Inhumans ABC's The Inhumans - General Discussion (news, updates, speculation...) - Part 1

[Mike Murdock]

So looks like IMAX is pulling this back from a 2-week run to 1-week run so they can show IT instead. There's a vote of confidence right there.

IT looks like it's going to do quite well, so that makes sense.

 

[Darkraid]

Wow Trition is legit crap.

Looks like Hulk's vomit.

 

[Dasher10]

What's astounding is that there are numerous TV shows that have managed to have better production values on a TV budget.

Off the top of my head, here are TV shows that don't look as cheap as Inhumans.

Game of Thrones
Battlestar Galactica (2004)
Star Trek starting with Deep Space 9
Into the Badlands
Outlander
Legion
Once Upon A Time
Firefly
Strike Back
Spartacus
Sons of Anarchy
Stranger Things
Vikings
Black Sails
24
The Walking Dead
Sense8
The Wire
The Last Ship
Taboo
Marco Polo
Deadwood
Quantico
Da Vinci's Demons

And the trailer for Knightfall also looks pretty good for a TV show.

Yes, Starz, HBO, AMC, Netflix and FX usually have the best production values for series on their channels but that's not an excuse. The fact that Syfy and CW tend to have the cheapest-looking shows isn't an excuse to lower the bar either.

The fact is, it's hard to know what I'm looking at with Inhumans. The set design is awful enough to the point where it looks like unpainted sets, not a finished TV show. The show takes place on the Moon. Nothing about Inhumans screams, "lunar colony" to me. It doesn't look like a sci-fi series. It looks like it could be set in a laboratory on Earth. There is literally no sense of place. The CGI is being fixed but that's shown for all of a few episodes. The environments look terrible. That isn't helped by the lack of powers for the other Inhumans. Apparently they use guns. They're supposed to have incredible abilities, so why are they using guns?

The costuming doesn't look particularly good and Black Bolt lacks his cape and Marvel also cheaped out on Crystal's sleeves. Medusa's fabric also looks cheap and the shoulderpads are way too 90s back when everybody was ripping off Dragonball Z. Maximus should be wearing a Silver or Grey costume, not black. Triton lacks a rebreather when he's on land which is yet another knock on him. And Gorgon's costume also looks too modern. These characters don't resemble the Inhumans. They look mundane. Karnak is an exception.

Even Star Trek: The Next Generation gave Worf's makeup more texture than Triton in Inhumans. No excuses for shows made today since that show was made in the 80s.

 

[Dasher10]

And yes, Marvel have managed to go cheap before. Look at Captain America's costume in the first Avengers movie, Deathlok's costume in the first season of Agents of Shield, Shocker's costume in Spider-Man: Homecoming, the Alpha Primitives in Agents of Shield Season 3 or virtually everything related to Iron Fist.

Somehow, Inhumans looks worse than all of those. Even Iron Fist since that show still had some decent CGI effects despite the poor acting by everyone not named Jessica Henwick or Lewis Tan and zero costumes. And reviewers who saw the first episode savaged it at a panel.

After what he did with Iron Fist, why did Marvel hire Scott Buck to handle another property? Doesn't Jeph Loeb understand that this guy ruins everything he touches?

 

[2kt09]

Off the top of my head, here are TV shows that don't look as cheap as Inhumans.

Game of Thrones
Battlestar Galactica (2004)
Star Trek starting with Deep Space 9
Into the Badlands
Outlander
Legion
Once Upon A Time
Firefly
Strike Back
Spartacus
Sons of Anarchy
Stranger Things
Vikings
Black Sails
24
The Walking Dead
Sense8
The Wire
The Last Ship
Taboo
Marco Polo
Deadwood
Quantico
Da Vinci's Demons

Incorporated
The Expanse
Defiance
Emerald City
The Shannara Chronicles
The 100
Gotham
The Exorcist
Almost Human
American Gods
Preacher
Colony
Falling Skies

would be here all day if we listed the period dramas or alt-history dramas

Inhumans currently looks on par with the Marvel TV on ABC, which is to be expected

 

[Dasher10]

Incorporated
The Expanse
Defiance
Emerald City
The Shannara Chronicles
The 100
Gotham
The Exorcist
Almost Human
American Gods
Preacher
Colony
Falling Skies

would be here all day if we listed the period dramas or alt-history dramas

Inhumans currently looks on par with the Marvel TV on ABC, which is to be expected

Except AOS still did a great job with Lash, Ghost Rider and Quake and Mockingbird's costumes.

 

[2kt09]

Except AOS still did a great job with Lash, Ghost Rider and Quake and Mockingbird's costumes.

I was referring to overall production. These exact Inhumans could show up on AoS and I wouldn't bat an eye, even with AoS having a select few better looking characters.

 

[Dasher10]

I was referring to overall production. These exact Inhumans could show up on AoS and I wouldn't bat an eye, even with AoS having a select few better looking characters.

