The DC Animated Universe Weekly Review - Superman: The Animated Series

Superman: The Animated Series is a great series, while not as epic as Batman: The Animated Series, it is the definitive Superman.  Perhaps the series failed to differentiate between Clark Kent and Superman as well as it should have.  Clark was just a regular guy in this version as opposed to the overly nerdy version portrayed by Christopher Reeves.  They appeared to be taking a page out of the Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman book with Dean Cain’s portrayal of the character.  An absolutely brilliant decision.   

Superman is supposed to be a happier character, more positive.  Ultimately the show was darker than BtAS ever was.  Batman is a dark character so throwing glimmers of positively have more impact.  Superman is a positive character which means balance to the stories required darker spins.    

 

Superman lacks the robust rogues gallery Batman has.  Coming up with meaningful villains to fight Superman is difficult for any writer.  The shows early episodes were on point.  It was the follow-up episodes which didn’t have the same resonance.  So the show had nice introductions or reimaginations of villains but no plan on how to handle their follow-up episodes.  The show did hit it right with the Darkseid stories and basically created a Superman story arc revolving around the character.  A story arc the lie action films tried and failed to replicate.

 

Tim Daly as the voice of Superman was the perfect choice.  Known for his role on the NBC sitcom Wings, this was an interesting choice.  Even though he played the straight man on the show, it was still a comedic background in acting.  How could that translate to mild mannered Clark Kent and larger than life Superman?  Daly’s take on the character was Clark Kent is the guy, Superman is just a name people gave him.  All Superman’s actions and decisions are those of Clark Kent, there is no alter ego.  A similar take reflected in the live action TV show Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher.  While Lois & Clark’s success was winding down and would be canceled only nine month’s later (after four seasons), it’s clear the better story points of the show had an influence on the cartoon.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Here's the fake trailer we made for a friend and longtime collaborator of ours to trick him into thinking we made a documentary about the music scene.  

What we actually did was make a documentary about his life.  Here's the real trailer.

The DCAU Weekly Review - Batman and Mr. Freeze: Sub Zero

 Batman and Mr. Freeze: Sub Zero

 

Batman and Mr. Freeze: Sub Zero is a direct to video film that was created to cash in on the Joel Shumaker Batman & Robin film which had Mr. Freeze as the villain.  Batman & Robin came out in 1997 and while it made its money back it was labeled as “under performed” in the box office.  That didn’t stop the animation department from trying to capitalize on a live action film which made $238 million.  Thus we get 1998’s Batman and Mr. Freeze: Sub Zero.  

 

It’s the last film made in the traditional Batman: the Animated Series animation style.  Superman: The Animated Series premiered in 1996, the two wouldn’t crossover until 1997 with a different animation design.   This film was made in 1997 but not released until 1998.  This is why DCAU viewing-wise it just makes sense to watch it as a close out to BtAS by watching this direct to video film.  

 

The animation is superb, some of the best in the entire run and event better than the feature film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (MotP).  The story isn’t nearly as epic as MotP though.  It plays out more like an extended episode of BtAS.  Nora Fries’ cryo-tube gets popped by some submarine people.  Mr. Freeze flips out and kills them all.  He’s now rushing to cure his wife and enlist the help of a sleaze ball named Dr Gregory Belson. 

 

It’s determined Nora needs a series of organ transplants but there are no donors.  Barbara Gordon is the match for Nora’s condition but she’s still alive.  Freeze opts to kidnap her and steal her parts to save his wife.  It’s a bit out of character for Mr. Freeze since he wasn’t going to destroy the world in the name of his wife.  Perhaps killing one life versus millions is different in his mind. 

 

Dick Grayson is full on dating Barbara Gordon at this point and is there when she gets kidnapped.  He tries to stop the kidnapping but Mr. Freeze gets away.  The best sequence in the entire movie is the motorcycle chase between Dick Grayson (not Robin) and Mr. Freeze.  What’s more surprising is a children’s cartoon showed motorcycle riding without a helmet.  That would never fly on television but direct to video movies have no such requirements. 

