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

 Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 43

Knight Time

 

A crossover episode that rivals World’s Finest and told in only one episode.  Batman is missing and Superman goes to investigate.  He comes across Robin (Tim Drake) and agrees to pretend to be Batman to assist in quelling a crime spree which cropped up from Batman’s absence.  The brilliance of the story is Superman getting a view on how Batman operates is.  Through the episode we see Robin talk Superman through Batman’s methods.  His stealth, intimidation, overall persona.  

 

While questioning the Penguin, Robin coaches Superman on how to scare the answers out of the villain. Superman’s appeal to common decency doesn’t work on villains like the Penguin but he does respond to fear. Through their investigation they learn Batman’s rogues are trying to capitalize on his absence.  Super-Bat shows up and makes easy work of the rogues.  He seems to have a little trouble with Bane but that’s only because Superman is careful not hurt people, so finding the right amount of force to use takes precision and Bane has some heft to him.  If Superman goes to hard he can kill someone.  Punching someone weak like The Riddler is a light tap, finding the right balance for Bane needs adjusting.  

 

Super-Bat and Robin question the Mad Hatter and trace a bunch of nanites (microscopic robots) to a Wayne Tech facility.  The duo head there and discover Bruce but he’s under a mind whammy.  It’s then discovered Brainiac is the villain behind everything.  He got onto the Wayne Enterprises computer system after the Wayne Enterprises/Lex Corp attempted team-up in World’s Finest.  Brainiac has been floating around the Lex Corp system since Stolen Memories and Ghost in the Machine.  Luckily this is the last time Brainiac is regurgitated as hiding in a computer system to cause the head of billion dollar corporation problems.  

 

Brainiac is building a rocket to get off the planet and resume his destroy all life in the universe plan.  Super-Bat confronts Brainiac and Brainiac blows him up.  He’s then revealed to really be Superman which Brainiac is confused about.  They have an all out fight.  Brainiac is annihilated in the worst way possible because they love to kill robots in the most graphic ways in the DCAU.  The nanites all die and Bruce Wayne’s mind whammy goes away.  Superman warns Wayne that Brainiac might have back-up files and Wayne promises to make certain everything is purged.  

 

As Superman leaves he compliments Bruce on having an amazing partner which is surprising since he’s such a loner.  This episode is as much a Superman episode as it is a Tim Drake - Robin episode.  Robin coaches Superman on all of Batman’s methods.  He’s a solid balance to the sulky Batman.  Robin can easily make the more optimistic Super-Bat smile, to the confusion of Batman’s rogues.  Batman would never smile.  

 

The brilliance in character interactions in this episode are interstellar! It’s an episode that explores Superman, Batman, Robin’s characters in such small runtime.  Batman’s rogues are the perfect characters to play off all these personalities.  An absolute can’t miss.

 

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 42

Where There's Smoke

It’s back to basics in this episode.  After following Apokolips…Now! and Little Girl Lost it’s tough to get back to regular episodes.  Volcana is a run of the mill villain with a tragic backstory. Superman convinces her to turn away from her life of crime and saves her from rogue government agents who want to exploit her firepower. No complaints, it’s a fine episode, Volcana is not a particularly tough adversary for Superman though.  He’s impervious to fire.  Making it a personal story about her was a smart idea. 

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

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The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 19

Legends of the Dark Knight

 

Might receive some hate for this opinion but this episode is just okay.  It tells three different versions of Batman via kid’s imaginations and even takes a deserved potshot and Joel Schumaker.  There were only so many episodes in the order number and they wasted a story which could have been devoted to something else.  Each sub-story is enjoyable enough.  

 

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

The New Batman Adventures

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The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 18

The Demons Within

 

Etrigan appears, quite an odd selection for a crossover.  Bruce Wayne takes Tim Drake to an art auction and sees Jason Blood get into a bidding war with Klarion over a branding iron.  Bruce Wayne steps in and over bids for it to win the auction and gives it to Jason Blood.  

 

Jason Blood is a former knight of King Arthur who is immortal and cursed with the demon Etrigan.  Jason Blood turns into Etrigan and together they fight mystic baddies.  They are separate personalities sharing the same body or something.  At some point he befriended Batman.  

 

Klarion is demon who’s eternally a child.  He’s a spoiled brat who uses his magic cat to steal the branding iron then uses its magic to separate Etrigan from Jason Blood.  As Jason Blood is gradually aging Klarion is using Etrigan to do lame boring stuff.  

 

Batman steps in and fights Kalrion and the cat Teekl.  He gets the iron back and returns Etrigan and Jason Blood as one.  Etrigan then roughs up Klarion and sends him away.  

 

Etrigan pops up again as a main player in a Justice League episode while they are fighting Morgan Le Fay.  He is shown in Justice League Unlimited but not focused on.  A solid introduction to the character.  

 

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

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The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 17

Old Wounds

 

The story about how Nightwing gave up being Robin.  A solid gap filler story which is told via a flashback between BtAS and TNBA.  Dick Grayson is still Robin and just graduated college.  He’s going it on his own via a trust he received from the circus after the death of his parents.  He has a relationship with Barbara Gordon.  

 

Batman and Robin are chasing down a plan Joker is hatching.  Batman starts interrogating a man named Connor at his home in front of his family.  Connor is totally guilty.  Robin is feeling ways about it going down in front of Connor’s family.  Batman gets pissed, Robin takes off.  

 

Dick Grayson visits Barbara Gordon late that night.  She sleeps in an outfit similar to what Lois Lane wears at night.  It must be the bedtime style in the DCAU.  Or the creators might have a festish.  Grayson is vaguely complaining about the situation to Gordon.  She goes to Bruce Wayne to try and mediate.  Wayne decides to reveal their identities to her.  He already knows she’s Batgirl.  Conveniently the Joker’s plan is revealed.  He has a radar jammer which disrupts commercial fights and can cause them to crash.  Batman is super bent on stopping it from happening and recruits Batgirl to help since Robin is MIA. 

 

Robin shows up in the middle of the fight.  Lots of cool action happens.  He learns that Bargirl is Barbara Gordon.  He gets pissed at Batman for not telling him and totally punches him in the face.  He then takes off.  Back in the present he’s hanging out with Tim Drake and they come across Connor.  During the conversation they learn Bruce Wayne hooked him up with a job after a string of bad luck which caused him to bump heads with Batman.  Nightwing gets a new appreciation for Bruce Wayne.  

 

It’s a nice Dick Grayson story and origin for Nightwing.  It also shows that the mullet is unneeded.  The Dick Grayson/Robin revamp isn’t horrible which means they just screwed it up when giving him the mullet.  

 

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

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