Excelsior!

Who Wants To Be A Superhero?… Finale!

Well I think next week I’m gonna pick the Defuser again to be eliminated… oh, er NO it’s over. The 2-hour finale of Who Wants To Be A Superhero? came to it’s dramatic conclusion with the Defuser taking the title of Stan Lee’s next great superhero. Needless to say I’m not surprised the Defuser won… AFTER I learned a lot more about him that wasn’t revealed before. This police detective is a total comic geek. He plays video games all the time, has his bathroom made up in a hulk theme and has thousands of comics in his garage. That’s right. The Defuser was a total ringer. Check out the superhero after show interview with Feeback here. It’s so obvious now. I had thoughts at the beginning that he might win, but I gotta hand it to the editors. They made it seem like he was always on thin ice. But it was fun anyway so who cares.
Stan managed a few surprises this time around. The biggest being that there was no elimination. Yes, the Defuser, Hyperstrike, and Hygena, were all allowed to continue to the finals. It kinda makes sense though, I really had this feeling that Hyperstrike and Hygena were gonna be in the final round, but The Defuser had really done a lot towards the end to win me over as well. Everybody really stepped up to the plate. Hygena, by offering herself as bait for the dogs, found a perfect way for her to offer a plan and participate despite the fact that she doesn’t have the physical prowess or strength of Hyperstrike or the Defuser. And the two guys? Well, they performed heroically while getting savagely bitten by the slobbering doggies, so they all came through the challenge with flying colors.
One of the funny things about the episode was the fact that they all equally screwed up during a visit to a TV studio and the interview with Kennedy by revealing lots of personal information about themselves. They all let their guards down but it didn’t cost the heroes in the end.

There were several touching moments as well:

When the superheroes all received action figures based on their characters, their inner geeks came racing to the surface. It was a nice light moment that helped reduce tension.

When they realized that no one was going to be eliminated and that all three would proceed to the finals, the look on their faces was priceless. Hypestrike said it best when he said there was a nomination not an elimination. Too be honest, I liked the fact that Stan didn’t eliminate anybody; it kept things interesting and spread the joy around.

Stan talked to the heroes individually, and the Defuser and Hygena’s stories really stood out. The Defuser broke down when he talked about his sister and his family needing a hero when he was young, and Hygena cried when talking about losing a her baby late term, but that show had helped her grow and she realized that she had the strength to try again. Hyperstike’s story wasn’t tragic but it did reveal how he took childhood teasing and turned it into a motivator to excel.

A really good choice was having the heroes meet their families before the final decision was made. Last season they brought them out after Stan’s decision and it was anti-climactic because we didn’t know who they were and what was going on. This time the loved ones helped build dramatic tension and provided nice cutaways, instead of shots of bored, confused nobodies in the audience.

There were a few things I didn’t like though:

The promotional trailers for each character were terrible. Why were they fighting medieval monsters, and dragons in the woods? Superheroes are a very urban, street fight kind of a thing. Ugh, They also recycled some footage from last year’s trailers. Hyperstrike’s had some redeeming quality using Toho Godzilla and Rodan footage. But in general they sucked hard. It was a nice reminder that this program is broadcast on the same station that the shows SCIFI Original Pictures.

Dr. Dark’s final confrontation with the heroes was a bit of a let down. They just blasted him after the stunt-training segment and left him there. There should have been some sort of bigger payoff and the superheroes should have handed him off to the authorities as part of their final victory. It was a lame end to a villain that helped make the show.

There was a missed opportunity as well with Dr. Dark. They should have allowed Dr. Dark to make some sort of funny final statement from Jail. It would have helped close the show.

I enjoyed this season for the most part although, it lost some of the freshness factor by being a second season. Stan and the gang will need to mix it up if they do a third season so it doesn’t get stale.

Stan's after show interview with Feedback here

Parthe-NON

Who Wants To Be A Superhero… Week 6!

Being able to predict who is going home next is obviously not one of my skills. The Defuser is still here and Parthenon was sent packing, which I’m surprised about. To be completely honest this is the first time I’ve really disagreed with one of Stan’s decisions. Parthenon was not my favorite character by any stretch, but he’s always done pretty well. Some might give a knee jerk reaction and assume they had to kick the gay guy off, but I think it was really a case of keeping the only woman left on the show, that woman being Hygena. I really like Hygena, however her performance I felt was not as good as the others overall. You see, if we go with the criteria that Stan used last week to kick off Whip-Snap, that being the whole performance of the hero up to that point, then Parthenon should still be in the final three. Yeah, he blew it with the kids but so did Feedback in season one and he went on to win it. On side note, Parthenon was really positive during his interview with Feedback at Scifi.com. He showed class and verve and I ended up liking him more as a person after the discussion.

