So there’s a new Batman cartoon, showing on Amazon Prime instead of Max for reasons that I’m sure make sense to Warner Brothers (I’m guessing $$$). Regardless of its streaming home, the series is a lot of fun, moody and exciting and well-acted.
In this age of Too Much TV, it’s nice that series have scaled back their season lengths, and Batman Caped Crusader‘s first (and hopefully not last) season runs a tight ten episodes.
It’s a period piece, set in the 1940s-ish, and as a result sometimes the cityscapes don’t look all that much different from those in the 1990s Batman: The Animated Series, with its “timeless” retro-setting with occasional modern tech. Producer Bruce Timm was involved with both iterations, so there are some “DC Animated Universe” house style similarities, but Caped Crusader is a little more free with a variety of ethnicities and body shapes.
Batman himself resembles the earliest incarnations of the character, all grey and back with smaller black gloves. Alfred isn’t the familiar slim interpretation but rather the plus-size version from the Golden Age. However, characters from comics published in later years appear in the cast, such as Barbara Gordon (first appearing in the 1960s), Harvey Bullock (the ’70s) and Flass (the ’80s).
Interestingly, at least in the earlier episodes (I’ve only watched the first eight thus far) Batman’s attitude toward Alfred is…not quite the familial one we know. It’s more “master to servant,” Batman being more blunt with his commands and referring to Alfred by his last name “Pennyworth.” There is a moment in one episode where Alfred appears down for the count, and Batman, believing him to be dead or nearly so, declares “I can’t do this without you!” Whether that’s out of love for the person who was essentially his surrogate father, or or a more practical “I need you for my crimefighting support team!” is at least a little ambiguous.
There is a throughline in these episodes that appears to be leading to the introduction of a major Batman villain. Not the Joker, who thankfully hasn’t shown up in the episodes I’ve seen (despite a related character doing so). The Joker, like the Daleks in Doctor Who, can very easily overstay his welcome, though I feel this cartoon might give us an interesting interpretation of him. Depends on how interesting a job they do on the villain they are going to present at the end of the season. Presumably. Haven’t seen that episode yet.
Anyway, it’s a good program, slightly edgier than its Bat-cartoon predecessors. Not like the animated Harley Quinn-levels, but the language is just a tad saltier. Worth a watch, and at only ten half-hour episodes, it won’t take too much time for you to get through…says the guy who hasn’t watched the last two episodes yet.
So in response to my ponderings about why the I Dream of Jeannie comic only ran two issues and why special attention seemed to be paid to Barbara Eden’s likeness, reader RAR unpacked the following:
“Mark Evanier has addressed this topic a few times. Basically, the publisher would send the comic to the relevant studio for approval, and sometimes the studio would send the comic to the individual actors (or their representatives) for their approval, and sometimes those actors (or, more likely, their representatives) would get very particular about how they were depicted.”
Additionally, RAR mentions a specific example, brought up by Mr. Evanier, that Forrest Tucker was being particular about his likeness in the F-Troop comic, resulting in a photostat of an approved drawing used repeatedly. Which sounds similar to something I’ve heard about the Kyle Baker-illustrated Dick Tracy comics from Disney, tying into the Warren Beatty movie, where Beatty only approved certain drawings of his face to be used in the books. (And by the way, the War Rocket Ajax boys looked at the series recently…it’s a good comic!)
I did some searching on Mr. Evanier’s site, using a variety of search terms (if Mr. Evanier reads this, I apologize for the weird inputs) and couldn’t track down any stories related to this. I even checked through his three paperback collections of columns from the Comic Buyers’ Guide and no dice. I totally admit that I may have missed it, and Mr. Evanier is a very prolific writer and only some of his writing is represented on his website and in his books. It certainly seems like something he would have written about!
EDIT: It’s been pointed out in the comments that Mr. Evanier commented on that F-Troop post with information that backs up RAR above, which I somehow missed. Sigh.
