Super Saturdays: Plastic Man

Hi and welcome of SUPER SATURDAYS here on Soothsayer Reviews. Each Saturday we will look at a lost Saturday Morning TV show like the good old days. We’ll take adventures with Tarzan: Lord of the Jungle, bounce around with the Gummi Bears, explore a forgotten world with Thundarr the Barbarian and cry at the moon with Fangface. These are just some of the forgotten characters we will revisit. This week we take a look at DC Comics comedian Plastic Man.

The Plastic Man Comedy Hour ran on ABC from 1979 to 1981. The series was a anthology show that featured other Ruby-Spears characters in the hour-long show.

This formula became popular during the time with shows like Superfriends, Flintstone Kids and the Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour.

Plastic Man was created in 1941 by Jack Cole for Quality Comics then DC Comics.

He was different than the average superhero because he was played more for laughs and his supporting players looked like they were pulled from the newspaper funny pages.

His origin tells of a two-bit crook Eel O’Brien who is dosed with an acidic concoction that allows him to stretch his body into anything he can imagine.

The only thing is when Plas stretches each object retains the same color as Plastic Man’s uniform.

After he was transformed Plas used his secret identity as a crook to spy on criminal activity and thwart the villains as Plastic Man. He teamed up with his oafish sidekick Woozy Winks.

Lost Pilots #9: Wonder Woman Pilot

Back in the 1970s, Lynda Carter became a household name when she slipped on a star-spangled bustier and deflected bullets with her silver bracelets. Wonder Woman in the 1970s revolutionized TV much like Batman in the 60s and Superman in 50s had done so before her. She was everywhere.

Looking back at that show today it is full of cheese, some implied domination & submission and well the radiance of the show’s star. But because it was cheesy and never took itself seriously it fit right in with the other hits of that decade such as “The Bionic Woman” and “Six Million Dollar Man”. These shows were outright fantasy and that is what made them so much fun.

Flashforward four decades later and a world tarnished by 9/11, how do you take a character like “Wonder Woman” and make her credible in today’s world?

NBC wanted to jump on the superhero bandwagon. They had success with their first season of Heroes but that show lost it’s way. They brought out the Heroes replacement series “The Cape” which in any person’s book was very laughable. NBC was in desperate need of a hit so they turned to “Ally McBeal” and “Boston Legal” creator David E Kelley. They trusted in David to find a way to bring the lasso-wielding heroine into the modern age.

Kelley has always been very gifted with creating quirky, well-written characters from James Spader’s Alan Shore to Peter MacNicol’s John Cage. His dialogue, character development and depiction of women has kept him as one of Hollywood’s hottest showrunner/creators since the mid-80′s with L.A. Law.

Kelley’s Wonder Woman pilot is kind of like a little kid lost in the woods. It screams for its mommy, it’s filled with unanswered questions, and well it doesn’t know what to do about the big bear in the room.

It’s mommy is David E Kelley and the bear is all the things the writer avoided and didn’t even bother addressing. Like how did Diana come to the world of men? Does Paradise Island even exist? The pilot tells no origin at all!

In the pilot, Wonder Woman is a corporation. WW sells products and most importantly Barbie Dolls to fund her crime stopping missions. Then because living in the lap of luxury is totally horrible, WW becomes Diana Prince who lives in a deadbeat apartment where she eats bon-bons and cries at newscasts with her kitty.

On top of all this the pilot’s main plot has Wonder Woman thwarting the evil mastermind became a cosmetics firm headed by Liz Hurley.

If I know David E Kelley, his quirkiest character on this show if it went to series was going to be WW’s CEO and basically confidante played by Cary Elwes. That character was all Kelley unfortunately nothing else in this pilot was.

I liked that they tried to blend WW into the real world and some of the pilot does show that transition is possible but no one, I mean no one, who was involved with this project knew anything about the character and that is plainly obvious.

