Newsgroup: it.fan.tv.buffy
Titolo: 14 Reasons Why TV And Superheroes Don't Mix

Con qualche eccezione, come Buffy.
http://io9.com/5367857/14-reasons-why-tv-and-superheroes-dont-mix?skyline=true&s=i
If there's one thing that this week's premieres of Heroes and Smallville
collectively proved, it's that television really shouldn't try and tackle
superheroes. Here's even more proof why - as well as some rare examples of
when it does work.
Shazam! (1974)
With one word, Billy Batson becomes the World's Mightiest Mortal... but
that's about the most believable thing in this series, which creepily
featured the underage Billy traveling around the country in an RV
accompanied by his "mentor" and occasionally talking to the gods who gave
him his powers, who all happened to be badly-animated cartoons. Add in
Billy or Captain Marvel helpfully telling you the moral of the episode at
the end each week, and you've got a recipe for a dull show enlivened only
by the size of Billy's hair.
Electra-Woman and Dyna-Girl (1976)
I'm not really sure this one needs any explanation as to why it's on the
list, once you've watched the video.
The Amazing Spider-Man (1977)
In which television revealed the truth about Marvel's favorite superhero:
He looked kind of ridiculous. This short-lived series also missed the point
of the comic book altogether by not using any of the character's famous
supervillains, instead giving him ninjas and terrorists to fight. What was
the point of that?
Legends Of The Superheroes (1978)
No expense was spared on bringing DC's biggest name superheroes to the
small screen in this live action version of Super Friends - well, unless
you count the money that would've been spent on a good script. Again,
proving that bad writing and poor special effects can overcome even the
best intentions, this two-part series (The second episode of which was a
celebrity roast of the heroes led by Ed McMahon. No, really) also featured
a villain more diabolical than Lex Luthor: A laugh track.
Those Terrible Captain America TV Movies (1979)
We can just imagine the pitch meeting for these two TV movies: "So, we have
the rights to Captain America - You know, the guy who embodies the American
Dream and fought in World War II against Hitler? I've got a great take on
him: We turn him into Evel Kinivel. And let's get rid of that mask, too.
Make it into a motorcycle helmet - That's much more hep." It could've been
worse, we guess... We're just not sure how.
The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988)
The original Hulk series was, if you ask us, one of the few superhero shows
that worked - and that's because they didn't really treat it as a superhero
show at all. When they revived the series a decade later and started
pairing him with guest stars from the Marvel Universe, though...? Not a
good idea:
(The Daredevil appearance in the next special, Trial of The Incredible
Hulk, may be even worse; especially because they seem to have gotten the
character mixed up with a generic ninja who happened to be blind.)
Superboy (1988)
An attempt to spin the Superman movies into a weekly format, the Superboy
series had sincerity going for it - Sincerity and the seeming inability to
not try and drastically rework the series between seasons every year
(Including recasting the lead role after the original Superboy asked for a
raise around the same time as getting arrested for drunk driving), leading
to a schizophrenic, uneven show let down by shoddy special effects.
The Flash (1990)
The Flash comic book may be populated with colorful villains, but the
television show didn't have the same luck (Mark Hamill's Trickster, in the
clip below, aside), presumably for budgetary reasons. Add in a leading man
as stiff as his ridiculously over-sculpted costume, and it's no surprise
that this show only lasted one season.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993)
Secret identities, colorful outfits, super powers, fighting crime... These
guys count as superheroes, right? Maybe it's our age, maybe our dedication
to things like plot, dialogue and nuance, or perhaps it's just our aversion
to cheap monsters in anything that doesn't actually involve Godzilla, but
the long-running (and multiple-show-spanning: It's on its fifteenth
different title right now) series always seemed... well, almost unwatchably
bad to us.
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993)
It's a judgment call as to whether this show really deserves to be here. On
the one hand, the Moonlighting-esque relationship between its leads was
cute, and John Shea's Lex Luthor was a lot of fun... But on the other, it
was a show that struggled to come up with good ideas each week and often
failed, leading to an episode where Clark married a clone of Lois, who
needed to eat frogs in order to survive. Or something. And what was with
essentially writing Lex out after one season, anyway?
Generation X (1996)
A pilot adapting Marvel's X-Men spin-off, Generation X made it to air but
never to full-series, meaning that the world was spared the low-budget
high-concept struggle of teens having to live with their mutant abilities
in a world that hated and feared them... because they couldn't act.
Justice League of America (1997)
Possibly the ultimate proof that TV and superheroes don't mix, this is
another unsuccessful pilot that aired nonetheless, and features bad
writing, bad acting, bad special effects, and some of the most literal -
and most embarrassing - superhero costumes ever seen on screen. It's like a
landmark of fail.
Mutant X (2001)
Marvel's short-lived television series about mutants that isn't related to
the X-Men at all oh no please don't sue us Fox (They did, nonetheless)
tried to swerve away from comparisons to the publisher's successful mutant
franchise by underplaying everything to the point of boredom. Even
Generation X would've been better than this.
Birds of Prey (2002)
It had so much potential - Batman and Catwoman's daughter teaming up with
the former Batgirl to fight crime? Hello, high concept - but the execution
let it down badly with shoddy writing, lack of direction and the mistaken
idea that camp was better than character development. When something makes
Smallville look subtle and nuanced, you know you're in trouble.
The Ones That Didn't Suck
Batman (1966)
Almost everything about it is wrong - The cheap jokes! The ill-fitting
costumes! Replacing Julie Newmar with Eartha Kitt! - but it all works
nonetheless; Batman's 1960s incarnation may not be the best translation
from page to screen, but as a weird totem of the era, it remains a classic.
Wonder Woman (1975)
We love Wonder Woman as a character, and this show may be a lot to do with
that. While the comic version was having identity issues at the time this
series was being made, the TV show took her back to her heyday, added the
"let me twirl into my costume" and fittingly made Lynda Carter the star she
should've been all along.
The Incredible Hulk (1978)
As we said above, the Hulk show worked despite its title character -
Riffing on The Fugitive with an occasional need for a giant silent
strongman, the show offered a completely different take on the character
from the comics, and one that was arguably better.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1996)
When it comes to television series about people with magical powers, we
don't think we're alone in thinking that Joss Whedon did everything right.
Mixing just the right amounts of humor and tragedy into the supernatural
and superpowered stories, Buffy is everything that superhero shows like
Smallville and Heroes should be trying to emulate... if only they could
drag themselves away from the superficial special effects and overcooked
dialogue.
The Obvious Exceptions
Anything animated
Yes, all of the above shows were live-action, and yes, we know that
superhero cartoons have a long and proud history on television as well;
we're partial to some Justice League Unlimited, especially if Darkseid is
the bad guy. But as much as adding animated series in here may have ruined
the grade curve, let's not forget things like this:
or this:
I think you know what I'm saying.
-- 
Jolan Tru
Filippo "Hytok" Simone
http://perestroika.iobloggo.com/

Smallville and Heroes should be trying to emulate...
^_^
a proposito, l'universita' dove va Claire negli ultimi due episodi... non e' la
stessa usata come universita' di Sunnydale?
-- 
Fabio Cavallin
a.k.a. Dottor Divago
«[...]And then the day come when cylons decided to kill their masters»