- Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this blog post. The opinions I share are my own.
Hearing that a Krypton based TV joint was being produced that wouldn’t focus on ol’ Superman made me as nervous as a cat nervous about shit that makes cats nervous (Disclaimer: I’m not a cat). Let’s see if that case of jitters was justified…
Krypton concerns the adventures of Supes’ grand-pappy Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe) who resides in the Kryptonian city of Kandor 200 years before the planet is fated to explode…and let me tell ya; Seg’s having a time of it. The House of El is on the shit list after Seg’s grandfather got the ax for suggesting that their is life on planets other than Krypton, and our homeboy is caught up in the plottings of shifty chief magistrate, Daron-Vex (Elliot Cowan), who’s daughter Nyssa Vex (Wallis Day) Seg is set to marry (against his will) which will doubtless affect the secret lovin’ and squeezin’ he’s doing with Lyta-Zod (Georgina Campbell). Seems like a lot of goings-on, eh? Well I haven’t even got to the time travel yet…
To that end, DC comics mainstay Adam Strange (Shaun Sipos) makes the scene and fills up Seg with knowledge of Superman and his place in the universe, but all that will change if a certain supervillain…okay, it’s Brainiac (Blake Ritson)…I mean it says it right on the back of the damn box, so it’s not really a spoiler…isn’t stopped from expunging Supes by fucking around with the past.
As you can see, there is no shortage of plot in Krypton. Thankfully all of that craziness makes for a compelling watch and a rippin’ sci-fi yarn that manages to captivate and entertain without relying on you-know-who to keep DC fan’s interest. The production design is gorgeous, and the cast is top-notch with star Cuffe offering us a hero that definitely knows his faults and isn’t afraid to offer up some humor about it all. Oh, and speaking of DC fans, they will doubtless appreciate who the makers of Krypton (namely solid genre scribes David S. Goyer and Damian Kindler) have included in this show, as along with Strange we get some other familiar faces…and from what has been revealed about next season that will continue with one of my favs, Lobo, showing up to wreak havoc.
I also have to mention the solid idea to introduce that time travel angle into the proceedings. This gives the filmmakers a chance to go wild, but if they change things too much in regards to established continuity, things can be reset to be more familiar to the fanbase at any time.
Speaking of Season Two, the main criticism I have with Season One of Krypton is that not enough due was paid to building up the actual world of Krypton…a ton of time is spent on machinations, plot points, time travel, and characters, but mythology gets the short shrift. It’s understandable due to the necessity of throwing us into the story and getting all engines firing narrative-wise, but I’m anxious to see this alien world fleshed out more in future episodes.
So that’s that as far as the series itself, but this Blu contains an hour of bonus material to check out after you watch all ten episodes of Season One. These special features include: The SDCC panekl that introduced the series to the fans, two featurettes about the series, a gag reel, and a selection of deleted scenes.
If you are a DC comics lover, this series is already going into your collection, and we both know it…but there is plenty on display here to satisfy lovers of straight-up sci-fi as well. Krypton is a rad series, and I can’t wait to see where it goes next!
