Past Episodes Discussion

[MarkHB]

@GaT : that was in the pilot, and it does make sense because that guy wasn't Kryptonian: it's a time-traveling Adam Strange.

[Chicago Redshirt]

I too wish that there was not the Adam Strange "You must save Superman" gimmick. We in the audience all know that Superman is going to be saved. They don't have the balls (or the corporate permission) to have Seg screw things up to the point of no more Superman. Also, the notion that someone can time/space travel before Krypton's destruction raises a bunch of headaches as to temporal mechanics of all this.

I don't think it's too much to ask for to have the stories of the Els, the Zods and the Vexes (along with whoever else) stand on their own. Like, would this be watching if it were "Notpyrk" and it had to stand on its own? I'm not sure.

Other random thoughts:

Seg looks just like Smallville's Kal-El, Tom Welling. 

I've watched and read a whole bunch of Superman-related stories over the years. I think the Zods (and Lyta's fiance) are only like the second time I remember seeing non-white Kryptonians.  Not sure how I feel about that.

[tv echo]

In Krypton's uneven debut, Superman's grandfather faces his destiny 
Vinnie Mancuso March 21, 2018
https://tv.avclub.com/in-kryptons-uneven-debut-supermans-grandfather-faces-h-1823975404

[shrewd.buddha]

The sets and costume designs were nice. But .. the entire concept and story felt generic and by-the-numbers. It reminded me of the Syfy show  Incorporated and that other show, Da Vinci's Demons.  In just one premiere episode, our hero Seg is saddled with : 

• Remorse : witness to his grandfather's and parents' death.
• A Mortal enemy : The Vex guy, who Seg must constantly endure .. for reasons.
• BFF comic relief sidekick : who happens to be a bartender at their regular hangout - who has access to black market goods when needed.
• Street smarts : Seg is rough and tumble because he was raised in the ghettos. 
• Forbidden love : Seg's one true love is the daughter of the person who killed his parents (within the law). 
• A forced relationship : With the daughter of his sworn enemy 
• Life Mission(s) : Restore family honor. Avenge family deaths. Save Krypton from invasion - in order for it be destroyed as expected. Save future grandson, who will be Superman.
• A doomsday countdown clock : In the form of a slowly disappearing "S" cape.  

That is a lot. I suppose since Krypton is officially doomed, they brought in the time traveling Adam Strange (outfitted with a baseball cap and always-up hoodie, the official uniform of all hip kids from the early 21st century). If Krypton cannot be saved, at least the future can be.  

Tune in each week to see Seg  use his position in the Science Guild to break into X to steal Y in order to prevent/save Z - - always barely avoiding being discovered by his  mortal enemy /father-in-law.  The times will always be desperate - as will the measures needing to be taken.  Alliances will be formed with former enemies, loves and lives will be scarified for the greater good. 

I am hoping Krypton can surpass my lowered expectations. It is said there are no new stories, but there always seem to be shows that manage to avoid or flip most of the standard tropes. (The Expanse, The Alienist ,  The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel , Westworld, etc.) 

Edited March 23, 2018 by shrewd.buddha

[Bort]

I’m thinking the Zods are meant to be the mortal enemy. Makes the romance with the daughter a lot more Romeo and Juliet. Vex is more of a mortal nuisance.

[UNOSEZ]

My takeaway...  Jayna Zod is awesome.. Her daughter is in her I hate my mommy phase... Seg-el is the most basic charming rogue with high morals... Nyssa-vex is already more interesting than the two leads.. Not sure how they're going to characterize Dev-Em if he's gonna be a bad guy so we know lyta and seg should be together or is he a decent guy stuck with a girl who doesn't want him... I'll tune back in next week

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Cameron Cuffe discusses Krypton:

[GaT]

5 hours ago, MarkHB said:

@GaT : that was in the pilot, and it does make sense because that guy wasn't Kryptonian: it's a time-traveling Adam Strange.

He "time travels" to another planet? That makes even less sense to me.

[Mysteyman]

So how did Krypton  do in the ratings?

[rwlevin]

I'm sad. They hired Rupert Graves just to kill him off in the first episode. I guess he cost too much to keep alive, much like Robert Patrick in Stargate: Atlantis

[Trini]

2 hours ago, Mysteyman said:

So how did Krypton  do in the ratings?

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/daily-ratings/wednesday-cable-ratings-march-21-2018/

Quote

Meanwhile, the premiere of SyFy’s Superman prequel series, “Krypton,” landed fairly high in the top 25 of the night, with a 0.4 and 1.32 million viewers. This was on par with several of the network’s other recent premieres, including the debut of “Happy!” late last year. ...

