Black Circle - Even Flow

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible.  Don’t blame the band.

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 2

Sins of the Father

 

Tim Drake’s original story and his creation as the new Robin.  The creators decided to make Tin Drake’s origin a hybrid of Jason Todd and his comic counterpart.  Jason Todd was the second Robin who was a total jerk and was eventually killed.  Jason’s comic origin was darker in nature and he had an affiliation with Two-Face.  Tim Drake’s origin was a bit flimsy; he was able to deduce Batman and Robin’s identity by seeing Dick Grayson as Robin perform a very specific summersault or something.  

 

The creators decided to lean into the more Todd origin and also lean into the more likeable aspects of Drake.  Todd was a total jerk in the comics.  He was reckless.  Drake was a cool cat with a good attitude.   So the Tim Drake we get is an orphan who commits light crimes to survive, bumps into Batman because Two-Face wants something his criminal father has.  

 

His dad is missing, turns out to be dead.  While Batman is investigating Two-Face he takes in Tim Drake who discovers Batman is Brue Wayne.  Batman rushes off with Batgirl to stop Two-Face.    Tim Drake is left behind.  He steals an old Robin costume and shows up to help save the day.  Bruce Wayne agrees to adopt Tim Drake and train him. 

 

The episode is vague about Dick Grayson’s fate until the end of the episode when he shows up and gives some training notes.  

 

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

Black Circle - Grunge Song 2

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible.  Don’t blame the band.

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

 The New Batman Adventures

Episode 1

Holiday Knights

 

An anthology story which reintroduces everyone to the world of Batman.  Overall the episode is fun but without knowledge of where the show was going it could leave a sour taste in viewers mouth.

 

Story 1: Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn kidnap Bruce Wayne.  Ivy uses her plant magic to make Bruce take them on a shopping spree.  He eventually bust free from the control and beats them up.

 

Story 2: The newly and poorly designed Harvey Bullock is dressed as Santa trying to catch shoplifters, it turns out to be Clayface.  Batgirl is there to stop the villain.  She has a new voice actress in Tara Strong instead of original Melissa Gilbert.  It’s not a terrible change but we wonder what the true story for the switch was.  Creators claim it was because Strong sounded younger. 

 

Story 3: The Joker plans on killing a bunch of people during New Years Eve using a weapon.  We meet the new Robin in the sequence but with no explanation.  So we’re left to assume it’s Dick Grayson instead of Tim Drake and the new look is so dramatic it would enrage any true fan.  Robin is shorter and younger.  The consistency issues alone would be enough to baffle people.  So watching this you’re left to think the entire series is getting crapped on.  Thankfully we learn in the next episode he’s a different character (one of the best in the DCAU) but playing this episode first could really create some waves.  

 

Story 4:  Batman gets coffee with Commissioner Gordon.   It’s a truly heartwarming moment that leans into their bond.  

 

Overall the episode is a nice one once you realize Robin is Tim Drake and not Dick Grayson.  

 

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

Black Circle Grunge Song 3

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible.  Don’t blame the band.

The DCAU Weekly Review – The New Batman Adventures

The New Batman Adventures

Batman is back!!!  The follow-up to Batman: the Animated Series and the series that crosses over with Superman: the Animated Series.  When WB started their own network and children’s animated programing block they gradually reacquired the distribution rights for their WB properties from Fox Kids.  Syndication for shows like Tiny Toons and Animaniacs which found success on Fox Kids, moved over to Kids’ WB.  BtAS originally aired on Fox Kids and with the transfer to Kids’ WB it was given a new episode order.  

 

The creators had already moved onto Superman by this time.  With the new series the creators took the opportunity to revamp the art design.  There are lots of theories, interviews, statements about the reasons for the change.  The most practical answer was the new animation style was cheaper and quicker.  It more matched StAS style.  The creators had learned a lot from the original run of BtAS and were able to streamline the process.  

 

There were some improvements made to certain character designs while others were missteps.  Instead of tackling each new character design episode by episode we’ll attack them head on before the episode reviews.    Overall the changes were tolerable but the original versions are the preferred option. 

 

The episode stories were actually much darker in nature to a show that was already rather grim for a children’s cartoon.  It was as if they upped the story quality to make-up for the mistakes on character design. 

