Doom Patrol: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray)

Doom Patrol is what you get if you crank the weirdness of Legends of Tomorrow up about 10 notches, add in a bit of shows like Dark Angel and Supernatural, and add a lot of swearing. The Doom Patrol is basically a collection of tortured losers who have all experienced some kind of tragedy in their lives only to be "saved" by a Professor-X-like patriarchal figure they call Cheif (played by Timothy Dalton). Some of the characters from the group were introduced in live-action on the first season of Titans, which in turn was tangentially brought into the Arrowverse through cameos on Crisis on Infinite Earths. They include Elasti-Girl/Rita Farr (played by April Bowlby) who is an actress from the 1950s who was exposed to something during an on-set accident that causes her to turn into a blob-like creature when she gets too emotional, Crazy Jane (played wonderfully by Diane Guerrero from Orange Is the New Black), a character with 64 different personalities whom all have their own powers, Robotman (voiced by Brendan Fraizer from the Mummy trilogy of movies) who is a racecar driver who is injured in a non-racing accident whose brain gets implanted into a robot, and Negative Man (voiced by Matt Bomer from Chuck and White Collar), a test pilot during the 1960s who is exposed to radiation in low-earth orbit and horribly burned when he crashes back to earth, yet lives, and Cyborg, played by Jovian Wade, who in this version is trying to get into the Justice League. The cast is rounded out by Alan Tudyk who plays Mr. Nobody, the villain of season 1, and also hilariously narrates some episodes, constantly breaking the fourth wall, and Phil Morris (who played Martian Manhunter on Smallville) as Silas Stone. There are also a whole host of strong supporting actors, some recognizable, some not.The first season is really all about character development and telling the backstories for the various characters, all while playing out the arc that Mr. Nobody has captured the Cheif and the team is trying to get him back. The show jumps time periods often, with Bomer and Fraiser appearing live in the flashback sequences, and jumps dimensions and even inside minds and bodies (human and otherwise). It is definitely a very adult show, with a lot of swearing (f-bombs are constantly dropped) and some nudity basically involving Fraiser's human character and his kid's nanny. There is a butt shot from Fraiser, who has not aged very well, and bare breasts by the actress playing the nanny.For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the 15 episodes are spread over three discs. The extras include deleted scenes for most episodes, a gag reel, and a short feature on filming the series in Georgia. Kind of hilariously, the swearing is bleeped out in the bonus material which, given anyone watching them probably just watched the episodes, has heard anything as bad as what would get bleeped out in the bonus stuff.Overall, the show is well written and very well acted. Within all the craziness it does touch on themes like child abuse, being gay and closeted, among other real-world themes. It is definitely not a show that is going to be everyone's proverbial "cup of tea", but if you are a fan of comic book shows and movies, it is definitely worth checking out, with the caveats that it is in no way family-friendly and can go out of its way to be offensive.

Despite being very quirky, I think this series works both from the perspective of someone who's not familiar at all with the comics, as well as from someone who's familiar with all the iterations of the comics. All the actors are strong and really get to develop backstories that go beyond them just having bizarre abilities. Alan Turdyk is also in this, and he does a great job as always. The more you're familiar with the comics, the more you can appreciate how much research the show writers did; they use characters from pretty much every team.My one criticism is that the show jumps around a lot in time, which does seem to add much to the story or character development except show how long the characters have isolated themselves.Overall, as a huge fan of comics since the 1970s and of various superhero shows through the decades (Misfits of Science, anyone?), I think this is my favorite and most memorable show to date.

I have never read a Doom Patrol comic and did not know what to expect but man was I pleasantly surprised. This show is crazy, funny and sometimes pushes the envelope. But it also tugs at the heart strings and has lots of genuine emotions. I felt like I connected with the characters and Brendan Fraser stole the show as Cliff Steele aka Robotman. Cyborg was a nice addition also and I was way more of a fan of this Cyborg than I was in the Justice League movie. I also liked Negative Man, Rita Farr and Crazy JaneIn this show you will see a half man half raptor, a rat named Admiral Whiskers and a giant cockroach. Also you will see a street named Danny that talks and a lot of meta humor. It gets extra weird and kind of too far at times in the last few episodes but overall it’s an outstanding show. Give it a chance, you won’t regret it!

I think early acknowledgement of the fact that Doom Patrol is often of a "mature" nature when it comes to sex, drugs, and language, and will therefore never be for the widest audience, allowed the producers to embrace the true nature of the book and create what is possibly the best thing DC has produced for film/television.Incredibly well cast, incredibly well shot, and incredibly ingenious. While Brendan Fraser and Matt Bomer may largely be voice actors, their rich portrayal of their faceless characters is more than enough to make you forget you can't see them. Kudos to any physical actors as well for the flawless body language.It's funny when it needs to be, often by being funny when it shouldn't be. It's dramatic when it needs to be, often by being dramatic when you don't expect it. And it's weird because the very nature of the characters and situation is genuinely weird for characters who, at their core, are just human beings trying to around in a world more normal than them, not just to be weird... except maybe the thing with the goat, that might've been weird for weird's sake, but it works ;)As a DC product, and spun out of the far more mundane Titans, the inclusion of Cyborg isn't entirely surprising, but it's the only disappointing part of the show. You want the Breakfast Club kind of mix of wildly varied personalities in their individual struggles and their ultimate camaraderie, and you get that with the rest of the group, but Cyborg just feels like he's from another show in a misguided effort to add credibility where it's unneeded.