[ACW]

11 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Vex is more of a mortal nuisance.

Hence the name.

[TV Anonymous]

I hate with the fire of a thousand red suns the trope of causal loop. Hate it in the Terminator franchise, hate it here. It is illogical and it makes no sense at all.

[CooperTV]

This should have been on CW. All that teen relationship drama and bad acting of the guy who plays the main character is for CW, not for SyFy.

[FlowerofCarnage]

On 3/22/2018 at 10:38 AM, shrewd.buddha said:

The sets and costume designs were nice. But .. the entire concept and story felt generic and by-the-numbers. It reminded me of the Syfy show  Incorporated and that other show, Da Vinci's Demons.  In just one premiere episode, our hero Seg is saddled with : 

• Remorse : witness to his grandfather's and parents' death.
• A Mortal enemy : The Vex guy, who Seg must constantly endure .. for reasons.
• BFF comic relief sidekick : who happens to be a bartender at their regular hangout - who has access to black market goods when needed.
• Street smarts : Seg is rough and tumble because he was raised in the ghettos. 
• Forbidden love : Seg's one true love is the daughter of the person who killed his parents (within the law). 
• A forced relationship : With the daughter of his sworn enemy 
• Life Mission(s) : Restore family honor. Avenge family deaths. Save Krypton from invasion - in order for it be destroyed as expected. Save future grandson, who will be Superman.
• A doomsday countdown clock : In the form of a slowly disappearing "S" cape.  

That is a lot. I suppose since Krypton is officially doomed, they brought in the time traveling Adam Strange (outfitted with a baseball cap and always-up hoodie, the official uniform of all hip kids from the early 21st century). If Krypton cannot be saved, at least the future can be.  

Tune in each week to see Seg  use his position in the Science Guild to break into X to steal Y in order to prevent/save Z - - always barely avoiding being discovered by his  mortal enemy /father-in-law.  The times will always be desperate - as will the measures needing to be taken.  Alliances will be formed with former enemies, loves and lives will be scarified for the greater good. 

I am hoping Krypton can surpass my lowered expectations. It is said there are no new stories, but there always seem to be shows that manage to avoid or flip most of the standard tropes. (The Expanse, The Alienist ,  The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel , Westworld, etc.) 

The creator of Krypton, David S. Goyer is also the creator of DaVinci's Demons. Lol

[Twilight Man]

On 3/22/2018 at 4:46 PM, rwlevin said:

I'm sad. They hired Rupert Graves just to kill him off in the first episode. I guess he cost too much to keep alive, much like Robert Patrick in Stargate: Atlantis

or Harry Hamlin as Uncle Marty on "Harper's Island" (remember that "gem", folks??)

[MarkHB]

On 3/22/2018 at 1:34 PM, GaT said:

He "time travels" to another planet? That makes even less sense to me.

His normal gig in the comics involves him using a "Zeta beam" to go between Earth and a planet called Rann, where he is a superhero (in a bright red costume with a Rocketeer-style shark fin helmet).  They obviously haven't explained how he's time-traveling in the show yet, but I'm pretty sure he's using the Zeta beam to get to Krypton; there are flashes when he comes in.

[Perfect Xero]

On 3/22/2018 at 8:30 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

I too wish that there was not the Adam Strange "You must save Superman" gimmick. We in the audience all know that Superman is going to be saved. They don't have the balls (or the corporate permission) to have Seg screw things up to the point of no more Superman.

Who knows, maybe this series is actually the explanation for why there's no Superman and Supergirl on the Flash/Arrow Earth.

[thuganomics85]

So, basically this was Game of Krypton, more or less.  I can work with that for now.

Overall, I thought it started slow at first, but it did pick-up as it went on, and I'm curious to see how everything falls into line.  Of course they would have things like a romance between someone from House El and someone from House Zod, because of how awkward it will get once everything that is bound to happen, will happen.  And who does't love the dead parents angle?!  I was wondering how they managed to get both Rupert Graves and Paula Malcomson for this, and that was answered pretty quickly!

Acting wise was a pretty mixed bag.  Seg-El was pretty rough at times.  The actress playing Lyta-Zod was a bit better, but also seemed to be in the feeling out process.  Strange was alright, I guess.  The Vexs were pretty cool (still remember Elliot Cowan from Sinbad almost five years ago.)  And I guess Ian McElhinney a.k.a. good old Barristan Selmy from Game of Thrones is as good of a choice as any to play Supes' great, great grandfather.

