Hey youtubers it's Charlie and if you haven't seen it already there's been a lot of stuff
happening with the new Jim Gordon Batman tv show coming to Fox, Gotham. They've announced
4 official villains and teased 2 more big ones and they've screened the pilot for a
bunch of critics and based on what people are reporting, if you're a huge Batman fan
you're going to love the series.
There is one common complaint from people who got to watch the episode that I'll explain,
but in this video I'm going to break all the villains down and explain what's going on
with the story.
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sure to subscribe to get everything. A lot of times I pick bonus topics based on stuff
you guys suggest, so if there's something you guys really want to see just let me know.
So important stuff first that first episode. Just like studios do for big new series they
want to hype. I haven't seen any hype, which is a good thing. The only thing people who
have seen it are nervous about are the number of story threads it sets up.
The episode is designed with the Batman fandom in mind which means a number of things.
First, they pay homage to all the characters origins in really good ways. I think this
is the most important thing. If you look at a show like Arrow which has a slightly smaller
main cast, the more time you spend developing characters in the early episodes, the more
it pays off at the end of the season.
Jim Gordon is the anchor of the show, it's told from his perspective and Bruce Wayne
and all the other characters just live in his world.
Previously the most we've seen of his origins was in Batman Year One, when Gordon was still
a Rookie Cop. Gotham is playing with the origin timeline a little just to make Ben Mackenzie's
version of the character a new Detective just as Thomas and Martha Wayne are murdered.
Like an oh shit, this is what I get my first day on the job kind of night.
In Batman Year One, Gordon was joining Gotham City PD as a rookie just as Bruce Wayne was
taking on the mantle of the Bat. So in the comics, it was like they were both new to
the game at the same time.
The second big thing which I saw a few complaints about was the number of different plot threads
that first episode tries to start. I don't think that's a bad thing but here's what we
have.
There's Ben Mackenzie's Gordon, establishing his main story. Joining the Gotham City PD
and dealing with the Murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne.
Then there's the Deck of Cards that all the other big characters comprise. And a few characters
we don't see yet but get referenced.
Inside the Gotham City PD there's Donal Logue's Bullock. Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy
didn't deal with the character in great detail, but if you re-watch Batman the Animated series
you'll get a good feel for the character.
Expect this version of the Bullock character to be a little more complicated just because
scoring Donal Logue is a big win for the series. Usually when more known actors are cast in
comic book roles they bring their own take on the character.
Most of you have probably seen him on Vikings recently as King Horik, but if you want to
see what he might be like on Gotham watch his episodes on Sons of Anarchy. He plays
a US Marshall that's forced to retire because he gets too hardcore on criminals.
The Bullock character in the Batman Universe is all about using questionable methods and
excessive force. He's something of a bully, but he's not an outright villain. Not in the
way the Penguin or Poison Ivy are villains.
Gordon is the one trying to be Zen, he's the baseline. Bullock is the extreme.
As for villains, yes Jada Pinkett Smith is the big bad of the pilot. They're going with
a no-mutant, no-supervillain policy in the beginning. It took Arrow a long time to get
to supervillains and the Flash, so be patient. NBC is doing Constantine around the same time
Gotham will premiere this fall, so there will be full on superpowers happening on television.
Just not on Gotham. It's much more of a cop show with comic book character passing through.
When I first heard Pinkett was going to be Fish Mooney I though it was a reference to
this episode of the animated series called "The Laughing Fish". In that episode the Joker
uses his laughing toxin on the fish population in order to patent them and make a bunch of
money. As in Fish Money. I don't think Fish Mooney is a direct reference to that, but
it might be an easter egg.
Her character on the show is more of a mob boss in the Christopher Nolan Batman Begins
sense. It took Batman and Gordon taking down organized crime in that trilogy before the
real supervillains appeared. I don't know how long they plan to keep Jada Pinkett Smith's
character around, but until she's out, don't expect any of the major supervillains to manifest.
All of the known supervillains already on the show will be proto-state. Gotham is a
prequel show, so they all get their prequel stories too.
The Penguin, Oswald Cobblepot, is a mid-level thug, played by Robin Taylor. He was one of
the stand out performances of the pilot episode. Just from looking at him you can see they
decided to not go with the Tim Burton or comic book version of the character. That's just
a network tv thing. Everyone doesn't have to be a supermodel, but I think they want
us to sympathize with him, which is a little harder to do when he wears a top hat and waddles
around.
I will say I love the Danny DeVito and animated versions of the character, but those were
very different universes. This show is much more about realism, just like Arrow in Season
1.
Joss Whedon actually said some interesting things about doing post-superhero stories
like Christopher Nolan's, he argued that he's not ready to be 'over' the big comic booky
things like aliens, monsters and Iron Men.
But I think it's easier to sustain an comic book show on a television budget when you
dial down the special effects. Which is part of the reason Agents of SHIELD was renewed
for season 2. It's not half as expensive as it could be if they did Avengers level effects
every week.
The other big characters we meet in the first episode include The Riddler, Edward Nygma,
Poison Ivy with a slightly different name than in the comics, she's not called Pamela
Isley, her name is Ivy Pepper. That isn't fully explained, but for all intents and purposes,
she's proto-Poison Ivy. And thus far they've teased The Joker but haven't cast him and
Victor Freeze.
Remember, Fox paid a dump truck of money to use the Batman characters, but because it's
Fox, don't expect and integration with Batman vs Superman or any of the other Justice League
movies happening in the next couple of years.
There also won't be any crossover with Arrow. Which I know is a bummer, but it's completely
different studios.
Usually what happens and what Arrow has done really well is tease other DC Universe things
using street names or like the Channel 52 news station. Then eventually they did Star
Labs and now we're at full on Flash. So Gotham if it plays it's cards right, will get to
those other Batman characters eventually.
Because the Batman Universe is so much bigger I think they'll just be adding the non-mutant
characters first, or at least before they became mutants, Like Killer Croc and Mudface.
Think about how expensive mudface special effects would be every week. That would be
crazy.
But the pilot is making me really excited for the back half of the season. The promises
it makes really won't pay off till after like episode 9. So when it does come around October
be sure to check it out.
I'll be doing bonus videos all summer so be sure to subscribe to get everything. And let
me know which other Batman character do you want to see come on the show next.
I'm really pulling for Victor Freeze. Right now click here for my breakdown of the
Gotham Trailer and Click here to learn about the story in Avengers 2.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tonight. High fives!