Thursday, October 30, 2008

Farewell, Doctor

Sad news.

David Tennant has announced that he won't be back as the Doctor when Doctor Who returns in 2010 (though he will return for the four specials scheduled to run through next year). I'm sorry to hear it as Tennant has become my favorite incarnation of the Doctor, and I'll miss him terrible when he leaves. Still, I see his point, better to go out on a high note that wait for everyone to get sick of you. He's right about something else, one of the most fun times to be a Doctor Who fan is when you know a new Doctor is coming. Let the speculation on the eleventh Doctor begin. One recent rumor involved an actor named Patterson Joseph, that's him below:



I've only seen him in a couple of things, so I can't speak to how good he'd be in the role, but I like the idea that the producers might be willing to go with a non-white Doctor. I'm sure it would be controversial, but really, the Doctor changes age, height, weight, eye and hair color, and personality with each regeneration, is skin color really that big of a deal?

At any rate, I look forward to Tennant's final four adventures as the Doctor and look forward to seeing what comes next for him and for Doctor Who.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Jumped the Shark?

It's been fashionable since season two to dump on Heroes (for that matter, some folks started their griping as soon as the first season finale aired), and, of course, with that comes the inevitable (and cliched) question, has Heroes jumped the shark? While I don't think it's that bad, I do feel like something's missing from the show. After a promising start this season, the show has gotten bogged down in too many characters and too many of those characters making strange or stupid decisions. Entertainment Weekly has an article this week titled "'Heroes': Five Ways to Fix a Series in Crisis" detailing what the writer thinks should be done to return Heroes to form. Some suggestions I agree with, some I don't. Taking them point by point:

1. "Retire Some Capes"
Agreed. The cast as is, is too big. C'mon, they killed off Nikki last season, that was a good start as it both thinned the main cast as helped show that there are life or death stakes here. Unfortunately, the writers decided to bring the actress back as a new character, so it's all ended up as a wash. For my money, Tracy and Nathan are the easy picks for dead-weight. I've always kind of liked Suresh, but I think, with this season's story, his story is at an end. I do disagree with the article's suggestion to eliminate Parkman. I see Jeff Jenson's (the article's writer) point, the shows writers really don't seem to know what to do with the guy, and so he would logically be a good candidate to be cut, but I just really like the character so I'm going to ignore logic here. The indispensible core, I think, remains Peter, HRG, Hiro and Ando, and, maybe, Claire, though with Claire I think we again have a character that the writers aren't sure what to do with. As for Sylar, I've got mixed feelings. He's a great villain, but if he's to remain a villain, then maybe it's time to draw his story to a close. On the other hand, they seem to be trying to redeem him this season, which, if they'll commit to going down that road could make for an interesting turn. I've got a soft spot for redemption stories, so I hope this is where they're going with him. If he flips again, things could start to get repetitive, as every season seems to end up boiling down to "we've got to stop Sylar."

2. "Make the Heroes Smarter"
Yeah, agreed. One of the big problems with this season has been characters making inexplicably stupid decisions. The article hits the highlights.

3. "Get Back to the Heroes' Roots"
This one, I hadn't really thought about on my own, but now that I do I think there is some truth to it. When the show started it was about ordinary people coping with extraordinary abilities. Now it's about extraordinary people coping with shadowy conspiracies. Maybe it's time to give the Heroes a clean victory, end all the big, scary organizations, and return to real life. The motivating question then becomes, what now? That could be an interesting story arc.

4. "Get a New Bag of Tricks"
Fair enough. Let's have a moritorium on bleak futures for a bit, eh? And as much as I love the art of Tim Sale, maybe the next time we need a precognitive character they can manifest their ability in some way other than painting.

