AndyC

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Small towns play a trick on the mind, especially these days. They don't have huge populations, so it's easy to ignore how much influence they really have when they're all added together. The old mom-and-pop stores have long since been replaced by national franchises, so it's easy to overlook each town's particular quirks and customs. And they often don't have monuments or landmarks that people come from all over to see, so it's easy to assume nothing major ever happened there.

It's a trick that gets played all the time on the kind of people who think that most of America is just filler between New York and California, but almost just as often, the people who live in those small towns fall for it too. People might grow up a few hundred yards away from a battlefield that changed the course of a war, or the birthplace of a President or CEO or civil rights leader, or the site of some crazy event that nobody believes even happened anymore, and spend their whole lives never knowing it.

Smallville, Kansas, is a place like that. A lot of the old shops on Main Street went out of business when they put up a Wal-Mart, whose parking lot was once home to one of the bloodiest confrontations of the old 'Bleeding Kansas' period. When some of the older farmhouses were torn down to make way for new neighborhoods, they found cellars and secret passages that were once used as part of the Underground Railroad. Every year in October there's a harvest festival where one of the local traditions is making paintings and mosaics of a Native American 'healing snake,' but no one for the life of them could tell you the story behind it.

There's a little stretch of dirt road, about three miles total, between the Kent farm and Ben Sutton's place on the way back into town. It doesn't get used much by anyone who isn't Ma or one of the Suttons, so most people would never notice the patch along that road, maybe fifteen yards apart, where nothing has grown for twenty-six years. Every once in a while, the occasional wingnut comes around looking for traces of "the crater," the place where allegedly an alien spacecraft crashed before the government covered it up. "Allegedly."

Smallville never gained the same reputation as places like Point Pleasant, Hopkinsville, or Roswell. There aren't big trashy tourist traps with little green men painted on the sign, nobody sells tchotckes of flying saucers or T-shirts with "I Believe" on them, very few people ever bring it up on paranormal forums or discussion threads about possible sites of 'first contact.'

Which, more than anything, is a testament to how good Mom and Dad were at keeping secrets. How they went out of their way to make sure I wouldn't feel like an outsider or a freak, or that I was anything to them other than their son. How much they were willing to risk to make sure I didn't spend the rest of my life in a laboratory or a holding cell.

The Kent Farm, to most people, is just a few dozen acres of wheat fields, a barnyard, and an old two-story house with fading paint and a rusted-out old Ford out front. To a handful of people, it's home to what might have been the biggest secret in the history of the human race. To me, it was a porch where I had a thousand heart-to-heart talks with my folks, a hayloft where Lana Lang and I used to sneak off to late at night, and an un-tilled field where I would practice jumping higher and higher, until I could choose not to come back down.

"......and you're selling it?!" I say in disbelief, my plate of chicken and dumplings starting to get cold.

"Well, hun, what else am I supposed to do?" Ma asks, sitting across from me at the dining room table. "There's a hundred things that all need doin', and now that Jonathan's not around anymore......anyway, I've hired on some help to get through this year's harvest, then I'm looking at one of those new town-houses off of Sunset Park. This is just...too much house for just me."

"I know, I know," I say with a sigh, "but still, the Farm's been part of the family for so long...."

"Oh, honey," she says with a sad smile, "That history, all those memories, that stays with us. A house is just a house, Clark. Besides, are you really going to tell me you were planning on staying here and growing wheat when I'm gone, too?"

"....I guess not," I admit, finally digging into my dinner. "Mm! The chicken's great, Ma. Feels like it's been forever since I've had something to eat that isn't take-out."

"I copied down my recipes for you, hun," she laughs. "You just need to find some time to make some of it for yourself."

"I know...." I say, "it's just....I never feel like I've got time to slow down these days, you know? There's the Toyman, and the Silver Surfer, and a hundred other things pulling at me every minute of the day. And that's just the stuff I'm doing with the cape on, not even including my job, my friends, trying to pay all my bills, and, well....looking for answers about, y'know, myself."

"Found anything new?" she asks.

"Maybe," I answer, uncertain. "When I was fighting the Surfer, he said a word to me, which triggered a lot of....images. Memories, I guess. He said 'Kal-El.'"

