I watched the Reeves superman series as a kid here in the mid 1970's. I was always put off and distracted by how old it looked and how shaky the storytelling was even then. Has Superman ever been done well in any medium? I liked the first Chris Reeve film.
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What was the last TV show you watched?
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Most Superman fans I know consider the Fleischer Studios' Superman cartoons from 1941-1943 to be the best translation of the character from page to screen. They're also responsible for Superman's ability to fly. Superman could only jump extreme distances in the comic books (hence the "able to leap tall buildings in a single bound" line), but the Fleischer brothers thought that looked silly when animated so they requested, and were granted, permission to make him fly instead. If you haven't seen them yet, I'd like to hear your opinions after you have. The stories are a little watered-down to make it easier for children to understand them, but the animation is top notch for the era.
I really enjoyed watching Adventures of Superman when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, but watching them as an adult many years later I found several episodes lacking in various ways. Still, I much prefer them over the Donner-era Superman movies which, except for Christopher Reeve's performance, I thought were complete rubbish.
What I like about the first Superman flim with Reeve (although its far from perfect) is the wonderful, glowing sense of Americana. There's the quintessential American, stirring Aaron Copland inspired score by John Williams; the lyrical, small-town bucolic images of Smallville; the sense of awe in superpowers growing and the awesome responsibility of having such powers. I have always seen Superman as essentially an American fable. For someone who admires the creativity and the energy of your country and its use of power for good and positive influence, this sometimes haunting film has always captured something of that sense of America for me.
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Final 2 episodes season 2 of "The Crown"
"The Crown" is the TV show equivalent of a fatal attraction - you know it's wrong, you know it isn't good for you, but it's so attractive, so pleasing that you keep coming back anyway.
The show's fast and loose playing with the facts just jumbles up the real history in your mind - I've fact check the show and it isn't encouraging, so now some corners of British history are less, not more, clear in my mind because of "The Crown." Also, some characters are so inconsistent that you have no idea which version will show up in any scene - which usually undermines one's interests in them and the show overall.
But "The Crown" overcomes all of this by, one, looking gorgeous (sets, period details, atmosphere, location shots are all seductively beautiful) and, two, the one-on-one dialogue, even from the inconsistent characters, is so intense, so personal, so powerful that you forget the character's randomness and, instead, are enticed by the sheer allure of the moment.
So on we watch, knowing that it makes a hash of history and doesn't respect its own characters - but fatally drawn into its beauty and manipulative emotional pull. There must be a support group for this somewhere.
"The Crown" is the TV show equivalent of a fatal attraction - you know it's wrong, you know it isn't good for you, but it's so attractive, so pleasing that you keep coming back anyway.
The show's fast and loose playing with the facts just jumbles up the real history in your mind - I've fact check the show and it isn't encouraging, so now some corners of British history are less, not more, clear in my mind because of "The Crown." Also, some characters are so inconsistent that you have no idea which version will show up in any scene - which usually undermines one's interests in them and the show overall.
But "The Crown" overcomes all of this by, one, looking gorgeous (sets, period details, atmosphere, location shots are all seductively beautiful) and, two, the one-on-one dialogue, even from the inconsistent characters, is so intense, so personal, so powerful that you forget the character's randomness and, instead, are enticed by the sheer allure of the moment.
So on we watch, knowing that it makes a hash of history and doesn't respect its own characters - but fatally drawn into its beauty and manipulative emotional pull. There must be a support group for this somewhere.
Doctor Strange
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There's no question that the Fleischer Superman cartoons are masterpieces - I've owned some in every collecting medium since 1972: Super 8 film, 16mm film, VHS, DVD. But I'm sorry, I have to take issue with their being the "best translation". They represent a very embryonic version of the character, who'd only been in existence for three years when the series started. As Alex said, they actually created some of the standard Superman mythos in these films, rather than the comics... which as Lizzie pointed out, was even more true of the long-running radio show. To get to Seb's point about the heartland Americana of the 1978 film that we now consider central to the character, at the time of the cartoons, nobody had even thought up the kindly farm couple the Kents yet, he is just "taken to an orphanage".
