posted
If it happened once and I bitched it would be nitpicky. I guarantee you there will be something like that in every episode and after awhile the cumulative effect gets to me.
I agree it could just be me. I just can't turn off that much of my brain to enjoy something, and my faith in the writer/director is gone because now that I know he's not bound to reality in any manner at all, he can cheat to make the show work.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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The physics don't bother me nearly as much as the discontinuity (in terms of evenst and character) of season 4. The Mythology of the story has always interested me more. Though season 4 nearly lost me.
I mean, Alicia, Clark's wife/girlfriend dies. The one girl who, while somewhat whacked, made him feel 'special and normal at the same time' (his words.) He is devastated and almost committed murder in his rage.
Next episode: Gee, I'm so happy to be trying out for the Met Sharks and every girl ready to jump my bones. Alicia? Alicia who?
The infinite hole of sadness over the tragic and truly sensless murder of someone he loved somehow closed awfully quick. He showed more sorrow for Whitney than for Alicia. It's like Alicia and Pete went into a black hole where they are never thought of again. And then, when she is finally (and surprisingly) mentioned again (in the context of did she and Clark or didn't they) he brushes her memory off saying Lana is the only one he's every really loved. Yeah, the girl he's terrified of being honest with because of the very real possibility she won't understand- yeah, she's the one.
But this season, with a few minor points, has been satisfying. Am willing to see where this goes.
Posts: 1346 | Registered: Jun 1999
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Laws of physics. In one of the early seasons, Clark got hit by a bus and the entire front of the bus caved in while Clark stood there. I don't care how much Clark digs in to the pavement, he's still going to go flying when something that outweighs him by that much hits him.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Judging by the comics, that's not the case. It seems to take an extreme force to knock Clark/Superman back. Take Doomsday for example. Doomsday punched Superman (and one of Justice League members estimated that "that punch could have levelled a mountain range") and Superman just took it. Didn't move, didn't fall.
I think it's a case of forces. There are two sorts of options here. Either the person fully absorbs the blow themselves (holds their ground, without digging in) or the person allows the blow to flow through them into the ground (thus forcing them down at angle into the ground). Think of it like this. Say a car hits you. You don't have the strength to stand up to the car, so of course you're going to fall down (or go flying) when the force hits you. Now say you do have the strength to withstand that force. It'd just be like standing your ground when you get punched in the face. You could go flying (if you allow yourself), but instead you just stand there and absorb the force. It's painful of course, but who said it wasn't.
EDIT: Just thought of something. There's no real world equivalent to Clark Kent/Superman. Everything in our world breaks (in some form) is forced to move by the force put on it. Clark Kent/Superman can basically withstand any force (without breaking or without moving). So there is no real world equivalent to use to judge (in terms of physics and all).
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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But can the ground under him withstand the force that his feet apply when, say, a truck lands on him? Can the soles of his shoes survive the friction when he runs faster than the speed of sound over asphalt for hundreds, even thousands, of miles?
In The New Adventures of Lois and Clark, they at least made an expalantion. Superman's 'super-aura (for lack of a better word) extended a very small distance outside his body. This did things like protect his costume (or clothing) when he was doing super stuff.
But this is all besides the point. They've shown Flash, they're showing Aquaman. When do they have Batman come and beat the stuffing outta him? Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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I heard that they were originally going to have a young Bruce Wayne on Smallville, but then Batman Begins got made so they nixed it. Oh well. What would a young Bruce Wayne do anyways? He wouldn't be terribly far along in his training or anything. At best, he'd be studying crimonology at college. *yawn*
As for the ground underneath him thing, I don't know. I got for the whole suspension of disbelief thing. If the comics (and the show) indicate that the ground is fine, then I'll take it. You don't have to offer me a technical explanation (although in the case of his costume in the comics, apparently the material is nearly indestructible). The same goes for any kind of fiction for me. Take a science fiction book. If you say that your ships can travel faster than light, you don't have to get me a technical explanation (since one would be nearly impossible). I'll just take your word for it and enjoy the ride.
EDIT: Wait does the force have to go somewhere? I'm just thinking about this. Take a bus hitting him. The bus splits around him and is torn apart more or less. He absorbs some of the impact, but some of the force remains in the pieces (that continue to move through momentum and all). Does that force of impact necessarily have to go down into the ground though? Maybe I'm just thinking in circles. I still don't think the force should push him into the ground. I can't think of something analogous to it in the real life though.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Bruce Wayne could show a different side of Lex - after all, they're both extremely rich young men, and probably move in the same social circles.