"Any idea what that means."

"I think......I think it's my name," I tell her. "My real name. Or, I mean, my original name, not--"

"I get what you mean," she laughs again. "Whoever your birth parents were, they had to call you something, right?"

"Right, well, anyway, I've been thinking...you know that silver ball you and Pa found in the pod with me? Is that still here?"

"It's not like I could sell it at a yard sale, Clark."

"Hah, true. Well, I remember when I would hold it, it would say something a few times, but then it would go quiet and I couldn't get it to respond again. Maybe, I dunno, maybe if it hears the name.....we might get something from it?"

Ma shrugs. "Can't say if it'll work. But it's worth a try."

Getting up from the dinner table, we both head up the stairs to my old room.

I left the farm when I was sixteen, after Mom and Dad told me the truth about what I really am. It was just too much to deal with at the time, too many questions they couldn't answer. I didn't see home again until I was twenty-five, when I learned Pa was sick. I slept on the couch in the living room the whole time I was here. I couldn't bring myself to sleep in my old room again, like nothing had changed in all that time.

Opening the door, it's like nothing really had changed. It's musty and everything's coated in a film of dust, sure, but it's all exactly where I left it years ago. The walls are adorned with old movie posters, mostly Spielberg and Kubrick. My desk is still cluttered with old homework assignments, and sitting on top of it is Pa's old baseball glove. The dresser is still stuffed with whatever clothes I didn't take with me, topped with a science fair trophy from eight grade, and a framed picture of myself with Pete and Lana from a county fair.

I talked with Pete once when I came back to town. He was working at the local IHOP to make ends meet while he worked on his poli-sci Master's from the community college, said he wants to get onto the city council, maybe eventually run for state senate.

I haven't seen or heard from Lana since the night I took her flying. Since she ran away from me in tears.

Don't get too overwhelmed, Clark. Like Ma said, a house is just a house. It's just a room. It's just stuff.

"Let's see...." I say, looking around the bedroom, "where did I....oh!"

I squat down and look under the bed. There, behind a box full of baseball cards and a small pile of dirty laundry, is the silver orb, maybe the size of a softball. Reaching for it, I feel it begin to hum and vibrate in the palm of my hand.

Even after all these years, it still shines like a polished mirror, not a speck of dust on it.

STATE YOUR IDENTITY

It's a voice, the same phrase I've heard every time I tried to interact with the orb. I don't know the language, don't even have a clue where to start. There's every chance this is just another dead end.

Still, it's worth a shot.

"Fingers crossed, hun," Ma says from the doorway.

I hold out the orb, and I say the word the Surfer said to me. I tell it my name.

"Kal-El."

For a moment, there's nothing.

Then, the silver orb begins to vibrate again, and says phrases I've never heard before.

IDENTITY CONFIRMED

WELCOME, KAL-EL

I AM KELEX

I HAVE SERVED THE HOUSE OF EL

FOR EIGHT HUNDRED GENERATIONS

Suddenly, the orb begins to float out of my hand, and seams appear across the surface. Unfolding like flower petals, the orb opens up, and a light shines from the center. From that light, images appear, holographic projections floating in front of me.

Images of people, of a whole world, that looks like the one I saw when the Surfer said my name. A world completely alien, yet one I feel like I've known my whole life.

I WILL BE YOUR PRIMER ON THE HISTORY,

LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND VALUES

OF THE PEOPLE OF THE HOUSE OF EL

AND THE WORLD OF KRYPTON

"I....I don't understand!" I say, trying to communicate with it. "I don't speak this language, is there some way I can--"

ATTENTION

The images flicker out of existence, and the flower-petals of the orb snap shut.

COLONY POD LOCATED

RELOCATING

ACTIVATING FORTRESS

Without warning, the orb zips out the bedroom window, shattering glass as it blurs across the twilit sky, and leaving me dumbstruck.

"I don't get it," I say, feeling powerless as the answers I've been looking for escape me again. "I don't know what I did.....what any of that was...."

Ma puts her hand on my shoulder.

"You got to see your world," she says, choking back tears. "Your people. You got a glimpse of who you really are."

Thinking about it for a moment, I shake my head.

