I cracked. I watched the Supergirl pilot when it leaked online earlier this year. I wrote about it on the site. If you don’t remember (or don’t want to click on that link to find out), I had pretty mixed feelings, thinking the show teetered toward self-parody on occasion. However, you didn’t need to watch the pilot to reach your own conclusion because the 3 minute trailer CBS released at the network upfronts in May really was just a condensed version of the pilot minus one or two plot twists.
Every single Supergirl promo CBS has released ever since then has just been re-packaged scenes from the pilot, which was still the only footage they had for quite a while. Yeah, they’ve filmed a bunch of additional episodes at this point. When do we get to see some of that footage?
The answer is today. We finally get to see new footage today via this new trailer. There’s Supergirl using more of her powers (freeze breath!), glimpses of some of her enemies, Calista Flockhart pretty much owning a guy in a club, Supergirl’s adopted sister firing a gun like a badass and so much more. Plus, as you’d expect, the show still wears its cheesiness on its spandex sleeve (“Now it has… Supergirl!”) like a badge of honor:
My knowledge of Supergirl’s history in the comics is limited enough that this trailer does not really present me with a tantalizing hint of comic book villains I can obsessively report about. I actually didn’t recognize any of the baddies revealed in the trailer. One appears to have a crab face like the Predator. That looked pretty cool, I guess. The rest of it is kind of a random-seeming collection of standard superhero moments, showcasing the visual effects without actually giving much of a sense of any kind of storyline other than the reveal that the Toymaker and Jimmy Olsen will eventually realize they both know Supergirl’s true identity. Everything that makes Superman challenging to adapt to the screen applies to Supergirl as well (crappy villains, too powerful, the whole “they can’t tell Clark Kent is Superman just because he wears glasses” thing), and the Supergirl pilot mostly sidesteps all of that. It will have to be dealt with eventually, but at least the visual effects look okay.
Ultimately, I’m still torn over Supergirl, but to re-use something I argued over the summer…
I am reminded of a moment at The Flash‘s panel appearance at Paleyfest LA a couple of months ago. When they reached the section of the evening where they take questions from the audience, a little boy, probably no more than 8-years-old, stepped to the mic and opened with “My name is Barry Allen.” Admirably undeterred by the instantaneous applause greeting his declaration, he continued to recite The Flash‘s opening monolog word for word. Grant Gustin, joined on stage by the show’s entire cast as well as producers, seemed especially delighted. The little kid ended his triumphant moment by assuring Grant he’d always be his Flash (a knock on the upcoming movie starring Ezra Miller). It was a heartwarming moment and far from the only time little kids made their presence felt at the appearance. The possibility of Supergirl making it to Paleyfest LA next year where a little girl might step to the mic to declare “My name is Kara Zor-El” as her love letter to the show and Melissa Benoist is not something I would want to take away from anyone.
It’s the superhero show I’ll love to watch with my 3-year-old niece, but I don’t anticipate engaging with it the way I did with The Flash last year.