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Okay, my brother and I have both been pondering this. We came to a similar conclusion. When something hits Clark, his muscles (or I guess his flesh) provides an equal, yet opposite force to whatever is hitting him. I can draw a force diagram out if someone likes. It makes sense. The force doesn't have to go somewhere. It's negated by the outward force.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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How does his body maintain balance while provided that level of force? I mean, even in a minimum expenditure of force, such as throwing a light punch, your body moves a bit, even with feeet at shoulder width.
These are the kinds of things I think about when I'm not watching the show, mind you. I don't bother about `em when I am.
As for Bruce Wayne...well, they're mucking about with the sacred 'continuity' so much. Really, they could do whatever they wanted. And not every continuity has him going to college to study criminology. In fact, that would be very detrimental to Batman.
Why would a philandering billionaire playboy without a care in the world study criminology?
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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I had figured (in the comics) that he used his flying ability along with strength to remain immobile when struck or to help deliver striking force when he punches. Clark doesn't know how to do this yet, unless he's doing it unconsciously.
posted
Uh...continuity did have him studying crimonology. He wanted to be a police officer, until he realized that meant he'd have to play by all the rules (which wasn't effective enough).
As for balance, who's to say he doesn't have super balance (along with everything else super)? Also it's not like this is an active movement (like your throwing a punch example). This is just him standing there. His muscles are exerting a force out to counter the force of the item hitting him. It makes sense. Bullets deflect off of him since the force just redirects their path.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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I've got to agree with Chris on the physics thing. For example, in one of the Superman movies, he freezes the lake and then picks it up.
By holding on to the edge.
OK, fine, he's strong enough to hold his wrists straight against that force.
But the ice isn't.
The only way the knockback doesn't happen is if the flying powers are somehow at work. Possible, I guess.
BTW, that super-aura thing from L&C is from the comics. It wasn't made up just for the show.
One thing I really liked about Spider-man 2 was the attention to detail to the tentacles powers which Chris already mentioned. They flubbed some by letting Spider-man actually hit Otto in the jaw without knocking him out. But basically, they clearly cared about establishing the parameters of the powers.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Clearly, Clark has super-drama in addition to super-everything else. Having an axe bounce or dent when it strikes him isn't nearly as dramatic as having it shatter.
Hmmm...I wonder what kind of kryptonite would negate super-drama. Gray, maybe?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:When something hits Clark, his muscles (or I guess his flesh) provides an equal, yet opposite force to whatever is hitting him. I can draw a force diagram out if someone likes. It makes sense. The force doesn't have to go somewhere. It's negated by the outward force.
Sorry, the physics here simply doesn't work no matter how you draw the force diagram.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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Hopefully this season they'll find a kryptonite that reverses the effects of shark jumping.
quote:Spider-man actually hit Otto in the jaw without knocking him out
I loved that movie, but that really bugged me. One blow to the jaw from Spiderman should have killed Otto.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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No, wait. That's right it's Mauve. Mauve Kryptonite.
The Eggshell Kryptonite reverses Clark's emotional amnesia. During sweeps, they'll find it and Tom Welling will earn an Emmy for the amazing acting he displays as he vents the tears at Alicia's death, the loss of his best friend Pete, the guilt at Lex's fall, the huge numbers of deaths he's been around, and the way he's ignored (and has lost) Chloe for a woman who will never accept him the way he is.
It will be truly amazing.
Posts: 1346 | Registered: Jun 1999
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When TV show and filmmakers pay attention to the little, jarring things, they can get away with big sweeping things and I'll never quibble. Much. Guy gets bitten by radioactive and/or genetically enhanced spider and lives? No problem. Guy gains super powers from yellow sun and can resist nuclear blasts while still being able to feel someone touching him? No problem.
Guy running at superspeed through smoke without blowing it around at all? No. Guy jumping off the second level of a barn and somehow managing to vault over the railing and fall -- not dive, not run down the stairs, but fall -- fast enough to get up, run over, and catch the falling person even though they started falling before he started moving, that's when I give up and watch movies.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Muave kryptonite? Are you sure? I thought I remembered that it was actually houndstooth kryptonite. The discovery of patterned kryptonite was something of a revelation, and won't actually be revealed in the show until the season finale of season 6.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Yeah, the physics are lame. I just think of it as magic.
