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The Joy of Sets: What Superhero Do You Heart The Most?
Wonder Woman courtesy Warner Home Video, The Incredible Hulk courtesy Universal Studios, The Flash courtesy Warner Home Video
OK, first off, to all of you who chimed in last week. I just assumed we all accepted Dynasty’s Alexis Carrington as the #1 bitch of all time. That sort of stuff should just be understood from here on out. It’s like, who is the #1 villain? JR Ewing. No-brainer.
But this week, I offer you a real challenge. With the sort-of-unexpected monster hit-dom of “Iron Man” in the theatres and this week’s DVD release of the TV movies The Incredible Hulk Returns/The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, I thought it would be fun to get all you fanboys and girls to weigh in on your favorite TV superheroes. I’m gonna throw some of my top picks out there (all available on DVD, natch), then I want ya’ll to give me yours, aiight?
Smallville — Young Superman. The DVD sets that literally kept me from going insane during my doctor-ordered bedrest from two herniated discs. Seven seasons of Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum and a bunch of DC Comics cameos. Season Six is the best, with the arrival of Jimmy Olson, the Green Arrow and the Justice League goodiness. LOVE it. LOVE it! Although without Chloe next season, I’m ascared! (See also: The Adventures of Lois & Clark)
Buy Smallville on Amazon.com
Wonder Woman — Lynda Carter in her satin tights, fighting for our rights. And the old red, white and blue…ooooooooh! Even when the show ditched the 1940s angle and moved to modern times with Diana Prince sporting those gigantic glasses and that talking computer, there was still the sort of camp joy that only happened during the happening ’70s. My only gripe? When are they going to release the Cathy Lee Crosby TV-movie precursors?
Buy Wonder Woman on Amazon.com
The Flash — Now for the sort of campy joy that only happened in the early ’90s. Having been a Batman-Superman kid, The Flash had eluded me (get it?) until this 1990 oddity. John Wesley Shipp, who we would all come to love as Dawson Leery’s father, got his hero on Barry Allen, the world’s fastest CSIer, and it was a hoot. The speedy special effects were far cooler than the ones they fed us on the new Bionic Woman and Barry’s suit was, um, tight. Plus, you had Amanda Pays, who is hot, as Barry’s perfect-lipped love interest, and Mark Hamill (who is not) guesting as the Trixter. This one is like pizza: the cheesier, the better.
Buy The Flash on Amazon.com
Alias — Tell me Sydney Bristow wasn’t a superhero. Go ahead. I will kick you square in the Rambaldi. Between the copious latex outfits and secret identities, the season 4 zombies and Jennifer Garner’s action-figure body, this great-when-it-was-on fantasy may be the closest we’ll get to a new Wonder Woman in out lifetime.
Buy Alias on Amazon.com
Now…I know there are a TON of other superheroes out there (notice that I left ya’ll a certain show that’s all about heroes?) So have at it! Who are your faves?
Until next week, don’t hog the remote! — Damian Holbrook
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May 14, 2008 1:02 PM
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Going strictly by the sets you've mentioned [the two Hulk movies were pretty hideous], I have to go with The Flash [and not just because, back in the day, TV Guide published my review of it].
I'm not including Sydney Bristow, but not because she's not a superhero, but she has so many secret identities that even Sydney Bristow is a secret identity.
The Flash series worked on a Batman/gritty level and never truly lapsed into camp terrotory - even when they featured The Trickster [the role that set up Mark Hamill for playing The Joker in Batman The Animated Series].
The Flash was smart, reasonably sophisticated and had one of the coolest superhero team-ups in live-action TV history: The Flash and Nightshade, a hero from Central City's '50s. Then, they gave us a modern version as a psycho killer who thought he was being a hero.
You just don't get that kind of stuff in the average super-powered-people live-action shows very often.
If you go to the entire catalog of TV superheroes, I'd have to put superhero Hiro, of Heroes, at the top of my list.
He's just so enthusiastic about having superpowers, and he's so adamant about using them with honor! Not to mention the triple pun of his situation [Hiro, of Heroes, is on a hero's journey] and the whole Joseph Campbell thing...
The Flash would then place second.
Max Headroom, the cyberspace smartass would be next. Although he was spun out of the mind of Edison Carter, he was a separate entity that could travel through cyberspace and be in many places at the same time. Not only that, but he was privy to all the data stored in cyberspace and could dispense it to Carter at any time. He could also control any device that was connected to cyberspace... and that electronic glitch/hiccough he had was endearing as all get out.
The Incredible Hulk finishes fourth mostly because he was, essentially, The Fugitive with anger management issues. That said, the show was, before Smallville, the most successful superhero series, running four seasons.
