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I was hanging in the chat of a certain Youtube livestreamer from the West Bank affectionately known as The Rabbi from Another Planet
(some of you may be familiar, he's a Heroineburgh fan) when he began reading randomly from the latest issue of SFX Magazine.
And in the corner of one of the pages, there was a blurb about an upcoming superhero TV show called Extraordinary.
Not having heard anything about previously, I figured I'd look it up. There's a Wiki, but without much information other than just
the basics: it's an Irish superhero comedy with the somewhat faulty premise that sometime about 10 years in the past, everyone
over the age of 18 suddenly received superpowers, and then subsequently, everyone receives superpowers automatically on their 18th birthday.
So, pretty much everyone in the world has superpowers? Or did I not understand the premise correctly, and did people just start receiving their superpowers ten years ago, as they attained the age of 18? (Which would mean anyone who was over 18 as of 10 years ago did *not* get superpowers? It's not clear if everyone was 'grandfathered' in, or not.)
That's confusing enough, until you think about the randomness of this happening. Why would age 18 somehow be the random cutoff for this phenomenon? It's not like all over the world, everything is equally adult at age 18. There are different levels of majority and adulthood in different cultures and countries, right? The 18 cutoff seems a bit Western-centric, and maybe even a bit Anglo-Saxon centric at that.
And there's the why, how, who and wherefores. Who gave everyone in the world these powers? Why did they do that? How did they manage to pull off such a feat? And how is each power assigned? Do people get powers based on certain inclinations and innate tendencies? (The old Heroineburgh method of epigenetics) Or is there no rhyme or reason, with people getting powers at random? I would think inquiring minds would like to know all of these things when such a premise, with holes big enough to drive a truck through, is dropped on a viewership.
But hey, maybe none of that matters, because you probably wouldn't have heard about this show if I hadn't told you just now, right? I mean, there's a trailer on Hulu, and the exact same trailer on Disney Plus UK and ANZ. But hardly anyone has seen these trailers (less than 250K views total), and the debut episode of this series is only 3 weeks away: JANUARY 25. So, not very good promotion on their part, I'd say.
In the meantime, we've got the rest of the premise tied to the lead actress, Mairead Tyers. She's a moderately attractive zoomerlennial named Jen, who never got her powers at 18. How the powers that be messed that up when they got to everyone else isn't explained yet. But apparently all of her friends and co-workers have powers (I seriously don't know how civilized society goes on from there, so I guess I'll have to watch to find out). So she goes on a mission to find out how to get her powers.
The 'name' actress in the show is an Irish matron by the name of Siobhan McSweeney, who is apparently famous for playing a disciplinary nun in a show called "Killing Eve".
Here's all the other links I could find about the show, which aren't many.
This is the 'first look', which only shows us one singular photo of Tyers.
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/ex ... ewsupdate/
This is the official announcement about the show trailer on Deadline, which only shows us one other photo of Tyers.
https://deadline.com/video/killing-eve- ... mma-moran/
Here is the trailer from Hulu. On Youtube, commenters are comparing it to Hero Academia, Encanto, and a UK show from 2009 called No Heroics (which I never heard of, and I'm about to check out now..is there even a thread about it on SHF??), as well as a less harsh version of Misfits. However, the first thing I thought of was NBC's Powerless - you can even clearly see in the trailer, the word "powerless" comes up at 1:20! It's also basically the premise of a comic book from J. Michael Straczynski called Rising Stars, except in that book only 120 people got the powers.
I don't see any evidence at all of superhero costumes, let alone the tight spandex kind that some of Jen's friends and co-workers could be wearing. So I'll make sure to watch the first episode to get the general gist of what's going on, and if there's no promise of costumes in that episode or future ones, I may bow out. Check it out on the debut date of January 25 and see for yourself.
[Update: 'No Heroics', a superhero comedy show from 2008 from the UK, is not available to watch. Anywhere. Unless someone has an idea?]
Extraordinary (Hulu US, Disney+ UK & ANZ, 2023)
Looked fun, so will check it out.
And I'm guessing if for the last 10 years everyone above the age of 18 has powers, making them more normal than having 2 legs and 2 hands, I don't see why people would wear costumes (outside of halloween and certain fun clubs).
And I'm guessing if for the last 10 years everyone above the age of 18 has powers, making them more normal than having 2 legs and 2 hands, I don't see why people would wear costumes (outside of halloween and certain fun clubs).
Oh..there are costumes. Just not good ones. Nor almost any women wearing them, unfortunately.
I watched the entire first season of 8 episodes.
Firstly, this is barely a superhero show. Remember how Powerless was essentially an office comedy with superheroes as a backdrop? But superheroes were at least relevant to the plot because 1) the employees worked for Bruce Wayne; 2) Adam West made a stunning guest appearance, and 3) a couple episodes featured very substantial females in tight costumes.