However, in doing an internet search, I did find some discussion of the likeness issues in both F Troop and I Dream of Jeannie, presented on another blog well over a decade ago. This entry here shows how they dealt with the Approved Forrest Tucker likeness in storytelling. And this entry about I Dream of Jeannie focuses on the repeated use of a specific Larry Hagman likeness, which I somehow missed in my brief glances through the copies I had. The writer also mentions some repeated usage of a Barbara Eden likeness, but notes the artist put a little more effort into actually drawing the character.
Sean asks if that was Tony Tallarico on the art chores for I Dream of Jeannie. Apparently the answer is no…the Grand Comics Database entry gives a name with a “?” after it, with an additional note that it’s unlikely this person was the artist (based on information from the previously-linked blogger) so the credit remains unknown.
At any rate, the mystery remains as to why only two issues. Again, I presume sales weren’t great, the usual reason comics don’t continue.
• • •
Hey, you may have heard a little something about Robert Downey Jr. being cast as Doctor Doom for a couple of forthcoming and presumably hastily-rewritten Avengers movies. “What’s up with that?” you may be asking. I mean, beyond the “look we got RDJ back, please start watching our movies again” flopsweat of it all. Well, my pal Kurt devoted an episode of his podcast, Welcome to Geektown, discussing the connection between Iron Man and Doctor Doom, and lays out a reasonable theory as to how they’ll be using Doom in the movies. It’s a short podcast, and worth a listen!
So a few weeks back, I had a small collection come into the shop (that shop being Sterling Silver Comics, located in beautiful midtown Camarillo, CA, near the post office, the fire station, the Chinese restaurant, and the poolhall), which contained a variety of books from various time periods and equally various contiitions. Amongst this motley crew was a copy of I Dream of Jeannie #1, published by Dell Comics in 1965:
Now, I haven’t had one of these in my possession for quite some time, so it was nice to see it again. That’s one of the more fun photo covers for Dell/Gold Key’s many TV and movie adaptations.
Well, one week later I was surprised to find, in another collection from an entirely different person, the second issue of this series:
Clearly it’s in…slightly lesser condition than the first issue, but just by pure chance, from two different collections, I have somehow acquired the full run of the original I Dream of Jeannie series!
Yes, “full run,” as there were only ever two issues produced, the first cover-dated April 1965, and he second December 1965.
Given that the TV series ran for five seasons, and lived on in reruns for decades, I was surprised there were only ever the two issues. (Another company would release a few new comics based on the property in the early 2000s.) I figure the reason was likely money…wasn’t selling enough copies to make either the licensee or the licensor happy. The length of time between issues gave them enough time to gauge sales, I’d imagine, and the second issue’s performance may have killed interest in trying a third.
Another possibility was that the final product didn’t make the rights owners happy and they pulled out. It’s happened before…the comic book based on the Sequest DSV TV show got canned after one issue when star Roy Scheider objected to its content. I have no real reason to suspect that was the case, but the oddly detailed likeness for Barbara Eden throughout the book (compared to other characters) hints to me that someone was paying very close attention to what has happening here:
So maybe there was some extra interference from the studio making sure Jeannie was up to snuff. I mean, I have no idea, I’m just recklessly speculating here…maybe just the comic’s editor was insisting on it, knowing what was going to sell the book. Or the cartoonist working harder on Eden’s likeness vs. everyone else’s. Regardless, her face doesn’t always seem to match the rest of the art.
At any rate, here it is, a full run of I Dream of Jeannie. Had it in my shop for about a week…and yes, it’s already sold. To the same person, so the series remains intact!
I am still in “low content mode” here on the site for at least the next couple of days. Last week it was birthdays and family stuff, this week it’s medical stuff, which is a lousy birthday present. Anyway, I’m hoping to be back up to speed by Friday, but don’t be surprised if I go ahead and just start afresh on the following Monday.
At any rate, I’m going to, cough, “borrow” a topic from the esteemed Mark Evanier, who recently featured “Unsold Pilot Week” on his site. Now one of the pilots he featured particularly intrigued me, a 1967 attempt at a live-action Dick Tracy.
