

 

Nerd Nonsense – Episode 4 – Rebirthing

 

That Girl with the Curls – Episode 52 – Superhero TV

 

That Girl with the Curls – Episode 42 – DC Comics All Access Ramblings

James Rowe of Roman on the Rocks joins Sam for a session mostly dedicated to all things DC Comics and their properties including Batman: Arkham Knight, Batman v Superman, Arrow, The Flash, and Batgirl.

 

Cast of Titans TV show for TNT Revealed?

With shooting due to start sometime this year, we’re finally getting some news regarding who will fill the roster for TNT’s foray into the superhero genre with Titans. Based on the Teen Titans from DC Comics as well as New Teen Titans, and just simply Titans if you’ve followed the team up until the New 52 reboot, Titans, according to the leaked script, will feature Dick Grayson/Nightwing, Barbara Gordon/Oracle?, Hank Hall/Hawk, Dawn Granger/Dove, with appearances towards the end of the pilot by Rachel Roth/Raven and Koriand’r/Starfire. The late appearance of the final two is most likely due to not wanting viewers overwhelmed by so many characters, or the pilot is a two-parter so as to give the characters room to breathe. Fingers crossed.

It’s definitely an interesting mishmash and not a lineup I was expecting at all. It’s essentially a combination of Teen Titans and Birds of Prey since Barbara will be in a wheelchair and acting as Oracle, though her hacker identity isn’t featured in the script. The exclusion of Cyborg and Beast Boy, based on the popular lineup for the Teen Titans cartoon, is probably because Beast Boy’s ability to change into any animal would be too costly for the show’s budget and Cyborg has been deemed hands off because of the up-coming Justice League movies and his solo film. If that’s the case with Cyborg, it’s still odd considering he’s so well-known for being in the Titans and Warner Bros. doesn’t seem to have a problem with two guys playing the Flash in the movie and television universes. Of course, that doesn’t mean the characters won’t appear in the show, but it may be in the form of supporting cast or guest appearances. However, with the exclusion of Starfire, the cast could use a person of color because it’s not looking all that diverse; the exception being the 4:2 ratio of female to male cast members.

Believe me, it’s very rare for a superhero cast to have more women on the team than men unless the book or show is specifically an all-female team. If you were to take a look at the casts currently on television, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has the most balanced cast of about 4 female regular leads and 5 male regular leads; Arrow comes in next with 3:4, The Flash with 2:5, Agent Carter with 2:5, and Constantine with 1:3. Gotham would be the equivalent of Agents of SHIELD with the addition of Morena Baccarin putting the cast at 6:8, but the ensemble usually favors the male regulars since the cases revolve around Jim Gordon, meaning characters like Selina Kyle, Ivy Pepper (sigh), or Renee Montoya end up taking a backseat for several episodes. So it’s worth noting that Gotham has more female characters than any of the other shows but doesn’t use them as often.

My biggest worry about the inclusion of Barbara Gordon is the love triangle that seems inevitable between her, Nightwing, and Starfire. In the comics, Babs was never part of the Teen Titans. After getting shot by the Joker and ending up paralyzed from the waist down, she created the Oracle persona in order to continue fighting crime by being the eyes and ears of practically the entire DC Universe. Eventually this led to becoming leader of the Birds of Prey, an all-female team that occasionally had some men on the roster. In lieu of Cyborg’s usual role as tech expert on the team, Barbara makes sense to replace him, but if the intention is to have her there so the show can tease will-they-or-won’t-they between her and Dick or Dick and Starfire, then that’s gonna get old real quick. Babs, Dick, and Kori are all great characters in their own right and they deserve good writing and character development. I’m not saying there can’t be tension – the comics have been teasing both couples for so long it’s not out of the question – but it has to be more than Babs and Kori fighting for Dick’s affections or Dick waffling between the two. There’s history between all of them, which can make for great stories that don’t have to have a romantic bent. But this is only speculation based on cast lineup, so the show could very well prove me wrong.

Also worth noting is Titans will be the first live action debuts for Nightwing and Oracle. Granted, this will be true for all of the Titans, but Nightwing and Oracle are fairly special cases because of the fanbase and the characters’ history in media. Because of the longevity of the character, more people associate Dick Grayson with being Robin because they read the Golden and Silver Age comics or watched the Batman TV show from the 60s. The cartoons often default to Dick as Robin too, utilizing the contrasting personalities of Dick and Bruce to form the Dynamic Duo. It wasn’t until Batman: The Animated Series was revamped as The New Batman Adventures in the late 90s that we saw the first appearance of an animated Nightwing. Since then, almost every cartoon with Dick Grayson features either a glimpse of Nightwing or a progression from sidekick to solo hero. The movies, thus far…oh there’s not much to talk about.

Oracle has been featured even less. As far as iconography goes, Babs has always been Batgirl outside of the comics and any chance of her going through the violent circumstances that make her Oracle are either sidestepped or missing entirely. Aside from the Birds of Prey TV show from 2002, only The Batman in the episode “Artifacts” has featured Barbara as Oracle. It’s a step in the right direction to feature a handicapped superhero because, right now, representation and visibility are paramount. DC Comics got a lot of flack for making Barbara Batgirl again, so perhaps Titans can offer us a kickass Babs who just happens to be in a wheelchair.

