The Cape - What do you think of it so far?

[Steve]

I finally was able to watch "The Cape" on my TIVO, and I enjoyed the pilot. I have hopes for this series, and I wondered what others thought of it.

[Nolgroth]

Just watched episode 1 and 2 on Hulu. I liked it. Sort of had that late 80's vibe, where some of the early 80's cheese factor was still present, despite the attempts at the burgeoning 90's melodrama. I hope it does well.

[Hawknight]

An overwealming Dark Champs Animated feel that makes me want to see more. Just wish the Orwell charater did not feel like Batman's Oracle without the handicap. Finally a show I can steal er borrow plotlines from for my DCA game.

[Ranxerox]

I liked it. :)

It's cheesy and over the top, but it is fun. The pilot episode was too packed and need to be 2 hours, but the two episodes since then have been better structured.

[Steve Long]

I haven't watched this week's episode so far. The pilot didn't set the world on fire, but it was tolerable and certainly had some bits you could steal for characters/campaigns.

[Pól Ruadh]

Loved it, a really nice modern pulp character. Honestly, while I can see the Orwell/Oracle comparison, she's also got elements of The Shadow's agent Burbank.
My two favourite things so far are (a) the fact that its so unapologetically a superhero show. It has its own internal logic without desperately trying to be 'realistic'. I love that it embraces the weird, strange and wonderous elements of superhero genre so willingly, and (b) The sheer depth and amount of 'story hooks'.
Watching this, I thought The Cape is EXACTLY the sort of character I love to play and GM. There are just so many angles you could take in crafting stories. From the various Carnival Members and its history, to Tarot, Ark Industries, the hero's family, Orwell's past... an almost overwhelmingly rich array of plot hooks.

Good stuff, and I can't wait to see more of it.

[quozaxx]

I like it. It has a that gritty Dark Champions feel. And I'm usually not a fan of Dark Champions. This may just change my outlook.

[RexMundi]

It gets better. Has a good comic book feel to it and I think the main thing that's making it work, is that it's actually rolling along LIKE a comicc book. It's not trying to take itself to seriously (like Heroes), nor is it trying to do the Underground and Safe (No Ordinary Family). It's, pretty much a comic book.

Like Rollo says, Say hello to Dorothy *****! Can't go wrong when you have a midget beating up Vinnie Jones.

~Rex

[Bolon]

IMHO, the Orwell character is a love interest feel but the hero is married and heroically not revealing himself to protect them. The storyline don't seem to have a direction and are still feeling out where they should be. It does have the feeling of a Knight Rider or techno-aided hero of the 80's. I think the writers don't really have a strong vision yet but are seeing what works. Once the vision gets stronger, it might be better. I am not impressed yet but give it a chance.

[BobGreenwade]

I actually am quite impressed with what they're doing. It's still early, and the show's still getting its "legs" on what the world is like. Unlike many older shows, it didn't have a pilot that just established everything and then left everything static until a cast change; information is given a little at a time, characters continue to develop with each episode, and we learn more about the world bit by bit.

Orwell appeared at first to be very Oracle-like, but she's quickly developed into something much more so that the resemblance is mostly superficial. (And I strongly disagree about her being written in as a love interest for Vince. Maybe for Rollo.) I think Summer Glau is probably glad to have a TV role that's "mentally normal" (after River Tam, Tess Doerner, and Cameron Phillips), and I hope the show lasts a long time, if only for her sake.

I do think the producers went into their "Create Your Own Villain" contest a bit prematurely. Only four episodes aired before the deadline, and nearly half the entries I've looked at on the list don't really fit the show's concept and milieu (not that very many of those submitters seem to have read the rules, with the "no superpowers" part being fairly explicit). We needed more time to get the feel of the thing. Still, they probably could populate the entire second season's villains from those fan submissions.

[Patriot]

Maybe Steve should approach them about a source book. Or dropping in a few villains. In exchange for a Herogames commercial right in the middle of the show.

[Escafarc]

This doesn't bode well for the Cape:
http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/the-cape-cancellation-next-19128/

[BobGreenwade]

Yeah, I saw comments about this on the show's Facebook page. We're enjoying the show here, though, and we hope it starts doing better. It really does have a lot of good potential.

[lapsedgamer]

I'm sorry. What did they expect? The show was not very good. I could only finish one episode, and that was because I was checking out Mina Suvari and Summer Glau in a catfight. I was only able to last about fifteen minutes into the other episodes.

