I've been watching Bryan Singer's production diaries over at BlueTights.net with some interest. I'm hoping this film continues the "Batman Begins" trend of good DC super-hero movies.
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I still wish they'd chosen someone else to play Clark Kent/Superman. Brandon Routh (or whatever his name is) doesn't look too much like Superman in my opinion.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Something in the face still looks off. Oh and the emblem is too small (I think others pointed this out when this picture was first posted back in the Spring or whatever). As for Dean Cain, I'd still take him over Brandon Routh as Superman.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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I think you missed my point about Dean Cain. Many people objected (fairly strongly) when he was cast for L&C. But now he is inextricably linked with the character(s).
I predict the same will be true of Routh.
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It may be true. Let's just hope the link is more positive than the link between Batman and George Clooney. Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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It's kind of weird that Brandon Routh is younger than Tom Welling. But most of the weird is on the Welling side.
I still wish they'd done Kevin Smith's Superman script with Nicolas Cage as Supes. That would have rocked.
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quote:Originally posted by starLisa: It's kind of weird that Brandon Routh is younger than Tom Welling. But most of the weird is on the Welling side.
I still wish they'd done Kevin Smith's Superman script with Nicolas Cage as Supes. That would have rocked.
I agree 100%. This new script . . . sounds an awful lot like several fanfics. And I say that as someone who LIKES fanfic!
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*begins reign of world terror, as well as construction of ultimate doomsaday device which will kill all lousy superman actors by dehydration; this will somehow ensure ease of world takeover and pave the way for massive remodelling of said planet to suit my evil tastes*
Posts: 1996 | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:Originally posted by SteveRogers: I still think that Superman was a lousy super hero.
But that is just my opinion.
(As you can tell, I'm not looking forward to the movie nor am I a huge Superman fan.)
*runs away*
My only complaint with Superman would have been his invulnerability. I say would though because in recent years he's died by physical force, been nearly killed time and time again by kryptonite, and has been seriously injured by magic (yes, Superman is weak to magic). All of those put some holes in his whole invulnerability thing. Now all we need is a supervillain to take advantage of it.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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I see it now. Superman is really Harry Potter, all grown up, and Lex Luthor is Lord Voldemort's half-brother or something. It all makes sense, why didn't I see it before?
Posts: 1996 | Registered: Feb 2004
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There once was a book called... Superfolks.
In this book, which was written by the genius Robert Mayer, who also wrote I, JFK, the hero is the last survivor of the doomed planet Cronk. His secret identity is David Brinkley, and the only substance that can harm him is...
Nah, it's got to be an exercise for the student. It'd be a spoiler if I actually said it. <grin>
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Smallville has implied a lot about the Superman backstory. The Kryptonians were endowed with limited psychic powers, which gave them the superpowers of near invulnerability, super strength, etc., that in turn enabled them to be interstellar bullies with a self-appointed mission to "guide" all other intelligent species in how they should live. This of course would lead to rebellion. Probably several advanced species banded together and launched an attack against Krypton to overthrow the meddling tyrants. But the space armada was really only a diversion, while they launched a mini black hole into Krypton, which would gradually devour Kyrpton from within, until finally the planet would explode. So in other words, the Kryptonians deserved what they got.
Smallville also implies that Krypton has meddled extensively in earth's past, perhaps even tinkering with human DNA, adding enough Kryptonian DNA so that humans would closely resemble Kryptonians. (This would explain why Jor-el chose earth as the destination for Kal-el's ship.) While they may have tried to leave out key genes that would have given humans Kryptonian super powers, their meddling may have inadvertantly led to the creation of some humans with magical powers somewhat different from Kryptonian powers. Part of this meddling with earth involved Kryptonian techno-mysticism, and the setting up of semi-magical devices with an AI component in that Indian cave that Clark keeps visiting.
I think the mythic lore of Superman will always owe a great deal of its development and refinement to Smallville.Posts: 3742 | Registered: Dec 2001
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I've been watching Smallville the whole time, and I'm not sure where you got some of this stuff. I can see the interstellar bullies thing, and I can even see some of the tinkering in the past stuff (although not the genetic enginering). Where did you get all of this?
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Imaginative inference. This is the back story I think would lead to the elements of the story we have seen so far. As for the genetic engineering, what else would they have been mucking around on earth for? Why else would humans look like Kryptonians? And of course, being the supreme egotists that Kryptonians seem to be (judging by all the examples we have seen other than Clark), they would not have wanted humans to have all the powers that Kryptonians have (lest they actually be able to challenge Kryptonian domination some time in the future), so they would have held back on some Kryptonian genes while tinkering with the human genome.
Of course I was just making up the parts about alien species banding together to wage interstellar war against the bossy Kryptonians and about them launching a mini-black hole at Krypton. But a war of rebellion is certainly likely, and an effective weapon would be to launch a mini-black hole to begin orbiting around inside the planet Krypton, eating up mass until finally Krypton becomes unstable and explodes. Also, I think this is about the only way you could get a planet to explode without positing enough mass to kindle stellar fusion--in which case Krypton would have to have had two to four times the mass of Jupiter, which would make its gravity far too great for humanoid life to exist on it.
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Why else would humans look like Kryptonians? I'd say convergent evolution. That'd be a good guess. Plus it's a comic story, not some detailed fiction. It's like asking why most species in science fiction shows speak English.
