Superhero expy with non-superhero hair on his head and a white suit to contrast the blood? Check.
Son with similar but weaker powers, who his father doesn't think much of? Check.
Mother who acts as peacemaker between her spouse and their children? Check.
Big blow out fight at the end, and at least three superheroes brutally killed? Check.
As is hinted at the end here, a big-bruiser super villain who is a genius has a clone? Check.
Granted, there are differences. And the above is mostly cosmetic. But as anybody in the cosmetics industry can tell you, cosmetics are important. Just ask Sharon Stone's character in 'Catwoman'.
Regardless, one figures that the production staff on 'Jupiter' Legacy' are cursing that 'Invincible' came out so recently. And that wouldn't be a problem if 'Jupiter's Legacy' had something new or novel to say about superheroes. But... it doesn't. There's world-building of a sorts, but no actual world. It's about the Sampsons, all the time. And they're just not that interesting.
We have 'Superman & Lois', and then the series of 'Invincible'. And Homelander on 'The Boys'. Now we get a fourth "Superman" with Utopian. Making him a Christian is not that big a change, and doesn't seem to be supported by the material so far. He was a player of sorts back in the 1920s, and now... he isn't. Presumably they'll reveal why he changed down the road. But that's down the road. What about the story now?
The main thing is that 'Jupiter's Legacy' doesn't seem to know what it wants to say. It's a deconstruction, great, a deconstruction of what? Superman deconstructions are pretty old-hat by now. They were edgy in 2013 when Jupiter's Legacy was first published,. But now? Shows like 'DC's Legends' and 'Powerless', and movies like 'Kick Ass', have already taken a chainsaw to superhero mythos.
That wouldn't be bad for 'Jupiter's Legacy, except it doesn't have anything new to add. At least in 'The Boys', the focus isn't entirely on Homelander. Here the Sampson family is front and center, so the episode entirely rests on the Superman pastiche. And... it isn't enough.
The acting is okay, but there's a big focus on setting up stuff in this episode and world-building, as well as the first-episode introduction of characters (like Barry) who won't play much of a part in the ongoing series anyway. Nobody gives a bad performance, and Ben Daniels as Walter is pretty good. The actors just given much to do.
And the flashbacks... ugh. They don't thematically do anything. The flashbacks just fill in the backstory on how Sheldon and Walter and the rest get their powers, and how Sheldon gets his old-fashioned "Code" attitude.
I think the comics were trying to deconstruct the ultra-violent 90s in the comics. Never mind that it was the comics trying to deconstruct themselves. The ultra-violent trend has come full circle, and now we have less gritty "teen comics". 'Jupiter's Legacy' seems less like a commentary than a relic.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
Son with similar but weaker powers, who his father doesn't think much of? Check.
Mother who acts as peacemaker between her spouse and their children? Check.
Big blow out fight at the end, and at least three superheroes brutally killed? Check.
As is hinted at the end here, a big-bruiser super villain who is a genius has a clone? Check.
Granted, there are differences. And the above is mostly cosmetic. But as anybody in the cosmetics industry can tell you, cosmetics are important. Just ask Sharon Stone's character in 'Catwoman'.
Regardless, one figures that the production staff on 'Jupiter' Legacy' are cursing that 'Invincible' came out so recently. And that wouldn't be a problem if 'Jupiter's Legacy' had something new or novel to say about superheroes. But... it doesn't. There's world-building of a sorts, but no actual world. It's about the Sampsons, all the time. And they're just not that interesting.
We have 'Superman & Lois', and then the series of 'Invincible'. And Homelander on 'The Boys'. Now we get a fourth "Superman" with Utopian. Making him a Christian is not that big a change, and doesn't seem to be supported by the material so far. He was a player of sorts back in the 1920s, and now... he isn't. Presumably they'll reveal why he changed down the road. But that's down the road. What about the story now?
The main thing is that 'Jupiter's Legacy' doesn't seem to know what it wants to say. It's a deconstruction, great, a deconstruction of what? Superman deconstructions are pretty old-hat by now. They were edgy in 2013 when Jupiter's Legacy was first published,. But now? Shows like 'DC's Legends' and 'Powerless', and movies like 'Kick Ass', have already taken a chainsaw to superhero mythos.
That wouldn't be bad for 'Jupiter's Legacy, except it doesn't have anything new to add. At least in 'The Boys', the focus isn't entirely on Homelander. Here the Sampson family is front and center, so the episode entirely rests on the Superman pastiche. And... it isn't enough.
The acting is okay, but there's a big focus on setting up stuff in this episode and world-building, as well as the first-episode introduction of characters (like Barry) who won't play much of a part in the ongoing series anyway. Nobody gives a bad performance, and Ben Daniels as Walter is pretty good. The actors just given much to do.
And the flashbacks... ugh. They don't thematically do anything. The flashbacks just fill in the backstory on how Sheldon and Walter and the rest get their powers, and how Sheldon gets his old-fashioned "Code" attitude.
I think the comics were trying to deconstruct the ultra-violent 90s in the comics. Never mind that it was the comics trying to deconstruct themselves. The ultra-violent trend has come full circle, and now we have less gritty "teen comics". 'Jupiter's Legacy' seems less like a commentary than a relic.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?