The assembled heroes are stunned to see Stan's transmission hijacked by the evil Dr. Dark on WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPER HERO?: Rollercoaster.
© SCIFI Channel
Mania Grade: C
Episode: Rollercoaster
Starring: Stan Lee
Produced By: Andy Sheer, Stan Lee
Episode: Rollercoaster
Starring: Stan Lee
Produced By: Andy Sheer, Stan Lee
WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPER HERO?: Rollercoaster
By: Stephen LackeyDate: Saturday, August 11, 2007
So, I’ve actually watched every episode leading up to this week. I’ve been planning to review the series for some time but for some reason things have been getting in the way (Uhh Comic Con?). It’s a shame that I ended up reviewing this episode because the biggest problem with it might only be noticeable to people who watch The Amazing Race, which I do. The big task this week was for the heroes to find colored flags with numbers that form combinations to several locks that are on a building hiding the Dr. Dark. To find those keys, the heroes have to break into teams of two. One member of each team must ride a rollercoaster over and over again looking for markers that reveal the colors the team has to retrieve from various tubes spread around a theme park. A task nearly identical to this was done in a previous season of The Amazing Race. Now with this concept, there shouldn’t be any problem coming up with ways to test these people. I think season two is way too early to start ripping off other series.
In a recent interview I did with Andy Sheer and Stan Lee, Stan clicked on a light bulb for me about this series. When I questioned the validity of someone like Hygena as a viable super hero, his response was that if they picked all characters that fit the traditional mold of “super hero” they wouldn’t have a diverse enough cast for a successful reality show. So, I had to temper my fanboy-ism with a little reality show consideration. So, really what I had to do was stop really caring who these super heroes are because face it, Hygena is just a dumb name with dumb powers, but she is someone you wouldn’t see in a typical comic book world so that should be what makes her compelling. Most reality shows are about a “fish out of water”. So, the heroes break into pairs and begin the task. With all the problems I have with the lame LARPing that many of these characters insist on doing every time a camera is pointed at them, I did see some heart from them here. A few of them really decided to face their fears with the rollercoaster and push beyond their boundaries. Also, others refused to cross that line, they are extremely afraid of riding what looked to be a sweet a@# rollercoaster and they weren’t willing to even try so they obviously don’t want to win. Now, I’m not saying the mission made the contestants better people but it did show that some of them are really taking this seriously and are trying move out of their comfort zones to succeed.
The results of the mission were very mixed. Ms. Limelight (What exactly is a “lime light” is that like Diet Sprite?) was extremely scared of the rollercoaster but she decided that she had to be brave and fight to stay on the show. So, she jumped on the coaster and gave it a shot. The problem is that she really cracked in this mission. I found myself giggling just a bit as she ran around the park repeating “flag”, “flag”, “flag”, over and over. Someone gave her grief in a previous episode for pretending to be dumb as some kind of shtick. I don’t want to talk bad about someone, but I just don’t think she’s pretending. With that said, she seems like a nice and genuine person. The most impressive performance in the task for me was from Whip Snap because her asthma kicked in and she could barely breathe at one point but she kept running and never seemed to crack under the pressure. This show is pretty silly but it’s obvious that winning really means something to her. Mr. Mitzvah is another failure, he seemed to slip and hurt his leg in the race to find the flags. It rang false to me. Andy Sheer said in the interview that the series isn’t scripted as far as how the contestants say and act that only the overall story arc is written but it’s sure felt like all along that Mr. Mitzvah has been setting himself up to be a turncoat. At any rate, eventually they got the locks off to reveal a new video screen with Dr. Dark telling them that he’ll (?) see them back at the lair. When they get back to the lair, there’s just a note insinuating that there’s a traitor among them. This is of course another test.
The end of the previous episode teased that there’d be a shocking elimination in this episode. It turned out to be a double elimination. The two obvious candidates were eliminated by Stan: Mr. Mitzvah and Ms. Limelight. I really think that Whip Snap has a shot at winning the game. She has the most compelling back story of all of the contestants that with some competent writing could play a lot into the kind of hero she becomes in the comic book. Diffuser seems to really want to be the leader and due to that he is the main contestant that continues to assault me with the worst LARPing dialogue. Now, I know it’s supposed to be funny but he’s not an inherently funny guy, so it usually doesn’t work for me. From that perspective had Ms. Limelight been a bit smarter and been able to stick around, she could be funnier.
Andy Sheer seems to be the most proud of the written story arc that the characters are participating in throughout the series. I actually think this is a great idea too. I can’t think of another reality series that’s doing something like this. The problem is that the story is so basic. It almost feels like a story a kid might write in his bed room and staple the pages together to make his own comic book. I understand that because this is a reality series the story has to be left really open, sort of like improve, so that the characters can openly react and their decisions don’t have to be written but there are several scripted scenes with the villains and none of them have demonstrated any real motivation. Who are these villains really and why do they want to take down the heroes so badly? I also know the producers want to keep the focus on the contestants as much as possible but it would only take just a scant few minutes to develop better villains and deepen the story arc just a little. I do actually really like Bee Sting’s fake accent and I love how she chews scenes. She’s really funny. Also, as amateur as the story is the “to be continued” zinger at the end of the episode was compelling and has me a bit interested to see what’s going to happen next.
So, I have to say that I did enjoy the episode and the season so far, more than I expected too looking at it now through different eyes. I do hope the story gets a little better and that I don’t see any more tasks ripped right from other shows though. To see the interview I did with Stan “The Man” Lee and producer Andy Sheer head on over here:
