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Doom Patrol

Started by Alberon, February 07, 2019, 06:10:34 PM

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Ant Farm Keyboard

The jigsaw puzzle is apparently something from the comics. I didn't want to read too much about it, as I don't want the next episodes to be spoiled.
Otherwise, it was a great Rita episode, with some welcome character development and explanation about her behaviour.

The Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man scene was delightful.

Mister Six

Mrs Six is getting Doom Patrol withdrawal pretty bad. On Saturday morning she's asking when the next episode is. Poor girl.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Mister Six on March 25, 2019, 07:41:29 PM
Mrs Six is getting Doom Patrol withdrawal pretty bad. On Saturday morning she's asking when the next episode is. Poor girl.
I showed the characters and give the basic premise of them all to my other half, she said "it doesn't sound like my thing".

She's also pretty squeamish around violence and blood on TV, so there is that too.

Mister Six

Not had a chance to watch the latest one yet, but DANNY THE STREET IS UP NEXT WEEK!

QuoteDoom Patrol 1x08 "Danny Patrol" Season 1 Episode 8 Promo - A sentient, gender-queer, teleporting street named Danny who's being hunted by the secret Bureau of Normalcy needs help from Niles – but gets Vic and Larry instead.

Gender-queer! Danny's moving with the times.

Ant Farm Keyboard


Mister Six

Quote from: Ant Farm Keyboard on March 30, 2019, 04:21:28 PM
Flex Mentallo confirmed.

https://www.cbr.com/flex-mentallo-doom-patrol-dc-universe/

God knows if they're going to have anything left for season two, but I'd rather they go all in than drip-feed it.

Anyway, "Therapy Patrol" was a tremendous episode, and a testament to how well developed both the characters and their world are that they can do a deep delve on all of them, resolve (or at least address) some of their issues, and still have plenty more mystery and intrigue to work with.

I was worried that this "breather" episode might be both inessential and boring, and - when it began - that the overlapping character vignettes might be a desperate way to jazz up a dull story. But each one was entertaining in its own way and substantially moved on each character's emotional story and relationships - and the payoff with that final title card was glorious.

Really can't get over how well-written this show is, considering how shite Titans was, and how obscure the source material can be.  It's a masterclass in adaptation, softening just enough to hit a wider audience without losing what made the original special.

Povidone

Going to do a rare chime in on this thread as I too am fucking loving this show and feel it needs some recognition. Plugging it to anyone that'll listen at this point.

Just caught up with the latest episode, I was enjoying it as a a chance to expand on all the characters, the stuff they are doing with both Negative Man and Elasti-Girl is the most compelling and genuinely affecting for me though all the characters have their moments and nobody feels superfluous or underused. The reveal at the end elevated it to something truly special though. Mr Nobody is a brilliant villain, utilised perfectly within the structure of the show.

I haven't read any of the comics but will absolutely be getting on that as soon as I can afford it. I know it's the Grant Morrison run that they're taking most of the inspiration from. Is there a collected edition out there that any comic heads would recommend reading?

Alberon

Me three on the ending segment. This is such a step up from Titans and loving it all. I never dreamed a Doom Patrol TV series could be done so well.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Povidone on April 03, 2019, 09:49:04 PM
I haven't read any of the comics but will absolutely be getting on that as soon as I can afford it. I know it's the Grant Morrison run that they're taking most of the inspiration from. Is there a collected edition out there that any comic heads would recommend reading?

There is a hardback omnibus which collects all 43 issues of his run but it's pretty pricey at around £60 on Ebay / Amazon, or there are six trade paperbacks but they cost even more in total. Hopefully the critical success of the tv series will lead DC to release a paperback version of the omnibus, but that's by no means guaranteed and would probably still be fairly expensive.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on April 03, 2019, 11:27:54 PM
There is a hardback omnibus which collects all 43 issues of his run but it's pretty pricey at around £60 on Ebay / Amazon, or there are six trade paperbacks but they cost even more in total. Hopefully the critical success of the tv series will lead DC to release a paperback version of the omnibus, but that's by no means guaranteed and would probably still be fairly expensive.
I picked up the second and third of those paperbacks for about £4 each in Oxfam a few years back. Bargain!

Mister Six

Quote from: Povidone on April 03, 2019, 09:49:04 PM
I haven't read any of the comics but will absolutely be getting on that as soon as I can afford it. I know it's the Grant Morrison run that they're taking most of the inspiration from. Is there a collected edition out there that any comic heads would recommend reading?

