By Madeliene Sullivan
Special to the
Christopher VanDrey, better known as Creedog, the writer, director, and producer of the Smallville spinoff Archangel Investigations, shows his is a true TV phoenix.
After his low-rated sci-fi drama was canceled last month, VanDrey was shown the door by CW executives. The former was a good decision. The series was an appropriate Friday night death slot candidate. While his characters were much more approachable than its predecessor, the plots were uneven and the dialog at best fair. And the shipper-esque Clark-and-Chloe romance, which touching and unusually well-executed, occurred a season too early, quickly growing dry. Only a handful of fans were really left wondering what happened next. VanDrey is holding his head high, when any other creator would be hanging his head at the fact that his “Full Series” DVD set contains only two disks.
But giving the ax to VanDrey turned out to be a premature move. The ever resourceful VanDrey used some leftover budget from his series to decorate a hallway in the hotel he leased for the filming of Archangel Investigation. He used the set to produce a back-burner project he had called, currently, “The League of Justice.” The 22-minute episode is what has become the pilot of what appears to be yet another spinoff of Smallville, this time the ratings hit episode “Justice,” set two years in the future.
The question that needs to be asked is how I’m even writing about the episode. Surely VanDrey could never find a distributor for another Smallville spinoff, could he?
His answer was as simple as it is brilliant and timely. He “leaked” it to YouTube. While he won’t take responsibility for the leak, it’s clearly his work, his name pasted all over the opening credits, which seem to call the show “League o’ Justice.”
The show is more comedy than actual action. It’s a silly tale, almost sitcomish, about how Chloe Sullivan (played brilliantly by Allison Mack) rescues her compatriots from a secret base run by Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum, regretfully, does not appear) after the team is reduced to children. The transformation is never really explored; it’s just an excuse for Chloe to act like a mom, a curious metaphor than VanDrey may or may not have been aware of.
Topping off the cast is Justin Hartley. He’s listed first in the credits, which is more to tease Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar about their failed Aquaman series starring Hartley than it is to publicize his role. It’s fairly daring that he doesn’t list Tom Welling, or even Allison Mack first. (Mack, strangely appears at the very end, despite her overwhelming presence, not to mention VanDrey’s public “crush” on the actress. (Both VanDrey and Mack have significant others.)
Rounding out the cast are “Justice” alumni Alan Richardson, Kyle Gallner, and Lee Thompson Young. Joining the cast is Passions and Twins star Molly Stanton as “Dinah Lance/Black Canary.” All the cast seem to enjoy their roles. Probably the genius of the episode is that VanDrey lets the cast be silly. The characters explore their idiosyncrasies more than anything. In the way, it surpasses every episode of Archangel Investigations. Has VanDrey become more talented? Perhaps, but it’s really more finding a better niche.
The episode also boasts an impressive guest cast. Kristoffer Polaha, while not even close to approaching Christian Bale, plays a charismatic if aloof Bruce Wayne. His first scenes oozed charm but the rest of his scenes were bland. The real catch was Firefly alum Ron Glass, playing Lucius Fox, an ally to Bruce Wayne. He delightfully echoes Morgan Freeman’s portrayal during his limited screen time. And Phil Morris, with his chuckle-worthy portrayal of a fish-out-of-water Martian Manhunter, was priceless.
Given the fan reaction, the CW has no choice but to bring back VanDrey. For now, he’s on a short leash. There is nowhere to put the series. Archangel Investigations was replaced by the dreadful