There are lots of great actresses out there who could play Wonder Woman (Bridget Regan, I am still talking about you!) and it is no wonder so many of them refused to play the character when she was written this bad and all over the place. Adrianne Palicki, who plays WW in the pilot, isn’t at fault here. The concept is just all out of whack.

WW’s origin is kind of a cool one. Start there next time, make WW rebellious against her people and has to defend man. Make her strong, opinionated and have a presence. Make her costume more adaptable. Have more than one for different occasions. There have been more practical WW designs in the past and establish it early that the uniform is from Paradise Island.

Anyway it was really interesting to see what went wrong and how they tackled each question. I would have done it differently but I am a comic geek.

http://www.movieweb.com/v/VIpjrVh6VdJQtq

Lost Pilots #8: Buffy Animated Pilot

The second unaired pilot came in 2001 and it was for a proposed animated series where Whedon got the cast, except Sarah Michelle Gellar, to be voice actors for the series.

The series was proposed to Fox Kids but didn’t see the light of day when Fox Kids ceased operations. Fox tried to sell it to other networks but nothing materialized.

The series was supposed to take place between season one, episodes 7 and 8 so that no contradiction in future events or a disruption in the continuity of the show would occur. Thirteen scripts were written for the series with various Buffy writers contributing including Jane Espensen, Steven DeKnight and Doug Petrie. The pilot was written by comic book writer Jeph Loeb and Joss Whedon.

The series style would be vastly influenced by the Batman: The Aminated Series style, one of Whedon’s favorite cartoons, and co-creator of that series Bruce Timm was even brought in to do concept sketches.

It took almost seven years, August 2008, before fans were able to catch a glimpse of the animated version of Buffy. An almost 4 minute version of the pilot leaked onto the Internet and Buffy fans went wild as they thought new life had come to the franchise.

Why they never took another run at this concept recently I don’t know. Joss Whedon is having huge success with his Buffy Season 8 comics at Dark Horse Comics and if Mel Brooks can get Cartoon Network to make a Spaceballs animated series they would lap this series up like a cat to cream.

We need a Buffy animated series and who cares when it takes place in continuity. One idea might be to take the Dark Horse comics and turn them into scripts or revisit the 13 lost scripts from this series. At least give us an animated movie? Actually that is an untapped market that Fox hasnt looked into yet, taking their franchises and turning them into DVD animated movies. (ie: Buffy, Serenity, Alien, Predator, etc) Warner Bros and Disney are making money hand over fist that way.

Anyway of the almost 4 minutes I saw, I am drooling for more especially if they could coax someone like Bruce Timm to show-run the series.

Pilot Score: 4 out of 5 (based on potential)

Four-minutes of the series can be seen on HERE.

Lost Pilots #7: Buffy Unaired Live-Action Pilot

After Buffy the Vampire Slayer feature film failed to generate any box office, Joss Whedon took the concept to the newly formed WB network. His first pilot for the proposed series had the same snappy dialogue, a new stronger leading lady (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and a new mentor (Anthony Head).

What was gone from feature version was the overly silly humor, a laughable high school boyfriend and well taskmaster Donald Sutherland.

The first pilot also introduced the Scooby Gang but with noticeable differences, well, Alyson Hannigan wasnt in the original pilot and Joss Whedon directed this pilot opposed to the one that actually aired.

The pilot opens with two high school students breaking into their school’s theatre. One of those students would become very well known to Buffy fans later on as Darla, or actress Julie Benz. The whole plot of the pilot revolves around Darla coming to Sunnydale.

The pilot then shifts to Buffy walking up the steps at the high school where she meets the principal (Stephen Tobolowsky). Its quite funny as he keeps screwing up her name and there is so much foreshadowing to where the series is going. Tobolowsky would be replaced later with Armin Shimerman.

Riff Regan, the original Willow

The next scene is of Willow and Xander. Original Willow is played by Riff Regan, was over-weight, brainy, awkward and insecure. (even more than the Hannigan version) The actress playing Willow didn’t really bring any depth to the character in the pilot and you can see why she was recast. In every scene, she just smiles and drops her chin shyly. Other than Willow you have all the regular cast in the pilot Cordelia, Rupert Giles, Harmony, etc.

