ReCape: Watching The Cape

[Shjade]

At first I was like:

I love deconstructionist humor so much. This article was tremendous fun.

Post-article fanboy crying was a nice bonus.

Shamus, isn't this kind of response just fanning the flames? Sure, some of them liked the show, but that fact in no way improves the writing of this article, which is what they're commenting on in such a negative light. How does calling it "fanboy crying" help anything or, for that matter, do anything other than lump you in with them from the opposite side: the "fanboys" on one side calling foul on the article and basically saying it should be ignored because Elizabeth obviously didn't like the show from the start and blah blah, and on the other side people implying those detractors should be ignored because "they're just fanboys."

It makes you look just as bad as far as that goes.


But then...

I liked it. Needs more Keith David and less boring family. And the computer chick needs some more acting lessons but has potential. 'Like, oh my god, I'm acting. Yaaahhhh.'

It'll be interesting to see who likes it and who doesn't. I don't think the over-thinkers of the world will enjoy it.

No. No. No no no no no no no. Just go watch Firefly. I need only that to dismiss that statement.

*facepalm*

Being able to portray a particular role well - especially if that role is addled/abnormal in some dramatic way (like, say, being a mentally unstable psychic killing machine from the future, or...a robotic killing machine from the future...wow, that's some serious range, isn't it?) - is not an indicator of being a great actor in general. It means you did that role very well.

For a good example of this, compare Milla Jovovich in Fifth Element with Milla Jovovich in...almost anything else.

That is undeniably fanboy behavior. Accepting that, this Cape article is still pretty dull. If it can't hold the attention of an audience that was expecting the show to be bad and clicked the article in the interests of seeing just how bad it was (that'd be me, not HG up there, obviously), that's probably not a good sign. But hey, subjective.

 

[Crimson_Dragoon]

I like Keith David and Summer Glau as much as the next guy, but they can't save the show from being exceedingly boring, poorly-paced, and unoriginal.

I know us nerds are desperate for some of super hero or sci-fi show to come along and make it big, but that doesn't mean we should accept half-assed crap like this.

 

[omegawyrm]

I love deconstructionist humor so much. This article was tremendous fun.

Post-article fanboy crying was a nice bonus.

I know saying that people who disagree with you are fanboys is sort of your thing now Shamus, but I don't think that actually makes sense in this context. Only the pilot of this show has aired and just a couple days ago, it's a little bit early to play the fanboy card if that is still supposed to actually mean something.

 

[Krion_Vark]

It was the fucking pilot episode give me ANY pilot episode of ANY series that wasn't SHIT compared to the rest of it. Everyone is tearing into the show and the article because it didn't suit your needs.

ITS A NEW FUCKING SHOW GIVE IT TIME.

 

[Azure Knight-Zeo]

Wow, this read as if the reviewer was just making this up as she went along.

 

[CitySquirrel]

So I just watched it Hulu. Mildly entertaining, but I smell cancellation. It can't tell if it wants to be dramatic or goofy and it does not blend the two together well at all. And some of the acting is really painful. All in all, maybe it will come together, but I can't see enough people getting behind this.

 

[Draksila]

I think the show's premise holds potential, but that they rushed the pilot too much. The writing could have used a lot more polish, the direction could have been less schizophrenic, and I said to my wife as soon as it was over that they should have taken the events of the first hour and stretched them out over the two-hour run so that they could include some character development. Still... the similarities to the Batman mythos, Robocop, and Greatest American Hero could eventually work in its favor.

I'm seeing this as potentially being the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The pilot had horrible pacing, stiff acting, and pushed the plot ahead before you got a chance to know the characters beyond their stereotypes. But so did Buffy's pilot. Hell, I couldn't even bring myself to watch Buffy for the first year and a half because of how bad the pilot sucked. But after the first few episodes it found its stride and became iconic television. I think The Cape has the same potential. Then again, if they don't learn from the current reviews, perhaps they'll just become Heroes without the good first season.

 

[Krion_Vark]

ITS A NEW FUCKING SHOW GIVE IT TIME.

COUNTERPOINT: A PILOT OF A SHOW NEEDS TO BE GOOD ENOUGH TO GET THE AUDIENCE TO WATCH MORE. IF IT SUCKS THERE WILL BE NO MORE EPISODES. BEING DEFENSIVE ABOUT THE FACT THAT IT SUCKS WON'T STOP IT FROM SUCKING.