Wonder Woman finishes fifth because only the first season, set in the '40s, really worked - but it was really good in that season.
Claude, from Heroes, as the quintessential super anti-hero, was just amazing from his first appearance [I hope they can lure Christopher Eccleston back for another arc].
I love Smallville [most of the time], but it totally butchers the Superman canon in so many ways that I can't really place this version of Clark Kent any higher than honorable mention.
Sam Raimi's M.A.N.T.I.S. also warrants an honorable mention. Possibly a bit too hip for the room when it originally aired, I suspect it could make a go of it now.
If you include superspies or supernatural characters, then my list includes:
Buffy Summers, vampire slayer supreme;
Sydney Bristow of the many identities [and no slouch in a brawl, either];
Nicholas Knight and Angel as the official and private sides of the crimefighting vampire coin.
Honorable mention to John Amsterdam and Mick St. John who weren't around long enough to provide a sufficient body of work to warrant inclusion. I hope both New Amsterdam and Moonlight are released on DVD - and that they each include a feature that explains where the characters would have gone if the shows had been picked up.
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May 14, 2008 4:19 PM
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Since I just purchases the 90's Flash and need to rewatch it. I like the Birds of Prey and cannot wait for that ot come out on DVD.
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May 14, 2008 4:51 PM
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I definitely agree with Smallville. It is my favorite show at this time. I also love Heroes.
As for the others mentioned, I tried watching Wonder Woman recently because I loved it as a kid. I can't watch it anymore. I also tried watching the Flash and didn't like it either. Alias was okay for a while but it did not keep my interest.
I still like the Justice League cartoons, though the first season or two made Superman seem wimpy.
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May 15, 2008 12:03 PM
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Let's be honest. Taken as a whole, TV does *not* do superhero series well. Most require special effects that, until recently, are unobtainable on a TV budget. Almost all are cheesy and campy with terrible, redundant, cliched scripts that fall into a sameness before the first season has finished. For most, the "suits" change the mythos in an effort to make a superhero series more marketable and appeal to the widest possible audience and, in the process, destroy what makes the hero and stories good in the comic they attempt to emulate.
In general, most of us like/love the series we saw when we were kids because we saw them through fresh, innocent, eyes and were much more forgiving. It's often dissapointing to see them again and realize just how bad they really were. We buy them anyway out of nostalgia.
My favorites?
"The Adventures of Superman" (The first season is the best but the rest are, overall, pretty good.)
"Batman" (60's version)
"Lois & Clark - The New Adventures of Superman" was good until Lois and Clark married. After that it was bad TV, bad marketing ploy, just bad. Ruined the comic too.
"Birds of Prey" is OK, but really messes with the mythos of the characters. It's more an "Elseworlds" version than an "in continuity" one and as long as I watch with that attitude I am a bit forgiving. It had potential but was cut short without allowing it to be developed (or corrected) as happens with many current series.
You alluded to "Heroes"... Hiro is the only character worth watching on this program due to his excitement and enthusiasm over being a superhero. I borrowed this to see if it was worth a purchase and, after the first 6 episodes or so, found myself skipping over everything else to get to the Hiro segments. I've been told to "give it a chance" and "watch it all" but just can't. It doesn't live up to all the hype and even Hiro does not save it enough for me.
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May 17, 2008 9:36 AM
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WONDER WOMAN will always be my favorite series ever made. I grew up on it and can never get enough of the show. Yeah, the "modern era" episodes are now horribly dated, but Lynda's portrayal and the storylines were still good. The question is how you could omit WITCHBLADE, NIGHTMAN, THE TICK, and DARK ANGEL. I loved these shows. I can't wait for the DVD releases of BIRDS OF PREY and WITCHBLADE. I never did really get into ALIAS, but have people still telling me I should watch it. I do wish they would get NIGHTMAN and SHAZAM on DVD finally. As for the Cathy Lee Crosby WONDER WOMAN, I could watch it, but I do not think I would ever buy it. just no faithfulness to the character beyond names. Of course, I love SMALLVILLE (not so much seasons 5 or 7), but it took an extreme tangent from the comics and still worked. However, when ranking the best comic adapted live action show, I think I would go #1 WONDER WOMAN, #2 THE FLASH, #3 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, #4 THE INCREDIBLE HULK, and #5 THE TICK. Of course, that omits HEROES and GREATEST AMERICAN HERO and such, strictly because they are not comic book shows. I would also love to see the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN series finally get a DVD release as well as the Japanese version.
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Jun 15, 2008 3:04 AM
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