Gotham The Official Gotham News and discussion thread - Part 1

[shauner111]

Bruce listens to crappy metalcore. Nice.

To the people complaining about dialogue like 'oh fudge': would you rather the character have said something else and gotten bleeped?

It worked fine for the context, and helped with her overall 'old-fashioned' character performance and appearance.

Damnit is better than OH FUDGE BATMAN! It sounds like a child wrote it or they wanted to say Oh F**K but just replaced it with fudge. It's dumb.

I think it would've been better if it wasn't.a prequel at all. They should have straight up called it Gotham Central and made it more of a serious cop show just set in Gotham like The Wire or The Shield.

Exactly. I feel like this show has the biggest wasted potential in history. What they could have accomplished on HBO with the same actors playing Essen, Gordon, Bullock and Falcone. Maybe even Cobblepot. But different writers, directors, different focus and ditch the rest of the supporting cast.

I'm gonna give it 2-3 more episodes. If I can't get into it by then, I'm gonna drop it, unless I hear season 2 is better.

Still waiting on season 2 of Arrow to hit Nertflix, cause I couldn't get through season 1.

Same here.

 

[batbax]

This show is brutal. After the pilot I predicted it wouldn't make it past season two. Episode two did nothing but make me more confident. I feel some of my comrades have already done well in pointing out some of the atrocities so ill let it be except to say I never want to see jada smith act again. Holy mother of god.

 

[spider-neil]

The series makers needed to do one of two things;

a) Remove themselves as much as possible from the mythology of Gotham. No baby bruce, baby Catwoman, baby Ivy. I'm half expecting baby Mr. Freeze to turn up. It should have been crime drama that 'happens' to be set in Gotham with no nods or winks to the world they live in.

b) Have Bruce in his late teens, he has had all his training but he doesn't know what he wants to be yet. He has the training but no the direction. No cave, no car, no gadgets. You then then have the super villains who haven't totally 'found their voice either'.

This show is an even bigger tease than Smallville but at least Clark was in his teens, Bruce is at least a DECADE off become Batman.
This show doesn't know what it wants to be, it is trying to have its cake and eat it too. It will just leave people frustrated just as Smallville did for 10 years.

 

[JJmelo]

The series makers needed to do one of two things;

a) Remove themselves as much as possible from the mythology of Gotham. No baby bruce, baby Catwoman, baby Ivy. I'm half expecting baby Mr. Freeze to turn up. It should have been crime drama that 'happens' to be set in Gotham with no nods or winks to the world they live in.

b) Have Bruce in his late teens, he has had all his training but he doesn't know what he wants to be yet. He has the training but no the direction. No cave, no car, no gadgets. You then then have the super villains who haven't totally 'found their voice either'.

This show is an even bigger tease than Smallville but at least Clark was in his teens, Bruce is at least a DECADE off become Batman.
This show doesn't know what it wants to be, it is trying to have its cake and eat it too. It will just leave people frustrated just as Smallville did for 10 years.

I dont think the point of this show is to have Batman show up. Its a Jim Gordon show, he is supposed to be the focal point. I say get rid of young Wayne all together and focus on Gordon and the villains. If they keep teasing Bruce and his training fans will get excited and hook on the wrong aspects.

Mazouz as Bruce Wayne is meant to be a treat we get every once in a while, not the main attraction. Smallville was always meant as a Superman origin, this is not a Batman origin.

Plus the cake metaphor is dumb, who buys cake just to look at it :P

check out my review if ur interested

http://otlnews.wordpress.com/2014/09/30/gotham-review-ep-2-selina-kyle/

 

[DrDoom]

Cheesy and over the top? In a show based on such a high-brow genre of literature?!? That silly b****.

When compared to everyone else who are, somewhat, playing it straight? YES, her acting is over-the-top

 

[Dark Phantom]

These serialized crime episodes help to establish Gotham City as a very colorful world, yet there is a tone of camp coming from all collaborators.

I feel like this show needs another style of visual storytelling to raise the stakes. Concentrate on the arcs of each character and do a lot of flash forwards and flashbacks akin to breaking bad. Maybe that's asking for too much?

 

[shauner111]

This show is brutal. After the pilot I predicted it wouldn't make it past season two. Episode two did nothing but make me more confident. I feel some of my comrades have already done well in pointing out some of the atrocities so ill let it be except to say I never want to see jada smith act again. Holy mother of god.

