The big secret about 'Smallville'

[wyldwolf]

Not many people know that Tim McCanlies created the television series "Smallville" for The WB. That's fine with him. Mention the Wednesday night teen-angst drama, and he shakes his head and all but groans.

Here's why.

A few years ago, McCanlies met with the people at Tollin-Robbins/Warner Bros. about an idea for a new series. He told them, "I have the perfect thing for you to do at The WB, but nobody has the guts to do it," he recalled over a turkey sandwich in Austin last week.

The idea was "Bruce Wayne," which would dramatize what happened between the murder of Wayne's parents and the moment he assumed the superheroic alter-ego Batman, an area the DC comic never explored. It would also furnish back stories for characters such as Alfred and Harvey Dent.

The pitch: "Bruce Wayne turns 18, has a chip on his shoulder, comes back to Gotham City for the first time since the death of his parents and tries to figure out what to do with the rest of his life."

The producers bit.

"Boom — within two weeks I'm writing a pilot for 'Bruce Wayne,' " McCanlies says. "It met universal acclaim. Everyone loved it. DC said it was the best adaptation of any of their characters in any film or television medium ever."

McCanlies wrote a "bible" for a 22-episode season of "Bruce Wayne," including a two-parter titled "Smallville."

In that episode, "There's a newspaper editors convention in Gotham City," he explains, "and this kid Clark Kent shows up. Bruce wants nothing to do with him, but for some reason they're thrown together. He keeps trying to lose this kid but he can't. You have to know who Clark Kent is to get the joke. I never reveal who this guy is. He's just this very surprising 16-year-old from Smallville, Kan."

But then Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Warner Bros. head of production, raised objections to the show, averring it stomps on his lucrative Batman franchise. McCanlies pleaded with him for six months to let the show go on. "I told him I'm never going to put him in a costume. The word Batman will never be uttered. It became this big turf war. Suddenly (di Bonaventura) was putting a new 'Batman' movie in development."

more...

http://www.austin360.com/hp/content/movies/aasstories/september_2003/xlcover_11mccanlies_02.html?urac=n&urvf=10633436747910.698819250851027

[Enraged_Ape]

1. Sounds a lot like "Batman: Year One" to me...

the Frank Miller / Dave Mazzuchelli series DC did in 1987. I don't think the idea is quite as original as McCanlies thinks.

But then, like Ecclesiastes tells us, "there is nothing new under the sun".

ON EDIT: Forgot that Frank Miller actually wrote this. Mazzuchelli drew it.

[wyldwolf]

2. Wasn't "Batman: Year One" about Batman?

I believe this series would have never mentioned the name "Batman."

Sort of a prequel to "Year One" is what I gathered.

[Enraged_Ape]

3. It dealt heavily with Bruce Wayne's...

training and lead-up to donning the cape and cowl, when he realizes that he has to distinguish himself in some way, and being an ordinary vigilante isn't going to cut it.

This guy reminds me of the people who pepper George Lucas with script and story ideas in the Star Wars universe and then try to sue him when a robot with six arms (similar to one of these outraged geniuses eight-armed robot) shows up in a film.

Does plagiarism happen in Hollywood? No question. But believe me, wyldwolf, the "young Batman" thing is not an original idea.

[wyldwolf]

4. I agree it isn't an original idea...

...and I haven't bought comics on a regular basis since '86 or so - so I'm a bit behind on DC continuity.

Thanks for the info!