SyFy The Phantom debuts tonight

[Morg]

http://www.syfy.com/phantom/

http://screenrant.com/syfy-the-phantom-miniseries-images-kofi-64790/

Before Superman, Spider-Man, and Batman, there was The Phantom, the greatest legend in the annals of 20th century comic-book crime fighting. Now, the immortal superhero returns to strike terror in the hearts of villains around the world - and to inspire a new generation to believe in the Ghost Who Walks.

Four hundred years ago, Kit Walker, sole survivor of a pirate raid, washed up on a remote Bangalla beach. Fashioning a costume from a pirate's plunder, Kit became The Phantom, devoting himself to fighting injustice. Today, handsome young Kit, twenty-first in the family line, is living in the States with his aunt and uncle when his father is killed at the hands of the Singh Brotherhood in Bangalla. Kit says goodbye to his life as a free-spirited youth, returns to the mysterious Skull Cave of his ancestors, utters the sacred oath of generations, and inherits the mantle of his father.

Ryan Carnes (Desperate Housewives/Dr. Who) stars as The Phantom and his alter ego in this re-imagined version of the classic comic book transported to present day. Isabella Rossellini (Blue Velvet) guest stars as Lithia, the head of an experimental mind control program. Also starring are Sandrine Holt (24/The L Word) as The Phantom's trusted advisor, and Cameron Goodman as Walker's love interest, Renny. Paolo Barzman (The Last Templar) directs.

I'll watch it but not crazy how long it is, 2 parts= 4 hours

 

[C. Lee]

Thanks....I'd forgot about it coming on....I'll start watching it to see how it is, don't know if I will stick through all of it.

 

[Gilpesh]

Not off to a good start... at all.

 

[NinjaTurtleFan]

I'll stick with the Billy Zane movie. Seriously, his suit looks bad.

 

[Morg]

So far not impressed

 

[E-Man]

4 hours? Damn that's a long ass time. It's hard to get my interest on it when it's 4 hours and the movie is looking crappy right now.

 

[Gilpesh]

And how many times has the "your parents aren't your parents" thing been used before?

 

[Paradox1]

far too much the suit is so horrible

 

[C. Lee]

Why bother to pay homage and acknowledge the original suit (he is shown the original suit on display in the skull cave)....if right after that they make fun of it and ridicule it?

It was a fairly decent modernization of the Phantom mythos...and then they go and make the most godawful suit imaginable and tack on the stupidest ending they could have come up with.

 

[ChickenScratch]

I posted my thoughts in detail in the other Phantom thread a while ago. But I'll go over what I remember for the sake of the thread. Whoever wrote the show has absolutely no idea about the geography of NY. One scene a chick says she lives 2 blocks from Kitt his whole life and didn't know. After establishing that Kitt lives in Queens we discover that the chick actually lives in Hoboken, NJ! Those have to be the biggest 2 blocks in the world to span two rivers and go over Manhattan into NJ.

Also, the first 2 cops that stop them in the warehouse Parkour scene clearly had heavy French accents.

Everything else was pretty poor too. The acting, the lackluster directing, editing, cinematography, production design. It all went wrong.

 

[GhostPoet]

This was like watching someone vomit for an hour and a half.

 

[Bad Superman]

This was like watching someone vomit for an hour and a half.

That bad? I was looking forward to watch the replay.

 

[Morg]

That bad? I was looking forward to watch the replay.

I hope you are bored enough to sit 4 hours of mindless crap

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

I was watching it last night...but damn is it long. I fell asleep about an hour and some change into it.

What I had seen, was pretty good I thought. I watched up to the point when Kit starts to read the journals of his predecessors.

It looked good. The story was better than I thought it'd be, especially with the run-of-the-mill concept, but the infusion of the parkour as a story element was interesting. The actor they chose to play Kit even looked the part, and was pretty good.

Now, again...I only saw about a quarter of this mile race. But, I'm amazed I didn't hate what I saw. I really thought I would hate the hell out of it from start to finish (I could still hate when I finish watching the thing...).The display of the classic outfit was nice...but C.Lee is right what's the point of tipping your cap to it if you comeback 5 minutes later and piss on it?

I only saw up to the point where he was brought back home to the island, but I liked what had been done up to that point. They seemed to really treat the mythos with a nice sense of reverence.

I'm sure it all goes downhill once they introduce the new...can we even call it a costume? It looks like he's wearing a jacket...

 

[C. Lee]

The suit is a new amalgam of several bulletproof vest metals and science fiction that gives him extra strength. The helmet/faceplate thing looks ridiculous....and the thing that ticked me off about it (other than being nothing like the traditional suit) is that because it's bulletproof, he walks calmly without trying to dodge right into automatic gun fire. Now remember this....the lower half of his face is absolutely exposed like Batman's is....but he doesn't bow his head so that bullets would bounce off of his bulletproof helmet or attempt to protect his face in any way whatsoever....he just walks slowly toward guys shooting machineguns at him with his head held high (someone needs to tell him that jaws can and will be blown off).

