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

Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 8

Stolen Memories

 

Brainiac finally returns and the setup is amazing.  Lex Luthor is communicating with the alien entity and treats it as a first contact situation.  Brainiac insists on meeting Superman in exchange for technology.  Superman agrees and during the pow-wow discovers Brainiac’s Kryptonian origins.  Brainiac offers Superman a full history of Krypton via an orb if he works for him.  Superman has a dream and discovers Brainiac’s betrayal of Krypton and Jor-El.  The dream is a cheap plot device but they only have 20 minutes to tell the story.  As Superman investigates further he learns that Brainiac is gathering information from all over the galaxy and destroying the worlds after after the knowledge is obtained.  Superman is having none of that nonsense and fights Brainiac.  In the meantime, Lex Luthor didn’t fully trust Brainiac either and was prepared to destroy him if he stepped out of line but Brainiac infiltrated Luthor’s computer system and froze him out.  During the battle Superman is able to distract Brainiac enough that Luthor can launch missiles destroying the ship.  The day is saved but all the orbs of information Brainiac created are destroyed.  Superman manages to only save the one about Krypton.

 

A great episode and brilliant follow-up to Brainiac’s origin from his first appearance.  Getting to see Superman finally confront and fight Brainiac was a nice payoff.  Brainiac’s part in Krypton’s destruction is obvious.  It’s ridiculous Superman couldn’t save a few other orbs.  It seems wasteful Brainiac destroyed all these planets and the knowledge he obtained is gone.  Nothing of the civilization is left.  It makes his actions even more tragic.  A destroyed civilization and no history of them remains.  Superman didn’t create Brainiac but there is an obligation to stop him and his genocidal methodology because he was created by Krypton.  

 

While the show doesn’t dig into the deeper evil of Brainiac, he’s truly the worst of the worst villains in the DCAU.  He’s slaughtered countless lives, but the network censors don’t count it because they are aliens and not humans.  There were thousands of orbs on Brainiac’s ship, representing the worlds he destroyed.  The billions of lives obliterated by him are unfathomable.  The character continues to live on in various incarnations as the DCAU progresses.  Countless more are also destroyed by him but never mentioned directly.  

 

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

The Suicide Squad - DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

The Suicide Squad

2021

Director: James Gunn

 

The last good DCEU film.  It’s as if the film does everything it can to be the opposite of the first film while also mocking how to do right everything the first one got wrong.  The opening wastes no time like the first film.  It introduces the characters fast and entertainingly.  It then kills them all off quickly.  A great bait and switch.  The team we meet in the opening are a decoy team and the film is actually focused on a second team of villains forced to work for the government. 

 

We then meet the real team lead by Bloodshot.  After character introductions they are sent to save Colonel Rick Flag (one of two survivors of team 1).  The team kills an entire team of freedom fighters thinking they are bad.  It takes some great writing to have characters still be likeable after accidentally killing good guys.  The Suicide Squad pulls that gag off fairly well.  

 

We then learn about the big bad Starro which the government of Corto Maltese wants to harness for evil stuff.  Then we cut to Harley Quinn (the second team 1 survivor) who’s being wooed by the leader of the country.  Harley kills the leader of the country because he’s a douchebag.  She busts herself out of captivity just as team 2 comes to rescue her.  

 

The plot is fairly simple, as it progresses it takes its time to develop each character.  Good characters make-up for any lacking in plot.  James Gunn makes a point to develop the characters organically which is something the first film failed to do on multiple levels.  

 

With everyone reunited they bust into the enemy stronghold.  Action ensues.  They come across a bunch of people possessed by Starro.  It turns out the US government was in on a bunch of terrible experiments and Amanda Whaler sent the squad there to destroy the evidence.  Flag wants to expose the government but Peacemaker is a blind follower and wants to stop that from happening.  Starro bust lose during the turmoil and everything gets amped up exponentially.  Peacemaker kills Flag to get a hard drive of evidence. As he’s about to kill Ratcatcher 2, Bloodshot stops him.  

 

Starro bust out and starts taking over everyone on the island.  Whaler orders the team to leave but they all decide to save the people even if it means she’ll blow them all up.  Her staff knocks her out and then assist The Suicide Squad in stopping Starro.  A bunch of action goes down.  Ratcatcher summons a ton of rats to attack Starro which allows Harley Quinn to launch a magic javelin in its eye, killing it.  The city is saved.  Bloodshot leverages the hard drive for their freedom.  