One hysterical line comes when the girls in the locker room complaining about the new girl’s name “Buffy, what kind of name is that?” Then the girl turns around and says, “Hi Aphrodisia.” It was that kind of writing that made Joss Whedon huge and its all evident in this pilot.

The unaired pilot is only 25 minutes but it does show the brilliance of the show before it even really emerged. The tweaking with the concept and how Joss Whedon moved the tone of the whole concept makes this pilot way, way superior than the feature film. But a lot of that recognition can be awarded to Joss Whedon taking a chance on a cast unknowns. That is the brilliance of this pilot as you can see just how raw Buffy was in the beginning and how it all paid off.

I am not sure why this pilot never ended up on the Buffy DVD sets. Maybe we will see it when Buffy moves to Blu-Ray.

Pilot Score: 4.5 out of 5

The pilot can be seen here:

Movie Review: Witchblade Pilot

“Witchblade” is the flagship comic series of Top Cow Productions which is a subsidiary of Image Comics. Created by Marc Silvestri, the term “witchblade” refers to a mystical gauntlet that protects its wearer from harm. Designed and honed by women this ancient treasure finds its way into the life of a reluctant cop named Sara Pezzini (Yancy Butler).

Stuggling to unlock the power of the gauntlet, Sara butts heads with billionaire Kenneth Irons (Anthony Cistano) and his mysterious enforcer Ian Nottingham (Eric ‘Kaos’ Eteban). Irons unlock part of the history behind the gauntlet exclaiming that it Sara’s destiny to wear the gauntlet.

The Witchblade Tele-movie is one of the best comic adaptation television movies in recent memory. The way the film flows and really brings out a lot of panache in its cast reminded me of the magic when I first saw “The Flash” speed across TV screens in the early nineties. It really is too bad the series didn’t live up to the quality of the pilot.

As a fan of the on-going comic series I did love that they made the characters and gauntlet more realistic but didn’t steal from the mystery or energy surrounding the “witchblade”. I liked how the director would give Sara flashes into the history of the witchblade as the mystery slowly unfolded. You would salivate as you saw a glimpse of  a Joan of Arc-type warrior wielding the gauntlet as she fought an epic battle. Loved these period flashbacks.

You really have to admire the production team and the casting people. A lot of the characters really don’t envelope the look of the comic characters but instead pave a new direction and look for them I liked this aspect because it didn’t fail like a lot adaptations but instead helped the project. One of these changes was the character of Ian Nottingham played by Eric Esteban.

In the comicbook Ian Nottingham is always dressed in a long flowing oriental coat with long jet black hair. To allow him to blend into the atmosphere of modern day Chicago, actor Esteban sports a black toque and long flowing trenchcoat. The actor’s eyes and presence capture Nottingham’s essence without the infamous wardrobe. Esteban really does a wonderful job fleshing out the tortured Nottingham. He was incredible to watch.

A couple notes that I found annoying was the “boy-toy”/partner David Chokachi who is an ex-surfer who is trying to help Sara while he harbors a secret desire for her. This character was a nuisance and very poorly written. He could have been dropped.

It originally ran on TNT and Witchblade had a great potential to be a good solid sci-fi show. There was a lot of room for a female based hero audience in syndication since it debuted right after Xena died. But really after it went to series the show itself turned into one of the worst written shows on TV right alongside crap like John Woo’s Once a Thief and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. Well it also didnt help that star Yancy Butler was also fighting off some demons of her own in her personal life. It wore out it’s welcome as fast as Mutant X did for me with Episode 3.

Tele-movie: 4 out of 5

Series: 2 out of 5

So Says the Soothsayer

Note: The Witchblade Complete Series is now available on DVD.

