This is topic "We need a new super-hero show." "Hey...how about Robin, only not?" "Brilliant!" in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.
Way back in the mid-90s, Paul Dini and Bruce Timm developed a pitch for an animated series that would follow the adventures of Robin as a solo hero. Globe-trotting adventures with the possibility (explored more fully in later shows) of expanding the Animated DC universe, all done in their signature style.
That's a Robin show I would have watched.
This sounds like another misfire.
[ October 01, 2008, 07:39 PM: Message edited by: Puffy Treat ]
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
I just occurred to me: If they made the show about Barbara Gordon instead, as a Nancy Drew-esque pre-Batgirl, I'd watch it in a heartbeat.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
That sounds stupid.
Smallville made SOME sense, at least Clark still had powers and such and apparently bad guys to fight. But Dick as a kid traveling with the circus? He won't have any of his Robin tools, or any of the skills that Bruce taught him over the years, like HOW TO FIGHT.
This gives my stomach a lurchy feeling.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
You just know each episode will end with one of Dick's parents patting him on the back, assuring him that they'll always be with him.
And a coulrophpbia episode.
Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
It all depends on how it's executed.
I can see it as sort of a young Indiana Jones, and that would be great.
However, I have zero confidence in the ability of the people behind the CW and Smallville to do anything like the young Indiana Jones.
I like Barbara Gordon idea, too, but I also think they'd mess that up.
I've got the new episodes of Smallville from this season on my DVR, but I haven't been able to bring myself to watch them.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
I know. I enjoyed most of Smallville's first and second seasons, despite the obvious flaws. But...the show has just become hideously unwatchable.
Even the promise of a Legion of Super-Heroes live action episode this season hasn't piqued my interest. And I'm the definition of a die-hard Legionnaires fan. Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I watched Smallville for awhile, stopped, then got back into it. I thought it was great, compelling even, for awhile.
I stopped watching when SPOILER!!
When Clark finally tells Lana his secret and everything is all hunkydory except then it all goes terribly wrong and he goes back in time and stops himself. That was sort of the last straw for me.
If they are going to do anything with Robin, they should do a show about him going solo as Nightwing. I think that'd be much cooler.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
I could see it working, if done right. It ain't as if an adult would allow a near-pubescent child to become a crimefighting sidekick if he weren't one HECKUVA way more competent than a mere (even world-class) gymnast. And The Graysons could be about how he got that way. Possibly Shiva as his first martial arts instructor? Etc
[ October 01, 2008, 11:37 PM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
To put Shiva into a position that she'd even consider teaching a kid circus acrobat would take so much retooling they'd effectively have created a new character.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
It ain't as if Smallville fits particularly well with the pre-existing Superman backstory.
Shiva is Robin's nemesis.....in the same way as Ra'sAlGul is Batman's? Possibly gave her the moment to save her own life? Or thought he was risking himself to save her life? Which would have been treated the same as actually risking by Shiva's sense of honor.
Then there is the why of his secret identity. "Robin" as in "The early bird catches the worm" taunt? after the pre-ward DickGrayson captures a criminal (aka a "worm" as the prejorative metaphor) that a solo Batman had been chasing?
And we do know that the Graysons had to have a long-term fairly close relationship with Wayne: otherwise DickGrayson would have never become Bruce's ward. Possibly as a circus trainee in gymnastics, rope and highwire work, and trapeze artistry (air work)? during the period of the "BruceWayne dropped off the face of the Earth" wanderjahr before he reclaimed his inheritance and became Batman.
Somehow having BruceWayne running away to join the (world-travelling) circus.....fits well.....in the interstice between disappearing when he first becomes an adult and receiving his polishing in the martial arts from Ra'sAlGhul. "No one asks who you are when you join the circus."
Like I said, a LOT of possibilities IF it is done well.
[ October 01, 2008, 11:25 PM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by aspectre: It ain't as if Smallville fits particularly well with the pre-existing Superman backstory.
You say that as if it's something to be emulated.
Though, I was talking about her personality. The thing that makes her interesting, as comics have tons of "Best Martial Artists EVER" characters.
She's really not the type to mentor a circus kid, unless you change the thing that made her stand out in the first place.
Posted by Bella Bee (Member # 7027) on :
I don't think it'll be be much fun, knowing that Robin's (presumably) lovely family are all destined to die horribly. It would kind of undermine any reason to get attached to them or wish them well. Having said that - I wouldn't watch anything that billed itself as a follow up to Smallville, after the trainwreak that has become.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
No more prequels! I've been waiting through 8 years of terrible scripts for Clark to become Superman.
Posted by Elmer's Glue (Member # 9313) on :
Cancelled. Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
quote:Warner Bros. Television is currently working on several replacement options for the CW.
I'm thinking Aqualad. Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
The "Young Aquaman" pilot was rejected.
Personally, I'd like to see them tackle one of the more obscure DC characters. It'd actually free them up creatively.
Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
No, no, not Aquaman. He was a wuss.
But Aqualad--now that's a hero.
/sarcasm.
Seriously, though, I'm making my way through Birds of Prey on DVD, and I'm wondering just what superhero would work in the WB style. Birds of Prey didn't (for me), Smallville doesn't. What would? What hero actually fits this style of storytelling?
I don't see the problem being with the properties. I see the problems being with the developers.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:What hero actually fits this style of storytelling?
I suspect that X-Factor -- in its detective-story incarnation -- or The Avengers might work. But nothing DC has, IMO.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Birds of Prey failed because instead of following the comic, they tried to make it into and X-Men-esque show, with a dash of defunct DC lore than ordinary viewers wouldn't get or care about.
That, and it -really- wasn't a very good show.
Generally speaking, when it comes to other media, DC Comics has the really good cartoons but very mediocre live action shows.
That said, I would -kill- to see a live TV series based on the John Ostrander/Kim Yale incarnation of Suicide Squad.
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
I think Smallville DID work for a while, it just got "drag this thing out as long-as-possible-itis." I actually think Season 8 isn't TOO terrible either. He's finally becoming Superman and the subplots are more interesting.
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