Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

[OddHat]

This is what I’d want a Teen Champions game to feel like. Teen Heroes just powerful enough to be Supers while still being kids, adult Heroes who are creditably powerful but not overwhelming, dialog that’s amusing but that you can believe came from a teen. Overall, Sky High feels like a good TV movie, a more upbeat and less edgy Buffy, and works as a solid family Superhero comedy. It’s not the Incredibles or the Mystery Men, but it is worth watching.

 

The rules of the Universe; Superheroes and villains are common enough that giant robot attacks are part of the morning drive-time traffic reports, and have been around for at least three generations. Each hero seems to have one tight special effect, though some can work a large number of tricks into that special effect (the most flexible character we see is, in Champions terms, a Gadgeteer with a small VPP that changes in ½ phase if parts are available and a set of power armor built as OIHD). The appearance of a Hero who has two distinct special effects (even though they do form a classic power set) is greeted with a crowd pleasing “That’s impossible!†It would be very easy to run a game mechanically similar to this, with 100 point Sidekicks, 200 point Teen Heroes, and 250-350 point Adult Heroes. Other point ranges would work as well. Defenses seem to be fairly high for all Supers regardless of SFX, so Combat Luck is probably a good choice for any character who can’t justify any other defense. Lethality is hinted at off screen, but no one is seriously hurt on screen, something to keep in mind if you run this type of game.

 

As to the acting in the film itself, the adult supporting actors did jobs that ranged from good to excellent. Almost every adult player had a chance to shine, and Kurt Russell in particular does well as the Hero Dad. The kids were quite good, for a value of TV/Disney “good.†The writing was entertaining, and there was enough going on in the background to keep me entertained.

 

So, overall, not a bad film to see at a matinee, and a good film to watch with the kids in your life. From a Champions point of view, a fun, playable setting.

[vitruvian23]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

And they badly need a few Batman nonpowered types to keep them on their toes and demonstrate that the powers don't make the hero...

 

Coach Boomer: What's your power, son?

 

Devil Dog: The ability to adapt and overcome, coach!

[Lightray]

Having seen the advert a bajillion times tonight on Sci-Fi, my only comment is:

 

Dayum! Linda Carter still looks fantastic!

 

that is all.

[OddHat]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review SPOILER

 

And they badly need a few Batman nonpowered types to keep them on their toes and demonstrate that the powers don't make the hero...

 

Coach Boomer: What's your power, son?

 

Devil Dog: The ability to adapt and overcome, coach!

 

Highlight for minor spoilers.

 

Maybe. Still, Mr.Boy saves the life of one major hero and is mentioned as having saved the life of another (trying to avoid spoilers), and he has no powers at all. The non-powered bus driver saves the day as well at one point, as do the kids with very weak powers. An uber-competent normal human might have been fun, but would have been hard to do in a comedy without going into pure camp.

[McCoy]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

OK, it didn't have the Sx, or the budget, of Fantastic Four, but I enjoyed it almost as much.

 

Michael Angarano played the lead with just the right mix if insecurity and arrogance to be a convincing teenager. Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston played their rolls without going over the top, and were convincing as both parents and heroes. I want to see more of Kevin Heffernan and Will Harris.

 

The plot was somewhat formulaic, but so are the majority of comic books. It's part of the genre.

 

One small quibble, would have appriciated a line of dialog as to why Royal Pain had to retreve the broken machine instead of just building a new one.

 

I would say this is a Must See for any fan of the Superhero genre.

 

(And when was the last summer we had three good superhero movies?)

[fbdaury]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

 

One small quibble, would have appriciated a line of dialog as to why Royal Pain had to retreve the broken machine instead of just building a new one.

 

She bought it as Independent and didn't have the points to buy a new one?

[Enforcer84]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

I might see this tomorrow at the matinee.

[Zed-F]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

Saw this one yesterday, it's not stellar but definitely worth the price of admission if you're up for a teen-oriented movie. I thought the acting was good in general. Definitely the one-power-with-a-few-applications theme stood out. Notably, the sidekick gadgets were crap compared to what the heroes had access to. That's part of the theme of the movie that might not translate well to an RPG; Batman and Robin always carted around pretty much identical stuff. Also, despite all the high tech gadgets, pretty much no-one but gadget specialists ever used it. That's another item that might get altered if I were to run a game based on Sky High.

 

I also saw F4 the same day. The SFX were good, the acting not bad, but the writing could have used a bit of work in places.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

There were some parts -- most noticably in the SFX department -- that were pretty cheesey. Given what's possible today in SFX, I have to believe that is a deliberate stylistic choice, rather than lack of budget or anything like that.

 

Note I don't say that the "cheesey" stuff is a bad thing.

 

Yes, it does seem as if superheros and supervillains are very common, indeed. After all, if Sky High is only for the children of superheroes...well, that's a lot of kids, hence a lot of superheroes! In addition, you have the bus driver's comment: "Do you want every supervillain in the neighborhood to hear you?" That could be hyperbole, or it could be that most neighborhoods really do have a supervillain or two living in them!

