DC’s “Stargirl” follows high school sophomore Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger) as she inspires an unlikely group of young heroes to take up the legacy of a long-lost Super Hero team – The Justice Society of America – and stop the Super-Villains of the past.
Growing up in Dublin, Ireland as a kid, there was never much to do but many of my friends read comic books. I never got into them though, not Superman, not Batman, not Spider-Man, I just never took a liking to them and instead, turned my love of films into actually making them at age 12. Over the years, however, with big-screen and small-screen adaptations popping up everywhere, I found an immense enjoyment for many of them, and while I became familiar with characters and storylines, I had never heard of Stargirl. The creator of the DC Comic, Geoff Johns, based the titular character, also known as Courtney Whitmore, on his younger sister, Courtney Elizabeth Johns, who died in the TWA Flight 800 crash in 1996.
I watched the trailer and thought it was going to be another conventional teen-oriented superhero show but in the end, I was blown away by the overall quality of the series; the performances, the character development, the special effects, to the point that I am now a fan and cannot wait for season two. Seriously, if superheroes are your thing, check out “Stargirl,” I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.
As the show begins, all the members of the Justice Society of America (JSA) have just been murdered by the Injustice Society of America (ISA). The sole survivor, S.T.R.I.P.E., aka Pat Dugan (Luke Wilson), manages to escape with the JSA’s leader, Starman (Joel McHale). Before he dies, he gives Pat his anti-gravity Cosmic Staff, which is capable of rapid flight, levitation of objects, and energy manipulation, and tells him to give it to somebody who will wield it wisely and with great courage. Ten years later, Pat and his teenage son Mike (Trae Romano), along with his wife Barbara (Amy Smart), and her daughter Courtney (Brec Bassinger), move from California to Blue Valley, Nebraska, a small town where Barbara grew up and is now relocating back to because of a new job with a company called The American Dream.
After settling into their new house, Courtney is in the basement going through some old boxes when she happens upon a large crate that belongs to Pat. When she opens it, the Cosmic Staff reveals itself to her and lights up. When she takes a hold of it, it transports her out of the house to the local drive-in where it helps her beat up some local bullies and blows up one of their cars. When she returns to the basement, Pat is waiting for her and tries to take the staff away from her but it adamantly stays by her side. When she questions him about it, he tells her about the Justice Society of America and after learning that the staff was previously owned by Starman, Courtney is convinced that she is Starman’s daughter, even though Pat informs her that he had no family. Later, Courtney discovers Starman’s old uniform and creates her very own costume from it.
She discovers other costumes that belonged to the remaining members of the Justice Society of America, Wildcat, Hourman, and Dr. Mid-Nite, and realizes that their mantles need to be picked up once more. After befriending some new kids at school, she informs them about the Justice Society and they are only too happy to don the costumes but Courtney quickly learns that the members of the Injustice Society of America, the group of villains who killed the original members of the Justice Society, are living in Blue Valley, disguised as regular town folk. When she informs Pat, he tells her that many years ago, one of the original JSA members who survived the attack by the ISA, Hourman, tracked them down to Blue Valley but before he could ascertain exactly who they were, he and his wife were killed in a car accident and the trail went cold. Courtney and Pat quickly determine the ISA’s master plan, to use a large antenna that will be powered by one of their mightiest members, Brainwave (Christopher James Baker), who has telepathy, giving him the ability to dominate many minds at once. Utilizing Brainwave’s powers through the large antenna, the ISA’s plan is to take over the minds of all Americans and force them to believe in their nefarious ways. Now it is up to the new Justice Society of America to band together and stop their adversaries, once and for all.
“Stargirl” is highly entertaining and employs a lot of humor to offset some of its more serious moments, including teenage bullying, grief, and relationships. I was very impressed that the show highlighted a lot of the obstacles teenagers deal with today, as well as the supervillains. Every one of the central characters is given more than enough screen time and character development to flesh them out so they don’t wind up becoming stereotypical cardboard cutouts that are overpowered by the action and special effects. Another impressive aspect of the show is the villains. For a series that deals primarily with a group of teenage superheroes, the villains are adults and decidedly nasty, employing various methods of murder that don’t shy away from their savagery and ferocity. While these scenes are obviously not R-rated, for a TV show that is predominantly family-oriented, they are surprisingly vicious but also serve as a reminder to the younger characters that if they want to live a life as a superhero, they must accept the fact that there are consequences to their choices, and death is one of them. I thoroughly enjoyed “Stargirl,” along with a very endearing and appealing cast, the show was action-packed and genuinely exciting, something of a rarity on TV these days.
Now available on Blu-ray™ & DVD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
