Supergirl Spoilers and Discussions: Ep 1x01 "Pilot"

lfan wrote: Please post all discussion and spoilers about the Supergirl episode, "Pilot" here.

ElF

There will be people who won't be able to see the shows for days, weeks and months to come, so what is the thinking on when spoilers no longer are spoilers? With movies, that's usually a week or so after first release, which is not completely uniform across the planet. Although you can follow Tweets before the first showing has completed!

What's the thinking of the Admins in regard to Supergirl episode spoilers? Free discussion in these designated threads but no discussion outside of them? For what time-frame? Any difference between the Pilot and subsequent episodes?

Also, if we have Spoiler info on an episode before it airs, do we also put that into these designated threads? Or is there someplace else for pre-broadcast spoilers?

Not trying to belabor the issue, but this is one of the most respectful sites around with regards to spoilers and I want to make sure we're all on the same page. TV shows are more poorly distributed (globally) than movies and SWM's membership is global.

(By the way, on that thought, do the Admins have a breakdown from the server that they can share as to the countries where page hits come from? Or perhaps just an anonymous breakdown of members by country. I used to find that interesting and often very surprising back when the AU was popular. It's somewhat relevant given this topic.)

One thing I spotted in a recent trailer that wasn't in the original opening episode was Kara hugging her sister after saving the plane, only for her sister to grimace in pain and Kara immediately backing off apologetically. Hadn't seen that before, but nice touch.

Monty wrote: One thing I spotted in a recent trailer that wasn't in the original opening episode was Kara hugging her sister after saving the plane, only for her sister to grimace in pain and Kara immediately backing off apologetically. Hadn't seen that before, but nice touch.

That was in the pirated Pilot that I saw back in July or whatever. Not sure if there were multiple versions of the Pilot circulating out there during the summer. But it was in the HD 46 minute version that I found.

It's finally here!

Sarge395 wrote: It's finally here!

Not here on the left coast. At 5:45, there's still nearly 3 hours until it shows.

You folks on the right coast are living in the future.

Fortunately I had to travel to the east coast for work. I have the pilot but never watched it. Commercial time right now. So jazzed. I love it. Saw a ton of it in the trailers but not the same watching it the old fashioned way live! Wish it was a two hour special.

Aunt Astra for the win!

Pretty much the only twist.

Now that I've seen the episode, I think that's my big complaint. The previews and trailers for this thing were so thorough that I felt like I'd already seen the whole episode before.

Second biggest complaint is that there's no explanation of why Kara doesn't just talk to her cousin. It's like she doesn't even know where to find him or something. I can understand not wanting him to overshadow her in the show, but treating him as this ever-referenced presence, yet Kara doesn't even seem to know him other than meeting him once, just seemed really weird.

So far, I think the show's ok, but nothing special. Hopefully, getting more surprises in future episodes will help. The inclusion of a Kryptonian villainess is a major plus, though.

Not a grand slam home run but a good solid triple.
I have to watch it again but:
Things I liked:
Melissa!!!!!!!! Perfect casting. Demure and Fierce.
Special effects were good.
Nice flying scenes.
Most of the cast were good solid characters.
Nice first adventures and a good twist at the end.

Things I didn't like:
James Olsen, he is a swarmy know it all. How bad would it have been to have a Jimmy Olsen?
I don't like that she has a "Support Team"
She could have had a few adventures on her own at least at first.
"Because she's a girl?" Ugh, I hated that line.

All in all a solid, good first episode.

Were there any changes in the broadcast version v the leaked version?

lfan wrote:

goatboy wrote: Were there any changes in the broadcast version v the leaked version?

Nothing really noticable to me at first glance.

ElF

One small deletion... when she gets out of the elevator at Catco the morning after the plane save, the original pilot had the Japanese guy thanking her for doing his comps. Dialog was there to show that she's more competent than her position would indicate. And helpful to others, doing their work when they can't.

That was cut in the broadcast pilot.

If they had to cut something, that was a good choice. We get the nice, helpful and more competent than she looks thing.

There also seemed to be a tweak or two in her flying CGI, ala A flash and sound as she breaks sound barrier. I noticed it in the broadcast, but I'd have to go back to the pirate pilot to verify that it wasn't there. But I usually notice that kind of detail and I don't remember it.

Shadar

YAGS wrote:

Second biggest complaint is that there's no explanation of why Kara doesn't just talk to her cousin. It's like she doesn't even know where to find him or something. I can understand not wanting him to overshadow her in the show, but treating him as this ever-referenced presence, yet Kara doesn't even seem to know him other than meeting him once, just seemed really weird.