As Mr. Evanier notes, it was from some of the folks what brought you the 1960s Batman. show, which you’ll definitely get from factors such as the set design, the opening credit animation (which I liked, despite the most awful theme music), the “spinning hat” scene transition device, and so on. I ended up later watching it via the YouTube app on my Roku, and thought it was…interesting, and a slight shame we didn’t get more.
But when I later returned to my YouTube app to check out the latest capybara videos, I saw yet another unsold pilot in my suggested videos. And it was one that Mr. Evanier hadn’t featured, and I think the Unsold Pilot Week is over by now, so, hoping I don’t step on any toes, here’s the mid-1960s pilot for Archie, based on those very comics.
(Sorry, I’d embed it, but whoever uploaded the video has disabled sharing it in that way.)
Did I watch the whole thing? Sure I did! I think overall it did feel very…Archie-ish, with situations just outlandish enough to feel like they jumped off the comics page. I particularly enjoy the interaction between Archie and Mr. Weatherbee. It really is a shame this hadn’t gone to series. I can’t imagine how long it would have gone, as the probably 20-year-olds playing the kids would have likely become a little long in the tooth in short order.
Anyway, it was a fun watch, and if you’ve got a half an hour to spare, maybe give it a go.
Okay, I have a brief break from those early morning appointments for the week (though they’ll be back in action next week…ugh) so I’ll try to do a little catching up!
In my post about the “variant” for Amazing Spider-Man #194 (the first Black Cat), Joe replied
“Thank goodness it apparently wasn’t a yellow variant [Saturday Night Live] destroyed this weekend.”
And then Joe links to this video of the sketch in question, where the premise is an ’80s kids TV show is working out the kinks on how to “slime” the performers. [NOTE: uses a derogatory term as part of the running bit about how the ’80s were more…lax about such things.]
Yup, as far as I can tell, that’s a gen-you-whine Amazing Spider-Man #194. I’m going to post a couple of screen shots in case that video goes away:
And here’s as good a close-up as I can manage. COMPUTER, ENHANCE
As Joe asserts, it doesn’t appear to be a yellow-stripe edition, so the SNL crew only destroyed a $600 comic, not an $800 one.
Now I tried to catch the show in an anachronism, so I checked some dates. The comic was released in April of 1979, according to the Grand Comic Database. The Wikipedia page for the television show being parodied here, You Can’t Do That on Television, says the show started in February of 1979, and that “slime” was a thing there from the get-go. As such, I guess the timeline works out.
I wonder if the SNL crew knew exactly what comic they were getting…I’m presuming they were seeking out a period comic to fit the setting for the sketch. It surprises me that they singled out this particular issues, instead of some other easier-to-obtain comic from the same time. Especially since right now Spider-Man comics are red hot in the back issue market, in particular notable issues like the first appearance of the Black Cat.
I don’t think there were any “facsimile” editions for this issue, which is Marvel’ s direct reprints of some of their older, occasionally classic, comics. If there were, the cover would look the same, save for a different cover price and…the UPC code, sometimes? Anyway, there was one of those $1 “True Believers” reprints of this issue, but that had a big, bright yellow banner across the top of the front cover, which is definitely not present in the original.
Or it could be a mock-up of a #194, with the cover for that issue printed out somewhere and then glued over the face of a more recent, and much less expensive, issue. A long time ago, at the previous place of employment, we helped out a local theater production that wanted a spinner rack of period comics as a stage prop. We took a number of 1950s comics we had in stock, made color copies of the front covers, pasted them on bargain box comics (probably cheap stuff like Incredible Hulk #271) and there we had it. It doesn’t appear that’s what they did on SNL, but thought I’d made note of the possibility.
For what it’s worth, that does appear to be the actual back cover of the comic:
…so they would have copied the back cover, too, if this was a paste-up, or found another comic with the same back.
Or they just happened across a really beat-up copy of that #194 and got it cheap. Who knows? Well, they do over there on that TV show, I guess. Anyway, ignore all that speculation above because I’m sure no one was going to go through that much trouble to construct a prop comic when it was much easier just to spend TV money and buy one. Frankly, I’m surprised they bothered, but I guess someone over there didn’t want to hear about it from dorks like me if they used a 2022 Spidey in a sketch set decades ago. On the other hand, SNL has historically been on top of things when it comes to comics, so I guess I can’t be too shocked.
