The X Generation - Hit or Miss

 Cuculi presents Live Beats music of the 90s & 00s.

 

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

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 70

House & Garden

 

The ending of this episode is great. The build-up is a bit slow.  Poison Ivy has gone straight, meanwhile there are a bunch of crimes fitting her Modus Operandi.  Plants targeting rich people.  Batman investigates her and turns up nothing.  She’s married to her doctor Steven Carlyle who’s also a professor at Gotham University where Dick Grayson goes.  He has two sons Chris and Kelly.  Dick Grayson gets kidnapped and held for ransom.  

 

Some action and thrilling stuff happens, Batman saves Dick Grayson and he puts on his Robin suit to help solve the case.  Plot twist, Ivy is the villain.  Chris and Kelly are girls, not boys.  Ivy has been making plant clones of Steven Carlyle but could only make boys.  They have a limited lifecycle and eventually mutate into a giant green monster.  

 

Batman stops them by putting herbicide in the plant water.  Ivy made one last clone of herself, knowing Batman would likely stop her.  She bought enough time to escape.  The ending scene of her flying away crying is more poetic than anything.  Her fake happy life being married with two sons was the closest she’d ever get to normalcy.   

 

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

The X Generation - Power Rangers Theme Song

Cuculi presents Live Beats music of the 90s & 00s.

 

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

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 69

Avatar

 

Ra’s al Ghul is back from the dead causing problems.  He’s trying to solidify his immortality completely unconcerned with the fact that in 30 billion years the sun will turn red and expand consuming the earth.  Which means all immortals on the planet will be extremely uncomfortable for trillions of years until the sun eventually goes supernova.  It’s a problem all immortal character tropes never address in their quest to live forever. 

 

Batman teams up with his daughter Talhia al Ghul to stop him.  During their escapades it turns out Ra’s al Ghul was tricked and the thing promising immortality is some type of Egyptian zombie.  It’s some of the scariest animation you’ll ever see.  Not for a children’s program, not for a TV show, its just some scary animation.  Some of the best animation in the series and entire DCAU.  It completely saves a somewhat weak plot for what’s supposed to be one of Batman’s more epic villains.  

 

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

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

2016

Director: Zack Snyder

If there’s an extended cut of a DC movie universe in this review series, we’re looking at it because watching the regular versions isn’t torturous enough.  In this “Ultimate Edition” it opens with Bruce Wayne’s parents getting murdered because no one knows the origin of Batman.  A ripped off visual from Batman Begins of this Bruce falling in the well and making friends with actual bats.  Thomas Wayne’s last words being Martha because that’s sadly an important plot point later on. 

 

The origin of Batman fighting Superman in this story is apparently, the creators’ inability to think of another villain for him to fight.  While it might be hard to come up with worthy adversaries for Superman, no one should be tapped by the second film.  

 

We’re then watching a flashback to Man of Steel during the Zod fight and Bruce Wayne is driving like a dick all around Metropolis trying to not die, or help people, or have a good excuse for speeding in a densely populated city.  He has no cell phone service which really bothers rich people and one of his buildings gets destroyed.  So now Batman and Superman aren’t allowed to be friends because some douchebag aliens picked a fight with Superman.  

Cut to: Lois Lane is interviewing some warlord in a generic Hollywood movie African desert country with Jimmy Olsen but it turns out Jimmy Olsen works for the CIA and gets killed.  Superman saves Lois Lane just in time but it causes the US government to care for some reason.  Some lady from the country of Africa hates Superman because some random kid of hers died.  The most ridiculous part of this sequence is killing off Jimmy Olsen.  Zach Snyder said in interviews since they weren’t using Jimmy Olsen in their universe they thought it’d be fun to kill him in the beginning of the film.  Yes, somehow the death of one of Superman’s closest friends in the comic book is “fun.” If that doesn’t say just how out of touch Snyder was with a mainstream audience, what does?  

 

Then around the 30-minute mark of this “Ultimate Cut” we start getting tossed countless quotes from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns.  The graphic novel is directly quoted from the film so much throughout the film, Frank Miller should have been given a writing credit.  It’s one thing to pay homage it’s another to just lift line after line from a comic you’re doing a crappy version of.  