Actually, if the storyline was consistently good, I think those things would bother people less.
Instead, AlMiles come off as real jerks. In many interviews they've basically talked about how Chloe is going to always get kicked in the face, how Pete was lame and they couldn't figure out what to do with him- and then they'll turn around as say the Prom episode (Spirit) was one of their favorites and give us crap like the School of Wax or the Spell episode.
Do they even care about their audience?
That said. I still am interested in seeing where things are going and *so far* have enjoyed the 5th season. But I'm (perhaps foolishly) hoping the other shoe doesn't drop.
Posts: 1346 | Registered: Jun 1999
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Come on Chris. He obviously is denser than us, therefore, he falls faster. I think it's an exponential thing too.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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No. Houndstooth turns Clark into a Super-Werewolf (appropriately so) and he spent his time superhowling at the moon and mooning Lana. Pete will briefly return with some funky kryptonite-enhanced garlic that negates the houndstooth kryptonite.
Then he'll plug the Smallville:Metropolis Mix and say as the stereotypical black character, "Yo! C-ya. Gotta race my kryptonite-powered scooter!"
Posts: 1346 | Registered: Jun 1999
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quote:I loved that movie, but that really bugged me. One blow to the jaw from Spiderman should have killed Otto.
Well for the record, Spiderman isn't always going all out in the lethality department. Also, when he's punching Doc Ock in the face, he's usually simultaneously fighting off >1 other tentacles. And finally, well maybe his tentacles give him some other abilities as well. Increased stamina and durability are possibilities. Stress resistance, a greater ability to remain concious. Also perhaps Ock can see a blow coming from (literally) 5 directions at once, and thus maybe roll with the punch a bit more.
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Stretch a little farther and you just might reach it, Jeff. Otto just tried to kill his beloved Aunt May and you don't think he was going for lethal force.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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See, that's what ultimately annoys me about all this, the wasted potential. Just because they couldn't think of what to do with Pete doesn't mean he was worthless, it means they need better writers. I honor the creators for the setup and their initial visions for the show, but it should have been taken away from them when they got silly.
Here's a thought: write a show about what people experience around Clark, without ever showing Clark. I'd love to see Pete running around trying to cover for Clark's actions and ultimately solving if not the main mystery, but a vital one while Clark is doing something super. We're told he was Clark's best friend and that he guarded his secret, let's see that.
Let his romance with Chloe continue, and let all of them deal with the problems it causes. Let him help Clark test his powers. Let him finally sit down with Chloe and Lana and tell them to lay the heck off of Clark. Yeah, he's got secrets, and he's also saved your lives every week for three years, cut him some slack.
Instead we got him running around behind Clark and Chloe until they finally wrote him off the show. I lost all respect for the writers when they did that.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Same here, Chris. There have been redeeming moments. But the end of Season 3 (with it great season finale that ultimately brought nothing new to the show in the season 4 premier- none of the issue raised made it past the second episode of the season) ultimately was the last gasp.
I think they are trying to get their moment back. But trying to use the Clana is not the way to go. I want more superman, more destiny, more knowing why he is here. Not more 'gee, can this work with Lana when the issue that has kept us apart in a big elephant in the room I keep trying to ignore?'
Posts: 1346 | Registered: Jun 1999
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Well, he was having serious 'spider-issues' at the time, Zan . There's also lingering respect for and horror at what Dr. Otto Octavius, a budding friend, had been and become.
I'm not sure which fight you're referring to, but if it's clocktower and train fight sequence, it doesn't hold water, because he needed Doc Ock alive to find out where MJ was.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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I don't think it would have killed him - he hits muggers - but Otto took at least two huge kicks and a full arm punch (at different times).
I forgive that, though, and am willing to provide the explanation for it (the tentacles help move him to roll with the punch or something) because they obviously care about it and took great care.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Originally posted by pfresh85: I heard that they were originally going to have a young Bruce Wayne on Smallville, but then Batman Begins got made so they nixed it. Oh well. What would a young Bruce Wayne do anyways? He wouldn't be terribly far along in his training or anything. At best, he'd be studying crimonology at college. *yawn*
Actually, Smallville happened because they were planning a Young Bruce Wayne show. And yes, Ian Somerholder (Boone on Lost and Adam on Smallville) was going to be Bruce.
quote:Originally posted by Dagonee: BTW, that super-aura thing from L&C is from the comics. It wasn't made up just for the show.
