Author Topic: Doom Patrol (Read 3049 times)

Alberon · « **on:** February 07, 2019, 06:10:34 PM »

The Doom Patrol TV series kicks off a week tomorrow following on from an appearance in Titans.

A few cast changes from the Titans pilot, the most notable being Timothy Dalton in as the Chief, Niles Caulder.

Here's a very short teaser trailer featuring new members Crazy Jane and Cyborg.

https://youtu.be/5JG-TNPkV8k

I doubt it can ever reach the surreal insanity of the best of the comic runs, but here's hoping it can do something interesting at least.

bgmnts · « **Reply #1 on:** February 07, 2019, 07:07:21 PM »

I had no idea about this Doom Patrol now.

How haven't Universal Studios (who I assume hold the rights to the Invisible Man) sued DCs arse off?

Small Man Big Horse · « **Reply #2 on:** February 07, 2019, 07:22:24 PM »

I'm cautiously looking forward to this, I still haven't watched the episode of Titans which introduces them but the fact that they're borrowed so many elements from the Morrison run suggests it might be interesting. And hopefully Timothy Dalton will end being a disembodied head, as the Chief was much more fun like that.

Mister Six · « **Reply #3 on:** February 07, 2019, 07:38:19 PM »

The Titans backdoor pilot was dismal, I thought, and Cliff's costume looks horribly cheap, like a Saturday morning kids' show mascot. But I'm still hopeful that the series itself will turn out all right - hopefully they will careen head first into Morrisonian madness and not dial things down.

The Culture Bunker · « **Reply #4 on:** February 07, 2019, 07:52:22 PM »

Quote from: bgmnts on February 07, 2019, 07:07:21 PM

I had no idea about this Doom Patrol now.

How haven't Universal Studios (who I assume hold the rights to the Invisible Man) sued DCs arse off?

Because Negative Man isn't invisible - it's sort of lampshaded in the Doom Patrol's appearance in 'Titans' when the young lass asks if he's invisible under the bandages and he says "wouldn't that be nice?"

bgmnts · « **Reply #5 on:** February 07, 2019, 07:54:47 PM »

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on February 07, 2019, 07:52:22 PM

Because Negative Man isn't invisible - it's sort of lampshaded in the Doom Patrol's appearance in 'Titans' when the young lass asks if he's invisible under the bandages and he says "wouldn't that be nice?"

I just mean the likeness. Identical.

Gulftastic · « **Reply #6 on:** February 07, 2019, 08:03:50 PM »

Delighted to see April Bowlby back on telly. Her 'Kandi' episodes are about the only Two & A Half Men ones I've ever watched more than once.

Well, maybe the Megan Fox one, too.

The Culture Bunker · « **Reply #7 on:** February 07, 2019, 08:11:03 PM »

I would assume the Cyborg in this is not as ridiculously over-powered as the one in the films?

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth · « **Reply #8 on:** February 07, 2019, 09:01:52 PM »

They have a robot man and a cyborg man?

Alberon · « **Reply #9 on:** February 07, 2019, 09:39:57 PM »

Yeah, two cyborgs. That is a bit odd.

Robotman is a mainstay of the group, so who should they have instead of Cyborg?

Flex Mentallo? Danny the Street?

Mister Six · « **Reply #10 on:** February 07, 2019, 11:07:10 PM »

If they don't have Danny the Street by the midpoint of the second season I'll be gutted.

Dorothy is the obvious missing Morrison cast member. Maybe get in Coagula from Rachel Pollack's run for some transgender representation.

Don't really get why they have Cyborg at all. If they wanted a black fella there was Tempest, who appeared sporadically through the Morrison run and was a regular before it, although he's a bit boring in powers and doesn't fit the "damaged people" theme, I suppose.

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on February 07, 2019, 08:11:03 PM

I would assume the Cyborg in this is not as ridiculously over-powered as the one in the films?

Same character, but a different take, with a different actor and much lower budget. Think of him as a parallel universe version of the same guy.

The Culture Bunker · « **Reply #11 on:** February 07, 2019, 11:20:12 PM »

Quote from: Mister Six on February 07, 2019, 11:07:10 PM

Same character, but a different take, with a different actor and much lower budget. Think of him as a parallel universe version of the same guy.

I get that, just wondered whether he'd have the whole "able to scan the whole world in a matter of seconds" type power the film Cyborg did. Figured it would make the show a lot less interesting if he did.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth · « **Reply #12 on:** February 07, 2019, 11:22:16 PM »

Quote from: Alberon on February 07, 2019, 09:39:57 PM

Robotman is a mainstay of the group, so who should they have instead of Cyborg?

Flex Mentallo? Danny the Street?

Penny Crayon?

That reminds me: I once started working on a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen style comic, starring kids telly and comics characters from my youth. Penny Crayon was one of them, but she had the personality of Tracy Emin.

