Anyone seen the JLA Live Action TV Pilot?

[phreakyacid]

I finally got a copy of the pilot CBS made for the live action JLA show... And wow how awful that piece of crap is. It's hilarious, and it's not supposed to be. They even randomly added new characters to it. The special effects even suck for '97... Seriously, it made Lois and Clark's special effects look like War of the Worlds.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I actually thought it had potential in places, despite how awful parts of it were.

[Josh]

What new characters were randomly added?

I watched about a third of this pilot before I decided that it sucked SO bad that I had to shut it off. For years, I had heard of how bad it was and I kept telling myself that it could not possibly be half as awful as people were saying.

But it was everything they'd said and more. I can only imagine the sheer awfulness of sitting through the entire thing.

[sehthan]

I know a guy who was an extra in it, and he lent me his bootleg. On the scale of awful, it sits somewhere between the Roger Corman FF movie and the Star Wars Christmas Special. I mean, this is a production that apparently thought "test pilot*" and "forensic scientist" weren't exciting enough careers, so they changed them to "computer salesman" and "unemployed."

*And yes, I realize they were calling their GL Guy Gardner, but c'mon, it was clearly Hal. At least, it was more Hal than Guy...

[Joker2503]

I've been trying to trackdown a copy for a few months now. I really want to see this jsut to see how awful it really is.

[Reggie Swats]

If it had a cheesy low rent shakesperian actor playing a live-action Ollie Queen I probably would have loved it because that has always been a dream of mine to see. All together, it's pretty terrible, despite the enormous potential a show like this has just from the subject matter. No explanation for how unlikeable they make everyone. Or why they thought giant foam-rubber muscles would work at all on cheap TV quality video. Or why Ice is the main character. No explanation at all for why this league exists, actually. I bought a copy for $15 at Megacon in Orlando last year, along with the FF Movie and Jack Black's never-aired Ben Stiller-produced TV Action-adventure spoof "Heat Vision and Jack." The Heat Vision pilot was brilliant, and well worth it. I kind of want my money back for the other two, though they are a good conversation starter.

[Phoney Bone]

Rotund David Ogder-Stiers (as Martian Manhunter) with green Abs-O-Steel and make-up that doesn't cover his white, shiny neck is just too hilarious!

Poor Major Winchester. :(

[Paradox]

I have a copy. It's bad. Exquisitely bad. :evilsmile

As to the "random characters"...maybe the original poster isn't familiar with Fire and Ice...

[BoosterBronze]

Dude, the best part of it is Weatherman's super power... he appears as Miguel Ferrer, except his meta-human ability to be in costume when his image is videotaped and broadcast. It might have been a continuity error, but I prefer to think of it as the worlds worst superpower.

It was pretty lame. Not the actors or the productions fault (though the values were damn low) but from the concept of "funny friends" as the JLA. And those Real World style testimonials. Eww.

And not to forget the 18 year old kid trying to get with Fire and not recognizing her because fire has FACE PAINT. Not a mask, but FACE PAINT.

[MacQuarrie]

I know a guy who was an extra in it, and he lent me his bootleg. On the scale of awful, it sits somewhere between the Roger Corman FF movie and the Star Wars Christmas Special. I mean, this is a production that apparently thought "test pilot*" and "forensic scientist" weren't exciting enough careers, so they changed them to "computer salesman" and "unemployed."

*And yes, I realize they were calling their GL Guy Gardner, but c'mon, it was clearly Hal. At least, it was more Hal than Guy...
No, they probably weren't.

The show was based mostly on the Giffen-DeMatteis run of JLA, which included Guy. I'd be genuinely surprised if anyone involved in the writing had ever heard of Hal other than from his appearances in the 1960s TV cartoons. Most likely none of the writers knew that "test pilot" and "forensic scinetist" were occupations associated with any of the characters.

[Dan Cassidy]

Oh, man it was sooo bad. I can't believe the creators actually thought well enough of it to even finish production.

[sehthan]

No, they probably weren't.

The show was based mostly on the Giffen-DeMatteis run of JLA, which included Guy. I'd be genuinely surprised if anyone involved in the writing had ever heard of Hal other than from his appearances in the 1960s TV cartoons. Most likely none of the writers knew that "test pilot" and "forensic scinetist" were occupations associated with any of the characters.


Other than the inclusion of Fire and Ice, it bore no more similarity to the Giffen/Dematteis-era League than it did to any other era of the League. The Atom wasn't a fixture of the Giffen/Dematteis League, but was included here. And unless I recall incorrectly (which is entirely possible) they called their Flash Barry Allen. And their "Guy Gardner" looked like Hal and acted more like Hal than he did Guy. Someone on the show clearly had at least a passing familiarity with other eras/members of the League and was blending some elements, and changing others.

[dazzler_slave]

It is so bad! But I would have watched that sucker religiously if it had ever been greenlit for a series cuz I am a comics whore. And despite it's quality, it still has a place of honor on my DVD shelf in my comic book movies/TV shows section.

[titanfan]

I loved it! It was one of those "so bad, it's good" sort of things. I like the concept--a campy superhero team--but the production values and script were waaaaay bad. Several of the actors have moved on to successful projects so you can't really slam the acting work too much. (Just the lines they were forced to say)

[bjtrdff]

Has anyone ripped this for people like me to download?

[ScottDMSimmons]

Here's a link to a webpage with some very nice screen captures (but the text is in French): http://www.france-comics.com/article.php3?id_article=246

--Scott

[chrisew]

Has anyone ripped this for people like me to download?

It's commonly on file sharing servers. I'm currently downloading it from eDonkey, but haven't got the entire file yet. Just do a search with the words Justice, League and Pilot and it should come up. I personally can't wait to see Martin Manhunter packing a massive middle-aged gut.

While you're at it, check out the Legends Of The Superheroes specials as well. I can't imagine the JLA Pilot even coming close to how bad those are. And those were actually aired.