It’s been awhile since I last contributed to Binge With Me, so I am making my return by writing about Krypton, a show set within the DC Comics universe and focusing on the lineage of the world’s most iconic superhero: Superman (also known by his Kryptonian birth name Kal-El, or his Earth name,when he puts on glasses, Clark Kent). The series is set around 200 years before Superman’s birth and focuses on Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe), Clark’s grandfather.

Sure, Smallville showed us Superman’s teen years, but what if we could go back, further? This series is an excellent chance for everyone to see what Krypton was like prior to its inevitable destruction (spoiler alert). I feel that this show has two major draw cards. The first being that it gives Superman fans a glimpse of how this advanced alien society was organised and the kind of government they had. It also shows the day-to-day lives of the average Kryptonian, how they lived, their attitudes towards life and marriage as well as the crazy space technology they used.

Something I found intriguing about this depiction of Kryptonian culture is that it bears a striking similarity to many of our own cultures on Earth. The Pilot revealed that during Seg’s lifetime at least, class inequality existed on Krypton. Their society seems to have been divided into at least three different strata, with its ruling council at the top of the pyramid, followed by the ranked citizens right below them, and then you have the rankless; who are effectively second-class citizens, a tense situation if you ask me.

The skilled Kryptonian workers organised themselves into guilds, similar to those that existed on Earth during the Medieval and Renaissance eras. It should be interesting to see what other kinds of guilds there are, if any, other than the Soldiers’ Guild, the Lawmakers’ Guild, and the Science Guild. It’s yet to be seen if each of these organisations command the same amount of respect, or if they are constantly competing against each other for power and prestige.

Something else of interest is the fact that there seems to numerous city-states, so inevitably we’ll find out how the planet’s ruling council was formed and how united, or fractured, Kryptonian society really was.

Krypton has a time travelling element as well as part of its storyline. One or more of Clark’s numerous enemies is attempting to interfere with the past in an attempt to destroy present-day Superman. I wonder who it is? Is it Lex Luthor or Brainiac? Or both? Or someone else entirely? It should be fun to find out.

 

Show Krypton

Network Syfy (US), TVNZ (NZ)

Release Date 21 March 2018

Episode Season 1 “Pilot”