[EDIT: Joe returns to inform me that he found a TikTok video where someone with a better resolution video than what I’ve got determined it was a paste-up job…apparently over Thor #461. So please ignore most of my post!]
[Also, Googling shows that I’m two weeks late on this particular story. Oh well, What Can You Do?]
What would have been a little funnier, I think, is if the Saturday Night Live sketch had used a copy of this comic instead:
It’s only a little older than the comic they actually used…and much less expensive, I bet!
Sorry for the extended interruption…one of the downsides of being at the shop all week, if that’s not a downside in its own right, is that many other chores and miscellaneous life stuff have to be done around that particular responsibility, which, depending on the activity, means “at night, after work.” Usually I can balance my free blogging time with whatever other responsibilities I have, but this time we had a lot of stuff that needed to be done in a short time frame, so my nights have been otherwise occupied.
Now I think the current state of emergency is over, though some follow-up is possible. But, in the meantime, I think the site will be back on whatever passes for its regular schedule. Thanks for sticking around, pals.
So what exactly have I been doing relaxation and fun over the last couple of weeks, when I wasn’t doing the work I’d been doing? Why, watching the classic 1979-81 TV sci-fi adventure Buck Rogers in the 25th Century starring Gil Gerard, Erin Gray, and Mel Blanc, of course.
I happened to be flipping through the selections on the free streaming app Tubi and spotted both that show and the original Battlestar Galactica amongst its programming. I watched a little of BG, but I feel like I’ve seen plenty of BG in reruns and such over the decades. However, BR existed in my head mostly as vague memories from childhood, save for the opening narration and theme music which I’ve always quite liked:
(NOTE: that’s the second season opener, with a different narrator. Music’s still good, though.)
It’s perfectly affable fun, which I’d been tweeting about lately. Buck as a “man-out-of-time” is mostly restricted to his using modern informal English and idioms that 25th century people don’t grok. But there are lots of fun guest-stars (Frank Gorshin! Markie Post! Peter Graves! Buster Crabbe! Cesar Romero! HENRY FREAKIN’ SILVA!) and completely misleading lurid titles (“Planet of the Slave Girls,” starring Jack Palance) and all the gals are squeezed into unforgiving spandex (and at least one gal in an outfit so revealing I caught an extra checking her out briefly)…it’s all so much of its time, but still a lot of fun to watch. Lots of shots set in modern factories and at least one parking garage, it looked like, but you know, that’s all fine.
And look, I haven’t even watched the episodes with Gary Coleman yet. How can those not be great?
I know many special effects, sound effects, and even props were shared between this show and Battlestar Galactica (hello, same control stick in Galactica‘s Vipers showing up in the Buck Rogers ships) which, again, whatever. But I’ll tell you, the control stick thing bothered me back then, and it still bothers me now. Unless they were leading up to the eventual Buck Rogers/Battlestar Galactica crossover, in which case all is forgiven.
So I’m only partway into the first season, and I know Hawk is awaiting me in Season 2 (I actually remember the Starlog cover he was on far more clearly than anything in the show itself). Thus, no spoilers, please.
Well, coming as a surprise to pretty much nobody, the DC Universe streaming service is going comics-only starting next year. The name is changing to “DC Universe Infinite,” though not so infinite that it’ll continue supporting Amazon devices, Roku, XBox, or Apple TV. Which is a shame, as I liked reading comics on my big-screen television, and I suppose there are some clunky workarounds, but it’s not the same.
The DCU original TV shows are moving over to the still-not-competitively-priced-for-the-streaming-market HBO Max, with announcements of new seasons for Doom Patrol and Harley Quinn, and the previously-announced new season of Young Justice. The press release also says “key DC classics” will also make the move, so I don’t know if that means all of the Batman animated series, the ’90s Flash, or the remastered ’70s Shazam! will pop up there or not. And I imagine that DC Daily archive of episodes isn’t going to make the transition, but I suppose a number of those will live on over at YouTube.