Good news! It's actually a lot easier than SMBH makes it sound: all of Grant Morrison's run (including specials, some editorials, sketchbooks, forewords etc, but not the Flex Mentallo miniseries, which has its own collection) has in the past few years been collected in three jumbo, untitled editions:

Doom Patrol Book One
Doom Patrol Book Two
Doom Patrol Book Three

There's also the Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery book that collects the four-issue miniseries that span off out of Morrison's Doom Patrol, although it kind of exists in its own little world... that character turns up in book two. Not essential if you're just interested in Doom Patrol, and maybe a bit abstruse if you're unfamiliar with comics in general as it's kind of a meta-commentary on comics as they were in the 1990s.

Finally, there's a collection of the first issues by Rachel Pollack, who took over after Morrison left; we're still waiting on a fifth to cap off the comic.

Doom Patrol Book Four

Just to complicate things, however, there's also the single-volume omnibus mentioned by SMBH above (which isn't particularly pleasant to read, I think, due to its size) and six earlier, named volumes that collect the same issues as books one, two and three. You don't have to bother with these if you can find the larger books though:

Doom Patrol Vol. 1: Crawling from the Wreckage
Doom Patrol Vol. 2: The Painting that Ate Paris
Doom Patrol Vol. 3: Down Paradise Way
Doom Patrol Vol. 4: Musclebound
Doom Patrol Vol. 5: Magic Bus
Doom Patrol Vol. 6: Planet Love


You should be able to get/order them all (except maybe the omnibus) from your local library if you're skint. A small word of warning though: the TV series looks to Morrison's comics for their tone and many of their characters (Crazy Jane, Mr Nobody, Willoughby Kipling and Danny the Street being the most notable), but mixes in characters and situations from across all of Doom Patrol history. So when you read Morrison's books you won't get everything that's in the show (by the time Morrison starts, for example, Rita Farr isn't around any more).

Also, a lot of the more affecting emotional moments were basically created for the series, so you might find Morrison's comic more aloof and stranger than the show. It's still great, though, just in a different way to what you've seen so far. And there are a few emotional gutpunches in there too.

One last note: Morrison actually took over the comic with issue 19 of a 1980s reboot (the original having started in the 1960s) so his first issue kind of starts in media res. Just roll with it.

Povidone

Crikey! Looks like there's plenty to check out, cheers for all the advice.

Mister Six

Basically you only need to worry about three books for now h Doom Patrol Books One, Two and Three. You can ignore the rest till you're done with them.

arpster

Best show currently on TV for me...immensely enjoyable from the opening credits to the closing theme

Ant Farm Keyboard

"Danny Patrol" is definitely a winner.

Danny the Street (even if there could have been a few more Dannyzens)

Karen, the totally not Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

A musical number.

The Bureau of Normalcy.

A glimpse of the Underground.


Small Man Big Horse

I loved it too, it's a shame Darren Jones didn't end up in the way he did in the comics but otherwise it was a delight, and I hope we haven't seen the last of Danny The Street. I presume next week will be Jane heavy and explore the underground, but I do hope we see more of Mr Nobody and the Chief soon just because I like the characters so much.

Mister Six

Right, I'm going to be a miserable cunt and say I thought that was probably the weakest episode so far, even more so than Cult Patrol. I mean it was still a lot of fun, because I don't think this show is really capable of being awful, but it had that CW superhero feel of having a lot of characters standing around talking to save cash, then a minor dust-up at the end. Having one of those characters silently "speaking" on cheap-looking LED screens didn't help.

But the real problem was the pedestrian direction. Between 90s romcom wannabe Karen and the adventures of/on Danny the Street, this really ought to have been a flamboyant stand-out. And yet, even a big song-and-dance number with drag queens and one of the best-loolong humans on the world just looked leaden and charmless. Fucking Glee used to do this every week; Doom Patrol, with its superior budget and resources can't manage a two-minute routine?

And while I can understand them wanting to tone down Darren Jones if he's going to be a recurring part of Larry's grim backstory, surely they could have still used the ending from the comic or something a bit more interesting than a punch-up to defeat him? I'm not clear why that's supposed to dissuade him or his men (or the agency he works for) given that they are supposed to be "zealots".

Sorry, I'm a big ball of negativity tonight. I did like much of this episode - especially April Bowlby, who is absolutely the MVP this week - but the standard is so high, and Danny such a favourite of mine, that to see them stumble like this bums me out.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Mister Six on April 06, 2019, 07:12:53 AM
Right, I'm going to be a miserable cunt and say I thought that was probably the weakest episode so far, even more so than Cult Patrol. I mean it was still a lot of fun, because I don't think this show is really capable of being awful, but it had that CW superhero feel of having a lot of characters standing around talking to save cash, then a minor dust-up at the end. Having one of those characters silently "speaking" on cheap-looking LED screens didn't help.