Despite some of the misgivings I have, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing Titans when it premieres. There are a lot of heroes and heroines in the DCU that need some time and attention and hopefully this show will do right by a few more. And with this particular roster, there’s room for a lot of characters to show up.

Also, was this the role Steven R. McQueen was hinting at?

Krypton to Explode on SyFy, Teen Titans Going to TNT

Okay, so Krypton isn’t going to actually blow up on SyFy (that’s usually saved for the first 20 minutes of a Superman movie), but in an effort to get back to their roots, ya know back when we knew it as the SciFi Channel, it seems the cable network is ready to dive into the worlds of science fiction and superhero prequels with Krypton. 

Developed for television by David S. Goyer (Constantine, Man of Steel, The Dark Knight Trilogy) and Ian Goldberg (Once Upon a Time), Krypton, unlike Fox’s Gotham, won’t be following a prepubescent Clark Kent who’s already training to be Superman – they already did that on a show called Smallville…sorta – but will instead go back two generations to Kal-El’s paternal grandfather, Seyg-El.

Here’s the official description:

 

Years before the Superman legend we know, the House of El was shamed and ostracized. This series follows The Man of Steel’s grandfather as he brings hope and equality to Krypton, turning a planet in disarray into one worthy of giving birth to the greatest Super Hero ever known.

 

Okay, I’m gonna try to find some positives. On the one hand, exploring the planet of Krypton has a lot of potential for actually diving into the culture of Supes’ birth planet. We only ever get brief glimpses into Krypton’s past in the comics whether through one-shot stories or expository flashbacks, so actually taking the time to look at the people and the environment that led to Superman is interesting. There’s also the possibility of bringing in other worlds and peoples from the science fiction corner of the DC Universe. The Green Lantern Corp would most certainly be out there as well as the Thanagar, Rann, and gasp! Apokolips, so the potential for expanding the DCU without having to shoehorn Kal-El/Clark into the story could work.

On the other hand, we’re still working with a prequel series in which limitations are already set in place. And I’m not just talking about the whole blowing up thing that Krypton does so well. The pilot is being written by Goldberg from an outline provided by Goyer and if you all remember what happened in the beginning of Man of Steel, which Goyer wrote, then we’re still looking at a culture in which genetic purity and a clear caste system are in place and have been for generations prior to Superman’s grandpappy. I’m not saying those parameters aren’t the stuff of great storytelling, but we’re still dealing with a foregone conclusion. Whatever Seyg-El does to try to make Krypton the happiest planet in the galaxy will ultimately be undone by the time his grandson is born. So unless futility is what SyFy is going for, how far can you go with a message of “hope and equality” for Krypton when we’re dealing with a planet full of people doomed by their own hubris?

But, of course, I’m still going to watch it. I’m still watching Gotham, though I wouldn’t say it’s out of enjoyment all of the time. With Krypton, however, there’s at least the chance of a reprieve from unsubtle hints about who so-and-so will end up being once the Wayne boy dons the cape and cowl. Although the trade-off will probably be grandiose speeches about HOPE delivered by Seyg-El to really hammer the point home. Le sigh.

In other news, the Teen Titans based show Titans will be filming their pilot for TNT next year. As reported by Screen Rant:

 

Titans will revolve around onetime Batman sidekick-turned superhero Dick Grayson, alias Nightwing, as he puts together a band of new superheroes whose ranks will also include classic Titans like Starfire and Raven

 

They go on to say that the inclusion of Cyborg is possible, but may not happen since he’ll be portrayed by Ray Fisher in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League 1 & 2, and the character’s solo movie. Of course, we’ll already have two different Flashes on the big and small screens, so what does it matter if there’s more than one guy playing Cyborg?

I’m definitely intrigued by the idea of a Titans show, but TNT only has one effects heavy program under their belt, Falling Skies, and The Librarians didn’t have the most stellar effects in the pilot. That just means we’ll have to wait and see what they bring to Titans since they’ll at the very least have an alien princess who can fly and shoot energy as well as a magically inclined young woman whose father is the ruler of a hell dimension on the roster. No mention has been made of whether Beast Boy, Kid Flash, Aqualad, or Wonder Girl will be featured either and all of them require a fair amount of special effects to pull off their abilities.

So that’s two more shows added to the ever-growing empire of DC Comics live action tv shows. And just so you don’t get lost regarding which show is playing on which network:

Gotham – Mondays on Fox

The Flash – Tuesdays on the CW

Arrow – Wednesdays on the CW

Constantine – Fridays on NBC

In Development – iZombie for the CW, Supergirl for CBS, Krypton for SyFy, and Titans for TNT

 

But what do you think? Are we getting oversaturated with tv shows from WB and DC? Do you want to watch a prequel series about Krypton? And if this trend continues, will we get Themyscira soon?

That Girl With The Curls – Episode 17 – Alan Kistler

Sam and JP have a chat with Alan Kistler about all manner of things concerning the DC and Marvel Cinematic Universes as well as the television universes of Arrow, The Flash, and Gotham.