The Syfy Channel is flying into the superhero scene, with a fascinating foundation for a DC favorite in "Krypton".
The ten-episode series takes place two hundred years prior to the legendary planet's destruction, with Superman/Kal-El's grandfather, Seg-El, as its lead, played by sturdy and spry Cameron Cuffe. Seg-El is a lot like Jor-El when it comes to colleague conflict, but will have lots more time to redeem the family name.
Ian McElhinney portrays Seg's grandfather, Val-El, with Ramus Hardiker as Seg's good buddy, Kem and Elliot Cowan as Daron-Vex. To ensure DC fans will stay hooked, Shaun Sipos will appear as the adventurous Adam Strange and Blake Ritson as the cold, brash Brainiac. Georgina Campbell; Wallis Day; Ann Ogbomo; and Aaron Pierre comprise the rest of the Kryptonian cast.
From those few clips shared, the show looks on target in its architectural design: a cross between Krypton in Christopher Reeve and Henry Cavill's big-screen, WB outings.
Syfy's stab at DC mythology is an obvious reply to Fox's acclaimed prequel, "Gotham" and of course, UPN's long-running "Smallville". Whether "Krypton" captures the supreme appeal of those tumultuous, coming-of-age sagas is yet unknown. It'll all come down to what the writers cook up and how empathetic and/or villainous its players are.
For some, having another live-action Superman incarnation, even if it's in "prehistory" mode, may seem superfluous, but for those loyalists who appreciate all aspects of DC, there's never enough of this stuff to go around. With "Dark Knight'"s David S. Goyer and "Sleepy Hollow'"s Damian Kindler serving as producers, things do look promising, enough so that we probably needn't fear the show ever mirroring CW's now blasphemous "Supergirl". Fingers crossed, anyway...
"Krypton" debuts March 21 at 10 pm.
For the most part, I liked the initial installment, but there were recurring vibes that were too modern (too Earth based) for the setting. Those threw me. I'll have to get used to those portions, I guess. Maybe after a few episodes...
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, in retrospect, I did find Adam Strange's plea to be passionate, realistic. That worked toward the episode's advantage.
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