But the real problem was the pedestrian direction. Between 90s romcom wannabe Karen and the adventures of/on Danny the Street, this really ought to have been a flamboyant stand-out. And yet, even a big song-and-dance number with drag queens and one of the best-loolong humans on the world just looked leaden and charmless. Fucking Glee used to do this every week; Doom Patrol, with its superior budget and resources can't manage a two-minute routine?

And while I can understand them wanting to tone down Darren Jones if he's going to be a recurring part of Larry's grim backstory, surely they could have still used the ending from the comic or something a bit more interesting than a punch-up to defeat him? I'm not clear why that's supposed to dissuade him or his men (or the agency he works for) given that they are supposed to be "zealots".

Sorry, I'm a big ball of negativity tonight. I did like much of this episode - especially April Bowlby, who is absolutely the MVP this week - but the standard is so high, and Danny such a favourite of mine, that to see them stumble like this bums me out.

I didn't mind the direction but a bit more flare would have been nice it's true, especially in the big song and dance number. But you're definitely right when it comes to Darren Jones, I reread those issues earlier today and had forgotten just how mental they are, and I'd loved to have seen his deranged home life shown, that would have given us a much better feel for how dangerous he was. And being defeated in a shitty fight was weak too, I only hope they bring the character back and rectify the situation.

Mister Six

I can see why they didn't want to make him as fucking mental as he was in the comic, given that they seem to be angling him as a recurring antagonist, and with the Jane stuff also in the episode it might have clashed a bit to have a romcom parody and a sitcom parody.

Still, there's no excuse for making him so bland and unthreatening, nor so easily defeated. Shame they didn't borrow something from the comic and have Jones all done up in drag, then take photos of him and blackmail him into leaving Danny alone. That would at least have given him a reason to not chase Danny any more but still be a threat to the Patrol.

Anyway, with the Ant Farm confirmed after mention in episode one, could Flex Mentallo and his attempt to turn the Pentagon into a circle be too far behind?

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Mister Six on April 06, 2019, 11:12:21 PM
Anyway, with the Ant Farm confirmed after mention in episode one, could Flex Mentallo and his attempt to turn the Pentagon into a circle be too far behind?

Hopefully they'll save him for season two, if only so the rest of the season can feature more of Mr Nobody and The Chief, with only five episodes to go it's about time they made more of the former being a real threat to the world.

I thought this was another strong episode even though I knew what was going to happen, and I'm sure it'd have even more of an impact to those who weren't already aware of the story. But fuck me, Penny Farthing's accent was embarrassingly poor, I wish they'd got a better actress for that role, and the voice for Black Annis was a bit OTT as well, though at least she looked pretty disturbing.

Mister Six

I think that might have been the best episode yet, although the oppressive gloominess - while totally fitting - got to be a bit much by the end (they're lightening the tone considerably next week with The Beard Hunter, which is good, as we've been on a bit of a downer for about three weeks now).

Guerrero continues to knock it out of the park, and the direction of this episode was perhaps the best since the pilot. Nice to see Fraser getting to have some fun in-person again, a properly affecting story, and some great FX - much prefer this take on Daddy to the comic's one.

My only small quibble is that some of the names of the new personalities lack Morrison's verve - but perhaps they're actually Morrison's names and I've forgotten.

Ant Farm Keyboard

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on April 13, 2019, 07:38:32 PMBut fuck me, Penny Farthing's accent was embarrassingly poor, I wish they'd got a better actress for that role.

Isn't it the point or sort of? The personalities are a creation of Kay's imagination, and some of them are supposed to be stereotypical, like the English street urchin.

Anyway, there will be a return to the Underground before the end of the season.

Mister Six

Quote from: Ant Farm Keyboard on April 14, 2019, 01:35:04 AM
Isn't it the point or sort of? The personalities are a creation of Kay's imagination, and some of them are supposed to be stereotypical, like the English street urchin.

Yeah, Penny is an American teen's idea of an English person (though I don't think her accent was that bad).

Alberon

There could be a big problem in the relatively new DC Universe streaming service. Or it could just be a problem with the third new series launching soon.

It's been reported that Swamp Thing, which will follow Doom Patrol in May, has had production abruptly halted after ten episodes and the last episode will be hastily rewritten to end the season rather than produce the final three episodes as originally planned.

Now this could be because the studio isn't happy with the Swamp Thing show, or it could be that the subscription service, which is fairly niche, is not getting the subscription numbers. What happens with Titans, Doom Patrol and the upcoming Stargirl is unclear.

QuoteThe news of this quick change of plans is not welcomed by members of the cast and crew, as actress Virginia Madsen took to social media to explain, "I'm beyond sad. What a terrible decision. We have been cut to the core by those who have never set foot into the Swamp."

https://theplaylist.net/dc-universe-streaming-swamp-thing-20190417/

FAKE EDIT: As I was writing the above the article added an update.