I would steal the Dice character Suvari played and the little person martial artist. They were both cool concepts. Though Fringe did the probability calculation power a little better earlier in the season, the attractive woman component adds something.

[dsatow]

IMHO, the problems with the Cape.


The main character doesn't advance in the past few episodes to correct his problems. Each episode, he should visibly gain another inch on his solution. Burn Notice does this well. The Cape does not.
Orwell seems to be Chess's daughter. I was pretty sure(99%) after the first episode.
The most interesting characters are the Circus of Crime. The mother and broody kid put me off.
Villains for the most part are two dimensional. His partner betraying him? How many times does the poor writing have to occur where the betraying character asks "Have you told anyone else?" or "Let me handling it."


Sadly, I'll keep watching this until it falls off the air just because I have a thing for comic book superhero shows and movies.

[Ranxerox]

This is disappointing but not surprising. I mean, hey I'm a fan of the the show and I've described it as "cheesy" and a "train wreck". Still, it's been fun and as sources of gaming inspiration bad movies and tv shows are often more useful than great ones. Waterworld is a better game setting than 2001: A Space Odyssey. At the gaming table, silly fun simply trumps high art, and The Cape is loads of silly fun. I plan on watching the remaining episodes and missing the show when it is gone.

[Balabanto]

Well, I love it. I'm having a good time. People are too nitpicky and want too much from it. I like it because it's a little cheesy and a little over the top, and as things develop more, it's interesting to see how they go. If the show has a problem, it's that it doesn't mirror the comic book "The Cape" in the world of the show.

Examples:

1) Chess should totally be seducing Faraday's wife, so that he's more like the White Hand.

2) Chess should actually seek to create villains from the comic book "in story" to draw out the Cape.

3) The conflict between Scales and Chess needs to be more clearly defined in later episodes.

Will I walk on it over this stuff? Probably not. The Cape is FUN. That's right. It's FUN. I haven't had FUN with a TV show in years, and I haven't enjoyed a show on TV since Veronica Mars, and that was "Figure it out" fun, not fun fun.

[RexMundi]

I think if it tightens the reigns a bit, it will improve. Part of what makes it work for me though is that it doesn't try and take itself to seriously. It's on a BAD night though for TV in general though, and plus, it's got the Summer Glau Albatross hanging around it's neck (She's sank everything she's been on within 2 seasons tops).

Still, all it really needs is two or three really strong episodes. Getting rid of the medevial breastplate as well would help a lot for the look.

~Rex

[Nolgroth]

I liked the beginnings, but it sort of went to Mopeyville the last couple of episodes. I did not have as much fun with it.

To the above comment about Burn Notice doing the apparent lack of progress better, that is because there was progress. Burn Notice breaks down each episode into overarching plot and episodic plot. While the overarching plot shows small gains at first, momentum builds as the season goes along. No matter what though, there is a specific attempt to highlight the season plot in each episode. At the same time, there is always some sort of resolution, usually cleverly achieved, to the smaller episodic plots. Then there is the ensemble cast. While Michael may be doing his overarching plot stuff, Fi and Sam go off to do the other stuff. Then later Michael drifts into the episodic story while one of the others takes over some aspect of the arch.

The Cape could have learned from that. Small successes each episode towards getting the season plot of family reunification. Even if the resolution to the season plot turns out to be something other than the goal, the creative staff should have made it possible for little strides in that direction.

And quite frankly, Jeffrey Donovan and Bruce Campbell are simply better actors. Not a huge fan of the actress portraying Fi, but she does solid work. There are some good actors on the Cape (Keith David being my favorite), but the chemistry is just not there. The motions are mostly right, but I am just not buying into it. That means the actors are not selling it. It reminds me of the late 80's to early 90's Flash TV series. I really want to like it but I don't.

[Nolgroth]

and plus, it's got the Summer Glau Albatross hanging around it's neck (She's sank everything she's been on within 2 seasons tops).~Rex To be fair, Summer Glau has jumped on just about every fringe project that has come along that had mediocre co-stars and creative development. The Sarah Conner Chronicles could have been good. It was almost there (much like the Cape). The only other thing I recall was Dollhouse and I think that failed before Summer Glau came on board. Not counting Firefly, which was Fox doing its level best to sabotage itself, what else has Summer Glau done?

[Escafarc]

And quite frankly, Jeffrey Donovan and Bruce Campbell are simply better actors.

One of my favorite Bruce Campbell quotes: “For a long time I was embarrassed to say I was a 'B' movie actor, ... But now that I see what Hollywood's putting out, I realized 'B' actually means 'better.'”