 

Batman and Robin track Freeze’s hideout to an off shore oil rig.  As the final showdown happens the oil rig catches fire.  Everyone has to leave now.  Freeze is stubborn and Dr Gregory Belson rightfully leaves Mr. Freeze to die as he’s begging for help.  Freeze has been a douche through the entire film and Belson owes him no loyalty.  Belson himself might be a total jerk but that doesn’t mean he was wrong in this case.  

 

As Batman is helping everyone escape, Barbara Gordon points out that Nora Fries is alive and needs to be saved.  So Batman and her run through the entire compound while everything is blowing up in order to save her.  They all get to the Batwing safely but Batman and Mr. Freeze are staggering behind because of  “reasons.” Mr. Freeze falls to his fake death and Batman uses his grappling hook to attach to the plane as Robin, Barbara Gordon, some Eskimo kid, and Nora Fries fly away safely in a two passenger jet.  It’s the worst animated sequences in the film.  Batman is attached to a jet by a rope as it flies at Mach 1.  Even if Batman has super strong ropes, how is he able to hold on?  Not very believable but neither is a guy who can only live in sub arctic temperatures and has a special suit that makes him extra strong. 

 

The film closes out with Mr. Freeze in the Arctic looking through a window at what is likely the only bar to exist in the arctic.  He sees on a television that the world thinks he’s dead, his wife was saved after an organ transplant funded by Wayne Enterprises.  But plot hole, it wasn’t lack of money stopping her transplant.  It was lack of donors.  Freeze swiped Barbara because she was a match who just happened to be alive.  Did a donor match die in Gotham while Batman was busy saving Barbara?  That’s the only logical conclusion.  One could postulate that Freeze’s plan worked in a way.  He was able to save his wife because Batman was too busy dealing with him to be out there rescuing someone poor woman that was donor match for Nora Fries.

 

The animation is stellar and a nice farewell to a style that got revamped into something that was easier to animate but visually less stunning.  It’s also a nice send off to the old series.  Story-wise viewing this as a movie or even an extended episode in the BtAS world, it’s not that good.  Mr. Freeze is an inconsistent character in the story and the series as a whole.  He’s thoroughly corrected in his next two DCAU follow-ups but this film, while enjoyable, could have been better.  It was a quick cash grab aimed at kids who might have been fans of the Batman & Robin film.  Are there any fans of Batman & Robin film?  It proudly can claim to be best Batman movie featuring Mr. Freeze. 

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

 

 

 

Stereomatic - She Sells Sanctuary

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The DC Animated Universe Weekly Review - Batman: The Animated Series

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 85

Batgirl Returns

 

The name says it all, Batgirl is back.  It took forever for this moment to happen.  It’s as if the creators forgot about her.  Barbara Gordon before her Batgirl persona had more appearances than with her Batgirl persona.  Thankfully her return resolves several story issues that linger throughout the series.

 

Barbara Gordon gets adventure hungry and decides to put on her batsuit and investigate a robbery.  She discovers Catwoman at the scene and assumes she is the culprit.  Catwoman proves she’s not involved and was investigating it herself.  They agree to work together to solve he case.  Batgirls only condition is if Catwoman is lying she has to turn herself in to the police. 

 

There’s a really cool motorcycle chase with the police trying to capture Catwoman and Batgirl.  Their investigation leads them to Gotham City’s version of Lex Luthor Roland Daggett.  Daggett was trying to commit a crime that looked like Catwoman did it because he’s holding a grudge from the last time he tried to kill her and it failed.  Robin shows up and helps them fight Daggett and his goons.  Catwoman is about to kill Daggett but Batgirl saves him because killing is wrong, even if the guy is a corporate psychopathic murderer.  

 

Catwoman then does a double-cross and tries to steal the McGuffin that Daggett tried to frame her for stealing.  Batgirl stops her.  Catwoman tries to convince Batgirl to join her in a life of crime.  Batgirl is tempted but ultimately passes when Catwoman goes too far and insults Commissioner Gordon. Batgirl is a true and true daddy’s girl and turns down the offer.  Catwoman surrenders to police, as she’s being driven off, she breaks out steals the car and drives off.  She claims she promised to surrender but didn’t give a timetable for how long. Batgirl respects her play on words and talks Robin out of chasing her down. 

