Gotham in the Media

[Athena]

Before Batman

[Camera One]

Thanks for doing this!

Maybe this can be called the Anticipation Thread, for discussion before the show actually premieres in the fall.  Down the line, once plot-specific spoilers come out, a Spoiler thread could be made.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Camera One

[Athena]

Or perhaps this could be the Small Talk thread or an S1 General thread? That way we can repurpose it once the show airs.

[David T. Cole]

Feel free to start small talk, character thread, etc!

[Styrofoam Tokyo]

Hi guys, me from TWoP, Something awesome I just found is finally some confirmation of the Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen casting being real! Set pics of them with Gordon! 

http://www.onlocationvacations.com/2014/03/27/photos-of-ben-mckenzie-filming-gotham-in-nyc/

[Tableau]

I hope they keep the filming in New York for this. I'm sick of seeing Vancouver in all my shows. It's a pretty city but you can only film it differently so many times...

[Camera One]

Having lived in Vancouver, I must agree.  It's hard to imagine a city you know well as an imaginary place.  Especially for a show like Gotham which would be largely set in an urban/downtown/gritty inner city setting.  It works better for a show like "Once Upon a Time" which has more scenes out in the wilderness.  I think the worst use of Vancouver was "Alcatraz".  I literally could not buy that was San Francisco when I could recognize all the places.

Edited March 29, 2014 by Camera One

[Raachel2008]

Word to filming in New York. Gotham needs some that gritty quality New York has in spades.

[David T. Cole]

The worst use of Vancouver was in Rumble in the Bronx. THE BRONX. There were so many scenes with mountains in the background.

Personally I'm really sick of prequels so my excitement level is low on this one but maybe they will play fast and loose with the established storyline?

[Camera One]

Yeah, the problem with prequels is a lot of the suspense is just gone.  Plus the writers need to balance keeping things accurate for the deeply knowledgeable fans of the source material, while using their creativity to try to keep things fresh.  

I almost wish a show would say they are portraying an the alternate universe of what might have happened... that the Bruce Wayne might not have become Batman in this universe, or he might have turned into a different type of Batman.

[MarkHB]

Some official sites for the show:

http://www.fox.com/gotham

https://twitter.com/Gotham

https://www.facebook.com/GOTHAMonFOX

http://gothamfox.tumblr.com/

 

Also, GothamSite.com has an article that relays an official WB press release with capsule biographies of the 5 characters we've seen official photos of so far, as well as including all 5 of said photos.

Edited March 31, 2014 by MarkHB

[Styrofoam Tokyo]

Thanks for the links! :)

[MarkHB]

Well, Trini Girl gathered them back at TWoP; I just reposted them here. So thanks, but most of the credit is hers. :)

[thuganomics85]

Looks like we're going to be getting The Riddler in this, as well.

[Danny Franks]

It seems to me that the main problem this show is going to have is similar to that of Agents of SHIELD. That is, people will be asking, 'okay, but where's Batman?' when he doesn't show up by the third or fourth episode.

I think they're setting themselves up for a fall by having little kid Bruce Wayne appear as well, because on the one hand, that creates an expectation that you're going to follow this kid on his journey to being Batman, and on the other hand, people remember The Phantom Menace, and how dreams can be shattered when little kid versions of eminently cool, mystique filled characters are introduced.

I do like the idea of Selina as a mouthy little thief who Gordon tries to reform, on and off. Someone on the TWoP forum said something about seeing her and Harvey trading insults whenever she's dragged into the precinct, and I think that's a cool idea. The girl they've cast looks every bit the cocky young rapscallion, as well. Plus, she's wearing a costume that references goggles Catwoman, and that's awesome.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I was set to NOT watch this show. But I saw the trailer and I was intrigued. I think Donal Logue is perfect casting for Bullock if they couldn't get original Robert Costanzo. Sue me, yeah, yeah, he's probably too old, but I would have liked to have seen it.

 

But then I saw this article where the show runner is boasting that this show is much better than The Dark Knight, and that the kid playing Bruce is the bestest, most talented actor evah! Which just smacks of arrogance and hubris, if you ask me.  Here is the article.