I chalked that up to her trying to pretend she's normal thing. A compulsion so strong that her cousin understands it and avoids her, hoping she'll decide to become a hero someday in her own way. I mean, hanging out with Superman is going to be mind-boggling, even if you are Kryptonian. Being around him would probably force her into making decisions based on what she thought he wanted, and not for herself.

Anyway, that's the only rationalization I can come up with.

The part I find even stranger is that she hadn't even tried to fly for years. But when she does, it;s an awesome rush. How could she have forgotten that?

It says her desire to be "non-Kryptonian" was well past the healthy point. It was an obsession driven by a lot of pain she wanted to forget. Some kind of PTSD thing that she blocked out.

shadar wrote:

YAGS wrote:

Second biggest complaint is that there's no explanation of why Kara doesn't just talk to her cousin. It's like she doesn't even know where to find him or something. I can understand not wanting him to overshadow her in the show, but treating him as this ever-referenced presence, yet Kara doesn't even seem to know him other than meeting him once, just seemed really weird.

I chalked that up to her trying to pretend she's normal thing. A compulsion so strong that her cousin understands it and avoids her, hoping she'll decide to become a hero someday in her own way. I mean, hanging out with Superman is going to be mind-boggling, even if you are Kryptonian. Being around him would probably force her into making decisions based on what she thought he wanted, and not for herself.

Anyway, that's the only rationalization I can come up with.

The part I find even stranger is that she hadn't even tried to fly for years. But when she does, it;s an awesome rush. How could she have forgotten that?

It says her desire to be "non-Kryptonian" was well past the healthy point. It was an obsession driven by a lot of pain she wanted to forget. Some kind of PTSD thing that she blocked out.

I agree that her desire to be "normal" (non-kryptonian) probably has to have some unhealthy connotations. I hope they deal with that a _bit_, though with the shows light tone, I wouldn't expect much.

As for Superman, he would be aware of the escaped Kryptonian prisoners. Likely he knew that if he showed up, a young girl would be exposed to people who'd want to kill her. He couldn't keep her safe. With their access to superpowers and advanced technology, he probably can't even call her. He has to act like she doesn't exist at all.

A purely psychological explanation works -- it seems a valid reaction to such trauma. Though it's hard to jive that and her burst of enthusiasm with revealing her full self. One would think there'd still be tied up trauma in that. What was realistic is how she reacted to seeing her mother (in hologram) for the first time in years (it seems like she had NOTHING). Seeing her crying in the trailers always came off as weak, but in the full scene it comes of as strength.

I wonder if we'll find she's been "helped" to focus on being human and not using her powers (hence forgetting out exciting flying is). It would have been dangerous for her to use her powers (esp flight, if she's picked up on some alien radar). James Olson shows up at _just_ the right time for her debut. Superman couldn't have predicted the emergency that drew her out, but she was unsatisfied and thinking about it before that too (she just hadn't realized it). Had something worn off, or did he just suspect that in the world she lives in, hanging around a big city might awaken something in her?

One more complaint: So if she didn't have a secret identity before, then why was she wearing glasses at the start of the episode? What possible purpose could they serve for a girl with Kryptonian supervision who doesn't have a reason to hide her face behind them?

The fridge logic is strong in this one.

And they were clearly aiming for the chick flick crowd as much as the superhero fans. Between Ally McBeal doing her best Devil Wears Prada impersonation, and the almost direct quote from A League of Their Own at the end, it was pretty obvious.

And I'm still not thrilled with the casting choice of Melissa Benoist. She seems well suited for the character she's playing, but I'm just not convinced that character is Supergirl. It's just not the same Supergirl we've seen in any past version.

Despite how great it was to see some superheroine action with a real budget and modern special fx, I really didn't think the pilot was that great. I really hope this show improves.

I watched it streaming on the CBS webpage today. I had seen the leaked version but enjoyed it the second time around more. I was surprised by that since it seemed like such a fru-fru episode to me at the time but there was more character dev on the subtle side and story than I recalled.

I love Gotham but I'm really happy to have a "bright" show - even the night scenes. I'm sure everyone knows what I mean. The costume is really growing on me. Melissa and the support cast are too. It's just so awesome to have so much action and good FX. It's fun being put to shame finally!

Just hoping for more fun episodes and good writing. The cast seems to have a fair chemistry out of the gate. It will be interesting to watch it in the future and see if I end up cringing like I do when I re-watch most pilots.

YAGS wrote: One more complaint: So if she didn't have a secret identity before, then why was she wearing glasses at the start of the episode? What possible purpose could they serve for a girl with Kryptonian supervision who doesn't have a reason to hide her face behind them?
.