 

We then meet Lex Luthor and Jessie Eisenberg’s bipolar performance.  Was he deliberately trying to tank the performance so he wouldn’t have to appear in any sequels?   Every performance choice he makes is the wrong choice.  The best villains aren’t maniacally crazy.  The best villains are cool under pressure.  If you watch from a different point of view a person could actually root for the best villains in cinema.  This Lex Luthor is just annoying.  

Then we get what feels like unlimited hours of people talking to one another about stuff they don’t like.  All of it could be condensed into a plot that actually moves, but this, this is the Ultimate Cut!  The Ultimately Boring Cut.  It takes 50 minutes before we get our first glimpse at Wonder Woman and it’s as pointless as the rest of the film.  Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne have a little conversation and Bruce gets insulted that Clark doesn’t like Batman.  Meanwhile Bruce Wayne typically makes fun of Batman in public in order to maintain his cover.  But in this interaction, there’s all this tension about Clark disliking a vigilante because they’re destined to fight at the end of the film.  I keep hoping the film will just abruptly end and put me out of my misery but there’s no such mercy granted, still over two hours left in this snooze fest. 

 

We see a montage of Superman saving people as if it’s the most horrible thing that’s ever happened.  In every Superman film that ever-made sense, he saves people and it’s a good thing, people are happy.  In this depressing crap universe, somehow people hate Superman.  In reality they would be the minority, people like heroes. Also, what is Holly Hunter doing? She’s wasting everyone’s time pushing a boring plot along with stupid comments. Why is the only action in the film a 20-minute dream sequence?  That’s right, Batman’s biggest beef with Superman is over a bad dream he had about him.  There’s no actual reason these guys should be fighting except the title of the film says so.  We also get a lame Flash cameo saying Superman is bad. 

 

At the halfway mark some dude whom got paralyzed in the Zod battle in Man of Steel decides to blow-up the capital building while Superman appears before some useless subcommittee.  He stands there like a tool as it happens.  And the plot hits another standstill.  This isn’t a slow-paced film, it’s a no-paced film. Wheelchair guy smuggled the secret explosive wheelchair in with the help of Lex Luthor to help turn public opinion against Superman.  I’m falling asleep just thinking about it. Pointless plot twist, the dude didn’t plan to blow up anything, Luthor set it all up. 

Then we get a workout montage, a kryptonite montage, a Justice League movie advertisement (because you have to plug the bigger franchise in these films).  What we don’t get is plot progression. Lex Luthor decides to create Doomsday with his DNA and the dead body of Zod.  Kevin Costner comes back for no reason and mumbles a bunch of nonsense.  

 

Superman’s mom gets kidnapped. Batman puts on a mehca-suit.  Lois Lane gets kidnapped to draw Superman out. Lex Luthor uses Superman’s mom as a hostage to fight Batman.  They could have just opened the film with this and saved us a ton of time. It wouldn’t have improved the movie but at least it would have been shorter. 

 

At the two hour mark they finally start fighting because this Batman is a total jerk who barely uses his brain and doesn’t try to talk it out at all.  It’s not a particularly exciting fight.  It goes back and forth a little and Batman uses some kryptonite gadgets that takes out Superman.  As he’s about to deliver the final blow Superman starts ranting about his mother Martha and Batman decides to become his best friend because they have a mom with the same name.  All fights between dudes are settled when dudes find out their moms have the same name. 

 

Batman goes to save Martha Kent while Superman goes to hangout on a boat.  Batman saves Martha by killing a bunch of dudes because that’s what this Batman does. Superman confronts Lex Luthor whose lame version of Doomsday appears.  He’s a rip-off of the cave trolls from Lord of the Rings.  Now everyone is scared of Doomsday for no reason whatsoever.  The government launches missiles at Superman and Doomsday which do nothing and make no sense.  Superman is taken out of commission for a while.  So Batman fights Doomsday with his tech.  He sucks at his job.  Wonder Woman shows up and saves Batman at the 2-hour 30-minute mark and is the only person with any personality and the movie wakes up for a moment.  Superman pops back on the scene.  It’s become a mildly interesting story while they all team up to fight Lord of the Rings cave troll Doomsday.  Lois is there doing Lois things.  Superman sacrifices his life to stop Doomsday and there’s twenty minutes left.  It won’t end, it will never end.  This is absolute torture. 