5. "Find a Big Vision - and Set an End Date"
This point I disagree with. The argument is to create a long term plan for the show mapping out a path to a definite conclusion, citing "Lost" as an example of this. There's a segment of genre fandom that tends to push this idea as being universally the way to go. I don't think so. Certainly some shows are suited to this type of long-term planning; I don't watch "Lost", but I would offer "Battlestar Galactica" as an example of a show that fits this model, as it's a show with a single question embeded in the premise. Therefore, the overall thrust of the show needs to be about answering that question. That's not true of "Heroes". "Heroes", I think, would be better served following the "Buffy" model of plotting out arcs by the season rather than trying to clearly map the series as a whole. This is sort of what they've been doing, they just need to up their game a bit.

So, with a few minor quibles, I'm generally in agreement with the article. That said, I'm still with "Heroes", I haven't contemplated jumping ship yet. Let's just hope things start to get better.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Meanwhile, in California . . .

If you haven't been following the fight over the anti-gay marriage Prop 8 out in California, the New York Times has an interesting article about it. What particularly interested me, were three quotes from Prop 8 supporters buried in the middle:

“This vote on whether we stop the gay-marriage juggernaut in California is Armageddon,” said Charles W. Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries and an eminent evangelical voice, speaking to pastors in a video promoting Proposition 8. “We lose this, we are going to lose in a lot of other ways, including freedom of religion.”

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian lobby based in Washington, said in an interview, “It’s more important than the presidential election.”

“We’ve picked bad presidents before, and we’ve survived as a nation,” said Mr. Perkins, who has made two trips to California in the last six weeks. “But we will not survive if we lose the institution of marriage.”


It's as if they're saying, should Prop 8 fail, the ground will open up and swallow up the whole country. The lack of perspective is breathtaking.

I've always been a bit puzzled as to why some people get so worked up over the idea of gay marriage. So a same-sex couple some where wants to get married, what of it? How does it affect the marriage of anyone else? I guess my question for the opponents of gay marriage is, why do you care?

Maybe the problem is that marriage is really two institutions in one. On the one hand, it's a civil distinction tying two people together for the purposes of taxes, property, decision making, etc. On the other hand it's a religious union (even for some non-religious folks, sort of like Christmas). Maybe the answer is to just get the government out of the marriage business altogether. We can just call the civil institution something else (there's always civil union, I suppose), and leave marriage up to individual religions (which would, of course, essentially mean that gay marriage would be available everywhere. It would only be a social convention, so there would be no one who would have the power to object to a same-sex couple having a wedding). And, of course, civil unions would be open to anyone. There, problem solved.

Yeah, yeah, I know, the right will never give up this particular political football. I guy can dream, though, can't he?

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Oops!

So, I missed my self-imposed deadline for the next installment of my story. >Sigh< And I was doing such a good job of keeping up with it until then. Oh, well, I'll just call it a little break and plan to be back on schedule next Friday.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Digital Comics?

Blog@Newsarama posted about the Bone graphic novel being downloadable for the iPhone. While the iPhone doesn't much interest me as a piece of tech, the idea of portable, digital comics does. The trouble with physical comics is that they take up space (though, to be fair, that's really the main problem with everything in the analog world, isn't it?), so I would be really excited about the possibility of a high-quality, portable reader for e-comics. The iPhone doesn't seem to be ideal for this, the screen seems a bit small for it, but it is a step along the road and that I'm happy about.

E-readers have been around for a while; the latest entry in the field (I think) being Amazon's Kindle, which I've been drooling over for the past year (Oh, to have $360 to spend on a gadget). Still, while it looks like it would be great for reading books (and other plain text documents), the current incarnation isn't suitable for comics: no color. Still, I'd be interested in seeing how well the screen could render black and white comics.

Meanwhile, digital comics are already here. Aside from the less than legal downloads floating around the net, Marvel Comics has fully embraced digitizing their comics, offering online access to a large part of their back-catalog, and a few online-only comics, for a subscription fee. DC has been more resistant to offering their mainstream titles on line, but they do run Zuda Comics which is home to a lot of interesting webcomics.