 

It’s the last episode of the series and it’s a nice one.  Catwoman is no longer pining for adventure, she’s living the life she wants.  Batgirl is back and she’s going to keep on fighting crime with the rest of the bat family.  Roland Daggett is finally arrested for something.  

 

This is the only episode where Batman isn’t actually in it.  He appears in a dream sequence to cater to some studio demands but the actual Batman is nowhere to be seen.  Bruce Wayne calls Robin on the phone and gives him some crime fighting advice but that’s it.  The episode works without Batman which should be impossible since he’s the guy the show is named after.

 

This was meant to be the conclusion of the show.  The series is revived years later with a new animation style and those episodes will be explored in later reviews.  As a whole BtAS sets the bar remarkably high. It’s the definitive Batman and better than the source material in the comics.  The show had the benefit of trial and error within the pages of the comics.  They could take the best comic issues, adapt them, translate them, fix them.  

 

The characters in the show were remarkable.  Batman was a side character in his own show most of the time and it worked.  The rogues sold most of the stories and the best episodes weren’t focused on Batman but instead the people around him.  The rare bad episodes were far better than many good episodes for other television shows.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Birds of Prey - DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

Birds of Prey (and the Fabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)

2020

Director: Cathy Yan

 

Margot Robbie was the best possible person to be cast as Harley Quinn and was regularly placed in terrible movies which failed to capture the essence of the character which made her so beloved from Batman: The Animated Series.  She did the best with what was given to her.  Great actors will always be great actors even when the film is terrible.  Watch the live action Super Mario Brothers Movie, the acting is amazing, the rest of the film is terrible.  Great acting cannot save a badly written and directed film.  

 

Ewan McGreggor plays Black Mask and they made the smart visual decision to not throw a ton of makeup on him to match the comic and allow his performance to shine.  Any Black Mask design would have copied the Red Skull.  Ewan McGreggor is another amazing actor in the film who does his part perfectly against a blah script.   

 

Voiceovers are always a terrible decision in filmmaking.  Goodfellas was the only one to ever get it right.  Birds of Prey could mute her entire voiceover and it would make no difference, that means it’s not needed.  

 

Thirty minutes into the film and it is anyone’s guess what the plot is.  Harley Quinn has broken up with the Joker.  Someone wants to kidnap a girl or something. It’s unclear. The action in the film is well done and fun to watch.  It certainly elevates its entertainment factor from the early slower moving DCEU Snyder films.  So a bad plot is actually salvaged by decent visuals.  

 

Harley teams up with some teenage girl who ate a diamond.  Everyone is trying to capture the girl or kill Harley who has a bounty on her head.  So they are on the run but it’s not a road trip movie, they just keep going to different locations and having wacky dialogue exchanges.  Diamonds are the least rare precious stones in the world.  Their value is via a heavily controlled consumer market.  It’s also super cliché to have a girl centric movie revolve around diamonds.  Oceans Eight had the same gimmick, women cannot steal millions of dollars.  In Hollywood women have to steal and fight over jewelry.  These films don’t have to be deep think tanks but try to avoid being derivative when possible. It negates the “girl power” message when they are battling over highly feminine items. 

 

The film whips out the character Victor Zsasz, a “catch-all” Batman rogue with no discernable fanbase so they can craft him into any personality they want.  He’s constantly tossed into movies and TV shows because of how generic he fits into any circumstance.  DC Media needs to stop using this character because it’s not a fun comic reference, it’s a cheap expendable character no one cares about and that’s how it plays out in all his appearances.  

 

Finally, at the one hour twenty mark all the Birds of Prey finally meet and team up for the big climax of the film. Can’t hate the action in this film, it is on point.  The fights are well choreographed and believable these femme fatales can take a ton of men out.   Antics ensue, Black Mask is blown up with a grenade, solid resolution. Everyone gets a happy ending. 