 

Lex Luthor gets arrested.  They shave his head because that’s how he ended up bald in this world.  The concept of hair growing back is nonexistent in the Snyderverse.  People are sad about Superman after hating him the entire film.  There’s a funeral.  Batman decides to form the Justice League.  

 

Boring film, a plot that moves slower than molasses, terribly written characters, lackluster action.  It’s only the second film in the franchise.  A horrible closing speech that’s supposed to inspire people without a single piece of optimism. A ton of plugs for the franchise.  Zack Snyder has no concept of positivity or entertainment.  Don’t watch this movie.  It’s horrible. Save yourself three hours and watch paint dry. At least when you watch paint dry you’re rewarded with a newly colored wall. 

 

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

The X Generation - Smooth Criminal

Cuculi presents Live Beats music of the 90s & 00s.

 

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

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 68

Trial

 

Almost Got ‘Im 2.0.  It’s a good episode and certainly funny to see how all the rogues interact with one another.  But somehow it lacks complexity for a “All of Batman’s rogues in the same episode.”  There’s a new District Attorney who hates Batman and wants him in jail with the nuts he fights. There is an uprising in Arkham, the DA and Batman end up captured and she’s forced to defend him in a mock trial about if Batman created them, if found guilty Batman and the DA will be killed.  They lightly go through the history of some of the rogues’ origins.  The DA comes to the realization that Batman is needed and these villains would have cropped up in some form or another even without Batman.  In a nice twist the rogues jury find Batman not guilty but decide to kill them anyway.  Enough time lapsed for Batman to escape his bounds and defeat all the bad guys.  The DA leaves with a new respect for Batman.   

 

It’s as if the writers were sitting around and said “Almost Got ‘Im was popular, let’s do that but up the stakes.”  The endearing part of this episode is how it’s determined Batman isn’t the cause of the villains, they are the ones who created him.  A nice point of view, especially when looking back at the origin of these villains.  Batman is the side character in most of their stories, he comes into play after they flip out and try to kill people.  

 

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

The X Generation - THE MIDDLE

 Cuculi presents Live Beats music of the 90s & 00s.

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

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 67 

A Bullet for Bullock

 

Another underrated episode.  This episode explores the character Harvey Bullock.  He’s a cop who hates Batman that leaves fans wondering why Commissioner Gordon doesn’t just fire him, why is he part of the inner circle?  His episode sums up his character fairly well.  He’s a cop who’s very rough around the edges but ultimately a good person.  He’s not crooked, just a jerk.  Bullock wants to put an end to crime just as much as Batman does.  His dislike for the caped crusader while not thoroughly explained or justified in the episode, at least makes you understand what type of person he is.  It was based on the Detective Comics #651 and was as solid of an adaptation that anyone can ask for.  

 

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

DCEU Review Series

DCEU Review Series

Man of Steel

2013

Zack Snyder

The hype and excitement around this film was too large to meet expectation.  Superman is a beloved icon in comics and film.  Everyone has an opinion, Christopher Reeves will forever loom over any Superman project as the quintessential definition of the character.  He set the standard. So it’s already working off a deficit.   

 

There’s the infamous Tim Burton/Nicholas Cage failed Superman project of the 1990s.  That lead to Superman Returns (2006), a loosely defined sequel film directed by Brian Singer starring Brandon Routh in the mid 2000s.   Superman Returns made over $391 million and was considered a failure.  It lacked a certain action dynamic but the characters were consistent with the world Richard Donner created back in the 1970s.

