![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Doom Patrol (DC Direct, Season 1)
”What doesn’t kill you makes you stranger.”
This is clearly a “launch” show, in that they spent real money on it: Brendan Fraiser, Matt Bomer, Timothy Dalton, Alan Tudyk, lots of special effects. (Though it was clever in that the big-name actors are either playing guys in suits who they can just be voice actors for, or the guy who spends half the show kidnapped.) I give special credit to the actress playing Crazy Jane, as she has impressive range and manages to stand out as an incredible actor even against the big Hollywood stars.
I found it odd that they established everyone’s origins, then jumped ahead to the present day with basically nothing having changed for decades. (And they don’t do much with that jump besides having the world around them age: Cliff acts like he’s been Robotman for a few years, not 25. Rita acts like she’s in her 40s, not her 80s.) At least it’s generally logical that aging wouldn’t affect the characters much, as they all have powers that greatly impacted their bodies (Cliff is a brain in a robot, Rita is re-formed goop, Larry is probably only alive because of the Negative Spirit, Jane has 64 powers and at least some amount of shapeshifting is one of them). When we meet the original Doom Patrol from the 50s, it seems like maybe “not aging” is just a facet of this universe...and then we see that no, they are in fact geriatric. I gave them big credit for that twist, and then they twisted it further with Niles’ entire reason for creating the Doom Patrol being to study their different types of immortality. Well done, that!
This draws heavy inspiration from the Grant Morrison and later runs of the comics, where everything was weird shit. It also takes the personal / body horror of the main characters further than most of the comics did: Rita turns into a blob when upset, rather than just stretching or growing. Larry’s negative spirit is a separate entity he can’t actually communicate with, much less control, and its motives are inscrutable. Comics Cliff was always a curmudgeon, but a bit more willing to try to be a hero, as opposed to a deeply damaged screw-up even before he became a brain in a box.
They also get credit for updating some minor but important points: In the original comics, Danny was given male pronouns and referred to as a “crossdresser”; here they use gender-neutral pronouns and the term genderqueer.
I predicted after episode 10 that the Beard Hunter would not return, given that Cyborg is literally the only member of the Doom Patrol he can use his powers against. (And I’m annoyed Rita didn’t smother him.) And I was mostly right, in that when he does return, it’s just as a funny side character who doesn’t actually do anything.
I saw it suggested that it would be incredibly on-brand for the second season to jump forward in time, replace half the team, never discuss the changes, and inexplicably add Ambush Bug. I’d be down for that!
Overall: Weird, goofy, vulgar, barely-qualifying as a “superhero” show, but wonderful to fans of the original comics and/or anyone who wants to see Alan Tudyk eviscerate the 4th wall.
This is clearly a “launch” show, in that they spent real money on it: Brendan Fraiser, Matt Bomer, Timothy Dalton, Alan Tudyk, lots of special effects. (Though it was clever in that the big-name actors are either playing guys in suits who they can just be voice actors for, or the guy who spends half the show kidnapped.) I give special credit to the actress playing Crazy Jane, as she has impressive range and manages to stand out as an incredible actor even against the big Hollywood stars.
I found it odd that they established everyone’s origins, then jumped ahead to the present day with basically nothing having changed for decades. (And they don’t do much with that jump besides having the world around them age: Cliff acts like he’s been Robotman for a few years, not 25. Rita acts like she’s in her 40s, not her 80s.) At least it’s generally logical that aging wouldn’t affect the characters much, as they all have powers that greatly impacted their bodies (Cliff is a brain in a robot, Rita is re-formed goop, Larry is probably only alive because of the Negative Spirit, Jane has 64 powers and at least some amount of shapeshifting is one of them). When we meet the original Doom Patrol from the 50s, it seems like maybe “not aging” is just a facet of this universe...and then we see that no, they are in fact geriatric. I gave them big credit for that twist, and then they twisted it further with Niles’ entire reason for creating the Doom Patrol being to study their different types of immortality. Well done, that!
This draws heavy inspiration from the Grant Morrison and later runs of the comics, where everything was weird shit. It also takes the personal / body horror of the main characters further than most of the comics did: Rita turns into a blob when upset, rather than just stretching or growing. Larry’s negative spirit is a separate entity he can’t actually communicate with, much less control, and its motives are inscrutable. Comics Cliff was always a curmudgeon, but a bit more willing to try to be a hero, as opposed to a deeply damaged screw-up even before he became a brain in a box.
They also get credit for updating some minor but important points: In the original comics, Danny was given male pronouns and referred to as a “crossdresser”; here they use gender-neutral pronouns and the term genderqueer.
I predicted after episode 10 that the Beard Hunter would not return, given that Cyborg is literally the only member of the Doom Patrol he can use his powers against. (And I’m annoyed Rita didn’t smother him.) And I was mostly right, in that when he does return, it’s just as a funny side character who doesn’t actually do anything.
I saw it suggested that it would be incredibly on-brand for the second season to jump forward in time, replace half the team, never discuss the changes, and inexplicably add Ambush Bug. I’d be down for that!
Overall: Weird, goofy, vulgar, barely-qualifying as a “superhero” show, but wonderful to fans of the original comics and/or anyone who wants to see Alan Tudyk eviscerate the 4th wall.