 

The advertising for this film was dreadful. None of it promoted the plot, it relied solely on Margot Robbie playing Harley Quinn which by this point in the DCEU reputation was not going to be enough.  The film made back double its budget in the box office but in Hollywood terms is considered a flop because of advertising costs or something.  Sounds like money laundering to me…

 

Birds of Prey was definitely DC’s take on lightening the tone of the darker Snyder films.  After all the critical complaints about how Superman was managed, DC started adopting the Marvel approach of movies which are fun.  Harley Quinn and bunch of other obscure ladies from the DC Universe doesn’t have the same appeal as Guardians of the Galaxy but DC has to start somewhere. The film wasn’t horrible, it’s borderline enjoyable but there’s nothing in this story which hasn’t been told in a million other films and the voiceover was excruciating.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Long Island New Wave: A Documentary

A trailer for a documentary about the Long Island New Wave scene. 

The DC Animated Universe Weekly Review - Batman: The Animated Series

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 84

Deep Freeze

 

Mr. Freeze returns!  Mr. Freeze’s introduction as a villain in BtAS was so well done it would be impossible to top.  His second appearance isn’t as epic but it sure packs a punch. Grant Walker (a Walt Disney allegory) breaks Mr. Freeze out of prison in order to have him recreate the experiment that made him Mr. Freeze.  Freeze initially refuses but is then bribed with his wife Nora Fries who’s still in suspended animation.  Freeze cuts a deal to get his wife back and begins helping walker.  

 

Walker’s plan is to destroy the world by freezing it using satellites (the same plot device used in the Batman and Robin live action film).   The only people who will survive are his hardcore followers who live in the city he made.  Batman and Robin who are trying to find Freeze after being busted out of prison make their way to Walker’s compound and discover his evil plans.  They convince Freeze to help them stop Walker.  Walker is defeated, Freeze and his wife (still in suspended animation) float off on an iceberg to parts unknown.  

 

Ignoring the giant cult city just next to Gotham that no one talks about, the episode works.  The parallels between Walt Disney and Grant Walker are abundant.  Both own a series of amusement parks.  Disney’s vision for Epcot Center was a large city cut off from the rest of the world. There are rumors Walt Disney was cryogenically frozen when he died and Walker is given the same frozen powers of Mr. Freeze.  Disney and Walker have dangerously loyal and naïve cult followers.  BtAS for some reason felt like taking a shot at Disney, perhaps it was rival animation studios or maybe Disney did something to thoroughly piss them off.  We can only guess.  But Grant Walker is truly one of the more evil villains in the series.  His plan is very much like Ra’s al Ghul.  But Ra’s crazy ideals are trying to save the world through decreasing the population and taking control as leader.  Walker just wants to live forever and rule the world for his own power hungry purposes.  

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Stereomatic - 99 Red Balloons

 Live at Spotlight in Huntington, NY. 

The DC Animated Universe Weekly Review - Batman: The Animated Series

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 83

Make ‘Em Laugh

 

This episode is all kinds of entertaining.  Comedians are flipping out and committing crimes.  Batman discovers this while fighting a villain calling himself the Condiment King.  Batman in a rare moment of full on mercy offers to let the guy go if he returns the loot and promises to never do it again.  Instead the guy doubles down tries to escape, falls off a building onto a police car, and is pretty messed up.  It turns out he’s comedian Buddy Standler.  He’s a rich celebrity that doesn’t need to be committing crimes.  

 

The next weird criminal is the Pack Rat who after he’s defeated by Batman and Robin is determined to be a comedian named Harry Loomis.  Batman and Robin discover a microchip on him and trace it back to the Mad Hatter.  

 

When visiting the Mad Hatter in Arkham it’s discovered he’s also been mind whammied with his own device.  So who’s the villain of this episode?  Another comedian Lisa Lorraine (a Roseanne Bar parody) is now missing.  They were all judges in a comedy contest.  Upon reviewing the tape of last year’s contest its discovered The Joker crashed the contest in disguise and was holding a grudge against the judges for not giving him the award of funniest man in Gotham.  

 

AWESOME PLOT TWIST! Joker is getting revenge by ruining their reputation and trying to claim the trophy for himself.  It’s a scheme so crazy; it’s the perfect Joker crime.  There’s no logic to it other than to massage his own ego.  Batman and Robin are able to track the joker down at the comedy contest where a fight ensues and he’s captured.  The comedy and action in this episode is spot on.  A solid way to close-out the Joker as the show is ending it’s initial run.

 

Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com