“Yes yes yes, but what does this all mean for you, Michael Ricardo Anatoly Sterling?” I can hear you all desperately asking. Well, my initial reaction was to go ahead and click the “cancel subscription” button DC Universe helpfully provided in its email to me informing me of this coming change. And I thought long and hard about sighing heavily and subscribing to HBO Max.
But ultimately…I think I’m going to stay on. I do have an iPad which I primarily use only to read comics on DC Universe, which is how I read most of the Hitman run while waiting in the jury duty waiting room a while back. And currently I’m going through a bunch of Golden Age Superman stories. There’s plenty more on there I want to check out besides, so I think I can continue to get my money’s worth out of the service.
As to HBO Max…I understand there’s a commercial-supported free version coming, but I figure it’s going to have limited content like the free version of the Peacock streaming service (which only gives you partial seasons of programs, stuff like that). I’ll wait and see, and also wait if there’s going to be a price drop anytime soon. DC Universe hasn’t been shy about throwing discounted special offers, and I expect that’ll continue into the future, so I’ll just wait and see how all that shakes out over the next several months.
Worse comes to worse, I can just wait for the DVD/Blu-Ray releases of any of that new material showing up on the service and just borrow the discs from Netflix. Yes, I’m the guy still getting physical discs from Netflix, like a savage.
I will say DC going comics-only got me thinking about Marvel’s long-running online comics library, as I’d at least like to read all the Hulks that came out before ’83 (when I started reading the thing) but I I’m going to hold on that thought for the time being. Maybe once I get through the teetering stacks of books I already have waiting for me.
So, sorry to see DC Universe go, and I’m at least willing to try out the new iteration of the service. I mean, look, they have to add the Silver Age Metal Men to the service eventually.
…that although the entire cast is perfect in their respective roles and deserve all the accolades they get for their performances, it’s Brendan Fraser’s voicing of Cliff “Robotman” Steele that most sticks the landing for me. That hilarious “I can’t believe this shit!” tone in his voice is amazing, as well as the handling of the more serious moments, is the ideal match for the character. That’s what I’m going to hear whenever I read Robotman in a comic book from this point forward. (And one should note the person actually in the robot suit get-up, Riley Shanahan.)
When the series was first announced for the DC Universe streaming service, I admit I had some skepticism as to how they would handle the character. I thought for sure they’d come up with some in-story reason to not actually show Robotman as Robotman as a cost-cutting measure, like having the Chief give him some kind of hologram disguise so that Cliff could just look like a normal human most of the time. Save those Robotman moments for a couple minutes at the end of each episode, that sort of thing. But kudos to the makers ofthe show…they promised us Robotman, and by God they gave us Robotman. (There have been a couple of instances where Fraser appears as the human Cliff, both in flashbacks and in certain present-day events, but it never feels like it’s for budgetary reasons. In fact, I’d imagine it probably costs more to have Mr. Fraser on set.)
Anyway, Doom Patrol is an excellent show, and I’m glad it’s getting further exposure by being simul-streamed on HBO Max (though I’m sure that’s just one of the many signs that the DC Universe service is probably not long for this world, at least in its current form).
So in response to my brief description of the original 1990s Swamp Thing TV show, Brian wondered:
“‘Off-putting’ how? I have never seen this show, but have always been curious about it. Thanks!”
You’re welcome!
I thought about this question a lot over the weekend, actually. Mostly along the lines of “why did I say it was off-putting?” And to be completely frank, I couldn’t really put my finger on it. It had been years since I’ve seen episodes of the series, after all (even with the DVD sets…more on that in a moment), so I couldn’t remember any specific examples. Maybe I was conflating Swamp Thing with other late ’80s/early ’90s direct-to-syndication series that, to my mind, haven’t really aged well in my memory (and perhaps in reality)?
Well, there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there? BUST OUT THE SWAMP THING TV SHOW DVD SETS.