As I said here the other day, the Fleischer Supermans are simply the best short theatrical dramatic cartoons ever made. They have dazzling art deco designs, exciting action, great music, innovative effects animation, and represent the pinnacle of the Flesicher studio's technique. But they have paper-thin characters and pretty much all follow the same formulaic plot structure.
This was, of course, fine when the way that you saw them was three or four a year, months apart, and then never saw them again. Like most products of the pre-cable/home video era, they were never expected to stand up to repeat viewings and freeze-frame study. They're great for what they are, and I love them wholeheartedly.
But most of the adaptations that have come along since are better in terms of adapting the character to their respective media. The Reeves series, the first two Reeve films, the outstanding animated Superman: TAS and Justice League... even Lois and Clark and Smallville have brought something interesting. (Not so much with Superman Returns or Man of Steel and its followers, IMHO.)
Seb... did you know that those touching Kent farm scenes in Superman: The Movie were actually shot in Canada?
As I said here the other day, the Fleischer Supermans are simply the best short theatrical dramatic cartoons ever made. They have dazzling art deco designs, exciting action, great music, innovative effects animation, and represent the pinnacle of the Flesicher studio's technique. But they have paper-thin characters and pretty much all follow the same formulaic plot structure.
This was, of course, fine when the way that you saw them was three or four a year, months apart, and then never saw them again. Like most products of the pre-cable/home video era, they were never expected to stand up to repeat viewings and freeze-frame study. They're great for what they are, and I love them wholeheartedly.
But most of the adaptations that have come along since are better in terms of adapting the character to their respective media. The Reeves series, the first two Reeve films, the outstanding animated Superman: TAS and Justice League... even Lois and Clark and Smallville have brought something interesting. (Not so much with Superman Returns or Man of Steel and its followers, IMHO.)
Seb... did you know that those touching Kent farm scenes in Superman: The Movie were actually shot in Canada?
LizzieMaine
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About the "heartland" aspects of Superman, the Doc is exactly right. That was no part of the original Siegel-and-Shuster Superman -- there were no details about Superman's boyhood at all other than that the Kents were an "elderly couple" named John and Mary Kent, who found him, took him to an orphanage, and then adopted him. The next you heard of them was that "the passing of his foster parents greatly grieved Clark Kent" and led to his determination to put his special abilities to use. The original Superman appeared to be a two-fisted urban figure from start to finish with nothing of the corn-fed farm boy about him. I would not be surprised if the Kents of this era of the character had actually anglicized their name from Kentowicz.
The whole Smallville mythos had to wait until the introduction of the concept of Superboy in 1945 -- but even then, Superboy seemed to exist outside the regular continuity of the character until the 1950s. Even then the whole "farm boy" concept wasn't really a thing -- in the comics, Jonathan Kent ran a grocery store in town, and the teenage Clark could be found working behind the counter with an apron on after school, having more in common with Dobie Gillis than Li'l Abner.
Every generation seems to have its own version of Superman -- the original Siegel and Shuster version was the perfect Superman for the Popular Front era: a hard-fighting, hard-boiled Slavic-looking character who went after wife-beaters, lynch mobs, and parasitical businessmen with equal zeal. Later on you got the Wonder Bread Boy Scout Superman who always stood up for Constituted Authority and wouldn't have ever considered throwing a munitions manufacturer out a window. And in the sick-of-everything Seventies and smile-till-it-hurts Eighties you got the Morning-In-America Farm Boy Superman of the Reeve movies.
I don't know what you'd call the Superman you get today, except that like all the others he's an avatar of the times he lives in.
