Krypton: Pilot

March 22, 2018 5:29 AM - Season 1, Episode 1

Seg learns his planet is in danger of being destroyed so that his future grandson will never be born.

*Den of Geek review - Krypton is an ambitious, world-constructing prequel that is at its best when it forgets about Superman. (Related: Every Superman Easter Egg in Episode 1, Who is Adam Strange?, Who is Brainiac?, and Bringing Superman's Home Planet to Life

*AV Club review - In Krypton's uneven debut, Superman's grandfather faces his destiny

*io9 - How Krypton Is a Prequel That Refuses to Be a Prequel

posted by oh yeah! (10 comments total)

So was this any good? There are some shows that I hear about and think to myself "I'm not so sure we need this." This is one of those shows.
posted by Servo5678 at 6:54 AM on March 22, 2018 [4 favorites]

I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t particularly like it either. It was sort of interesting - I was most intrigued by the Adam Strange character (who I was at first wondering if he was some capeless early version of Dr. Strange before I remembered this is DC not Marvel). But Seg is more a collection of sf dude archetypes than an actual character, and there’s still the issue of how to get invested in a show where you know ultimately the planet gets blown up and everybody dies. Though from the comics history it seems that the city itself could be spared utter destruction via Brainiac’s actions.

I won’t be posting more episode threads — I might keep recording it, but I can’t see myself watching it near-live, more likely I’ll just wait and zip through it on Netflix someday if there’s good buzz at the end of the season/series.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:40 AM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

I was going to ask how they treated Adam Strange and how much of his backstory they included, because honestly, he's the only draw for me in this show, but I get the impression you're not too up on the character, oh yeah! so you're probably really able to fill in too many blanks.
posted by sardonyx at 11:38 AM on March 22, 2018

Yeah, Strange doesn’t do much in the pilot beyond his plot function of delivering the ‘you gotta save your future superhero grandson, Seg!’ premise, so far he’s just a guy in a hoodie who phases in and out of existence.

I am curious to know the show plays to a more knowledgeable Supes fan. Like, I totally didn’t catch that Strange’s cigarettes were a Luthor brand, the props department copied the Marlboro style so well I just thought it was an oddly prominent product placement until I saw it called out in one of the links above, so, clearly there is some loving nerdery at work in the production. And it’s not like this is a terrible Inhumans-level-bad show. I just don’t think I’m the target audience.
posted by oh yeah! at 12:27 PM on March 22, 2018

Adam Strange in time travelling in a hoodie. That's just way too wrong on so many levels. (It sounds like they're using him as a substitute for Rip Hunter or Booster Gold.) I don't think I'm the target audience either.
posted by sardonyx at 12:33 PM on March 22, 2018

Better effort would be to just make the Adam Strange adventures into a series, his stories are the best over the top sci-fi ever. Riding giant fireflies as steeds for Christ's sake.
posted by Freedomboy at 2:11 PM on March 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

Every time a network exec greenlights a prequel series a baby kitten dies. I will force myself to watch this in case it exceeds expectations. But come on, no more prequels. Lets show some originality.
posted by Justinian at 10:09 PM on March 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

I thought this was pretty ok, but I went into it with extremely low expectations - especially with David S Goyer on board as a writer, since given his abysmal track record with Supes he seems like he doesn't have the first clue about what makes people like the character (or how to make an enjoyable blockbuster, for that matter).

Without the Man of Tomorrow actually being present in the show, though, it seems to be more of a semi-dark sci fi show along the lines of the Battlestar Galactica remake, which is a better fit for Goyer's brand of grimdark, dour nonsense. Judging by the first episode they seem to be going for a "game of thrones in space" kind of vibe, with various factions vying for power. The lead character is, if you'll excuse me, super generic, and Adam Strange is underwhelming so far, but the production values are high and the acting seems decent. I found the world-building and some of the side characters pretty interesting, so I'll be sticking around for another few episodes at least.
posted by whir at 7:45 PM on March 23, 2018

I just caught it out of morbid curiosity, and... yeah, dunno. This is a well-worn concept, and I'm not sure Krypton's bringing any new life to it. Among similar stories I can think of offhand, down to Brainiac being involved:

- This fanfic that I first saw someplace on Mefi.

- This this episode of Superman: TAS.

I hope they're going to do something more interesting down the line, and I'll stick it out a little ways to check, but I don't have high hopes.
posted by mordax at 6:32 PM on March 24, 2018

Who is this show for? Because I love Superman so much as a character (I am literally typing this while wearing a Superman S-logo shirt) and I can hardly be moved enough to watch the entire pilot. Superman, when done correctly, is about what it means to be good. It's about how, even if a person is superpowered and nigh-on invulnerable, approaching this world with optimism and good faith is an act of heroism. And this? This is some recycled early 2000's grimdark horseshit.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:22 PM on August 11, 2019