A couple of confessions here…last time I noted that I had the full run of the series on DVD. I was mistaken. I have “Volume 1″ (containing seasons 1 and 2” and “Volume 2” (containing the first 26 episodies of Season 3). Yes, there were some broadcast shenanigans apparently, resulting in what amounted to a very long third season. I don’t know, don’t ask me. But the end result was that, I dutifully bought those first two sets and never did get around to getting that last set. I seem to remember thinking “ugh I haven’t even watched these first two sets, I’ll get that third one eventually, I’m sure it’ll always be available for cheap.”
And yup, soon as I realized, like, this weekend, “oh yeah that third set, I need to get it” and tried to look it up, of course it’s out of print and not available. Not even on eBay, where out-of-print items go to get listed at stupid prices. Thus have I fallen down on my job as Swamp Thing Fan, but I imagine I’ll get a copy of this Volume 3 someday. On the other hand, when searching for that third set, I did see the DVD collection of the cartoon was being offered by multiple sellers for about $60 a pop. Take it from me, kids…don’t pay $60 for this. It was barely worth the…what, ten bucks I paid?
Okay, second confession…I think I’ve barely watched these discs. I did watch the special features (interviews with Swampy’s cocreator Len Wein and Swamp Thing himself, Dick Durock), and a handful of episodes, but I don’t think I ever made the commitment to watch them all straight through. I did watch some, and I certainly watched episodes of it when it was on actual broadcast TV, with commericals and everything, like some kind of savage, so I have experienced the show. But it’s been so long since the show was originally on the air, and probably a good decade or so since sampling these discs…I honest don’t remember a whole lot about them.
I did recall a couple bits…the opening title sequence and narration (“DO NOT BRING YOUR EVIL HERE” and Swamp Thing’s obviously animted eyes at the end), and, what I think may have been the element (heh) of the show that gave me the impression of its off-puttedness: Swamp Thing’s voice. It was modulated or altered somehow, giving it this odd almost metallic sound which seemed out of place given the nature-oriented being Swampy was supposed to be. Kinda like autotuning, only without the pretense of attempting to be musical. Points I guess for trying to do something different, given that in the Return of Swamp Thing film it seemed like they did literally nothing to the character’s voice, but the sound grates just a little.
My other memory of those show is that they did their level best to avoid showing the actor, the previously noted Mr. Durock, in the full Swamp Thing get-up. I had a specific recollection of someone talking to Swampy while all you could see is his head poking up over some shrubbery or whatever. And to be fair, in the two episodes I sampled on Sunday (season two’s “Birth Mark” and season three’s “Night of the Dying”) Swamp Thing did indeed show up in full regalia when necessary. Now it could be I’ll see some time/cost saving measures of our hero standing behind walls and stuff and only showing his head in other episodes, but we’ll see, assuming I keep watching these.
And, you know, I might. The episodes I watched…weren’t the greatest TV shows I’ve ever seen, but they were pleasant enough. It’s kind of nice to watch a superhero-based live action adventure show that’s only a half-hour long (AKA about 20 minutes without the commercials) so we’re in and out of the story quickly enough before you start thinking things like “this is kind of dumb” or “enough of all these ordinary people gabbing, when’s Swamp Thing showin’ up?”
One of the episodes, “Birth Marks,” introduced “Abigail,” played by an as-I-recall-embarrassed-by-it-later Kari Wuhrer, and of course Swamp Thing aficionados know, characters named “Abby” are of some importance in the Swamp Thing mythos. I haven’t watched enough of, or recall enough of, the show to know if there’s any similarity to the comic character beyond the name, but she does have mysterious psychic powers, recalling those issues of the first Swamp Thing comic book series where Abby Arcane evidenced some strange abilities of her own.
Also, the first credited actor in the show is Mark Lindsay Chapman, who plays “Dr. Anton Arcane,” and as I recall, in addition to the episodes I just watched over the weekend, he’s the main bad guy in pretty much every installment. Basically, he’s the star of the show, it looks like, which is fine because he’s a fun bad guy. There’s also a passing reference to Jason Woodrue in “Birth Marks,” so I’m looking forward to see how they deal with him. I’m guessing not a weird alien plant dude?