Lost Pilots #6: Birds of Prey Unaired Pilot

Birds of Prey is sort of legendary among geeks. The concept was make a Batman television series ala Smallville but without Batman. So the focus shifted to Barbara Gordon (aka Batgirl, aka Oracle) and then the muscle came from the supposed daughters of Black Canary and, well Batman himself. And bingo, you have three lovely femme fatales who fight crime in the spirit of Batman.

The original pilot for the 13-episode series was very elaborate and well very well could have been the best pilot The WB produced besides Smallville. The pilot opens with Helena Kyle (Ashley Scott) screaming as her mother’s murderer runs away from the scene. Then it cuts Barbara Gordon (Dina Meyer) in the shower as she has flashbacks to her and Batman fighting the Joker.

A voice on the TV announces that the woman murdered was Selina Kyle (Catwoman). But just when you thought it couldnt get any darker, Barbara races to the front door and the Joker appears and shoots her. It is quite a cryptic and gothic setup for the series.

Just the visuals on the opening scene, the Joker’s line of “Knock, Knock” (sounding a lot like Mark Hamill’s Joker from the cartoon), the trail of blood as it spills towards thebat symbol and Batgirl’s mask. This is a brilliant take on Batman lore and set the tone for the series.

The series takes place seven years after the events of the opening. Dinah (Rachel Skarsten) is a lost innocent, Helena is in therapy and Barbara is dealing with being in a wheelchair.

The first season villain was setup to be Helena psychologist, Harlequin (in the unaired it’s Sherilyn Fenn, network pilot it’s Mia Sara). Kind of like the big season baddie Buffy the Vampire Slayer used to have per season. The series also introduces us to a very young Dinah Lance (aka Black Canary) who eventually becomes the ward of Barbara Gordon.

One more secret is dropped that Helena is the love child of Batman & Catwoman and that Barbara Gordon is also Helena’s ward. It is explained that Helena didn’t go live with Batman because when her mother was murdered Batman had no idea he had a kid and she was okay with that.

But what is so much better about this version of the pilot is how they setup up the aired version is just how much these characters feel like the comic book not WB versions.

Sure they gave Helena “cat-like” powers and Dinah psychic powers. But if the show started with this version of the pilot instead of the watered down version. I really believe that this show could have become as successful as Smallville. It was all there!

Pilot Score: 4 out of 5.

Note: You can find the unaired pilot on the Birds of Prey: Complete Series DVD set.

Lost Pilot #5: Greatest American Heroine

The Greatest American Hero has become one of most beloved cult shows of the 80s. What made the show so special was the chemistry of the cast, the comedy and the zany twist on superheroes. The series ran three seasons on ABC from 1981 to 1983.

In 1986, Stephen J Cannell pitched a new version of the show to rival network NBC who was just having bonanza success with Cannell’s The A-Team.

The new series would change the lead character from a man to a woman. The plot would see Cannell reassemble all the lead players to set up the sequel series.

William Katt

Ralph Hinkley (William Katt), the original Greatest American Hero, would see his secret identity exposed and his role as the FBI’s secret weapon cancelled. The sudden revelation to the public also turns Ralph into an instant celebrity and his ego gets out of control. The UFO that gave him the suit comes back and forces Ralph to relinquish the suit and choose a successor.

He picks eco-friendly, spunky teacher, Holly Hathaway (Mary Ellen Stuart) much to the dismay of Bill Maxwell (Robert Culp).

The whole setup for the new series was a slap in the face for William Katt and his on-screen wife, Connie Sellecca. The character of Ralph is bastardized, as if, Ralph would ever let his ego go insane. Plus the character seems to be night and day through 1/2 the pilot. This isn’t the Ralph we  all knew.

Then there is his successor. She’s one of these “save the whales”, “save the environment” woman who has an adoptive daughter and is always happy. This chick comes off like she needs a stiff dose of ridalin, stat! Not to mention she is also a walking stereotype. Oh, their first case, fly up to Newfoundland and “save the whales!” What an awful character and plot, no wonder it never went to series.

