Oh Supergirl. I really didn’t think this series was going to get the ol’ go ahead. But with our first look at the new pilot episode for the series here, I can now see why it would get greenlit. The reason? It looks fun.
I had to watch this a couple times before I actually got it. My opinions are mixed. Everything on the DC movie frontier lately has been super dark, heavily filtered, with a side of grit. And as far as DC television shows – most of which are located on the CW – they’ve all held a mixed bag of humorous levity and serious peril. From what we’ve seen of the Supergirl pilot episode, it appears we’re getting something wholly different.
It looks like this will lean more on the side of humorous levity. To be frank, the video above makes the series out to be a romantic comedy. And I don’t know how to take that. This is completely new to the genre of superheroes. And I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea. I’m sure it can be done correctly. But will this do it correctly? I guess we’ll all have to tune in and see.
A lot seems to happen in this pilot episode. She learns to fly, she gets her suit, she tells several people about her powers and who she really is… things that literally took entire seasons to accomplish in Smallville back in the day. How will this play out? Will she tell the world who she is? She seems to be fairly careless about who she introduces her true self to.
Another question is how old was she when she reached earth? On Krypton, when she’s let off by Zor-El And Alura In-Ze, Kara is quite young, but the majority of the teaser shows us that she’s a highly functioning human being on earth in her mid-twenties. How long has she been on earth? Has she been acclimated by the Kents? Why is she just now learning to fly (although, if I’m comparing it to Smallville that doesn’t seem quite fair).
The production quality looks pretty stellar, rivaling the amount of money we see thrown at shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and outshining rivals Arrow and the Flash. Will this Supergirl tv show be in the same universe as said characters? Is there any potential for a crossover? Greg Berlanti, as executive producer of Flash, Arrow, and now Supergirl, has gone on record to say that it is possible that these characters can meet at some point. This would be very cool.
Geekritique
Naturally trailers are supposed to sell you on the thing and show you only the best. But I am pleasantly surprised and intrigued. Now to convince my wife I’m watching the show as a fan of comic books and of what they seem (at first glance) to be doing, and not simply as a fan of girls in short red skirts…
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Choose your words correctly…
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Well she’s been a fan of Arrow and Flash so I think the trailer on its own may suffice.
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I really don’t think a crossover is out of the picture in any way and people who say it’s extremely unlikely should really check the family tree, CW and CBS are not exactly distant cousins in any way here.
As for the series, I think it looks good. I think the biggest issue is that there trailer is… well, a trailer. Too long and they didn’t know when to stop. They tried way too hard to make it… Hollywood when it really didn’t have to be. Just show a bit of her story of how she got to Earth, what she’s doing now and a bit of the fight against the alien. Done for a first look. I’m quite excited for this despite the rather… cliché trailer structure.
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It’s taken me a while to really decide how I really feel about this, but today I’m feeling cautiously optimistic. This looks like it could be really cool, but disguised as something totally absurd. I don’t think Supergirl’s too dorky; if anything it makes perfect sense for her to disguise herself as basically Clark Kent.
The problem being that everything else around her is what’s so intolerable. Cat Grant is a walking exposition, and we’re constantly reminded about that other character giving us intricate information about her current situation being her sister just in case we forget.
And then there’s Jimmy Olsen. Now, this is what conflicts me. He could be a post-Superman Olsen who’s moved-on from calling himself Jimmy, but it’s the acting that’s so bad. The whole “Up, up and away?” thing was just awful! He’s not a character. I don’t know what he is, but it’s cringey to watch. Just because a character’s given a certain name, that doesn’t make them that character. I call it the Missy Effect.
The thing is, what this trailer shows it that there’s definitely a good opportunity underneath all of this. The only difference between Supergirl and the Superman series is that the two sides of her identity are separated more obviously. As Kara, she’s all glamour and fashion, but then the Supergirl scenes look really well-done. The flying sequence looked directed by Zack Snyder, only it was in colour. Everything’s just slightly less subtle here, even though the whole secret identities thing being mimicked was so convincing when Christopher Reeve did it because he was very subtle.
So hopefully the character will be interesting enough for me to look past the other stuff. If The Flash is anything to go by, it will probably improve vastly once everyone figures out how they want to play this. Hopefully that will happen with Grant and Olsen as soon as possible.
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Reblogged this on Tea Time with Tristan* and commented:
Since I’m a huge fan of DC Comics, this intrigues me.
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Holy crap. I may actually watch this. And continue watching this. All 40 minutes of it. And not get fed up of it after like 3 episodes.
I’m not sure about romantic comedy, but I agree on it seeming more lighthearted and charming than stuff like Arrow. It looks like it’ll work too. They’ll probably compensate by making the moments as Kara and the moments as Supergirl have two different atmospheres and tones.
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I read somewhere that Kara is supposed to have been 12 when she leaves her home, heading towards earth… then about 24 in the pilot… so basically half her life on Krypton and the next half on Earth.
Given that this is a Warner production like Flash and Arrow… and CBS is part-owner of the CW… I feel like this is the best chance for a cross-network crossover we’ve ever had. I can’t see Warner being against it… so it would be up to CBS and the CBS part of the CW… and it seems like a crossover would only strengthen both networks.
Get some CW fans watching CBS… and get more CBS “eyes” on the CW. Win-win!
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He said that “all is possible, but it would take a lot for both networks to say yes”. It’s just extremely difficult to crossover something that’s not on the same channel.
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Oh, I totally agree. I think I’d be far more hyped if they were able to make it work though.
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That would be phenomenal! I just don’t think that they’d ever be able to agree on anything.
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Who would have thought Spider-Man would ever appear in the MCU as a joint Sony/Marvel characters? And now he’s going to show up in Civil War. Things do happen.
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Alright I get that, but will that Spider-Man be portrayed by Andrew Garfield? Because of not, it’s not really a crossover, but more of a transfer of rights.
Also, it’s a lot more difficult to crossover a running tv show than it is with movies, even of they have several installments.
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I’m all for the crossover. Maybe in next week’s season finale Flash will mess up reality a bit and in the new universe Superman has existed? Otherwise the fact that he’s existed and no one on Flash and Arrow have mentioned him is pretty odd.
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