 

A solid soundtrack with songs that actually fit the narrative.  The soundtrack fit so well it almost seemed like a giant middle finger to the first film which just ham-fisted songs into the movie for no real reason.  They couldn’t even argue product placement for the song choices in the first film. 

 

This entire review seems like a comparison to its predecessor.  That’s because the first film was so wrong and the second film works so well.  Look at Bloodsport’s tense relationship with his daughter.  It is a mirror of Deadshot’s relationship with his daughter in one.  But it failed to garner anything other than cliché.  Two gets that relationship right. The Suicide Squad succeeds everywhere Suicide Squad film failed.  Somehow adding “The” to the name changed the entire narrative for the better. 

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 7

The Way of All Flesh

 

Metallo is born.  John Corben is living a life of luxury in prison as a thanks from Lex Luthor for not ratting on him.  He somehow gets a rare disease and uses Luthor to escape and be cured.  Luthor’s scientists transfer his brain into a robot, give him a kryptonite heart, and the name Metallo.  The price of this cure, Luthor wants Superman dead. 

 

The twist in the episode is Metallo loses his sense of touch, taste, smell and it drives him insane.  One of the more shocking moments is when he forces a kiss on Lois Lane.  Her smack is justified but pointless.  The complexity of that move on a children’s cartoon is profound.   Corben’s distraught over his loss of human senses.  He demands Luthor scientists fix him, they say it can’t be done.

 

Corben tracks Luthor down to kill him.  The best part is when Corben complains about not being able to have sex ever again.  Since the cartoon can’t outright say it, he just says he can’t-dot-dot-dot, looks at the beautiful woman Lex Luthor is on a date with, and throws her overboard.  How that got by the censors is pure gold.  Luthor talks a good game and calms Metallo down. 

 

Superman shows up and reveals that Luthor is the one who gave Corben the disease.  Metallo is all kinds of pissed off.  He wants to kill Superman and Lex Luthor.  Superman has to keep his distance because of the kryptonite heart.  During his rage the boat explodes, Corben sinks to the bottom of the ocean.  Superman saves Lex Luthor because heroes don’t discriminate on whom they save.  

 

A pretty good episode.  We get a new super powered villain who is a real obstacle Superman.  It’s a callback to the first episode where Corben was a mercenary.  A nice mini-story arc was created there.  We get Luthor showing how great of a foe he can be by pulling the strings from behind the scenes and Superman is unable to stop Luthor by conventional means.  

 

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 6

Feeding Time

 

Our introduction to The Parasite.  He has the power to suck Superman’s strength.  That’s a formidable foe.  His origin story involves Rudy Jones getting soaked in chemicals he was stealing.  The chemicals turn him into a monster.  As far as scare tactics go this was pretty damn gruesome.  Worse than anything BtAS ever did, maybe one of the gorier moments in the entire DCAU. 

 

We get to see Jimmy Olsen save Superman this time around.  A great way to hash out the young photographer’s character.  He’s ambitious, discounted for his youth.  Olsen proves to be a loyal friend to Superman.  While he’ll get other episodes focused on him. Olsen’s character never truly shines in the series but we are treated to small moments here and there.  Parasite is able to read the thoughts of people whose energy he steals, conveniently he needs a recharge every few hours, and super conveniently forgets it after losing the energy.  He ends up catatonic at the end but hints his return (because they always return) after sucking the strength out of a roach.  

 

Overall this episode isn’t too exciting except for his transformation into the parasite but we are treated to another villain who is a danger to Superman.  A lot of the early episodes focused on creating villains that could be a challenge to the character.  It’s easy to make villains for Batman.  Superman rogues are a true challenge the creators had to put real thought and effort into establishing as threats.  

 

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

Wonder Woman 1984 - DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

Wonder Woman 1984

2020

Director: Patty Jenkins

 

I had to take a long break from this review series in order to prep for this film.  It’s such a disappointment compared to the tolerable first Wonder Woman.  The 2-hour and 30-minute runtime does not help.  The creators want to blame the pandemic for the horrible box office, which was likely a factor but when you create a film that can be used as the cure for insomnia, that’s your failing.  Terrible sequels come from a lack of understanding of what resonated with audiences in the first film.  Michael Bay is a great example of how to make bad sequels.  He never understands what people liked about the first film and amplifies the terrible stuff audiences tolerated.  James Cameron makes brilliant sequels and completely understands character growth from the first film to the next.  He then takes those characters and inserts them into plots with their new perspective on life via the first film.   