Anybody who knows the series will cringe through this whole show. The only saving grace is Robert Culp’s Bill Maxwell who is still one of my favorite TV FBI agents of all time. I love Bill and you can see that with the hero becoming a woman there could be a lot of potential for comedy but why her?

They did do an episode where Ralph’s wife could use the suit, so basically were they looking for that episode to be the basis for the series? Then why not use Connie Sellecca, make Ralph a FBI Agent and keep the team together.

Anyways I loved the series and all I have to say is thank God this show never materialized past the pilot stage.

The pilot is available to watch on the Greatest American Hero First Season DVD release from Anchor Bay.

Pilot Score: 1.5 out of 5

So Says the Soothsayer.

Lost Pilots #4: Justice League of America (1997)

In the spirit of the superhero films The Specials, My Super Ex-Girlfriend and  Zoom, a new superhero pilot surfaced at ABC in 1997. This time they would take the broader approach to superheroes and try to reach a wider audience. To keep comicbook geeks interested they used popular unused DC comic heroes like Flash and Green Lantern and to reach a wider audience they went with zany comedy and sitcom style relationships.

The pilot opens with the evil The Weatherman scaring the city of New Metro by creating a hurricane over it. Each of the Justice League is called in to stop the hurricane from forming. Guy Garder, Green Lantern (Gossip Girl’s Matthew Settle) has to break off a date. Barry Allen, The Flash (Kenny Johnston) is thrown out of his apartment and jobless. BB DaCosta, Fire (Law & Order: SVU’s Michelle Hurd) misses an audition. Then during the crisis, we also see The Atom (John Kassir, who also happens to be the voice of Tales from the Crypt’s Cryptkeeper) who ends up shrinking down so he can go under an old woman’s and get her cat.

Aside from the JLA trying to stopping The Weather Man, the pilot is also the origin story of another Justice Leaguer “Ice” (Kimberly Oja), who becomes the victim of an experiment and become a hero.

There is also the mysterious Martian Manhunter, played by MASH’s David Ogden Stiers, who helps the Justice League scout out baddies.

The best parts of this pilot are, well, Matthew Settle’s Green Lantern at least looks heroic, Kimberly Oja is credible and you also have Miguel Ferrer as the villain and he is always a perfect baddie.

The costumes in this pilot looks like somebody raided the SNL sketch wardrobe department. They are down-right appalling. And this is a shame since this is also the first time we have ever seen a live-action version of Green Lantern or any of these heroes except The Flash. Flash had his own series back in 1990. If you havent seen it I highly recommend you pick up the Flash TV series on DVD if you like superhero TV. It is a cut and above other shows and it is a shame it didn’t last longer.

The production design is appalling and well the script is a huge stinker. With all the effects, this pilot must have cost quite a bit. Who spends that kind of money on this? The script must have been a huge hint to how bad this was going to be.

What I don’t get about this show was why use established heroes that people actually have a lot of affection for. Why not go the route of completely original heroes and then up the humor like they did for The Tick live-action series. This series could have been really interesting if they did go in the style of The Tick.

Pilot Score: 1.5 out of 5

So Says the Soothsayer

Lost Pilots #3: Aquaman

After the smash success of the episode “Aqua” in Smallville’s fifth season which showcased a Smallville-version of Aquaman (played by Will Toale). Producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar pitched an Aquaman spin-off to the WB. The series would be similiar to Smallville in that it would take the DC character of Aquaman, tell his origin and then slowly uncover his powers and his Atlantean heritage as the series went.

The original title for the series was to be Mercy Reef which would be the smalltown that Arthur Curry grew up in among humans.

The network was reluctant to continue with Will Toale as Aquaman so they looked to soap heartthrob Justin Hartley to take the lead. Hartley had the right charisma, physique and wit to charm both the ladies and the boys. After Hartley was cast the producers turned to veteran actor Ving Rhames to play Hartley’s mentor, McCaffrey, who holds an Atlantean secret of his own. To play Hartley’s dad on the show they needed an actor who was part adventurer, part hard-boiled cop. So after his successful run on Numb3rs, Lou Diamond Phillips was cast as the dad.

