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

Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 15 & 16

Blasts From the Past Part I & Part II

The creators did their Zod episode without actually calling the big bad Zod.  Zod’s origin traces back to the comic but became popular via his portrayal in the films by Terrance Stamp.  For unknown reasons the creators chose to use the comic character Jax-Ur who was a mad scientist but give him a Zod backstory.  Before we even see Zod we get Mala.

 

Superman is hanging out with his buddy Professor Emil Hamilton and they are fiddling with Superman’s spaceship.  Hamilton discovers the Phantom Zone projector and a monster is accidentally unleashed.  After an action sequence Superman puts the monster back in the Phantom Zone and hears Mala complain she should be paroled.  Since Krypton was destroyed no one has been monitoring the Kryptonian prison and there’s a backlog on prison releases.

 

Superman investigates her history via the Brainiac orb (that somehow doesn’t contain Brainiac’s essence) and learns she’s not lying.  He sets her free.  He teaches her about earth and how to use her powers.  He hopes to have an alley in is fight to make a world a safer place.  She turns out to be a war mongering nut job.  When she realizes Superman is not her kind of guy she decides to free her old boss Jax-Ur.  

Jax-Ur and Mala plan to conquer Earth.  Superman can’t let that happen.  In his efforts to stop them, he whips out the Kryptonite while in his led toy selling suit and it totally messes them up but they are still able to zap him into the Phantom Zone along with the eradiated rock.  They proceed to destroy the projector but Professor Hamilton is able to make a new one and set Superman free.  He then confronts the bad guys and puts them back in the Phantom Zone.  

 

It’s not a bad episode but Jax-Ur and Mala are poor substitutes for Zod and Ursa.  The characters are almost identical in attitude but they never pack the punch that should come along with militant Kryptonians.  Perhaps it’s the lack of fighting which diminishes their impact.  Superman doesn’t beat them through brute strength but more through trickery.  The day is saved but they were two characters Superman could have beaten to a pulp but instead just blasts them back to the Phantom Zone.  

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

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

 Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 14

The Prometheon

 

An underrated gem of an episode, Superman is helping General Hardcastle and friends along with Professor Emil Hamilton stop an asteroid from hitting Earth.  It turns out there is a living creature strapped to the asteroid and Superman and Hamilton want to not kill hit.  Hardcastle wants to blow it out of the sky.  While trying to come up with a better solution the creature awakens and crashes to Earth.  

 

It turns out the creature feeds off fire, heat, explosions.  Superman at the suggestion of Hamilton, moved the asteroid into Earth’s orbit.  The sun awoke it but Harcastle’s plan of blowing it up would have done the same thing.  So everyone was wrong in this situation. 

 

The monster was created by some aliens for labor but it went crazy so they had to banish it.  They left easy to translate instructions about its life story.  Hamilton determines the best way to stop the monster is to freeze it. There’s a special chemical that can pull this off if Superman get’s the monster in a large body of water.  Superman achieves this goal.  The monster is likely shipped off to the North or South poles until climate change will eventually wake it up in the distant future.  

 

This was General Hardcastle’s first appearance in the DCAU and while he’s working with Superman in this episode, he’s a complete moron who doesn’t like or trust Superman.  He works as a nice foil for Hamilton and Superman.  The Prometheon is a solid antagonist whose motives aren’t malicious.  It’s just a malfunctioning creation who is following its programing.  

 

It’s a solid villain and credible threat who cannot be defeated with pure strength, Superman has to rely on his wits to stop the foe.  It’s a genuinely enjoyable dilemma.  

 

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

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

Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 13

Two's a Crowd

 

The parasite returns and his follow-up episode is better than his origin.  Earl Garver (voiced by Brian Cox!!!) holds Metropolis hostage with a bunch of bombs.  Superman tries to stop him but Garver ends up in a coma while fighting off Superman.  A solid example of why Superman takes a bit of a pounding from people during fights.  He’s trying to find the right level of strength that won’t hurt people in the process.  

 

There are more bombs around town but since Garver is unconscious they can’t get the information out of him. Professor Emil Hamilton is involved in the police operation for some reason and he gets the bright idea to use the parasite to read Garver’s mind.  The parasite agrees on the condition he gets a TV in his cell with all the channels, a fair deal.  Garver’s mental strength is more powerful than Parasite and he overtakes his body.  

 

There’s a sequence that takes place underwater and Superman wears a wetsuit in an effort to sell more action figures.  Garver starts causing more problems while controlling the parasite and even sucks away some of Superman’s power.  Superman eventual triumphs and the day is saved.  Parasite gets his TV and Garver goes to jail. 

 

It is a great follow-up to the Parasite origin story.  Garver’s personality taking over Parasite’s body is a nice twist.  The creators are doing a great job creating riveting challenges for the Man of Steel. 

 

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

Shazam! Fury of the Gods - DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

2023

Director: David F Sandberg

 

As stated in prior reviews, the DCEU should have built its universe around Shazam and ditched the Darkseid agenda planned out by Zack Snyder.  Too bad Shazam! Fury of the Gods didn’t get the memo.  DC decided to make a mediocre film which tanked the Captain Marvel franchise.  

 

The film opens with Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu causing problems.  Their antics are not very film worthy.  It’s as if they were making a TV version of an action film.  Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu have the Wizard Shazam held prisoner.  They want him to fix a magic stick they stole.  

 

The save the cat gimmick is applied to the Captain Marvel family via a bridge collapsing.  They save everyone on the bridge and avoid a Final Destination 5 scenario.  We learn the family has redecorated the Wizard Shazam’s layer in a way teenagers would.  There’s some family tension because its required to make a movie.