 

Let’s take a look at each of these changes.

Batman/Bruce Wayne

Batman’s change isn’t bad, no real complaints.  His costume is all black, his utility belt is a toned down brown instead of bright yellow.  He’s a little bulkier.  Overall it’s still the classic Batman.  The bat insignia on his chest doesn’t have the yellow background either.  

Bruce Wayne is drastically different.  It’s not a bad design but takes getting used to when compared to the original.  I wouldn’t call it an improvement but it certainly wasn’t a terrible change.  This Wayne is a bit prettier, more believable as a billionaire playboy.  

Alfred Pennyworth

A total screw-up, the original was well rounded and this more angular Alfred just looks bad.  There wasn’t much they could do with his redesign if they wanted consistency with the rest of the new character looks but new Alfred is a fail.  Collateral damage of a new style.

Batgirl/Barbara Gordon

There wasn’t much changed here.  They slimmed her down a little and changed the costume.  The original was more gray, blue, yellow.  The new one is more black, blue, yellow.  This is a lateral move.  One could even make the argument that she just changed costumes and wasn’t really redesigned at all.  Her alter ego Barbara Gordon has almost no change compared to the original.  

Clayface

Lateral move, no complaints.  He went from brown to dark brown.  No true changes.  

Ponytail...ugg!

Mullet, angry face!

Nightwing/Robin/Dick Grayson

This was a fail but not for the reasons it should have been.  The new Nightwing costume is pretty cool.  It’s the mullet we all hate and ponytail.  It might be a complaint that’s been regurgitated to oblivion but it’s really that bad of a design.   We hate the mullet!  It was a mistake.  The original Robin hair was fine.  Changing something, just to change it is never a good idea.  We see Dick Grayson as Robin in a flashback and it’s adequate.  Nothing crazy.  That means when they made him Nightwing, that’s where the wrong ideas were implemented.  The mullet almost killed a character who we loved so much in BtAS.  

 

Commissioner Gordon

Such a terrible change.  He looks like the results after bariatric surgery.  His giant head and small body make him far from a menacing police presence.  He’s now a frail old man who shouldn’t be allowed to drive let alone run an entire metropolitan police force.  This is a major screw-up on the creators part and almost a character ruining change.  

 

Harvey Bullock

This was a terrible change.  Wrong on every level.  The original was Bullock was a bit slovenly but still looked tough and menacing.  The new design just has him as fat, no lines, no discernable facial features.  The outfit even lacks any real definition.  All of it was poorly done.  Seeing him in the show is so jarring, it can take you out of the episode.  The creators completely ruined the look of a great character.  It’s changes like this that make people hate the new design.

 

Officer/Detective Renee Montoya

Lateral move, no real complaints.  She was also promoted from officer to detective, which made her changes more digestible.  She wasn’t in the Gotham PD officer uniform anymore.  She was wearing a detective suit.  

 

Catwoman/Selena Kyle

The original Catwoman was h-o-t.  Really hot.  A form fitting gray suit and a mask with black components showed off her facial features and other attributes.  It was one of the more believable costumes in the DCAU.  The change to an all black suit with a whited out jaw and black lip stick works.  She also has white eyes instead of real eyes. She’s is also more petite.  It’s more comic booky and still shows off her womanly features.  It’s a lateral move.  No real complaints. The original is better but the change isn’t anything horrible.  

 

Two-Face

The original is preferred but the change isn’t terrible.  This is another lateral move.  The creators were likely getting lazy and didn’t want to keep changing everyone’s looks.  That’s a benefit to the fans because there were serious missteps.  

 

Mr. Freeze

This is almost a good change but the original was so well done that it was hard to beat.  The original could have been drawn by Max Fleischer himself.  The new Freeze is rather bland in comparison.  It doesn’t fail by itself, it fails in comparison to something that was so well done the first time, it shouldn’t have been changed.  

 

Joker

WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG! All of it is wrong.  His hair looks stupid, he has no lips.  Somehow his costume was the same and looks wrong.  The angular features are just horrible. Whoever made this design and whoever approved it should be kicked in the balls.  The original is far superior and actually menacing.  The new look is only salvaged by the fact that Mark Hamill was still the voice of the Joker.  His design is so bad, that if it wasn’t for Mark Hamill doing the voice, it could have tanked all the new episodes.  