I was actually embarrassed watching it late last night, and i was alone!

I enjoyed how much fun Jada was having in the pilot, but they gave her more to do in the 2nd episode, and my God it was brutal to watch. I swear to God it was like watching the black mobbed up version of Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy.

I guess the over the top, almost campy tone is just not my cup of tea at all, and it's the reason why i stopped watching comic book movies for a very long time years ago. It completely turns me off especially when it comes to Batman, where i like the characters to be taken seriously, while the action or visuals could supply the fun.

What i wanted from Gotham & the new film universe is a tone that's exactly like TDK Trilogy, especially with how the main cast deliver their lines. But the visuals can be a complete 180, with new characters, new premise, etc. For me there's no excuse for childish or soap opera acting/writing.

 

[NoBozos]

I guess the over the top, almost campy tone is just not my cup of tea at all, and it's the reason why i stopped watching comic book movies for a very long time years ago. It completely turns me off especially when it comes to Batman, where i like the characters to be taken seriously, while the action or visuals could supply the fun.

I'm right there with you on this thought. However, I'm not going to write the entire show off just because of this.

obviously this show isn't for kids when you see a guy's eyes scratched out so why go camp? to lighten the mood? I really don't get it or maybe the actors in question or the director doesn't get it? Obviously the guy playing Penguin gets it as he's rockin' his role.

I'm too much of a Batman fanboy to give up the show. But I really hope they make adjustments that can take this show up a couple more notches.

 

[Kane52630]

Man Nolan really did mess with a lot of people's head with his films, such a shame.

 

[NoBozos]

It's not just Nolan. I've read plenty of dead serious Batman comics over the past 20 years

 

[shauner111]

Man Nolan really did mess with a lot of people's head with his films, such a shame.

Speaking for myself, Nolan didnt mess with my head. It's what i wanted to see from Batman in live-action, and then i got it with his trilogy. But now im fine with a new concept, new visuals that could be more fantastical, even more fun action sequences, or comic booky suits/vehicles. Im fine with that, but i still want that serious tone that Nolan had in his movies.

The Burton tone was fine for me when i was 6 but i dont want to see that again. Even the Burton movies were playful but the acting was much better than what im seeing in Gotham. I feel like they're trying to go for the Batman Begins Nolan look but the tone is half Shumacher, half serious cop show. It's a mess. Maybe less than half when it comes to the serious part since im only getting it from some of the GCPD.

 

[TheNextNolan22]

Gotham holds up well in week 2 ratings:
http://deadline.com/2014/09/gotham-scorpion-ratings-week-2-castle-ncis-la-843558/

 

[CaptainWagner]

The series makers needed to do one of two things;

a) Remove themselves as much as possible from the mythology of Gotham. No baby bruce, baby Catwoman, baby Ivy. I'm half expecting baby Mr. Freeze to turn up. It should have been crime drama that 'happens' to be set in Gotham with no nods or winks to the world they live in.

b) Have Bruce in his late teens, he has had all his training but he doesn't know what he wants to be yet. He has the training but no the direction. No cave, no car, no gadgets. You then then have the super villains who haven't totally 'found their voice either'.

This show is an even bigger tease than Smallville but at least Clark was in his teens, Bruce is at least a DECADE off become Batman.
This show doesn't know what it wants to be, it is trying to have its cake and eat it too. It will just leave people frustrated just as Smallville did for 10 years.

Actually, Freeze is one character I feel needs to be on this show. I think it would be great to see him as his past, married, noble scientist self.

 

[batbax]

I'm right there with you on this thought. However, I'm not going to write the entire show off just because of this.

obviously this show isn't for kids when you see a guy's eyes scratched out so why go camp? to lighten the mood? I really don't get it or maybe the actors in question or the director doesn't get it? Obviously the guy playing Penguin gets it as he's rockin' his role.

I'm too much of a Batman fanboy to give up the show. But I really hope they make adjustments that can take this show up a couple more notches.

Yeah it's like one scene you got a dude being beaten with a baseball bat then the next scene you have something that would make the 60s batman show look like the dark knight. Lol it's like c'mon find a balance. Go one way or the other with it. And I don't wanna hear this bs of "oh it's on fox blah blah".. They did a show on child trafficking for god sakes. And if they blow there load on anymore rogues this early baby bane might show up by episode 8. I'm almost watching now cuz it's like a train wreck you just can't turn away. Again I'd put good money on this abortion being canned before season 3 unless something drastic changes. I understand writers have creative freedom w source material but it has to be consistent. And it's like both episodes there's no buildup of tension. These guys are 5 pump chumps with this show, it's the anti breaking bad hahaha.

