SUPERMAN: DOOMSDAY
(Review)

Marvel’s gotten the jump on DC as far as straight-to-DVD animated features are concerned, inundating comic geeks with lackluster fare such as the Ultimate Avengers flicks and Iron Man.
DC finally got in on the act though, with the okay but not really stellar effort, Superman: Brainiac Attacks. They’ve followed that one up with the decidedly more adult Superman: Doomsday.

The Good:
The gimmicky fat of the original comic book story—particularly the quartet of Super-replacements who pop out of the woodwork once the Last Son of Krypton bites the big one—is wisely trimmed off, paring the tale down to its essentials, and allowing the storytellers to more deeply explore the effect Superman’s apparent death has on Metropolis and those closest to him.
We see how Jimmy, Perry, and of course, Lois, deal with their grief as their beloved champion and friend dies while protecting humanity from the evil forces of destruction, personified by the killing machine known as “Doomsday.”
Here, Doomsday is a merciless juggernaut, bane of innocent deer and doggies called “Biscuit” alike. Oh, and Men of Steel as well.
A tough baddie is key where Superman is concerned, and it’s fortunate that the Doomsday sequence is particularly effective, the action and suspense dealt out with skill and style as the two combatants rumble throughout Metropolis.

And though I do miss Tim Daly as Clark/Superman, genre mainstay Adam Baldwin (seen on The X-Files, Angel, Firefly, and presently, Chuck; Baldwin also voiced Green Lantern Hal Jordan for the Justice League animated series) does a commendable job, edging out early George Newbern (who voices Supes on Justice League) with his vocal performance.
Acing their characters as well are Twin Peaks’ and Reaper’s Ray Wise (as Perry White) and Lost’s and Pushing Daisies’ Swoosie Kurtz (as Martha Kent).
Jimmy’s subplot is also interesting, though perhaps could have benefited with slightly more screen time. (Jimmy is voiced by Adam Wylie, Zack on Picket Fences, and the voice of Brainiac 5 on Legion of Super-Heroes; Entourage fans may remember him as Jay on “One Day In The Valley.”)

Finally, there are also nice tips of the proverbial hat to the Fleischer animated Superman shorts from the 40’s and the Legion of Super-Heroes comic book, as well as a playful swipe at the aborted Superman Lives script written by Kevin Smith, with Smith making a brief, amusing cameo.

The Bad:
I definitely miss Dana Delany as Lois, as Anne (Ally McBeal; Men In Trees) Heche’s interpretation seems strangely insubstantial.
But, as disappointed as I am with Lois, James Marsters (another genre mainstay, having spent considerable time on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off, Angel, as well as kicking around Smallville more recently) does a sad-a$$ job as Luthor. (Clancy Brown did such a dead-on, bang-up job as Lex, I still “hear” that resonant voice whenever I read a comic with Luthor in it.)

There’s also the gross underutilization of Cree Summer—who did work on Batman Beyond, but is more (in)famously known for her turn as Foxxy Love on the audaciously hilarious Drawn Together—and John DiMaggio—Brother Blood on Teen Titans, and brilliant and unforgettable as Bender on Futurama. Summer and DiMaggio appear in Doomsday as Mercy and the Toyman, respectively, both characters getting rather limited—and truncated—screen times.
I mean, when you’ve got Foxxy Love and Bender in one movie, you sure as heck ought to use them.
The reimagining of the Toyman here as a sort of Goth loser also doesn’t really hold a candle to the creepfest that is his incarnation on the Superman and Justice League animated series.

The Ugly:
And I thought Supes looking inordinately tired in the first season of Justice League was bad…
Here, the strangely chiseled cheekbones of the Man of Steel make him look rather… odd. It’s a curious design choice that somewhat compromises the hero’s look. Fortunately, the animation’s good, so that sort of makes up for Kal’s ugly mug.

And the Downright Strange:
There is a curious homoerotic vibe that Luthor exudes in Doomsday. How else should one take it when Lex, in the opening VO, uses the word “beautiful” to describe his nemesis?
Then, in a later sequence, after Supes’ “death” at the hands of Doomsday, a bare-chested Luthor apparently traps the Man of Steel in a room equipped with red sunlight generators and wails on the beleaguered hero with a pair of kryptonite gloves, all the while screaming things like “Why did you leave me?! Why?” and, disturbingly enough, “Who’s your Daddy?”
Now, the homoeroticism in this antagonistic relationship has long bubbled beneath the comic books’ four-colour surface, but its presence here just feels very off-key.

