If you haven’t heard, CW had purchased the rights to the Swamp Thing and will begin airing episodes for their fall lineup of shows next season.
This makes it the 9th DC comic adaptation on the CW including the original predecessor, Arrow.
I am uncertain how it will pan out. However, I’m curious to see if it’ll pick back up where the web series left off last season, whether it’ll be included within the Arrowverse, or a stand-alone much like Black Lightening was in the beginning. Perhaps it may not be connected at all.
Nonetheless, I’m glad to see it have a chance. Much like Lucifer when Fox cut it from it’s primetime lineup leaving Netflix to pick it up for an additional 2 seasons.
That being said… I do have some thoughts.
Thinking about this… I am both equal parts happy they saved Swamp Thing yet I’m totally afraid that this kind of show is going to network tv. Nothing against the CW as they have shown us that they are capable of telling some good tales (and some not so good). One thing for certain is that they are better at continuity story-telling than the DCEU on less the budget…
But it’s just that…It’s less the budget. Not to mention it’s produced by a guy known for horror, which explains the gore and graphic content.
Swamp Thing, produced by James Wan originally aired as apart of the DC online subscription service, DC Universe. It had an impressive beginning, with great critic/audience reviews and a Rotten Tomatoes score over 90%. Yet with a hefty $3 million budget, it was cancelled within a week of airing.
Protests went flying and until a little over a month ago, it was unknown if it could be saved or who would save the doomed show. There were talks of other DC web shows finding new homes, but no talk of Swamp Thing. Most were hoping Netflix would swoop in again to save yet another doomed hero.
But still I heard nothing.
And then I checked my CW app to catch up on some missed streaming and there I saw it. It was right there with Superman and Lois and a few other shows I knew were already on the 2020-2021 lineup.
To be honest, as long as they keep the excessive social commentary out, I’ll be ok with the switch. Still, Supergirl comes into mind. Season 4 was crammed with so much SJW stuff, it took away from what fans of the comics loved about the show as well as it polluted certain plots. Season 5 however was a pleasant relief of most that even with its addition of its first transgendered superhero, Dreamer. It wasn’t in your face with it’s “message” plastered throughout the season. Villians and storylines have been fleshed out a little more thoroughly.
Thank you CW for picking one struggle at a time.
But with Swamp Thing being the ultimate eco-terrorist… I guess the CW could be the perfect place for him… Minus the gore. 🤔
But with Swamp Thing, the budget and storyline isn’t the only thing that concerns me. If you had the pleasure of tuning in, what made it great was it’s use of practical effects and graphic content. I’m sure a lot of this will be edited for primetime TV but hopefully what’s good won’t be left on the cutting room floor.
What I honestly loved was about this web series was the cast and set location. They sound like they were from the bayou with country and creole accents. Hopefully the CW can recreate much of this from where they usually film in Canada as the story takes place in the swamps of Louisiana. I’m praying that the CW doesn’t do us the injustice of having southern characters played by actors with west coast and British accents. The Swamp cast I’m sure won’t be cheap as the bulk of them have impressive resumes.
We’ve seen that Swamp Thing is one of those stories that is easily adaptable if told right. The titular character is all about the environment, he is complex as superheroes should be. Further, there are many other elements to enjoy such as the realization that he’s not really Alec Holland in some timelines or that he’s a mutated scientist seeking vengeance on others for his demise.
All in all no matter what path CW producers take, we know that they at least give a shit about trying to keep DC afloat on screen save for animated movies/shows. At this point I’m just hoping for the best with what they got.
CW… Don’t fuck this up!
Until Next Time Kiddies,
Shalom
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