Stargirl in 2020

[brdiy]

Actress is 20.

Yeah, but in her role she's 15, and she looks very much like that.

They're probably thinking ahead to multiple seasons, so the character will eventually be maturing from the moody teenager to a more mature superheroine. So if this show works out, we'll probably be seeing her going to college and probably moving to the big city.

[Bronson881]

Wonderful episode. Loved how Pat (with the help of his robot) and Courtney took down Brainwave. Now she is on the Injustice Society's radar. Courtney is now comfortable being a superhero.

[brdiy]

So far so good on this show. I hope the SJWs don't mess up too much with this show as what they have done with the other CW shows, SG in particular.

[shevek]

Patiently waiting for EP2 to be available after midnight, but in the meantime, it's very moving just listening to Geoff Johns talk about immortalizing his sister into the DC Universe, and how he moved to Atlanta to make sure that the show went off right, and plans to stay there as long as Stargirl is making new episodes. He is *not* one of those agenda-driven NPCs - he is just pure love of comics, whether it's Green Lantern or most other things he's been involved with, like co-writing for the Aquaman and Wonder Woman movies.

[brdiy]

I was just about to say that it's probably good that this is among Geoff Johns' pet projects, so there is a strong chance that the story telling will not be waylaid by some political agenda that the show runners would like to shoehorn into the show.

[shevek]

Episode 2 -

I was just going to say that Brec Bassinger is in general a joy to watch, but, more specifically.....

Spoiler

Fantastic peril at the climax of the battle between Stargirl and Brainwave!

She struggles and she is in pain, straining and heaving in that costume, reaching out with her glove and trying to grasp the staff just out of her reach, while bleeding from her ears and groaning in agony. And of course, all while wearing the mask (which should make Maskripper happy enough). Of course, she triumphs, but the victory is well-earned through bravery and perseverance.

It's actually reminiscent of the early days of the Supergirl show when you could see Kara trapped by Vartox or chained by the Master Jailer.

If Geoff Johns can offer us glimpses of this classic mode of storytelling week after week, this becomes a must-see.

Really like that song "The Man" by The Killers that closed the episode, too. This show has a fun-loving attitude which brings back the feel of classic 80s and 90s hero action flicks.

[Maskripper]

....

Spoiler

....
She struggles and she is in pain, straining and heaving in that costume, reaching out with her glove and trying to grasp the staff just out of her reach, while bleeding from her ears and groaning in agony. And of course, all while wearing the mask (which should make Maskripper happy enough). Of course, she triumphs, but the victory is well-earned through bravery and perseverance.

.....

Spoiler

Yeah, even that villain already knew who she is, that scene was pretty good! Especially with his hand so close to her mask.
Luckily he is now out of the game for now....even if he will surely return from the coma.
The villains shouldn't know her secret identity...especially not like Brainwave found out.

If they unmask her in an epic struggle...it would be "ok"

[Abductorenmadrid]

[Bugsy]

So far so good! I enjoyed the pilot!

[Abductorenmadrid]

I am guessing SE01 is going to be a bit like Supergirl's first season where she ran through a list of Fort Roz baddies. Our new heroine here will be working through the villain roster of "last season's winners" to get revenge. I do wonder, while the good guys were out the way why the villains' aspirations have been a bit ... well ... subdued. I am sure we will get to know the full extent of the reach of their evil power eventually...

[Maskripper]

Here is the video and my opinion on episode 2:
https://maskripper.org/stargirl-season- ... -brainwave

Incl. some nice new promo pictures for episode 4!

[shevek]

Here is the video and my opinion on episode 2:
https://maskripper.org/stargirl-season- ... -brainwave

Incl. some nice new promo pictures for episode 4!

Maskripper - the review is fine, but please note: Yvette Monreal has been in the first two episodes - she's the Hispanic girl sitting at the "losers table" who tells Courtney to stop staring at her. She's self-conscious because she was the victim of a "slut-shaming" scandal in the high school. The mask will make her feel more confident and ready to fight.

