Amph The Umbrella Academy (Netflix)

The Umbrella Academy is an American web television series developed by Steve Blackman for Netflix. It is an adaptation of the comic book series of the same name, created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, and published by Dark Horse Comics. The plot revolves around a dysfunctional family of superheroes who reunite to solve the mystery of their father's death, the threat of the apocalypse, and more. The series is produced by Borderline Entertainment, Dark Horse Entertainment and Universal Cable Productions.


Five episodes in and I am really loving it. Quirky, but in a good way and not your usual super hero show. It’s much more about the dysfunctional family.

 

I was just watching this for one of the actors in it that I'm a big fan of and was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed the characters, the tone and whole feel of it, and it pulled off some genuinely heart-wrenching storylines. A pleasant surprise and immediately a favourite Netflix show.

 

Which actor, @Joystick Chevron

 

Ellen Page.

 

Nice. I also like Cameron Britton after his excellent performance as Edmund Kemper in Mindhunter. Although bar the voice, you’d barely know it was the same actor.

 

I still need to check out Mindhunter, good to hear he does a great job in that. He was definitely one of the highlights for me in this show, I found myself laughing every time he and his partner showed up.

 

I'm two episodes in. They've changed a fair bit from the comic, but that's to be expected as Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba really went to town on creating a world that would be very expensive to film, but perfectly viable for an artist to draw.

Anyway, quite enjoying it so far, it's making me want to dig out my two volumes of UA.

 

Just finished it, and it is so, so good.

@Darth Punk as the lube merchant once told you, this is right up your alley.

 

I love the comics to bits, and I was wondering whether the series would be any good. I'll give it a try.

 

Diggy, thank you for not calling the thread "Some Pretentious Quote: the Umbrella Academy on Netflix".

 

is Robert Sheehan as good in this as he was in Misfits? that show got really bad really quickly as soon as he left.

 

Binge-watched it over the three day weekend. X-Men meet Terry Gilliam. We've seen so many of these elements before, but hardly ever amalgamated so expertly.

The plot and character twists are a bit predictable, except for the ending, which is sublime and genuinely surprised me. It's charming and immersive throughout and deserves a second season.

 

Spoiler

so what's the deal? Why does the Commission have to keep meddling with the timeline to get the results they want? Shouldn't one intervention be enough, or more traditionally in time travel stories: no intervention.

Theory one: time is on an infinite loop. The Commission has decided on a template for history that it likes, and so has to make periodic adjustments at each new cycle to prevent natural drift.

Theory two: there are infinite parallel universes, and the Commission is intervening in all of them to make them conform to some master timeline it likes.

Theory three: the timeline is naturally self-correcting, spontaneous alterations occur, but the commission is fighting this process to engineer its own preferred timeline.

Theory four: there is another entity/organization actively trying to counter the changes made by the Commission. Effectively there's a war between time traveler interventionist groups.

Feel free to mix and match

 

Theory 4 is Travellers.

I think it's something like 3. Kind of.

Spoiler

I don't see why one intervention should be all that's needed. That would be a really exact science. They need swathes of people to work out the corrections required, I assume, and then the details move onto someone like Five. It could be that they come up with something like JFK must die on this date at this place, but the repercussions are not fully known until the deed us done. So not so much time self correcting (I doubt time gives a crap), but the butterfly effect.

 

I been on the fence with this one since I don't have a ton of time right now (won't really to this summer) but it seems like it's worth watching so I think I am going to flip it on tonight and give it a whirl.

 

i was hooked on this right up until

Spoiler

that big character development episode ended and they time travel erased an entire hour of good, quality storytelling in favor of having them all run around and make bad decisions for five more episodes for no reason at all.

nothing makes me lose interest quicker than pulling some tropey bull**** to invalidate the emotions you just forced me to feel. it's lazy nonsense.

 

Spoiler

Why does the timeline need intervention like that? What you say makes some sense. Possibly at some point some early Commisionesque intervention completely altered the timeline and they've been trying to fix it ever since, with as you say each new intervention causing more problems from unforseen rippling effects. It's a cute premise. But also the Commission clearly isn't benign, as assassination or preventing someone from assassination is their only tool, and they're trying to kill anyone who would successfully kill Hitler. The showrunners likely have no idea either, says my Game of Thrones-Induced Cynicism, but still it's a lot of fun.

Lola Rennt is an entire movie that requires exactly that multiple times. It can be a narrative strength! Tell the same story a slightly different way multiple times. It's also a metaphor for the show itself.

 

Spoiler

All to be revealed, I think. I have no idea if they have a clue where they're going. But then I don't know if this has all been resolved in the comics, or if it's even sticking to the comics. What I know I certainly want more of, is their adventures when they were kids.

 

I agree, the flashbacks are a great strength of the show, though the technique seems to be increasingly widespread in the genre. What show doesn't take that approach? Nothing wrong with it. Nonlinear storytelling works like a charm if done well. And almost everything about this show is done very well.

In any case I'm glad Netflix has an answer to the looming end of its Marvel relationship, and really the only parts of that I liked were the first seasons of Jessica Jones and Daredevil. Everything else Marvel on Netflix can kiss my ass.

 

I'm just past episode 6. It's interesting, and there are bits I really like, but aside from Number 5 the characters are... not the same. Mainly they've toned down their super-powers, making them a lot less powerful, and so a lot less accomplished. Klaus barely seems to have any powers bar seeing the dead in the TV series

(at least so far) and is a total mess, ​

where as he's way more stable and regularly levitates and uses telekinesis in the comic, Diego is almost a joke in the TV show, instead of being the brooding Batman-like crimefighter "The Kraken", and Luther is really kind of wimpy TV-wise compared to his comic-book counterpart. And that really affects Vanya's situation because she really doesn't seem that different when Klaus and Diego barely have powers and seem like failures.

Also the show humanises Hazel and Cha-Cha, which makes them... not the same.

Still fun, but really a different beast to the comic.