So, I'm hopeful. Hopeful that all of these separate endeavors prove successful and pave the way for my dream gadget.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Advertising Atheists

I really wouldn't have thought that atheists would go in for proselytizing, but according to The Guardian, some atheists in London have taken out some bus adverts:



Though, as Neil Gaiman points out on his blog, this particular message really seems more agnostic than atheist.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

October Frappr Update



I've seen a little activity on the map since the last time I put it up, so I figured I'd throw it up again and see if I can get any more pins.

Not sure why I find a Google Earth map with a bunch of digital pins in it so fascinating, but I do.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Bravo, General

Colin Powell appeared on Meet the Press yesterday to endorse Obama. I'm certainly happy about that, but I'm even happier with a statement he made during the interview:

And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America. I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards--Purple Heart, Bronze Star--showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way. And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I'm troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions.


It's what's been missing in the responses from both campaigns to the assertions that Obama is Muslim: "So what if he is?"

Sunday, October 19, 2008

TV Review: Crusoe



Friday, NBC premiered its new show, Crusoe. Apparently it's a limited run, thirteen hour series. If the first two hours are any indication, the remaining eleven won't be worth the trouble.

Last week, I read a commentary on Ain't It Cool News about the current state of Heroes. The writer brought up the idea of the "idiot plot" (a plot that only works because the characters behave like idiots). Crusoe seems to have fully embraced the "idiot plot." My favorite example of this comes near the end of the episode. The combined forces of the pirates and Spanish sailors lay siege to Crusoe and Friday in their massive tree fort (I'll talk more about this place later). I didn't count how many of these guys there were exactly, but they had to outnumber Crusoe and Friday by at least five to one. So, what's there plan for dealing with our heroes? Constructing a trebuchet and lobbing lit barrels of gun powder at them.

What could possible go wrong with a plan like that? Well, you've probably already guessed what goes wrong.

Now, I might just chalk this flawed planning to the bad guys just being stupid, but these are the guys that were able to construct a working trebuchet out of available materials.

Speaking of construction, lets talk about that tree fort Crusoe lives in. It appears to be a pretty impressive feat of engineering. It begs the question, if he's had the time, material, and know-how to build this thing, so why doesn't he just build a freaking boat and get off the island.

There are so many things that don't work with this program that I could keep going on and on, but I've already expended far too much thought on this show. I'll just leave it at this: If you've been waiting for a faithful adaptation of the novel, you'll be waiting a while longer.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Candidates Bring the Funny

Both the presidential candidates, according to tradition, spoke at the Al Smith Dinner last week, and both gave pretty funny speeches. Who was funnier? You be the judge:



I think McCain's speech was probably a little funnier. It's a fine line to walk for a politician, to keep the jokes sharp enough to be funny, but not so sharp as to seem mean-spirited. I think McCain was a little more confident in his ability to walk that line, and so was able to push his speech into slightly funnier territory than Obama who seemed to be playing it a little more cautiously. Still, you've got to know that Obama got some laughs from me when he declared that he was born on the planet Krypton and sent by his father Jor-El to save the earth. That's some serious geek-cred he earned with that one and the MAD magazine reference.

Friday, October 17, 2008

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 11

Part 8
Part 9
Part 10

Jim left the bar and followed Carla to the table.

"Glad you decided to come," she said as they walked. "Thing Two's in kind of a funk tonight, so I can use the reinforcements."

"Sure," replied Jim, still distracted by his train of thought.

As they reached the table, Carla asked, "Oh, how's that story of yours coming?"

"What st-," Jim caught himself. "I mean, it's coming along fine. I actually wanted to talk to you about it." Acknowledging the other Jim, he added, "Hey, man."

Other Jim nodded glumly.

Jim leaned over to Carla and whispered, "What's with him?"

"He wouldn't tell me."

Jim really didn't remember much about Other Jim. Not surprising as they'd never been close.

"So," he said to Other Jim, "having a rough time of it, huh?"

Other Jim shot him a look that suggested that this was the stupidest question ever.

"Yep, bad times," Jim continued weakly.

"So," said Carla, "you wanted to talk about that story you were working on."

"Oh, um, we can talk about it later," Jim replied. "I'd hate to bore our friend here with it."