[Maskripper]

Maskripper - the review is fine, but please note: Yvette Monreal has been in the first two episodes - she's the Hispanic girl sitting at the "losers table" who tells Courtney to stop staring at her. She's self-conscious because she was the victim of a "slut-shaming" scandal in the high school. The mask will make her feel more confident and ready to fight.

Ah, that explains a lot, thanks for the info!

[shevek]

Episode 3: Icicle mostly existed to demonstrate how evil and powerful Icicle is. Watch it and find out for yourself.

Also, Dr. Mid-Nite's owl (possibly called Hootie?) looked so forlorn, I felt sad for him. Beth Chapel's daughter is going to be the new Mid-Nite, so hopefully the owl tags along.

As for Brec, she is just the apex of cuteness, although this episode does not have much action. Even though she's the 'new girl' at school, it's hard to believe that boys wouldn't be crushing on her. Hopefully they will soon.

Only one thing kind of marred the proceedings: Courtney chiding the mean girl about how "slut-shaming sets women back 50 years".
But there's a high school girl doing it! So it's actually a current practice - reflective of what girls are doing right now.

[Bert]

Only one thing kind of marred the proceedings: Courtney chiding the mean girl about how "slut-shaming sets women back 50 years".
But there's a high school girl doing it! So it's actually a current practice - reflective of what girls are doing right now.

[Abductorenmadrid]

Yeah, Episode 3 was okay but felt more like it was setting the scene for something rather than being the scene itself. Icicle does turn out to be quite bad indeed and I wasn't sure how Courtney should react to the... well, to avoid a spoiler for anyone, the "incident" that happened during the episode. Her "let's push on" attitude didn't feel right considering it's her arrival on the scene which stirred up the hornets nest in the first place - the incident wouldn't have happened otherwise. I sure hope "team evil" shows its hand soon and reveals why it is better Courtney became Stargirl and not quit at the first setback.

[batgirl1969]

.

[CJS]

Only one thing kind of marred the proceedings: Courtney chiding the mean girl about how "slut-shaming sets women back 50 years".
But there's a high school girl doing it! So it's actually a current practice - reflective of what girls are doing right now.

I was going to type something, too, but I think that emoji about sums it up.

[Visitor]

The episode is mostly background about Icicle and the Injustice Society of America. Icicle spent time taking revenge for his wife's death and building up the New America. The question being what society will the New America be because it is being created by immigrants with a distinctive accent.

The second is the Icicle turning on his fellow members to get his way. They may be a group working towards a goal, but he decides how they achieve it with no dissent in his decisions.

[shevek]

Hope this doesn't deviate too much from the topic but I just wanted to point out two things:

- This isn't the first Icicle in the CW-verse. Fans of The Flash may remember that Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost's father Thomas was also called Icicle...a character original to that show (not from the comics).

- Pretty much all of the character material in this series (except Stargirl herself) is derived straight from the Golden Age of Comics, which was quite a fertile period for the genre (hence, the name). I'm not sure how many people know about the Project Superpowers series on Dynamite Comics, which includes plenty of public-domain heroes like Green Lama, Black Terror and Masquerade? I feel that if a modern TV show about the Injustice Society could work, so could a Project Suerpowers show, maybe even including Golden Age heroines like the very sexy Miss Fury (which apparently inspired the Catwoman costume years later). I was watching Billy Tucci's Indiegogo for his Miss Fury OGN surpass $25,000 this morning and it made me think about the entertainment potential of Golden Age heroes. Just a thought!

[Maskripper]

Well, here is my short review and video for episode 3:

https://maskripper.org/stargirl-season- ... -vs-icicle

-
Next episode will show the debut of Wildcat!



---
@Shevek:
I guess she only wanted to say that slut shaming should be a thing from the past and shouldn't be a thing nowadays anymore.

[Mr. X]

I was watching Billy Tucci's Indiegogo for his Miss Fury OGN surpass $25,000 this morning and it made me think about the entertainment potential of Golden Age heroes. Just a thought!

One of the trends with Marvel and DC is they spend too much effort on the universal threats or cosmic entity story lines and its kind of refreshing to get back to simpler stories. No one stops bank robbers anymore.