Doesn't change the sets being ugly/bland. I can take a show that CGIs backgrounds extensively like Spartacus or Taboo. The issue here is that Marvel went for building sets and clearly didn't finish them to the point where the show doesn't resemble the source material because it looks bland. Again, if I were told that those trailer shots were of a laboratory on Earth, I'd believe it. If somebody told me that those trailer shots were of a mansion or museum, I'd also believe it. The sets aren't even painted.

Consider this. Agents of SHIELD built sets for SHIELD's HQ and The Bus. Daredevil built sets for Matt's apartment and his law office. Jessica Jones rented an apartment for Jessica's home/office. Luke Cage rented a storefront in Harlem to serve as Pop's barber shop. Iron Fist may have had a warehouse doubling as a warehouse (and somehow still looking cheap) but Iron Fist still retrofitted an actual office building to have RAND logos plastered everywhere on the first floor and an upper floor and built a set for Harold's penthouse.

By Marvel TV's own standards, Inhumans looks cheaper. Imagine if Daredevil's apartment had unpainted plaster walls without bricks? That would have been inexcusable. Why does Inhumans get a pass for doing something wrong that the other Marvel series did right in terms of set design?

 

[Darkraid]

And yes, Marvel have managed to go cheap before. Look at Captain America's costume in the first Avengers movie, Deathlok's costume in the first season of Agents of Shield, Shocker's costume in Spider-Man: Homecoming, the Alpha Primitives in Agents of Shield Season 3 or virtually everything related to Iron Fist.

Somehow, Inhumans looks worse than all of those. Even Iron Fist since that show still had some decent CGI effects despite the poor acting by everyone not named Jessica Henwick or Lewis Tan and zero costumes. And reviewers who saw the first episode savaged it at a panel.

After what he did with Iron Fist, why did Marvel hire Scott Buck to handle another property? Doesn't Jeph Loeb understand that this guy ruins everything he touches?

Was there anything CGI in Iron Fist? Don't recall any. Unless u count the glowing fist.

 

[Dark Raven]

Wow Trition is legit crap.

Looks like Ang Lee Hulk's vomit.

Fixed.

 

[Mike Murdock]

Was there anything CGI in Iron Fist? Don't recall any. Unless u count the glowing fist.

The glowing fist and the red eyes representing the dragon almost certainly were images created digitally in a computer. That being said, I don't think any of the Netflix shows have computer created 3D creations. This debate comes up every time someone points out Avengers Tower isn't in the skyline.

 

[Mysteryman]

What's astounding is that there are numerous TV shows that have managed to have better production values on a TV budget.

Off the top of my head, here are TV shows that don't look as cheap as Inhumans.

Game of Thrones
Battlestar Galactica (2004)
Star Trek starting with Deep Space 9
Into the Badlands
Outlander
Legion
Once Upon A Time
Firefly
Strike Back
Spartacus
Sons of Anarchy
Stranger Things
Vikings
Black Sails
24
The Walking Dead
Sense8
The Wire
The Last Ship
Taboo
Marco Polo
Deadwood
Quantico
Da Vinci's Demons

And the trailer for Knightfall also looks pretty good for a TV show.

Yes, Starz, HBO, AMC, Netflix and FX usually have the best production values for series on their channels but that's not an excuse. The fact that Syfy and CW tend to have the cheapest-looking shows isn't an excuse to lower the bar either.

The fact is, it's hard to know what I'm looking at with Inhumans. The set design is awful enough to the point where it looks like unpainted sets, not a finished TV show. The show takes place on the Moon. Nothing about Inhumans screams, "lunar colony" to me. It doesn't look like a sci-fi series. It looks like it could be set in a laboratory on Earth. There is literally no sense of place. The CGI is being fixed but that's shown for all of a few episodes. The environments look terrible. That isn't helped by the lack of powers for the other Inhumans. Apparently they use guns. They're supposed to have incredible abilities, so why are they using guns?

The costuming doesn't look particularly good and Black Bolt lacks his cape and Marvel also cheaped out on Crystal's sleeves. Medusa's fabric also looks cheap and the shoulderpads are way too 90s back when everybody was ripping off Dragonball Z. Maximus should be wearing a Silver or Grey costume, not black. Triton lacks a rebreather when he's on land which is yet another knock on him. And Gorgon's costume also looks too modern. These characters don't resemble the Inhumans. They look mundane. Karnak is an exception.

Even Star Trek: The Next Generation gave Worf's makeup more texture than Triton in Inhumans. No excuses for shows made today since that show was made in the 80s.

Most of those shows, especially Game of Thrones, probably have bigger budgets than Inhumans does.

 

[Dasher10]

Most of those shows, especially Game of Thrones, probably have bigger budgets than Inhumans does.

Except Inhumans was confirmed to have a massive production budget.