"Nonsense, Thing Two loves time travel stories."

"Time travel?" Other Jim asked, suddenly interested.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Lives on Mars

Two episodes of the American version of Life on Mars have now aired. I didn't have much to say about the first episode, largely because it was pretty faithful to the first episode of the British series. I did really like the shot that established that Sam was in the past: the camera pulls back to reveal the World Trade Center in the background. That's the advantage of having the show take place in NYC; the British show had a similar shot, but it didn't have that iconic building with all that emotional baggage to play with. The cast is pretty solid, though I'm not quite sold yet on Gretchen Mol as Annie, not that she's bad in the role, I just liked the British Annie so much more.

Tonight's episode was the American show's first opportunity to exert its own individual identity. The episode didn't blow me away, but it was good enough to keep me watching. It looked like they're picking up at least one plot point from the original, the flash of the woman in the red dress running through the woods. It'll be interesting to see if they go the same place with it. The hippy next door neighbor is a new addition, and maybe she'll end up being a great character, but right now I'm thinking she might get real tiresome really quickly. Another change, that I find more interesting, is that this Sam seems to have a stronger connection to the present than his British counterpart. We get a flashback (or flash forward, geez this is going to get confusing) this week where we get a little glimpse of Sam's relationship with Maya in 2008. Maya existed in the British version, but she wasn't much of a presence beyond the pilot (I think she might have been completely forgotten by the time they got to the final episode). My only major complaint so far is that the dialogue can be a bit clunky in places, mostly with the Gene Hunt character. I don't think the writers have quite got a handle on him yet.

Overall, I'd say the show is interesting, but with its share of flaws. This actually leaves me optimistic about the show because it invites a comparison to another British import, The Office. The first season of the American Office, while good, was still a little shaky while it found its voice. The show's gone on to be one of the best sitcoms on TV right now. So, I'm willing to be patient with Life on Mars in the hopes that it finds its way to excellence as well.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Thoughts On the Debate

-So, this Joe the Plumber guy, as often as he was mentioned I assume he's in the running to be Secretary of Labor . . . or at least official White House plumber

-I thought Obama did a good job putting the Ayers thing to bed, very clear answer to the issue. I also thought McCain's statements about it were a bit ridiculous. It seemed like he was saying, "I don't think it's particularly important, but let's talk about it anyway." It would have been nice if Obama'd stuck up for ACORN, though.

-I wonder if Obama will be hurt by his laughing while McCain was making some charges against him. It could be seen as dismissive.

-I'm not sure if I believe that it was an accident that McCain called Obama "Senator Government" or not. If it wasn't, then kudos, 'cause it was a clever little dig. If it was an accident, McCain should look at it as a happy accident and use it again.

-Obama gave McCain a little too much credit, lauding him for his stance on torture. Sure, McCain started out very good on the issue, but lately he's caved far too much on it and Obama should have called him out on that.

-I think Obama won the perception contest. He came off as calm and confident. McCain seemed to be less so, grasping for any opening he could get. However, since this lines up neatly with what I wanted to see, my evaluation should likely be taken with a grain of salt.

-I don't think I heard McCain say Maverick once. My most sincere gratitude to the senator.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Doom!



Not sure I'm onboard for the whole "Kill Reed Richards" platform, but he sure is a snappy dresser. Finally, a mad, tyrannical dictator we can believe in.

Friday, October 10, 2008

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 10

Part 8
Part 9

She seemed interested, it could be possible, but that possibility posed a bit of a moral dilemma.

Dating hadn't worked out for Jim and Jenna, but they had managed to remain friends over the years. Just a few weeks before his trip through time he had received an e-mail from her which included pictures of her newborn son. Jim realized that anything he did to alter the trajectory of her life could cause that child to not be born. That was a frightening prospect.

Still, if this was his new present, didn't he have a right to live whatever life he chose? Did he have to be locked in to the same path he'd already taken? Or was the future he knew now just one of many possibilities, no more or less valid than any other? Jim couldn't begin to imagine how to answer those questions.