[Visitor]

One of the trends with Marvel and DC is they spend too much effort on the universal threats or cosmic entity story lines and its kind of refreshing to get back to simpler stories. No one stops bank robbers anymore.

That was the appeal of Spider-man. Even though in "Spiderman: Far From Home" it only happens for less than 5 minutes. This was someone dealing with the small stuff and then getting dragged into the bigger stuff.

[Bronson881]

Very nice episode. Love Yolanda but her parents are jerks. Least her brother is supportive.

[Maskripper]

Episode 4:
Quite a nice amount of masked women screentime! ;-)

Spoiler

The episode worked well as an introduction episode for Wildcat. We get to know her background story with the incident that lead to the "slut shaming" from which Yolanda still suffers every day.
Her cowl not only hides her identity, it empowers her, the suit suddenly fits and she has all skills of a cat! Which would make an unmasking even more interesting!
I hope that some villain wants to take a look at her face that is hidden behind that mask one day.
There is little action in this episode and no fights at all. But I'm sure Wildcat will have to prove her skills in combat soon enough.
And Stargirl needs to learn an important lesson: NEVER call another (masked) vigilante by her/his real name! When the mask is on...she is Wildcat, dammit!
I really hate such scenes as it here unmasks Wildcat in the worst way possible.
Ok, lucky for them it's a future teammate, but nonetheless I don't like secret identity reveals like that one.
Can't wait to see those two in battle against some villains!

3 videos of this episode can be found on my Blog, incl. the review and some more pictures:
https://maskripper.org/stargirl-season- ... nd-wildcat

-
Some images:




-
Trailer for episode 5:

[Dazzle1]

Sorry she looks like a Cosplayer

[Abductorenmadrid]

I liked ep 4. The backstory for Yolanda was well done. Yes, they have put a good amount of sweet icing on her life before "the incident", the moment she makes the mistake is tastefully done, a hint of naive innocence on her part and then the blowout and negativity is laid on in good amounts afterwards. I guess they have to convey it this sort of exaggerated way to help us know how she feels herself now that she lives life under the strict vigilance of her parents.

The new duo's antics were unsurprisingly amateurish but the ol' staff seemed to make for a good teacher and Stargirl has made a start in getting a new team together. Let the antics continue!

[Maskripper]

Sorry she looks like a Cosplayer

A) Who looks like a cosplayer? Stargirl or Wildcat? Both?
B) I would consider "looks like a cosplayer" not as a bad thing, since there are a hundreds of cosplayers out there who look fantastic (check Instagram).
And in many cases their costumes are SOOO much better than those in most fetish productions.

[Dogfish]

I was watching Billy Tucci's Indiegogo for his Miss Fury OGN surpass $25,000 this morning and it made me think about the entertainment potential of Golden Age heroes. Just a thought!

One of the trends with Marvel and DC is they spend too much effort on the universal threats or cosmic entity story lines and its kind of refreshing to get back to simpler stories. No one stops bank robbers anymore.

I had to check on Google to see if people still rob banks. Apparently it is still a thing that happens, but not very often.

Not really sure what a mundane street-level superhero would be doing these days. Would probably be more of a Robin Hood type figure than a Batman if they were created for today's world.

[Dazzle1]

Sorry she looks like a Cosplayer

A) Who looks like a cosplayer? Stargirl or Wildcat? Both?
B) I would consider "looks like a cosplayer" not as a bad thing, since there are a hundreds of cosplayers out there who look fantastic (check Instagram).
And in many cases their costumes are SOOO much better than those in most fetish productions.

Wildcat looks like a Cosplayer

[batgirl1969]

.

[Dazzle1]

Sorry she looks like a Cosplayer

A) Who looks like a cosplayer? Stargirl or Wildcat? Both?
B) I would consider "looks like a cosplayer" not as a bad thing, since there are a hundreds of cosplayers out there who look fantastic (check Instagram).
And in many cases their costumes are SOOO much better than those in most fetish productions.

