DC Comics' Powerless - Unaired Pilot

[Techwright]

I never saw the NBC one-season show.  This quirky comedy got me wonder how such a concept could be incorporated into the game.

 

From the video's description:

The original "Powerless" pilot was shown and acclaimed at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con and later discarded by NBC, that changed the whole series plot for the other 12 episodes of the first (and only) season. The show was originally created by Ben Queen, that quit the job after creative conflicts with NBC.

 

"Powerless" is the first sitcom set in the DC Comics universe. Vanessa Hudgens stars as Emily Locke, who works at an insurance company who specialize in superhero-related claims. When her kindly boss is killed in – you guessed it – a superhero battle, Emily is none to happy to meet his replacement, Del Heller (Alan Tudyk). Coldhearted and exploitive, every move Del makes infuriates Emily, who begins to push back hard.

 

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Never seen it before, instantly loving/loathing Alan Tudyk in full smarm mode.

 

Not sure how many stories you could go with around cape insurance, as it's not a profession fondly looked on Stateside. (Kind of SuperHMOs, I suppose).

They changed this to be Wayne Security, which specialises in creating self-defence devices for hapless citizens. Much better ACME gag potential and doesn't instantly make you hate the cast. Plus it's already in-world, and provides for a neat bait-and-switch with Alan's character being a different Wayne.

 

If you can stand having your ad blocker turned off, there's a lot more episodes on DailyMotion...
(https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7yiwnh?retry if the frame doesn't load)

 

 

And having looked on Wikipedia, the series did have some really nice ideas.

Spoiler

When Lois Lane dies, the cast assume that since Superman will reverse time to get her back, nothing they do in the meantime will have any consequences...

...or does it?

However, the series got in trouble with ratings and was pulled after nine episodes, and had variable script quality.

 

BTW... one of the many Marvel projects was supposed to be a Damage Control series, and I could see that being a lot of fun with a similar cast.

(Think the world's most dangerous garbage trucking job combined with Warehouse 13 style investigations when stuff goes missing).

Edited September 6 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[TheOtherTed]

My grammar sense is tingling.  In addition, I was "meh" when I first heard about the show, and I'm even more "meh" now.  I'll likely watch an episode or three out of curiosity.

[Techwright]

42 minutes ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Never seen it before, instantly loving/loathing Alan Tudyk in full smarm mode.

 

Not sure how many stories you could go with around cape insurance, as it's not a profession fondly looked on Stateside. (Kind of SuperHMOs, I suppose).

 

I find it interesting to see Tudyk in such an unrepentantly evil mode. 

 

As to the insurance biz, and Tudyk's character, I got a powerful vibe as a real-life event over at the Mouse House a few days back sounded a lot like what happened to poor Joe in the script.  (Disney backed down when public pressure hit a boiling point. I'm just pointing out the similarity.  Let us not get into the politics of it.)

 

As to our game,  let me just clarify by saying I wasn't necessarily looking to install an insurance company in the game so much as I was wondering if we could somehow incorporate the non-powered experience into the game at some points.  We have, for example, an Atlas Park mission where we take over a reporter and guide her to a meeting with a member of the Skulls.  That mission, despite the dialog has absolutely no threat, but I'm wondering if we might have the occasional mission where we have to take control of a citizen and guide them to safety with the building collapsing around them.  That sort of thing.

[Hedgefund]

I've seen all the episodes, including the pilot referred to in the OP.  That one I saw about a week ago.  I'm not going to go on record saying this series was "good" but there were one or two episodes that made me laugh, the one that comes to mind is when she dated one of the Riddler's henchmen.  I also remember thinking it was on an upward trend by the time it was cancelled, but not so much I was going to go letter writing.

[TheOtherTed]

4 hours ago, Techwright said:

I'm wondering if we might have the occasional mission where we have to take control of a citizen and guide them to safety with the building collapsing around them.  That sort of thing.

As I read this, I had a flashback to both "The Tick" live action series (with maybe a touch of "The Boys") - specifically about needing a license to practice super-heroing and having to answer to some oversight agency.  I guess we all have that already (as do super villains, because even Lex Lurhor washes his hands in the lavatory), but it might be fun to take the whole "life of a normie" idea in random directions.

[Luminara]

4 hours ago, Techwright said:

I'm wondering if we might have the occasional mission where we have to take control of a citizen and guide them to safety with the building collapsing around them.

 

I'll be outside, setting up the explosives to guarantee the NPC ain't makin' it out in one piece.  Anything that restricts me to 14.92 mph deserves to die.

[TTRPGWhiz]

Some of the concepts they play with are pretty great; there’s a Superman-related conspiracy that’s particularly fun.