 

Wonder Woman 1984 opens with a 15-minute flashback where she’s running some triathlon and loses because she took a shortcut or something.  Then some lame attempt at an inspirational speech setting up the theme of the film.  Then we’re thrust into 1984 with interior designs and people dressed like it’s 1987.  There’s some dramatic robbery at a shopping mall because it takes place in the 80s and there’s nothing more Hollywood cliché than making an 80s film with a shopping mall.  All the performances in the mall sequence are so dramatic and over the top.  It’s like we’re watching an episode from the 1960s Batman without any of the campy humor. 

 

Wonder Woman is living the single 80s-gal life with her big shoulder pad blazers. She makes friends with Barbara Minerva who will turn into the villain Cheetah Girl.  Of course, in the typical “all villains are gay in Hollywood” fashion, Barbara Minerva has an unhealthy lesbian crush on Wonder Woman.  Cheetah Girl’s introduction has this really annoying visual inconsistency with the papers on her suitcase.  With the kind of money tossed at this film, they should have digitally fixed the damn papers surrounding her suitcase.  Each cut they are in a different spot.  That’s a minor complaint in a good movie.  It’s exponential into the quality we’re getting in a bad movie.  

 

There’s a magic crystal that grants wishes.  Wonder Woman accidentally wishes her boyfriend Steve Trevor back to life. Cheetah Girl wishes to have the powers of Wonder Woman.  Everyone thinks she’s hot now or something but she’s not hot at all because Kristen Wiig is not hot, not funny, not talented in anyway.  

 

They introduce us to a main villain Maxwell Lord who Cheetah Girl is all into but Wonder Woman thinks is a huge dork.  The problem with Maxwell Lord as a character is he’s known by comic fans but not the general public.  Since his character isn’t as well defined in the public eye, it allows creators to do whatever the hell they want and just slap a name from the comic onto it.  That’s the case with this character.  He’s super desperate in this film.  In the comics he’s a giant douchebag, in Justice League Unlimited the animates series he’s a corporate stooge for Cadmus.

 

Steve Trevor comes back by taking over the body of a random dude.  It’s a quantum leap scenario or something.  Wonder Woman and him hook-up.  There’s certainly ethical issues with their romantic interlude but it’s Gal Gadot so it’s unlikely any man would complain.  

 

We get a lot of lame cliché 80s gag. Looking at the 80s from the point of view of Steve Trevor, a guy from the early 1900s isn’t original or done in an interesting way.  They’re just wasting time.  The joke could have been done in 3 seconds.  

 

Maxwell Lord works a whammy and gets the powers to grant wishes.  He starts giving people what they wish for.  Really not evil super villain when you look at it.  Certainly careless but not horrible.  It’s causing a little chaos giving everyone what they ask for but it’s not being done out of evil or malice.  The dude starts trading wishes for favors or wealth or something which after 1 hours and 20 minutes we finally get our first real action scene in the movie.  The introduction race scene and mall action sequence has nothing to do with the plot.  They are time wasters to try and hook the audience in early.  This car chase is part of the plot but isn’t very compelling.  Wonder Woman running down a desert road fighting Egyptian military.  Wonder Woman is after Maxwell Lord because she thinks he has the wish stone and doesn’t understand he absorbed its power.  The sequence ends with Wonder Woman saving some kids but it looks really cheap and hokey. 

 

Maxwell Lord gets away, goes back to his office, keeps granting wishes to people.  All this crazy stuff keeps happening which is hard to explain but actually makes sense in the film.  It’s weird but Maxwell Lord is altering realty so much that all the nonsense fits with the plot.  The character motivations are confusing but all the strange things happening fit with the story.  

 

Wonder Woman appears to be losing her power because Cheetah Girl wished to have it or because she wished for Steve Trevor to come back from the dead or something.  Cheetah Girl turns bad for no real reason other than wanting to keep Wonder Woman’s power.  A nuclear war is about the breakout because of all the wish granting shenanigans of Maxwell Lord.  The dude really needs to learn how to say “no.”  

 

Wonder Woman renounces her wish for Steve Trevor to be alive, gets her powers back, runs away crying like a weak little girl.  Cheetah Girl changes her wish to actually be Cheetah Girl because somehow that’s better than having the powers of Wonder Woman. The creepy furry community certainly supported the change.  Maxwell Lord gets on the TV and starts going psycho with the wishes.  The results are as bad as when Bruce Almighty said yes to everyone’s prayers and not nearly as funny or entertaining.  Wonder Woman gets a powers upgrade to look like one of the winged people from Flash Gordon.  It looked ridiculous in Flash Gordon, it looks ridiculous in this film.  She fights Cheetah Girl in a terrible costume.  The B-Movie, The Howling had a better costume for animal/human hybrids than this $200 million film.  