"This is my home," I say. "You are my people. And as for who I really am, well--"

I'm startled by a sudden vibration on my right thigh. It's my phone. The sudden surprise takes me out of the moment completely, and by instinct I pick it up.

"He--"

"Smallville! I'm in your apartment, and you're nowhere to be found! Where the hell are you?!"

"Oh, hi Lois, I'm just over at--....wait, how'd you get into my apartment?"

"Jimmy let me in," she answers. "Say hi, Jimmy."

"Hi, Jimmy!"

"Hilarious. Anyway, I've been trying to reach you ever since that whole thing out in Central City. I was scared to death you were---...never mind. I'm over here because I need to drop off your train ticket."

"I'm sorry, train ticket?" I can dodge bullets and outpace fighter jets, but I can't keep up with Lois Lane when she's in her zone. "What are you talking about?"

"You didn't hear?" she asks. "The Bat-Man picked a fight with the Gotham City PD, apparently beat the hell out of them. Perry wanted me on the story, since I'm going to be in the city tomorrow anyway, but I'm chasing a lead on the Toyman. So I told Perry you'd be the one best equipped to take on the Bat. So congratulations, Smallville, you're off sports and making the front page!"

"Lois, I'm....I'm kind of in the middle of something," I say, a bit sheepish.

"Is it as urgent as a cop-assaulting vigilante running amok?"

"I, erm, I guess not."

"Then tell your Mom I said hi, get a good night's sleep, then get your ass back here by 7 o'clock. First thing in the morning, we're taking a field trip to Gotham City."

"Okay, I, erm, I'll see you then," I sputter. "Have a, um, have good night, Lois."

Hanging up, I put my phone back in my pocket, then notice Ma giving me a sly grin.

"....what? It's just a work thing," I say.

"Sure it is, Clark," she says with a wink. "I know that look, that sputter. You always did melt whenever you tried to talk to a pretty girl."

"Ma, I'm just--"

"Uh-huh," she cuts me off. "Well, I think you've had enough excitement for one day, and it sounds like you've got another big day tomorrow. C'mon, supper's probably stone cold by now."

She heads back downstairs, and I give an exasperated sigh.

"'too much excitement for one day,'" I repeat. "You're not kidding."

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Y'know, in theory, the idea of Dick Grayson being a young prodigy cop who's more Jim Gordon's protégé instead of Batman's could have worked, especially since the Nolanverse prided itself on being 'realistic' (made-up superweapons and ancient ninja cults notwithstanding). But that would have required Nolan and company to not treat the character like they resented his very existence.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

I know I've said it before, but the one thing that really annoys me about Michelle Jones is the same thing that annoys me about JGL in Dark Knight Rises. Back when they were still trying to pass off 'John Blake' as some new mystery character, Nolan and company kept going "Oh nooo, we're totally never gonna have Robin, why would we ever have Robin, nobody wants Robin, so we're never gonna do it," and then right at the end of the movie they go "Ha, he was Robin all along, we fooled you!" They did the same thing with Zendaya, they kept saying she's a new character, and she's totally not MJ, then right at the end "Oh hahaha, she was actually MJ the whole time, we fooled you!" That's not a trick, it's not pulling a fast one, it's just lying.

If you're gonna make a major change to a character, have the decency to commit to the bit. Don't just lie to the audience and then pretend you're clever for doing so. And would it kill you to at the very least dye a red streak in her hair or something to give her some slight indication as to who she's supposed to be?

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

<Snipped quote by AndyC>

No Jimmy?

*Jimmies thoroughly rustled*

@Hound55

TBH I haven't really seen an "iconic" Jimmy Olsen outside of the comics. More often than not, he feels more like a tacked-on extra so Clark has someone to interact with who isn't his mom or his girlfriend.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Of the vast collection of television shows, movies, and other live-action representations of our favourite comic book characters, who is your definitive, and if not definitive, favourite or preferable representation of that character.

For example, my definitive Lex Luthor is Michael Rosenbaum.

So how about you guys? Who is your Batman/Superman etc?

@Lord Wraith

Well, let's get into it...... (EDIT: Looks like I'm behind the conversation, but accidentally sorta caught up anyway since we're talking voice actors now)

I'm gonna skip the obvious ones (since most of the MCU characters have only had one incarnation, they're shoo-ins), and stick with ones where there's some contention.