[MarkHB]

Reposting from TWoP: Mondays at 8 Pm, paired with Sleepy Hollow.  For a show that looks to skew male (particularly if it's going to spend much time as a gritty violent cop show), facing Monday Night Football seems like a bad plan.  Plus, of course, it's up against The Voice and the remnants of DWTS which will be pulling female viewers.

Also, here's the first cast photo.  Between this and the new background on the @Gotham Twitter account, I'm worried about the prevalence of Easter eggs.  (For those who hadn't seen it, the old Twitter background was the skyline from the logo, without the logotype.)

[MarkHB]

Also: we have 16 episodes!

[janie jones]

Also, here's the first cast photo.  Between this and the new background on the @Gotham Twitter account, I'm worried about the prevalence of Easter eggs.

What's the Easter egg in this picture?

[MarkHB]

It's great to see you again, janie!  I hope you're well.

 

I was referring to all the villain references in the cast photo: the penguin poster, question mark graffiti, the cat in the alley below Selina, young Miss Ivy holding a flower, and lurking above everything, that weird pink thing on top of the building (which I couldn't initially make out until I saw a higher-res version of the pic) is a neon sign for a casino.... depicting a fan of playing cards with the Joker on top.  That same sign appears in the new "Gotham" skyline pics along with "Ivy Towers" and the "? Hotel".  I'm sure there are other hints in the skyline but I haven't been able to find them.

 

Also, there's a new "First Look" video with some showrunner commentary and additional clips beyond what was in the trailer.

[Kromm]

I was set to NOT watch this show. But I saw the trailer and I was intrigued. I think Donal Logue is perfect casting for Bullock if they couldn't get original Robert Costanzo. Sue me, yeah, yeah, he's probably too old, but I would have liked to have seen it.

I dunno.  I can't see this as working for what a live action show needed.

 

Reposting from TWoP: Mondays at 8 Pm, paired with Sleepy Hollow.  For a show that looks to skew male (particularly if it's going to spend much time as a gritty violent cop show), facing Monday Night Football seems like a bad plan.  Plus, of course, it's up against The Voice and the remnants of DWTS which will be pulling female viewers.

Also, here's the first cast photo.  Between this and the new background on the @Gotham Twitter account, I'm worried about the prevalence of Easter eggs.  (For those who hadn't seen it, the old Twitter background was the skyline from the logo, without the logotype.)

Speaking of cast photos, and speaking of the female demographic... where the heck is Renee Montoya in that photo?  Is she not main cast?  I mean I suppose I could believe it, if we didn't have freaking Lil' Poison Ivy in that instead.

Edited May 14, 2014 by Kromm

[MarkHB]

Montoya, Crispus Allen and Edward Nygma are apparently listed as "guest stars" in the pilot, but they have been upgraded to full cast members as of this week.  Still no official cast portraits of them yet.

[janie jones]

I was referring to all the villain references in the cast photo: the penguin poster, question mark graffiti, the cat in the alley below Selina, young Miss Ivy holding a flower, and lurking above everything, that weird pink thing on top of the building (which I couldn't initially make out until I saw a higher-res version of the pic) is a neon sign for a casino.... depicting a fan of playing cards with the Joker on top.  That same sign appears in the new "Gotham" skyline pics along with "Ivy Towers" and the "? Hotel".  I'm sure there are other hints in the skyline but I haven't been able to find them.

Oh, I see.  I'd noticed the penguin but not much else.

 

And hi!  I knew I'd see you around here!

[Lisin]

[MarkHB]

Canadians; CTV has picked up the show for this fall.  No word on the precise scheduling.

[Trini]

This is set in the 'present day', right? Like Smallville was? (Even though it about the backstory)

[Kromm]

This is set in the 'present day', right? Like Smallville was? (Even though it about the backstory)

I don't think it is.  The design/architecture and clothes all seem past-ish.  I think it will be vague about exactly when, but I think for example that we might not see smartphones or public Internet or social media, although I suppose it might be a bit harder to tell a story without cellphones and any computers at all, so maybe they could vaguely settle it as a few decades back more through implication.