 

[InJustice]

Man Nolan really did mess with a lot of people's head with his films, such a shame.

No, it's nothing to do with "messing people's heads." Nolan and Goyer did a better job of showing Bruce's origins, and the significance of the Waynes to Gotham, than what Bruno Heller has written so far. Tonally and visually speaking, Gotham is a mess.

 

[batbax]

Yeah Nolan "messed with our heads" by actually giving us compelling storylines and consistent tonality with actors who knew what he wanted them to portray. So, if by "messing with our heads" you mean have us a great product, then yes. No ones expecting gotham to be on that level. But to expect something more significant than what we've been given isnt really asking much. At all.
And no one should, just because a poster doesn't like the show, go commiting the fallacy of pretending "oh you just love Nolan". That's a copout. I could love Schumacher and I'd still dislike this show because at least Schumacher had an idea(for the most part) of what he was trying to get across and stuck with it for better or worse.

 

[antsman41]

This show doesn't need to be dark and gritty to tell interesting, honest, realistic, and compelling batman stories. Neal Adama and Denny pulled this off way back in the early 70's, with Nolan expanded on it in live action.

This shows main issues is trying to be '66 meets Burton meets Nolan with some comic book stuff peppered in. It's just not a good mix...

You can easily go BrBa with Batman without getting to the extreme of Saw or Sopranos, also without dipping down to Dukes Of Hazard and Starsky & Hutch.

 

[shauner111]

http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/gotham-selina-kyle-209866

This is a very spot-on, well-written review. And quite frankly, i don't see how people can't see this when they watch this episode.

 

[Human Torch]

Frankly,it's the colorful stuff that keeps me interested.People that want less colorful/Bruce subplots- what are you thinking? Go watch CSI Albany or whatever.

 

[Mysteryman]

Well the ratings are holding .
It appears people like the show .

 

[The Shape]

Frankly,it's the colorful stuff that keeps me interested.People that want less colorful/Bruce subplots- what are you thinking? Go watch CSI Albany or whatever.

Yeah. Call me crazy, but I like this show and I'm excited to see what comes next.

 

[Astro13Zombie]

Yeah. Call me crazy, but I like this show and I'm excited to see what comes next.

Pfft
Obviously you're not a "pure fan"

 

[TheComicbookKid]

This show doesn't need to be dark and gritty to tell interesting, honest, realistic, and compelling batman stories. Neal Adama and Denny pulled this off way back in the early 70's, with Nolan expanded on it in live action.

That's the problem to me. The show isn't honest.

With camp, you can take anything the show throws at you, but if it's supposed to be grounded then you have to make the character interactions make sense.

Gordon and Bullock would not be partners based on this show. They don't complement each other.

Penguin's grounded take makes sense for where the character will end up.

Bruce is supposed to be this traumatized kid but he's still a kid. School and friends and such. So if you they want this protective Alfred to make sense then we need to see how Bruce is getting along in all parts of his life. Not just "conquering fear."

If we're going to be subject to this much of Bruce/Alfred then they need to actually be real people. Not pre-Batman and his Butler.

 

[Shikamaru]

Frankly,it's the colorful stuff that keeps me interested.People that want less colorful/Bruce subplots- what are you thinking? Go watch CSI Albany or whatever.

Along with Penguin, the Bruce subplots are my favorite part of the show. It's one of the freshest grounds the show has covered IMO. They're answering some, not necessarily plot holes with the Batman origin, but questions most writers often leave unanswered that make the reader wonder. Two of those being Bruce's intelligence in the early days and why he never sought out a psychiatrist.

Granted it's not the best execution possible, but we're only 2 episodes in. I hope they continue playing with and developing those ideas.

 

[Mysteryman]

Yeah. Call me crazy, but I like this show and I'm excited to see what comes next.

Me too .
What I really liked about last nights episode were the scenes withe the two kidnappers and the ATP supplier and the subsequent shoot out
The supplier was the poor guy in the middle of that situation .
When the shootout was over
I wondered , did he survive?
And up pops his head and he says "is it Over?"
And I could not stop laughing .
Maybe , it works for Gotham to straddle the line between camp and seriousness.
Its definitely working for me .