But here we are 7 years later, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is killing it at the box office and Warner Brothers wants a piece of the superhero pie.  They tap into their most iconic characters to create a universe to compete with Marvel.  Christopher Nolan is pulled in as a producer.  He had just come off massive critical acclaim and financial success from The Dark Knight Trilogy.  He was teamed up with Zach Snyder whose first feature was a commercial friendly translation the more art provoking George A Romero Dawn of the Dead.  (Side note the Snyder version was written by 2025 Superman director James Gunn). Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead was less artistic but more action packed, made a ton of money, well received by fans and critics. Snyder’s follow up films were other comic book adaptations; 300 and Watchmen.  Those films seemed to be page for page adaptations, lacked any real depth or originality.  He copied the material without understanding the material.  It led to inconsistent performances and visuals that didn’t match the tones of the source comics.  Each film made tons of money though and comic fans had more to like in those films than to hate.  

 

Therefore Zach Snyder teaming up with Christopher Nolan to make a Superman film should have been Warner Brothers/DC printing their own money. What we ended up with was a bleak and depressing character.  The studio pushed for a dark gritty story because Nolan’s Batman was a successfully told dark gritty story.  The only problem is Batman is a dark character.  Superman is about American optimism.  An immigrant coming to America, adopting its culture, becoming beloved by the people as he supports truth, justice, and the American way. Snyder missed the memo.  

 

It all comes down to how Superman defeats the villain Zod. He not only kills Zod, he breaks his neck.  It has been pointed out that Christopher Reeves threw Zod down a bottomless pit and killed him, but it was far less graphic.  Christopher Nolan stated to the press he argued in the writers’ room not to have Superman kill Zod.  He lost the faceoff. Snyder got the film he wanted.  Nolan didn’t produce additional DCEU films after first film.  Nothing has ever been publicly stated but the writing seems to be on the wall.  Nolan was unhappy with the direction of this new DC franchise and left to pursue other projects.  

 

So let’s look at the story in its entirety.  It opens with Superman’s dad Jor El (played by Russel Crowe) dealing with the fall of the planet Kypton.  The action was intensified compared to the original Marlon Brando portrayal.  Zod is leading a rebellion against Krypton while Jor El is working his own game to save his son and Krypton’s lineage.  Government ineptitude has caused them to ignore signs the planet is being destroyed which dominoed into the rebellion.  Zod’s rebellion is stopped, him and his soldiers are tossed into the phantom zone.  Jor-El launches his son Kal-El in a single ship to Earth to save him.  Krypton is destroyed, Kal-El crashes on Earth, is adopted by American farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent, and raised as an Earthling. They name him Clark and raise him as their own son.  

 

This version of the Kent’s are more paranoid.  They raise him with the constant worry his secret will be discovered.  That paranoia oozes through the entire plot, infecting its story with melancholy.  It doesn’t get more Americana in cinema than Diane Lane and Kevin Costner but their characters really suck the air out of the room.  Jonathan Kent is telling his son to let people die so no one knows he has superpowers. He eventually gets himself killed during a tornado while trying to save the family dog.  His teenage son (who looks thirty) could have saved Johnathan Kent but waves him off because a ton of people might see him get rescued.  Absolute travesty of writing, anyone who thinks that’s great characterization has no clue what makes Superman such a popular hero.  

 

Then we have Lois Lane chasing down leads about an alien space ship which leads into her tracking down Clark Kent.  She figures out Clark Kent has powers before Superman even exists.  That change isn’t so terrible but it doesn’t match the source material.  The real issue is the overall treatment of the plot being an “alien first encounter” film. 

At some point Zod and his cronies escape the Phantom Zone and track Kal-El to earth.  They make a bunch of weird threats demanding Kal-El be turned over.  There’s some boring philosophical debates on if he should “save the world” as if we think he’ll keep hiding.  The conversation about it is boring and we know what he’s going to do.  He’s going to become Superman.  So why is thirty minutes devoted to this?  Then he has to earn the trust of the government and Earth and stuff.  It gets pretty boring, though not cliché. 