 

Wonder Woman defeats Cheetah Girl and confronts Maxwell Lord who’s gone insane.  She uses her lasso or truth, then there’s some speech about people or the world being better or something.  A lot of generalized nonsense.  He renounces his wish which voids everyone else’s and the world is saved.  Pedro Pascal is a great actor who did the best he could as Maxwell Lord.  Some movies are just badly written.  In the denouement, Wonder Woman looks up in the sky with “wonder,” and anytime you end a film with the character looking up in the sky, you have a really shitty film.  

 

This movie was boring.  There was one major action sequence. The fight scenes with Cheetah Girl are boring. The characters are boring.  There’s no fixing this because the plot was so terrible.  The creators just wanted to make a film which took place in the 1980s but had no idea what to do about anything else.  Avoid this film at all costs. 

 

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 5

A Little Piece of Home

 

It was going to happen eventually so why drag it out?  This is the episode that establishes Superman’s major weakness.  An irradiated piece of rock from Krypton, his home planet, called kryptonite.  While trying to stop a robbery at a museum owned by Lex Luthor, Superman gets his ass kicked.  Luthor figures out it was the rock that got Superman sick.  From there he sets up a robbery to lure in Superman and test the rock.  It works pretty well.  Luthor tries to work out a deal with Superman which would allow him to save the day as long as he stays away from Luthor operations. 

 

From a business standpoint, it’s not a bad offer.  But Superman being who he is, says no.  Lex Luthor sets out to kill him.  Lois gets involved, because it wouldn’t be a Superman story without Lois in danger.  Superman fights a giant robot T-Rex with kryptonite in the same room.  He’s not doing too well.  Lois uses some top-notch basketball skills to throw the rock in a led cup.  Superman destroys the monsters, launches the rock into space.  Lois agrees to not publish a story about his weakness, which is a class move considering how often he saves her life.  Luthor sends archeological teams all over the planet looking for more kryptonite.  

 

The best parts of this episode are Lex Luthor discovering the rock and instead of launching an all-out assault he first tests it, then tries to cut a deal.  The calculating approach is brilliant character development.  Luthor isn’t pure evil, just greedy.  He works as the antithesis of Superman because Supes would never barter in such a way.  And while his introduction in the opening three episodes was great, this fleshes out his persona much more.  

 

People have expressed complaints with the green little rock that can take out Superman but when you have a character who’s invulnerable and fights crime, you have to add drama and danger.  It’s a logical obstacle. Thankfully the creators didn’t overuse it as the episodes go on and focused on creating genuine foes Superman would have difficulty with.  

 

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 4

Fun and Games

 

It’s slated as episode four but it’s technically only the second episode.  We meet Toyman, a villain unknown in prior TV shows and films.  A smart choice to exclude Lex Luthor or Brainiac so as to establish Superman having a deeper rouges gallery.  The story is solid, Toyman is the son of a Winslow Schott who ended up working for Intergang leader Bruno Mannheim.  Mannheim used Schott’s store as a front and got busted for it.  Toyman wants revenge against Mannheim for screwing over his dad.  His gimmick is weaponized toys.  

 

In his very public efforts to kill Mannheim, reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane are on the case trying to get the story.  Mannheim gets kidnapped via a giant toy duck.  It’s very similar looking to the boat ducks Penguin had in the BtAS episode The Mechanic.  For some reason the DCAU creators must think rubber duckies are scary.  It probably relates to a childhood trauma.  

 

The toy weapons aren’t too difficult for Superman to destroy but since Lois gets also gets kidnapped along with Manheim that’s where the challenge is.  How does Superman save the day?  Superman isn’t in danger but the people he wants to help are.  Being Superman, giant explosions happen, he saves everyone, it’s revealed Toyman likely faked his death.  

 

Toyman isn’t the most interesting villain, his voice is annoying, his gimmick is ridiculous.  He’s not much of a challenge for Superman.  What works for him though is he’s not as well known as other villains in the Superman world.  That allows for plenty of creative freedom.  The concept of wanting revenge isn’t new to the DCAU and is a plot recycled in BtAS many times.  What lets BtAS get away with it is the villains have far more depth and interest.  As far as villain introduction episodes go this is still a solid episode and an interesting enough story in of itself.  The strength in this episode lies in Clark Kent’s investigative reporter abilities and how he leverages that to save the day as Superman.  