Wildcat looks like a Cosplayer

Works for me!! MOST real cosplayer look 100x better than some of the high dollar production costumes that show up on the big or small screens. I LOVE these 2 costumes and wow...Stargirl is smokin hot!!!

If it works for you,I'll defer on this one.

As you know I hate the gender swaps

[Abductorenmadrid]

Sorry she looks like a Cosplayer

I think it is the sort of "cold light of day" effect you are seeing, maybe with that hands on hips shot of her in the bedroom with Stargirl?
Depending on lighting, posing and framing of shot you can make anything bad look good or vice versa...

[Bronson881]

I enjoyed the episode. It had some funny aspects like the Staff pulling Courtney around like it did. Liked seeing Yolanda's backstory hated that her parents were jerks however but least her brother loves and supports her.

[shevek]

As you know I hate the gender swaps

Except Yolanda Montez is not a gender swap.
She's a character who has appeared in the comics, who years ago took up the mantle when Ted Grant retired as Wildcat.
Her character is no different than Stargirl, who took the costume of her predecessor the Star-Spangled Kid (Starman).
You wouldn't criticize X-23 as being a gender swap of Wolverine, and it's no different here.

(A gender swap would be something like The Fiddler, The Top, Weather Witch, Mirror Master and Black Bison all being female, when they were clearly male supervillains in The Flash comics. I mean, that is a LOT of swaps! And The Fiddler gets gender-swapped again
here on Stargirl, so there's your actual complaint.)

Yolanda Montez is one of the hottest Latina heroines in the comics, and she is shapely here, too. I wish the costume was even tighter, and I wish that her mask included the long flowing red hair, but we can't have every single nice thing that we want sometimes. Maybe ask your local SHIP producer to oblige on that for an adapation. Meanwhile, the transformation scene which involved her costume form-fitting around her body was quite nice.

The only thing is that I really don't like is the mask - it looks too bulky and gaudy, and should be tighter on her face
like the mask of Catwoman would be. It just looks like it's going to come off at any moment (and for Maskripper's sake,
hopefully it will).

But as Maskripper said, it's a rare treat to have two masked super-characters together in so many scenes...something that hasn't
happened much since the days of the Black Scorpion show. Yvette Montreal (did they cast her because she has the same initials as her character? hmm....) looks great in action from every angle, especially climbing up that wall in the classic Batman & Robin style.

Plus Brec just continues to be very adorable, just like batgirl1969 said.

Best superhero show on TV right now, and so far it's controversy free (i.e. not attacked by any loonies from Twitter).

However, I could see where a controversy might begin to arise. The issue of Yolanda's long-term Scarlet Letter status could set some people off. After all, none of it is really her fault. She looks gorgeous, and simply wanted to show her assets off to Henry to prove her affection. She was sharing what she believed was a private moment. It was Henry, after all, who did the damage, and he's the one who should be blamed, yet you don't see him being punished at all. Instead, she gets the kind of shame treatment you might expect from a fundamentalist Mormon or Islamic family just a few hairs shy of an honor killing. Do even conservative Latino families normally act so hard-headed about matters like this?

I would think that someone is going to call out this situation as being too much about victim-blaming and being insufficiently feminist by eliminating Yolanda's agency, and I would tend to agree, although obviously I wouldn't want anyone to be "cancelled" because of it, since this is really such a solid show week after week.

Next week's introduction of both Hourman and Dr. Midnite doesn't promise to be quite as entrancing - Beth Chapel seems to be acting like a seriously boring nerd - so hopefully we see more of the Yolanda character in action as well.

[Maskripper]

.....
The only thing is that I really don't like is the mask - it looks too bulky and gaudy, and should be tighter on her face
like the mask of Catwoman would be. It just looks like it's going to come off at any moment (and for Maskripper's sake,
hopefully it will).
....