The whole Smallville mythos had to wait until the introduction of the concept of Superboy in 1945 -- but even then, Superboy seemed to exist outside the regular continuity of the character until the 1950s. Even then the whole "farm boy" concept wasn't really a thing -- in the comics, Jonathan Kent ran a grocery store in town, and the teenage Clark could be found working behind the counter with an apron on after school, having more in common with Dobie Gillis than Li'l Abner.
Every generation seems to have its own version of Superman -- the original Siegel and Shuster version was the perfect Superman for the Popular Front era: a hard-fighting, hard-boiled Slavic-looking character who went after wife-beaters, lynch mobs, and parasitical businessmen with equal zeal. Later on you got the Wonder Bread Boy Scout Superman who always stood up for Constituted Authority and wouldn't have ever considered throwing a munitions manufacturer out a window. And in the sick-of-everything Seventies and smile-till-it-hurts Eighties you got the Morning-In-America Farm Boy Superman of the Reeve movies.
I don't know what you'd call the Superman you get today, except that like all the others he's an avatar of the times he lives in.
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Like most early comic book characters, Superman was created by urbanites, the sons of Jewish immigrants. They didn't know from the heartland. It's the same with the Fleischer "New York school" animators vs. Disney/Warners/etc. - they were mostly Jewish and Italian kids from the Lower East Side. Fleischer films (at least before the studio relocated to Florida in the late 30s) are set in scuzzy cityscapes with eccentric, ugly characters. "West coast school" cartoons from Disney, et.al. are typically set in colorful barnyards among farm animals.
It was baked into the character that Superman was an alien "other" passing as a WASP. As one of the characters in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay says, "Only a Jew would call himself Clark Kent."
It was baked into the character that Superman was an alien "other" passing as a WASP. As one of the characters in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay says, "Only a Jew would call himself Clark Kent."
LizzieMaine
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That sensibility literally leaps from the page in the earliest Superman stories -- to the point where Jerry Siegel got a direct attack from Goebbels in a Nazi propaganda magazine, an attack he wore proudly for the rest of his life.
AmateisGal
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More Season 3 episodes of The Wire. I always tell myself I'll only watch one episode and it always ends up being at least two, if not three or four!
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Could not agree more.
Could not agree more. And it's unfortunate because, if they had reasonably creative stories and characters, these would be some of the best shorts ever made and classics that could transcend the animation world.
I had to live in NYC for several years to understand just how insanely funny that comment is.
Worf
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"Hellsing Ultimate" - A complete retelling of the Anime series from 2006. All the pesky questions about who was attacking England and the Hellsing organization were answered. All the threads tied up neatly in a nice package. Bloody and profane but what's not to like about Nazi Vampires and modern armored Knight's Templar duking it out in the streets of London. What a wild ride.
Worf
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It wouldn't matter of they were shot in Croatia. The small town scenes are so pastoral and you can feel a palpably sense of yearning for home and belonging in them.
Ernest P Shackleton
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Atlanta. FX series. This show has really come into its own. It's not always hit, but it's always worth watching. This past episode with the piano situation was one of the strangest, interesting episodes of any TV I've seen in a while. It wasn't necessarily the idea. The execution was excellent. Robbin' Season indeed.
Benzadmiral
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"The End Game," the final Season One episode of The Fugitive from spring 1964. Exciting, as almost all the episodes featuring Barry Morse's Lt. Gerard have been. Here, Gerard is spearheading the Kimble manhunt in a small city, and soon Kimble is trapped within an 8-square-block area while Gerard and the local police begin searching house to house. But Kimble has stumbled into an unusual menage: two middle-aged bachelors, played by John McGiver and John Fiedler, former business partners who live together and carp and growl at each other like an old married couple. While McGiver is determined to hold Kimble until the police show up, Fiedler is not at all certain Kimble should have been convicted -- and Kimble realizes he may be able to play them against each other. Good performances by all, with appearances by Joseph Campanella and the young Christopher Connelly, later to play Ryan O'Neal's brother on Peyton Place.
