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What If Batman Had a New Tv show?

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  • samurainoir
    Eloquent Member
    • Dec 26, 2006
    • 18758

    #31
    Originally posted by ctc
    >there wasn't much of a lull between the two (three?) most recent superhero generations

    I've wondered for a little while how this sort of transition actually works. Things do seem to move in recognizable patterns (and not just entertainment) but I think the magnitude changes. (So, the last time around the western didn't have as much impact as it did in the 50's, but it still happened.) To that end, I sometimes wonder if nothing ever REALLY goes away, but when the magnitude changes things move to the background. There are always superheroes somewhere, but every so often the average person stops caring.

    Don C.
    That is a very good point Don.

    There is the theory between the Dark/Light cycle with Superheroes every decade or so. From Christopher Reeve's Superman in the late seventies, to Michael Keaton's Dark Batman in the late eighties, Spiderman around the millenium, back to another Dark Batman recently so quickly it gives us whiplash. Not quite a clean cycle in the past decade since you might have The Tick, and Batman and Robin signaling a theoretical end to a "generation" of superhero genre, only to have X-Men immediately begin a new round launched by advances in CG (and blowing the Dark/Light theory out of the water).

    It's Pirates that I find fascinating. Particularly since you have Alan Moore supositioning in Watchmen that the genre would have been a likely replacement in the stead of Superheroes in the eighties. Which actually has some real merit given the fact that the previous two cycles of Pirates took place between wars... in the twenties and fifties. They were due for a resurgence post-Vietnam (as was the Western, but even that only blipped on a tiny scale with the cycle consisting of Silverado/Lonesome Dove/Pale Rider/Unforgiven), although the cultural climate didn't quite fit the conditions that a lawless/frontiers oriented genre like Pirates needed to thrive... arguably that didn't happen until post 9/11.

    And Zombies came back twenty years later much much stronger than the first time, but I think that has quite a lot to do with current underlying fears of biological warfare/SARS/Bird Flu/H1N1/natural disasters etc. whereas the first one was kicked off by social themes/class structure. Although I guess what both have in common is their own metaphorical resonance in the disruption of the civil structure status quo.
    Last edited by samurainoir; Mar 1, '10, 10:21 AM.
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    • ctc
      Fear the monkeybat!
      • Aug 16, 2001
      • 11183

      #32
      >They were due for a resurgence post-Vietnam

      ....and there was a weird little surge during the early 80's. I've ALMOST charted out the frequency thing, but always stop 'cos I find stuff too predictable NOW, and I'm afraid what'll happen if I discover some secret overall pattern....

      >There is the theory between the Dark/Light cycle with Superheroes every decade or so.

      I was having a discussion about this with a few friends actually. (Something I kinda elude to on my Gundam thread) I think the light/dark shift happens 'cos of the age of the fans. People get into superheroes as kids, and as they enter their teens they look for "heavier" stories. The publishers oblige and you get darker stories. (Marvel in the earlier 70's comes to mind too.) But they can never carry the trend for too long ('cos you KNOW Batman isn't REALLY dead.....) and those fans move on, neccessationg the need to find more, neccessating another wave of "re-kiddying" for the books.

      Don C.

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      • boynightwing
        That Carl Guy
        • Apr 24, 2002
        • 3382

        #33
        I'm surprised they haven't done a "Smallville" like show for Batman (lets forget about Birds of Prey). You could have a young Bruce Wayne and Alfred traveling the world learning new skills and solving mysteries and stopping crime along the way.

        Of course Smallville infuriates me to no end so I'm sure this would put my blood pressure over the top.

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        • samurainoir
          Eloquent Member
          • Dec 26, 2006
          • 18758

          #34
          Originally posted by ctc

          >There is the theory between the Dark/Light cycle with Superheroes every decade or so.

          I was having a discussion about this with a few friends actually. (Something I kinda elude to on my Gundam thread) I think the light/dark shift happens 'cos of the age of the fans. People get into superheroes as kids, and as they enter their teens they look for "heavier" stories. The publishers oblige and you get darker stories. (Marvel in the earlier 70's comes to mind too.) But they can never carry the trend for too long ('cos you KNOW Batman isn't REALLY dead.....) and those fans move on, neccessationg the need to find more, neccessating another wave of "re-kiddying" for the books.

          Don C.
          That does make quite a bit of sense... particularly when you correspond say the more lighthearted '66 Batman with the resurgence of the Dark Knight Detective by O'Neil/Adams/Englehart/Rogers as one generation of kids and then Superfriends into Dark Knight/Keaton Batman with "our" generation. Then comes the Batman TAS kids of the nineties who are now old enough to watch Batman Begins/Dark Knight.

          Although it appears that Warner/DC have started courting both streams simultaneously now with the "grown up" Batman movies running concurrent with the Brave and Bold cartoons and toys for the kids. Plus you have the transitional/crossover stuff now with the Direct to DVD Animated movies like the upcomind Red Hood one. They certainly are hitting all their bases generationally now.
          My store in the MEGO MALL!

          BUY THE CAPTAIN CANUCK ACTION FIGURE HERE!

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          • ctc
            Fear the monkeybat!
            • Aug 16, 2001
            • 11183

            #35
            >They certainly are hitting all their bases generationally now.

            They’re TRYING; but I think they get the ol’ fuses crossed every so often. Part of the problem is that they’ve got to deal with an “educated” long-term fan base who are VERY set in their ways.... whatever those ways happen to be. So no matter what they do, they end up cheesing SOMEBODY off.

            >You could have a young Bruce Wayne and Alfred traveling the world learning new skills and solving mysteries and stopping crime

            ....with Ace the Bat-Hound! “Ruh-Ro Ralfred!”

            I think part of the problem with a Smallville-esque Batman is that it’s gonna feel a lot like Smallville.... and any number of other similar shows. You might snag the diehard fans, like Smallville did.... but you might not, since you won’t have the novelty going for you. And like Smallville, you’d have the problem of a story that HAS to end, and we all KNOW it ends, but so long as someone’s watching the show it CAN’T end. Which’ll eventually cheese off the diehards.

            Don C.

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            • PNGwynne
              Master of Fowl Play
              • Jun 5, 2008
              • 19950

              #36
              Originally posted by wayne foundation 07
              The way TV is now they would make it so stupid and off the wall.They can't make good tv, or atleast maybe good tv doesn't sell anymore.Your ideas sound great,but after they get the frou frou sponsers,Bruce will have to work in a coffee shop and have a live in male lover driving an import car to the Pottery Barn inbetween defending justice.Because he'll be politically correct and it won't be polite for him to fight crime,they will sign up for group counciling now.But thats just what I'm thinking they would do to it
              Hmmm. That's not how I think they'd "do" it, although I'm sure that a TV version would be paltry, esp. when even the big-budget movies are a mixed lot.

              I do think your comments masked as humor are somewhat homophobic--but maybe I'm just being "frou-frou" and my partner & I need to go to group counseling
              WANTED: Dick Grayson SI trousers; gray AJ Mustang horse; vintage RC Batman (Bruce Wayne) head; minty Wolfman tights; mint Black Knight sword; minty Launcelot boots; Lion Rock (pale) Dracula & Mummy heads; Lion Rock Franky squared boots; Wayne Foundation blue furniture; Flash Gordon/Ming (10") unbroken holsters; CHiPs gloved arms; POTA T2 tan body; CTVT/vintage Friar Tuck robes, BBP TZ Burgess Meredith glasses.

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