Off course I would love to see someone unmasking her or trying to unmask her. Hopefully the mask wouldn't come off too easy then, because some struggle would be always very welcome!
I have some mixed feeling about the mask.....but I alltogether.....I love it:
I really love how much of her face is actually covered! A real good concealment. Also such a massive rubber cowl is such a rare treat...especially on a woman!
On the bad side I agree that it is a little bulky, but I guess it has to be to achieve that cat head look. It seems pretty close to the comic Wildcat look.
And a chin strap would be a nice additional feature to prevent easy unmaskings.
But we will see.
Hopefully she is really motivated to prevent an unmasking. After all not only her secret identity would be gone, she would (seemingly) loose her powers as well, when the cowl wouldn't cover her face anymore.

[Abductorenmadrid]

I think for me the area of the mask over her cheeks is just a little too bulky... doesn't make for a sleek cat look - smooth that out a little and I think that would help.

[Maskripper]

Some promo images from episode 6 (airs June 22):





Pretty unusual to see a villainess in a sexy pantyhose on a TV show...

[sneakly]

I a three episodes in. If they keep giving away super heroine costumes to twenty something actresses, I am all in. A few evil traps would be nice and if they could skew the ages up to college years, I wouldn’t feel nearly as creepy.

[shevek]

I a three episodes in. If they keep giving away super heroine costumes to twenty something actresses, I am all in. A few evil traps would be nice and if they could skew the ages up to college years, I wouldn’t feel nearly as creepy.

You've made a mistake, if you're referring to the above post with the Episode 6 shots

Tigress is supposed to be in her 40s, because the action is taking place more than 10 years after her Injustice Society's triumph and killing of Starman. In the story, she is now a middle-aged gym teacher married to Crusher (Sportsmaster). And in fact, the actress playing her character is 44-year-old Korean-American actress Joy Osmanski (Asian women can look beautiful for far longer, just look at Ming-Na Wen at 56). Good casting.

But yes, that shiny pantyhose addition on Tigress is quite a treat, and rather unusual.

As far as 20-something actresses in tight costumes, though - your wish will be answered in episode 7 when actress Meg DeLacy (who plays head Mean Girl Cindy in the series) becomes the sexy supervillainess Shiv. And Meg is, indeed, 23.

So far, I'm just feeling the right mix of seriousness and camp in this show, and that's what makes it work.

[Mr. X]

Looks like the guy might be Sportsmaster

[Abductorenmadrid]

I a three episodes in. If they keep giving away super heroine costumes to twenty something actresses, I am all in. A few evil traps would be nice and if they could skew the ages up to college years, I wouldn’t feel nearly as creepy.

You've made a mistake, if you're referring to the above post with the Episode 6 shots

Tigress is supposed to be in her 40s, because the action is taking place more than 10 years after her Injustice Society's triumph and killing of Starman. In the story, she is now a middle-aged gym teacher married to Crusher (Sportsmaster). And in fact, the actress playing her character is 44-year-old Korean-American actress Joy Osmanski (Asian women can look beautiful for far longer, just look at Ming-Na Wen at 56). Good casting.

But yes, that shiny pantyhose addition on Tigress is quite a treat, and rather unusual.

As far as 20-something actresses in tight costumes, though - your wish will be answered in episode 7 when actress Meg DeLacy (who plays head Mean Girl Cindy in the series) becomes the sexy supervillainess Shiv. And Meg is, indeed, 23.

So far, I'm just feeling the right mix of seriousness and camp in this show, and that's what makes it work.

I think the sentiment that sneakly is conveying is the character age - regardless of the underlying age of the actors. It's one reason I won't be making any comic work of the show like I did the CW's Supergirl. But of course, on the villains' side of the tale they are "last season's winners!" so they will be older than their freshly recruited heroic rivals. And I really agree about the mix of serious / humour / camp - it's really hitting the sweet spot for enjoyable watching.

[helstar]

As far as 20-something actresses in tight costumes, though - your wish will be answered in episode 7 when actress Meg DeLacy (who plays head Mean Girl Cindy in the series) becomes the sexy supervillainess Shiv. And Meg is, indeed, 23.

Ah can't wait to see her, a friend of mine could not believe she was in fishnets in the third episode but i am expecting her villainess costume to not be sexy afterall (will be the usual full catsuit crap), even if the actress is actually 23 they are portraying all these girls as teenagers so I guess it won't happen for this reason too.