Superman: In terms of the image of Superman and in terms of getting all ferklempt when you see him and hear his theme music, there is no replacing Christopher Reeve. In terms of the actual character, though, I gotta say I prefer Henry Cavill.
Lois Lane: If we're including voices, Dana Delaney in an easy walk. If it's live-action only, Teri Hatcher.
Lex Luthor: I get genuinely offended when there's a cartoon or videogame with Lex Luthor in it and it's not Clancy Brown. Going with live-action, I guess I'd have to go with Rosenbaum, since I never liked Hackman's Lex, I prefer my Luthor to not be a pedophile so that takes out Spacey, and everyone would get mad at me if I said Eisenberg.
Batman: Err, I dunno, Christian Bale, but with early-BTAS Kevin Conroy's voice in-costume and Affleck's fight choreographer.
Alfred: Really close call between Michael Caine and Jeremy Irons. Really it depends on if it's an emotional scene or if he's being sassy, because nobody in the universe does the not-quite-crying-but-it-makes-you-cry-instead thing better than Caine, but I do love Irons' droll wit, which is integral to any good Alfred.
The Joker: Live-action only, it's Ledger easily. Nicholson just felt like he's doing an impression of himself, and even I can't defend Leto. Including voices, though, nobody holds a candle to Mark Hamill.
Robin: Joseph Gordon Levitt from a parallel universe where The Dark Knight Rises wasn't a disappointing mess. Including voices, teenage Robin will never not sound like Scott Menville to me, though I can't really think of a Nightwing that I've ever really liked (the Young Justice one was okay, I guess).
Catwoman: Anne Hathaway, but in Michelle Pfeiffer's costume.
The Flash: Gustin Grant, easily. I can't say I'm a huge fan of him, but I fucking haaaaated Ezra Miller's Flash.
Supergirl: Melissa Benoist. This is another one who basically wins by default since the live-action movie can't even reach so-bad-it's-good and I was not a fan of the Smallville version at all.

Going over to the Marvel side of things:
Spider-Man: With voices, it's Josh Keaton, since I swear by The Spectacular Spider-Man. Live-action only, I like Tom Holland a whole lot, even if I don't care for his Burger King Kids' Club supporting cast or his role as Tony Stark's surrogate son.
Aunt May: While the Amazing movies are kinda the red-headed stepchildren of Spidey's movies these days, I quite liked Sally Field. Not quite the one-foot-in-the-grave version of Aunt May from the Raimi movies, and also not the uncomfortably-hot MILF May from Homecoming.
Harry Osborn: Right up until he goes crazy and becomes an embarrassing cartoon character, I really rather liked Dane DeHaan.
Pete's Love Interest: Live-action, I guess Laura Harrier as Liz. I'm a huge fan of Emma Stone, but I always thought she should've been cast as Mary Jane instead of Gwen Stacy. Including voices, gonna go with SSM's Gwen performed by Lacey Chabert.
Eddie Brock/Venom: Ryan Kwanten, the guy from Truth in Journalism. Just a friendly reminder that fan-film can be vastly better than the real thing.
Hulk/Bruce Banner: I actually really liked Ed Norton's Hulk, even if the MCU basically retconned it out of existence. IMO Banner is one of those guys who shouldn't be acting like a comedian given the damage he can potentially do.
The Punisher: Thomas Jane. Yeah, his actual movie was kinda pretty awful, but Dirty Laundry was fantastic (big ups to Unicycle for re-creating that in IC).

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

I did a thing in MB's Create-A-Post thread over on the Hype.

I apologize for nothing.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

I'm still gonna need to have Clark get all salty to Reed about the Silver Surfer.

"Hey, great call with that 'Galactus' stuff. Nearly having my face melted off really opened up my pores. Maybe next you wanna tell me that Toyman is actually king of the mole-people or something?"

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Writers' Corner time!

I've had a couple of discussions with other players about getting stuck in a rut with their characters, not sure where to go next or what to do. It's something I run into a lot myself, and it's the cause of about 90% of occasions where I just lose interest in a character and drop from a game. To combat this, I've been reading up on a lot of blogs and watching videos on how to keep going when you've painted yourself into a corner or feel yourself running on fumes, with the intent of being maybe not the best writer in the group, but at least among the most dependable.

