ClivePwned
Member
Right now, I'm enjoying the fuck out of Agent Carter, AoS, The Flash and Gotham. As someone who's never been a big superhero comic reader, I look back and have realised how many of the TV versions of these I've watched over the years, and how many I looooved.
So let's rate your top Live Action Superhero TV shows, a few words about each show and why you enjoyed it. Stick to ones you have actually watched yourself.
Rules:
-Live Action means Not Animated.
-At least one main character has a power/unique gift not found in ordinary humans gained by technology, and accident, alien birth whatever.
-No cartoons (soooo many to choose from- that's a thread for another day)
-No puppets shows
-no pilots. Has to be at a few episodes.
feel free to add ones in your own lists
Adventures of Superman
The Invisible Man (1958)
Batman
The Green Hornet
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Invisible Man (1975)
Gemini Man
The Bionic Woman
The Man from Atlantis
The Incredible Hulk
The Amazing Spider-Man (1977)
The New Original Wonder Woman/The New Adventures of Wonder Woman
Shazaam
Secrets of Isis
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl
The Greatest American Hero
Knight Rider (has the car, so as much of a hero as Batman)
Manimal
Automan
Powers of Matthew Star
Starman
Superboy
Quantum Leap
The Flash
Lois and Clarke: New Adventures of Superman
M.A.N.T.I.S.
Hercules The Legendary Journeys
Xena: Warrior Princess
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The Invisible Man (2000)
Angel
Mutant X
Smallville
Dark Angel
Bionic Woman
No Ordinary Family
The Cape
Chuck
Arrow
Agents of Shield
The Flash
Gotham
Constantine
Agent Carter
Coming Soon:
Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage and 50 more.
So Top 5 for me
1. THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN
Steve Austin (Lee Majors), Astronaut, a man barely alive. We can rebuild him =, we have the technology that goes jika-jika-jika-jika. With a bionic right arm, both legs and an incredibly annoying beeping eye, Steve Austin became a superspy, crime fighter, lover and the guy who fought against Fem-bots and Bigfoot. The opening telemovie is quite mature for 70's SF, with a suicidal Steve Austin recovering from his accident but then it became a kids show and is kinda dumbed down- William Shatner becomes 'super-bright, etc.' We have the Fembots, other Bionic people (including his girlfriend who got her own spinoff show, The Bionic Woman starring Lindsay Wagner) and he fought motherfucking Big Foot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWccQa7fI0g
2. WONDER WOMAN
Linda Carter is the Wonder Woman by which all other live action Wonder Women will be judged. There's actually 2 series here because the first season is set during WWII and then the show changed networks and was retooled into a contemporary (ie late 70's) setting of spies. I liked the WWII ones better, though I have to say her outfit is a lot more appealing in the later seasons. Linda Carter's acting gets better as the series progresses but she always looks amazing. The theme tune is one of my favourites from the 70's.
Yeah, I have no shame in admitting that, as a kid, I may have twirled once or twice just as I pretended to run slowly as Steve Austin. Season One also has a vibe that's very similar to Agent Carter (which is partly while I really enjoy that show).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVLJcBsD__E
Of the shows currently on air, many of which I enjoy each week, this one is by far the best. It doles out plot enough to keep you interested without getting breathless like Gotham- which I like, but feels like it's going to run out of puff by the end of the season because it insists on changing everyone's relationships for an episode in a permanent way, then finding a way to reset everything in the next episode.
The Flash just works. Great cast, great continuing story, that people who aren't readers of the comics can enjoy. Judging by the Flash thread, the fans mostly love it, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj0l7iGKh8g
4. THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN
This is incredibly hard for some people to watch today, but this is here because as a kid, I fucking looooved Superman when the first movie came out in 1978 and they played the 50's series before and after school. It's cheesy as fuck and with very little fantasy in it apart from Superman- the villains seem to be generic gangsters or mad scientists. I'll always remember the episode where a criminal has locked himself in a special strong room waiting for the statute of limitations to run out on the crime he committed and watching Superman's attempts to get in.
http://youtu.be/6aNWFQinm9s?t=1m16s
This is a weird one. It has a lot of Batman tropes and villains but has a style completely at odds with any other version of Batman. It also brings so much of its own iconography that people still reference to this day. It also has the most unique performance of any actor playing a superhero, so much so that Adam West is still playing variations of that performance today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g5BgqexYcA
The worst I've seen that actually got as far as a series is probably
The Amazing Spider-Man (1977)
Even as a kid, I found this highly disappointing. It was originally release here in cinemas on a double bill meaning, we had to sit through a turgid gangster flick before watching this turgid spiderman movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uRLgeEepzg
that's me done, what about you?
