DC's Legends of Tomorrow

[Jeff of Earth-J]

[Jeff of Earth-J]

All right, I'm caught up with last week's episode (just in time for tonight's). I'm trying to avoid comparing this show to Doctor Who (because of the time-travel motif as well as the presence of Arthur Darvil), but if I were to invoke such a comparison, from time to time the Doctor's various companions must learn the hard way not to muck about with the timeline. Rip Hunter in this series is like the Doctor with eight unruly and rebalious companions at the same time. I hope this experience is enough for them to learn their lesson and listen to the time master!

I'm very impressed with Darvil as an actor. Rory, his Doctor Who character, was allowed to grow throughout the course of his arc, and the role of Rip Hunter is entirely different. I haven't listened to it yet, but Darvil has been cast as Dr. Frankenstein in a Big Finish audio adaptation of the Mary Shelley novel.

I also bought a copy of Showcase Presents: Rip Hunter yesterday at my LCS. I'm looking forward to reading it, but flipping through it I was disappointed to discover that almost all of the 19 comics within involve time-travel to the past.

[Philip Portelli]

The first few Rip Hunter issues were some really good adventure stories!

[ClarkKent_DC]

I've never seen Doctor Who (any of them), so I don't much care that one of the 12 dozen guys to play The Doctor, only why they chose to cast the Rip Hunter role not with a man of action but with a petulant Brit. And I have to wonder why the other people on the team want to listen to him -- but, as we see, they don't.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Fair enough, but for the record, Darvil wasn't "one of the 12 dozen guys to play The Doctor," he was one of the 144 dozen guys (and gals... mostly gals) to play one of The Doctor's companions.

[JD DeLuzio]

Just out of curiosity, did you look up the number of actors who played the Doctor's companions, or did you just pull that out of um, thin air? Because it's a strangely plausible number.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

Fair enough, but for the record, Darvil wasn't "one of the 12 dozen guys to play The Doctor," he was one of the 144 dozen guys (and gals... mostly gals) to play one of The Doctor's companions.

[ClarkKent_DC]

ClarkKent_DC said:

I've never seen Doctor Who (any of them), so I don't much care that one of the 12 dozen guys to play The Doctor, only why they chose to cast the Rip Hunter role not with a man of action but with a petulant Brit. And I have to wonder why the other people on the team want to listen to him -- but, as we see, they don't.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

Fair enough, but for the record, Darvil wasn't "one of the 12 dozen guys to play The Doctor," he was one of the 144 dozen guys (and gals... mostly gals) to play one of The Doctor's companions.

JD DeLuzio said:

Just out of curiosity, did you look up the number of actors who played the Doctor's companions, or did you just pull that out of um, thin air? Because it's a strangely plausible number.

I made it up. I've never seen the show, remember?  

[Captain Comics]

We had DVR problems, and I've had to wait for On Demand to list the shows to date, plus have time to watch them with my wife. So it's taken this long to get current.

Can't say I'm terribly impressed.

* Legends of Tomorrow is a hokey name.

* I guess I should be shocked that they killed Carter, but I'm not (he was redundant), nor am I disappointed (didn't care for the actor).

* I don't know or care what the actor's pedigree is who plays Rip Carter, as "petulant Brit" describes him perfectly. My wife calls him "smarmy." In short, not impressed. Sorry, Whovians.

* I'm good with the premise, but it has an inherent flaw. A) They kill Savage, thereby changing history (which they're not supposed to do) and end the raison d'etre of the show, or B) they don't ever kill him and we watch our "heroes" fail week after week after week. Somebody didn't think this through.

* The dialogue is gawdawful. I've heard "let's do this" at least three times. The big emotional moments ("I believe in you!") are cliches from one end to the other.

* The characterization is gawdawful. Nobody's consistent from scene to scene, much less episode to episode. They're all subject to the needs of this week's plot. Kendra doesn't love Carter, until she does. Stein is overconfident, until he isn't. Ray is overconfident, until he isn't. Jax is reluctant, until he isn't. Rip doesn't want to change time, until he does. And so forth. One scene fresh in my mind: Sara can't control her bloodlust ... after she just killed about a dozen guys. (In Arrow, it only takes one.)

* Hunter says "I'll take care of Savage." Um, dude, we just established that only Kendra can kill him -- it cost Carter's life to find that out. And you just said so a few minutes ago! So WTF are you gonna do? Oh yeah -- blurt out the names of your wife and son in the future so Savage knows who to kill. Brilliant.

* When did the cold gun and the heat gun knock people over/out instead of freezing/burning them? Oh, wait, that ISN'T how they work, but that's how they work on this show, so nobody dies.

On the good new front:

* Captain Cold and Heat Wave aren't the most interesting of the crew, but at least they're consistent. Except for their guns.

I don't hate the concept, I don't hate superheroes and I don't hate team-ups. I'm not so incapable of suspending disbelief that I don't enjoy Arrow, Flash, Gotham and Supergirl. But Legends of Tomorrow strikes me as poorly done.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I've gotta agree. I'm really happy to see a big superhero team on TV, but I wince at pretty much every plot point and line of dialogue. This...isn't good. (As Vandal Savage, Casper Crump is downright awful. I thought the guy who played Deathstroke on Arrow could chew scenery, but Crump puts him to shame.) 

I'm on board regardless, mostly for Captain Cold, Heat Wave, and The Atom... but man, was I hoping for better. 

[Captain Comics]

I'll keep watching, too -- but probably alone. I think my wife's done.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

We'll see how much patience Kathy has left for it. She bailed on Agents of SHIELD, and even at its worst, I don't think it was quite this half-baked. 

[ClarkKent_DC]

Captain Comics said:

* I'm good with the premise, but it has an inherent flaw. A) They kill Savage, thereby changing history (which they're not supposed to do) and end the raison d'etre of the show, or B) they don't ever kill him and we watch our "heroes" fail week after week after week. Somebody didn't think this through.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I have a box of comic books labeled “JLA Second Stringers” in which I keep such titles as Shadow War of Hawkman, the Red Tornado limited series, the Wonder Woman limited series by Trina Robbins, Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Mister Miracle, and other such '80s fare. A more appropriate title for this show would be “DC Second Stringers.”

I imagine we’ll see Hawkman back in another incarnation in another era, perhaps one in which “his” Shayera has been killed, or maybe their positions will be reversed and she'll have to convince him they are lovers.