Tag: Smallville

DC Comics, Movies2 Comments

Things Other Movies Did Better Than Batman v Superman

Keith Chow

I didn’t hate Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I walked into the theater last night fully expecting to hate it. Two and a half hours later, I ended up merely not liking it. That’s progress, I guess?

That said, there were a couple things I actually liked (most having to do with Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman) and I can’t deny that Ben Affleck looks like Batman (even though he sure doesn’t act like him). But the thing that distracted me throughout the movie was the fact that it contained a lot of elements that were executed better in other live action adaptations.

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DC Comics, Recaps, Television4 Comments

NOC Recaps Supergirl: Seeing Red-K

Keith Chow

Sixteen episodes in to the first season of Supergirl and I should probably learn not to underestimate the show. You see, prior to the airing of last week’s Red Kryptonite-influenced episode, titled “Falling,” I assumed we would be getting filler between stronger episodes. Boy, was I wrong! Seeing Melissa Benoist channel Bad Supergirl might be some of my favorite moments all season. It also doesn’t hurt that after the previous episode’s many homages to Smallville and other past Super history, the show kicked it up a notch this week.

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DC Comics, Recaps, Television2 Comments

NOC Recaps Supergirl: Fortress of Easter Eggs

Keith Chow

After taking a week off, Supergirl returns with an all-new episode on CBS tonight. The episode that aired two weeks ago — simply named “Solitude” — was probably the most easter egg-packed episode of the season. Rather than a traditional recap of the events, I’m just going to geek out over all the cool nods to past Super-lore, including and especially call backs to Smallville since former Supergirl Laura Vandervoort was guest starring. Which is basically what I did while live-tweeting anyway.

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DC Comics, Television6 Comments

January Brings Four Straight Days of Greg Berlanti’s DC Universe

Keith Chow

It’s no secret we’re big fans of The CW’s shared universe of DC superheroes. Arrow and Flash are two of the only shows we still livetweet and recap on a regular basis (shout out Connie and Christelle!) and this season — though it’s on CBS and not (yet) connected — we’ve thrown Supergirl into the mix as well. Of course all of these shows are now on their annual holiday break and won’t return until January. But when they do, they’ll be joined by a new kid on the block, Legends of Tomorrow.

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NOC Recaps Supergirl: Lord Have Mercy

Keith Chow

The fifth episode of Supergirl on CBS finally aired last night, and now we know how the continuity glitches from last week’s episode would be resolved. In case you didn’t know, the episode “How Does She Do It” was scheduled to air last week, but was postponed after terrorists attacked several sites in Paris and Beirut. Instead, they aired the Thanksgiving episode that introduced Livewire, but also picked up a couple story threads that weren’t woven until last night. So was the delay worth it?

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NOC Recaps The Flash: Desperate Measures

Christelle G.

The Flash has reached near terminal velocity in my eyes with this episode featuring The Flash family at it’s craziest and the welcoming of Linda Park to the team. We all knew Linda had to get into the Secret Speedster Society at some point, considering she is the future Mrs. Wally West, but I did not expect it to be so freaking fun.

Linda Park is… a ball of light.

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NOC Recaps Supergirl: Electric Boogaloo

Keith Chow

After the horrific attacks in Paris and Beirut over the weekend, CBS decided to postpone the already scheduled episode of Supergirl — which apparently centered around a terrorist attack in National City — and instead aired the Thanksgiving episode that was slated for next week. This shuffle in the schedule could have led to some continuity gaps, but apart from a weirdly resurrected Jimmy/Lucy relationship, it didn’t feel too out of place. So what did we think of the latest incarnation of Livewire’s origins?

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DC Comics, Recaps, Television3 Comments

NOC Recaps Supergirl: Flight Song

Keith Chow

With each passing week, I’m becoming more and more impressed with Supergirl as a series. Sure, the pilot was already strong, but last week’s episode definitely raised the bar. Now with episode three in the can, the sky’s the limit for Supergirl to blaze its own trail. It’s just too bad the ratings are not keeping pace with the quality of the series. Come on, America! Tune in because this show could use your eyeballs!