[MarkHB]

From some of the set photos that came out around the pilot, I think they may be going for the same sort of timelessness that was used in Burton's Batman... a story that mostly felt "today-ish" even if it didn't quite look it.  I really hope they can pull it off, because establishing that peculiar "feel" is going to be key to this show working (IMHO).

[Kromm]

From some of the set photos that came out around the pilot, I think they may be going for the same sort of timelessness that was used in Burton's Batman... a story that mostly felt "today-ish" even if it didn't quite look it.  I really hope they can pull it off, because establishing that peculiar "feel" is going to be key to this show working (IMHO).

Burton had it a lot easier though.  First there's the issue of cell phones.  In the late 80s they were a luxury item at best and showing a population without them didn't imply what it would today (when they are ubiquitous).  Second, not so much computers, but The Internet (and by extension Social Media).  They set the time and place of modernity very clearly, as does NOT showing them.  There's a definite choice implicit in if we see them or not.  Thirdly, automobiles.  While cars already looked different in the late 80s from the vague 1960s and earlier styles that imply "old timey", you could mask that easier in the 1980s than you could today, where even the sight of a single old-timey looking vehicle is an anomaly on a street (in other words, a few extra decades makes seeing those cars even more ridiculous). The choice of what cars we see matters to a degree in how we are supposed to interpret the show, even if they go with the most generic vehicles possible.

[Camera One]

That's a good point.  It is harder to make it "timeless" in regards to technology, especially smartphones, which would change how investigations are carried out.

[Kromm]

Oh, and come to think of it, there's even something as minor as using a physical newspaper as your representation of the media.  Today it would be a webpage, and vaguely a few years ago you'd probably use a news anchor speaking.  Old Timey is a physical newspaper with a headline.  Like this:

 

http://imgur.com/6RcNXeh (warning: I just realized this photo is very very very spoilery, but I can assure you it shows a character on the Gotham TV show holding a physical newspaper, so I replaced the inline photo with a link)

 

Although it IS worth noting that the photo on the newspaper is COLOR.  A technology which implies SOME degree of modernity--or at the very least some kind of purposeful hybrid of past and present.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Kromm

[The Crazed Spruce]

I've got a nice, shiny blue plastic portrait of Sir Wilfred Laurier that says that they keep the gothic look for the architecture, fashion, and vehicles, but use modern cell phones, computers, and social media.

[Chas411]

I hadn't huge interest in this but myself and my boyfriend were very intrigued by the trailer and since we rarely like the same shows we decided to give it a go..

[MarkHB]

With the press screening of the pilot, some new info has surfaced.  This review contains some minor spoilers, and there are a couple of interviews with Bruno Heller, of which I really liked the second (or at least the points he made in it):

Danny: It is daunting but the way to take it on is not to go, “Here it is” but “Here it might be. Wait, it’s not that. It’s something else. Wait, it’s not even that.” I think that is the greatest tribute to the Joker, the fact that you may think it’s one thing, it ends up being something else because that guy, I think should never be able to be figured out.

[MarkHB]

Another new commercial (30 secs. is too short to be a "trailer" IMHO), this one focusing on the villains:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=islRZ_ygKk8

[Kromm]

Hmm.  So Catwoman is fated to be a baddie again?  They're so back and forthy with that.

[janie jones]

The girl who plays Catwoman doesn't look human.

[MarkHB]

There are a bunch of photos of the cast from the pilot screening at GothamSite.com.  No spoilers.

[Nutjob]

To me, the girl who's playing Catwoman looks like she could be Michelle Pfeiffer as a kid. Great casting with that one.

[MarkHB]

To me, the girl who's playing Catwoman looks like she could be Michelle Pfeiffer as a kid. Great casting with that one.

She's a damn good dancer, too... I have no doubts she'll be able to bring off "cat-like" in front of the camera.  I think she has "breakout star" potential from this.

[MarkHB]

Anyone in the New York area: there is an open casting call for Gotham tomorrow looking for paid extras.  They're looking for all ages and ethnicities, but it seems there's also a specific call for teenagers.  Good luck!