I know many people say that the traditional Phantom suit isn't great on film...I say look at Zane's movie, the suit was fantastic. They could have updated it some to modern day times...but they just invented some hokey looking Batman Begins suit without the cape.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

Wow....that sounds bad. Sounds like a wannabe Robocop.

I haven't seen the suit onscreen, but the thing looks horrible everywhere that I have seen it. I guess the Batman comparison makes sense, except that he just looks like he's wearing a winter jacket to me. The hood and the visor...are just strange. I would really like to know what they were thinking, because it looks like the failure of the suit just destroys some pretty good work that went into everything else.

 

[C. Lee]

That's the thing about a science fiction or fantasy movie that no one in Hollywood seems to get....if you want the suit to be bulletproof....you say HEY, HIS TECHNO WIZARDS CAME UP WITH A GREAT NEW BULLETPROOF MATERIAL THAT IS A S THIN AS NORMAL FABRIC.....it's science fiction, you don't have to make it real. That way you have the original design and it bounces bullets off of it.

As part of this miniseries they want you to accept that not only has the Phantom been fighting crime for 400 years, but under the Skull cave on the south seas island of Bengalla there is an ultra modern science facility that they are able to make this spectacular bulletproof strength enhancing suit....but they can't make that suit without it being totally goofy looking.

 

[Mister J]

I just saw the trailer for this the other day. My immediate laughter at the folly of the suit was slightly tempered by the belief this thing could be good (or at least, OK). From what I'm reading here and across the web, it sounds like an uphill march. I still think I'll give it a run, just to see, but my expectations are falling.

 

[roach]

fell asleep watching it and woke up on the replay at the same point I fell asleep

you know what else I hate...stories in which a child discovers their parent is a superhero/god and they decide they dont want anything to do with their parents legacy...who in their right mind would turn down being a superhero/son of a god????

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

It's a popular concept I guess, the idea of the reluctant hero being dragged kicking and screaming into his destiny.

I really need to finish watching the rest now, because the concept beind the suit seems to completly destroy what was setup prior to him being brought home. They set him up as this quick, agile, stuntman - daredevil with his parkour. Turning that setup around, and making him into a walking tank...sounds like a horrible mistake.

Let me ask this, for those who watched the entire thing: If the suit had been the classic one...would everything else had been strong enough to make the movie good?

 

[roach]

it seems ok. If this is a pilot for a show I'd give it a few more episodes before I pass judgement....I just find it funny that his Phantom voice sounds just like Billy Zane
my complaints about the suit are the same with the movie Batsuit....which is what you brought up...why go thru all that training when the suit negates all that? There is no need to be quick or stealthy if you are in bulletproof armor. To put it in MMO terms you trained rogue and then put him in tank armor.
I think they could have gone with a suit closer to the movie DD costume.

 

[Morg]

I don't mind some changes to the suit but the way they did it made it not the Phantom but more of a Batman thing, surprised they didn't add a cape. Also they went a bit overboard when people get hit by bullets, you do not go flying across the room after being hit. Hell mythbusters prove that crap doesn't work

 

[roach]

i hate that plot point. What kid nowadays wants to be normal???
Its why I hate Smallville. The minute I discovered I had the possibility the fly the whole show would have been me jumping in my backyard 'til i discover how.

 

[roach]

I don't mind some changes to the suit but the way they did it made it not the Phantom but more of a Batman thing, surprised they didn't add a cape. Also they went a bit overboard when people get hit by bullets, you do not go flying across the room after being hit. Hell mythbusters prove that crap doesn't work

Its on now on Syfy.
the mask/cowl thing is very awkward

 

[Paradox1]

The suit is a new amalgam of several bulletproof vest metals and science fiction that gives him extra strength. The helmet/faceplate thing looks ridiculous....and the thing that ticked me off about it (other than being nothing like the traditional suit) is that because it's bulletproof, he walks calmly without trying to dodge right into automatic gun fire. Now remember this....the lower half of his face is absolutely exposed like Batman's is....but he doesn't bow his head so that bullets would bounce off of his bulletproof helmet or attempt to protect his face in any way whatsoever....he just walks slowly toward guys shooting machineguns at him with his head held high (someone needs to tell him that jaws can and will be blown off).

I know many people say that the traditional Phantom suit isn't great on film...I say look at Zane's movie, the suit was fantastic. They could have updated it some to modern day times...but they just invented some hokey looking Batman Begins suit without the cape.

Batman in the Nolan films even though he has all that armor on still tries to avoid bullets head on. Every time Morgan Freeman's character gives him a new suit he always mentions he can't take bullets head on. I think they tried to take inspiration from Batman and Iron for the suits. His suit was feeding him information about who was wearing Kevlar or not. I would of rather them go with the original Phantom suit. They could of toned down the purple to a dark shade of purple. That was the worst revamp of a suit that I've ever seen.