 

[Mike Murdock]

Actually, it wasn't, although it's possible. It was reported that it would benefit the local economy by 80 million, which was reported as a budget of 80 million. I'm still hoping that it the budget is close to that, but we have no idea the actual number.

 

[Dasher10]

Actually, it wasn't, although it's possible. It was reported that it would benefit the local economy by 80 million, which was reported as a budget of 80 million. I'm still hoping that it the budget is close to that, but we have no idea the actual number.

That's still a speculated $10,000,000 per episode. And somehow with a budget like that, we have the worst-looking TV show from Marvel Studios. The problem is clearly Scott Buck.

 

[Dark Raven]

If Scott Buck had an Avengers-like budget, do people think he'd still turn out his usual crap? I think he probably would.

 

[Mike Murdock]

That's still a speculated $10,000,000 per episode. And somehow with a budget like that, we have the worst-looking TV show from Marvel Studios. The problem is clearly Scott Buck.

Speculated 10 million per episode because they saw 80 million and there are eight episodes. But if 80 million is the boost to the local economy, it's not necessarily the budget. It could be the budget, but it isn't necessarily it.

 

[Dr. Evil]

If Scott Buck had an Avengers-like budget, do people think he'd still turn out his usual crap? I think he probably would.

His versions of GOTG and Avengers would be people cosplaying as the heroes, or wearing various T-Shirts of the heroes.

 

[Dasher10]

Speculated 10 million per episode because they saw 80 million and there are eight episodes. But if 80 million is the boost to the local economy, it's not necessarily the budget. It could be the budget, but it isn't necessarily it.

Even 4-6 million per episode creates an amazing-looking TV series. It's still a huge budget which was blown on creating a cheap-looking series. For how much it cost, Inhumans should look better. Scott Buck wouldn't even give Triton a rebreather or Crystal sleeves.

 

[Mike Murdock]

We don't know how cheap the series is, we know what the trailers look like. I suspect a lot of the budget goes into the CG, which we apparently haven't seen the final product for (although I would hope it's done for the first two episodes by now).

 

[Iceman]

And yes, Marvel have managed to go cheap before. Look at Captain America's costume in the first Avengers movie, Deathlok's costume in the first season of Agents of Shield, Shocker's costume in Spider-Man: Homecoming, the Alpha Primitives in Agents of Shield Season 3 or virtually everything related to Iron Fist.

Somehow, Inhumans looks worse than all of those. Even Iron Fist since that show still had some decent CGI effects despite the poor acting by everyone not named Jessica Henwick or Lewis Tan and zero costumes. And reviewers who saw the first episode savaged it at a panel.

After what he did with Iron Fist, why did Marvel hire Scott Buck to handle another property? Doesn't Jeph Loeb understand that this guy ruins everything he touches?

Hiring Buck for Iron Fist meant there were some braindead Marvel guys involved in the process. Hiring him again means there is internal sabotage at play! The story behind it is probably better than we'll get in Buck's Inhumans.

 

[Zarex]

We don't know how cheap the series is, we know what the trailers look like. I suspect a lot of the budget goes into the CG, which we apparently haven't seen the final product for (although I would hope it's done for the first two episodes by now).

Hopefully the final version is an improvement, but I have to think the talent involved is the major problem. Going from the trailer, The Orville outclasses Inhumans in sets, costuming, make up and CGI. I would assume the budgets are comparable, but FOX and McFarlane brought in Jon frikkin' Favreau to direct the pilot as opposed to a direct to video guy.

 

[KevTravels]

Except Inhumans was confirmed to have a massive production budget.

that's what I thought. that instead of it being released as a film, it'd be done on tv with a momentous budget (by network standards).

So it's really weird that it's looking so cheaply.

Looks like I'll be downloading this instead of seeing on IMAX.

 

[Dasher10]

Hopefully the final version is an improvement, but I have to think the talent involved is the major problem. Going from the trailer, The Orville outclasses Inhumans in sets, costuming, make up and CGI. I would assume the budgets are comparable, but FOX and McFarlane brought in Jon frikkin' Favreau to direct the pilot as opposed to a direct to video guy.

That's because Seth McFarlane is a showrunner who cares and Fox is a network committed to making great TV shows. I'm not a fan of McFarlane at all but Fox do manage to create shows on their networks which have high production values. Fox, FX and FXX shows all look great and Fox regularly attracts top talent and makes risky and original shows like 24 and Legion and cult hits like The Shield, Archer, Dark Angel, Sons of Anarchy, Firefly, Dollhouse and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And a lot of that is because the network believes in their own shows.

Compare that to Marvel Studios and ABC who gave Scott Buck the budget to do something incredible but instead didn't bother to step in when things went wrong and neglected Scott Buck's rather awful work.

 

[metaphysician]

*cough* Honestly, all the Arrowverse shows over on the CW have better looking production values than Inhumans, too. . .