What was good this week: Seeing the heroes interact with the kids in the classroom, and the heroes kenning a way out of the container trap even after a few mishaps.

What was not so good: Making the heroes look like fools in downtown LA.

I’m gonna pick the Defuser again because… well since Hyperstrike and Hygena were at the San Diego Comic Con promoting the show I get the feeling that they are the final two.

It’s interesting that next week is a 2-hour finale. Which means to me that the show is dragging and so SciFi wants to race to the end. Good Idea.

Promo for next week here.

-Swinebread

The Whip Snapped

Who Wants To Be A Superhero… Week 5!

Well, I called it… NOT. I picked the Defuser last week and it was Whip-Snap that went home. She just got too emotional one two many times. I should have recognized that, but due to the fact that she hadn’t been called up for possible elimination before I didn’t think it would be her. I like Whip-Snap. Her real life story seemed so powerful and inspirational, a gay African American woman who overcame poverty and all that, I would have liked to have known more. But this is contest, as Stan said, and superhero is supposed to be as positive as possible and all the blubbering just wasn’t cutting it.
But I still think the Defuser came very close to leaving. Whip-Snap did have the fastest time on the rat, snake, and spider hole crawl, but Stan has to take the heroes performance in total and the past performances have been lacking especially due to her breakdowns.

Her interaction with the kids at the restaurant was great though, that big smile showed that she could be positive. If only we saw more of that.

Additionally. Ok, Yes everybody, this season of Who Wants To Be A Superhero is not as good as it could be. There I said it. Are you happy? Maybe the 1st season moved faster, maybe the people were more interesting, or possibly the newness factor of the show really helped sell it the first time around. I would encourage folks who are kinda iffy on the premise to check out the first season, especially for Captain Victory’s antics.

Doctor Dark Still rules though, he’s making the show fun.

Because he committed the big booboo of giving part of his costume away, I’ll pick the Defuser again to be eliminated next week.

I’m seriously starting to think that Hyperstrike is going all the way, although my personal favorite is Hygena for some bizarre reason.

-Swinebread

Garbage Gal Gone

Who Wants To Be A Superhero… Week 4!

No surprise this week as Basura left the lair, as she just wasn’t assertive enough. She’s defiantly an attractive woman. One of those arty types you might see on the East Side of Portland. I picked her to go and now Basura is gone. Despite the predictable elimination, I really enjoyed this episode as it had the same feeling as a first season show. When the costumed heroes have to walk around and ask the regular folks for favors, it’s always amusing. The extended Esureance commercial was kinda a surprising product placement on crack and maybe slightly annoying, but I hope they really did donate that $50,000 to that urban tree league. It’s gonna get tougher now as the remaining heroes all have more positive qualities than negative ones.

I must be enjoying this show much more than I thought, because I had a dream last night where I auditioned for a show called Who Wants to Be a Supervillain. I got to talk to Stan and the whole bit but I choked when I couldn’t come up with a good villain character, which is strange because I’ve got tons of ideas already. It must have been that comic con panel at scifi.com. see here

I’ll go out on a limb here, and guess that the Defuser will be eliminated next.

Next episode video promo here.

-Swinebread

Right & Wrong

Who Wants To Be A Superhero… Week 3!

Here’s a video of the show's Intro.

Well, I picked Mr. Mitzvah to be 86d and he was. No big shock there. He was always wimping out during the challenges, so it was only a matter of time. In fact, he would have been gone last week if Mindset hadn’t been such a jerk. The big surprise came when Stan had the super-folks come back to their power cubes for another, immediate elimination and poof, Ms. Limelight was gone too. She’s a nice person but she couldn’t take the pressure. Plus, her antics were getting old. I won't miss her. So, I was right and wrong with my prediction, although I did pick Ms. Limelight two weeks ago.


So we’re down to:

Hygena, Defuser, Whipsnap, Basura, Parthenon, and Hyperstrike.

Since I have to guess, I going with Basura to be eliminated next time.

Having a Supervillain directly involved with the challenges really adds to the fun, Doctor Dark rocks! …in goofy Silver Age Kinda way. Mu-hahaha

Who Wants To Be A Superhero is so cheesy, but I love it. The premise is so simple, but it really works for me. Part or the reason I have such an affinity for the show, I think, could possibly have something to do with dressing as a superhero and acting out the part. I might blog about this someday… I must stress might here.