[MarkHB]

HitFix has an interview with Danny Cannon, the director of the pilot.  While most of the press/blog mentions the interview has gotten revolve around Cannon's desire to introduce Mr. Freeze at some point, the rest reinforces my view that TPTB on this series at least have a solid, workable vision.  I love this line:

 

I'd watched "Serpico" again when I heard the concept, and "The French Connection" and "The Warriors," and I said, "If New York had not been gentrified, if there was no Koch, if there was no Bloomberg, if there was no Guiliani, and New York had just spiraled downwards after 1979..." we were very interested in that. That was Gotham to us.

 

Mild Spoiler warning (more to do with the structure of the pilot than actual content): the interview gives away that

the first scene of the pilot is the Wayne murders

.

[Trini]

Posters/ads of the cast have been released (can't put a link right now) and confirms that kid!Poison Ivy is named "Ivy Pepper" instead of "Pamela Isley".

I think it's silly that they changed her name. I assume it's for the audience to recognize that she grows up to became Poison Ivy. But it's redundant since they already picked the most recognizable/familiar villains for the cast. And no one else got a name change.

-------

Since I'm here...

Judging from marketing/promotion so far, it looks like WB/DC/Fox are fairly committed to making sure Gotham does well. Unless it totally bombs in the first season, I assume this will get at least two seasons.

Also, I hope that the producers and writers take into account that they have several child actors as regulars; because growth spurts are real.

[MarkHB]

Posters/ads of the cast have been released (can't put a link right now) and confirms that kid!Poison Ivy is named "Ivy Pepper" instead of "Pamela Isley".

I think it's silly that they changed her name. I assume it's for the audience to recognize that she grows up to became Poison Ivy. But it's redundant since they already picked the most recognizable/familiar villains for the cast. And no one else got a name change.

-------

Since I'm here...

Judging from marketing/promotion so far, it looks like WB/DC/Fox are fairly committed to making sure Gotham does well. Unless it totally bombs in the first season, I assume this will get at least two seasons.

Also, I hope that the producers and writers take into account that they have several child actors as regulars; because growth spurts are real.

Here's the link to the posters.  I've seen photos of them on doors, presumably in NYC.  And yes, the Ivy name change is irritating.

 

So far as growth spurts go, I'm hoping young Master Masouz wants to grow up into a Perfectly Pumped-Up Man, because no one is going to believe a Batman who's built like Screech.

 

@Trini, are you the former Trinigirl from That Other, Deceased Forum?

[Trini]

Heh, yeah. I'm Trini Girl in the afterlife. :)

------

Ben McKenzie interview.

[MarkHB]

Cast interview, courtesy of DC:

[Trini]

Copying from the Spoiler thread since these aren't spoilers:

Villains trailer, focusing on Oswald, Selina and Fish ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gyj4wVNBJc

Eight character posters (including Edward and Ivy) ...

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=119905

[Kromm]

Those posters aren't bad until you get to Edward Nygma's.  Where his tie has question marks.  Ugh.  Does the phrase "too on the nose" mean anything to you, Fox?  Almost as bad is Selina with a cat in the picture.  The googles were fine, but the cat is too much.  Although at least you could explain that as "well, we know she likes cats!"  I don't know if you can explain Edward's tie as "well, we know he likes question marks!"  That's just silly for the proto-version.

And yes, Ivy with her namesake plant. Ugh.  Again, I suppose it could be explained (if they care, since it's just representational) as "she feels a kinship with her namesake".  Then again, her name wasn't even Ivy until the show changed it!

What they missed out on was having a bat flying behind Lil' Brucey's head.  Or perhaps a bat-pattern on his tie.  {snerk}

[MarkHB]

My hunch is that the network thought the names Nygma, Kyle and "Ivy Pepper" wouldn't necessarily connect with the passers-by  I bet if you went up to 10 people on the street who had seen The Dark Knight Rises, they'd identify Anne Hathaway's character as Catwoman and only 1 would even recognize the name Selina Kyle.

[darkestboy]

I still think changing her name to Ivy Pepper is silly but I like the question marks on Edward's tie though. They're not that bad. I actually didn't notice them the first time I saw his character poster though.