Swamp Thing is one of the coolest character in comics, but has really gotten cheesy treatments when it comes to movies and TV. His first film was low budget and very hokey, but at least it tried to take itself somewhat seriously. The sequel tried to go for a more tongue in cheek route, and wasn't any more successful at translating the character to live action. Somehow those films led to a short lived TV series, which was just crazy bad... but I couldn't look away. One episode had Swamp Thing hiding in a kid's closet and almost being found by his mom for nearly the whole 22 minutes. Worst of all had to be the Swamp Thing animated series, complete with them song to the tune of "Wild Thing". Yeesh. C'mon, Warner Brothers - special effects are at a place now where we can finally have a truly cool Swamp Thing film experience!
9 comments:
My friend Marc Macauley played the sheriff on the Swamp Thing TV series. It filmed here in Florida mostly at Universal Studios Orlando. They also filmed Superboy here and he was in that too a couple of times. And he played Dante in the Thomas Jane Punisher movie which was also done in Florida, mostly in Tampa.
I fear for DC characters, I really do. I fear that their caretakers do not understand them or care about them. They just see them as units.
I actually liked Swamp Thing. I jumped on board in 1980ish right around the time the first movie came out. I never saw the sequel or the television series...
Warner Bros does not understand the characters or the fans, and they are too proud to admit so. At least the V for Vendetta was a masterpiece, despite Alan Moore's protests.
Oh man, I love this era of Swampy. Right after the Wein/Wrightson era. Oh and I think the artist is Nestor Redondo, not Bernie. I wholeheartedly agree with AirDave and Ed. WB has been a blessing and curse to DC over the last 40 years.
Ah yes, Redondo - The lady's face is a giveaway.
I rather like the two Swamp Thing films, as long as I don't try to watch them back to back. The first one was a noble (if not entirely successful) effort to match the tone of the comic, while the second was a fun romp on par with Adam West's Batman.
I only vaguely recall seeing the live-action TV Swamp Thing, but I vividly remember the animated version. Someday I'll probably need to get therapy for that.
On another topic entirely: last night I dreamed that the Absorbing Man had gotten his hands on some Kryptonite. Do with that what you will (including the obvious).
#AirDave: I don't think the problem is simply that DC's higher-ups think of their characters as units. Their counterparts at Marvel also think of their characters as units, but the difference that separates them from DC (and from Marvel in the 90's) is that even though they look at their intellectual properties as products only, they understand that the ten-year-olds who pay their six and seven figure salaries don't think of them that way.
Actually, the first two Swamp Thing movies, with Dick Durock, were far superior to the god-awful Syfy Channel version of Marvel's Man-Thing!*
*Nuff said.
Plus, the Dick Durock feature films about Swamp Thing were just plain way better than the Syfy Channel version of Marvel's Man-Thing.
Post a Comment