Fortunately, he didn't have to, at least not at that moment. Carla had arrived, and spotting Jim had made her way over to him.

"You came after all," Carla said. "C'mon, Thing Two's getting us a table."

"One sec," Jim replied, then turning toward Jenna said, "Well, it's been nice chatting with you."

"Yep," she said. "See you around."

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Hee-Hee



You know, I'm not one who thinks that McCain meant anything by referring to Obama as "that one", but doesn't make this any less funny.

There's a site and merchandise and everything.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Spoilers, Ho!

I'm going to be talking about Action Comics #870, which was released today. There will be spoilers, so if you haven't read the book yet and don't want to have the story spoiled, stop reading now. You have been warned.







I actually haven't read the latest Action Comics, but I did discover a major plot point when I read iFanboy's Pick of the Week for this week. Apparently, in the course of the story, Jonathan Kent dies saving Martha. Now, I'm sure the story itself is excellent; the writer, Geoff Johns has been doing great work on this title, as well as Justice Society of America, and Green Lantern, and the half-dozen other titles he writes every month. I'm just not convinced that killing off Pa Kent is a great idea. When John Byrne revamped Superman in the mid-80's with Man of Steel, the best change he made was to have the Kents still be alive (in the original continuity the Kents had died years before Clark became Superman). I'm not even sure I can put into words why I liked the Kents being around so much, it was just nice to see, that when things got rough, Clark could turn to his salt of the earth parents for counsel and comfort. It's heartwarming, and wholesome, and just so . . . Superman. Martha's still around, and for that I'm glad, but I'll miss Jonathan (and not just because he's got an awesome first name).

That being said, Jonathan Kent hasn't had a lot of luck in the various iterations of the Superman story.

Pre-Crisis: He and his wife went on a cruise vacation and contracted a fatal disease shortly before Clark goes off to college.

Superman the Motion Picture: Played by Glenn Ford, he dies of a heart attack. His death is, in part, the impetus for Clark leaving Smallville to seek out his destiny.

Smallville: Played by John Schneider, he again dies of a heart condition. This time because . . . well, I'm not real sure what the justification was this time. Because John Schneider had other things he wanted to do, maybe?

Current Continuity: And that brings us back to Action Comics #870. Here, at least, he apparently gets to die a hero, saving his wife from Braniac's attack.

R.I.P Jonathan Kent

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Thoughts On The Debate

-Hey! Belmont University! My mom used to work there (and I took a semester's worth of General Ed classes there, too).

-Why is it, that when Brokaw said they were using online questions, I couldn't help wondering if they'd be along the lines of: "WTF! The economy totally got pwned last week. IMHO you guys are teh suck. YMMV."?

-Tom Brokaw was certainly the most forceful moderator we've had so far.

-Obama's defense of his relationship to Fannie Mae was a little weak. I think McCain probably scored some points there.

-How is a spending freeze that doesn't include "defense, veterans affairs, or other vital programs" really a spending freeze? Doesn't that exemption cover just about everything?

-So, McCain can deal with the issues of health care and energy at the same time, but he couldn't both run a campaign and deal with the economic crisis?

-The best way to solve the climate change problem is nuclear power? Really?

-I think Brokaw wanted to smack both of them around a bit.

-League of Democracies? Is that like the Justice League?

-Despite my rather flippant attitude to the whole affair, I think this was actually a pretty good debate. Lot's of good information and the candidates actually answered the questions posed to them. That said, it wasn't likely to change my mind on the candidates. Unless Obama unveils his universal kitten drowning plan or McCain reveals that his economic bailout plan consists of giving me, individually, $700 billion dollars, my vote's pretty well settled.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Life On Mars

I've discovered that BBC America is running a marathon of Life On Mars today, no doubt in the run-up to the premiere of the American version of the show on ABC later this week. What's interesting, is the BBC America is running it with occasional subtitles. Let's think about that for a minute. A show, shot in English with English subtitles. I understand that there are some parts of the UK where the accent is thick enough that it might be difficult for an American audience to understand, but there aren't any real problem accents on this show. Even more ridiculous, I think I notice one of the subtitles that didn't exactly match what was said.

