In the case of the new Krypton series, the famous Superman and El family S-logo could mean “nice” or “solid”, if not truly “surprising”.
When it comes to adaptations of comics on big or small screen, the least we can say is that DC Comics does not meet the same success as Marvel. Thus, when the one who offers us especially on television the very uneven series of the Arrowverse on The CW ( Arrow , The Flash , Supergirl …) announces Krypton , a new show revolving around Superman, there is something to squint suspicion. That said, this time it is the Syfy channel that takes care of it and the project seems relatively independent of the series mentioned above, there are arguments to give the product a chance (at least to its driver).
Especially since Krypton is mainly headed by a DC regular, namely David S. Goyer, who has worked on the script of several films like the trilogy The Dark Knight of Nolan, Man of Steel or Batman v Superman (yes, good …). In short, truce introduction and place our criticism of the first episode, as usual without spoilers beyond what show trailers.
Politics, power and imminent destruction on the menu
Krypton unfolds as its name indicates on the famous planet of origin of Superman. Two generations before its explosion and the birth of the so-called Kal-El to be exact, since the plot follows above all the daily life of the grandfather of the future superhero, Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe). From the pilot, who certainly does not lose time to deploy his scenario and give context, this newspaper is influenced by two main elements that will be at the heart of the scenario.
First, our hero must live with the fact that he and his family have been ostracized and despised by all for years, following the refusal by his grandfather Val-El (Ian McElhinney) to bow to the radical power in place at the time and still present today by the way. Then, while he is about to get out of this situation, he will cross the road of Adam Strange (Shaun Sipos).
The latter is a time traveler who tells him that in the future his grandson will be the greatest hero of the galaxy, but that to prevent this from happening a powerful enemy of Superman, Brainiac (Blake Ritson), is on his way to through time and space to destroy Krypton to avoid his birth. So it is up to Seg-El to prevent this catastrophe because the future of billions of people is in danger. All this and more is exposed from the pilot, whose content and pace are truly enjoyable, and it remains to be seen how the show will come out of this side during the remaining 9 episodes.
But in addition to introducing the iconic DC characters Strange and Brainiac from the beginning to have a defined scripting direction from the outset, Krypton is also beginning to develop another aspect that could be truly interesting if it is more subsequently discussed and enriched: the functioning of Kryptonian society.
Guilds, classes, the “marriage”, the birth … so many subjects already quickly treated in this pilot that show how Krypton does not work like the Earth and that make wish the treatment of other details of the same kind in the continuation of Series. And it will take that to help the show to get out of its otherwise formatted format and its history quite unsurprising for now (especially since we already know how it will end overall).
Our hero is clearly identified as a rebel (with some nice punchlines by the way) who will have to evolve to fulfill his mission, while the writing still lacks a bit of nuance in his first 45 minutes. There are some fairly radical scriptwriting decisions, but the whole thing is not very surprising at the moment.
That said, unlike another series with superheroes and royalty whose protagonists were all worse than others (yes, that’s yours I think, Marvel’s Inhumans ), here the characters and the cast of Krypton give the impression to have a minimum relief from the start, or at least enough to be able to expand thereafter. In particular, there is the apparently complicated mother-daughter relationship between Lyta Zod (Georgina Campbell) and Alura Zod (Ann Ogombo).
It should also be noted that Syfy has put the means side visual. This is especially the case in terms of special effects, but also sets and costumes that are quite nice and have a certain personality failing to really “alien”. The artistic direction is generally quite sober and dark but does not hesitate to use from time to time well-marked lights, a little like the other series of SF of the chain as The Expanse or Dark Matter (RIP).
Krypton: our opinion
Krypton was certainly not the new series of our new mid-season news that we were looking forward to, but it’s clear that his first episode is doing much better than most of the others. we could see. If it will of course wait a few more episodes to see if the Syfy show transforms the test over time and asserts a little more his personality, remains that “prequel” to Superman who is not really a a few arguments to bring back to us: a potentially interesting political and social background (and Brainiac, of course) associated with a form that until now has been fairly solid.
For the moment, Krypton is unpublished in France.