Actually, I think the aura thing was originally made up for the Flash. His costume was just regular material, after all. Supes's costume was Kryptonian, and therefore as indestructable as he was.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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The aura thing came from John Byrne's Superman overhaul, when he cut Superman's powers back to merely incredible and less godlike. When she was giving Clark his costume for the first time she mentions something like "I noticed when you were a boy that clothes right next to your skin never got dirty or messed up, etc etc."
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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While we're on the subject of disappointing superhero adaptations, I've got to say again that the Hulk movie was incredibly (hehe) disappointing.
It could have been so good - good cast, great director.
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Anyone who is asking questions about Season 4 needs to realize that Season 4 is the 'crapfest' season. Witches, Lana Lana Lana, more Lana, Jason (irritation-man) Jason and Lana, Lana's Tattoo, Lana's old ancestor the witch, more witches and more and more crap.
There were about 3 good episodes in Season 4. The Season Opener, the "Run" episode with the Flash, and the Season ender.
Other than that - garbage.
Posts: 317 | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Chris Bridges: The aura thing came from John Byrne's Superman overhaul, when he cut Superman's powers back to merely incredible and less godlike. When she was giving Clark his costume for the first time she mentions something like "I noticed when you were a boy that clothes right next to your skin never got dirty or messed up, etc etc."
Ah, in that case, it was definitely the Flash. He had an aura pre-Crisis, and Byrne didn't commit his retcon until post-Crisis days.
I look forward to a time when "post-Crisis" will mean after the 20 years between CoIE and IC are over, and not the icky time between them.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Transference was a good episode. And as lame as it was, Facade (the dreaded Kryp-Tuck episode) was actually OK. Not nearly as bad as I had expected (sort of like Waterworld.)
Still, that's saying something when you have to qualify statements like that.
Tonight's (Aquaman) will truly indicate whether the writers have learned any lessons from Season 4. The last 3 have been surprisingly very good.
Posts: 1346 | Registered: Jun 1999
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I like that they're calling him AC. Keeping the real names is a nice touch.
So... how many other references to the DC Universe have there been? Bart-Flash, AC-Arthur Curry-Aquaman, there was a newspaper headline about the Themyscran ambassador...
I can't see them doing Green Lantern or Hawkman or Ralph Dibny (the special effects would be too much).
Oh, and Ken and Barbie were "soldiers of Zod". And there was a joke about calling the dog Krypto.
posted
First episode, first time we see Lionel he's reading a paper that headlines something like "Billionaire Oliver Queen Lost."
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Rakeesh: In The New Adventures of Lois and Clark, they at least made an explanation. Superman's 'super-aura (for lack of a better word) extended a very small distance outside his body. This did things like protect his costume (or clothing) when he was doing super stuff.
It is also one explanation given for the tissue issue.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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It's the "coming next week" bit that bothered me. Lana's a vampire? That look sto be just the sort of hideous show that drives me crazy, but it's got James Marsters! With hreat lines! Agh!
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I've caught a couple of episodes of Smallville in the past, and largely liked what I've seen.
For the first time ever, I purposely tuned in tonight (Aquaman). Wow...if one more person mentions how something about A.C. is "fishy", I swear to the powers above that I'll...do something. Yes, something.
Is the writing on this show always that bad? The forced surfer talk, Batman and Robin level dialogue, poor pacing, corny fights, etc.
I like all the actors though. Especially James Marsters, and the guy who plays Lex.
By the way, did anyone think that Aquaman's hand might get blown off by the C-4 he was using? Maybe the hook clashes with the surfer dude image.
Edit: Just did some reseach and discovered some future plot threads that sound unbelievably stupid:
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"Tensions between Clark and Braniac spike, culminating in an explosive fight; look for Lois to go undercover as a stripper to investigate the murder of a young girl; Martha contracts a mysterious disease from the planet Krypton and is given hours to live; and we'll find out what happens when Clark has a run-in with Silver Kryptonite (read: paranoid much, Clark?)." Ask Ausiello
Oh my.
[ October 20, 2005, 09:32 PM: Message edited by: Lord Solar Macharius ]
Posts: 254 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Dagonee: Junior lifeguard association?
I might have been able to stand that if they hadn't had Clark say "JLA."
I know. <sigh> I figure, if someone didn't get the junior lifeguard association line, they're not likely to know what the JLA is either.
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