DarrenJSeeley
06-16-2005, 09:48 PM
Out of curiousity, I decided to check out the story over at Kryptonsite/Gotham Clock Tower, in regards to the shot down proposal for the "Bruce Wayne" tv show, and to my dismay, this coverage seems to be *very* fanboy approved. Heck, even AICN Harry Knowles got behind it.
On the plus side, this insult never happened, but they came close, and it is touted as something great that didn't happen.
Uh-huh. The producers moved on to "Birds Of Prey" which I watched ten minutes of one episode and then I cried uncle. The concept of Batman leaving Gotham/fleeing The Joker and having a child with Catwoman who grows up to be Huntress was just too much- and people still wonder why the show got cancelled after a handful of episodes.
But back to the proposed Bruce Wayne. I'm going to post some of the "ideas" for the pilot that Never Happened and then comment on them, as I feel there should be some sort of rebuttal, that not every Bat-fan would have embraced this with open arms.
"Harvey Dent is Bruce Wayne's best friend. Harvey's a few years older; rich, spoiled, selfish, and bored. Harvey's studying corporate law, but his friendship with Bruce and the excitement therein might lead him to take a different route later in life. Harvey "has no shame," and is always trying to get Bruce to lighten up a bit.
In other words, Harvey Dent is to Bruce Wayne what Lex Luthor on Smallville is to Clark Kent. Lots of foreshadowing dialog (which I hate on Smallville) and this contradicts everything about Dent pre- Two-Face. In fact, Dent didn't study corporate law, but criminal law. By making Harvey 'selfish and spolied', they make a cliche of not only rich yuppie kids, but also what motivates Harve in criminal law. It could be argued that in the course of a few years, Dent will less become a party boy and get serious, but that does not fit in with 'have no shame'.
"Bruce has a number of interests in the show's first season, including the Gotham City Youth Shelter. Barbara Gordon hangs out there, but another woman who runs the shelter really catches Bruce's eye. She is Susan Dent, the very attractive sister of Harvey, and of course, with it being the WB, love interest for young Bruce Wayne. Also vying for Bruce's attention is a young TV gossip reporter named Vicky Vale, and a psychology student named Harleen Quinzel may also be in Bruce's future...
I'll nitpick with Harleen first, since the character was held over and retooled in Prey. Quick question which I already know the answer and you do too: from where did this character originate? A well done Batman cartoon from the mid to late 90's? Naw, you're kidding me.
Moving on:
Barb Gordon. About the same age as Bruce, eh? Gotcha.
Vicky Vale turned 'young TV gossip reporter'. eh? Ouch.
Wayne dates the "spoiled party boy best friend's sister" to boot.
But here's where the series bible gets way off base:
"A few other folks from Batman's future make their way through. There's the mysterious "consultant" Selena Kyle, a would-be comedian (described as "Sam Kinison but angrier") named Jack Napier, and a kid from Smallville, Kansas named Clark Kent. Bruce meets Clark as he is in town for a WayneCorp sponsored conference of high school journalists. Bruce dismisses Clark at first as a nice kid from the sticks, but then he starts to realize there's something odd about this farm boy."
Okay, That paragraph is what made me shudder. Let's get to the Superman/Smallville crap first. To many comics fans, this might be ultra cool, a unofficial World's Finest moment, but on the other hand, neither one is Batman or Superman yet, so the point is...what? Was this the alleged "Smallville" crossover spinoff that was talked about a year and a half ago, and an attempt to get the BW off the ground again. As noted, by this time, "Begins" was announced, so the young BW series went nowhere. But..wait...what was that before the hint of Clark Kent appearance?
Jack Napier?! Am I reading that right? And the fanbase liked this?
On the front of the page, Kryptnsite/Watchtower addresses the series "as reinventing Batman for the 21st century".
Uh-huh. :evil: :evil:
"Towards the end of the first season, Bruce would find a large cavern underneath Wayne Manor. He and Alfred bring in Polish workers in blacked-out planes and buses to set up what ultimately becomes the Bat Cave. (What, you thought he built it all himself?)"