Hartley’s Arthur Curry (aka Aquaman) was a smart-ass, debonaire and quick to pull the trigger. He was toned down a lot from the eco-revolutionary portrayed in the Smallville episode. We did get that side though as in the opening minutes of the show he arrested for freeing dolphins. But the more the pilot went on there were more sides of the character than we realized.

The pilot was full of high adventure and 20-something angst.  It was very WB and got off to a great start just like the premiere of Smallville. I thought Hartley was perfectly cast as “the king of the seven seas” and I did laugh really hard when I saw him in his orange and green outfits.

I really think Aquaman could have been a great show given the potential shown in the pilot. I am glad that Hartley’s performance in Aquaman did land him the Green Arrow gig in Smallville. I just kind of wish they would have went for his Aquaman instead.

I do hope when Samllville finally has its swansong that they doo look to Hartley again for another spin-off. If we do get a Green Arrow spin-off I hope it goes in the vein of Mike Grell’s The Longbow Hunters and the cast a much sexier Black Canary.

Pilot Score: 4 out of 5.

So Says the Soothsayer

Note: The Aquaman pilot is still available on Youtube.

Lost Pilots #2: LA Confidential: The Series

A pilot based on the feature film LA Confidential was proposed to HBO three years after the Oscar winning film debuted. The 2000 series would being back its three lead detectives, White, Exley and Vincennes as well as scheming tabloid writer Sid Hudgens of Hush Hush Magazine. And for the series we have Kiefer Sutherland playing Jack Vincennes, Josh Hopkins as Budd White, David Conrad as Exley and Pruitt Taylor Vince as Sid Hudgens.

The series was a sort of prequel to the film with Jack Vincennes just starting to go dirty and developing his sleazier motives. Ed Exley is living down his posh Beverly Hills upbringing to become a real detective (this was in the book but skipped over in the film) and Bud White is starting to suffer from flashbacks to his abusive childhood.

On liberty the series takes is Kim Basinger’s part from the movie, Lynn Bracken (Melissa George), arrives in Hollywood fresh off the bus here, where in the film it is only hinted at. Lynn also meets Bud at a party which makes the whole angle on their love affair in the film completely different here. So at some point her new boss Pierce Pratchett (Eric Roberts) will get her cut to look like Veronica Lake. Starting Lynn’s story at her origin is quite an interesting way of bringing the character into the series.

Russell Crowe’s Bud White was easily the most memorable cop in the feature film but the character has been down-graded to a smaller role in the series, as played by Josh Hopkins. He does the best he can with the part but he is easily the most forgettable character in the pilot.

The Vincennes role (Kevin Spacey in the movie) is expanded and seems to be the star of the series and now is played by Kiefer Sutherland. Vincennes seems to be fighting the good fight but the character seems morphed than that of the movie. Sutherland starred in this pilot a year before ”24″ and I really think if he would have played Bud White and Bud was as prominent here as he was in the movie then we may have never seen his Jack Bauer in 24.

David Conrad’s Exley is smarmy and course. But now accented by his lush lifestyle, he is more of a jerk in the series. But the whole rich angle did have great story potential especially with Robert Foxworth playing his father.

Other than trying to enjoy the pilot for what it was, the thing that bugged me the most was how the film was supposed to be set in the 1950s but not for a second did it feel like it. Sure we had the clothes and the old cars but the production design just left us hanging. Then there is the awful side storyline involving Ed Exley helping Marilyn Monroe find her sex tape. That Marilyn has to be the one of the worst versions I have ever seen.

It was an interesting attempt to bring the Oscar-winning movie to the screen. I guess originally it was going to be a 13-part mini-series for HBO but was turned down and then went to Fox who the killed it for the last time. If you are interested in seeing it is on the latest edition LA Confidential on DVD. The two-disc set is available on both DVD and Blu-Ray.

Pilot score: 3 out of 5.