Biggest takeaway is that despite the technology and whatnot, Krypton seems like a kind of like a lame civilization.  They don't even allow citizens to have children naturally, but through some binding shit, that also tells parents what their children will become.  That's lame.  But I guess the birth control industry on that planet has to be top of the line!

[UNOSEZ]

3 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Biggest takeaway is that despite the technology and whatnot, Krypton seems like a kind of like a lame civilization.  They don't even allow citizens to have children naturally, but through some binding shit, that also tells parents what their children will become.  That's lame.  But I guess the birth control industry on that planet has to be top of the line!

I think most of that is only in the last generation... Seg was saying to someone he remembered when the binding wasn't mandatory..  And in the beginning of the show Elliot Cowan was telling barristan selmy that the old council wasn't around anymore and that many-face mike was the new man in charge... At least that's how I read it

[Netfoot]

More Comic-book Crapola.  No.

[wayne67]

Honestly this felt kind of underwhelming but the main dude is pretty enough to watch a few more episodes to decide whether it's too terrible to continue with or not. 

[wanderingstar]

On 3/21/2018 at 11:18 PM, mxc90 said:

I'll watch but the plot of Adam Strange going back in time to tell Seg about pending doom, Superman, Earth/Detroit and give him the sun stone cheapens this story. I'd rather see Seg learn what is to come on his own or from his parents.

Yeah, I did not like that part of the story. 

Overall, I liked the episode. The world building was good, and the performances were solid. It was particularly nice to Paula Malcomson (RIP, Charys). 

I will give this at least a couple more episodes.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I thought he gave a decent performance so I know he can act, but he did nothing to elevate the threadbare, cliched rebel bad boy, Seg. Who is so bland and charmless I can't imagine him holding my attention for an entire season.

Boy, you said it. I was almost immediately turned off by the tiresome cliche of "we meet our hero for the first time (after the time jump of course) in the midst of a bar fight." I mean, blecccch. Everything about our introduction to this character was so paint by the numbers, so short-handed, and so shallow, it made me not want to watch the rest of it. As it was, I was barely able to make it all the way through the episode. Still on the fence about watching any more of it. Might give it one more episode, might not. 

I suspect this is another one of those comic book based shows where a lot of it goes over your head if you're not familiar with the comic-verse, and I am not. So a lot of it might be lost on me. 

shrewd.buddha pretty much encapsulated all the tedium with precision:

Quote

 

Remorse : witness to his grandfather's and parents' death.

A Mortal enemy : The Vex guy, who Seg must constantly endure .. for reasons.

BFF comic relief sidekick : who happens to be a bartender at their regular hangout - who has access to black market goods when needed.

Street smarts : Seg is rough and tumble because he was raised in the ghettos. 

Forbidden love : Seg's one true love is the daughter of the person who killed his parents (within the law). 

A forced relationship : With the daughter of his sworn enemy 

Life Mission(s) : Restore family honor. Avenge family deaths. Save Krypton from invasion - in order for it be destroyed as expected. Save future grandson, who will be Superman.

A doomsday countdown clock : In the form of a slowly disappearing "S" cape.

 

 And then this revelation pulls it all together:

Quote

The creator of Krypton, David S. Goyer is also the creator of DaVinci's Demons. Loll

Mystery solved. Hence, paint by numbers.

[AD35]

On 3/22/2018 at 12:09 PM, UNOSEZ said:

My takeaway...  Jayna Zod is awesome.

She could probably make the Terrance Stamp version of General Zod run and hide under a bed and Michael Shannon's run for his mommy.

[MarkHB]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I suspect this is another one of those comic book based shows where a lot of it goes over your head if you're not familiar with the comic-verse, and I am not. So a lot of it might be lost on me. 

So far, the only characters from the comics we've seen are Adam Strange and Brainiac, plus the Superman references and the city being Kandor.  Everything else is original to the show, so I don't see a lot of comics lore coming in right away.

[Chicago Redshirt]

The powers that be talked in the featurette about how they are going to build on some of what has come before and do some of their own thing. 

So some of the references are going to be fairly obvious to anyone who is familiar to Superman: the notion of a Fortress of Solitude, for example. I think we are to believe that the Fortress we're seeing in Krypton is somehow eventually going to become Superman's. Or at least, that Superman's duplicates some aspects of this one. For instance, the big statues holding up Krypton are a common feature of Superman's Fortress.