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DC Comics, Recaps, Television6 Comments

NOC Recaps Supergirl: Strength in Numbers

Keith Chow

After a strong debut last week, the second episode of Supergirl’s inaugural season took a bit of a ratings hit, losing 30% of the audience that tuned in for the premiere. And that’s too bad because those people who decided not to come back missed a really strong follow-up episode and a better indication of what kind of show Supergirl will be. Still, nine million viewers is nothing to sneeze at. To put those numbers in perspective, The Flash and Arrow get a total of about six million viewers a week. Combined.

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DC Comics, Recaps, Television9 Comments

NOC Recaps Supergirl: This Show Flies Up, Up, and Away

Keith Chow

It feels like we’ve been riding the Supergirl hype train for more than a year now. Now that the show has finally arrived — behind a massive marketing campaign that made it the most watched new show of the season! — the rest of the general public is finally beginning to see what we’ve been saying since from jump: Supergirl, the show, is legit and the best thing to happen to live action superhero adaptations since The Flash debuted — which also stars a Glee alum and is produced by the same folks, coincidentally.

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NOC Recaps The Flash: Daddy Coldest

Christelle G.

I always look forward to an episode featuring Wentworth Miller as Leonard Snart aka Captain Cold. The Flash’s encounters with Cold always end up with the two of them in a romantic-ish telenovela scene — like a lover’s spat in a moonlit forest or one of them saving the other’s life before fleeing town. I mean, I know SnartBarry (or ColdFlash?) isn’t a real “ship”, but the dynamic between the superhandsome superhero and his superhandsome supervillain entertains me even more than WestAllen or Snowbarry. Yeah, I said it.

This official, non-dream season return of Captain Cold was no different; Family of Rogues was a real (frozen) treat. Their relationship is so complicated.

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DC Comics, Guest Post, Television8 Comments

Martian Manhunter Needs His Own Show

Monique

How come it seems like there’s no love for the Martian Manhunter out in these streets? The Martian Manhunter, aka J’onn J’onzz, is one of the core members of the Justice League, yet J’onn seems to be severely underrated. I’m not completely sure why, since J’onn is probably one of the most compelling DC superheroes in the pantheon. But to me, it would seem that DC Comics isn’t paying attention to a goldmine of an opportunity.

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DC Comics, Television4 Comments

Cat’s Out the Bag: Calista Flockhart is in Supergirl

Christelle G.

Calista Flockhart is the latest name officially attached to the CBS Supergirl. The Golden Globe-winning actress has been cast as Cat Grant!

Flockhart, most well known from Ally McBeal, Brothers & Sisters, and being the lucky woman who captivated Harrison Ford, will portray Cat Grant as a “self-made media magnate and founder of CatCo” where Kara/Supergirl is her assistant. My first thought: Ohmygod, it’s going to be a superhero Devil Wears Prada, isn’t it?

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DC Comics, Hard N.O.C. Life, Television2 Comments

Flash v Arrow: Dawn of Just Awesomeness

The Nerds of Color

We conclude Flarrow Week at the NOC with our own special crossover featuring our Flash and Arrow recappers Constance Gibbs (@ConStar24) and Christelle Gonzales (@christellexoxo). Together for the first time! Join us to sort out all of your thoughts and feels about your two favorite shows.

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DC Comics, Recaps, Television6 Comments

NOC Recaps The Flash: Fight the Power

Keith Chow

I think I’ve figured out why I love The Flash so much. It goes along with something Christelle mentioned in her recap of Episode 6 last week; namely, that the show is very reminiscent of another CW superhero show. Not Arrow, but Smallville. And last night’s episode, “Power Outage,” was no different. While it took 12 episodes before the Smallville writers stripped Clark of his powers1, The Flash needed only seven before having Barry figure out how to be heroic without being super.

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DC Comics, Recaps, Television4 Comments

NOC Recaps The Flash: Nerds Rule, Bullies (of Steel) Drool

Christelle G.

I’m going to start by straight up saying that The Flash might end up being my favorite hour-long show on television. Not right now, but some day. This series has so many strengths only six episodes in: a solid feel for its characters (I was a little bit worried about Iris at the beginning, but now she’s getting her spine), a consistently-propelled character arc for the title hero, and continuously impressive (Gorgeous! Beautiful! Mindblowing!) CGI’ed action-sequences perfectly worthy of the art of the comics.

