The new DC Universe Doom Patrol show may not be strange enough to stand out

In the first book of Grant Morrison Doom Patrol Run, the world is invaded by creatures capable of cutting their victims of reality. The leader of the cursed patrol, Niles Caulder (aka "the leader"), asks Robotman (a human brain in a metal body): "How do you propose to face the current crisis?", Replies Robotman: "If we had a meaning, Calls Superman.

Of course, they do not call him and their team of exceptionally strange superheroes saves the battle by facing an equally strange threat. In the worlds populated by many superheroes, the question is always why more threats do not appear in heavy hitters. But Doom Patrol has a strong response. When the bad guys have the power to remove people from existence or to attack their sanity, it is best not to send heroes that the world can not afford to lose. Some threats are too strange for Superman.

The Doom Patrol episode of DC Universe's Titans introduced the titular team as a rehab group as the superhero team. After each member experienced an event that gave them extraordinary powers, but did not prevent them from integrating into mainstream society, the Doom Patrol team found security in the silent solitude of Caulder's mansion. Bruno Bichir played Caulder as a mad scientist manipulator Titans, but in the new Doom Patrol James Bond Timothy Dalton, former member of the James James series, took over this role and brought his experience of Penny Dreadful as a father figure to a group of troubled and dangerous pariahs.

DC Universe released only the first episode of its 15-episode series for review, and this pilot largely laid the foundation for the character characters featured in the film. Titans episode. These stories extend over many eras, showing that members of the Doom Patrol have taken a particularly long path toward recovery. Robotman (voiced and played in flashbacks of The Mummy star Brendan Fraser, with Riley Shanahan in charge of physical work), was one day Cliff Steele, NASCAR pilot of the 1980s, before an accident destroyed it and Caulder built a new one. The 1960s test pilot, Larry Trainor (Matt Bomer), merged with a cosmic being and crashed his plane, becoming the negative man still wrapped in bandages (Bomer's voice with Matthew Zuk's body). Rita Farr (April Bowlby) was a 1950s cold-hearted movie star before being exposed to a chemical substance that made her body gelatinous and turned her into Elasti-Girl. The show does a particularly good job with the combination of special effects and make-up that can make Rita look like a perfectly coiffed starlet to a grotesque mess and overflowing with a version of the monster titular. The blob.

Photo: Bob Mahoney / Warner Bros.

All these characters seem content to live in isolation, to keep each other company and engage in bbad hobbies such as miniature trains and knitting, to Crazy Jane (Orange is the new blackDiane Guerrero) goes home. Physically intact but afflicted with 64 personalities, each endowed with their superpowers, Jane is the only member of Doom Patrol to venture into the world regularly. It arouses immediate chemistry with Robotman, using it as a clbadic pressure tactic to encourage other members of the group to have the rest of the group go on a city tour in the absence of Caulder. Of course, this ends with a disaster.

All these stories are stitched together by the funny, heart-wrenching narrative of the wall of the nasty Mr. Nothing series, played by Firefly Alan Tudyk stars. "Critics, what do they know? They'll hate this series," he explains, explaining how Rita's acting talents were sacked in his day.Lustingly mocking the story and characters on a your disturbing punctuated by evil laughter, Nothing is easily the highlight of the first episode.

While Doom Patrol from the first episode of Morrison's first play, Jeremy Carver (creator of the series), who was previously co-host of Supernatural and Syfy To be human) is inspired by several versions of the characters, created by Arnold Drake in the 1960s. The series has gained fans across the decades for its distinct counter-culture ride on the super-heroic, but this novelty is lacking in the new series. All the characters are presented as barely twisted archetypes: the narcissistic actress rendered grotesque, the dear American flyboy who feels like a monster inside, the strange goth chick who … exceptionally weird chick goth. The sarcastic Straight Man Cliff is the most convincing of the characters so far, but even the emotional roller coaster he rides in the first episode is undermined by the fact that the writers add a twist too.

Photo: Quantrell D. Colbert / Warner Bros.

The newest thing about the first episode is his visual style, which transits through the periods. Mr. Nobody's background resembles a 1940s black, with his Nazi scientist and his South American background, while Cliff's background is shown in images that seem bleached by the Florida sun. Rita is shown in pastel shades, with black-and-white images when filmed. But in the present, the Doom Patrol is often plunged into darkness and darkness, whether in the rain or in Caulder's dimly lit mansion. The various cinematic techniques should be useful to Carver as the plot progresses, the second episode bringing the characters into another universe.

This does not help that other shows have also nailed Doom PatrolThemes and sensations. alphas provided an exceptionally powerful portrait of a group of people with superpowers who need both therapy and training Legion covered the group of people with problematic and weird powers. Even the meta-voice narration gimmick was done in The tick. But Doom PatrolThe biggest competitor could come from the most recent author of the comic book series: Gerard Way. The adaptation to Netflix of Way's original comic book about a group of very strange superheroes, The Umbrellas Academy, creates the same day as Doom Patrol. This is bad news for DC, which must convince viewers that its new streaming service offers content they can not get anywhere else. Yes Doom Patrol is not weird enough to stand out, DC will just have to hope that Superman, or at least their collection of Superman movies, can save the day.

Doom PatrolThe first season of the series will air on February 15 on DC Universe streaming service. New episodes will be aired every Friday.