So let's rate your top Live Action Superhero TV shows, a few words about each show and why you enjoyed it. Stick to ones you have actually watched yourself.
Rules:
-Live Action means Not Animated.
-At least one main character has a power/unique gift not found in ordinary humans gained by technology, and accident, alien birth whatever.
-No cartoons (soooo many to choose from- that's a thread for another day)
-No puppets shows
-no pilots. Has to be at a few episodes.
feel free to add ones in your own lists
Adventures of Superman
The Invisible Man (1958)
Batman
The Green Hornet
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Invisible Man (1975)
Gemini Man
The Bionic Woman
The Man from Atlantis
The Incredible Hulk
The Amazing Spider-Man (1977)
The New Original Wonder Woman/The New Adventures of Wonder Woman
Shazaam
Secrets of Isis
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl
The Greatest American Hero
Knight Rider (has the car, so as much of a hero as Batman)
Manimal
Automan
Powers of Matthew Star
Starman
Superboy
Quantum Leap
The Flash
Lois and Clarke: New Adventures of Superman
M.A.N.T.I.S.
Hercules The Legendary Journeys
Xena: Warrior Princess
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The Invisible Man (2000)
Angel
Mutant X
Smallville
Dark Angel
Bionic Woman
No Ordinary Family
The Cape
Chuck
Arrow
Agents of Shield
The Flash
Gotham
Constantine
Agent Carter
Coming Soon:
Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage and 50 more.
So Top 5 for me
1. THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN
Steve Austin (Lee Majors), Astronaut, a man barely alive. We can rebuild him =, we have the technology that goes jika-jika-jika-jika. With a bionic right arm, both legs and an incredibly annoying beeping eye, Steve Austin became a superspy, crime fighter, lover and the guy who fought against Fem-bots and Bigfoot. The opening telemovie is quite mature for 70's SF, with a suicidal Steve Austin recovering from his accident but then it became a kids show and is kinda dumbed down- William Shatner becomes 'super-bright, etc.' We have the Fembots, other Bionic people (including his girlfriend who got her own spinoff show, The Bionic Woman starring Lindsay Wagner) and he fought motherfucking Big Foot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWccQa7fI0g
2. WONDER WOMAN
Linda Carter is the Wonder Woman by which all other live action Wonder Women will be judged. There's actually 2 series here because the first season is set during WWII and then the show changed networks and was retooled into a contemporary (ie late 70's) setting of spies. I liked the WWII ones better, though I have to say her outfit is a lot more appealing in the later seasons. Linda Carter's acting gets better as the series progresses but she always looks amazing. The theme tune is one of my favourites from the 70's.
Yeah, I have no shame in admitting that, as a kid, I may have twirled once or twice just as I pretended to run slowly as Steve Austin. Season One also has a vibe that's very similar to Agent Carter (which is partly while I really enjoy that show).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVLJcBsD__E
THE FLASH (2014)
Of the shows currently on air, many of which I enjoy each week, this one is by far the best. It doles out plot enough to keep you interested without getting breathless like Gotham- which I like, but feels like it's going to run out of puff by the end of the season because it insists on changing everyone's relationships for an episode in a permanent way, then finding a way to reset everything in the next episode.
The Flash just works. Great cast, great continuing story, that people who aren't readers of the comics can enjoy. Judging by the Flash thread, the fans mostly love it, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj0l7iGKh8g
4. THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN
This is incredibly hard for some people to watch today, but this is here because as a kid, I fucking looooved Superman when the first movie came out in 1978 and they played the 50's series before and after school. It's cheesy as fuck and with very little fantasy in it apart from Superman- the villains seem to be generic gangsters or mad scientists. I'll always remember the episode where a criminal has locked himself in a special strong room waiting for the statute of limitations to run out on the crime he committed and watching Superman's attempts to get in.
I think they fudged an atomic clock in the end to get him out- It's been 30 years since I saw it.
5. BATMAN
This is a weird one. It has a lot of Batman tropes and villains but has a style completely at odds with any other version of Batman. It also brings so much of its own iconography that people still reference to this day. It also has the most unique performance of any actor playing a superhero, so much so that Adam West is still playing variations of that performance today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g5BgqexYcA
The worst I've seen that actually got as far as a series is probably
The Amazing Spider-Man (1977)
Even as a kid, I found this highly disappointing. It was originally release here in cinemas on a double bill meaning, we had to sit through a turgid gangster flick before watching this turgid spiderman movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uRLgeEepzg
that's me done, what about you?