In honor of what promises to be the most entertaining—or at least cringe-inducing—Vice Presidential debate in recent memory, please allow me to present a meditation on The Sidekick The Second Banana The Toady. I’m thinking specifically of the greatest Number Two of them all: Dick Grayson, orphaned ward of billionaire Bruce Wayne. Throw in a pair of tights and a domino mask and we’re talking about Robin, the Boy Wonder—the Scrappy Doo of crimefighting. The CW announced yesterday that they would be following up the success of Smallville with a new show focusing on Dick’s early years—in which “Dick” will henceforth be known as “DJ,” apparently. I suppose the initials sound edgier, but for some reason it makes me think of D.J. Tanner from Full House with a twist of BJ and the Bear, so if that’s what you were shooting for, nice job, CW.
In all fairness, the show might end up being decent, and possibly even good. The backstory established in the comics has it all: circus performer parents murdered by an evil mafia boss, then later a hot alien love interest, the switch over to Nightwing—all kinds of crazy stuff, not to mention the massive truckload of daddy issues burning like a red hot tire-fire at the heart of the Batman/Robin relationship. However, the character’s history in live action vehicles thus far is, well, dubious at best. He has been absent from Christopher Nolan’s Batman films, with Nolan stating that as long as he is directing the franchise, Robin will not make an appearance. Nolan has chosen instead to focus on Bruce Wayne’s childhood sweetheart, the nagging and perpetually sour-faced Rachel Dawes. Not necessarily a more entertaining choice, but one which serves to remind us how uber-butch Nolan’s Batman is, in keeping with his rippling physique and absurdly gravelly, “Step-into-a-Slim-Jim” patented BatGrowl.
The last time Robin graced the franchise on the big screen was in 1997’s Batman and Robin, the sequel to director Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever. In both films, Robin is played as a petulant man-boy by Chris O’Donnell, best known for surviving the vicious onslaught of “Hoo-Ahs!” necessary for Al Pacino to batter the Academy into Oscar-surrendering submission in the nightmarish Scent of a Woman. Tim Burton, who might have actually done something interesting with the character, also gave him a pass when he revived the franchise, reportedly cutting the Boy Wonder out of an early draft of Batman Returns. Which brings us to the best-known incarnation of Robin/Dick/DJ/whatever: the one, the only, Mister Burt Ward, who camped it up beside Adam West in the much-beloved 1960s Batman television series and movie. Since 1966, it has been almost impossible to utilize any phrase beginning with “Holy ” without channeling the spirit of West’s preternaturally spunky, dimunitive cohort thanks to Ward, who is also known for recording a few tracks with Frank Zappa during the height of Batman-mania, losing the lead role in The Graduate to Dustin Hoffman, and publishing a seriously sleazy tell-all memoir, Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights in 1995.
All in all, not the most impressive pedigree for the Caped Crusader’s little buddy, but maybe the CW will be able to revamp, reconfigure, and redeem Robin (“DJ”?) for a new generation. He is, after all, pop culture’s Patron Saint of Sidekicks, pulling on those ridiculous tights and busting out those terrible one-liners on behalf of all the underappreciated and misunderstood Sancho Panzas, the Doctor Watsons, the Ed McMahons of this world. And on that note, enjoy the debate later I can’t promise Batman-style fight graphics, but if there were any justice in this world, CNN would break out some “Bam!” “Bonk!” and “Kapow!” just for tonight.
First Pablo, now Bridget. One by one, they all turn their backs on me.
S’ok…I don’t know this “oh donell” you speak of, but Alfred and I remain true to the only boy man enough to wear green and red felt.
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I don’t have anything to add to this except to say that I really like the way it’s written. Thanks.
I might feel better about the prospect if Birds of Prey hadn’t left such a bad impression on me. Even Smallville has often been craptastic.
Have you seen this fake trailer for a movie about Robin, called Grayson?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiZuvJ48MZ0
I like that it borrows so much from the old TV show.
I saw the Grayson trailer at a Con a few years back and still think it was excellent.
As to the CW series, I think they should call him RJ not DJ since those are the character’s initials: Richard John Grayson.
Otherwise it’s more of the same crap that turned me off the very idea of Smallville. I honestly like superheroes, and these tone down the super ideas just make me cringe.
What would it be like if we’re talking a teenager, in some sort of Witness Protection Program, with a dash of Buffy?
Only, unlike Buffy, he wants to go back to his version of a normal life, not ours.
So it’s all come full circle: Tim (Iron Giant) McCanliss actually made a brilliant pitch to the WB eons ago–when there still was a WB–called “Bruce Wayne.” It was essentially a weekly version of Batman Begins/Year One without a sidetrip to Tibet. They didn’t do that because of concurrent feature development of Batman, but they asked him if he could sketch out the same sort of show for Supes, which he did after a fashion and then passed off to Shanghai Noon Gough & Millar. (And yes the show has been consistently craptastic–I believe their Justice League outfits have permanently scarred my corneas). Now since the BB action is essentially covered on the big screen, we’re back here.
If these are RJ’s pre-sidekick days, though, doesn’t that make him a parakick?
Personally, I want to see the Speedy/Kid Flash teamup series–what with the drug addiction and mentor dying to save the multiverse arcs, I can easily see material for at least three seasons.
And oh yes I absolutely agree about the writing. One of my favorite sites just got even better.
Except the whole concept for the show, at least as far as I’ve heard, doesn’t make any sense.
If it’s Dick Grayson before his parents died, well, it’s a show about a circus family. With no ties to Batman or superheroics, since Dick didn’t have any tragedy or reason to be thinking anything other than “I want to be a really great trapeze artist when I grow up”. There’s no connection to the Bat-mythos or Robin at all. Unlike Smallville, where Clark at least has powers and the like.
And there’s been no word or indication that it’s Dick after his parents die, since that’d mean you’d have to have a Bruce Wayne/Batman character who’s training him. Unless they’re changing the mythos to have Dick as an orphan who doesn’t encounter Bruce for some number of years after his parents’ death.
But the point is, everything that’s inherently interesting about Dick/Robin have to do with his being, or in training to become, Batman’s sidekick. Since that doesn’t seem to be the direction they’re going in, it really won’t have anything to do with the Dick Grayson character anyone knows or cares about.
@ecmyers #2
That trailer is AWESOME! I love it when people do this kind of thing.
Yep, Eugene–thanks so much for posting the trailer. A bunch of links I’d meant to include sort of got lost in the process of posting, but that trailer is truly excellent…so much so that I wonder if an actual movie could ever live up to its promised Awesome Quotient :) As you pointed out, it really does feel like a capable update of the TV show’s camp vibe, down to the stereotypical Irish Cop Brogue, and of course the fabulous costumes. I particularly enjoy the way Catwoman is characterized entirely by the combination of hot vinyl pants and terrible acting: Lee Merriweather would be proud. And for the record, no matter what Irene says, I love me some TV Batman (even if Burt Ward is, in fact, a tool). Thanks again!
I suspect the “DJ” thing is because they figure calling your main character “Dick” is just asking for the audience to snigger. (Especially if he’s going to have a love interest – and if it’s teen drama, of course he’s going to have a love interest – who will at some point be obliged to exclaim that she loves him.)