I put all of that in caps because that totally ensures one's point comes across as non-insane and is taken in the serious, constructive spirit of robust debate!

counter counter point: The pilot was enough to keep people interested I am interested to see what they do with the group Tarot. Seeing as how they took out the Tower in the 2nd ep of the series. (It was 2 episodes for the premiere.)
If it starts to suck I will stop watching it. I kept watching Heroes until around halfway through season 2 because it sucked so hard by then.

 

[Zolem]

I can't tell if I'm supposed to take this review seriously or not. If not, you had me going for a while, but my sister, my Dad, and even my Mom like it. If you did mean it seriously, well that's just your opinion. The fact that you know the term Rouges Galery means that you're familiar with comics to a fair degree and if this show doesn't apeal to you I don't really get why not. Also, you forgot to mention Chess's left eye is a knight and his right eye is a rook, and you also forgot to mention that Cain is the Tower, symbol of sudden disaster, the poisoner of the Tarot. I personaly enjoy the show and plan to watch it for a long time to come. If you chose not to, well enjoy The Sound of Music or whatever it is that gets you interested.

 

[Krion_Vark]

ITS A NEW FUCKING SHOW GIVE IT TIME.

COUNTERPOINT: A PILOT OF A SHOW NEEDS TO BE GOOD ENOUGH TO GET THE AUDIENCE TO WATCH MORE. IF IT SUCKS THERE WILL BE NO MORE EPISODES. BEING DEFENSIVE ABOUT THE FACT THAT IT SUCKS WON'T STOP IT FROM SUCKING.

I put all of that in caps because that totally ensures one's point comes across as non-insane and is taken in the serious, constructive spirit of robust debate!

counter counter point: The pilot was enough to keep people interested

Not all people, obviously. I personally think Elizabeth was too kind to it by half.

She could of went into more detail ripping some of the parts apart but hey its a TV show that seems like it was called off of a kids network for being too dark. If this was Japan it would still be a kids show. (go look up Kamen Rider 555 apparently the most disturbing rider death and grimdark of all the Kamen Rider series)

 

[wammnebu]

woah shamus young caught in a flame war, glad i stumbled on this review. next thing you know ill find yahtzee reply to his review comments

i am currently kicking myself for not noticing the garage door,thank you for pointing that out for me.

 

[Citrus]

The show's two main problems:

1. Its pace is ridiculous. It's even more ridiculous than it sounds in this review. What if Batman Begins had a five minute montage about him learning the skills necessary to be Batman? It would be terrible. The Cape basically just shrugged off one of the best parts of superhero fiction. There's a scene of Faraday being taught how to hypnotize people by a supporting character. In the next scene between them, Faraday hypnotizes the supporting character no problem. There was no middle ground. "Look, now he has a cool hypnotizing skill. Next clip!"

2. It takes itself way too seriously. It gives off campy vibes, sure, but it doesn't play to any of them. You have a carnival of bank robbers (or whatever they called themselves) and we as the audience know how dumb that is, but the show doesn't seem to. It just isn't directed in a way that accommodates or acknowledges its silly aspects, and even if it were, I doubt there'd be time to make them click with the viewer.

Anyway, Elizabeth is pretty much right on the money. But Shamus, grow up; you aren't acting any more mature than the people you're trying to mock.

 

[Shamus Young]

I love deconstructionist humor so much. This article was tremendous fun.

Post-article fanboy crying was a nice bonus.

I know saying that people who disagree with you are fanboys is sort of your thing now Shamus, but I don't think that actually makes sense in this context. Only the pilot of this show has aired and just a couple days ago, it's a little bit early to play the fanboy card if that is still supposed to actually mean something.

I see a lot of angry people in this thread, and I can't see any other explanation than reflexive fanboy-ing.

Look, I loved, LOVED Lord of the Rings online. But I personally took it out to the shed and gave it a savage whipping, in a 20,000+ word epic that ran for half a year. I picked apart every little flaw of the game. And I laughed as I did so. Other people laughed. Some liked the game, some didn't. Good times. It's good to be able to see the shortcomings of the entertainment we consume, even if we enjoy it.