 

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

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Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 1 2 3

The Last Son of Krypton

 

The opening episode revolves around the planetary genocide of Krypton, thanks to ineffectual leadership and their overreliance on technology, AI to be specific.  Brainiac to be even more specific.  The changes made in this origin story are subtle to the outside observer but also brilliant.   Looking at the original Superman film which is the most influential version of the character in modern day, we get great creative differences in the animated series. 

 

The origin story of the film is a scientist named Jor’El sends his only son away on a spacecraft as the planet Krypton explodes.  Krypton is a crystal based technology, there’s a ton of slow moving Zod origin story jammed in there.  Marlon Brando plays Jor’El and talks a lot.  The animated series has a more traditionally looking advanced technology.  In the cartoon Jor’El is pleading with the council (much like the film) about Krypton’s pending destruction.  They refer to their super computer Brainiac who says it's nothing to worry about and Jor’El is laughed out of the room.  Jor’El discovers Brainiac is lying and actually saving himself instead of the people of Kypton because his programing has basically turned into Skynet.  

 

This is a major deviation from the comic and a brilliant one. Brainiac hasn’t received a film adaptation to-date, in the comic he’s a robot who shrinks cities for some strange reason.  Tying him to the destruction of Krypton sets him up as one of Superman’s biggest rogues.   The layers of meaning behind his character add so much weight to the story.  Krypton’s arrogance in their technology instead of cold hard facts, their unwillingness to entertain other possibilities, the bureaucracy of the council is their downfall.  Krypton the planet may have been destroyed but the civilization could have survived.  A very viable message in these modern times.  It could apply to climate change, AI, world leaders, any call of pending doom.  A solid message in 1996, a solid message in the 2020s.  

 

Ultimately the only person to escape the planet is Jor’El’s son.  He crash-lands on earth and is adopted by American farmer’s Jonathan and Martha Kent.  They raise him with good old Middle American values and he grows up to be Clark Kent reporter for the daily planet.  All of this is concrete Superman backstory that no creator should alter.  

 

While in Metropolis he dawns clothes similar to his Kryptonian heritage and starts helping people.  The giant S on his chest in conjunction with his powers causes people to name him Superman.  His heroic deeds bring him in conflict with his greatest villain Lex Luthor.  

 

This version of Lex Luthor more resembles his 1980s reimagining.  Instead of a mad scientist, he’s a corporate business mogul.  A true reflection of 1980s corporate greed which hasn’t diminished in 40 years.  He’s built the city of Metropolis through his business enterprises via cutthroat practices both legal and illegal.  Brilliantly voiced by Clancy Brown, this Lex Luthor is the pinnacle interpretation of the character.  

 

Luthor arranges the presentation of a super powered suit which gets stolen by John Corben, Superman stops him.  Corben would later go on to become Metallo.  The introduction episode of the series establishes three major villains and plays out like a feature film.  The character of Superman had so much hype around him, the premiere aired in a primetime Friday evening slot on 9/6/1996.  Follow-up episodes aired on Saturday morning, but the premiere was marketed as a major event.  Batman can never make that claim, Batman: the Animated Series was successful enough during its run and briefly aired in a primetime slot on Sundays in conjunction with its Saturday airings, but it was not its premier episode, also the BtAS ratings couldn’t garner a permanent stay in primetime.  

 

We meet Clark Kent/Superman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Ma and Pa Kent in this three-episode arc.  It is a great foundation for the future of the series.  The show even makes a callback to Batman when Martha Kent refers to him as “that freak in Gotham.”  It gave viewers hope of a crossover but only time would tell.  At this point we were getting new stories focused on DC’s biggest character.  The DCAU wouldn’t truly expand into what it became until after Superman’s first season. This introduction even tops Batman’s because the creators never truly gave Batman an origin episode.  They just jumped right into him being an established vigilante.  Perhaps Batman’s overall story telling is superior for that reason.  Not everything needs a ground-up story from episode one.  Superman required that though.  The animation isn’t as amazing as BtAS’ On Leather Wings but the first episode story is superior.

 

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

Say Word: The Fernando Rosas Story

Here is my latest movie, free for all of you to watch. A documentary about the life of a Long Island actor, Fernando Rosas.

Say Word: The Fernando Rosas Story.

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

 Live at Spotlight in Huntington, NY. 

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