So with that, here are some Cheap Tricks to Keep Stuff Moving:

Blow Something Up

Seriously. The superhero genre is loud and flashy and full of twists and turns, and the biggest, loudest, and flashiest way to change directions in a story is to simply blow something up and see how your character deals with it. Figure out the details as you go, but the important thing is to just make something happen. While the best stories are usually about the people rather than the event, there still has to be an event in the first place.

Kill Someone Off

Yeah, it's cheap and you run the risk of being accused of refrigerator-stuffing, but cheap drama is still often effective. For all the high-minded pontificating about superheroes as 'modern mythology' and whatnot, comic books still have a lot more in common with soap operas and pro wrestling than they do with the Iliad or the Eddas, and that sort of pulp entertainment lives and dies by cheap drama. This is probably the well you want to visit the least often so you don't desensitize the audience, but it couldn't hurt to give the occasional reminder that 'safety' is a relative thing.

Switch the Point-of-View

Maybe your hero isn't doing something important or cool at the moment, but for the sake of pacing you don't want to just jump ahead. That's as good a time as any to see what someone else is doing, whether it's a villain scheming or a support character....supporting, whatever interesting thing might affect the people in your character's sphere of influence.

Just Jump Ahead

Conversely, maybe nobody's doing anything interesting in the immediate moment, so fast-forward to the next time something interesting happens. Maybe do a quick montage or recap to catch the audience up on what's been going on in the meantime.

Do a Run-In

Going back to superheroes having things in common with pro wrestling, you know what your average superhero has? A lot of enemies. This can be especially effective in these 'Year One' settings where everyone's got a bunch of different 'later-on' plotlines all in the oven at once. If you've already established an enmity with one bad guy, then you're not really sure where to go when developing the second one, have the first jump in again and raise the odds against your hero. Again, this shouldn't be something to use as a crutch, but it's a very handy tool to have.

Have a 'Relationship' Scene

This doesn't necessarily mean outright shipping (though it certainly can), but set some time to establish who is important to this character and what the nature of their relationship is. How do they act around their closest friend compared to their boss, or their love interest, or a family member, or their arch-rival?

Follow the advice of P.T. Barnum

Barnum had two simple steps to success in showbiz. Step 1: find a guy with a great act. Step 2: Steal it. Watch some movies or TV shows, read some books, find plot hooks or characters or relationships that you like, and put them into your own stuff. Nobody is a font of originality, spinning ideas out of whole cloth. Everything comes from something, and as long as you can scratch the serial numbers off of it and add your own voice to it, you can pretty much get away with whatever you want. Call it a "homage" if it helps ease your conscience.

Fuck 'Motivation,' Exercise Discipline

I'm a pretty fat guy, largely because my diet is mostly garbage, but also because for most of my life, every time I've ever started a workout routine, I end up finding excuses not to hit the gym because I'm not feeling "motivated" to go that day. I've only been able to keep up with my current one because my brother goes with me and gives me shit whenever I skip. As a result, I've lost twenty pounds since we started. Same thing happens with writing. Yeah, it's great when you get that lightning-bolt of inspiration and you just have to start typing, but those lightning-bolts are typically few and far between.

Motivation is a fickle mistress who comes and goes and usually leaves you feeling that much worse when she's gone. Discipline, on the other hand, gets you into practice, and you know what practice makes. It doesn't have to be some crazy unattainable goal, just one you can regularly meet with a little bit of concentration and effort. Right now my goal is a bare minimum of one post a week, shooting for two. And while my stuff isn't exactly brilliant, it's there and I feel just that little bit more confident every time I post. It's the emptiest-sounding platitude I can think of, but it's also the most true: you've just gotta do it.

Anyway, those are the things that help me. Hopefully they can also help you become a shameless hack better and more confident with your own posting.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

I'm cool either way with the MME, but if I had my druthers, mark me down for wanting it to be the opener of Season 2.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

<Snipped quote by AndyC>

There are more of these?

I’ll...be back later, guys.

@Superboy

I admittedly didn't have the patience to sit through the whole series.

The Night Mind episode about the show, however, is quite good.