The Fun Zone: The Fun

I've taken my time getting ready to write about Stan Lee's Who Wants to be a Superhero?, because I'm still not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, it's one of the cheesiest things I've ever seen on television. On the other, it's a fascinating spectacle, and I cannot look away.

The premise and format are pretty simple. A group of people, each with a "great" idea for a superhero, live together in a house and compete in challenges. Those who do poorly in the challenges are up for elimination, and the last hero standing will get a comic book deal and a TV special on the SciFi Channel.

Straightforward, right? The twist, of course, is that these people have to spend all their time dressed like their heroic personae, and they're constantly being watched by Stan "The Man" Lee, who is judging their worthiness as heroes. So, you have scenes of Monkey Woman, wearing her homemade banana belt, lounging on the couch with a store-bought-spandex-clad Major Victory (a very odd fellow who seems to display what would happen if Troy McClure were to be cast in a remake of The Greatest American Hero).

The line between scripted events and the competition proper is blurry indeed. The pilot episode presented us with a hero named Rotiart, a silver-clad guy wearing what could only be described as The Devil's Fanny-Pack. After the heroes mingled for a while, Stan Lee revealed that one of them was a spy and had been collecting information for him. Of course, Rotiart steps forward and reveals himself as the traitor (get it? Rotiart is "traitor" backwards), sharing incriminating video clips of the other heroes (recorded using The Devil's Fanny-Pack) to Mr. Lee. In fact, one of the heroes, a pumped-up gun-toating meathead called Iron Enforcer, seems to have been cast for the sole purpose of turning on the team and becoming a supervillain. A "challenge" involving the trying on of new costumes seems to have been built for the sole purpose of ousting the Enforcer, giving Stan Lee the opportunity to "make him over" as a bad guy.

The actual challenges are at least novel. One adventure had the heroes racing to find a place to change from street gear into their costumes, and then making their way to a finish line across the plaza. However, on the way to the finish line, a young actress was waiting. The little girl would cry loudly as the hero ran by, exclaiming that she was lost and couldn't find her mom. Of course, this was the real point of the challenge. Surprisingly, only about half of the heroes actually stopped to help the girl, providing Stan Lee an opportunity to berate them in the eviction ceremony.

There are, however, some annoying elements. The music is grating, especially when the same eight bars of eviction music are used ad nauseam. They've also added some cheesy special effects to things that don't need them, like when an evicted hero is asked to deposit their costume in a trash can. Suddenly, a CG bolt of lighting strikes the can, incinerating the costume elements. Why? There was no need for that. Also, the scripted elements are poorly acted and painful to watch.

Still, like I said, Stan is indeed "The Man," and these heroes are so earnest in their desire to be role models that their adventures are simply captivating. It's giddy fun, and I plan to see it through to the end.