Then there are going to be some things that are deeper cuts. Black Zero is an organization that has been referenced elsewhere in the Superman mythology.

I doubt if any of this is necessary to know to follow what's going on. It just gives, perhaps, additional appreciation for those familiar.

[MarkHB]

6 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

For instance, the big statues holding up Krypton are a common feature of Superman's Fortress.

I think I read / saw on Twitter that the statues in this series are the same ones that were built for the Fortress of Solitude in Supergirl.  #recycling

[iMonrey]

Quote

So far, the only characters from the comics we've seen are Adam Strange and Brainiac,

So who is Adam Strange, and how did he travel through time and space?

[MarkHB]

8 hours ago, iMonrey said:

So who is Adam Strange, and how did he travel through time and space?

He's a very Fifties-style science fiction hero in the comics; I recently heard him compared to John Carter.  He uses this natural phenomena (which only he knows about) called the Zeta-beam to travel to the planet Rann, in the Alpha Centauri system, where he's a superhero, uses a jetpack to fly around and has a wife.  I don't know how he's time-traveling in this show, but I thought I saw a flash that could have been the Zeta-beam when he made his re-entrance towards the end of the episode.

[AngelKitty]

7 hours ago, MarkHB said:

He's a very Fifties-style science fiction hero in the comics

So he's not Dr. Strange? I thought he was a young Dr. Strange who I know from the movie.

[MarkHB]

22 minutes ago, AngelKitty said:

So he's not Dr. Strange? I thought he was a young Dr. Strange who I know from the movie.

No, Dr. Strange is a Marvel character who was introduced in the comics several years after Adam Strange was.  Completely unrelated character; I don't believe they even share any personality quarks.

[AngelKitty]

22 minutes ago, MarkHB said:

No, Dr. Strange is a Marvel character

Thank you. I pretty much stopped reading comic books by 1964, so don't know or remember a lot except I wanted to be Supergirl.

[LocimusPrime]

So are the Zods African/American?  How does this fit in with the superman comics and movies? 

[Bort]

Since there’s no Africa or America on Krypton, that’s not what the Zods are. Krypton may not even differentiate in that manner, they seem to operate on a caste system. 

[Mysteyman]

Thoughts on this episode?

Did anybody like it?

[wayne67]

1 hour ago, Mysteyman said:

Thoughts on this episode?

Did anybody like it?

So far it's still Meh, the pandering is a bit obnoxious but I don't really care about Brainiac as a villain either so I'm not sure why I'm watching other than it's something to watch. 

[UNOSEZ]

Mama Zod and nyssa vex are still my faces.. Dev em got a bit of  layers to him so that was cool... Seems he really cares for lyta who was in super "mommy doesn't believe in me and you don't either" mode... Loved the talk she had at the end... Hope that means we are past the surly kid nonsense... Still don't care about seg el.. I'll be back next week 

[coppersin]

The show is still very bland for me. Not awful, just kinda there. Take away the Superman aspect and we're left with a typical checklist of characters and an advanced yet oppressive society that has been seen soooo many times on scifi shows. I'll try to stick it out for a few more episodes in hopes of more Brainiac-centric stuff because 1) I'm a sucker for a good villain and 2) I'm a sucker for Blake Ritson.

[shrewd.buddha]

Watched the first fifteen minutes or so  .. then fell asleep. May attempt a re-watch later. 
It all just seems so predictable (for people who have watched too many years of too many series that are cut from the same cloth as this). I really want to watch a sci-fi show with big ideas about a  society who may have outlived their planet and maybe their humanity. This grim underbelly stuff  and political intrigue is probably easier to pull off with a limited budget, but you don't need a sci-fi setting to tell that kind of story.

From the bit I did see : 

• Adam Strange - why did they make DC Comic's Flash Gordon wannabe a generic 21st century hipster? The baseball cap with almost-falling-off hoodie is really grating my nerves. Of course Seg blows off his dire warnings ... for now ... dun dun dun.
• The history lesson from Vex senior was okay. I like the actor from Da Vinci's Demons. 
• Seg-El, again with the street fighting and escaping from Krypton's police force. With such advanced technology, you would think Seg would never really be able to avoid arrest - - he does have to report to Vex and they could pick him up at any time. It seems to be the kind of oppressive high-tech society where everyone would be chipped, DNA scanned, etc, and no one could avoid surveillance. 