I have a theory behind the glasses. What if, when she first got to Earth and started developing her powers, she was having trouble with her heat vision and/or x ray vision. The Danvers are scientists so maybe they created special glasses that could control her eye based powers. She just kept wearing them out of comfort.

Remember when looks up at the plane, she whips off her glasses just before using her x ray vision. It's just a theory.

Didn't watch the leaked version, though i did read a lot of he spoilers- the show didn't seem very care about that so you know why should i ther. And on Monday night i had a film job. So This is new for me.

Benoist deserves an emmy here.

Supergirl is offten written as DCs anwser to Spiderman-ie the character who the world shits on, and maybe all powerful but that doesn't mean life is great. But thats not this-and that really works for it. The question is can a man fly-but can she enjoy it. and when she is really going full blast here in the action scenes and in the other interactions-when she gets to go loose its fun. it is a little dippy, it is a little silly-but its fun engaging and charsimatic part that i have seen an actress do in a long time.

and I think this for the most part really well cast. I had my doubts about Calista Flockart, but her stuff as the evil boss who isn't quite actually evil is a lot of fun-it is devil wears prada but i do like how she seems to actually care a little bit about her(the whole wow shes a young girl working in print media thing that got parodied, like a bit they aknweodlge how dumb it was). Jeremeny Jordon is a great sad sack guy, Merced Brooks has a charm as olsen, and her sister you can see is playing a role here but you can see a little why. David Harwood is the weak link, but i think cast wise were there.


The special effects are good-given if it really did have a 60 million dollar budget, not that great but good. Its about as good as you can see on TV. Flying is tricky(it didn't quite look right in some shots when she shifts altitude), but it worked. Wish the action had a little more time to breath, especially after Blindspot where that really crackled, but it hit the write notes....

BUTTTT.....

There are three elements to film writing one can kind say- Dialouge Characters, and plot. The characters as mentioned are mainly well done. The Dialouge i think for the most part good to great-and still love the " are you immune to bullets-Hope So!"

Where it kind of falls down is that the actual story-She decides to use her powers, and fights Vartox....is awfully quick. Its to quick to get to the giant monster in 48 minutes a story that felt you could have breathed a lot more, and Vartox was nothing-granted they didn't give him any time to be something , and i don't necessairly blaim the actor.

The opening exposition dump was terrible-and honestly i may have turned the show off in the first 2 minutes which is not what you want in a show. I realize it wants us to understand that stuff but you didn't need it all. I mentioned that i didn't care about getting spoiled-none of this stuff is things we couldn't have infered or introduced over the season to busy setting up the actual plot.

And where it gets-ehhh...To go to the article i pointed from Slate, it feels very procedural in a kind of power rangers way. Not to talk about spoilers or the next episode, but even without anything else i am not sure thats super intresting as a evil villians every weak plot. Especially at this power class your going to run out of stuff quickly that you can film on a realistic budget. Superhero shows tend to be very much-monsters of the week, and the monster of the week formula is always hit or miss. We didn't get a lot of the general, and the twist does do a good job of letting an actress have more fun..i just hope its not rita repulsa.

The Goverment stuff felt very much "This is what modern action shows have- a group of people who are lead by a shouting person who are in charge of the hero" and i can't think of an example of when its been done well. The best i can think is the UPN show 7 days which had Nic Seary as a fun jerk character. That at least had personality-this doesn't. Its just another vauge sorce of men with power.


The love Triangle thing it was setting up-similarlly had the problem that while i can see they where trying with Olsen, he felt generic dreamboat, compared to the shlubby romantic-and in that kind of space you so so want her to go with the shlub-though in fairness, if thats where the story goes that could be something. Her scenes with Winslow had a clunky line or two but at least feel like they have a very good dynamic. I think there fedding off each other dynamic in energy made the middle part of the show great.

And there is something here-and a lot is on Benoists effortless shoulders . I mentioned like 6 months ago comparing the choices of Man ofSteel vs Lois and Clark, with the kinda hope that it was more Lois And Clark..this feels 85% there. There may have been a draft of this script that maybe never even got to papper where this was better, and the 15 percent is frustrating.

But well thats something.

I've just caught the pilot back at my folk's house for the weekend. I thought it was great! I loved her response in her apartment to the newscaster asking if she was a "hero or a human wrecking ball"!

p.s. Here in the UK, VirginMedia Basic Package has Sky One, with on-demand and catch-up tv, so Melissa on tap 24/7....a new TV package will be being bought when I return home next week