Cloak & Dagger on Freeform (2018)

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shevek
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Trailer for Marvel's Cloak and Dagger to debut on Freeform in 2018.

https://youtu.be/kxtxVXvlMW0

It looks well-produced and well-done. The catch, though, is that it's probably not going to be for "adults" the way the Marvel
Netflix shows (Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Iron Fist, Defenders etc) are. It does look like it has a dark tone but possibly in the
same way that, say, Hunger Games has a dark tone. Romance and soap opera type stuff in the CW-esque manner, maybe. Have to wait and see I guess. The blonde actress Olivia Holt who plays Tandy Bowen looks alright, but she is no Olesya Rulin, who played the t**nage Retro Girl on Powers. And of course, she is no Ashley Lane, either :)

Holt could be a good actress and performer though, as she has plenty of experience: three Disney TV series, an album out last year on a major label, and some movie roles. The real test will be if we ever get to see Dagger's actual sexy costume from the comics..as it's already evident the Tyrone character does have a black cloak, but there's not even a white circle around Tandy's right eye. I'm guessing we probably won't, because....

Freeform (I actually didn't know this) used to be ABC Family and before that Fox Family. So it's a network targeted towards t**ns
and k*ds, and secondarily towards families. I rather doubt that it will have adult themes or that we'll see Tandy and Tyrone doing anything other than holding hands or a quick kiss. Time will tell.

These guys discuss and break down the series trailer and fill you in on the back stories if you're not familiar. One of the biggest changes seems to be
the origin: the pair *possibly* do not have their powers activated by the synthetic drug as in the comics...rather there's some kind of accident (related to the evil Roxxon corporation, who show up on Agent Carter/Agents of Shield) they both undergo as ch***ren, and they don't meet again until later.

I bought Cloak & Dagger #1 when it came out so I'm good. :)
https://youtu.be/N5pF40fMFrc
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shevek
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Are you ready for the adventures of Tandy and Tyrone? One of the most beautiful Marvel heroines brought to screen. Let's see what they do with her. First four episodes are up on Freeform for free and available now. I'm going to check them out over the next week.
Let's hear everyone's impressions: https://freeform.go.com/shows/marvels-cloak-and-dagger/
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shevek
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OK, as you've seen above from the publicity, Olivia Holt is gorgeous. And she is definitely portrayed as an adult...living independently, drinking, taking drugs, etc. She is 20 years old, has a career performing pop songs, and was an actress on some Disney productions. So go ahead and have a crush, it's alright. If you've seen Powers, she'll probably remind you quite a bit of Olesya Rulin. And if not, she has that typical Disney look anyway.

As for Aubrey Joseph, I'm not sure if the ladies would be into him or not - he is portrayed as athletic but also socially awkward and buttoned-up and very dutiful to his parents, so I have no idea if that combination is attractive or not.

The fact that the socially 'expected' scripts are flipped here (the black guy is the relatively respectful and well-behaved individual, while the white girl is the arrogant, criminal mess) seems to be intentional by the writers as well. They have done a good job of 'de-thugifying' any possible preconceived notion of Tyrone. I don't know if they're intentionally following the social-justice procedure of making the woman as independent, bad-ass and outspoken as possible while keeping the black male rather low-T and submissive, but that's what happening here so far.

I feel like there's a fairly new style of superhero-show filming that's being used in this series (I don't know how many Marvel Netflix series also look like this?). Instead of over-the-top colorful action and camp and bombast and violence like in the CW shows...the story here unfolds very slowly, with the two main characters still barely aware of their powers by the end of episode 2, with lots of slow character development and a lot of the scenes feeling very dreamy like they're shot within a hazy imagination. There's more happening in people's heads than there is actual action. Not sure if that style is going to turn people off or not. Are people used to that from other shows? (like for example is it similar to Stranger Things, which is very popular? I've also heard that Legion is like that as well.) Is this a style that attracts a young audience?

There are changes that might be a little weird for comicbook fans:

1) There is no drug dealer antagonist for them to rebel against. In the comic books, the two characters represent the Drug War and the drug culture of America gone awry. But because in this series, they get their power from the explosion of an experimental Roxxon oil rig (as far as I know they have no connection to Roxxon in the comics), there's no serious connection to the drug world other than Tandy taking some drugs here and there.

2) Tandy's father isn't alive in this series - he dies in the accident that gave her powers. Also her mother's not a supermodel - she's more like washed-up trailer trash.

3) The show is set in post-Katrina New Orleans, not in New York City (so they won't meet Spiderman, etc). But as of yet, we don't really see anything distinctive that makes the city very specifically New Orleans [Mardi Grass, jazz, Cajun culture, Anne Rice vampires, etc.] - it's just a generic dark-ish place. There's no clue as to whether they'll encounter any of the foes that specifically center around New York City, like Silvermane or the Maggia.

4) Tandy does live an abandoned church, but there is no pastor figure to guide her..in fact, the pastor in this case is actually part of the Catholic school where Tyrone goes, wearing his pristine school uniforms. Whether that will be Father Delgado is unsure.