Harley Quinn

They didn’t really change her.  So that’s a win for everyone.  

 

Poison Ivy

The new looking Poisons Ivy isn’t terrible but her original version was far better.  She was much sexier looking and more human looking.  The all white look makes her more super power like instead of a human who uses plant-based weapons.  This is mostly a tolerable fail.  We can live with it but would rather have the original version. 

 

Killer Croc

This might be a controversial opinion but the original Killer Croc was a better look.  The creators made the new Croc more crocodile looking with the green and lizard look.  They get an A for effort in the change but while the original Croc didn’t really look like a crocodile with his blue tones, it somehow worked better.  

 

Baby Doll

We hate Baby Doll on all versions, so this redesign doesn’t even matter to us.  She’s just a terrible character.  So they get a win by default.

 

Scarecrow

This was an improvement in spades!!! He’s far scarier and menacing.  The original scarecrow wasn’t very scary.  This new darker one with a poorly lit face could have been one of Batman’s top rogues if he was designed that way in the original run.  You can almost love the redesigns when you see changes like this.  

 

The Mad Hatter

This is a slim victory for the creators.  He’s shorter and weirder looking.  He’s a little scarier, the dark green over blue isn’t a bad choice. The original version might have just been a poor design from the start which probably helped make this new design work out.   

 

Bane

Another lateral move.  They bulked him up and darkened his costume from the original.  He’s a bit more S&M looking in the new design but there’s no complaints about the change.  

 

The Riddler

This was a big fail.  Riddler actually had two different redesigns on the new show.  He looked different in a dream sequence then his actual TNBA appearance.  The Riddler we get is far better than the dream sequence but falls short of the original.  The original Riddler was just so sharp looking.   The anorexic redesign is not a menacing villain or even someone who a person could believe is any type of threat to anyone.  

 

The Penguin

A vast improvement.  They ditched the Danny Devito Batman Returns look and made him a socialite.  He’s sleek with his top hat and tux.  All the choices made were improvements and actually match the voice of Paul Williams.  Nothing but love for this change.  

 

Scarface

His new look makes him terrible.  Much like the Bullock changes, his were all wrong, from the face to the clothes. The original was fine, no reason to make the change. 

The Ventriloquist

Also a misstep.  His head is totally different.  His hair and glasses are all wrong.  They completely screwed up a character who was drawn very well in the original version.  One of the worst changes made. 

 

Talhia Al Ghul

The original was better but her change was tolerable.  Ultimately we’d label this a loss.  She had a better face in her original design.  

 

Ra’s Al Ghul

He wasn’t changed much either.  So no real complaints.  Of all the male villains, Ra’s was the least affected.  Perhaps the creators learned to stop messing with the character designs because they were making them worse.  

 

Veronica Vreeland

No major changes but the original was better looking.  She looks close enough to the original that we’ll call this a lateral change.  

 

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

Black Circle - Grunge Song 4

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible.  Don’t blame the band.

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

Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 40 41

Little Girl Lost Part I and Part II

 

Supergirl finally joins the Superman team!  For some reason the creators weren’t allowed to make Supergirl Superman’s cousin so they had to setup her origin as being from a neighboring planet who was dying after Krypton’s explosion.  One of the scientists on the planet put her family in cryogenic freezing and Superman discovers her as the only survivor after all the other tubes were destroyed.  She’s another victim of a planetary genocide.  

 

One might argue Brainiac might have played a part in this planet’s destruction through his failure to help krypton save it’s people but it seems like these people were screwed no matter what.  Because if the Kryptonians decided to save themselves instead of ignoring the data, it’s unlikely they would have told their neighbors or even thought to warn them.  So the planet Argo was truly a victim of natural extinction.  It makes Supergirl’s origin a bit more tragic because no one did anything wrong to cause their planet’s destruction.  

Fast forward, Kara is thawed out, passed off as Superman’s cousin, living with the Kent’s on the farm.  She has the same powers as Superman and wants to get into some action packed adventure.  Superman advises caution.  

 

She comes to Metropolis to surprise Clark Kent and gets into a scuffle with Granny Goodness, who’s voiced by some old dude, and designed to look man(ish), which makes things super confusing.  Is Granny Goodness a tranny? Jimmy Olsen gets the hots for Supergirl because it’s a good reason to work him into the plot.  