Next episode video promo here.

-Swinebread

Who Wants To Be Eliminated? ...Mindset

Who Wants To Be Superhero… Week Two.

Wow, I would have picked Mindset to be eliminated if I had known that guy was such a clueless dick. Talk about no social skills and no empathy. How could he possibly think Stan made the wrong decision kicking him off when he insulted Ms. Limelight, and deliberately threw a challenge? It’s like he was playing a game in his own fantasy universe rather than dealing with what was really going on. Hey, Mindset get outta the basement and interact with humanity. This wasn’t a role-playing game. Bees were really stinging your teammates.

On A side note, I like the fact that there is a lot more supervillains this season. That was really missing from last time around. The fake news stories are a nice touch too.

I’m picking Mr. Mitzvah to get 86d for next time ‘cause his personality quirks aren’t funny anymore. I like his Stan designed suit the best of all the heroes though.

-Swinebread

Who wants to be a Superhero? and Comic Con thoughts

I enjoyed the 1st episode of season 2 of Who Wants To be a Superhero? They’ve obviously got a bigger budget with more special effects and a longer season. I liked the fact that no one was eliminated right off the bat as happened last year. It’s kinda sad that we never got to know Levity, from season one, because he was kicked off so soon. So it’s nice that everybody got a real chance this time around. With an expanded season, it seems like there will only be one elimination per episode. That’s a good too because it will be more difficult to figure out who has been kicked off ahead of time.

1st impressions:

Basura: Weird arty girl that you wanna get to know.

Braid: bored homemaker, good costume.

The Defuser: Cop guy who took Superhero “values” to heart.

Hygena: Funny homemaker, this season’s fat mama.

Hyper-Strike: amped up wild man with real skills

Mindset: the stereotypical comic fan, classic scifi silver age hero

Mr. Mitzvah: Spoiled rich guy with interesting personality quirks.

Ms. Limelight: Miss Airhead, but nice enough.

Parthenon: sorta classic golden age style mystical hero.

Whip-Snap: down on her luck, gal who is glad to be here.

The fact that feedback went around and told everyone they were on the show was a nice touch, with Whip-Snap’s reaction the best of the bunch.

Should I guess who is gonna get kicked off next? I’m really terrible at that sort of thing but I’ll say Ms. Limelight is gone next time around.

I watched some of the coverage of Comic Con on G4. It was nice to see the reveal with the news that Karen Allen will be in Indy 4. Maybe there’s hope Lucas won’t screw this up… …maybe. Here’s the vid:

I’m also getting excited about the special edition DVD of Blade Runner, but the interview with Ridley Scot was kinda lame.

The Neil Gaiman interview was much better and now I’m looking forward to both Beowulf and Stardust.

Some of the hosts on G4 show are irritating with their fake enthusiasm and no comic book knowledge comments.

I was also happy to learn from Heidi MacDonald’s blog that Mark Waid is now the editor-in-Chief of Boom! Studios. They’re making big waves with great comics, why not bring on a big name.

-Swinebread

Star Trek Magazine and stuff

I picked up the latest issue of Star Trek Magazine while cruising Fred Meyer. A couple of articles caught my eye: a section devoted to TOS episode The Doomsday Machine (including the new remastered version), and a quick blurb about the new comic “Star Trek: Year 4.” It was funny to learn that William Windom, who played Commodore Matt Decker, doesn’t like Star Trek and he’s never watched the show except for The Doomsday Machine. Also, the original concept for the “machine” had thousands of gun platforms but this obviously had to be nixed due to budget restraints. I was also happy to learn that the Star Trek Year 4 comic will include characters from the animated show. They won’t have big staring roles, but they’ll appear. That’s very cool, as I enjoy the cartoon Star Trek quite a bit. It’s a nice nod and appreciated by fans like me.

A surprising fact I learned from this issue was that DeForest Kelley gave up the chance for an experimental treatment for his cancer. He did it because he felt he’d lived a long life and that a younger person should receive it. How about that! This info comes via Kris Smith, a family friend, who has a book coming out soon about Kelly. Makes me miss him all the more.


On a side note, I realized I didn’t get a copy of the Who Wants to Be a Superhero comic book staring Feedback. So, rustled one up at another store. It’s your standard Superhero story. Not much to say about it, but it is getting me excited for the second season, which premieres July 26th.

-Swinebread

Who Wants To Be A Superhero?

Don’t forget, It's coming back for a second season on July 25, 2007. Who Wants To Be A Superhero?

Here’s the trailer to remind you why the first season was so good... for many different reasons.