Uh, no, I never asked, and I guess the new film answers the question, if it was asked, far more better, and the BW proposal has serious flaws, specifically a contracted group of Polish workers would figure out that young Wayne is up to something. Besides, it is, techically, a cave.
From "What Happened" page:
"The script was pure beauty," we were told. "The characters were all dead-on, but better. More fully realized and modernized than they had ever been before. The opening tease... an unidentified young man kicking the sh*t out of a jail cell full of street thugs, only to reveal Alfred at the end of it....could it possibly get better than that?"
Um...yes. You can't possibly say the characters are dead-on, with all these 'updated characters' go around. In addition, KS/GW imply that after the success of the X-Men film, Warners film division wanted a new Batman film and were considering Year One or Batman Beyond...thus the proposed TV idea was DOA.
Oh, those nasty SOBs at Warners. If the BW timeline is correct (1999) that would be two years after "Batman & Robin" where the franchise was still freshly tainted and the "Triumphant" script, which allegedy had Scarecrow and (gasp) Harly Quinn, had been vetoed.
The success of X-Men (2000) had zip to do with the new Bat projects; Warnner's simply wanted to start the film series anew. Besides, the "fan base" was far more interested in "Year One" than a TV idea which, again, until the Smallville connection, nobody heard about that much. Why?
Because the entire Bruce Wayne TV series concept was lame, and, like "Birds Of Prey" took extreme liberties with the source material. But grab the hankies, you know...
finally...
"...Birds didn't catch on as well as Smallville did or Bruce Wayne would have done"
Would have? Hindsight is 20/20.
Let's recap: the Bruce Wayne series would have re-imagined Batman, Harvey Dent, Alfred, Selina Kyle, Barbra Gordon, Vicky Vale and have ties to a character originaing from the cartoon and a character which was invented for the Tim Burton film to be the alter ego of Joker. Not to mention that character is re-imagined as well.
Would fans be intrested? Yes. Would they like to have seen the characters handled this way? No. If that were so, "Birds" would still be on the air. The Bruce Wayne series was a good pitch; but with all the baggage, it would be a retooled mess. Again, why wasn't this series mentioned when WB even considered the "Superman vs Batman" film- which was a hair away from happening?
Kryptonsite/Watchtower encourages fans to see the new Batman film. That's great. What should be also said is how it is handled more properly.
-D.
On the plus side, this insult never happened, but they came close, and it is touted as something great that didn't happen.
Uh-huh. The producers moved on to "Birds Of Prey" which I watched ten minutes of one episode and then I cried uncle. The concept of Batman leaving Gotham/fleeing The Joker and having a child with Catwoman who grows up to be Huntress was just too much- and people still wonder why the show got cancelled after a handful of episodes.
But back to the proposed Bruce Wayne. I'm going to post some of the "ideas" for the pilot that Never Happened and then comment on them, as I feel there should be some sort of rebuttal, that not every Bat-fan would have embraced this with open arms.
"Harvey Dent is Bruce Wayne's best friend. Harvey's a few years older; rich, spoiled, selfish, and bored. Harvey's studying corporate law, but his friendship with Bruce and the excitement therein might lead him to take a different route later in life. Harvey "has no shame," and is always trying to get Bruce to lighten up a bit.
In other words, Harvey Dent is to Bruce Wayne what Lex Luthor on Smallville is to Clark Kent. Lots of foreshadowing dialog (which I hate on Smallville) and this contradicts everything about Dent pre- Two-Face. In fact, Dent didn't study corporate law, but criminal law. By making Harvey 'selfish and spolied', they make a cliche of not only rich yuppie kids, but also what motivates Harve in criminal law. It could be argued that in the course of a few years, Dent will less become a party boy and get serious, but that does not fit in with 'have no shame'.
"Bruce has a number of interests in the show's first season, including the Gotham City Youth Shelter. Barbara Gordon hangs out there, but another woman who runs the shelter really catches Bruce's eye. She is Susan Dent, the very attractive sister of Harvey, and of course, with it being the WB, love interest for young Bruce Wayne. Also vying for Bruce's attention is a young TV gossip reporter named Vicky Vale, and a psychology student named Harleen Quinzel may also be in Bruce's future...
