The answer being, “Nobody, if they have to put up with this dreck.”
I’ve watched this show for the past couple of weeks — I missed the first episode or two. And I fear that Stan “The Man” Lee is setting comics back — well, at least 40 years, if not moreso.
Okay, the premise is eleven people — with costumes and concepts — are competing to be the one “superhero” chosen by Stan Lee. Winner gets a comic book made about him/her, as well as a SciFi Saturday Original Movie. Which, if you’ve ever seen one, would be no great thing, I think.
The heroes supposedly bunk down in a little converted LA building, the “Lair.” Each episode, they get faced with two challenge; after each challenge, one of them gets fired, turning in their costume and leaving the Lair.
The competitions themselves vary between plausible tests of determination, courage, etc., to nearly arbitrary reasons to simply cut one of the competitors. Which event takes place with tears and pats on the back and “We’re going to miss you, man, you were a great competitor.”
Margie describes it as a Reality Show blended with Power Rangers. Except in Power Rangers, the acting (and the FX) are significantly better.
It’s impossible to tell whether the whole thing is staged, or whether the people are simply acting in a goofy/camp fashion that they think superheroes should. Trite cliches abound, both from Stan and from the cast. The most humorous bits are repeated questions by Stan as to whether they can imagine Spider-Man ever taking off his mask (ha), followed by Stan (and everyone else) mispronouncing Lemuria’s name as “Lumeria.”
The shame here is that it didn’t need to be nearly this over the top. Some of the competitions are good ones, and the others could be replaced by other ones that exemplify the qualities of a super-hero — bravery, integrity, honesty, self-sacrifice. Instead, everyone’s trying to sound like a bad Stan Lee pastiche, including Stan himself, and none of the competitors seem heroic, only pathetic in their truckling for fleeting fame and the desire to not be disqualified.
And yet … there is, I’ll confess, an amazingly entertaining cheesiness to it (it definitely rings on the TFC meter, as Mary and Margie would recognize it), almost a train-wreck of awfulness that keeps me wanting to come back.
Comments (re)enabled.
This show is one of my guilty pleasures. It’s definitely one of those so bad it’s good (or at the very least watchable) things, at least for me. Some of the eliminations have been horrible, and I agree that it would be better suited with actual challenge eliminations.
I’m pulling for Fat Momma, but wouldn’t be sad if Major Victory pulled it off. I think Feedback is even more pathetic than the rest.
Last week’s show was the least interesting to me.
I was amazed by Monkey Woman’s performance in the challenge where they had to get past the guard dogs to unlock an old lady’s back door. She was determined not to let Stan down again after failing to notice the crying child in the first episode. Where the others who cried “Uncle” did so in a matter of seconds, she struggled for 42 minutes (if I recall correctly) as the dogs dragged her around the yard. Her tenacity was astounding! I was very disappointed that she gave up her secret identity so easily that she virtually had to be eliminated.
I’m enjoying seeing who picks up on the “hidden challenges” and who doesn’t.
Oh, and I noticed that Stan occasionally pronounced it “Lemuria.” I think it was Lemuria herself who came up with the “Lumeria” (mis)pronunciation.
Actually, Feedback is my “favorite” of the final three. Maybe it’s the costume. That said, after the tear-fest last time out, I wouldn’t mind if the skies over LA turned an angry red …
I like Feedback’s costume too, but he’s a wiener. I think I like it because it has no cape, and we all know capes are bad:
Edna: It will be bold! Dramatic!
Bob: Yeah!
Edna: Heroic!
Bob: Yeah. Something classic – like Dynaguy. Oh, he had a great look! Oh, the cape and the boots…
Edna: [throws a wadded ball of paper at Bob’s head] No capes!
Bob: Isn’t that my decision?
Edna: Do you remember Thunderhead? Tall, storm powers? Nice man, good with kids.
Bob: Listen, E…
Edna: November 15th of ’58! All was well, another day saved, when? his cape snagged on a missile fin!
Bob: Thunderhead was not the brightest bulb…
Edna: Stratogale! April 23rd, ’57! Cape caught in a jet turbine!
Bob: E, you can’t generalize about these things…
Edna: Metaman, express elevator! Dynaguy, snag on takeoff! Splashdown, sucked into a vortex!
[shouts]
Edna: No capes!
Feedback’s costume is definitely the most “modern” flashy costume in the group. Major Victory is very “traditional” — and, frankly, though MV is a former stripper, he just doesn’t have the physique for it.
(Neither do I, to be more than fair.)
Classic, Silver Age-style costumes are actually very tough to do. I know — I’ve struggled with creating many of them for CoH.
The Sci Fi channel had the show’s participants in their booth during the run of Comic-Con, giving away swag and signing autographs. Since the show had yet to air, they also spent a lot of time explaining who they were. They often asked Con-goers what superpower they would choose if they got the chance.
On Friday, I came through the booth to get a cape (their swag consisted of things related to superheros) to send to Katherine (the box is on the way), and encountered Fat Momma and Freeback. Since there were many people around them, I had to wait a few minutes to get my swag. As Feedback asked the folks around him what superpower they wanted, he opined that maybe “he should have wished for supercooling as his superpower since a black rubber suit was not very comfotable in a room with 50,000 people.” The comment was made sort of under his breath, but I got a good laugh out of it.
And it can’t have been a fun day for them as they explained repeatedly who they were and why they were there. A superhero without a reputation is just a wierdo in a spandex suit!
Or someone visiting the San Diego Comic-Con …
I’m not at all surprised that the WWTBASH folks were at SDCC. Perfect venue for them, aside from the whole “Who the heck are you people, anyway?” factor.
My husband and I sat and watched this show – the one where “Lemuria” was dismissed. Was her superpower being a cute little primate? I wasn’t clear on that part.
The personal revelations in that episode – yikes. And yet, when we see the ads, it makes us want to tune in and see what happens in the final.
By the way, what’s the deal with the bagels Fat Momma sports? Are they weapons, thrown like shuriken?
Fat Momma explained that eating the doughnuts gives her her powers.
I do wish Fat Momma would go away. I was hoping her abysmal performance this past ep would do it, but …
As to the “powers” — it’s a bit vague. Everyone has an origin, powers, and a motif — but, frankly, it’s been very underplayed (except, sometimes, the motif) in most eps (and for obvious reasons).