[lapsedgamer]

I think if it tightens the reigns a bit, it will improve. Part of what makes it work for me though is that it doesn't try and take itself to seriously. It's on a BAD night though for TV in general though, and plus, it's got the Summer Glau Albatross hanging around it's neck (She's sank everything she's been on within 2 seasons tops).

Still, all it really needs is two or three really strong episodes. Getting rid of the medevial breastplate as well would help a lot for the look.

~Rex

Summer Glau is the sole appeal of the show to me. She's just good looking. Of course, the show still isn't worth watching, but it isn't her fault.

[BobGreenwade]

To be fair, Summer Glau has jumped on just about every fringe project that has come along that had mediocre co-stars and creative development. The Sarah Conner Chronicles could have been good. It was almost there (much like the Cape). The only other thing I recall was Dollhouse and I think that failed before Summer Glau came on board. Not counting Firefly, which was Fox doing its level best to sabotage itself, what else has Summer Glau done?The 4400, as recurring character Tess Doerner.

[Nolgroth]

The 4400, as recurring character Tess Doerner.Didn't that last like four seasons?

[RexMundi]

Something like that but the format of the 4400 was fairly different from a lot of other shows. As for Glau, she's a cute kid, but she's a jinx. You don't have to actually be bad to be a jinx, it just happens.

~Rex

[Nolgroth]

Okay, this last episode, Goggles and Hicks pretty much cinched it for me. No matter what my hopes for the show were, there were just too many misses. First of all, the "Who's the hunted" storyline works best when you take a member of a group and split him from the group and/or rob them of their signature power. Since both of those have already been done in just the last couple of episodes, the timing of this one is just not good. Then there was the whole clumsy "firing" scene. The guy is about to hand you some sort of data, you take it. Part of the problem is that Chess is less like a master planner/organizer than he is a rampant psychopath. They've hinted that he has some extraordinary planning skills, but I have just not seen it portrayed convincingly yet. And as much as I like cheesy one liners, the whole "who wears the Cape in the relationship" line almost physically hurt.

This all really sucks, because there was at least some good points. The whole storyline developing with Mrs. Faraday and the new friendship Chip develops were both welcome scenes. I even liked that Vince's mortality is highlighted with the whole broken rib thing. It gave all the other scenes with him fighting a heroic "overcoming his limitation" touch.

This would have been a good season finale type episode where several competing plotlines are all left dangling for the season 2 premiere. Just bad timing and execution all around. I'll continue watching, and enjoying, the show. I just don't expect that it will survive. Not because of some jinx. Because it basically falls far short of being a well written show. Makes me a little sad. The actors are actually doing as well as can be expected considering the crappy writing.

[RexMundi]

I still blame Glau (Back in the day they used to throw Jonah's like that overboard), but that being said the writing is getting worse and worse. I expect it gone after the episodes are run through. I did notice though that No Ordinary Family is starting to ramp it up a bit. I wonder if the Cape's slow death could be a factor, well that and a bigger name Hero coming down the pipe for at least a season as well.

Shame, coulda had potential if they had approached it with a level of seriousness instead of trying to 4 color it.

~Rex

[Nolgroth]

I still blame Glau Well nuthin' says we have to agree on that. :)


Shame, coulda had potential if they had approached it with a level of seriousness instead of trying to 4 color it.Personally I think that the tone was important, only in the fact that they could not settle on one. The thing that damned the show was an apparent lack of superhero/pulp timing knowledge. Or any dramatic timing for that matter. Second the "shame" part though.

[Supernaut]

I gave up on it with the Dice episode, just YAWWWWN not feeling the love anymore. I appreciated that it was unapologetically a Superhero show, but the writing just wasn't there. The episodes were too self containted without any forward momentum as another poster stated. Comic books have storylines, this show didn't or they weren't trying hard enough. A villain called Chess should be more of a planner, not someone that hits you over the head with a chessboard while cackling maniacally. It's a shame because the actors are good, and the production values are there, it's just bad writing. Checkout No Ordinary Family for slightly better superhero drama.

[Hermit]

I'm still enjoying the ride though admittedly there's some plot induced stupidity that boggles the mind. Of course, a lot of it is hope. I've seen some shows bumble around then suddenly pick up in a later season. Some of the Star Trek Franchises come to mind.

Sadly, in this day and age, I don't think The Cape will last long enough to get that chance

[RexMundi]

Nah, it's basically runing around like a title from Image or Wildstorm, random bits of brilliant mixed with excessive amounts of lazy. It's gone after this season.