Also, I would like to note that this episode was directed by Millicent Shelton. YAY WOC + SUPERHEROES!

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DC Comics, Movies, Television6 Comments

Warner Brothers, You Have Failed This City

Keith Chow

See, this is why Stephen Amell is my guy.

We make no bones about the fact that we love DC’s CWverse superheroes. Arrow and The Flash have taken up lots of bandwidth on this site, and as each show gets better and better, that isn’t going to change. At the same time, I give a lot of crap to the movie side of DC’s offerings. And that probably isn’t going to change anytime soon either.

Anyway, a shockwave was sent through the interwebs when Oliver Queen himself questioned Warner Brothers’ approach to their DC Cinematic Universe.

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Origins3 Comments

NOC Origin: If I Had a Horcrux, it’d Probably be My Terminator Boxset

Christelle G.

So my version of a nerd is a person who passionately and purposefully seeks out the way- more-than-necessary knowledge about a strangely specific subject1. There are barely-there nerd memories of inventing my own Pokémon with their successive evolved forms, obviously, Toonami afternoons of Dragonball and Dragonball Z, explaining The Adventures of Lois and Clark to my grandmother, and losing my elementary-aged shit when Hercules and Xena had their first crossover.

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NOC Recaps The Flash: Better than the Multiplex

Keith Chow

Yesterday, I went on a bit of a rant about how DC was getting trumped by Marvel on the big screen. The opposite is true on the small screen. Sorry, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but there’s only one comic-based superhero show to watch on Tuesdays: The Flash on The CW. After one of the best pilots of the season, how was Team Flash going to follow through on episode two?

Well, by fully embracing its superhero-ness, for one. Grant Gustin’s opening narration even poked fun at similar type internal monologues — *cough*Arrow*cough* — before diving right into the action. And this week’s cold open was literally on fire as we saw Barry saving  folks from a burning building.

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NOC Recaps Arrow: The Calm Before the Storm

Keith Chow

We are definitely living in a golden age of superhero television. Last year, we dedicated an episode of Hard NOC Life about the topic of comic book adaptations in prime time, but this season has seen a dramatic increase as the first three days of the week are chock full of superheroes — with DC heroes dominating the landscape1. And while Gotham on Fox and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC get all the press — because they’re on major broadcast outlets — those two shows should be taking notes from The CW, the network that does superheroes better than anyone.

I’ve already sung the praises of The Flash. Not to be outdone by their newly arrived companion, the third season premiere of Arrow kicked off with one a hell of an episode! Fortunately, Rodrigo was live-tweeting along with all of the other Arrowheads. Warning: there be spoilers ahead!

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DC Comics, Recaps, Television16 Comments

NOC Recaps The Flash: Proof that Superheroes Can Still Be Fun

Keith Chow

One of the most anticipated new shows of the fall finally premiered last night, and it did not disappoint. The Flash has been on the NOC radar ever since Grant Gustin did a multi-episode arc last season on Arrow. More than that, I’ve been super psyched for this show and thought some of the initial casting choices potentially made The Flash the most diverse live action superhero adaptation in history.

Well, after having watched the pilot, I can safely say that The Flash works for all of the reasons that I think Gotham doesn’t. Namely, these writers get it. The Flash not only revels in the joy of being a superhero, it respects the source material in a way usually unseen in DC’s approach to live action.

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DC Comics, Hard N.O.C. Life, Marvel, Television1 Comment

Fall TV Nerd Problems

The Nerds of Color

William Evans (@willevanswrites) of Black Nerd Problems joins Keith (@the_real_chow) and N’Jaila (@blasianbytch) to talk about this fall’s slate of nerd-centric superhero television shows, including The CW’s Arrow and Flash from DC Entertainment and ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter from Marvel Studios.

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DC Comics, Television9 Comments

Is a Show Without Batman Still Must-See TV?

Keith Chow

On Monday night, during the broadcast of the much-hyped return of Jack Bauer in 24: Live Another Day, the Fox network treated viewers to a first look at a similarly hyped new series that will makes its debut later this fall. That new show is none other than Gotham, and on the same day the trailer was released, it was announced that the show was already greenlit for a full season, no less.

So here’s your first taste of actual real footage below, and I’ll share my first impressions on the other side of two minutes:

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