The complaints that "this is a bad / dumb / biased / unfair article because I liked the show" are missing the point. Harry Potter and Star Wars are classics that have shaped our culture, and people still hammer on their excesses. It's good. It's healthy. It's even fun, right up until a fanboy screams "HOW DARE YOU!?!"

Maybe this show will run for a decade. Maybe it will be canceled before the end of February. Either way, it's just as valid a target for ridicule as Trek, or Watchmen or LOST or any other shows out there.

 

[SamElliot'sMustache]

Caught it tonight, and it really is terrible. It was trying way too hard to be hip (the sidekick 'blogger' and all the product placement Apple gadgets), screwy internal logic (the omnipotent blogger who tries to conceal her identity, yet just walks up to the Cape in the middle of the street), it's characters had no personality, and the plot was like someone realized that people like Batman Begins and The Crow, and just thought, "Hey, if we kinda/sorta make something like those and repackage it, those dumb geeks'll sure flock to our show!" In a way, it's so much like a stereotypical bad comic that it was like watching a poor man's Rob liefeld comic, just remove Summer Glau's spine and add in breast implants, then give the Cape a million pouches and a huge gun,.

It was the fucking pilot episode give me ANY pilot episode of ANY series that wasn't SHIT compared to the rest of it.

Firefly, Lost, That '70's Show, Twin Peaks, Arrested Development, the original V (though to be fair, that was a mini-series, not a pilot), Batman: The Animated Series, Animaniacs, Spaced, Futurama, Invader Zim, the aforementioned The Shield (though it has a couple of rough patches), and I think I'll stop there.

Those, off the top of my head, were shows whose pilots were not shit, especially compared to the rest of the series, and I left off shows where maybe the pilot wasn't exactly television euphoria, but it at least offered some new angle that would make further watching rewarding somehow (like most of Whedon's shows, True Blood, The Walking Dead, Taxi, Veronica Mars, and The Simpsons). Speaking of which:

Everyone is tearing into the show and the article because it didn't suit your needs.

ITS A NEW FUCKING SHOW GIVE IT TIME

That's not how it works in the real world, I'm afraid. If a show has nothing to offer that is interesting on its own merits, then no one is obligated to "give it time." I'm pretty sure fans of Gossip Girl-type shows wouldn't go around screaming about how it's a "fucking pilot," then order you to "give it time" if you pointed out a new show like that was shit.

 

[SamElliot'sMustache]

counter counter point: The pilot was enough to keep people interested

Not all people, obviously. I personally think Elizabeth was too kind to it by half.

I know I'm avoiding future episodes.

 

[BabySinclair]

Yes there were CG problems, especially in the pilot but they seemed to improve on that by the second episode (namely in the CG involving the cape itself.) Cheesy dialogue was there, it's in the comics too so that's actually faithful to the "parent" material. First episode was rushed, second had some timing issues, but overall better than a lot of other shows. I give it a high C, low B at the start and it'll be interesting how it turns out by the end of the 8 episode season.

 

[dubious_wolf]

The 6 page recap was lengthy for an escapist article, then again this was a 2 hours series premiere, so I'd say it's warranted. I think that in and of itself is the first problem with this show. They tried to put way too much into a single episode, even if it was 2 hours. I mean come on writers you have an entire series to characterize and shit. Pace yourselves better! I think this show suffers from the same delusions of grandure our main character does. (The only way you can save a corrupt city is by being batman). This show is trying to characterize too many damn characters all at once. It also seems schizophrenic. At times it wants to be a comic book and at other times it wants to be sand-in-your-shorts-at-the-beach gritty. It needs to pick a direction and stick with it. So far this whole thing seems like a mishandled mess. Thank you NBC for further proving to me that by not watching you I haven't missed anything.

To the fan-boys, this recap is exactly what it's supposed to be a critique. It points out problems and criticizes the weaknesses of the material being reviewed. So calm down, she didn't say "don't watch it!" And if there's one thing that never agrees it's oil and water, the other is critics and the public. I mean didn't Star Wars: A New Hope meet some pretty scathing reviews way back when? Didn't critics praise Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and yet it was a flop?

Also side note: Did his having a family thing seemed kind of forced. I mean he has a wife, and he has a super hot female sidekick? Is that just like trying to be future temptation.

further side note: Holy shit that was Summer Glau wasn't it?! I'm not sure her being a "blogger" makes a lot of sense. It seems like a poorly set up cultural reference.