Ashley Posted January 8, 2011 Posted January 8, 2011 Premieres this Sunday in America (along with Episodes, the new Matt LeBlanc thing in which he plays himself but that's a side point). Interview with John Wirth We were huge fans of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, so we were excited when we heard you were going to be showrunner over at The Cape. Do the two shows have anything else in common, besides Summer Glau? [Laughs] I don't know if there really need to be any commonalities, besides Summer Glau. She is a joy. She's such a talented creative unique being, and you know, the funny thing — I was sort of getting a Summer Glau vibe, like I hadn't talked to her for a while, and I sort of thought, "I need to check in with her and see what she's doing." It's the daddy mode in me. So I put a call in to her. And three days later, [The Cape creator] Tom Wheeler called me, and he said, "What are you doing?" I said, "Nothing." He said, "Well, I'm doing this pilot, why don't you come down on the set and see what's going on?" And lo and behold, there's Summer. So I thought it was very serendipitous that I should have gotten that calling and Wheeler calls me, and the whole thing comes together. Reveal hidden contents How was it coming and taking over after the pilot was already shot? Well, I didn't come in and take in, I came in in a very similar way that I did on Sarah Connor Chronicles. Tom certainly has more television experience now than Josh [Friedman] had when we started on the Sarah Connor Chronicles. But he's never been in a position where he's had his own show or been expected to run his own show. And just by virtue of having been around a few more years than either of those two guys, I had a bit more experience and had things I could share with them. So on this show, I'm sort of working with Tom and creating a structure that the show can work [with]. So this is a superhero show that's hyper-aware of superhero conventions, because the Cape is an existing comic-book character before the show's protagonist decides to dress up as him. Right? That's a little bit TBD I would say... we're not quite sure how that comic book is going to play out as the series goes forward. It's certainly an aspect of the world. And it's interesting that this guy has chosen a character from a comic book to sort of embody as a superhero. So I think it's going to be very interesting. When you have a guy who's sort of living out the exploits of a comic book character... there may be a certain rivalry, like who's better? Him or the real guy? And his son, in the pilot, is very into the comic books. There will be a certain amount of expectations on the son's part as to what the Cape should be doing. So I think he'll be critiquing the Cape's performance a little bit. It's going to be a pretty light show in general, right? Right. I would say the show will be grounded. Here's the trick — creating a reality for the world of the show, communicating that reality to the audience, and then telling your stories within the boundaries of that reality, so you don't violate it. And that's what we're going to try to do. But in our world, the stakes are real, the consequences are real, the stories have danger elements that are real. And yet there's a kind of a fanciful element to it that's fun. So we won't be doing ha-ha comedy, but there will be funny situations. So there are going to be villains of the week? Yeah. I think the idea is there'll be an over-arching story. It won't be as serialized as we started out with Sarah Connor. But there will be serialized aspects to the show. But each week, it'll either be someone in James Frain's world — his character is Peter Fleming, he's sort of the big baddie — it'll be someone dispatched by him, or him, or some other villain. What do you say to people who feel like they've been burned by superhero shows in the past? I say, "Sooner or later, one of them's going to work, and be just right." It'll be this one, hopefully. Do you think this one has the right balance of respect for the mythology without getting too deep? Yeah, definitely. Tom is a comic book geek, bigtime. All of us have had our own experiences with comic books and superheroes. On the panel I showed a picture of me in my own superhero outfit at age five — and I had my own collection of superhero comics at that time, which I can still remember my father throwing out. http://io9.com/5727991/sarah-connor-chronicles-writer-on-reuniting-with-summer-glau?skyline=true&s=i
Cube Posted January 8, 2011 Posted January 8, 2011 Main Title Theme Tune Bear McCreary is on board so we know it's going to have awesome music.
Jon Posted January 8, 2011 Posted January 8, 2011 (edited) I've been looking forward to this for a while. Glau and Lyons are pretty great actors but the whole Vinny Jones as the evil badass looks a bit cheesy on the outside but It might work out alright. I hope it does ok, I need a new superhero drama to replace Smallville next year. The theme tune sounds awesome, especially as it seems to be a dying art these days. I don't give a fuck about an extra 27 seconds of screen time, I want my title music, not some amateurish title card. Edited January 8, 2011 by Jon
ReZourceman Posted January 8, 2011 Posted January 8, 2011 JonSt said: I've been looking forward to this for a while. Glau and Lyons are pretty great actors but the whole Vinny Jones as the evil badass looks a bit cheesy on the outside but It might work out alright. I hope it does ok, I need a new superhero drama to replace Smallville next year. No Ordinary Family is highly recommended. But yeah I am looking forward to this. Havn't heard great things....but I'll definitely give it a chance.
Magnus Posted January 8, 2011 Posted January 8, 2011 No Ordinary Family looks pretty dull, but then I've also never been a fan of Smallville, so whatever. I'm going to hold off on watching The Cape until I know whether or not it's worth watching. I hate watching a pilot for something that seems promising but ends up sucking and feeling obligated to keep watching it. Here's hoping it's good, though. Not that I need another TV show to watch every week, but quality television is always nice.