Continuity appears to be light, but not nonexistent. As I said, “Birth Marks” refers back to Woodrue, and “Night of the Dying” flashes back to a previous episode. From what little I’ve seen, there’s a light attempt at keeping things connected but not in an overt soap-opera style parade of subplots and character development that became the going style once it became progressively easier for people to watch TV without having to sit in front of the box when the show was on (and without having to program a VCR).
So Brian…I may have jumped the gun a little calling this “off-putting.” I mean, I can get used to the voice, and the Swamp Thing’s costume is…clunky, but I can deal. I enjoyed Swamp Thing as a prime example of a kind of TV adventure program that was very much of its time. Not deep, but fun, and I’ll try to watch more and finally get my money’s worth out of these two sets. And look forward to paying too much for that third set.
JohnJ wrote, in response to my post about the final Swamp Thing episode:
“…After I recently watched the 11-episodes of Titans I am curious whether Swamp Thing also dropped as many ‘f-bombs’ as Titans did. I didn’t count them but there were soooo many. More than 50, less than 100 I would guess. Enough that it was painfully obvious what somebody thinks ‘mature’ means and from every character.
I’ve watched the first episode of Doom Patrol and don’t remember the language being that salty.”
Well, there were a few choice uses of that particular vulgarity throughout Swamp Thing‘s run, but relatively few and far between. In fact, it was a surprise whenever one would drop.
Not like in Titans, where, hoo boy, they weren’t shy about their pottymouths. The sheer incongruity between what our perception of what the Teen Titans has always been versus what the TV show presented probably made the that particular swear stand out…oh, and the fact that they used it like a million times, that helped too.
It just felt somewhat tonally inappropriate, whereas in Doom Patrol, where our favorite f-bomb was used with a significant amount of frequency and enthusiasm, it seemed, well, natural. Probably from a comic fan perspective of knowing that Doom Patrol spent time under the Verigo banner, therefore swearing, and just from the general feeling that this show is “different” and all that usage of Carlin’s Seven Words is just another example of how this superhero show is different from other superhero shows.
Oh, and then there’s the fact that Doom Patrol is genuinely funny. The enbtire attitude of the program is “hi, we’re super weird and we totally don’t give a shit” perhaps makes all the swearing just, well, part of the fun. Whereas on Titans, the swearing just comes across as “look how edgy and adult we are” and it can feel like it’s just trying to hard to convince the viewer that this is all serious business, that’s why Robin has to say “fuck.”
Look, not to say I didn’t like Titans. I thought it was fine, enjoyable superhero nonsense. Still don’t get that portrayal of Dove…though she and Hawk look perfect, but like I’ve said before, if Dove is supposed to be non-violent like in the comics, they must be grading on a scale compared to everyone else in the show. And the show is super-violent, but at least it’s mostly nicely-shot, easy-to-follow violence that my eged eyes and brain can appreciate.
Anyway, last time I was talking about Swamp Thing I said I was going to try to go into specifics about what I thought went wrong with the show. And…well, beyond rushing the hell through Swamp Thing’s character evolution, I honestly don’t have much to complain about. The one really unnecessary element was likely the Dan Cassidy/Blue Devil stuff, which pains me to say, being a Blue Devil fan since that 16-page preview in that long-ago issue of Firestorm. Just…what did he add to the story, exactly? He saved Abby and Liz at one point, but that could have been handled another way without him. And he was a test subject for Woodrue’s medical shenanigans, I suppose, but aggain, no reason for that to have been specifically that character.
My thought was that they were going to be leading to a contract between Alec Holland being trapped in a body we was tortured by, versus Dan being trapped in Blue Devil’s body, and having a grand ol’ time while doing so. But clearly that’s not what happened, and the truncated nature of the series meant Dan getting his happy ending, free of the curse or whatever after waiting around for years to save Abby that one time, which clearly wasn’t the intended resolution for that arc but that’s what we got. Oh well.
Anyway, I suppose my main complaint was “not enough Swamp Thing doing Swamp Thing stuff,” but that’s generally my complaint about every TV show and movie. It’s the main reason I never watched Friends.
