What’s that you say? It’s been months since a “Hot Nerd Girl Podcast” and almost a year since a “Gratuitous Nerdity” post and you just can’t live without the glowing banter that is Tracy and Darcy? Well wait no longer! Tonight we had the opportunity to Instant Message about last nights Gotham premier. Premie? Premiere.
Thanks for letting me write the intro, Trace. You most likely won’t regret it! – Darcy
Darcy: Ugh… Gotham… pilot…. so bad… 80’s B-movie bad….
Tracy: Really?? I liked it!
Darcy: Ah, Tracy…. the eternal optimist… I’m going to keep watching, buuuutttt….
Tracy: It’s gonna be great, I have faith
Darcy: You should do a blog post about new shows called “Keep the Faith”
Tracy: Hahaha! I watch so few new shows though. Only got to watch Gotham because I had to make buttons for Long Beach Comic Con this weekend.
Darcy: It’s a fast show too.
Tracy: Yeah it is. seems like a lot of the focus will be on Cobblepot which is interesting. I wish that we had seen more of Selena.
Darcy: They intro’d a loooot of main villains in an hour. Too many, in my book. And honestly, I don’t think they had to kick off the series with the Wayne’s deaths. That could have been a midseason thing. or like, episode 3. I don’t know, I’m just not seeing a ton of creativity with it yet.
Tracy: Is Fish Mooney a new character? I’m a Marvel girl but I used to read some Batman and I don’t remember her from the comics. I thought they were introduced pretty organically though. We barely saw Riddler, for example.
Darcy: Yeah, barely. And Ivy, barely. And Selena too. I just think they were rushed. And wanted to get enough hooks in because, I suppose, Gordon isn’t enough of a hook?
Tracy: Well, I feel like it’s a cop show that just happens to be set in Gotham. The Boy Scout cop and the “is he or isn’t he crooked” cop partner. They don’t like each other but they start to grow on each other by the end. All cop shows start off with the case, this case just happens to be the Wayne’s murder.
Darcy: Yeah, that’s what it’s supposed to be. I just think starting with the Wayne’s is too easy, I guess.
Tracy: I think they did that because we all know what happens, why not get it out of the way?
Darcy: To me, that’s midseason or finale time. After your attached to Bruce and can feel his loss.
Tracy: Is it a requirement that we HAVE to see Martha’s pearls bouncing around?
Darcy: Yeah, but that’s my point. That’s a short hand assumption. That we all know what happens to the Wayne’s. That’s not good story telling. It’s why Man of Steel sucked.
Tracy: Who doesn’t though?? Cave dwellers?? Man of Steel is a whole other bag of worms lol. We never get to know the Wayne’s though, either in the movies or the comics, they need to maintain that air of mystery, that we’ll never know exactly what Bruce lost. We experience his relationship with them through his pain and his vengence. He basically becomes a psychopath, if we get to know his parents then we’ll have opinions of them and that’s counterproductive to the story.
Darcy: Isn’t that a fresher take though? Otherwise, why are we bothering? Gordon is getting changed because we have, through this show and other comics, his past. When he first showed up, he’s the Commissioner. Why bother going back? ‘Cause it’s unexplored territory. And if they’re going to keep retreading the same ground again and again, they have to find new stories to explore. Batman Begins did. At least somewhat.
Tracy: They are mixing it up though. We’ve never seen Bruce as a kid except in flashbacks and the brief murder scene. They are taking inspiration from the comics, but for the most part, everything is different.
Darcy: That’s not enough of a reason NOT to show his parents though. They probably will flashback; I just disagree with how they’re handling it right now.
Tracy: The Wayne’s aren’t the focus of the show though, the aftermath of their murder is – why drag that out?
Darcy: Depends on how much time they’re going to spend with Bruce. I don’t think you have to spend a TON of time, but I think assuming we give a crap about Bruce because we all already know the backstory is lazy writing. This is long, but if you ever get a chance, you should check it out: http://badassdigest.com/2013/07/03/film-crit-hulk-man-of-steel/
Tracy: See, I disagree. I think there were areas that were lazy writing (why does the mob ALWAYS have a meat locker, for example) but I don’t think starting the show off by killing the Wayne’s is lazy, I think it thrusts us right into the heart of the story and the whole reason why we’re there/watching it in the first place. I don’t need to see Martha be the perfect Mom and Thomas playing catch with his perfect son. I want to see the nitty gritty world of Gotham and see Alfred have to step up and be Bruce’s rock and Bruce have to grow up too quickly.
Darcy: It’s all just choices. I’d like to see some slightly shady stuff on the Wayne’s part, perhaps, that he wasn’t the cleanest nicest guy in the world. Or at the very least, dialogue that doesn’t sound like it was written by a 10 year old in the 80’s.
Tracy: Ok, well THAT sounds interesting to me. Like Bruce sees his parents as perfect, but there’s a reason why Thomas is the richest guy in town. The seedy side that we never know about and Bruce never knows about. The dialogue sounds very 1940’s gangster movie to me.
Darcy: Yeah, it was pretty rough.
Tracy: I think it was miles ahead of a CW show though. But this is FOX, so instead of 10 seasons of superhero origin story, it’ll probably get canceled halfway thru the first season.
Darcy: Really? I like Arrow.
Tracy: I like that not everyone is perfectly pretty. That differs from the CW.
Darcy: Well, I didn’t like Arrow to start, but it’s gotten better.
Tracy: I’ve been told I need to give Arrow another shot. I gave up after 2 episodes. I will say that DC is doing way better on TV than in the cinema ‘verse.
Darcy: Yeah, I’m almost all the way through Arrow. I watch it while I run. Flash I’ve seen the pilot, which also moves at a break neck pace. I’m just a firm believer that most of the time you need two hours. Imagine if Star Trek: The Next Generation had a one hour pilot as opposed to a two hour pilot.
Tracy: To establish the characters and the universe.
Darcy: Yeah.
Tracy: Well, the 2 hour pilot of Star Trek: The Next Generation was God awful sooooo…. lol
Darcy: Yeah, it might improve it actually.
Tracy: You should watch Flash while you run, might motivate you to run faster
Darcy: Ha. Ha. Ha.
Tracy: So do you have hope for Gotham or do you think that it’s all downhill from here?
Darcy: I have hope. Arrow has improved. If Parks and Recreation can overcome what I thought was a fairly flawed, shit copy of The Office from the first 1.5 seasons, then any show can do it.
Tracy: I know that I’m the eternal optimist (most of the time) but I have hope too. I think compared to many pilots, it’s a pretty strong start and now they can get into the meat of the story. And hopefully FOX gives it a good shot before they up and cancel it if it doesn’t immediately get great ratings, but I think it’ll be ok in that regard, at least in the beginning. As always, thanks for nerding harder with me
Darcy: Always
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