 

It wasn't high art, it wasn't great drama, and it wasn't The Incredibles. But it was a good, fun movie that I had a good time watching, and laughed out loud in a number of places.

 

Go see it. It's worth the price of a ticket.

[vitruvian23]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

Yes, it does seem as if superheros and supervillains are very common, indeed. After all, if Sky High is only for the children of superheroes...well, that's a lot of kids, hence a lot of superheroes! In addition, you have the bus driver's comment: "Do you want every supervillain in the neighborhood to hear you?" That could be hyperbole, or it could be that most neighborhoods really do have a supervillain or two living in them!

 

I don't know if they're as common as all that - the student population at Sky High seemed relatively low, maybe a hundred or so students per class year like many small private schools? Figure they had 30-40 kids per bus and 4-5 buses visibly parking - maybe some of the older kids are allowed to get there under their own power.

 

Anyway, let's say a total student population of no more than 500. In the 2003 census (assuming Sky High to be a US institution - not necessarily the case), those aged 14-17 were 16,522 of a total 290,810, or between 5 and 6% of the total. That would give a total US super population of something like 10,000-12,000 individuals, or one for every 30,000 normal citizens. Of course, only those in the 18-65 range (barring LS: Aging folks) are likely to be supers in the middle of their careers - that works out to about 6000 active supers on both sides of the hero/villain divide. That's still quite a few, but given that the Commander and Jetstream are considered tops in the field, I suspect the power levels of 90-something percent of them are not all that high. Lots of locales may have to make do with slightly superpowered big fishes in small ponds with names like Great Scott and the Amazing Joanie.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

Anyway' date=' let's say a total student population of no more than 500. In the 2003 census (assuming Sky High to be a US institution - not necessarily the case), those aged 14-17 were 16,522 of a total 290,810, or between 5 and 6% of the total. That would give a total US super population of something like 10,000-12,000 individuals, or one for every 30,000 normal citizens. Of course, only those in the 18-65 range (barring LS: Aging folks) are likely to be supers in the middle of their careers - that works out to about 6000 active supers on both sides of the hero/villain divide. That's still quite a few, but given that the Commander and Jetstream are considered tops in the field, I suspect the power levels of 90-something percent of them are not all that high. Lots of locales may have to make do with slightly superpowered big fishes in small ponds with names like Great Scott and the Amazing Joanie.[/quote']

Should we be counting the entire U.S. population, though? If most superheroes are relatively low-powered, they probably aren't going to be in a position to get their kids to and from school each day if that school is 2,000 miles from where they live.

 

My guess is that the kids attending the school are probably pretty "local" to the area where the school is...perhaps within an hour's travel?

 

Though that raises an interesting possibility...maybe the "density" of superheroes and supervillains is so high in that area because so many of them have decided to move to and live in that area because of the chance to send their kids to Sky High...?

[OddHat]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

Should we be counting the entire U.S. population' date=' though? If most superheroes [i']are[/i] relatively low-powered, they probably aren't going to be in a position to get their kids to and from school each day if that school is 2,000 miles from where they live.

 

My guess is that the kids attending the school are probably pretty "local" to the area where the school is...perhaps within an hour's travel?

 

Though that raises an interesting possibility...maybe the "density" of superheroes and supervillains is so high in that area because so many of them have decided to move to and live in that area because of the chance to send their kids to Sky High...?

 

Well, we know that Sky High is constantly moving to avoid Villain attacks, and those rocket-busses look like they can manage fairly high speeds. In the actual film I doubt they thought much about it. If I were doing this as a setting, I'd say that the bus driver was just yanking young Stronghold's chain. As to having that many Super Kids in the same neighborhood, I'd fan-wank that law abiding Supers who know each-other (the parents of Will, Layla and Zack may have been in the same Super Team at one point) tend to try to live in the same area. Also, we know that at least two generations of Strongholds have gone to Sky High, which means that there was at least one full generation of Supers before Will who met in High School; high school cliques are probably the start of many Super groups.

 

Also, I'd guess that Sky High was either founded by that world's foremost post WWII Super team (the JSA-counterpart), or by a government program involved in Super-soldier cultivation.

 

So, was Principle Powers fighting in WWII as Captain Comet?

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

Well' date=' we know that Sky High is constantly moving to avoid Villain attacks, and those rocket-busses look like they can manage fairly high speeds.[/quote']

Did that get stated on-screen?

[OddHat]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

Did that get stated on-screen?

 

The fact that Sky High keeps moving to avoid Evildoers was stated; the speed of the rocket busses is a guess, based on what we saw.

[McCoy]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

Should we be counting the entire U.S. population' date=' though? If most superheroes [i']are[/i] relatively low-powered, they probably aren't going to be in a position to get their kids to and from school each day if that school is 2,000 miles from where they live.