5) In this version, Tandy isn't totally alone - she has a loving boyfriend who cares a lot about her while assisting with her crimes, but she rejects him.
And Tyrone has a cute black girl at his Catholic school who crushes on him hard. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out, if the two characters actually gravitate towards each other romantically.

6) There's a female detective who is investigating the crimes surrounding Tandy and her boyfriend, and from what I see on Wikipedia it's clear that she is named Brigid O'Reilly like in the comic books, but it's unclear whether she is going to become the vigilante Mayhem. It's also unclear whether Tandy and Tyrone will be engaging in lots of viglilantism themselves, which is another main theme of their comic books.

7)I don't see any evidence that there'll be the serious kind of costumes the characters wear in the comic books, let alone Dagger's normally tight and revealing outfit. Remains to be seen whether that will happen.

On the Freeform site, I was only able to get through the first two episodes before they start asking you to subscribe. Will have to see if I can continue watching it on another source. In the meantime, post your opinions if you're watching the series. It's definitely slow going. And as I've mentioned above, there are so many inherent changes to characters and setting that it almost doesn't seem like the original characters. I'm sure the vast majority of the audience isn't familiar with Cloak and Dagger from the comics so that won't matter. But will it find some other audience?

Also..Marvel is smart enough to have started a brand-new Cloak and Dagger comicbook series recently. I will have to check it out as well, and see if it jibes with the facts of the series, or whether it sticks to comic book origins.
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SleepySuperheroines
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I don't get the point of these shows or who their intended audience is. And it seems like the plummeting ratings prove my point. I used to buy Cloak and Dagger comics, but have no interest in watching this show. These characters are not Cloak and Dagger. Most of these TV showrunners are embarrassed by the source material and want to do their "own" thing which never works. I also don't understand why these showrunners are embarrassed by putting these characters in costumes. Can you imagine a Black Panther movie without his costume or a Spider-man movie without the costume. No one would go see them. In the end, this will be another cancelled show that no one will remember.

One of the best shows I've seen this year is Cobra Kai. I listened to some interviews from the creators and they have such great respect and love for the original Karate Kid films which really comes through in the show.
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Yeah there's some weird thing going on now where its perfectly fine for men to be in uniform and skin tight uniforms or take their shirts off or, like with Chris Pine, be buck naked BUT the women all have to be covered up. Heck there were complaints when there was like a 10 second booty shot of Gal Gadot in justice league and she wasn't even in her costume.

The best example of this is BvS where the three are facing off against Doomsday. Both Batman and Superman are in skin tight suits with every muscle accentuated and Gal Gadot is in a dumpy outfit that looks more like a cheap cosplay Halloween costume.

Yes why is Black Panther, Spiderman, Capt America etc OK in costume but when its women its the equivalent of a potato sack. Look at Capt Marvel now.

I was hoping this nonsense would pass but it seems to be getting worse. I think Black Lightning is about the only show with some good female costumes.
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Yes I know that is of some concern, but I think it still varies a bit, Mr. X. Speaking of potato sacks, maybe you didn't know about the Faith movie that Valiant is going to do with Sony? Anyway I think I've got plenty of possible counterexamples.

Wasp's costume looks promising. Melissa Benoist obviously looks great (as does Thunder, which you've mentioned). Black Widow always looks nice. Valkyrie has appeal. So does Black Siren. Jury is out on Cheetah but we're crossing our fingers. Mera is going to be an absolute knockout in Aquaman! Teen Titans TV show is coming out soon and so far, Dove is looking good at least. And I just saw leaked costume redesigns for Avengers 4 (a Twitter account called "J Designs") where even Captain Marvel's costume looks like it's going to be tightened up a bit and Black Widow is back to having long red hair. You know that Margot Robbie is going to look hot in the next Harley film with whoever plays Catwoman and Ivy. If Black Cat and Silver Sable happens, it's going to be very hard to ignore the obvious curvaceousness, and if the New Warriors ever gets going, we get a very cute Milana Vayntrub as Squirrel Girl (just the opposite of what SJW Marvel is promoting). And the MCU might be going 'female-led' for a while, so there's at least more possibilities that everyone won't be wearing a potato sack. The ultimate goal would be She-Hulk in that purple-and-white bodysuit. There are a lot of places to look for superheroines - more than ever before.
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shevek wrote:
5 years ago
Capn Cummings' take on Cloak and Dagger:
Who is the audience? How many people do they alienate vs cater to. Most of the people who complain about diversity issues don't watch these shows or care about the characters or read comics. Even if they please all of them its like 1% of the population. So who are they catering to? Or do they even care anymore.
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It seems like your basic teen angst show with super powers thrown in because they are using Marvel characters. Less geared to Marvel comic fans and not expected to do well by the choice on where it's running.
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Thread closure: Cloak and Dagger was cancelled by Freeform after two seasons.
They definitely wasted Olivia Holt on this show, as she is gorgeous and never got a chance to really don the figure-hugging version of the Dagger costume.
The fanbase (such as it is) is in an uproar and the hashtag is trending on Twitter (of course).
People want Netflix or Hulu to revive it and/or combine it with Runaways.
Haven't watched this show since the first couple episodes and I don't know if anyone else on here has, either.
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