[shevek]

Looks like the guy might be Sportsmaster

Yes - that was my point: in the TV show, the character Sportsmaster and Tigress are in their 40s.
The actor who plays Sportsmaster/Crusher Crock is 43, and the actress who plays Tigress/Paula is 44. They are cast correctly.

High schoolers portrayed by 20-somethings is not unusual at all. It happened in Beverly Hills 90210 and Saved by the Bell.
They can't use actual high-schoolers because they're not allowed to legally work the long hours needed to film television.

[Abductorenmadrid]

The plot advanced nicely as Courtney continues to seek out team members to bolster their numbers. Again, a swiftly delivered backstory opens the episode and as things go on we learn that the target recruits have their ... complications ... so to speak. Meanwhile, on team evil, we see their plans moving along although what their ultimate goal still seems far, far away!

So far, so good - episodes have a good mix of lightheartedness, danger, seriousness, sass, humor and so on to keep them fun to watch. In contrast to that, I love S.H.I.E.L.D but the seasons can be relentless doom and gloom and I just want the gang to have an episode where they take the day off!! With Stargirl I think the balance is such that you can watch and enjoy all day long and not get fatigued by it.

[Mr. X]

She was going to turn off all the power in a hospital. All the power... in a hospital.
Episode 3 she caused the death of a kid and didn't bat an eye.
And she never listens to Pat who actually is pretty reasonable and right most of the time.
She gives the wild cat suit to someone who she doesn't even know.
And she has NO training. she can't even control the staff.

At this point I'm kind of rooting for icicle.

[Maskripper]

She was going to turn off all the power in a hospital. All the power... in a hospital.
Episode 3 she caused the death of a kid and didn't bat an eye.
And she never listens to Pat who actually is pretty reasonable and right most of the time.
She gives the wild cat suit to someone who she doesn't even know.
And she has NO training. she can't even control the staff.

At this point I'm kind of rooting for icicle.

Grumpmaster X is in da house again.

She is a teenager. Teenagers make bad decisions all the time.
She didn't cause the death of that kid....the villain is to blame, he did it!
Of course it wouldn't have happened if she wouldn't have been there....but that's hardly an argument. And she was desperate about it...even that should have been shown longer/stronger.
Teenagers don't listen to their parents.... normal behaviour.
And she did know Yolanda from some meetings at school. They weren't close but she is a good fit for Wildcat, she choose wisely.
Yes, she has no training.... and? Who is there that could train her? Only Pat.... and he doesn't want to do it.
The staff has it's own will....as it seems. But I guess she will get to control him better.

That you root for the villain....well, it fits.

[Mr. X]

This is about story telling. If there was a teenager I knew in real life who did something careless, someone got killed and they basically shrugged it off I would think that kid was borderline psychopath. This was a golden missed opportunity to have the character learn, grow and basically learn with great power comes great responsibility. If you read spiderman for example the stories are complex tales of him learning his abilities and being responsible for his actions.

She caused the death because she fought the guy and he wrecked the bridge.

I'm sure the show will be light fair... but that's all. Compare this with Buffy for example and some of the complexity of her stories. And again she was going to shut off the electricity to a whole hospital.

[Maskripper]

....
She caused the death because she fought the guy and he wrecked the bridge.

I'm sure the show will be light fair... but that's all. Compare this with Buffy for example and some of the complexity of her stories. And again she was going to shut off the electricity to a whole hospital.

So if someone tries to stop a villain and someone gets killed by the villain in the process......the hero is to blame? Sorry, not for me.....
Your taking the hospital electiricity thing way too serious, this was supposed to be a funny scene. And bsides the emergency backup would kick in if the electricity would be shut down.

[Mr. X]

So if someone tries to stop a villain and someone gets killed by the villain in the process......the hero is to blame? Sorry, not for me.....

Yes. She engaged him when she should have thought things out. No different than if Superman fought Doomsday on a school yard full of kids.