Small Man Big Horse · « **Reply #13 on:** February 07, 2019, 11:31:48 PM »

Quote from: Alberon on February 07, 2019, 09:39:57 PM

Yeah, two cyborgs. That is a bit odd.

Robotman is a mainstay of the group, so who should they have instead of Cyborg?

Flex Mentallo? Danny the Street?

I know she wasn't a big part of Morrison's run but I was a big fan of Rhea Jones (aka Lodestone) and always wish Morrison had done more with her.

Mister Six · « **Reply #14 on:** February 08, 2019, 07:23:19 PM »

Trailer up now, with a glimpse of Mr Nobody (alas, nowhere near as demented-looking as in the comics).

Tone looks very light and quirky, and a bit childish "Is the printer your butt?"), which is surprising given that it span off the rather more teenage "fuck Batman" Titans... Will be interesting to see if they keep Crazy Jane's child abuse backstory.

https://youtu.be/6wtGnnLfTqA

Small Man Big Horse · « **Reply #15 on:** February 08, 2019, 08:01:16 PM »

Yeesh, that doesn't look good, I just hope it's a case of whoever put it together did a shitty job.

Edit: Just watched that Titans episode they're in, have to say I'm not impressed at all and I hope the series itself is nothing like it. I mean, The Chief could walk which was all kinds of wrong, I know they sorted that out but it still seemed like a strange decision. The whole Elasti-girl thing was pleasingly weird but otherwise there wasn't that much to like about it, Larry's too normal (I much prefer the Rebis version of the character anyway) and the way Cliff talks just seemed off to me. Thank god they recast The Chief at least, the version in this was terrible.

Re: What I said about Rhea above, interestingly imdb lists her as appearing in one episode.

Mister Six · « **Reply #16 on:** February 14, 2019, 09:49:51 PM »

There's now an "extended trailer" that looks far weightier than the one we saw before. It also tells just a leeeetle bit too much about every character's backstory, to the point that about half the pilot is going to be redundant if you watch it. You have been warned: https://youtu.be/6tTM9nbRk5A

Was the talking beetle thing in the comics? Don't remember him.

Small Man Big Horse · « **Reply #17 on:** February 15, 2019, 01:38:27 PM »

It airs today but I'm not sure at what time as it's one of those newfangled streaming sites, but I have been refreshing RarBg in the hope it'll pop up soon, I know I'm going to be disappointed but I still can't wait to see it.

Small Man Big Horse · « **Reply #18 on:** February 15, 2019, 04:01:10 PM »

It's now available, I'll report back soon as to whether it's any good or not.

Mister Six · « **Reply #19 on:** February 15, 2019, 04:45:55 PM »

Ooh, I'll take a look too when I can. Ta SMBH.

Small Man Big Horse · « **Reply #20 on:** February 15, 2019, 05:02:34 PM »

I really liked it. It's not quite Morrison's run on the series but then it never was going to be, but it's a hell of a lot better than that Titans episode they featured in. Dalton is fantastic and I'm so glad they recast him as The Chief, Adam Tudyk provides some fun mocking narration, the origin stories are told relatively quickly and in an interesting way and the humour isn't as on the nose as the trailer suggested,

There's a couple of things I'm not sure how I feel about, they change Cliff's origin story slightly, the negative man effect isn't how I pictured it, and it perhaps takes a bit long to get to the really fun bit, but otherwise it's pretty strong. It does have some female nudity, and a lot of swearing, so it's definitely aimed at an adult audience, but it's not embarrassing in the way "Fuck Batman" was in the Titans fortunately. So yeah, I'm pretty impressed, and will definitely be watching it next week.

Mister Six · « **Reply #21 on:** February 17, 2019, 02:20:33 AM »

I thought this was pretty good! Wish I had episode two with me right now. If you watched the extended trailer then you'll guess most of it, but it's still an entertaining ride, with a nice balance of wackiness and dramatic heft. Bit odd how all the main cast are apparently ageless though. Makes sense with Cliff, Larry and Rita... Less so with Niles and Crazy Jane.

I wasn't that bothered about most of the changes to the characters and their origins - they seem to have good dramatic potential - but like you, SMBH, I was a bit surprised by the Negative Being's appearance. I much preferred the crazy, crackling Kirby-dot silhouette of the comics, but maybe they thought it looked too similar to Mr Nobody. Wondering if they're going to make ageless Niles Caulder a Nazi scientist too, which would be pretty ballsy.

One thing - was Niles driving the bus when he and Mr Nobody were talking? It looked like they were, but maybe it was some odd camera-wobbling.

Hope we get Danny the Street at some point.

Alberon · « **Reply #22 on:** February 17, 2019, 11:38:35 AM »

Quote from: Mister Six on February 17, 2019, 02:20:33 AM

One thing - was Niles driving the bus when he and Mr Nobody were talking? It looked like they were, but maybe it was some odd camera-wobbling.

