COLUMN: Big-time heroes turning to the small screen
Despite the recent box office success of Marvel Entertainment’s “Ghost Rider” film and the highly anticipated release of “Spiderman 3” on the horizon, many media analysts have predicted that the Golden Age of successful superhero films may be coming to end.
That is, of course, after 2008, a year crowded with sequels and spin-offs including Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins,” sequel “The Dark Knight,” and the Hugh Jackman-helmed “Wolverine” spin-off.
Even though there appears to be no shortage of big screen spandex-clad shenanigans for the time being, the analysts might still be right because the real draw for comic book fans and mainstream film-goers curious about the most prevalent icons of modern pop culture mythology may lie no further than the television set.
By trading in their swanky tights and epic budgets for clever character deconstruction and intimate, serialized storytelling, the heroes of the small screen just might upstage their marquee-adorning counterparts and imbue the television landscape with a few extraordinary powers of their own.
Despite the nation’s current cultural obsession with flamboyant costumes, special abilities and alter-egos, well-received television outings inspired by the panels of comic books aren’t exactly a recent development.
In the 1950s, George Reeves brought the Americana-derived majesty and magic of Superman to life and defined the Man of Steel for the first generation of television viewers in “The Adventures of Superman.”
Inspired by the art deco design movement, the Fleischer cartoons of the 1940s, and Japanese anime, Bruce Timm’s Emmy-award-winning ’90s series “Batman: The Animated Series” completely revolutionized American animation and, to this day, remains the definitive interpretation of the Dark Knight, on both the small and big screen.
Also, partially inspired by the exploits of Kitty Pryde of X-Men fame, Joss Whedon’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and its prematurely cancelled spin-off “Angel” combined witty dialogue and flawless characterization with challenging supernatural metaphors to form two of the greatest genre shows of all time.
But even though each of these groundbreaking series furthered the potential for comic book-inspired storytelling on television, they were unable to bring mainstream popularity to the superhero genre the same way that Bryan Singer’s “X-Men” films and Sam Raimi’s “Spiderman” series were able to bring people who had never picked up a comic book in their life to the theatre.
Although the television interpretations of DC’s big two appealed to adults, they were definitely intended for a younger audience, and while Whedon’s snarky slayer gained status as a pop culture icon, her television outings were never able to gain widespread popularity despite developing a loyal cult following.
But, with the growing box office success of superhero films guaranteeing the continual presence of costumed crime-fighting in the public’s collective unconscious, it would only be a matter of time before the concept would find an audience on the small screen.
And good timing is precisely what “Heroes” creator Tim Kring attributes to the success of NBC’s new breakout hit. That, and the fact that the taught, focused narrative of Kring’s super-powered drama has made short form, comic-book style storytelling format accessible to anyone. A must-watch series filled with captivating twists and jaw-dropping cliffhangers, “Heroes” reinterprets the idea of ordinary human beings obtaining special abilities in the same vein as Alan Moore’s landmark graphic novel “Watchmen,” by focusing on how these new abilities change the character’s lives in a very realistic and compelling fashion.
And for viewers who have grown weary of shows that seem to move at a glacial pace and make it a habit of keeping everybody in the dark when it comes to resolving key issues or answering important questions (I’m looking at you, “Lost”), “Heroes” is a breath of fresh air.
With complex tales that move at breakneck speed and leave you wanting more before the oh-so-inevitable “to be continued…” key hits the screen, “Heroes” never misses a beat and essentially serves as a lesson in ingenious pacing.
Another highlight of the popular series is the “heroes” themselves. From Peter Petrelli, an idealistic hospice nurse who discovers that he can to absorb the abilities of others like a sponge, to Matt Parkman, an LAPD cop that can hear peoples’ thoughts, the show’s relatable ensemble expands on the everyman concept introduced by Stan Lee with Spiderman’s alter-ego Peter Parker.
The standout performances on the show, however, belong to Masi Oka as affable time-traveling geek Hiro Nakamura and Hayden Panetierre as the indestructible cheerleader Claire Bennet. Nakamura’s journey with his loyal companion Ando is filled with great comedic moments and poignant heroic truisms while Claire’s strained relationship with her father, an enigmatic Atticus Finch-type “paper salesman” with unclear motives and a mysterious connection to many of the show’s key players, provides the series with an emotional core and some of the first season’s most heartbreaking moments.
But while “Heroes” represents the finest comic-to-television outing on the tube right now, it’s not the only showcase of small screen superheroics worth watching.
When it premiered on the WB in the fall of 2001, “Smallville” achieved the highest ratings that the teen-oriented network had yet to receive, a feat that was recently bested by the premiere of the show’s fifth season. While the series that reimagined Clark Kent’s teenaged adventures in the rural Kansas town started out strong by incorporating elements from Kent’s Silver Age origin story, including his childhood friendship with Lex Luthor, it soon became clear that the Teen of Steel’s on-and-off-again relationship with doe-eyed crush Lana Lang and the constant recurrence of “freak-of-the-week” villainy would become the show’s Kryptonite.
After a fourth season that was mired by an especially weak seasonal arc with witches, the series started to get back on track during a mythos-building fifth season, and the show is currently in its most thrilling and creatively inspired incarnation yet.
With the addition Jimmy Olsen (played to quirky perfection by Aaron Ashmore, the brother of Shawn “Iceman” Ashmore) as fan-favorite gal pal Chloe Sullivan’s love interest, the assembly of a prototype Justice League thanks to Errol Flynn-inspired, semi-regular Oliver Queen, and Lex Luthor’s actual transformation into the most iconic supervillain around, season six has certainly put the “super” back in the show.
-mackp@cc.usu.edu