I'll nitpick with Harleen first, since the character was held over and retooled in Prey. Quick question which I already know the answer and you do too: from where did this character originate? A well done Batman cartoon from the mid to late 90's? Naw, you're kidding me.
Moving on:
Barb Gordon. About the same age as Bruce, eh? Gotcha.
Vicky Vale turned 'young TV gossip reporter'. eh? Ouch.
Wayne dates the "spoiled party boy best friend's sister" to boot.
But here's where the series bible gets way off base:
"A few other folks from Batman's future make their way through. There's the mysterious "consultant" Selena Kyle, a would-be comedian (described as "Sam Kinison but angrier") named Jack Napier, and a kid from Smallville, Kansas named Clark Kent. Bruce meets Clark as he is in town for a WayneCorp sponsored conference of high school journalists. Bruce dismisses Clark at first as a nice kid from the sticks, but then he starts to realize there's something odd about this farm boy."
Okay, That paragraph is what made me shudder. Let's get to the Superman/Smallville crap first. To many comics fans, this might be ultra cool, a unofficial World's Finest moment, but on the other hand, neither one is Batman or Superman yet, so the point is...what? Was this the alleged "Smallville" crossover spinoff that was talked about a year and a half ago, and an attempt to get the BW off the ground again. As noted, by this time, "Begins" was announced, so the young BW series went nowhere. But..wait...what was that before the hint of Clark Kent appearance?
Jack Napier?! Am I reading that right? And the fanbase liked this?
On the front of the page, Kryptnsite/Watchtower addresses the series "as reinventing Batman for the 21st century".
Uh-huh. :evil: :evil:
"Towards the end of the first season, Bruce would find a large cavern underneath Wayne Manor. He and Alfred bring in Polish workers in blacked-out planes and buses to set up what ultimately becomes the Bat Cave. (What, you thought he built it all himself?)"
Uh, no, I never asked, and I guess the new film answers the question, if it was asked, far more better, and the BW proposal has serious flaws, specifically a contracted group of Polish workers would figure out that young Wayne is up to something. Besides, it is, techically, a cave.
From "What Happened" page:
"The script was pure beauty," we were told. "The characters were all dead-on, but better. More fully realized and modernized than they had ever been before. The opening tease... an unidentified young man kicking the sh*t out of a jail cell full of street thugs, only to reveal Alfred at the end of it....could it possibly get better than that?"
Um...yes. You can't possibly say the characters are dead-on, with all these 'updated characters' go around. In addition, KS/GW imply that after the success of the X-Men film, Warners film division wanted a new Batman film and were considering Year One or Batman Beyond...thus the proposed TV idea was DOA.
Oh, those nasty SOBs at Warners. If the BW timeline is correct (1999) that would be two years after "Batman & Robin" where the franchise was still freshly tainted and the "Triumphant" script, which allegedy had Scarecrow and (gasp) Harly Quinn, had been vetoed.
The success of X-Men (2000) had zip to do with the new Bat projects; Warnner's simply wanted to start the film series anew. Besides, the "fan base" was far more interested in "Year One" than a TV idea which, again, until the Smallville connection, nobody heard about that much. Why?
Because the entire Bruce Wayne TV series concept was lame, and, like "Birds Of Prey" took extreme liberties with the source material. But grab the hankies, you know...
finally...
"...Birds didn't catch on as well as Smallville did or Bruce Wayne would have done"
Would have? Hindsight is 20/20.
Let's recap: the Bruce Wayne series would have re-imagined Batman, Harvey Dent, Alfred, Selina Kyle, Barbra Gordon, Vicky Vale and have ties to a character originaing from the cartoon and a character which was invented for the Tim Burton film to be the alter ego of Joker. Not to mention that character is re-imagined as well.
Would fans be intrested? Yes. Would they like to have seen the characters handled this way? No. If that were so, "Birds" would still be on the air. The Bruce Wayne series was a good pitch; but with all the baggage, it would be a retooled mess. Again, why wasn't this series mentioned when WB even considered the "Superman vs Batman" film- which was a hair away from happening?
Kryptonsite/Watchtower encourages fans to see the new Batman film. That's great. What should be also said is how it is handled more properly.
-D.