Mercy Reef: The Aquaman TV series

The creators of Smallville have another trick up their sleeve.

Mercy Reef is the story of a young Arthur Curry as he seeks to unravel the mystery surrounding the disappearance of his mother and the Bermuda Triangle.

Does that name sound familiar? It should if you're a comic fan. Believe it or not (I certainly couldn't when I first read it) its an Aquaman TV series.

Its shaping up to be one of the new CW network's big shows for Fall 2006. There is a fair bit of buzz on it already and you can expect to get your first look with a trailer attached to Superman Returns. AquamanTV.com (a fan site by those responsible for Smallville's KryptonSite.com) is already full of news for the show as well as some spoilers for the upcoming pilot. Like I said when I first heard about it I found the whole thing laughable but after looking around there its certainly piqued my interest and I'm looking forward to getting a look during Superman Returns.

The real question now is what is the fledgling CW going to have on its hands? Another Smallville or another Birds of Prey?

Just updating to the correct show title.

 

This show is going to suck so much as to redefine the term. The special effects will be for ****, the storylines will be heavily slanted towards enviromental disasters, to the point where young Arthur will eventually be cleaning up the Exxon Valdez every other week, and Ving Rames as a lighthouse keeper? Who in the **** came up with that brilliant idea?

 

There is sure to be a heavy environmental slant but I think like Smallville's "meteor freak of the week" there is going to be a lot of emphasis on people returning from the Bermuda Triangle but coming back evil.

 

What I want to know is how they're going to pull of Lou Diamond Phillips as his father! Could they possibly have cast anyone more different looking that the actor?

I'll watch it to see what they'll do, of course. Hopefully it will be Smallville quality.

 

Didn't Lou Diamond Phillips also play the father of the kids in the short lived Jack and Bobby? Looks like he's being typecast as the no resemblence dad.

Anyways, I don't have much hope for this series. I enjoyed the Aquaman episode of Smallville, but I just don't think the character is interesting enough for an entire series. Unless they bring in Black Manta as a recurring villain, I think this will end up like Birds of Prey.

 

i liked the Aquaman episode of Smallville this season but I honestly can't think of the character having a successful spin-off TV show. i wouldn't mind seeing the character coming back for some episodes of Smallville. but i'll probably give the show a chance and watch the pilot

 

Aquaman is by far the least popular, and probably most hated of the DC heroes; why they are doing this is uncomprehensible.

 

That was kind of my thought as well. Why not Batman (actually I know why not Batman so leave that as rhetorical), why not Flash, why not GL, etc., etc.

At the same time though its definitely more of a challenge, can they take what is largely seen as as B-list character and make a hit show out of it. Aquaman is very much a core character of the DCU and quite well loved by many (definitely not "by far the least popular, and probably most hated of the DC heroes"). Depending on how the show is received (which I think will be quite well) it could be a definite bump for what is one of the most underrated characters of the DCU.

 

By the way...the title of the show is Mercy Reef...not Mercury Reef. Hopefully Aquaman won't die of Mercury poisoning.

I'll edit the title if that's okay.

 

Yes, please do. While you are at it edit every post while I said Mercury including deleating this one where I admit my mistake

How did I get Mercury

 

It was 12:30am?

I'll edit the first post then...but I'm not deleting the one where I taunt you for making a mistake.

The funny thing is...no one caught it until now! I was looking something up at another site and it just hit me that you'd put "Mercury". Heh. I love that we all just didn't put together the title of the thread with the title in the link.

 

I'd been reading it for days before I posted it, and I kept reading mecury.

Thanks for the edit in the first post. I was joking about it anyways but I'll gladly take it.

 

I don't understand why they can't just call it Aquaman. It's one thing with Smallville, where most people familiar with the Superman mythos knew about that name. Same with Enterprise. But Mercy Reef... I had never seen that name before until I read it in an Amphitheater thread. I don't know how they're going to promote this show with that name.

 

I think Aquaman is just a bit too generic.

I dare say that Mercy Reef is no more cryptic to your average TV viewer then Smallville was. So I imagine they'll promote it the same way. Show him doing some "Aquaman-y" things here and there in the teasers while beating in the point that its from the people that brought you Smallville.

 

I never really cared for Aquaman but if it's something besides another legal drama show I'll give it a chance. Hopefully it won't be inaccessible to newcomers. Do we have any idea as to about when this will premiere?

 

Nope. I'm sure we'll know once it gets closer to the Fall.

Actually I wouldn't be surprised if they give a firm date in the SR trailer.

 

They're probably betting that with a title like 'Mercy Reef' they'll trick non-comic fans into watching and liking it.

I think it's a great title. And at least this won't be the 'magic water hand' Aquaman.

 

Or hook hand or blue suit or long hair. The list goes on like that

I'm sure that does have some to do with it. Aquaman would make it seem like its more Lois and Clark, less Smallville.

 

Hey, I actually liked the Justice League version of Aquaman. It's the only attempt to make the character semi-interesting... IMO.

 

i've never really known much about the character until he appeared in that episode of smallville

 

He actually did have the magic water hand in that episode of Smallville. I'd much prefer the permanently ticked off, long haired, bearded and hooked hand version from Justice League. He made Batman seem like a former member of "Up with People."

 

The Aquaman I'm looking forward to is the fictional James Cameron film that'll be premiering in the upcoming season of HBO's Entourage, on June 11. And I can't help but think that Aquaman's use in Entourage last season had something to do with this show getting off the ground.

 

I've read that it was a mix of the on-going Entourage joke along with the high ratings success of the Smallville episode that greenlighted this project.

 

I wouldn't doubt it. The Aquaman thing in Entourage has gotten some positive reaction from comic creators in how they handle it.

I don't remember Aquaman in Smallville having a water hand He had both of them from what I remember.

 

i thought it was the Smallville episode that got the idea jumpstarted. what's this thing with Entourage i'm hearing about ?