 

My guess is that the kids attending the school are probably pretty "local" to the area where the school is...perhaps within an hour's travel?

 

Though that raises an interesting possibility...maybe the "density" of superheroes and supervillains is so high in that area because so many of them have decided to move to and live in that area because of the chance to send their kids to Sky High...?

Principle Powers said that Sky High was the World's only high school for superpowered children. The bus looked like it could manage some pretty good speed. At Mach 5 they could go between any two points in the 48 states in under an hour. Tried to get a count of the kids in the gym for power placement, couldn't, but I'm sure it was less than 50. And that was the entire freshman class.

[McCoy]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

The fact that Sky High keeps moving to avoid Evildoers was stated; the speed of the rocket busses is a guess' date=' based on what we saw.[/quote']

The were pulling some pretty good G's.

[OddHat]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

Sidekick Package Deal

 

Cost Powers END

4 Instant Change: Cosmetic Transform 2d6 (into and out of Superhero costume) (10 Active Points); Limited Target (Clothes) Limited (-1/2), Restrainable (-1/2), Limited Power Power loses about a fourth of its effectiveness (Brief Nudity; -1/4) 1

 

Martial Arts: [Hero Support Training]

Maneuver OCV DCV Notes

4 1) Martial Dodge -- +5 Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort

5 2) Flying Grab -2 -1 Grab Two Limbs, 20 STR for holding on; FMove

3 3) Flying Tackle +0 -1 2d6 +v/5 Strike; You Fall, Target Falls; FMove

 

Skills

2 KS: The Superhuman World 11-

2 KS: Super Powers 11-

2 PS: Hero Support 11-

 

Total Powers & Skills Cost: 22

Total Cost: 22

 

Disadvantages

5 Social Limitation: Only a Sidekick (Occasionally, Minor)

[Enforcer84]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

I just want to say that we, as superhero geeks, really really get into this stuff.

[McCoy]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

Just me, ro was there a real lack of mentalist in this reality? Layla could animate plants, and mentioned her Mom could communicate with animals. Gwen Grayson demonstrated some minor TK for assembling machines. Other than that, I didn't notice any telepathy, TK, or other mental powers.

[OddHat]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

Just me' date=' ro was there a real lack of mentalist in this reality? Layla could animate plants, and mentioned her Mom could communicate with animals. Gwen Grayson demonstrated some minor TK for assembling machines. Other than that, I didn't notice any telepathy, TK, or other mental powers.[/quote']

 

Medulla is described on the official web site as having "telepathic genius", but we never see him use telepathy. I'd guess that any Psi in this setting would be fairly limited.

[McCoy]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

Medulla is described on the official web site as having "telepathic genius"' date=' but we never see him use telepathy. I'd guess that any Psi in this setting would be fairly limited.[/quote']

There's an official web site?

 

Seems like if Medulla had any telepathy, he would have known what Gwen, his teaching assistant, was planning,

[Hermit]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

This is a fun movie, not overly complex in plot, but there was a lot more character depth than I expected. A fine mix of cheesiness, teen drama, humor, and classic comic book stuff.

 

Warren Peace.... heh Punny

[OddHat]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

There's an official web site?

 

Seems like if Medulla had any telepathy, he would have known what Gwen, his teaching assistant, was planning,

 

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/skyhigh/

 

Yup. I'd guess that if he did have telepathy, he either had a Code against using it without permission or only a few D6 (not enough to reliably read minds without the target knowing).

[Susano]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

I'd argue that Mr. Boy had powers. At the very least some Leaping.

 

I also liked how Warren Peace had fire powers, low-end super strength, and decent resistance to damage. He's also a lot smarter then he lets on.

 

Anyway, I had a good time, laughed a lot, and found it a fun film. However, I do think the battle versus the giant robot looked that was on purpose. 'cause if not, then it looked horrid.

[McCoy]

Re: Sky High Gamer's Eye Micro-Review

 

I'd argue that Mr. Boy had powers. At the very least some Leaping.

 

I also liked how Warren Peace had fire powers, low-end super strength, and decent resistance to damage. He's also a lot smarter then he lets on.

 

Anyway, I had a good time, laughed a lot, and found it a fun film. However, I do think the battle versus the giant robot looked that was on purpose. 'cause if not, then it looked horrid.

Warren, like Will, has two supers as parents. I think like Will he may have gotten a power from each parent. Otherwise he certainly takes being punched through a wall extremely well for someone with fire powers.

 

Think that Warren and Ethan may decide they work well together, maybe Ethan could even become Warren's sidekick? Anyone notice that Ethan took on Lash, a Hero Tract student, one on one, and won?

 

Does Mr. Boy remind anyone else of Mr. Garrison?

 

By the way, this was the number three movie this weekend, after The Wedding Crashers and Charley and the Chocolate Factory. It too in an estimated $14.6 million, comfortably ahead of projections of $10 - 12 million.