 

Freddie is still getting bullied by the same kids from the first film.  In this first film they drove a car into him which makes them at least 16 (legal age to drive in Pennsylvania).  Billy Batson was 14 in that film.  In this film Billy is 17 going on 18 and almost about to age out of foster care.  So the dudes who drove into Freddie, who are still in high school, should be 19.  Maybe they got left back, but 19 and still in high school is pushing it.  Also, bullying a cripple kid is really messed up.  How evil are those kids? Freddie has a crush on the girl from Snow White that everyone seems to hate.  

 

The Wizard reaches out to Billy with a vague warning that Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu are causing problems.  Freddie’s crush causes problems and it leads to Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu to steal his powers.  These ladies are really pissed off at Captain Marvel for no reason at all.  They kidnap Freddie and he has a comedic pow-wow with the Wizard.  Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu try to get the identity of the Marvel family and Freddie tries to sellout his school bullies.  The ladies don’t fall for it. 

 

The remaining members of the Marvel family are trying to come up with a way to save Freddie.  There are some solid jokes throughout the film which sell really well when you get your characters right.  Shazam certainly had that down.  Snow White helps Freddie and the Wizard bust out of their captivity. 

Captain Marvel gets into a fight with Helen Mirren and takes her back to the Wizard’s lair.  She breaks out of her cell steals an apple and books it back to her home.  Lucy Liu wants to plant the apple on Earth and destroy it.  Captain Marvel shows up, Freddie gets his powers back they go back to earth.

 

They must have cut some scenes because the entire family is back home and they tell their foster parents they are super heroes.  Everyone is attacked by a Lucy Liu on a giant dragon.  She wants to get the apple.  Lucy Liu gets the apple and plants it in Citizens Bank Park because baseball fields are named after dumb corporations which is a major reflection on the downfall of classic Americana and the overtaking of commercialism.  The film doesn’t even try to broach that theme.  

 

A giant tree grows and a ton of monsters come out and attack everyone.  Snow White shows up and offers to help stop the chaos.  The Wizard gives Captain Marvel a rah-rah speech.  There’s a tender moment between Billy and his foster mother. Captain Marvel flies off to save the day.  

 

Lucy Liu has the dragon kill Helen Mirren.  Snow White loses her powers. The Marvel family befriends unicorns and fights all the monsters popping out of the tree.   Shazam befriends Helen Mirren who isn’t completely dead.  He convinces her to help him defeat Lucy Liu.  He basically makes a bomb.  He blows up Lucy Liu, Helen Mirren dies, the tree disintegrates along with all the monsters, Billy Batson dies.  

 

He can only be resurrected by the staff but it has no magic left.  Only a god can power up the staff.  Wonder Woman shows up and juices up the staff, gives Snow White her powers back, and Billy comes back from the dead.  He hits on her, she rejects him.  Freddie ends up dating Snow White.  Happy ending for all.  Amanda Whaler’s employees pop up and offer Captain Marvel the option to join the Justice Society, he accepts. 

 

The post credits scene shows Dr Sivana meeting up with Mr Mind again.  Apparently he disappeared for two years since their last conversation.  This could be just a gag or a clever way to passive aggressively wrap up the fact no other movies are getting made.  Mr Mind might not actually have any way to implement his plans and he just runs around with a lot of schemes he can’t actually pull off.  

 

Overall the film isn’t bad. It has funny moments. It’s not as good as the first film but not horrible.  It got slammed by critics and failed at the box office.  This film really should have done a little better and is certainly much more entertaining than most of the other DCEU films.  Since DC ditched the Zack Snyder tones, the films have gotten lighter, more fun.  Snyder seemed to be pushing an anti-Marvel method of dark and brooding.  But Snyder had no clue about what made comic characters so well liked.  Shazam embraced the fun aspects of comic book action films.  It makes this the last decent film in the DCEU.  

 

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

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

 Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 12

Tools of the Trade

 

Bruno Mannheim is back and we finally see his connection to Intergang.  He’s the leader of Intergang who’s being “funded” by a mysterious benefactor.  This benefactor is using Kanto as his liaison.  Intergang uses their hi-tech weapons to pull off robberies.  Superman stops them but the weapons are an obstacle for him.  

 

Dan Turpin and Maggie Sawyer are on the trail of Intergang.  They are part of a super powered crimes division in Metropolis.  It’s actually a very clever department to have in a city that’s constantly getting attacked by aliens.  Maggie Sawyer wants Superman to help them, Dan Turpin is against it.  

 

Turpin goes off on his own to bust Intergang and performs an illegal search of Mannheim’s property in order to catch him doing illegal stuff.  Since he had no warrant, anything he saw would be inadmissible in court. Superman is looking for Turpin but ends up in a fight to the death with Intergang, during the battle Turpin helps, possibly saves Superman’s life. 

 

Kanto runs away via a boom tube, Mannheim follows him through the portal.  More cops and reporters show up.  Superman tells the press Dan Turpin saved his life.  Turpin thinks Superman is cool and because of that they’re now friends. 

 

The big reveal in the episode is Mannheim ends up in Apokolips and we learn Darkseid was manipulating the events to try and destroy Superman so he can invade Earth.  The first true start of an established story arc in the DCAU.  This isn’t a two-parter episode, or follow-up to an introduction episode.  Darkseid’s appearance was deliberately planned out in stages to culminate into an invasion of Earth.  Lex Luthor was Superman’s greatest everyday villain.  Darkseid is the big bad who Superman grows to hate.   A solid introduction episode for a major villain in the DCAU.  

 

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

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