I think you can see some outside lights that suggest the bus is stationary and the wobbling is just down to the ground tremors before the white hole appears.

In general a much stronger episode than Titans' first. The 'special appearance by Timothy Dalton' credit could just be some negotiated term by his agent, but it might mean he's not in the whole series. Now that the cast introductions have been made hopefully the weirdness factor can be ramped up.

Looking good so far though.

Mister Six · « **Reply #23 on:** February 17, 2019, 04:30:37 PM »

Given how much he's been featured in promo materials I'd be surprised if Dalton wasn't a regular - although I suppose the bus and the possibility of reuniting Larry and Cliff with their kids does open up a road movie type storyline that Caulder probably wouldn't go along with.

One thing that did disappoint me a bit was the nudity and awarding. It's not as egregious as Titans', but it does still seem a bit adolescent and Torchwoody. None of it seemed particularly necessary (although Cliff's sex scenes did seem appropriately grotty).

Small Man Big Horse · « **Reply #24 on:** February 22, 2019, 11:27:52 PM »

Man I'm loving this a lot. I thought Cyborg was going to be a bit shit but once they entered the ass it became a huge amount of fun. Really liked all the Crazy Jane stuff, and Alan Tudyk's contributions are a delight as well. I have a few minor quibbles but the positives outweigh the negatives by a great amount, and it's a far better show than I expected it to be.

Mister Six · « **Reply #25 on:** March 02, 2019, 03:02:48 AM »

Just watched the second episode and am also really enjoying it. Clearly someone has been playing The Stanley Parable, because Mr Nobody's "museum tour" was cribbing from there for sure. I hope the donkey wasn't a replacement for The Painting that Ate Paris, and wonder whether Mr Nobody's being reimagined as some kind of art-themed villain. Although I suppose Morrison's Mr Nobody took his queues from dada, didn't he? In any case, Tudyk is loads of fun.

Plot-wise, the old "heroes trapped in their own dreams/nightmares" trope is a bit worn-out, but they sensibly kept it to a minimum, and did some good work fleshing out Cyborg and giving Rita an intriguing dark and mysterious past. I do hope that they're just easing the audience into the weirdness and that things will become a little less conventional, threat-wise, from here.

Still, this is a seriously good intro to the series, and I very much look forward to finding out what lies ahead.

Small Man Big Horse · « **Reply #26 on:** March 02, 2019, 04:39:52 PM »

I still enjoyed the third episode but it was the weakest episode yet, if only because the first half dragged a bit, Larry's antics in the past were a bit drab and I didn't get much out of Rita and Cyborg hanging out. Thankfully the final twenty five minutes were packed with madness, all of the stuff in Paraguay was a huge amount of fun, and the pay off to Larry's tale was surprisingly affecting. And that final scene, well, that had me grinning an enormous amount.

Mister Six · « **Reply #27 on:** March 05, 2019, 03:37:06 AM »

I wish more people were watching this, because it's so much fun. Really great balance of proper emotion and cartoony OTT-ness, just like Morrison's run, but with a sensibly accessible mainstream tilt.

Anyway, yeah - great fun, although Larry remains probably the least interesting of the protagonists and Rita the most irritating. Love that Jane is coming into her own, though, and they've done a really good job at making Cyborg feel essential, given that he wasn't a big part of the original Doom Patrol runs and his schtick runs dangerously close to both Larry and Cliff's.

Was the chap at the end Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man?

Still hoping for an appearance by Danny the Street by season's end. And The Beard Hunter. Don't reckon we'll get Flex Mentallo, but that would be a thing wouldn't it?

Mister Six · « **Reply #28 on:** March 05, 2019, 03:40:41 AM »

Just thinking - is the theme of this show shitty parenting? There's Cliff, obviously. Larry was probably a decent dad, but not doing his home situation any good (for understandable reasons).

Rita has something involving a baby in her backstory, judging by that second episode. Jane in the comics was sexually abused by her dad, and I imagine they'll keep that even if they're leaning towards evil scientists giving her alters their powers*.

Cyborg's dad is a creepy control freak. And Niles is a father-figure to the team, but has a mildly nefarious air about him.

* In the comic the powers were granted by the Gene Bomb, from the Invasion crossover. Obviously they can't use that here.

Mister Six · « **Reply #29 on:** March 06, 2019, 04:20:49 AM »

God, this thread is just going to be me talking to myself, occasionally punctuated by SMBH's reviews, isn't it?

Anyway, John Constantine analogue Willoughby Kipling is in next week's episode, played by Mark Sheppard, because it's apparently illegal to make a genre show without him these days. Trailer here: https://youtu.be/tPfoo8TG_qA

I love this show. It's replaced Chibnall's grimly mediocre Doctor Who as the one series I'm really enthusiastic about week-to-week. Which probably means it's going to get cancelled.

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Author Topic: Doom Patrol (Read 3049 times)