As to the American version, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it. It's a show with a strange basic concept (a cop in the present gets hit by a car and falls into a coma, and wakes up in 1973), so I wonder if it'll be able to find an audience on American TV. Especially with such an obscure title (it's from a Bowie song). The other question is how long an American show allow the ambiguity of the situation (is he crazy, in a coma, or is it really happening). The BBC show had the advantage of only shooting, I think, 16 episodes. The American version is going to have to outpace that in one season, so it'll be interesting to see how they stretch out the story.

Friday, October 3, 2008

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 9

Part 8

"Crazy?" Jim smiled. "A little, but it works for you."

"Thanks, I think," Jenna said. "So, what'll you have, oh unnamed stranger?"

"Jim," he said, then quickly added, "That's my name, not my order. I'll just have whatever you've got on tap."

"So, Jim," Jenna said as she poured his beer, "you here alone? 'Cause they say that drinking alone is the first sign that you've got a problem."

Jim smiled. "No, I'm waiting on a friend."

"Waiting on a specific friend, or looking to meet someone?" She passed Jim his drink and took the bills he handed her.

"You're certainly a chatty bartender." Her curious nature was one of the things Jim had liked about Jenna, or would like in the future depending on your perspective.

"Bartending's a pretty boring job if you don't take an interest in the customers." She stepped away to serve two other customers.

"Glad you're back," Jim said when she returned. "I was afraid you'd lost interest in me."

"See," she replied, smiling, "now you're flirting."

"Oh, please," Jim laughed. "Don't pretend that you weren't." He couldn't help but wonder if things would end differently if they started dating now, two years early.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Thoughts On The Debate

- How hard is it to pronounce nuclear correctly? It's noo-klee-er!

-Palin certainly is a rambler, isn't she?

-I'd like to declare a moratorium on the word "maverick."

-Palin did a pretty good job making Biden pay for primary statements.

-The office of the Vice President is unequivocally part of the Executive Branch. READ THE CONSTITUTION, DAMMIT!

-Sarah Palin did a good job sticking to her strengths and avoiding any serious mistakes, but she seemed a little too rehearsed to me. I didn't get a sense that she was thinking on her feet.

-Biden, while he lacked Palin's frenetic energy, seemed a bit more comfortable and came off, at least to me, as more sincere.

-Palin's dig about looking backwards was pretty good, though I liked Biden's response, "The past is prologue . . ."

-Biden needed to call Palin on not answering the questions.

-I don't think Biden or Palin hurt their respective tickets, but neither do I think they significantly helped them.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The Graysons


According to an article posted yesterday on Variety's website, The CW is developing a show based around a pre-Robin Dick Grayson. Clearly the network is trying to find a replacement for the aging Smallville, but I'm not sure this is the right idea. A show about a family of circus acrobats is an interesting idea, and I'm sure a series could be built around it, but I question the value of using the Dick Grayson character, and all the baggage that comes with him, while not taking advantage of his ties to the Batman mythos. Also, from a geeky purist's perspective, the timeline bothers me a bit. As described in the article, I would guess that Dick (called DJ on the show, ugh) would be 14 at the youngest as the series begins. Most likely he'd be a little older, say 15 or 16. So, when is he supposed to become Robin? The standard timeline puts him as younger when his parents are killed and he's taken in by Bruce Wayne. The whole idea is that young Dick's plight resonates with Bruce Wayne, they both watched their parents die at a very young age. Let's say The Graysons starts with 14 year-old Dick. Let's also say that it runs for at least five years (long enough to get to that magic 100 episodes that means syndication gold), the series would end with a 19 year-old, not-Robin, Dick Grayson. Grown-up Robin is stupid, have we learned nothing from Chris O'Donnell in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin?

Ultimately, if the show makes it to air, I'll give it a shot. How could I not? Hopefully the creators will be able to allay my fears and produce a great show.