ReZourceman Posted January 9, 2011 Posted January 9, 2011 Magnus said: No Ordinary Family looks pretty dull, but then I've also never been a fan of Smallville, so whatever. Just to clarify, I dislike Smallville (I'll leave it at that*) and No Ordinary Family was awesome. I only suggested it as a replacement due to the superheroics. :P *My dislike of it will become apparent as some friends and I are filming a wolf pack (tear it apart) commentary for it soon. Slash Superman Returns*
The Mad Monkey Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 ReZourceman said: No Ordinary Family is highly recommended. Looking forward to watching it on Watch. Like a bit of superheroics, and Chiklis is the man. As for the Cape, looks OK, the name sucks though.
ReZourceman Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 (edited) This was staggeringly bad. I feel like I should expand. - Bad acting - Absolutely none of it made sense - Cliched everywhere - Boring - No powers, but impossible things happen - Stupid costumes - Probably the worst paced piece of fiction I've ever witnessed - Weird scenes that are just awkward - Expects us to care. The Cape to Summer Glau "Who are you?" she answers "No one special". WE DON'T CARE ANYWAY! We met you 40 seconds ago! - Stupid stupid stupid - The lead walks into his mentors back room and sees a cape hanging in plain sight, in the middle of the room. The mentor walks in and says "I havn't seen that in years" - Terrible The best thing was a dirt talking dwarf injected for comic relief. You can tell this wasn't written by comic book people/. I tend to give EVERYTHING a chance, particularly TV shows, I give them several episodes to get going, but this was one of the worst pilots I've ever seen. Starts bad gets worse. Avoid at all costs. Edited January 10, 2011 by ReZourceman
Magnus Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 HOW BAD WAS IT? Oh, staggeringly. Never mind, then. I'm glad I didn't watch it if it's as bad as people say it is.
ReZourceman Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Magnus said: HOW BAD WAS IT? Oh, staggeringly. Never mind, then. I'm glad I didn't watch it if it's as bad as people say it is. And you know how low my standards are.
Magnus Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Oh, I don't know... You did seem to like the Zelda magnets I posted in another thread, so obviously you have some taste. I think you're mostly just disappointed because you want your superheroes to have real superpowers. :p
Cube Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Magnus said: I think you're mostly just disappointed because you want your superheroes to have real superpowers. :p I'm pretty sure he likes Batman and Iron Man...
Magnus Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Oh. I just remembered that he likes Invincible and Green Lantern and No Ordinary Family and... Man, this has to be really terrible if ReZ didn't like it.
ReZourceman Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Magnus said: Oh. I just remembered that he likes Invincible and Green Lantern and No Ordinary Family and... Man, this has to be really terrible if ReZ didn't like it. Magnus said: Invincible terrible Magnus said: Invincible terrible Magnus said: Invincible terrible NO. NO. NO. NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Seriously, I do not like this at all. No one says that. I will not allow that shit.
Magnus Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 ReZourceman said: NO. NO. NO. NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Seriously, I do not like this at all. No one says that. I will not allow that shit. Sheesh, you can't even put 'Invincible' and 'terrible' in the same post without ReZ freaking out. :p What I actually meant was "ReZ loves anything with superheroes in it so The Cape has to be really terrible if it has a superhero in it and ReZ still didn't like it". For the record, I have never read Invincible, but would consider checking it out if I had the money.
ReZourceman Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Magnus said: Sheesh, you can't even put 'Invincible' and 'terrible' in the same post without ReZ freaking out. :p What I actually meant was "ReZ loves anything with superheroes in it so The Cape has to be really terrible if it has a superhero in it and ReZ still didn't like it". For the record, I have never read Invincible, but would consider checking it out if I had the money. Well this is good news. But yeah its basically true. I adore super heroes, and this is among the worst of the genre.
ReZourceman Posted January 16, 2011 Posted January 16, 2011 Did anyone else see this piece'a shit yet?
Dan_Dare Posted January 16, 2011 Posted January 16, 2011 I have not. Tempted to catch it just to see how bad it is- that's to say if you think it sucks...
Cube Posted January 16, 2011 Posted January 16, 2011 I thought the first episode was pretty good. Couldn't stand it by the second episode.
ReZourceman Posted January 16, 2011 Posted January 16, 2011 Cube said: I thought the first episode was pretty good. Couldn't stand it by the second episode. *Didn't even realise it was a double bill* What happens in the second episode?
flameboy Posted January 16, 2011 Posted January 16, 2011 Seriously is it that bad?! I was kinda looking forward to it...might start watching No Ordinary Family instead....
Cube Posted January 16, 2011 Posted January 16, 2011 ReZourceman said: What happens in the second episode? The Cape goes after evil guy, gets poisoned, falls out of a 30ish story building and survives just because he lands on a car, Summer rescues him and takes him to Captain Anderson who uses leeches on him. During this they discover that evil guy wants to kill some politician who doesn't want to give control of the prisons to evil guy's company. I just turned it off then. I think this could have actually been OK if they kept virtually everything the same, but got rid of the costume and the stupid cape.
Ashley Posted February 2, 2011 Author Posted February 2, 2011 Well the back end order has been cut by two episodes and ratings are declining so...bye.
ReZourceman Posted February 2, 2011 Posted February 2, 2011 Ashley said: Well the back end order has been cut by two episodes and ratings are declining so...bye. Lol. Can't believe how horribly and unrelentingly shit the pilot is. (NBC) will never learn. If you're going to jump on board the comic band wagon hire people who have a clue what they're doing. Also ALASO ALSO Hilarious, as I'm watching True Blood on FX I discovered that despite all his resoundingly successful attempts at hiding the fact in The Cape, that (the guy who plays) Chess.... can actually act.
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