posted
Did anyone else catch The Cape, on NBC Sunday night (Jan. 9), 9pm-11pm? It was the season pilot. If you missed it, it will be repeated Monday night.
Not bad. Sort of a Batman-like superhero, but he must keep his identity even from his wife and son, who think he is dead. If the wrong people learn that he is still alive, they would go after his family. He can't call the cops, because the bad guys are the cops--at least the psychopath running the cops as a private enterprise.
My favorite terminator, Summer Glau, co-stars. She becomes the Cape's partner. Not a sidekick type, more a techno-geek. But she does mix it up in the field, too. While not superstrong, her character is a pretty good fighter. It's good to see Summer again in a TV series.
The only thing I really disliked was the hero learning hypnosis. It did not figure in the plot this time, but it could in the future. I have religious and philosophical reservations about ever allowing another human being to control your mind.
Posts: 3742 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I was considering watching it, it looked good compared to other superhero shows.. So I suppose I will be looking for it tonight ._.
Posts: 461 | Registered: Nov 2010
| IP: Logged |
posted
I watched the first half of the pilot and plan to watch the second half soon.
Quick impressions:
* The father/son relationship seems far too idealized. The kid's too precious. * Speaking of his relationships, does he have one with his wife? * The training wasn't long enough. And he's not edgy enough to carry it off. * His quick friendship with Orwell was less believable than his sudden super-hero abilities. * The dialog is well done. Except for Scales' dialog, which was AWFUL. Actually, everything about Scales is terrible. Except him succumbing to the midget. That was great. * Right now, I don't believe the idea of the CEO/Psycho killer, Chess. He's supposed to imbalanced, or something, right? That's why he takes on the Chess persona, kind of like the Green Goblin. He's not psycho enough. * "Kill all cell phones within 500 feet of me!" Wait, do what? How? Sure, Orwell is a computer geek, but she gave you an earpiece, dude! Orwell needs to be set up a bit more for this bit to be believable. * At least they didn't use the 'Most people only use 10% of their brains' bit. Yet. * Seeing Vince hitting that body-bag is convincing that he's capable of doing most of the physical feats displayed. Well...with the exception of jumping the 20 foot gap between buildings at one point. That was silly. * Vince needs more grit. Right now, I don't believe he is desperate. Between his apparent death and his donning the mantle, how much time passed? A week? I'd have preferred it take a couple years; age the kid to pre-teen/teen. Vince hasn't lost anything as it stands; his wife and son are still (as far as I've seen) his own. The cost of his death isn't real, so his desperation seems fake.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
For some time now I have wanted to see M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable made into a TV series. That was a great superhero, mythic!
But network TV being what it is, they would probably wind up giving us something like No Ordinary Family. Come to think of it, that's what they did!
Posts: 3742 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm looking forward to this, but mostly because it has Summer Glau in it. But I'm the promo looked potentially... meh... so now I'm afraid that she'll be stuck in a show that sucks.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
I was pretty disappointed. But I'm holding out hope. For a little while at least.
It's pretty sad to me that all the superhero TV shows are such disappointments. Smallville, Heroes, No Ordinary Family... Can't TV-Land get anything right?
Posts: 339 | Registered: Apr 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
I thought the second half ("Cain") definitely made his desperation more believable, and it provided a good reason why he doesn't take his family and run. But the villain was laughable, and his dabbling in poisons to make an antidote ludicrous.
Orwell's intervention was too convenient. They need to spend as much time on developing her expertise as they did with Max Malini's. Right now, she's too perfect-- and I don't believe that a girl with her skills would cower in the face of Cain.
I enjoyed seeing the mom more, but the lines the kid was given were excruciating.
I'm going to give this another chance; there are some likable characters, and the conflict is interesting. The show has some stylistic elements I appreciate, too. A large part of whether I'll continue will be decided on the strength of their villains. Right now, Chess is only marginally interesting. I'm hoping they won't treat Tarot like Smallville's freak-of-the-week.
The show needs less Heroes, and more Beauty and the Beast.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yeah, saw the first, definitely below Chuck as a encouraging premiere (as an example aiming at a similar demographic), and I personally like origin stories. May watch a few more just to make sure, but I'm unimpressed.
Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
I watched the second episode first because pilots usually suck and I had heard "meh" things, but I think I actually liked it more when I went back and saw the pilot. The show is kinda campy, but I think I can enjoy it for what it is.
Although Summer Glau turns out to be kinda boring when she's trying to play a normal person.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
I wouldn't describe the roll of Orwell as a normal person. Besides the computer super-geekiness (reminiscent of Cloe Sullivan on Smallville), she acquits herself pretty well in a physical one-on-one fight. She left that poisoner, Tower or whatever his name was, hogtied and gagged. Never mess with a prima ballerina! Even if she does not have titanium bones.