 

Granny is going to destroy the Earth with an asteroid since Darkseid isn’t allowed to invade it anymore.  Darkseid is a total sore loser. Supergirl and Superman stop Granny Goodness who retreats back to Apokolips and stop the asteroid from destroying Earth.  Supergirl almost dies in the process but is ultimately fine.  

 

Such a fun character and her spunky attitude is a breath of fresh air compared to the more reserved Superman.  The Jimmy Olsen crush never goes anywhere, so waste of time, but a red head mulleted photographer really wouldn’t have a shot with a girl like that anyway.  Perhaps it’s too realistic…

It's a bit redundant to have Apokolipse centric villains in back to back two-parters but the story works so all is forgiven.

 

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

Black Circle - Grunge Song

Another Cuculi sponsored show. The sound and lights are bad because the venue was horrible.  Don’t blame the band.

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

Superman: The Animated Series

Episode 38 39

Apokolips...Now! Part I and Part II  

It’s the epic battle we’ve been waiting for. The invasion of Earth by Darkseid. Darkseid’s biological son Orion raised by High Father of New Genesis, arrives to warn Earth of his invasion plans. We get a nice backstory about Darkseid’s goals to find the Anti-Life Equation and how Orion and Kalibak were traded so New Genesis and Apokolips would have peace.  

Maggie Sawyer of the SCU is injured and on hospital rest which puts her partner Dan Turpin in charge of the pending chaos. We meet Maggie’s lesbian partner from the comic book which in the 1990s was super controversial. The show just says she’s a friend but anyone who knows the comic is fully aware of the relationship. The show just never outright states it. These things upset people in the 1990s, it’s tame by today’s TV standards. Great job pushing the envelope.  

Meanwhile, Darkseid uses Bruno Manheim to blow up a nuclear power plant and while Superman and Orion are distracted by another attack. Orion leaves Superman a call buzzer if Darkseid attacks again. Orion returns home. After Manheim succeeds in his mission Darkseid leaves him to die in the explosion. The bomb goes off and is going to burn through to the core of the Earth. It will create fire pits similar to the planet Apokolips because Darkseid has serious feels about planetary temperature. Superman tries to call Orion but the button is broken.  

Superman is able to cool off the explosion on his own and stop the catastrophe. Darkseid launches the invasion via Metropolis. Superman is tired from saving the planet so Darkseid shows up and captures him. Dan Turpin becomes the figurehead in a resistance against the invasion. Superman is in chains and Darkseid thinks it will break the people’s spirits. Dan Turpin rallies the people to resistance. Superman breaks free of his bonds and is about to go head to head with Darkseid when Orion and friends show up and say Earth is under the protection of New Genesis. Darkseid backs down but kills Dan Turpin before he lives. Superman is ultra pissed off and tries to attack Darkseid but he warps away so Superman destroys his tank.  

Some notable moments which probably don’t ring true in today’s society is how willing people were to fight against the invasion. Superman claims Earth doesn’t bow to dictators when there’s countless countries ruled by them. Humans would rather die quick in battle then slowly under Darkseid’s oppression, another statement which is questionable in this modern day. A solid sentiment for Superman though.  

The death of Dan Turpin is truly shocking. The creators wanted to kill Superman’s parents but the network basically said no, so the creators chose Dan Turpin. It’s the driving force in why Superman actually hates Darkseid. The only villain who actually gets him angry when stuff is going down. There’s two different versions of the funeral scene. One has a bunch of Jack Kirby (the creator of New Gods and a ton of other comic characters) creations at the funeral. Apparently there were legal issues associated with it so it was replaced with generic people. The HBO Max version has the original funeral. The DVDs have the corrected version. It’s unclear what the legal issue was. Lawyers like to make life complicated. Dan Turpin’s character design was similar to Jack Kirby who had died in 1994 but since the creators were using so many of his characters for their story and he was so iconic in comics, the dedication seemed fitting.

A great two-parter with a wonderful payoff. One of the best Superman episodes. It’s a shame the show isn’t as well loved as BtAS when it had some truly epic episodes in its own right.  

Written by Joseph Ammendolea

Owner/President

“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®

ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com