It should also be noted that Superman: Doomsday is rated PG-13: there’s action aplenty, extras and supporting characters and animals meet untimely demises, and, when we enter the story, we discover that Superman and Lois Lane have been, well, Superfriends for the past six months; the kind of Superfriends who snuggle and spend the night at each others’ places…
Having said all that, this is the most mature and adult I’ve seen DC animated stuff get, and for the most part, it’s a commendable effort, though it may not exactly be for the kiddie brigade.

Ultimately, I may have a number of issues with DC’s sophomore stab at the direct-to-DVD world, but it’s clearly the best effort to date, taking us to places we’d never reached before in past animated DC works. It also leaves the limp Marvel efforts eating a whole lotta dust.

(Superman: Doomsday DVD cover art courtesy of amazon.com.)

TV WATCH 2007 (3)
PUSHING DAISIES Pilot

I am in awe of Bryan Fuller.
Wouldn’t you be? Not only did he bring us the unjustly cancelled Wonderfalls, but he also worked on the first season of Heroes (having written “Collision” and the astounding “Company Man”)*, and brought The Amazing Screw-On Head (review in Archive) to zany animated life.
Now he’s at the helm of Pushing Daisies, one of the best new series of this coming season.

“This was the moment young Ned realized he wasn’t like the other children, nor was he like anyone else, for that matter. Young Ned could touch dead things and bring them back to life.
“This touch was a gift given to him, but not by anyone in particular. There was no box, no instructions, no manufacturer’s warranty. It just was.”

At a young age, Ned (Lee Pace, from Wonderfalls) discovers that he can bring the dead back to life with a touch. There are, however, rules to his “gift” (which I won’t disclose here to try and save the suspense; though said rules are outlined in the first five minutes of the Pilot, they do have long-term ramifications that serve to inform the Pilot and the series as a whole).
In the wake of Ned’s discovery, he is parted from his first love, Charlotte (though he calls her “Chuck”; Anna Friel, from the Goal! films and the upcoming Bathory, where she plays the Blood Countess herself, Elizabeth Bathory). Years later (but still as a direct result of that childhood incident), he opens a restaurant called “The Pie Hole,” where he bakes exquisite pies and has a lucrative partnership with a local PI, Emerson Cod (Boston Public’s Chi McBride).

To say any more would cheat the show’s potential audience of the poignant wonder Pushing Daisies holds.
I can say this though: Fuller’s script is narrated from start to finish by Jim Dale, in a very conscious fairy tale styling. And the look of the show—which recalls the technicolour Fantasia of Tim Burton, circa Big Fish—mirrors that fairy tale motif to a tee.
Small wonder then, that the Pilot’s director is Barry Sonnenfeld, whose Addams Family films proved that he could be Burton when you couldn’t have the real Burton.
And if that isn’t enough to tantalize and to pique your curiosity, the supporting cast also includes Ellen Greene (Sylar’s kooky mom on Heroes) and Swoosie Kurtz (Locke’s kooky mom on Lost) as Chuck’s aunts, and Kristen Chenoweth (Running with Scissors and Stranger Than Fiction; reviews for both in the Archive) as Olive Snook, waitress at The Pie Hole, who lives in the apartment next to Ned’s.

The Pushing Daisies Pilot is a wonderful, heartfelt hour of life, death, and what should, by all rights fall squarely in the middle of those two extremes, love.
It’s funny, and moving, and smart. It’s vintage Bryan Fuller, and you have got to see this show.

* Over the course of Heroes Season 1, Bryan Fuller wrote most of the Claire scenes. Anyone who’s checked the Iguana out in the past will know that Claire is one of my favorite characters on the show, who also had, I feel, one of the most satisfying character arcs in the first season. I’ve also long maintained that Hayden Panettiere is one of the best of the show’s ensemble.
So thanx to Mr. Fuller, for giving Hayden all those great scenes to work on, and for helping shape a great character.

Parting shot: I never got the chance to see Dead Like Me, Bryan Fuller’s other show, though I’ve heard lots of good things about it.

(Images courtesy of abc, about.com, and thepiemaker.com.)