Oh and there's a hole in your theory. Kryptonians are only strong near yellow suns like ours. If they are near red suns (like the red sun of Krypton), they are powerless. This means Kryptonians would have limited dominion, unless you are speculating that all intelligent species except Kryptonians are from planets with yellow suns (which seems sort of preposterous).
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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True, my theory does not yet explain the difference between yellow and red suns in their effect on Kryptonian super powers. Also, I cannot account for why pieces of Krypton should be so lethal for Kryptonian refugees. I'm still working on that. Though I think that the upper dimensions (up to 27) of superstring theory may be involved in some way. The special kind of radiation that comes from Kryptonite manifests in some kind of upper dimension.
I never could swallow the idea of "convergent evolution" producing identical species on different worlds. Such a circumstance could ONLY be explained by different worlds being seeded with the same species. No offense, but like many people you just do not have a healthy enough respect for the true magnitude of the mathematical improbabilities involved. But then, since mainstream science and education have brainwashed most people into believing that life could evolve out of rocks, and that one species could change into a significantly more advanced species despite the trillions of DNA sequence chance combinations that would be required, it is no surprise to me that many people would actually even for a moment take seriously the possibility of "convergent evolution." No offense, but it is so unlikely it is truly impossible, no matter how many trillions of years on how many trillions of planets you allow for it to happen.
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Ok...aren't we talking about a comicbook character? If they say we look like Kryptonians because of intersteller seeding it doesn't take much away from the series.
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quote:Originally posted by Ron Lambert: Smallville has implied a lot about the Superman backstory.
Perhaps, but it's not in continuity. In other words, as far as the comics go, Clark never knew anyone named Chloe Sullivan. He didn't meet Lois until he got to Metropolis. Green Kryptonite doesn't cause people who have weird powers.
The closest there's been in the comics to the Krypto-freak phenomenon (and quite probably the closest there will ever be) was the pre-Crisis variant of Kryptonite called Red Kryptonite. This stuff had a wonky effect on Kryptonians exposed to it. The same piece would have the same effect on every Kryptonian, but it could only effect each Kryptonian once. And that for 24 hours. Except in rare cases, like a red/green alloy that once gave Clark long term amnesia and took away his powers.
In current continuity, the only thing exposure to Green K will do to an Earth human is give them cancer with prolonged exposure.
As far as the movies are concerned, they've already said that they are basing the new movie on the continuity established in Superman and Superman II. So again, nothing in Smallville is relevant at all.
This may seem strange to anyone who knows Superman primarily from Smallville, but to those of us used to one retcon after another, it's old news. Just live with it. The Smallville Superman mythos is self-contained. It has no connection with any other Superman mythos.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Indeed. With the first episode of Smallville, you already knew it was in its own continuity and away from the comics. Plus if you grew up on the comics (like I did), you know about how things are always rebooted and redone (sort of like what may happen with this current Infinite Crisis, based on the Crisis of Infinite Earths).
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We need a support group for victims of DC retcons. Particularly victims of Infinity Crisis, OYL and 52. <shudder>
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One of the reasons I stopped watching Smallville was because of its increasingly bizarre plotlines. What they have now simply can't result in any Superman I've ever heard of. As long as I watch it and ignore anything and everything I've ever known about Superman, I can enjoy it.
But now I have to watch it this season to see James Marsters.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Umm... is no one else drooling over the fact that Kevin Spacey plays Lex Luthor? mmmmm.... bald Spacey....
Posts: 499 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I just wish Marvel comics had the same treatment. DC has Nolan and Singer on their team, and X-Men is left with... Ratner. And burn the heathen at the stake, but as much as I adore Spiderman the hero, the plotline of S2 was too much.
Get Nolan or Whedon on an X-Men film and my life will be complete.
And a pony, that'd be nice. And a continent. And an ice cream cone, while I'm fantasizing.
Posts: 3293 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Well I wish Marvel hadn't been so pushy. They could have let Singer finish Superman Returns and then do X-Men 3. Instead, they wanted to stick to their release date (May 2006 I believe) and made Singer choose. I think it may cost them in the long run, if the rumors about X-Men 3 are true.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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I first formed my liking for the Superman mythos back when the first black and white episodes appeared on TV, so I go back almost to the beginning. And growing up, I regarded the Superman comics as my favorite. But I appreciate the Smallville elaborations and departures from the main story line for their imagination and internal consistency.
The writers/producers of Smallville are actually a bit cheeky about borrowing and slightly twisting ideas from the Superman I and II movies. Notice that in the season premier this year, only two Kryptonian bad guys arrive instead of three as in the movie, and instead of them being trapped in the phantom zone by Jor-el, they try to trap Clark in it, and he manages to out-maneuver them and shove them into the phantom zone. It was virtually a send-up of what happened in the movies.
Smallville also borrowed the fortress of solitude built out of crystal, by the crystal which Clark threw off into the north polar distance.
I will always appreciate the fact that the writers/producers of Smallville made room for Christopher Reeve to appear in several episodes before his death. And it was so fitting that when Chris Reeve was on screen, the background music was the Superman trumpet theme from the movies, playing softly in the distance.
Smallville does play fast and loose with the Superman mythos, and yet it is respectful in many ways, too.
Posts: 3742 | Registered: Dec 2001
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I highly recommend watching An Evening with Kevin Smith for the story about his Superman Returns script and the producer who insisted: 1) Superman shouldn't wear that costume 2) Superman shouldn't fly 3) Superman must fight a giant spider in the third act.
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That's what people -- LOTS of people -- said about Dean Cain . . .![[Wall Bash]](graemlins/wallbash.gif)
