The time has now arrived when - at least if you're a particular kind of kid-at-heart - the stars have finally aligned again after having drifted apart for over 45 years. Batman is back on prime-time television, making this series certainly worthy of milestone status and also rendering it a bit of a shame that it is not getting the circus-like publicity from which the Adam West series benefited (specifically, a picture on the cover of LIFE magazine in 1966). But, then again, Anna Nicole Smith didn't get Marilyn Monroe's front-page coverage when SHE died too young, so maybe the above is just a sign of the times we live in - more sober, downsized, and far less heady times. I don't think that should be held against GOTHAM itself.
On its own terms, GOTHAM is probably the best Batman-themed show one could expect in the year 2014, considering everything that preceded it over the past quarter-century. The creators have obviously aspired to integrate Tim Burton's "dark Disney" aesthetic with Christopher Nolan's straight-edge DRAGNET style, and in this they have done a reasonably good job. GOTHAM is neo-noir at its best, conjured up with the kind of Hollywood magic that is sadly seldom seen anymore. Here, at last, is a "geek" show that will appeal to hardened city inhabitants every bit as much as to novelty-seeking suburbanites; in today's often culturally segregated America, that alone is worthy of praise.
And of course the performers collectively make up one of the show's best elements. The credible portrayals of edgy, cynical Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue), a surprisingly hard-bitten Alfred Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee), and the vicious yet pitiable Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) are all welcome revisions of these familiar characters. Ironically, though, the best depiction offered is that of an original character: the pompous and secretly neurotic lady gangster Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett-Smith). This new villain, while not quite the main antagonist, is the one who on the surface appears to be running the show and having a grand old time doing it; Pinkett Smith gives her a glamorous (if not quite sexy) appeal and couples it with a depraved nastiness that makes Fish Mooney a character who is fun both to laugh at and hate.
All that to one side, it's still a surreal experience to be sitting there waiting for familiar Bat-conventions that never quite show up (Bruce Wayne still being a child when all of this is happening), like watching a prequel of THE WIZARD OF OZ and wasting all your time wondering when you'll see the Yellow Brick Road. The pacing of GOTHAM seems to indicate - or at least to hint - that we're slowly heading toward cape-and-cowl territory, but there's a long way to go just yet. I am sincerely hoping that millions of Bat-boys and Bat-girls will not come down with the countdown blues before Batman can be born again.
On its own terms, GOTHAM is probably the best Batman-themed show one could expect in the year 2014, considering everything that preceded it over the past quarter-century. The creators have obviously aspired to integrate Tim Burton's "dark Disney" aesthetic with Christopher Nolan's straight-edge DRAGNET style, and in this they have done a reasonably good job. GOTHAM is neo-noir at its best, conjured up with the kind of Hollywood magic that is sadly seldom seen anymore. Here, at last, is a "geek" show that will appeal to hardened city inhabitants every bit as much as to novelty-seeking suburbanites; in today's often culturally segregated America, that alone is worthy of praise.
And of course the performers collectively make up one of the show's best elements. The credible portrayals of edgy, cynical Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue), a surprisingly hard-bitten Alfred Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee), and the vicious yet pitiable Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) are all welcome revisions of these familiar characters. Ironically, though, the best depiction offered is that of an original character: the pompous and secretly neurotic lady gangster Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett-Smith). This new villain, while not quite the main antagonist, is the one who on the surface appears to be running the show and having a grand old time doing it; Pinkett Smith gives her a glamorous (if not quite sexy) appeal and couples it with a depraved nastiness that makes Fish Mooney a character who is fun both to laugh at and hate.
All that to one side, it's still a surreal experience to be sitting there waiting for familiar Bat-conventions that never quite show up (Bruce Wayne still being a child when all of this is happening), like watching a prequel of THE WIZARD OF OZ and wasting all your time wondering when you'll see the Yellow Brick Road. The pacing of GOTHAM seems to indicate - or at least to hint - that we're slowly heading toward cape-and-cowl territory, but there's a long way to go just yet. I am sincerely hoping that millions of Bat-boys and Bat-girls will not come down with the countdown blues before Batman can be born again.