As I was trolling some of my favorite websites today, I came across a post about the new Green Arrow TV show on CW. I have to tell you that Green Arrow has always been one of my favorite DC characters. In my opinion the DC Universe does one thing better than it’s competitors, and that is to give their characters and stories a much more visceral humanistic feel. Their flagship characters, Superman and Batman, both exemplify this in different ways. Batman wars against the darkness in his soul by fighting the horrors that have haunted him since his youth. While Superman embraces Humanism by making himself vulnerable through his emotional connections and empathy towards the people of his adopted home. With the Green Arrow, DC eventually made a fantastic transition from a cheap copy of Batman into something really significant.

It started with Mike Grell and his re imagining of Oliver Queen in the “Longbow Hunters”. Not only is the Mike Grell art fantastic, but he converted him from a pulpy one dimensional superhero with a bunch of trick arrows into an anti-establishment, violent crime fighter that has no qualms about using lethal force to extract some justice. In that one 3 part story, he gave us a person that resonates, because he suffers from the consequences of his decisions. Instead of languishing in despair, he tries to take back control and make it right. After the Eisner Award Longbow Hunters, Mike Grell was given a monthly series that kept the theme of Oliver the man dealing with life instead of Green Arrow the Trick Shot Archer. He was pulled out of the mainstream DC Universe, his popularity soared, and for a time he was he was my favorite story.

So now I see the CW making a Green Arrow TV show in the same vain as Smallville. To be perfectly honest I have never seen Smallville. I have heard great things about it and I know they even made a Cortex Plus RPG that has impressed a fair amount of gamers. But I have never watched it because it seemed like a remade version of Superman if he lived at Melrose Place. Also in general, I have fallen away from Superman stories simply because he has become so powerful that he becomes more like a god rather than the vulnerable, insecure hero trying to figure out his place and identity among the people of his adopted homeworld. So needless to say my expectations of “Arrow” are guarded. I watched the trailer (see below) and I think it looks promising. They seem to be using the Mike Grell version, making him struggle like the rest of us, and having his determination and focus being as important a tool as his shooting. This is definitely DVR worthy and I will give it a chance, but I do hope they treat him like he deserves.

(As a side note if you haven’t read What Ever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? , Red Son, or the absolutely brilliant All Star Superman then you are truly missing out. For Batman check out Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, The Killing Joke, and The Dark Knight Returns. I consider these some of the best stories written and yeah I am a bit of a fan boy, so take that into consideration.)

The Arrow Play Now | Play in Popup | Direct Link

In 2 days Battleship will be released. For those that don’t know, here is a summary of the movie as posted in MetaCritic: “Based on Hasbro’s classic naval combat game, Battleship is an epic action-adventure that unfolds across the seas, in the skies and over land as our planet fights for survival against a superior force. (Universal Pictures)”

What’s the deal movie execs? How does this get made and so many worthier concepts get left to die in development hell. I can imagine the pitch of this movie starts off with “What makes a movie a prototypical Summer release? We need a big name (Liam Neeson), and a popular artist (Rhianna), and a decent director with a good reputation and an edgy style (Peter Berg). The story needs to be simple and action packed, so the viewers don’t have to think too much. It must be 130 minutes, because studies show that is the perfect length for a movie. We have the perfect vehicle to match these criteria…Battleship. We won’t have to pay the creative talent as much because Michael Bay has created the perfect template of success. We can use his special effects, sound effects, and the alien design he did for Transformers. Oh and to make it relevant to the game, the alien missiles will be shaped like the pegs from the game and there will be lots of combat at sea. And on top of it who hasn’t played Battleship as a kid? This movie will sell itself.”

I am sure I am grossly paraphrasing, but how else could this movie get made. I can’t imagine professionals who make that much money don’t have some kind of logical justification. Maybe they think they are at the front of a trend that will make 100s of millions of dollars? Did you know that Ouija, Monopoly, Candyland, Risk, Monsterpocalypse, Clue are also being made into movies? Maybe the dearth of ideas in Hollywood has led to a mad scramble to remake any property to keep the machine going. Movies like Judge Dredd, Highlander, The Crow, Excalibur, Mortal Kombat, The Lone Ranger, TMNT, Dune, The Evil Dead, Godzilla, Scarface, Robocop, Akira, Tomb Raider…and the list keeps going… are currently being redone.

I don’t object to any of these movies in principle. I object to the “bottom line” decision making that is used. There is an algorithm involved in making movies that doesn’t contain intangibles like quality of story material, acting, and design. In my opinion it’s the intangible that really resonates with viewers.

You know what I would like to see being made? more John Carter. The movie was actually good especially in comparison with most of what is being made today. Edgar Rice Burroughs stories (i.e. Tarzan, Barsoom (Mars) Series,  Pellucidar (Hollow Earth)) could be mined for decades, and because the material is so rich, it wouldn’t even take much effort to make a decent film. How about some Robert E Howard? Conan has been done poorly in the past, but the stories are so good if somebody would give it the time it deserves to make a decent movie script out of it. He also wrote Solomon Kane, Kull, Bran Mak Morn. He even wrote Cthulhu Mythos stories, Westerns, and Historical Adventures. How about H.P. Lovecraft? Fritz Leiber (Fafhrd and Greymouser)? There is material out there that is brilliant and hearkens back to a time where we still developing horror, mystery,  Fantasy, and Sci-Fi. When this was all undiscovered country and we all got to share in it’s exploration. Please Mr. Movie Executives spend some time exploring the past in a meaningful way. Dig a little deeper than the past couple of decades and give us something less derivative and mindless.