And here we go again, another DC/CW pairing that makes me cry for DC Superheroes.
Released yesterday, the new Legends of Tomorrow trailer brings together all your favourite heroes from recent CW shows, Arrow, and The Flash, and several of the friends and foes introduced along the way. Set for airing on Thursday, January 21, the trailer lines up the characters like the reindeer on Santa’s sleigh, there’s… Arrow and Flash and Hawkman and Hawkgirl, there’s Atom and Heat Wave and Firestorm and White Canary… There’s also Captain Cold, Rip Hunter and Vandal Savage, but I think it lost its rhythm.
ComingSoon.net provides all the cast info and are right to draw attention to the ensemble cast… Once more, DC’s tactic is to use a well known cast of actors and characters and pair them with well known and respected producers, to hide the fact that the writing looks to be, well, shite.
Watch the trailer for yourself; the awkward and clichéd one liners are everywhere (one can only imagine how many there are in a 42 minute episode compared to this 3 minute trailer). But here are a few of my favourites:
Rip Hunter: ”I certainly hope you won’t let me, and the world, down“.
Laurel Lance: ”We’ve lived in the shadows long enough, be a hero in the light“.
Firestorm: ”I don’t just burn, pal“.
Rip Hunter: ”I know it’s difficult to fathom, but in the future, none of you are heroes. You’re legends“.
Rip Hunter: “All your worlds are about to change?”.
Rip Hunter: ”Let’s do this“.
And the award for worst line delivery…. Prison Break‘s Wentworth Miller with *smoulder* ”For better or for worse“.
According to the Legends of Tomorrow IMDb page, the creators of Arrow never had any intention to write The Flash, let alone Legends of Tomorrow, they didn’t even intend to have superpowers as part of their universe. But fan demand and the golden word ’ratings’ drove them to do it, which explains why everything seems so patched together in the DC universe as opposed to Marvel.
Legends of Tomorrow is an amalgamation of what DC are failing to do, and Marvel are pulling off so seamlessly. Cohesion. Sarah Myles’ article, written a year ago, suggested that Marvel’s cohesion (crossover characters, all shows as part of one universe) is a plan. I’m sold on that, thanks Kevin Feige (President of Marvel Studios) for your vision.
But to suggest that DC has a ‘separate strategy’ is a joke. They’re playing catch up when they’re late to the game. If you make a TV show (Arrow) and any spin offs and linked-ins are spontaneous and unplanned (The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow), it will look pasted together and sketchy: this separateness was not a strategy, but the result of a lack of a “bigger picture plan“.
Legends of Tomorrow presents itself as a fortuitous chance to beat Marvel to The Defenders (the show that will link together Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist) at the cost of good storytelling and respectful writing. I would imagine that if you ask Marvel what the next 5 years of Marvel movies and TV looks like, they can tell you in detail. If you ask DC, they’ll just try to up whatever Marvel just said in a vague, evasive sort of way.
Moreover, Marvel have linked with abc and Netflix, which seems to be working out nicely. Historically, having The CW involved promises two things: there will be lots of pretty people, and there will be melodrama. That’s why I lost it with Arrow, never committed to The Flash, and am unlikely to watch Legends of Tomorrow thanks largely to this trailer: there’s only so much weight-of-the-world-on-weary-shoulders melodrama I can handle. Find a new motivation for your superheroes.
But hey, I’m just a girl with a grudge against lazy writing and stories. If kick-ass action, dope superhero costumes and a love of these actors are all you need from a superhero show, then you’re gonna love it!
#Peace.Love.LegendsofTomorrow