 

He confronts Zod, tries to play nice in the sandbox, eventually an epic battle takes place.  Superman wins but massive devastation happens in the process.  Basically an entire city is destroyed, millions are probably dead.  All because Kryptonians with superpowers fight on Earth.  We then get the infamous neck breaking scene.  Zod is about to kill some family with his laser vision as Superman has him in a hold.  Somehow the people can’t make a run for it so Superman breaks his neck and cries like a little baby about it.   It’s graphic and lame and the thing that makes Superman awesome is he finds better ways to save people than just killing the bad guy.  Also, the people could have just ran out of the way.  They weren’t cornered to the point they could shimmy around the fallen pillar and the lasers.  There’s bad plot and there’s bad blocking.  You can forgive plot holes for solid emotion, forgiving bad blocking is hard and ultimately a failure of the director.  

 

The day is saved, Superman keeps getting tracked by the government because of, reasons.  He’s all like, I want to be a hero in my own way, and flies off.  Then the Daily Planet where Lois Lane works gets a new reporter named Clark Kent and Lois is all googly-eyed because it’s really Superman. 

It’s a tolerable film and as the first in a giant crossover franchise it leaves people hopeful for better films to come.  Unfortunately, Zack Snyder doesn’t understand happy since he’s just Michael Bay without the racism and sexism.  So what we get is a series of follow-up films all devoted to dark and gritty crap.  Therefore, looking at this film in retrospect and the tone it eventually set, it becomes far worse than watching it for the first time. 

 

Not a fault by the creators but they tried to distance themselves from the original Superman films.  Thus a new theme song was created.  This film actually taught everyone it’s better to embrace John Williams original score than run from it.  The logic is sound, new Superman, new song.  But the Superman theme is so iconic that not having it in a film actually scaled down the films vibe, it made the movie more depressing.  It was a nice attempt but ultimately a failure that they needed to learn.  

 

The same issue goes to the costume design.  When this film was made DC’s New 52 (the worst thing to ever happen to comics) was in full swing.  Comic creators changed his costume to get rid of the red underwear.  The film followed the current costume style of those comics.  The suit isn’t terrible but that change to the classic costume is another missing piece that takes away from the value of the film.  They also toned down the colors, it’s not the bright primary colors of yellow, red, blue. They are darker shades for a darker feeling film.  

 

Ultimately Superman shouldn’t be a dark character. He’s supposed to be a hopeful character.  The film even tries to reflect this but having his S symbol stand for hope in his alien language.  Unfortunately they dropped the ball everywhere else.  

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

 

 

The X Generation - Stacy's Mom

Cuculi presents Live Beats music of the 90s & 00s.

 

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

Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 66 

Sideshow

 

One of the best, also a rather underrated story.  Killer Croc is being transferred out of Arkham Asylum to an actual prison because it’s determined he’s sane.  While being transported he escapes.  Batman was on the train in disguise and starts tracking him.  During his escape Croc falls in with a bunch of former circus stars, sideshow attractions.  They took the money from their circus days and bought some land off the grid so they could live in peace.  Croc makes up a cover story and they take him into their home.  

 

During his time with them Croc’s attitude starts to change.  He plans to rip them off but changes his mind.  Batman then shows up and everything turns upside down.  Croc shows his evil ways.  A fight ensues, the circus folk realize Croc is a jerk.  Batman eventually stops him.  

 

What’s so tragic about this episode is if Batman didn’t show up Croc might have actually reformed.  His disfigurement is likely a huge part of why he’s so angry and in living a life of crime.  The circus freaks accepted him for who he was.  His second thoughts about robbing them implies he was looking to settle down and maybe live a peaceful life.  Batman’s appearance to apprehend Croc brought out his inner criminal.  It’s Croc’s best episode in the series and has you rooting for his reformation.  

 

Batman would argue his reformation was only temporary and he was always destined to revert back to his evil ways.  The beauty of how complex the writers made a character who is only supposed to be a dimwitted thug is why BtAS is such an amazing show. 

 

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

Maxine Vandate - Alone

Cuculi presents Live Beats music of the 90s & 00s.

