Ever since H.G. Wells posited that at some point in the future a crappy movie starring Guy Pearce would be made from one of his novels, time travel has become part of the collective consciousness.
Fortunately for us, comic book authors have latched on to the concept and never let go, creating such iconic story lines as one of my personal favorites — the Flashpoint Paradox. Now, in 2016, we finally have the newest live-action series to potentially become its own grandfather — DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.
So, let’s not waste any more time and get in to the nitty gritty.
Beginning 150 years in the future, an immortal despot by the name of Vandal Savage (Arrow/The Flash‘s Casper Crump) has finally conquered the Earth. Taking a few liberties from the irradiated cave man origins of the comic page, Savage has been fleshed out into a pseudo-MacGuffin, driving the plot of the series with his eternal quest for domination. Yet, as always, there is a fly in the Vaseline.
Enter Captain Rip Hunter (Doctor Who‘s Arthur Darvill). Having apparently earned a Masters degree in time, Rip elects to use his abilities to totally disrupt the past in order save the future — which may or may not exist. Naturally, he cannot accomplish this feat alone; so why not abduct heroes from the past that history forgot? How about the Atom, Firestorm, White Canary and the Hawks… No? Not good enough? Okay, let’s throw in a pair of criminals that must really love George R. R. Martin to sweeten the mix. Now that’s a recipe for success!
As far as a pilot episode is concerned, your Righteous Reverend would file this entry in the moderately successful category. Serving the purpose of establishing character profiles, “Justified” would have been a good subtitle as most of the episode was about each individual’s reasoning for joining the team. Whether it be the desire to be part of something greater, the need for significance, the pursuit of knowledge or just being able to see some really cool shit from the past, each character exhibited a baser emotion that is identifiable and relatable, even without superpowers.
Pulling off the delivery, however, is a completely different animal. By that standard, Brandon Routh (A former Clark in Superman Returns) as the Atom, and Victor Garber (Argo) as the Martin Stein-half of Firestorm, became a “dynamic” duo while the other superfriends fell a little flat — especially the Hawks. Let’s hope after a few more episodes, 4,000 years of chemistry will finally catch a spark.
Aside from White Canary (Arrow‘s Caity Lotz) — in general — and there being no mention of Thanagar yet, the only major flaw with the episode was the fucking BMW logo missing from the hood of an automobile that is CLEARLY A BMW!!! But, I digress… Playing with the concepts of fate vs. free-will mingled with some fairly plausible science, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is a fun ride (with excellent television effects) that will keep audiences thinking about future episodes in the past of today.
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow will air on the CW every Thursday at 8/7c.