Edited March 29, 2018 by shrewd.buddha

[thuganomics85]

I still think it has potential, but I'm kind of leaning towards what I expected (feared?) that I'm actually finding Seg-El's stuff to be kind of dull, and I am much more interested in the Zods and even the Vexs.  It's not like I hate him or anything, but his storyline and scenes just feel like the run-of-the-mill "I must avenge my family!" stuff, while I'm enjoying the Vex plotting, and the tension-filled relationship between Lyta and Jayna-Zod.

I did think the acting improved all around, but the "older" actors (Elliot Cowan, Ian McElhinney, and especially Ann Ogborno) are a good bit ahead of the younger cast.  Although I think Georgina Campbell and Wallis Day have potential.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Take away the Superman aspect and we're left with a typical checklist of characters and an advanced yet oppressive society that has been seen soooo many times on scifi shows.

Yeah, I think I'm done with this. The show suffers from an overload of testosterone IMO. I realize it's very comic-book appropriate but I'm not interested in watching fight scenes every week.

Quote

Seg-El, again with the street fighting and escaping from Krypton's police force.

This just seemed so inexplicable and obligatory. They weren't there to arrest him, they were just there to escort him to Nyssa. Granted he didn't know that, but to just take a swing at the cops by default? And they couldn't go "Hey, wait - we're just here to take you to Nyssa?" Instead we have to have more punch punch chase chase punch punch slam against wall crappola. 

And then to top it off we have this violent hand-to-hand combat fight to the death thing with Lyta and some roided-out opponent. I just don't find it entertaining to watch people beat the living crap out of each other. That's just me - maybe it's fun for lots of people but I'm not into it, especially when it feels like a requisite for every script. "Must have fight scene."

In fact the entire police force seems roided out, and not only do they train in hand to hand combat and beat the crap out of everyone they encounter, they also have high powered assault weapons too. Geez, guys, just how small are your dicks anyway?

This show is clearly aimed at someone else.

On a side note, who else things Elliot Cowan is a dead ringer for Heath Ledger?

[TV Anonymous]

New Era must have been very proud its product went across galaxies and ended up worn in Kandor.

[Latverian Diplomat]

I'm a little confused. Adam Strange came to warn Seg about a "threat to Superman's existence" from the future. But he seems very worried about Brainiac. But I thought Brainiac was contemporary with Krypton (he's been around for a while) and that he was the threat Seg's Grandpa was worried about? So, in the unaltered timeline, didn't the conflict between Brainiac and Krypton go down how it went down, no threat to Superman's future? What's changed? Who changed it? What is the actual threat that needs Adam's intervention?

It seems like they are creating a lot of artificial suspense just by making Adam inarticulate and flaky. (And also perhaps by making Seg dumb and stubborn).

[Frozendiva]

Maybe I am too old for the show. I don't know what it wants to be. Battlestar Galactica mixed with Arrow? The hero, Seg, should compel me. Not hugely interested so far.  No humour.  Might give it another episode.

[Chyromaniac]

Yeah- the show is overly serious. I don’t need GotG level quips, but just some indication that the characters are even capable of being fun.

Here’s an odd complaint of mine- it really bugs me when they use modern English colloquialisms in the dialogue: “mom,” “grandpa,” I think someone called Seg a “punk” this week... I don’t necessarily want them to start inventing Kryptonian terms for these things, but if this is supposed to be 200 years ago on another planet, let’s not have the characters talk like, well, me.

[iMonrey]

Also - if Superman's cape is visibly deteriorating in real time it should have disappeared entirely by now.

[Kelda Feegle]

On 3/27/2018 at 10:17 PM, MarkHB said:

No, Dr. Strange is a Marvel character who was introduced in the comics several years after Adam Strange was.  Completely unrelated character; I don't believe they even share any personality quarks.

Thankyou for this - I was hella confused.

Bland and average all round pretty much, apart from Ogombo. Felt like Cowan was channeling Tim McInnerny.

[Kelda Feegle]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Also - if Superman's cape is visibly deteriorating in real time it should have disappeared entirely by now.

it only deteriorates when we look at it lol

[Catfi9ht]

The production value has enough to keep me interested for now. I'm intrigued by the little details on the costuming and set pieces and I don't overtly hate any of the characters yet except poor man's Donnie Wahlberg, Adam Strange.  The cape "hourglass" gimmick makes me roll my eyes every time it's shown in frame, but so far it's not terrible like some of the other stuff I've watched lately. (side-eye to Jessica Jones season 2). They've already given Dev a little depth so we'll see where the rest of the characters go from here.