 

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

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 65

The Worry Men

 

It’s episode 65 and the creators have fulfilled their initial order of episodes for the series.  This episode is okay but seems a little phoned in.  The Mad Hatter makes little men that hypnotically manipulates people to do stuff in their dreams.  He controls Veronica Vreeland into giving out these Worry Men to all the rich people in Gotham.  Bruce Wayne gets affected by the Worry Men and is robbed like a bunch of other rich folks in Gotham.  That puts Batman on the trail.  He traces it back to the Mad Hatter, stops him, saves the day. It’s a fine episode.  Nothing horrible, nothing exciting.  This same gimmick reappears in the Batman Beyond episode that introduces Spellbinder.  We’ll talk more about that when the episode comes up. 

 

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

The DC Extended Universe Review Series

The DC Extended Universe Review Series

 

With a sigh of relief, the DC film universe which was labeled The DC Extended Universe has ended. We’re going to spend the next 30 plus weeks breaking down each film and discussing why it was so terrible. We’ll give accolades where they are deserved but the consensus here is even the films which were well received, were mediocre at best. The ones that received positive feedback only did so because DC set the bar low, extremely low.

Here’s the watch order if you want to play along at home.

Film

Man of Steel

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Suicide Squad

Wonder Woman

Justice League/Zack Snyder's Justice League

Aquaman

Shazam!

Birds of Prey

Wonder Woman 1984

The Suicide Squad

Black Adam

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

The Flash

Blue Beetle

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Written by

Joseph Ammendolea 

Owner/President 

“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®

ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com

Maxine Vandate - Bloodbuzz Ohio

Cuculi presents Live Beats music of the 90s & 00s.

 

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

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 64

Read My Lips

 

This episode gets a lot of love from fans and the initial shock value of the episode is exciting.  Overall it really doesn’t hold-up in rewatches.  The creator’s take on Scarface is a great deviation from the comic book but his personality is so annoying.  Scarface in the comic is the product of the The Ventriloquist who’s actually really bad at throwing his voice.  It’s a silly gag in the comic.  

 

The show took a more serious approach.  Scarface has a great mind for crime.  He exists in the mind of the timid Ventriloquist who suffers from multiple personality disorder.  He’s an old-time 1940s mobster villain.  These are all awesome nuances that make the concept work.

 

What doesn’t work is the character’s personality is that of a huge jerk.  Yes, it’s deliberate, he’s a bad guy but there’s nothing entertaining about how cruel he is.  The Joker is a psychopathically evil criminal but he’s entertaining when he does it.  His lunacy is exhilarating.  Scarface is actually grounded and almost sane except for the multiple personalities.  Scarface just talks down to everyone all the time, he’s arrogant, he knows there’s a connection between him and The Ventriloquist but is willing to kill Ventriloquist and thus himself in the process.  It’s a nice plot twist for the episode but hard to really like the character after the gimmick plays out. 

 

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

Maxine Vandate - Creep

 Cuculi presents Live Beats music of the 90s & 00s.

 

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

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 63 

Fire from Olympus

 

An absolutely amazing episode!  Maximillian Zeus is a shipping mogul who becomes delusional and starts thinking he’s the real Zeus.  He steals a high tech ray gun and causes problems.  Batman is hot on his trail.  Zeus thinks Batman is Hades trying to take over Mount Olympus.  

 

Batman enlist the help of Zeus’ assistant Clio to try and stop him.  She’s reluctant but realizes Zeus has totally flipped out and helps sneak Batman into the building.  Zeus catches her, holds her captive, tries to kill her, attacks a police blimp with the ray gun.  A bunch of stuff happens and Batman stops him.  What makes the episode so epic is the end when Zeus is hauled off to Olympus and describes many of Batman’s classic rogues as deities from the Greek Mythology and believes he’s truly in Olympus.  It’s a comedic twist and brilliant one.  

 

What sells the episode so well is Zeus’ henchmen aren’t blind followers.  It is a small layers to the story but they try to challenge and question his reality.  One of his henchmen doesn’t want to kill Clio and gets zapped with lightning.  The other reluctantly ties up Clio because he doesn’t want to get electrocuted too.  The henchmen try to talk Zeus out of attacking the police blimp because of the trouble it would bring down on them.  That was a layer of character development never given to other henchmen in the show.  In 22 minutes the show didn’t have time to give a backstory or personality to each bad guy.  It’s nice to know when they had the time, they added it.  A nice change from the “hired thug” trope.  