One Gerard moment is important. A hot-dog vendor has set up shop in the carnival-like atmosphere of the police cordon and manhunt. Gerard braces him and tells him to close up shop. When the vendor protests, Gerard says icily, "A man is fighting for his life in there. Close it up!" Hardly the reaction of an inhuman, trap-the-quarry-at-all-costs detective, now is it? Despite his grim exterior, it's clear Gerard sees Kimble as human and worthy of a certain amount of dignity.
One Gerard moment is important. A hot-dog vendor has set up shop in the carnival-like atmosphere of the police cordon and manhunt. Gerard braces him and tells him to close up shop. When the vendor protests, Gerard says icily, "A man is fighting for his life in there. Close it up!" Hardly the reaction of an inhuman, trap-the-quarry-at-all-costs detective, now is it? Despite his grim exterior, it's clear Gerard sees Kimble as human and worthy of a certain amount of dignity.
Ernest P Shackleton
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I can't believe I missed the premiere of AMC's new series, The Terror. I can't wait to catch up. I adore those old maritime settings. And it appears to be receiving very good reviews. Can't refuse a chance to watch Jared Harris either (Lane Pryce, Mad Men).
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What a fantastic actor and what a great character he played on "Mad Men." Possibly the best insider compliment he got on the show was a scene when Don and Roger are debating whether to hire Lane into their new firm with Roger saying Lane is, effectively, just an expensive accountant. Don, without missing a beat (and I'm paraphrasing from memory), says "can you do what he does?" Basically, he's valuable in a way you and I aren't - and because of Jared Harris low-key but impactful development of the character, you believed it.
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That's a great scene, a great line, and a great example of how writing is practically everything. A simple question to answer so much about a role in a situation.
AmateisGal
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Finished Season 3 of The Wire and now starting on Season 4. I kind of miss Stringer Bell, though! (Played by Idris Elba).
Julian Shellhammer
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The last two episodes of season four of Doctor Blake Mysteries. These were on the dvd rental from the Netflix. We're waiting for season five to show up on streaming. Disclaimer: we were frustrated by Lucien's wiffle-waffle when Mei Lin showed up. When it's good, it's an enjoyable whodunnit with good twists. Even when it's weak, it's still a fun late-1950s-to-very-early-1960s detective show.
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Sunday was a lazy, don't want to go out, don't want to do anything day at the FFs, so we read a little in the morning, ate whatever was in the fridge, surfed the web and, then, turned on the TV to see that we had five or so episodes of "X Company" recorded.
The show is about a small group of WWII British secret agents, trained at and controlled from X Company in Canada and sent to France to help the Resistance. We really want to like the show, but the writing, stories, plotting and dialogue are all too-obvious / too-simple. It reminds me of a lot of a wash-rinse-repeat shows from the '70s where, each week, you knew what you were getting - who the good and bad guys were from the start, almost never missed a clue and basically had seen every episode after you'd seen a few.
What works in "X Company" are the beautiful period details - clothes, cars, architecture (especially the architecture) - that are Fedora Lounge heaven. We were so lazy Sunday, that we watched all five episodes by all but tuning out the plots / dialogue and just soaking in the atmosphere. It was the perfect melding of lazy Sunday and wonderful period visuals, but I can't recommend the show and might not watch another episode.
The show is about a small group of WWII British secret agents, trained at and controlled from X Company in Canada and sent to France to help the Resistance. We really want to like the show, but the writing, stories, plotting and dialogue are all too-obvious / too-simple. It reminds me of a lot of a wash-rinse-repeat shows from the '70s where, each week, you knew what you were getting - who the good and bad guys were from the start, almost never missed a clue and basically had seen every episode after you'd seen a few.
What works in "X Company" are the beautiful period details - clothes, cars, architecture (especially the architecture) - that are Fedora Lounge heaven. We were so lazy Sunday, that we watched all five episodes by all but tuning out the plots / dialogue and just soaking in the atmosphere. It was the perfect melding of lazy Sunday and wonderful period visuals, but I can't recommend the show and might not watch another episode.
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