Extraordinary is *less* of a superhero show than that. The only superheroics and costumes involve the very occasional exploits of two groups of amateur 20something vigilantes who have terribly slapped together Kevin Smith-level garb (the only good costume is mentioned below). Otherwise than that, superpowers serve as mere background or MacGuffinage for the story.
And the story itself is similar to many current TV shows: a group of twentysomethings who try to navigate through an urban hipster existence while being incompetent, irresponsible and immature. Nothing you haven't seen in endless CW teen dramas.
The show even drives the "urban hipster" point home - no, nobody works in a record store - by giving them all feckless jobs or no job; constantly putting hip "Pitchfork era" indie music in the background from groups like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Metric; and planting quirky Easter eggs in the set pieces themselves. For example, they live right by a boarded-up former comic shop called Comic Legend, which if you go to the URL on the sign is actually a real existing online comic shop (I even asked them if they might stock H-Burgh, so we'll see if they respond). Another 'storefront' advertises a "Cash and Carry" which is a real supermarket location in London, but also the name of two of the main characters (Kash and Carrie, get it?).
The series does make damn sure there's adequate diversity in the cast, as with any current British-based show - in fact I'm surprised that they didn't really go whole hog on that, because it's relatively subdued. What isn't subdued, though, is the two kinds of humor they rely upon: 1) a ton of body humor and sexual vulgarity, and 2) a barrage of quips about things being 'racist', 'sexist' and 'Hitler' [yes, der Fuhrer is literally a minor cameo character in one episode] which thankfully peters off around Episode 4 once the story really gets going. Probably the most Current Year thing about the series is how the beta guys who form the main vigilante group make their initial main purpose the urban safety of women (as opposed to stopping hardboiled crime) and run their group very ineffectually and indecisively. There's no square-jawed, muscular, charismatically decisive leader in the entire crew. That's kind of hilarious but also very 2023.
Yes, this is a Disney Plus show, but the approach seems a lot more HBO, and it's quite clear that they are totally fine with completely graphic and adult subject matter. (One of the side characters is basically Orgasm Man.) Perhaps this could be characterized as Zoey Deschanel from New Girl, but with an Irish brogue and the sensibility of The Boys (yet without a single use of 'cunt' in eight episodes..what imaginary England is this?).
I watched the whole season to seeing where things would go, but the results were primarily a zoomer soap-opera, and not at all the superhero show I thought it might turn out to be: no battles, no villains, almost no serious costumes. There is also very little explained about the powers themselves, and their origins remain just as "magical" at the end of the season as when it begins: no backstory on the sudden acquisition of powers starting about ten years ago; no scientific explanation on why this is occurring; no new bodily organ that everyone has; nobody getting famous due to their powers; no government or media pronouncements on any of this, other than a single newspaper headline. The powers just appear at random, and even though there's a 'clinic' which is supposed to help its clients bring out their powers (one of the subplots is the Irish girl trying to find the money to pay for the treatment), the details remain extremely vague as to the actual methods of the clinic.
I'd be surprised if this got a second season. Even if it did, I'm not sure I'd take the time to watch all the way through like I did with the first season.
I'd probably scan the synopses for evidence of costumed activity, and leave it at that.
Skip this unless you already watch twentysomething hipster dramas.
Other than the Easter eggs (which were fun to track down), the single best thing about the show is Magnet Girl. No, she doesn't have magnetic powers which can be channeled to incredible results, like Magneto - she's just a magnet which attracts anything metal. She appears in two episodes as part of the rival vigilante team, but there are only a few really worthwhile shots of her tight, armored costume, which is surprisingly well made compared to the outfits of all the other vigilante characters. I would love to see her get her own spinoff series, and also maybe pay attention to hairstyle and makeup, and lose the incongruous yellow cape (it should also be silver, if it's necessary at all). One of her few known attributes is that she likes to write "fan fiction", so a component of Magnet Girl's spinoff series could be about her getting aroused by "shipping" various characters. There are definite possibilities there.
The second notable thing is a guest character who becomes Jen the Irish ginger's best friend for an episode as they share the misery of not having powers, until suddenly she acquires the power of teleportation, and drops Jen like a stone. This character, Hannah, is played by UK actress Patricia Allison (see below) and is even noted by Jen as looking "pretty". So she is relatively attractive, and it could have been interesting seeing Hannah in a tight superheroine costume, exerting her Nightcrawler powers and even acquiring a sexy nickname and real confidence in her personality. But the show never gets that serious about fleshing out its side characters - they're a means to an end, and they boost hiring quotas.
I watched the entire first season of 8 episodes.
Firstly, this is barely a superhero show. Remember how Powerless was essentially an office comedy with superheroes as a backdrop? But superheroes were at least relevant to the plot because 1) the employees worked for Bruce Wayne; 2) Adam West made a stunning guest appearance, and 3) a couple episodes featured very substantial females in tight costumes.
Extraordinary is *less* of a superhero show than that. The only superheroics and costumes involve the very occasional exploits of two groups of amateur 20something vigilantes who have terribly slapped together Kevin Smith-level garb (the only good costume is mentioned below). Otherwise than that, superpowers serve as mere background or MacGuffinage for the story.