 

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

Maxine Vandate - Happier Than Ever

Cuculi presents Live Beats music of the 90s & 00s.

 

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

Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 62

His Silicon Soul

The HARDAC follow-up episode where we get to find out what happens to the Batman/Bruce Wayne robot duplicate.  It’s a million times better than the very excellent HARDAC episode and has layers of action and drama you’d never expect from a children’s animated program.   

 

The Batman robot thinks he’s a real person.  When he discovers the truth, HARDAC tries to rebuild himself.  Robot Batman struggles with conflicting thoughts which could be construed as feelings based on the different actions he’s taking.  

 

When real Batman tries to stop Robot Batman from destroying the world and bring HARDAC back to life, it doesn’t go according the plan.  Robot Batman thinks he killed real Batman and has a complete mental breakdown.  He stops the destruction of the world by sacrificing his life.  And as we’ve stated in prior posts, the DCAU creators loved killing robots in horrible gruesome ways.  They didn’t disappoint.  

 

While the standard and practices don’t have an issue with robots dying, the episode implies this robot might have had a soul. So kids got to see a fairly gruesome death of a living being.  The death of Optimus Prime in Transformers traumatized thousands of children in the 80s.  It makes one think that TV standards and practices might want to redefine their policies about living robots. 

 

The concept of machines having a soul is still in the science fiction realm but the depth at which it explains what a soul is to children is well defined in the episode.  The emotions, actions/reactions, feelings of Robot Batman cement the idea of how precious life is in a brilliant way that doesn’t preach and gets the points across. A somewhat underrated episode in BtAS.

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

Broken Hearted on Prime Video

Broken Hearted on Prime Video

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

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 60 & 61

The Demon’s Quest: Part 1 & 2

 

Robin is kidnapped along with Talhia al Ghul and Ra’s al Ghul shows up in the Batcave revealing he knows Batman’s identity and they go on a little quest all over the world to save their respective children.  Plot twist, Ra’s set the entire thing up to test Batman.  Batman figures it out and Ra’s offers his kingdom and marriage of his daughter to the Dark Knight.  He turns Ra’s down and Ra’s vows they are enemies.  

 

Batman learns that Ra’s is going to destroy most of world and then rule the remaining inhabitants.  He vows to stop him with the help of Talhia, Batman infiltrates Ra’s stronghold.  An epic battle ensues, Batman stops him.  He is presumed dead after the encounter.  As Batman leaves the stronghold he gives Talhia an epic kiss, something Catwoman never even got, and they part ways.  Plot twist, it is revealed Ra’s lives and will get his revenge. 

 

This is the payoff two-parter to the episode Off Balance where we first encounter Talhia and Ra’s al Ghul.  One could argue it’s a mini-story arc.  BtAS was never so bold as to do story arcs like its competitors Gargoyles and X-Men but it didn’t ignore it’s prior stories either.  The BtAS story telling was consistent but the show was crafted for each episode to stand-alone.  Thus a viewer could come in anywhere and know what was happening.  

 

The Ra’s episodes were always designed to be these epic showdowns, very worldly.  The show wanted to paint Ra’s as Batman’s greatest rival.  That mantle really goes to The Joker but Ra’s certainly upped Batman’s game outside Gotham and the stories did not disappoint. 

 

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

Maxine Vandate - Dreams

Cuculi presents Live Beats music of the 90s & 00s.

  

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

 Batman: The Animated Series

Episode 59

Blind as a Bat

 

Bruce Wayne gets blinded while saving an employee when the Penguin steals a military helicopter that Wayne Enterprises is developing.  Instead of resting, he uses some weird tech to get his vision back so he can stop Penguin, who’s keeping the city hostage, and get the helicopter back.  His tech goes wonky and he has to rely on his other senses to save the day.  

 

As stated in other reviews, Penguin episodes were never too exciting on the show.  This is right there with the rest.  Bruce’s apprehension to making military weapons is nicely solidified in the episode and recycled in the Superman/Batman crossover with Lex Luthor which we’ll get to later.  Bruce learns how dangerous military weapons can be and therefore opts for his company to never get into that business.  

 

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