9 Wild Assumptions to Worry About Based on the ‘Gotham’ Trailer
It may seem petty to over-analyse a mere teaser and make sweeping judgements of an entire show based on barely a couple minutes of footage. But on the other hand, no one asked for more Batman in an era where his pointy-eared brand of justice and throat-punching is already in danger of imploding from over-saturation. Incidentally it’s a show that’s also elected to needlessly give us yet another retelling of what’s possibly the most well-known origin story of any character in modern popular culture. So really, no one’s a winner here.
1. Young Selina Kyle
Probably one of the show’s better ideas was deciding to focus on a young Selina and show her at an age we’ve never really seen her at, hopefully allowing the writers to demonstrate aspects of her character that would organically inform what we know she’ll become later in her life. In addition, they get all the props in the world for casting someone who looks frighteningly like a young Michelle Pfeiffer. So why is this something to worry about?
Well, from the brief shot we see of her in the trailer (which, it’s probably safe to assume, is from the pilot) she’s already dressed like Proto-Catwoman! She’s meant to be 12? 14? And yet here she is in a tight leather jacket and goggles, breaking into Wayne Manor (for reasons?). Because you know what comics-based properties need more of? Creepy sexualisation of under-age female characters.
2. Young Bruce Wayne
Specifically the shot of him standing on the roof of Wayne Manor seemingly about to jump. What’s that? The potentially problematic depiction of a young female character wasn’t edgy enough for you? How about some attempted child-suicide! Seriously though, what the hell is this show, did someone let Frank Miller loose again? Do we need to assemble a task force to hunt him down like an alcoholic, former BBC presenter from an episode of Father Ted
3. Why doesn’t Gordon look like Gordon?
There’s no point judging an actor’s performance until we’ve seen a few episodes (regardless of how cringingly that speech about darkness and light is delivered). But what we can do is over-analyse his appearance to a needless degree. Really, there are literally only two things you need to make any actor look like a serviceable Gordon; glasses and a moustache. Why does he have neither?!
4. Poison Ivy is going to be in this?
This show’s central conceit of doing a Pre-Batman Gotham sounded great on paper (until they then added Batman). The main difficultly was always going to be the villains though, as many of them are in some way tied to Bats. Cobblepot and Nigma are smart choices as they’re characters that lend themselves well to maintaining a tonal similarity to Nolan (which DC apparently enforces on its adaptations under penalty of death) while also being compelling enough characters in their own right that their younger versions could carry a TV season-worth of story. Isley on the other hand… While a younger Isley could be interesting, she’s an odd choice given that they’re clearly trying to copy Arrow’s approach to a slightly weirder version of a post-Nolan superhero world.
Her powers are prime B-Movie material but are more importantly very CGI and large-budget contingent. I have a sneaking suspicion that she’ll end up as a variation on Scarecrow whose power will be nothing more than using plants and science to make gases or bombs and rendering her more tech-based than actually super-powered. If that does become the case, why not focus on a character like Crane rather than alter a less ‘grounded’ villain in yet another misguided attempt at ‘realism’?
5. The Shots of the Cityscape
Why do they look so false and CGI-y? Are they CGI? Why? What’s wrong with using the same helicopter shots of a generic modern city like Arrow does? Or even just reusing shots from the Nolan trilogy, which, seeing as some of the framing is an exact copy of, would hardly be a stretch.
6. Young Bruce Wayne’s Banshee Scream
Ow, that was genuinely painful. I hope he doesn’t do that too often. Especially if he’s going to be jumping off a lot of rooftops.
7. Scary Gordon
Gordon is meant to be the reassuring voice that comforts ‘ickle-Bruce but look at the way he’s leaning in to tell Bruce he’ll catch his parents’ killer. It’s actually quite funny. Have we got this all wrong? Is this a comedy series satirising dark and gritty with Scary-Gordon as the central gag? Because that would be great.
8. The Logo (Probably) Lies – Zeppelins!
There’s a zeppelin in the logo! Batman adaptations so rarely do the zeppelins. Will there ever be zeppelins in the actual show’s skyline? Probably not. Certainly weren’t in any of the six dozen establishing shots tossed liberally through that short trailer.
9. Young Bruce Wayne and Gordon
“There will be light” Gordon tells Bruce. Haha, no, no there won’t. This is a Batman property. If there’s one thing we can be reliably assured won’t show up, it’s light. It’ll all be very much, as Lego Batman put it; “DARKNESS. NO PARENTS.”
[Words, Richard Drumm]