And the story itself is similar to many current TV shows: a group of twentysomethings who try to navigate through an urban hipster existence while being incompetent, irresponsible and immature. Nothing you haven't seen in endless CW teen dramas.
The show even drives the "urban hipster" point home - no, nobody works in a record store - by giving them all feckless jobs or no job; constantly putting hip "Pitchfork era" indie music in the background from groups like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Metric; and planting quirky Easter eggs in the set pieces themselves. For example, they live right by a boarded-up former comic shop called Comic Legend, which if you go to the URL on the sign is actually a real existing online comic shop (I even asked them if they might stock H-Burgh, so we'll see if they respond). Another 'storefront' advertises a "Cash and Carry" which is a real supermarket location in London, but also the name of two of the main characters (Kash and Carrie, get it?).
The series does make damn sure there's adequate diversity in the cast, as with any current British-based show - in fact I'm surprised that they didn't really go whole hog on that, because it's relatively subdued. What isn't subdued, though, is the two kinds of humor they rely upon: 1) a ton of body humor and sexual vulgarity, and 2) a barrage of quips about things being 'racist', 'sexist' and 'Hitler' [yes, der Fuhrer is literally a minor cameo character in one episode] which thankfully peters off around Episode 4 once the story really gets going. Probably the most Current Year thing about the series is how the beta guys who form the main vigilante group make their initial main purpose the urban safety of women (as opposed to stopping hardboiled crime) and run their group very ineffectually and indecisively. There's no square-jawed, muscular, charismatically decisive leader in the entire crew. That's kind of hilarious but also very 2023.
Yes, this is a Disney Plus show, but the approach seems a lot more HBO, and it's quite clear that they are totally fine with completely graphic and adult subject matter. (One of the side characters is basically Orgasm Man.) Perhaps this could be characterized as Zoey Deschanel from New Girl, but with an Irish brogue and the sensibility of The Boys (yet without a single use of 'cunt' in eight episodes..what imaginary England is this?).
I watched the whole season to seeing where things would go, but the results were primarily a zoomer soap-opera, and not at all the superhero show I thought it might turn out to be: no battles, no villains, almost no serious costumes. There is also very little explained about the powers themselves, and their origins remain just as "magical" at the end of the season as when it begins: no backstory on the sudden acquisition of powers starting about ten years ago; no scientific explanation on why this is occurring; no new bodily organ that everyone has; nobody getting famous due to their powers; no government or media pronouncements on any of this, other than a single newspaper headline. The powers just appear at random, and even though there's a 'clinic' which is supposed to help its clients bring out their powers (one of the subplots is the Irish girl trying to find the money to pay for the treatment), the details remain extremely vague as to the actual methods of the clinic.
I'd be surprised if this got a second season. Even if it did, I'm not sure I'd take the time to watch all the way through like I did with the first season.
I'd probably scan the synopses for evidence of costumed activity, and leave it at that.
Skip this unless you already watch twentysomething hipster dramas.
Other than the Easter eggs (which were fun to track down), the single best thing about the show is Magnet Girl. No, she doesn't have magnetic powers which can be channeled to incredible results, like Magneto - she's just a magnet which attracts anything metal. She appears in two episodes as part of the rival vigilante team, but there are only a few really worthwhile shots of her tight, armored costume, which is surprisingly well made compared to the outfits of all the other vigilante characters. I would love to see her get her own spinoff series, and also maybe pay attention to hairstyle and makeup, and lose the incongruous yellow cape (it should also be silver, if it's necessary at all). One of her few known attributes is that she likes to write "fan fiction", so a component of Magnet Girl's spinoff series could be about her getting aroused by "shipping" various characters. There are definite possibilities there.
- silver armor costume worn by magnet girl.jpg (48.1 KiB) Viewed 828 times
- Patricia_Allison.jpg (13.8 KiB) Viewed 828 times
So, this dumpster fire is getting a second season.
I don't know about you, but I see nothing in this trailer that makes me want to watch it.
Did anyone actually watch and enjoy Season 1?
I don't know about you, but I see nothing in this trailer that makes me want to watch it.
Did anyone actually watch and enjoy Season 1?
I actually really like this show, it's a great comedy, moves quick and is really witty.
Having said that there is absolutely zero sexy superheroine content.
In otherwords if you want a fun smart comedy go for it, it you want anything superhero/superheroine related leave it.
Having said that there is absolutely zero sexy superheroine content.
In otherwords if you want a fun smart comedy go for it, it you want anything superhero/superheroine related leave it.
I have watched the first season, yes. It's more like a comedy show (sometimes even demential in places), so if you are looking for something like The Boys, Titans, Doom Patrol or the Marvel universe, then you can easily avoid watching it. I need to check the second season, of course I don't expect anything relevant in terms of superheroine content, but I like the idea and the story so I hope it's as good as the first season.