QuoteSources close to the service have told us that the move to shorten the season of "Swamp Thing" was for creative decisions and is unrelated to the future of DC Universe. We were also told that people are pleased with the performance of DC Universe and the streaming service is outpacing expectations.

So it may be just Swamp Thing that is fucked, not the DC Universe streaming service as a whole.

Small Man Big Horse

I'm hopeful it's just Swamp Thing, DC has started adding a fuck load of comics to the service which suggests they still plan to stick with it for a while. https://www.cbr.com/dc-universe-will-begin-adding-10000-comics-this-week/

Mister Six

Quote from: Alberon on April 17, 2019, 07:50:12 PM
So it may be just Swamp Thing that is fucked, not the DC Universe streaming service as a whole.

Yeah, I've thought this from the beginning. DC makes terrible creative decisions, but as a business entity it works - and everyone involved in setting up DC Universe knows that it's a loss leader. The point right now is to build buzz and awareness of the brand, and they won't expect it to turn a profit for at least a couple of years. That's why, IIRC, all of its shows have already been renewed for second seasons. Plus, Time Warner is building its own Disney+ streaming service, so it'll want all the original content it can get, especially niche stuff to appeal to as many markets as possible.

So this problem is almost certainly just Swamp Thing's, and given the state of Titans it'll be a problem with going massively overbudget rather than quality control issues. I'd expect it to be retooled with a new showrunner and brought back next year regardless.

(And if they can get permission they should bring in Matt Ryan's Constantine, do the American Gothic arc and then spin him off into his own revival.)

Small Man Big Horse

I loved all the Beard Hunter stuff, but Niles getting hot and heavy with the hairy woman wasn't that great, it had it's moments but a lot of it felt a little like filler, at least until Allistair turned up and we then got the interactions with Mr Nobody. Interesting to get confirmation on the existence of Flex Mentallo though, so I'm guessing he'll definitely turn up before the season's over with.

Mister Six

Yep, the Beard Hunter stuff was all golden - shame the scenes with just Cyborg and Rita fell so flat. They just don't have the conflicts or history for their relationship to pop, and the writer didn't find anything to fill that gap with.

Didn't mind the Niles stuff, but I was expecting him to take a heel turn and off the woman to get her eternal life powers or something, so was mildly annoyed that he didn't. The lack of closure for that storyline, and the way Beard Hunter was able to skip off (even if he apparently got some kind of comeuppance, although I do hope he comes back) made the episode feel very unfinished. Then again, it's clearly setting up some season arc stuff, and hopefully will feel a bit more cohesive down the line.

Flex has been confirmed, I think. Even if he wasn't, he's gotta be a shoe-in now. I'm guessing for the last three episodes (next week will by Cyborg pulling himself back together, the week after will be the team tracing Beard Hunter's last steps, so after that it's Flex vs the Ant Farm/Bureau of Normalcy, then a big fight at Mr Nobody's house).

A stray observation: interesting to note that Flex has escaped a cereal advert rather than a Charles Atlas parody. I'm guessing because Atlas sued DC over Mentallo originally and they don't want to tempt fate? Or perhaps it's just that the comics are so old-fashioned it would take effort to explain to the audience? I dunno, we'll see how they work it, but losing "The Insult that Made a Man Out of Mac" takes a ton of fun out of the character.

Also, a theory. A really plausible theory that could genuinely be a spoiler: I reckon "the girl" that Mr Nobody is looking for isn't the cavewoman, but the daughter she and Niles had. An apelike girl capable of summoning things from her mind, just like her mother... a girl named Dorothy Spinner! Yes, I reckon that what the Beard Hunter found down there was one of Dorothy's imaginary friends (the fake Niles). Presumably her mum's also there if the giant antler-wolf is knocking around too.

Ant Farm Keyboard

The episode's director, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, started out as an actress. She was for instance Gloria, the love interest in Black Dynamite.

Mister Six

I think that might have been the best episode so far. The revelation of what was going on in Larry's dreams was brilliant and affecting, and the last scene between him and John left me teary-eyed. Cliff's subplot was also affecting, and gave Rita a chance to show how much she'd grown over season too. It even won me back over on Jane and Cyborg, by dialling down Jane's grating attitude (she's too much like Hammerhead, although I know she has her reasons) and letting Cyborg open up a little bit.

The only downer for me was the continuing de-weirding of The Bureau of Normalcy. Those teleportation elbows were a poor replacement for the tears/Tearoom of Doom. Morrison sometimes went a bit far with the zaniness, but I thought Cult/Paw Patrol struck a good balance of his out-there ideas and more grounded character stuff. Would have been nice to see the same thing here. Oh well!

Oh, and still no Flex Mentallo! Stop teasing us, DP! And there better be some damn good casting, too...!