Posts: 3742 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
She's not "normal" when it comes to capabilities, but she's normal when it comes to her acting and personality traits. So far anyway. My suspicion is that Glau is deliberately trying to shed the weird quirkiness that has come to define her characters, so she's starting with a blank slate. I'm hoping that as the show progresses she gets more comfortable with that and lets it develop more organically.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
| IP: Logged |
quote:The show needs less Heroes, and more Beauty and the Beast.
wait what?
Beauty and the Beast-- old 90s TV show with...er...whatshername from the Terminator movies and Ron Perlman. Lady reporter finds an underground civilization beneath NY City, befriends a wise and hideous and hunky Beast.
Named Vincent, of all things. It was moody, a bit dark, a bit romantic; it had an interesting underground society; I'd like to see some of that moodiness in The Cape.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Raymond Arnold: She's not "normal" when it comes to capabilities, but she's normal when it comes to her acting and personality traits. So far anyway. My suspicion is that Glau is deliberately trying to shed the weird quirkiness that has come to define her characters, so she's starting with a blank slate. I'm hoping that as the show progresses she gets more comfortable with that and lets it develop more organically.
Fair enough, but I can only recall one role where she never danced and it was a minor credit. The woman has unique and incredible talents that many of her contemporaries cant credit themselves and if you saw her dance routine on the special features for Sarah Conner Chronicles you too would be remiss if she renounced performing her original art on camera for fear of type-casting.
But having not seen The Cape (and having low expectations due to the premise) I can understand the want to escape the crazy girl role but question if this were truely the most efficiant job to take to do so. She must have better offers.
Posts: 2302 | Registered: Aug 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm not talking about the dancing at all - I'm sure she'll dance in this show at some point. I'm talking about her quirky mannerisms. I can tell she's a genuinely good, versatile actress because her quirky mannerisms are different in each show, but this is the first place I've seen her where her dialogue was completely devoid of them.
I actually think her character here is pretty interesting, or at least has potential to be. She's basically a superhero version of Wikileaks. I'm not sure if that's completely original but I haven't seen it before. I could see it being something that did honestly appeal to her.
I *think* that she's trying to make a genuinely strong character that isn't dependent on other people for mental stability. So far she's played characters that were physically strong (or, in the case of Dollhouse, at least very competent in her field of specialty) but she's always been socially maladjusted.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
| IP: Logged |
Your original villain could appear in an episode of The Cape! Enter your creation with a sketch, name, and brief description of your villain between now and January 28th, using the tools below. Judges are looking for original and colorful villains who wield unique abilities, quirks, and obsessions. Entries will be judged 50% on originality and 50% on creativity.
About Villains for The Cape
Villains on The Cape are colorful, singular and indelible. To be a villain on the show, he or she must be a formidable, and often infamous, opponent for The Cape.
As The Cape himself does not have superpowers, neither do any of his villains. However, Cape villains always possess unique abilities, such as an expertise in poisoning or genius mathematical aptitude; noteworthy personality quirks, such as an obsession with a particular object or a fondness for a specific aspect of pop culture; and a distinctive appearance, such as having long, greasy hair or being covered in green scales (a la Scales).
Cape villains are distinguished by their single word names that are often descriptive of their appearance or reflective of their personality, e.g., Scales, Cain, Dice, Goggles or The Lich.
posted
We should try a Facebook push to get Dr. Horrible on. It worked for getting Betty White to host SNL.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
It pretty explicitly says "original." It looks like this is more about the visual design than anything else (assuming picture = 1000 words, and you only get 50 words, there's a lot more room to express yourself with the visual element)
This could pretty cool, although I'm not 100% sure the show'll last long enough for the villain to matter.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
I got all giddy when I realized the lead was ET from Sea Patrol. He does an American accent pretty well.
quote:Originally posted by Raymond Arnold: I actually think her character here is pretty interesting, or at least has potential to be. She's basically a superhero version of Wikileaks. I'm not sure if that's completely original but I haven't seen it before. I could see it being something that did honestly appeal to her.
She's basically a younger, female version of Eyes Only from 'Dark Angel'. Anonymous broadcasts to the public exposing criminals and corrupt government officials and techno-power supreme in support of the action hero, whose goals don't alway match up but often do.
The show is on Hulu, if anyone needs to catch up.
Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
It was moody, a bit dark, a bit romantic; it had an interesting underground society; I'd like to see some of that moodiness in The Cape.