~Rex

[kitewing]

Honestly, I can't stand the circus people scenes. I just had to quit watching the most recent installment it was too bad. I mean bad. As best I could tell, some type of revenent villain lich or something at a truck rental is starting a crime wave then, just when it is starting to intrest me the camera cuts away to the 'circus of really bad actors'.
I won't spoil it too much for those who care but if you are expecting a Nina Harper moment from these people, you are sure to be disappointed at the heroin addict moment you get instead.

The 60 Batman reruns may be campy and silly but they always hired the best in the acting field. The penguin, joker and ridler characters for as long as they wanted to work had lead or major supporting roles in other shows. I don't like the script writing or the supporting acting on the cape.

[baronspam]

I picked a random episode off of Hulu and was underwhelmed. I realize that I came in in the middle, so to speak, but there was a midget in a circus costume beating on a safe with a hammer. WTF? They seemed to know who the Cape was, but were also criminals, or at least tragically inept safecrackers. There was a pair of supposedly famous assassins, who seemed to live an a cappy old van with questionable hygene, who would not kill the Cape untill they had studied him. Why? Otherwise, headshot, show over. Lame writing, lazy writing. 4/10 at best. Not going to watch the other episodes.

[starblaze]

So has anyone made a write-up of said character?

[RexMundi]

One of my players did but......it's a bit power gamer orientated, heh. I think it could take down a couple of Kryptonians it's so munchkined out.

Could be worth doing something for though once the definite answer to the cancelation runs through. I've actually liked the last couple of episodes in a cheesy comic book sort of way.

~Rex

[Escafarc]

My understanding is that they are editing together everything lefted that they have filmed into one final episode to have for online viewing.

[RexMundi]

Yeah just read that. Lame way to go even M.A.N.T.I.S. got to be eaten by an invisable dinosaur......Show had potential, shame they just couldn't write a script or get the actors to act because there was some good acting talent on that show.

~Rex

[culhwch]

Hopefully what's left will resolve some things...I hate being left hanging. I will watch it though, when NBC puts it up. I did generally enjoy the show as a "I don't have to think to hard to watch" show and as a "I don't need to see every episode to enjoy" show. While I do enjoy multi-episode; multi-season story arcs, sometimes I just want to sit for an hour with a good romp. Probably the reason I'm always caught up on shows like Castle, but shows like the Event will sit for months.

[RexMundi]

Methinks, signing the deal for Wonder Woman didn't help The Cape one bit.

~Rex

[Escafarc]

The final episode "Endgame" is now up at Hulu and most likly NBC too:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/223305/the-cape-endgame

Update: watched and it went out with a wimper.

[quozaxx]

Are they bringing back The Cape? Is it gone for good?

I was liking it more than No Ordinary Family.

[Ternaugh]

Pretty much. 13 episode season buy was reduced to 10, with the final episode online streaming only.

JoeG

[BlackJackRackha]

Well, that explains why my DVR hasn't been grabbing any more episodes (I've only watched about half, and it's becomming a chore to get through them).

Mark

[BobGreenwade]

It's not officially canceled, and there's a writing campaign to bring it back, but given the facts as Ternaugh outlined I don't think there's much hope.

[dmjalund]

The web episode didn't exactly finish things.

[fbdaury]

The web episode didn't exactly finish things.

It did for Chess- he still controls Palm City, he's rid of the sometimes defiant (ie trying to do his job) Chief of Police, no one is left alive that can clear Vincent's name, Scales is firmly in prison, and his daughter is clearly having the breakdown that will most likely bring her to his side. For the Cape, not so much...

[RexMundi]

Bah.....I was hoping for at least a heroic wrap up. This sounds more like they are thinking of Direct to Web or DvD projects for a continuance. Don't think that's in the tea leaves for this show.

~Rex

[Nolgroth]

Really? I am so glad I gave up a few episodes back.

[freakboy6117]

yeah it was all a bit silly though the last couple of episodes showed what it could have been with more consistent writing.
I'm trying to do a write up for The Cape now will post it if i get it finished. any suggestions for power builds etc?

[RexMundi]

Extra limbs with focus, CSL's for grabs and such, some MMA, a few Dark Champions era schticks for the Poof and Gone stuff. You could easily modify whip fighting as well. Shouldn't be a hard build.

Just don't forget the 25d6 Unluck, and DNPC Show Killer Summer Glau :D

~Rex